It was a happy hunting ground to native Indians before 19th-century white settlers laid claim to this fertile strip along the Des Plaines, Du Page, Illinois, and Kankakee rivers. Their influx spawned farms, mines, and–linking Chicago to myriad little towns and the American west–the Illinois & Michigan Canal. To one degree or another, all remain: the I&M Canal is now a National Heritage Corridor, the deep pits of the old strip mines have become man-made recreational lakes, and surviving farm fields crouch beside the “petrochemical plants, electrical generating stations, quarries, and numerous manufacturing plants [that] dot the nearby landscape,” as a visitor’s brochure states, touting the area’s “rich variety of resources.”
The Dresden Nuclear Power Plant, near the town of Channahon, and another plant near Braidwood are run by Com Ed in strict “lockdown”–off-limits to casual visitors. The closest the curious will get to atom splitting is Argonne National Laboratories, 25 miles southwest of Chicago off I-55. Founded in 1946 in conjunction with atomic research being done at the University of Chicago, the lab is run by the U. of C. for the U.S. Department of Energy. Its 1,290 scientists and engineers conduct research on everything from superconductivity to the effects of radiation on genetics. Visitors are invited for an extensive three-and-a-half-hour group tour. It’s free, but guests are required to make advance reservations–not to mention assuaging the tour department’s paranoia by informing them, in writing, of your country of citizenship. The lab is at 9700 S. Cass Ave. in Argonne (708-972-5562, ask for Pat Canaday).
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Continuing south on Joliet Road to Route 53 takes one to Romeoville, a factory and farm town that houses the Isle a la Cache Museum, an interesting stop for kids. Presenting the cultural history of the area during French-Indian fur-trading times, the museum displays birchbark canoes, tools, skins, and Indian trading beads. The staff specializes in educating groups of kids. The Island Rendezvous takes place on June 1, noon to 6 PM. For this re-creation of an 18th-century Indian and fur trader get-together, the staff will be dressed in period attire (some costumes will be available for visitors to model) and there will be food, music, and crafts demonstrations. The museum site also provides access to the Centennial Trail, a six-mile forested loop for hiking and biking. The museum is open every day but Monday and is located at 501 E. Romeo Road (known locally as 135th Street), 815-886-1467.
Joliet, founded in 1831 and named for 17th-century French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet, was dubbed “Stone City” in its early years because of the large numbers of buildings constructed of local limestone. The main high school, on Jefferson Street downtown, is a nice example. A focal point of town pride is the beautifully restored Rialto Square Theatre at 102 N. Chicago St., a palatial vaudeville house that boasts the largest hand-cut crystal chandelier in the United States and a gigantic pipe organ; today, it hosts shows like Frank Sinatra and A Chorus Line (815-726-7171). Much of downtown Joliet has been malled in that now-classic faux cobblestone style so popular in renovation circles a couple of decades ago. The mall seems mainly to offer the town’s seedier characters a comfortable place to hang out. A different kind of energy pervades the Will County Courthouse, 16 E. Jefferson, which swarms with lawyers in dark suits and nervous-looking defendants who’d presumably like to steer clear of Stateville Correctional Center, the notorious prison just a couple miles northeast.
Just a block from Rittof’s is Canal Street, which provides access to the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the miles of woods and parks that run beside it. The state of Illinois constructed the canal between 1836 and 1848 along a route that is believed to have been a river about 8,000 years ago. Many of the laborers were Irishmen from Shannon and Dublin, lured here by newspaper ads placed in those towns. An engineering marvel with dams, aqueducts, bridges, and 15 locks to lift and lower boats, the 97-mile canal connects the South Branch of the Chicago River with the Illinois River at LaSalle/Peru, and thus in effect connects Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River. Because the canal transported farming and manufacturing products so efficiently, it was the impetus for the settlement of northeastern Illinois and made Chicago, rather than Saint Louis, the hub of the midwest. In the mid-1880s, railroad transport became more efficient than water, and the canal went into decline. Though there is still quite a bit of industry nearby, today the canal is basically a recreational area offering canoeing, fishing, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and camping. In 1984, it was named the nation’s first National Heritage Corridor.
En route between Carbon Hill, Coal City, Diamond, Eileen, and other mining towns, the mostly flat terrain is punctuated by tall mounds, refuse from former mines. The mines, initially deep coal mines, were later replaced by strip mines. A historical marker along Route 53 next to the Diamond Village Hall commemorates a disaster at what was the Diamond Mine of the Wilmington Coal Mining and Manufacturing Company near Braidwood: on February 16, 1893, a mine on marshy land collapsed due to the weight of ice and heavy rains. A monthlong rescue effort discovered no survivors: 46 miners were entombed when the mine was closed down.
