Illinois' I & M Canal's 175th Anniversary-- Part 2

The importance of the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) Canal lies in the fact that it in effect, connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River via the Illinois River.

The miniature 16-by-24-foot museum is filled with interesting artifacts that lend color to the daily lives of the canal toll collectors.  On a shelf, you'll find a bugle and a conch shell, both used by boat captains to wake up the sleeping collector, whose rope bed was in the southwest corner of the building.

In 2009, a full-sized replica canal boat, previously featured in the film "Prairie Tides," was moved to the site.  The barge is lined with boxes and crates symbolizing the 150-plus tons of cargo those boats hauled along the canal.

For more information, visit pickusottawail.com/attractions/im canal-toll-house.

--Cooter

Illinois' I&M Canal's 175th Anniversary-- Part 1

From the April 8, 2023, Northwest Herald "Experience I&M Canal's 

Of course, people have heard of the Erie Canal, the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, but fewer are familiar with this one.

At the end of April, I wrote about Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declaring April as the official month of the I&M (Illinois & Michigan).

Here are some things you might want to check out in regards to this important canal, which connected the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River via the Illinois River.

Ottawa, Illinois, has a remarkable I&M Canal structure in the form of an original tollhouse which has many recovered items and fascinating displays about the waterway' storied history in a compact one-room footprint.

Located in the heart of Ottawa's downtown, right along the I&M towpath, you'll find the immacilate-looking, 175-year-old structure that a group of dedicated volunteers turned the husk of a building into a paonstakenly researched approximation of what the canal collector's tollhouse would have looked like back in 1848.

--Cooter