The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately 133 miles (214 km) long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Significantly altered from its original channel, it flows through a primarily rural farming region of reclaimed cropland, south of Lake Michigan.
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Kankakee River in the context of Illinois River
The Illinois River (Miami-Illinois: Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately 273 miles (439 km) in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of 28,756.6 square miles (74,479 km). The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers in the Chicago metropolitan area, and it generally flows to the southwest across Illinois, until it empties into the Mississippi near Grafton, Illinois. Its drainage basin extends into southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Indiana, and a very small area of southwestern Michigan in addition to central Illinois. Along its banks are several river ports, including the largest, Peoria, Illinois. Historic and recreation areas on the river include Starved Rock, and the internationally important wetlands of the Emiquon Complex and Dixon Waterfowl Refuge.
The river was important among Native Americans and French traders as the principal water route connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. The French colonial settlements along these rivers formed the heart of the area known as the Illinois Country in the 17th and 18th centuries. After the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Hennepin Canal in the 19th century, the role of the river as link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi was extended into the era of modern industrial shipping. The Illinois now forms the basis for the Illinois Waterway, extending the river's capabilities for navigation and commercial shipping.
Kankakee River in the context of Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River (/dɪsˈpleɪnz/ diss-PLAYNZ) (French: Rivière des Plaines) is a river that flows southward for 133 miles (214 km) through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in the United States Midwest, eventually meeting the Kankakee River west of Channahon to form the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi River.
Native Americans used the river as transportation route and portage. When French explorers and missionaries arrived in the 1600s, in what was then the Illinois Country of New France, they named the waterway La Rivière des Plaines (River of the Plains). The local Native Americans showed these early European explorers how to traverse waterways of the Des Plaines watershed to travel from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River and its valley.
Kankakee River in the context of Kankakee River State Park
Kankakee River State Park is an Illinois state park on 4,000 acres (1,619 ha) primarily in Kankakee and Will Counties, Illinois, United States. Originally, 35 acres (14 ha) of land was donated by Ethel Sturges Dummer for the creation of the state park in 1938. Another 1,715 acres (694 ha) was donated by Commonwealth Edison in 1956, which again donated more land in 1989. The islands of Smith, Hoffman, Langham, and Willow are all located inside the park on the Kankakee River.