{A9 
 
 
The Historic Kankakee Marshes 
 
                                   By A. E. ANDREWS 
 
 
"M     ARSHES along the 
        Kankakee River            9'HE Kankakee mars 
        formed the last great     CAas a haven for wild 
        wild life refuge of In-   birds visited the huge exp 
diana. These marshes are now      mals, fish and birds enjo 
drainedand. dre throhe   mnost    out the region and spor 
drained and dry through most      journeyed to the famous 
of this year. What once was a     a bit of recreation. Ho 
wilderness for fur, game and      mercialism finally wrou 
fish is now given over to Span-   marsh was drained-rui 
ish n e e d 1 e s and stick-tights.  Now the sportsmen of th 
W h e r e once came President     to reclaim this great area 
Cleveland, General Lew Wal-       dition, It is a worthy u 
lace, a u t h o r of "Ben Hur,"   ceive the support of eve 
                           fe aested in conserving our 
Maurice Thompson, author of       terity.-EDITOR. 
"Alice of Old Vincennes," Em- 
erson Hough, author of "The 
Covered Wagon," and princes 
of Germany to shoot wild fowl and prairie chickens, is now 
not only a wilderness, but a waste. And the Izaak Walton 
League of Indiana has the hope of seeing restored to the 
citizens of the state the Kankakee in some of its old and 
historical glory. 
  This is not merely a state project. Its effect will be even 
international; for, as the breeding grounds of the Saskatch- 
 
 
The Kankakee today-straight as an arrow; interesting as a 
                 ditch--nothing more. 
 
 
                         ewan and Alberta produce game 
 at one time was noted   for the wild fowler of Posey 
'aterfowl. Thousands of  county, Indiana, so would a pro- 
ise every year. Wild ani- duction in the Kankakee relieve 
ed contentment through.  the Canadian provinces and im- 
nen from near and afar      theCadiactions of      ida 
arsh and waters to enjoy prove the attractions of Florida 
ever, the hands of com-  and Louisiana. For wild ducks 
ht destruction and the   are great travelers. 
ng its beauty and value.   To get the story of the Kan- 
middle-west are working  kakee we must think, not only in 
o restore its natural con.  terms of biology, but of geol- 
dertaking and should re- ogy; not in terms of our modern 
man and woman inter-     industrial age, but in terms oJ 
atural heritage for pos- ages; for it is true that the work 
                         that was done by Nature in 
                         thousands of years in the Kan- 
                         kakee was undone by man in 
less that a quarter of a century, and what was intended by 
Nature as a permanent wilderness and wild park has been 
turned into a ruin of weeds and brush by man in his illogical 
efforts to create a garden. 
  In the genesis of the story "the waters of the flood were 
upon the earth." Science says so, and there is the word 
                 (Continued on page 37) 
 
 
One of the old bends in the picturesque Kankakee of yesterday 
                -no, longer in evidence. 
                                              17 
 
 
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