OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS 27 



And the same is true of the Salt Creek valley, extending 

 west of Riverside to the county line, another Indian paradise 

 684 acres which men competent to judge on rugged natural fores- 

 try admit have no superior anywhere in the country. 



Great forests of oaks and maples and hickory and elm, in- 

 habited by every known specie of animal and bird life those 

 extinct are being revived and carpeted with a variety of flowers 

 and fauna worthy of a horticulturist's dream, are found here. 



Northernly all Preserves are connected with the splendid 

 concrete roads and easily accessible by the maze of railway lines 

 as shown in the complete guide and route map appearing in this 

 book there are the two famous groves for which townships 

 are named Elk Grove and Palatine Deer Grove. 



These with the Desplaines and Chicago Rivers tracts, the 

 old Turnbull Woods and Big Woods or Evanston Woods on 

 the Green Bay Trail and the Schaumburg reservation consti- 

 tute the system for the north of the County, all of which will 

 be described in detail later. 



In the south a system just as attractive has been established 

 with the acquisition of Palos Hills, the Willow Springs wood- 

 land where canal boat drivers on the Illinois and Michigan canal 

 stopped to fill their water barrels, the Chicago Heights tract, a 

 thousand acres of incomparable scenery, the Homewood, Little 

 Calumet and Beverly Hills. 



Beverly Hills alone, at 87th street and Western Avenue, 

 with that massive rock formation standing close to 100 feet high, 

 rivalling the far-famed Starved Rock on which Indians died 

 by the hundreds, constitute an attraction worth travelling miles 

 to see. 



This Beverly Hills peak was an important point in the 

 days of Indian wars. It was the chief signal tower from which 

 the orders went out mobilizing the redskinned warriors from 

 villages for miles around in case of emergency. 



Then directly west of the City of Chicago there is the beau- 

 tiful Thatcher's woods, which including the Steele tract, has 

 long been known to the city's and county's recreation seekers as 

 we hope will soon be the case with every inch of the woodland 

 in the district's 13,000 and more acres of today. 



Wherever possible the preserve commissioners have striven 

 to develop this great natural park system for the convenience 

 of the public. Artificial improvements, such as the construction 

 of the "wonder lake" in the Palatine tract, have been made and 

 will be made wherever possible. 



