Nettle Creek Aqueduct - Morris, IL
N 41° 21.368 W 088° 25.962
16T E 380157 N 4579282
This Aqueduct is easily accessed through Gebhard Woods State Park.
Waymark Code: WM3P6Z
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2008
Views: 37
Nettle Creek Aqueduct has a steel plate frame surrounded and supported by cut stone blocks.
In 1674, Louis Joliet wrote that a short canal could be built that would connect Lake Michigan to the Illinois River and thus to the Mississippi River. More than 150 years later, construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal began on July 4th, 1836. Construction stopped and restarted as lack of funds and economic depressions hit the country. Finally, in April of 1848, the 96 mile long I&M Canal was completed. Through the rest of the 1800’s and into the early 1900’s the canal provided a fast way for products to be shipped to market.
It also provided ready transportation of emigrants and other settlers to reach the West. From the end of the Canal at La Salle, IL., people boarded riverboats for a trip to St Louis or New Orleans.
The I&M Canal is now part of a heritage corridor with state and local parks tied to it. A 61 mile bike path runs on the canal’s tow path. Much of the canal is now dry, but some parts are still full of water and provide fishing and canoeing access.