even beaver. There are many small lakes and rivers. 

 That on which we sailed is wide, deep, and still, for 

 65 leagues." 



Thomas Jefferson (1787:13) wrote "The Illinois is 

 a fine river, clear, gentle, and without rapids; insomuch 

 that it is navigable for batteaux to its source." In 1838 

 Captain Howard Stansbury described the valley as "one 

 to five miles wide, deeply overflowed in every freshet. 

 filled with bayous, ponds, and swamps, and infested with 

 wild beasts . . ." (Mulvihill and Cornish 1929:27). 



To come down to the beginning of the present 

 century, Kofoid (1903:151-155) described the river 

 and its bottomland lakes at a high water stage in May, 

 as it was just above Havana: "As we leave the sandy 

 shore of Quiver we traverse the clear, cold, and spring- 

 fed water along the eastern bank with its rapidly grow- 

 ing carpet of Ceratophyllum [coontail], and in a few rods 

 note the increasing turbidity, rising temperature, and 

 richer plankton of the water which has moved down from 

 the more or less open and slightly submerged bottom 

 to the north. . . . The water [of the river] also appears 

 much more turbid by reason of silt and plankton, and no 

 trace of vegetation is to be seen save occasional masses 

 of floating Ceratophyllum or isolated plants of Lcmna, 

 Wolffia, or Spirodda [duckweeds]. ... As we plunge 

 into the willow thicket on the western shore we have to 

 pick our way through the accumulated drift lodged in 

 the shoals or caught by the trunks of the trees or the 

 submerged underbrush. . . . From this dark labyrinth we 

 emerge to the muddy but cjuiet waters of Seeb's Lake 

 with its treacherous bottom of soft black ooze. We next 

 enter a wider stretch of more open territory with scat- 

 teied willows and maples and a rank growth of semi- 

 aquatic vegetation, principally Polygonums [smartweeds]. 

 The water is clearer and of a brownish tinge (from the 

 diatoms) , while mats of algae adhere to the leaves and 

 stems of the emerging plants. A flock of startled water- 

 fowl leave their feeding grounds as we pass into the wide 

 expanse of Flag Lake. We push our way through lily 

 pads and beds of lotus, past the submerged domes of 

 muskral houses built of last year's rushes, and thread 

 our way, through devious channels, among the fresh 

 green flags and rushes [probably river bulrush, Scirpii.i 

 fimnatilis] just emerging from the water. Open patches 

 of water here and there mark the areas occupied by 

 the 'moss' or Ceratophyllum, as yet at some depth below 

 ihc surface. The Lcmnaccae [duckweeds] are every- 

 whiic li>(li;(d in mats and windrows, and amidst their 

 green, one occasionally catches sight of a bright cluster 

 of Azolla [moscjuito fern]. The water is clear and brown- 

 ish save where our movements stir the treacherous and 

 mobile bottom. . . . Thompson's Lake, the largest ex- 

 panse of water in the neighborhood, is wont to be rough 

 in windy weather, but if the day be still we can see the 

 ricli aquatic vegetation which fringes its margin and lies 

 in scattered masses toward its southern end. Its waters 

 seem somewhat turbid, but more from pl.mklon lli.ui 



from silt, though the deep soft mud which forms much 

 of its bottom is easily stirred. . . . The new vegetation 

 is already springing from the decaying and matted stems 

 of the preceding summer." 



Later in the season when the water was at a low- 

 stage, Kofoid (op. cit.:155) noted, "The backwaters 

 have been reduced to the lakes, sloughs, bayous, and 

 marshes which abound everywhere in the bottom-lands."' 

 Flag Lake had lost its connection to the river and was 

 a "sea of rushes." Thompson Lake still maintained a 

 connection of sorts with the Illinois through a slough, 

 and was choked with vegetation at its southern end. 

 Quiver Lake was completely choked with aquatics ex- 

 cept for one narrow channel where clear, ojjen water 

 prevailed. 



The present-day condition is well described by Star- 

 rett and Fritz (1965:88) : "Today Quiver Lake is de- 

 void of aquatic plants. The formerly deep basin of the 

 lake has been filled in with 4- to 8-foot deposits of 

 silt. Turbid water at depths of over 3 feet and a soft. 

 flocculent bottom prevent the establishment of aquatic 

 plants in the lake. Conditions in Quiver Lake are dupli- 

 cated in many of the other floodplain lakes of the Illinois 

 River: that is, in the past 35 years siltation has greatly 

 changed the ecology of these lakes." 



HUMAN POPULATIONS AND ACTIVITIES 



In the early days of exploration and settlement of 

 Illinois the rivers were the arteries of travel, communica- 

 tion, and commerce. It was not until the era of rail- 

 roads that the people of Illinois were in a great measure 

 emancipated from the rivers. 



Little concern was shown about changes in. or the 

 changing of, the Illinois River for the first 250 years of 

 its use by white people. Its character seemed to remain 

 about the same, although the greatest flood ever re- 

 corded for the river was in the 1840's. Steamboats made 

 their way far up its reaches in the 19th centuiy. Cities 

 sprang up along its shores and. near the headwaters. 

 Chicago began its growth. Events happened rapidly 

 from the last ciuarter of the 19lh centuiy to tiie present 

 time. 



To gi\e a simple illustration of the development in 

 (lie river's basin, the population of the counties which 

 are all or in part drained by the Illinois River changed 

 from about a half-million in 1850 to 1.629.738 in 1870. 

 Hv 1964 this figure had risen to 8.537.900 of a total state 

 population of 10.500.000. 



Man has made several major changes in the river 

 itself. On January 1. 1900. the Sanitary and Ship Canal 

 was opened at Chicago, connecting the Des Plaines and 

 Illinois rivers with Lake Michigan. The great quantities 

 of water thus diverted flushed untreated domestic sew- 

 ;ige and industrial wastes down the canal and into the 

 Illinois River system. This directed these materials 

 away from the lake, which the city used as a source for 

 its water supply. 



