80 THE FOREST PRESERVES 



ALONG THE DESPLAINES (LEYDEN TOWNSHIP). 



The plan has been suggested for a construction of a pub- 

 lic shelter at this popular section of the preserve and that no 

 doubt, when erected, will derive its name for the revered 

 Frenchman to whom went the honor of first discovering our 

 county. 



In a still more substantial manner the old Indian ford, 

 later called the Talcott ford, just south of the town of Des- 

 plaines, will be marked with the construction of an automobile 

 ford which was first conceived for Wheeling Park traffic still 

 further north. 



There the engineers are engaged in laying a full-fledged 

 concrete road across on the bottom of the river for the benefit 

 of automobiles and horse-drawn vehicles as well. This will 

 be marked by iron uprights on which will be strung a pictur- 

 esque footbridge. 



But it is when one gets down into the old Indian reserva- 

 tion region of the rivetf valley that the full import of the val- 

 - ley's connection with Indian life is realized. There is to be 

 found some of the few remaining specimen of Indian mounds 

 in this section of the northwest. 



To John Kennicott, Cook County's first doctor whose 

 home was within a stone's throw of the Old Grove Portage 

 and who incidentally was the father of the present District 

 Forester,- Ransom E. Kennicott, goes the credit of locating 

 these mounds. Consequently they have been named for him. 



