The explorer LaSalle built Ft. St. Louis atop Starved Rock in 1682 and, for a time, the river valley became a major trading center, with a Native American population of perhaps 10,000. The site, east of the Waterway Visitor Center, was inundated when Starved Rock Lock and Dam was built in 1933. Freight was hauled in small barges towed by mules and horses and transferred onto steamboats at either end of the line. One of the visitor center's most popular exhibits, especially with youngsters, is the pilot house from the John M. Warner, an Illinois Waterway towboat that sank during a 1982 flood.
Towboats operate year-round on the waterway.
Cargo includes grain, coal, chemicals, petroleum products and scrap metal. You'll also see towboats built with retractable pilot houses that can be lowered so the boats can pass under low bridges in the Chicago area. Pleasure craft using the Illinois Waterway vary from sport fishing boats to speedboats and cabin cruisers. Occasionally a big, ocean-going motor yacht, registered to a foreign country and flying a foreign flag locks through, causing a stir among spectators. Radio transmissions between boats and the lock are carried on a public address system for all to hear, adding interest to each locking.