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STOP NO. 1, STARVED ROCK STATE PARK. NE% NE^ Sec. 21 and NW^ NW^ Sec. 22, 

 T. 33 N., R. 2 E., Ottawa Quadrangle. 



The Starved Rock area became a state park in 1911 after development 

 by a hotel company. In earlier years it had been advertised as the "Gibraltar 

 of the West" and at one time boasted a dance floor on the summit of Starved 

 Rock. 



The history of white men in the area dates to 1673 when Louis Joliet, 

 a French explorer, and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit priest, stopped at a large 

 Indian village on the north bank of the river, just above Starved Rock. Two 

 years later, Father Marquette founded a mission at the village, which per- 

 sisted for many years. 



In 1683, Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, built a fort near 

 Starved Rock and established a village that grew to number about 10,000 

 Indians. The fort was the westernmost of a chain of forts established by the 

 French and was the base of operations for La Salle's extensive explorations. 

 During the 1680' s, it was here that Tonti of the Iron Hand organized the Illinois 

 Indians to help New France fight the Iroquois— the fort was besieged by Iroquois 

 for six weeks during one raid. Starved Rock is located at the lowest rapids 

 on the Illinois, and the fort controlled passage from Canada to the southwest. 

 In 1691, the fort was abandoned and a new one was built at Peoria. 



In 1722, Illinois Indians are said to have been marooned on the top 

 of Starved Rock by Fox Indians but were rescued by the French. Among the 

 Potawatomis, legend has it that in ancient times a part of the Illinois tribe 

 was besieged on the Rock, starved into submission, and then massacred. The 

 area has been a source of abundant Indian artifacts and remains for many 

 years. Two village sites are in the park bottomland, along with burial mounds. 

 In addition, burials have been found in park shelter caves and, at the head of 

 French Canyon, the remains of a Shawnee village preserved since La Salle's 

 time persisted into recent years. 



Starved Rock and the bluffs up and down river from it are composed 

 of sandstone of the Champlainian (Middle Ordovician) St. Peter Formation. The 

 lowermost 20 feet of the Rock (fig. 5) is formed by the Tonti Sandstone Member 

 (Templeton and Willman, 1963), which consists of fine-grained, white to light 

 brown, well sorted, thick-bedded, strongly cross-bedded sandstone. It is over- 

 lain by 90 feet belonging to the Starved Rock Member, which is a medium-to 

 coarse-grained, white to light brown, thick-bedded massive sandstone that is 

 only slightly cross-bedded. Starved Rock is the type section for both members. 



In French Canyon (due south of the Rock) , 10 feet of buff dolomite of 

 the Pecatonica Formation (Platteville Group) can be seen overlying the Starved 

 Rock Sandstone Member. 



The valley of the Illinois River here is essentially a product of 

 meltwater outflow from the various lobes of Woodfordian glaciers as well 

 as from glacial Lake Chicago. The present deep gorge was cut mainly during two 

 major stages of erosion. The first occurred during the retreat of the Val- 

 paraiso glacier about 14,000 years ago, when large amounts of water were 

 discharged down the valley. The Valparaiso Morainic System lies 10 to 20 

 miles west and southwest of Lake Michigan and parallels the shore. In such 



