74 



THE FOREST PRESERVES 



A quarter-mile 

 within there is a 

 cleared spot pointed 

 out by many as the 

 site of the traditional 

 Big Foot camp, so- 

 called because of its 

 part in the Winne- 

 bago Wars scare in 

 1827 among the white 

 settlers about Chi- 

 cago. 



At the time Big 

 Foot, the chief, was at 

 Lake Geneva using 



every wile in an effort to get the aid of the then peaceful Pot- 

 towatomies in the uprising against the white. In these Pal- 

 atine woods, tradition tells us, was a tribe of Pottowatomies 

 wavering on the proposition. 



Friendly Indian chieftains such as Robinson and Shab- 

 bona left for Lake Geneva on a peace mission. Here on this 

 cleared spot, it is told, Robinson harangued with the leaders 

 of the Indian "war party" for thirty hours and the crisis was 

 finally averted for the white settlers. 



Another pretty story that has been associated with the 

 Salt Creek headwaters to be found in these woods is that of 

 an Indian maid who committed a most spectacular suicide in 

 grief over the loss of her warrior-lover. He was supposed to 

 have fallen in battle. 



In the birchbark canoe of her fallen brave this Indian miss 

 is supposed to have patrolled the waters for days and days, 

 refusing to take food or 1 water, until she finally collapsed and 

 was carried away by the stream. 



How to Get There 



By automobile from Chicago take Milwaukee Avenue to Ballard Road 

 in Maine Township, to Rand Road, to Dundee Road, to Quinten's Corner 

 Road, which turns north, penetrating and skirting preserve, connecting 

 with well-beaten old trails that lead to scores of picturesque spots. 



By rail, take Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to Palatine, thence 

 via Palatine, Lake Zurich and Waucanda Railway, which stops within 

 the preserve at Camp Reinberg (old Deer Grove Park), where thousands 

 of poor children get annual outings. 



