26 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
A Two Hundred and Fifty Year 
Old Bird Sanctuary at “Le 
Portage”’ 
/ \HE expansion of great cities is quite as devastating in its oblitera- 

tion of landmarks and the destruction of plant life, as were the 
great glaciers that in far away ages changed the topography of 
the northern portions of the North American continent. 
We discuss with great pride the marvellous growth of Chicago in less 
than one hundred years, a growth the like of which has never been known 
in any other American city. Few of us however, stop to think, of how the 
prairie vegetation has disappeared; how ponds have dried up, and how 
trees have been destroyed either by cutting down or by drainage, in the 
path of the city’s widening. In these great transformations thousands of 
birds have been driven forever away from their former nesting and feed- 
ing sites. 
The recently published “Historical Fragments of Early Chicagoland,” 
compiled from articles written by the late Harley B. Mitchell of La 
Grange, relates in a very delightful and humorous manner much of his- 
torical interest that had for its center of action, the region about the 
present Mud Lake, and the village of Lyons. 
Comparatively few people outside of those particularly interested in 
the beginnings of history in Illinois, know that the first white men who 
came to the region about Chicago arrived prior to 1675, more than two 
hundred and fifty years ago. 
Who, visiting the forest preserves south of 43rd street and continuing 
on past Mud Lake to the Santa Fe Railway right of way, would guess 
that here during periods of high water in the spring it was possible to 
portage in “pirogues” across from the west branch of the south fork of 
the Chicago River into the “Aux Plaines,” and thence to float down past 
the village of Mount Juilliette to Fort St. Louis (Starved Rock). 
Kor over one hundred and fifty years, commencing with La Salle, 
Joliet, Marquette, Tonti and other less well known French voyageurs, 
there was uninterrupted travel over this old waterway between Lake 
Michigan and the Des Plaines, Fox and Illinois Rivers trading route. 
The village of Lyons, according to Mr. Mitchell’s researches, was the 
most important entreport connected with the early settlement of the 
Chicago region. Of this early history there are practically no visible 
traces left. 
That, after all these vicissitudes the Mud Lake region, should still be 
in the path of the great spring migration of both land and water birds, 
