Nettle Creek Aqueduct - Morris, IL
N 41° 21.368 W 088° 25.962
16T E 380157 N 4579282
Quick Description: This Aqueduct is easily accessed through Gebhard Woods State Park.
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 4/28/2008 12:36:52 PM
Waymark Code: WM3P6Z
Views: 27
Long Description: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.