The Chicago Portage archive is available for download as a single .zip file from here. The archive includes copies of The Chicago Portage Ledger, photographs of the site, and the video "Connected Worlds: The Story of the Chicago Portage.
Furthermore, this December, we are launching a new platform for our unique digital collections.
Please take a moment to preview it and let us know what you think!

 

Chicago Portage Days

You can be an Explorer at Chicago Portage Days!
 
Take the Portage Trail... What will you discover?
 
Join a Party of Explorers. Get your orders from the Intendent of New France and set off on the Portage Trail. Follow your guide and meet the first Chicagoan's. Along the way you'll run into the French explorers Joliet, Marquette and LaSalle. Further down the trail you'll meet the French trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable at his work portaging traveller's goods over the Chicago Portage.
 
Have a cup of tea with Mrs Laughton and her guest Juliet Kinzie (daughter in law of John Kinzie) at the Laughton Tavern on the banks of the Des Plaines River. You'll find "The Swiftwalker" Gurdon Hubbard walking the route of the I&M Canal as he explains the hardships of crossing the Chicago Portage in its natural state.
 
At the end of the Portage Trail you may know a bit more about Chicago's early history but you will never forget meeting the extraordinary people who discovered, explored, settled here and began one of the world's greatest cities in a marsh next to an ancient canoe portage.
 
2014 Dates
 
Friday, October 10, 2014 Ottawa Trail Woods, 7200 W 47th St , Lyons, IL School groups only.
Saturday, October 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ottawa Trail Woods, 7200 W 47th St , Lyons, IL
No pre-registration. You must arrive at least 30 minutes before you begin the tour in order to register, pay the admission fee and have time to view the pre-Trail displays.
 
Exploration parties of up to 30 explorers will begin every 15 minutes. Last party leaves at 3pm.
 
Admission by cash only! $7 for adults 18 - 62 $3 for children, students and seniors (Not recommended for children under the age of six or people unable to walk up to a mile on uneven paths.)
Ottawa Trail Woods, 7200 W 47th St , Lyons, IL Enter Ottawa Trail Woods on the west side of Harlem, just north of 47th Street.
 
Chicago Portage Days presentations are designed to complement modules in "Swamp to City" our educational curricula on the early history of Chicago. Chicago Portage Days is primarily an educational event that will be open for school groups on Friday, October 10th. Teachers click here to register.
 
Chicago Portage Days is produced by Friends of the Chicago Portage in partnership with Friends of the Forest Preserves and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County with generous funding from Philip Dowd, and with an initial gift from Kendra Massey in memorial to fellow Friends of the Chicago Portage member Gertrude Novak.