The history of the area encompassing Starved Rock State Park includes the first recorded history of Illinois, as well as the Midwest region surrounding it. The fertile valley carved throughout the centuries by the shimmering Illinois River was tough and untamed- an ideal home for native Americans.
A land of plenty, this region in north-central Illinois was formerly the site of the greatest Indian encampment in the United States. Here, various tribes hunted thundering buffalo herds and struggled for fish in the many streams and rivers. Around campfires, young braves learned of legends from the old and performed ancient dances of war.
Here also, the suffering that follows war lingered in stark contrast to the beautiful valley. The faint and narrow trails were possessed by specters of Indian torture, brutality and hate. Tribes seized from the weak and lost to the strong.
The area of the state park was once home to the awesome confederacy of Illini, composed of the Tamaroas, Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias and Peorias. Together the Indians guarded against invading tribes with fierce pride but, curiously enough, warmly welcomed the French explorers.
The seemingly endless prairies of Illinois attracted the French as wondrous stories of the great Mississippi Valley were recorded as early as 1635. In search of an outlet to the ocean known to be somewhere in the west, French colonization efforts moved in that direction from established settlements in Canada.
Many are the stories of fearless men who dared to enter the province; however, no tales have better stood throughout history more than the adventures of Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette, a priest of the Jesuit Order.
Jolliet, with a powerful need to discover new lands, and Father Marquette, yearning to share the knowledge of the Sacrament with the primitives, embarked toward the new land in 1673. Coasting along the shores of Lake Michigan, these two, accompanied by five fellows Frenchmen, paddled canoes silently between glorious green forests and grassy plains both southward and westward for several months. Crossing the currents of several different rivers-some calm, others turbulent-the explorers journeyed as far south as the Missouri River before retracing their path. Working their paddles against the current, the French party eventually found themselves on the placid Illinois River.
Father Marquette faithfully recorded the sheer wonder of the new land in his daily journal. Wildlife was plentiful. Herds of deer and buffalo were often sighted roaming the nearby hillsides, grazing in the tall prairie grass. Flocks of wild turkeys, chickens and grouse provided shoreline feasts for the weary travelers.
One day, the voyagers discovered the Indian village of La Vamtum, or Kaskaskia as it was later called, and, much to the relief of both Jolliet and Marquette, the natives proved friendly. The encampment, located near the present town of Utica, Illinois, was one mile west of the ancient rock that loomed over the river. After a few days with the tribe, Father Marquette realized that the village was the place where a Christian mission should be built for teaching his God's religion to the untamed Indians. When the party headed north after those few days as guests of the tribe, the priest vowed to himself that he would someday return to the encampment.
Father Marquette did journey back to the Illini village and founded the Mission of the Immaculate Conception in 1675. The missionary, weak from an illness that grew increasingly malignant, pleaded with the savages to accept the rites of Christianity. The chiefs listened with interest. When his illness forced the weak priest to leave the mission, his grateful native friends filled his canoe with gifts and food. He died enroute to Canada.
In 1681, two other famed explorers. La Salle and Tonti, arrived at the Illini village. Impressed by the advantages of the nearby giant rock's natural defensive location and size, the Frenchmen cut away the forest on the summit and constructed a crude fort as a refuge from Indian hostilities. They named it Fort St. Louis, after King Louis XIV. It served as a base for the French territory from Quebec to Louisiana until it was later abandoned and left to decay.
The decades that followed witnessed the French stall plans of any serious colonization and eventually yield the vast area to the advancing English in 1765. The French government's loyal Indian ally, Pontiac, fought viciously against the new English invaders; however, the warrior was cold-bloodedly assassinated through an English-inspired plot thought to have been executed by the Illini confederation.
The Pottawatomi, Kickapoo and Miami tribes sought revenge for Pontiac's murder. Braves painted in the faces of war turned the Illinois Valley bright red with the blood of the Illini men, women and children. The enraged warriors ultimately chased a remnant of the besieged tribe to the top of the huge sandstone rock on the Illinois River.
The rock is a perpendicular mass which rises abruptly from the river bank more than 160 feet. Presenting a formidable appearance from all sides, its lofty summit is more than half an acre in size and, before a narrow staircase was erected centuries later in the 1900s, was nearly inaccessible. The view from the top has changed little through the years. The broad valley and the low, wooded hills were broken only by the glistening river channel flowing westward.
Trapped on the rock's apex, the Illini successfully fought back their assailants many times, throwing their attackers off the precipice. Legend has it that the struggle continued for days with the Illini doing little but watching the enemy camp in the meadow below. With no opportunity to escape, the closely-guarded warriors began to feel the pains of hunger and thirst. Every attempt to raise water from the river below in crude buckskin containers was foiled by their cruel besiegers.
Consequently, the last Illini warriors, weakened by famine, fell to the swinging tomahawks of the ascending allied forces.
Days after the final massacre, traders returning to Canada via the river, stopped to investigate the cloud of birds circling the rock. Approaching the rugged pathway that led to the top, the traders were stunned to find the fresh battleground and bodies. Paddling their canoes northward, they took with them the legend of the dead Illini who were so savagely defeated on the rock.
The sandstone mass now had a name-Starved Rock.
(c) 1998 Starved Rock Camera Co. Photos by Steve Stout. stoutphoto@AOL.com
