By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

SHEFFIELD, Ill. — The Hennepin Canal is now a hunting and fishing recreational area. It began as the water cutoff to connect the Illinois River with the Michigan Canal. Locals were looking for a way to transport livestock and crops to market, travelers to and from one part of the state to another and believed this would be a successful way to travel.

The idea for the cutoff came from the successful completion of the I & M canal that had been completed nearly 60 years before the Hennepin. The I & M is credited with helping make Chicago one of the nation’s greatest cities.

The Hennepin Canal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The story of the canal and history is fascinating.

When traveling through northern Illinois, when seeing a body of water and reading the sign “Hennepin Canal” question marks arise as to just what it is and how it came to be. The canal is owned by the State of Illinois and is controlled by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

On the website http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/r1/hennpin.htm the DNR shares a bit of the history of this unique Illinois landmark. It says, “thoughts of constructing a canal that connected the Illinois and Mississippi River date back to 1834.”

In fact, the DNR publication The Continuing Journey of the Hennepin Canal, shares a passage where Jacob Galer, a citizen of Geneseo, Ill. reported on a personal survey he had made. “In September of 1834, I took my blanket and gun and viewed the country through from Hennepin to the Mississippi river near Rock Island and thought it a natural pass for a canal as there was a depression all the way across with high land on either side. I reported my discovery, but was much ridiculed for holding such ideas.”

The idea may have been laughed at during the initial stages, but it took root and came to fruition, but not necessarily a successful one. The DNR website shares, “financial problems in the state held back many public works projects. Pressure for a transportation shortcut that was cheaper than rail continued though, and Congress authorized preliminary surveys on the project in 1871.

Construction finally got under way in 1892 and the first boat went through in 1907, reducing the distance from Chicago to Rock Island by 419 miles”

Although the canal was completed it was sadly now obsolete because while under construction, the Corps of Engineers widened the locks on both the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and these locks ended up being too narrow for boats to easily travel up and down the canal.

While the canal was not a big success as a commercial thoroughfare, it was used for recreational traffic and it was successful along with the I & M, in tying the Illinois, Des Plaines and Mississippi river systems into a network connecting Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. DNR shared that the Hennepin Canal, which at one time was known as the Illinois and Mississippi Canal, was open to boat traffic until 1951. “There was no cost to use the canal. Ice made from the canal’s frozen waters was sold during the winters to help pay the canal’s maintenance costs.”

One benefit of the canal was that the use of concrete rather than stone for locks revolutionized the construction industry. They also stated that this may have been a technique used in the Panama Canal.

For those interested in learning a bit about the Hennepin Canal, take the time to stop by the Visitors Center near Sheffield to check out several displays that help illustrate the canal’s past - including tools used to build and operate it.

The website adds, “At the time the canal was built workers often made their own tools by hand. There’s also a model of a lock with a boat going through it and a model of an aqueduct. Get a peek at the plant and animal life at the park through other displays at the center.”

The visitors’ center is located at 16006 875 E. Street, Sheffield, IL 61361. Call 815-454-2328 for details. Besides the canal, the Hennepin Canal State Park also offers and array of biking, picnicking and other opportunities.