Garfield Ridge History

The Chicago Portage

 In what is said to be the most important feature to the founding and development of Chicago, the Chicago Portage was also an important feature to all Western Explorers.  The portage was first mentioned by the explorers Joliet and Marquette in the 17th Century and remained important until the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848. 

Explorers who wished to travel westward had to rely on boats and canoes.  Typically travelors would travel from the Atlantic, down through the Great Lakes.  Arriving at Lake Michigan they would then travel along the Chicago River.  At the river's westermost point they would need to portage their canoes a few miles in from about present day Damen Avenue to just west of present day Harlem Avenue, order to continue their trip along the Des Plaines River and eventually to the Mississippi River.  But during the wet seasons there existed an interesting geographic feature called "Mud Lake".  Hardly a lake it was more of a swampy shallow pond the stretched between the rivers from Damen to Harlem.  During these wet season one could navigate the canoe along Mud Lake with no need to portage the canoe.
Picture

Title Text.