Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer now available from Eckhartz Press

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Pat Camalliere

I’m so happy to be able to tell you that you can now order Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer, through Eckhartz Press! The QR code at the bottom of the page will take you right to the order page. You can also browse other books available from Eckhartz Press, who specializes in books related to Chicago.

Also happy to say that I have been interviewed by local author David W. Berner for The Writer Shed. Dave is a multiple award-winning author of books of memoir, fiction, creative nonfiction, short stories and poetry. His most recent book is Daylight Saving Time. If you haven’t read his books, you should! You can find more information at his website, www.davidwberner.com or visit him at The Writer Shed.

Interview: David W. Berner, The Writer Shed

Pat Camalliere is the author of The Cora Tozzi Historical Mystery Series. She has lived in the Chicago area all her life and became intrigued by the unusual, sometimes mysterious region along the Des Plaines River Valley and Sag Valley in the Southwest suburbs of Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties in the Greater Chicagoland area. She began writing historical mysteries set in this locale, finding that a hint of the paranormal fit perfectly into the setting for the stories she wanted to tell.

Her new memoir is a remarkable story of survival. The Writer Shed recently asked her seven questions about writing the very personal and important story, Staying Alive is a Lot of Work.

Why write a book that for many would appear to be a difficult endeavor, considering how personal and how troubling your health scare had been?

I spent forty years of my life as a health care administrator. My job was to make sure the physicians and support staff at Rush Medical Center provided the best care possible. Much of this was for cancer patients. I had direct contact helping patients in this position. After I experienced cancer myself, I was in a unique position. I knew cancer from both sides, I knew the concerns of both patients and medical staff, and I knew the lingo and how to translate that for non-medical people. I was also a published writer who knew how to tell a story. I knew the enormity of cancer. in my mind everything I stood for lifelong was at stake. If I could help others through what I went through, I had to do it.

What did you learn about yourself and about others through this experience?

No matter how much I thought I knew, I didn’t really know until I faced the experience. It’s hard for someone who has been in a leadership position to know when to make their own decisions and when to let professionals do what they do. I was grateful that I had worked at Rush and had complete trust in my medical team. Modern treatment methods are amazing, but not an exact science. There were surprises along the way. Try as I might, I couldn’t be prepared for everything that occurred. The main reason I wrote the memoir was to help prepare others.

What do you hope this book will do for those who read it?

Cancer is unique in that most cancer patients feel well when they start treatment. it’s hard to convince yourself that you really need to do this. You must be a strong participant and stick with the program, which is not easy. But the more you do proactively, the more you cooperate, the easier it will be, not only during treatment, but during recovery, and years later. I hope my story informs and inspires others and gives them practical tools to ease their cancer course.

What would you tell anyone who faces a cancer diagnosis?

Develop confidence in your medical team but also in yourself. Don’t feel ashamed to ask for help or to discuss your fears. There are a lot of people who want to help you, including not only your medical team, but your family and your friends. There are a lot of support groups for people who do not have family or friends, and for those who need the companionship of others in similar situations. Most of these groups are free, and some now offer virtual programs for those who are too ill or who find in-person meetings inconvenient.

The book’s title suggests how difficult this journey has been for you. How do you think being honest has impacted you?

It was a lesson learned! The fears that came to mind at the beginning were fear of pain, of sickness, and of death. Once I resolved those issues in my mind and determined to survive, the surprise was how overwhelming treating cancer is. There were months of very hard work, leaving time for little else. It was not all pain and sickness. It was fatigue because of how much I needed to do in order to not only survive but to minimize the effects that were taking place as a result of my treatment.

The book claims to “demystify the day-to-day struggles” of a cancer diagnosis. What do you mean by this?

That’s a good question. What I’m trying to say is that cancer is not what you expect it to be. Every day will change as different effects take place when your body fights not only your disease but the treatment itself. This is why in my memoir I took pains to explain what happens and what to do about it in a chronological way, and also gave the same information about groups of symptoms. This makes it easier for patients to find their particular problems, and gives them, their caregivers, and those who love them a tool to see where they are at any given time and what to do about it.

You obviously hope your book will benefit other cancer patients and their families, but can you tell us how sharing this story benefited you?

Well, it’s actually the third time I’ve written it. The first time I wrote a blog as I was going through treatment and early recovery. That was very cathartic. It forced me to understand and describe objectively what was happening in real time. It also kept me to a schedule, committing to weekly updates. One tends to feel useless when under treatment. There was satisfaction not only in having accomplished something worthwhile but in the thanks I received from people my words helped.

The second time I included some portions of my journey in my historical mystery novel, The Miracle at Assisi Hill. Through my main character, I based events in the book on some of my cancer journey and described how cancer affected my character’s life emotionally and religiously some years later.

Then I finished what I had wanted to do from the beginning — write a memoir to provide a tool to help others with a similar disease. Unlike other forms of cancer, there is not much written about head and neck cancer. Many head and neck cancers are curable, but the treatment is tough. I wanted to be sure people knew that it was worth going through that treatment and how to make it most effective for them. There is no greater satisfaction than knowing what you have done makes a difference.

Staying Alive is a Lot of Work is in some respects a how-to manual about surviving cancer. But it is also a memoir about one person’s journey. Throughout are snippets of my life as it was before cancer, reminding readers that this experience happened to a real person searching for strength to face challenges. In the words of E. L. Doctorow, “The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” In my opinion, the author of a memoir does both.

Staying Alive is a Lot of Work is available now from Eckhartz Press. This QR code will take you to the site.

David W. Berner is the author of several books of award-winning fiction and memoir. His latest, Daylight Saving Time: The power of growing older is available now. His novella, American Moon will be published by Regal House Publishing in 2026.

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New Memoir Will Be Available Soon

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Pat Camalliere

You are receiving this notice for one of two reasons: You are one of my blog subscribers, or you have met me at a recent event and asked to be notified when my memoir is available. That day is fast approaching!

Since I last posted to my blog, I have been using every spare moment writing this memoir, a project that is very important to me. I hope my new book will be very important to many people.

Some of you may remember that in 2018 I talked about my cancer in a series of blogs titled “My Personal Journey Through Head and Neck Cancer.” That series was important to me when I wrote it. In many ways it helped me live through a very difficult period. From the many responses I received at the time, I know that my words were helpful to many of you and that you shared the posts with others.

Since that time, I have been feeling guilty that I didn’t do more. My experience was an important story that could help people on their cancer journeys. It could help people who loved and cared for them. It could help people who treat cancer patients. And, as I saw it, there were three reasons I was the right person to tell the story:

  1. I had forty years of experience in health care, often bridging the span between patients and their medical providers.
  2. I knew firsthand what it was like to experience tongue cancer.
  3. I was a successful writer who knew how to best tell the story.

I sat down to write that story a couple of years ago, but I wimped out—instead of the actual detailed story of my cancer, I wrote a fictional story in which my main character suffered the same disease I went through. That book became The Miracle at Assisi Hill, and I think it’s a good story. It told about the effects cancer has on one’s life.

But it didn’t tell in detail what happens to a cancer patient and how to cope. It didn’t give the little tips that gets one through the treatment, recovery, and late effects of cancer. It didn’t show the day to day, step by step process. It didn’t show the enormity of cancer.

That story is memoir. And that is why I didn’t want to slow the writing of that story by taking time to create new blog posts.

Now, I am happy to tell you, Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer, is about to be published by Eckhartz Press. Very soon we will “Go To Press!”

Perhaps you know some people who have cancer. Perhaps you know people who treat patients with cancer. Perhaps, sadly, you have had cancer yourself. Or maybe you just like a good memoir about survival. This book is for those people. I wanted you to know so you can pass the word to them. You can expect in the near future an announcement that my memoir is at long last available, and where you can order it.

I might also add that staying alive is a lot of work, and not only that, but writing Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer, was also a lot of work! But it is my gift to you and to the world.

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For Halloween: The Ghosts of the Quarries!

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
Consumers Quarry in Lemont during operation.
The date is in the 1890s.
Photo courtesy of the Lemont Area Historical Society.

Halloween is almost here! A good time to rell you about the Ghosts of the Quarries!

Ghost hunters sometimes describe a phenomenon called the “stone tape theory.” The theory proposes that certain rocks have the ability to imprint—or “record” —energy and store images and events from the past. In other words, an event imprints itself on the environment where it took place, the rocks capture the energy like a big magnet or battery, much the same as film or magnetic tape records and replays voice or images. The energy remains but in changed form, and could discharge, or “replay” itself as a psychic impression at any time. The impression might be visual, or sounds, smells, tastes, even touches—how creepy that is! The rocks could hold this potential for years, decades, even centuries.

Emotional or traumatic events are most likely to be captured, due to the high energy generated when such events took place. This phenomenon could be experienced by anyone, but especially by people who are more sensitive to psychic phenomena.

These episodes are especially notable in areas where there are large deposits of limestone. One possible explanation for this is that the chemical makeup of limestone is similar to that of magnetic recording tape, and therefore is prone to being imprinted, thus capturing and storing activity. Another theory is that the chemical make-up of limestone is prone to drawing, storing and releasing electromagnetic fields (EMF) on which “hauntings” depend, thus enhancing activity that happens in the proximity.

I am neither a geologist nor a paranormal investigator. The point is that regardless of whether one believes in the ability of stone to capture impressions or be used as an energy source for paranormal activity—regardless of the science—there is some documentation that paranormal activity is reported more frequently in areas where there are large amounts of limestone.

Such as the quarries in and near Lemont.

The stone that exists in the Lemont-Joliet region is dolomite limestone with a high crystalline structure. This adds credence to the electromagnetic field theory—should you choose to believe that.
 
Here are some of the stories reported near Lemont quarries:
 
Archer Avenue, said to be one of the most haunted roads in America, runs diagonally from one end of Lemont to the other, passing many quarries. Archer is the site of numerous ghost tales.

Perhaps must famous is Resurrection Mary, the vanishing hitchhiker who haunts Archer Avenue between the Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery, since 1939 and until the present. The Willowbrook Ballroom mysteriously burned down on October 28, 2016, three days before Halloween.

St. James at Sag Bridge, a Mission Church and Cemetery in the Palos Forests on Archer, has had a number of ghosts reported in its long history.

American Indians lived in the area since before Columbus; remnants of their villages have been found in the Des Plaines and Sag valleys on either side of St. James. One could surmise that such burials, combined with the underlying beds of local limestone so close to the surface, could account for some of the tales of Indians on horseback being seen in the area long after the tribes had moved to western states.
 
In 1897, the skeletons of nine Indians were dug up near the quarries, followed by a rash of reported hauntings: phantom Indians on horseback riding through the town at night and other visions of roaming spirits. Fearing the hauntings were due to disturbing the skeletons, residents demanded they be reburied. Some were reinterred, but some ended up at the Field Museum in Chicago.

This gave rise to further reports of mysterious disappearing monks, a glowing infant’s casket, and the ground in St. James Cemetery rising and falling as if the earth were breathing.

The most repeated sighting at St. James is of a horse and wagon and a woman in white who gallop past the church and then disappear. The church, sitting on a hill surrounded by cemetery and forest, is made of limestone, which came from quarries at the base of the hill on which it stands. It has a peaceful, but eerie, atmosphere even during the day.

Aside from the stone itself, it is known that many Irish-American canal workers died from disease, poor living and working conditions, and violence in the 1840s when the I and M Canal was being built; later quarry workers shared the same conditions and fate. Many were buried at St. James at Sag Bridge, but it is said that, due to poverty, some of the deceased were cremated and their ashes scattered over the quarries. Most people who believe in the supernatural will say that people who had violent or untimely deaths are more likely to remain as spirits. And the stone tape theory states that violent experiences are those most likely to be captured.

Not far away is Bachelors Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, Illinois. This cemetery continues to mystify visitors with an astounding variety of paranormal experiences: ghosts, lights, mystery houses, disorientation, electronic and automotive malfunctions, among others. It is one of the most haunted spots in the Chicago area. The cemetery is located beside a quarry.

The theory pertains to stone even after it was removed from its quarry. Cut stone was used in buildings that seemed to retain paranormal potential. Stories abound locally of paranormal activity in and around homes and forests in and near Lemont, especially those that are built with stone from the local quarries.

Chicago’s Water Tower on North Michigan Avenue is constructed of stone quarried in Lemont. Stories are told of the ghost of the “Hanging Man,” seen in one of the tower windows, and thought to be that of the “Lone Pumpman,”—the only worker who stayed behind during the Great Fire of 1871.
 
Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago is another building made from Lemont stone. In 1924, Chicago Gang boss Dion O’Banion was shot and killed in the flower shop he owned directly across the street from Holy Name, reportedly on the orders of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. Bullets from the ambush lodged in the cornerstone of Holy Name and it is reported that despite numerous attempts to patch the holes they continue to reappear.
 
I’m not going to ask you to believe in the Stone Tape Theory or that Lemont stone caused all of this—that’s up to you. After all, the area has also from its beginning been the home of many Irish, who have been known to tell a tale or two….

Icebox Quarry, Lemont, Illinois. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was dug through limestone, and after the canal opened in 1848 business owners in Lemont turned to quarrying stone. In the early 1900s the stone’s popularity started to wane and eventually quarries were abandoned. The quarries eventually filled, and during the forties and fifties became popular swimming holes. Due to a number of drownings, swimming is no longer allowed, but the quarries are open today for fishing, kayaking, and scenic hiking.
Photo compliments of the Lemont Area Historical Society.
News

In November you will find me at the following events:

November 4, 11 am to 3 pm – Tinley Park Library Local Author Expo

November 12, Sunday, at 2 pm – The Lemont Historical Society
I’ll be lecturing on Taming of the Wilderness, a talk about the earliest people to live in Northern Illinois and how this part of the state was surveyed for purchase. This is a free event!

November 18, Saturday, from 10 am to 2 pm – Heritage Day at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, presented by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

November 25, Saturday, from 10 am to 5 pm – Independent’s Day Author Fair at Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore in Forest Park.

I will be signing my books at all events, and hope you will stop by and say hello! 

To check out where you can find me visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/.


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Submarines on the Chicago Sanitary Canal – No kidding!

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
WWII Submarine in floating dry dock at Lockport, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Photo courtesy Gary Ward and the Lockport Historical Society, ca 1943.

My last post revealed some amazing information about the building of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. If you missed that post, you can read it here: The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal | Pat Camalliere – The Cora Tozzi Historical Mystery Series (patcamallierebooks.com)

But one of the most amazing stories, that few people knew about even at the time, happened during World War II when submarines traveled down the canal.

Back in my high school days, teenagers would brag about going to watch “submarine races” with their date. By this they meant they went “necking”. After you read this post you may wonder if this occurrence is how that old saying got started. I’m talking today about real United States World War II submarines traveling down the Sanitary Canal.

In 1940, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin was commissioned to construct submarines by the U. S. Navy for use in WWII. The company, that had never built a submarine before, completed the first sub 228 days ahead of schedule, and promptly was awarded additional contracts. Working around the clock, 365 days a year, more than 7000 men and women built some of the best submarines in the Navy.

By the end of the war, twenty-eight of Manitowoc’s Freshwater Submarines were constructed, at a cost of more than $5,000,000 LESS than the contract price. That’s pretty impressive when one thinks about defense spending in recent years. Perhaps, since the company was new at the submarine business, they didn’t realize it was supposed to take longer and cost more.

The subs were tested in Lake Michigan, a process referred to as “shakedown training”, to be sure they were fit for service. The next step was a difficult one. They had a sub ready to go, but how were they going to get the subs from Lake Michigan to sea? Travel on the Great Lakes wasn’t the answer because the St. Lawrence Seaway had not been opened yet.

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the engineering marvel that had been constructed forty years before, provided the answer. The subs had a draft of 15 feet, and both the Chicago River and Sanitary Canal could well handle that. Not to imply the process was clear sailing (forgive the pun, please!). Here’s how the trip was accomplished:

Periscopes and radar masks were removed in order to clear bridges. One railroad bridge at Western Avenue remained too low for passage of the subs. The Navy paid for lift machinery to elevate the bridge so the subs could clear. The subs then traveled down the canal to Lockport, where they were loaded onto a floating dry dock (or barge) for the remainder of the trip down the Illinois River, towed by the tugboat Minnesota, through the 9-foot-deep Chain of Rocks Channel at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans. There the periscopes and radar masts were reinstalled.

Residents turned out to stand along the sides of the canal and watch submarines travel down the canal to war. So if you run across an oldster from one of our canal towns who talks about watching submarines on the sanitary canal during “the war”, he or she is not inventing a story to impress you, but describing a truly rare event.

The Manitowoc-built submarines were the only submarines built at a freshwater port. Of the twenty-eight subs built there, twenty-five saw action during the war. They were responsible for sinking 132 Japanese ships. Four of the Manitowoc subs were lost at sea.

One of the lost subs was the USS Lagarto, the 21st sub built in Manitowoc. The Lagarto and her crew of eighty-six men was attacked by an enemy ship on May 3, 1945, during her second war patrol, and never heard from again. The wreck was not discovered until sixty years later, May 2005, in the Gulf of Thailand. The story was the subject of an Enny-Award-winning documentary, Lost and Found: The Search for USS Lagarto.

The USS Lagarto – photo courtesy of The Wisconsin Maritime Museum

The wreck of the USS Robalo, the 9th Manotowoc sub built, was not found until May of 2019. She had been commissioned in September of 1943 and sent to the Pacific. On June 22, 1944, on her 3rd war patrol, she left Fremantle, Australia. On July 26 she was sunk near the Philippines, believed to have struck an enemy mine. Four crewmen were able to escape and swim to shore. However, they were captured by the Japanese and never heard from again.

Two other Manitowoc subs lost at sea, and not yet found, were the USS Golet and the USS Kete.

This article was originally posted in June of 2015 and updated today. My thanks to Gary Ward and Candace Hrpcha from the Lockport Historical Society for assistance with the original article. If you have further interest, I suggest you visit the website of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Wisconsin Maritime Museum You might even be inspired to arrange an overnight stay on a submarine!

News

August was a fun, and busy, month. I gave lectures at the Homer Glen Library, The Lisle Library, and Oak Trace Senior Living. Also participated in Author Fairs at the Oak Lawn and Elmhurst Libraries.

September started with one of my favorite annual events, A River Thru History in Willow Springs. This rendezvous-style event is always great fun, and I enjoyed telling children about what it’s like to be a writer, as well as speaking about settlement and surveying of the Chicago area. And, as always, it’s great to spend time with old friends and make new ones.

Still coming up this month I’ll be talking about:
     The Lost Town of Sag Bridge at the Acorn Library in Oak Forest at 7 pm on Wednesday, September 20.
     Sister Jeanne Marie and I will be talking about the life of saint-to-be Mother Mary Theresa Dudzik, the main historical character in The Miracle at Assisi Hill. That will be at the Lemont Library on Sunday, September 24 at 2 pm.
     Will also be giving my Hidden Gems Road Trip on Thursday night, September 28, at 7 pm at the Harwood Heights Library.

All the lectures above are free, but please reserve your space on the library’s website so the library knows how to prepare. Thank you!

I’ve been so pleased at the great turn-outs  at my appearances and hope to get a chance to say hello to more of you this month!

I will be signing books at all events. To check out where you can find me visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/.

Posted in General History, Illinois History, Lemont History, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Submarines on the Chicago Sanitary Canal – No kidding!

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
Sanitary Canal at Lemont, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Lemont Area Historical Society.

In last month’s blog, I spoke about the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and its tremendous importance to not only the Chicago area and Illinois, but to the opening to settlement of the entire United States west of the Eastern States. If you missed that article, you can read it here: 

https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2023/07/illinois-and-michigan-canal-celebrates-175th-anniversary/.

After the canal opened, Lemont was not through with building canals. As early as 1862 engineers recognized that low water level in the canal and pollution from the Chicago River were causing problems. Homes, farms, the stockyards, and other industries dumped waste into the Chicago River. Stagnant water in the canal emitted a foul odor and disease, especially fear of cholera, became of great concern. In addition, the canal was dependent upon the level of water in the Chicago River and surface water runoff to keep it navigable.

At that time, the Chicago River flowed into Lake Michigan and carried unsanitary sewage and filth not only into the I&M Canal but into Chicago’s Lake Michigan water supply. This was not good.

Reengineering was stalled, at first due to the Civil War, then by attempts that failed to correct the problems. In 1885 heavy rainfall carried sewage and storm water into the lake and caused a major typhoid epidemic.

But something had to be done. A better canal was needed. The Chicago Sanitary District was created in 1889 to solve the problem.

The proposed solution was extensive and revolutionary: move the Des Plaines River to the north side of the valley and dig a deeper channel in the old riverbed, routing the Chicago River into a new canal with a system of locks to the Des Plaines River at Lockport. This would reverse the flow of the Chicago River from east into Lake Michigan, to west into the canal.

And the canal was huge. It ran 28 miles from Chicago to Lockport, averaging 150 feet wide and 22 feet deep. It took 8500 men and an assortment of newly designed machines to remove 29 million cubic yards of soil and 12 million cubic yards of rock. In comparison, the I & M Canal was 60 wide and 6 feet deep, and the Suez Canal is 82 feet wide. The machines and techniques developed to construct the Sanitary Canal were used to train people who constructed the Panama Canal some years later.

Designing the new canal occurred at the same time as Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, and the country, indeed the world, was in the midst of an age of technology; the automobile had been invented but was not yet in general use.

On September 3, 1892, construction began. The portion of the Sanitary Ship Canal through Lemont was especially challenging, as it ran through a rock base. Earlier canals, such as the Suez, had been cut through sand or earth. But Lemont, with its experienced quarry workers, was up to the task. Years of quarrying in the area had changed the technology from work done by hand to the development of such machinery as steam shovels, conveyors, grading machines, and every known apparatus for excavating and removing rock.

Lemont’s experience not only made the construction of the Sanitary Ship Canal possible, but its updated machinery and techniques were later used to build the Panama Canal that followed in 1904 and was finished ten years later. The equipment, adapted from quarry operations but newly designed for this project, was remarkable, including a grading machine pulled by 16 horses, fifty steam shovels, and a dredge 23 feet wide and 50 feet long. The picture below shows the capacity of a large crane basket, in this case filled with tourists rather than stone. The dog is a nice touch.

Dignitaries riding in stone basket 90 feet above floor of Sanitary Canal during construction.

Nothing like this had ever been done. So massive was the project that it was jokingly referred to as the “Chicago School of Earth Moving.”

The project was such a remarkable event that it attracted tourists. The Chicago and Alton Railroad published a brochure and ran excursion trains to the site to witness a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see “…the most stupendous and miraculous example of canal construction and channeling which the word has ever known…” People on the tour were encouraged to get off at any of six train stops, walk around the sites and machinery, and bargain for fossils, which were plentiful in the exposed stone walls.

The Lemont section of the canal was finished about 1896, and the canal opened on January 2, 1900. The terminus is Bear Trap Dam, now called the Lockport Dam, which regulates the flow of the canal into the Des Plaines River. It is the only shipping link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, and is still in continuous operation today, moving millions of tons of iron ore, grain, and other cargo totaling more thatn$1.5 billion annually.

My blog in March told an amusing story about Admiral Dewey and the Battle of the Sanitary Canal. If you missed it, you can read it here:

https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2023/03/admiral-dewey-and-the-battle-of-the-sanitary-canal/

The I & M Canal did not officially close until 1933. Today remnants of it remain. Lemont has well developed walking and biking trails extending from its historical downtown area both east and west along the canal, which also travel past picturesque old quarries.

The entire length of the old canal was designated in 1984 as the nation’s first National Heritage Corridor. The canal and towpath have been improved to support trails and activities in towns along the length of the canal. This year the canal celebrates its 175th anniversary. It’s a great summer to visit. You can get further information here:

www.iandmcanal.org.

Lockport Lock and Dam. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
News

July was a great month! Thanks to those who came to Green Hills Library to hear my “Hidden Gems” lecture, and to the large group who joined the Canal Corridor Book Club talk and tour at St. James at Sag Bridge. I had a great time and hope you all did as well!

August started off with a discussion with the Du Page Forest Preserve Book Club at the Mayslake-Peabody Mansion. 

This week you can catch me at the Homer Glen Library on August 11 at 1 p.m. I’ll be talking about “The Lost Town of Sag Bridge.” Registration is open for this free lecture. Here’s the link:
https://www.homerlibrary.org/event/lost-town-sag-bridge

August 16, Wednesday night from 6-8 p.m. I’ll be participating in Oak Lawn Library’s Author Showcase. No registration required, just stop in and greet the many authors participating. All of us will will be happy to talk with you.

On August 17 at 2 p.m. I’ll be giving my “Hidden Gems Roadtrip” at the Lisle Library. Free, but registration needed for this one, and here’s the link:https://lislelibrary.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=32127&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2023/08/06

August 19 I’ll be at the Local Author Fair begin held at the Elmhurst Public Library from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

I’ve been so pleased at the great turn-outs at my appearances and hope to get a chance to say hello to more of you this month!

I will be signing books at all events. To check out where you can find me visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/.    
I invite you to visit my web site,

www.Patcamallierebooks.com

The Miracle at Assisi Hill
My new release is now available at Smokey Row Antiques in downtown Lemont, Centuries and Sleuths in Forest Park, and Andersons Bookshops (Downers Grove only). As with my other books, you can also get all my books at Amazon.com, in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle. Ebooks are also available as Kindle unlimited.

Here’s the Amazon link:

 https://www.amazon.com/Books-Pat-Camalliere/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3APat+Camalliere 
 So excited about the lovely professional reviews I’ve been receiving for The Miracle at Assisi Hill!  Here’s a review received from Midwest Review, by Senior Reviewer D. Donovan 
 
Pat Camalliere’s special brand of investigation of psychological and mystery matters is simply delightful, between its focus on Cora’s life and ongoing spiritual questions and the dilemmas faced by a woman destined to become a saint.

Between the health conundrums Cora faces with her husband Cisco’s startling mental health decline in the face of physical illness to subplots of ghost lore, Native American history and tribal interests, and miracles that portend religious revelations, the story is much more than either a mystery or a Christian examination, but a multifaceted production that draws on various levels.

It’s rare to see a novel as accessible to a wide audience of readers as it is to genre mystery followers or fans of Christian fiction. Camalliere creates a memorable story that resonates on more than one level, offering a draw that invites religious introspection as well as moral and ethical examination.

Another important note to know about its creation: the Sister who is presently in charge of the canonization process for Mother Mary Theresa participated in the editing of this book to ensure its historical and Catholic authenticity.

The Miracle at Assisi Hill is thus highly recommended not just for libraries seeking genre mysteries that stand out, or for Christian collections seeking fiction that invites thought and discussion, but for general-interest readers who will find Cora’s dilemmas and revelations about life, death, and what lies between are both intriguing and thoroughly engrossing.
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Illinois and Michigan Canal Celebrates 175th Anniversary.

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
This picture shows the I & M Canal in the foreground at Lemont, with Lemont quarries in the background. Walking and bicycle trails are on both sides of the canal.

In April of 1848, the I & M Canal officially opened. From April of 2023 through March of 2024, the I & M Canal Corridor Association is having a year-long celebration of this event.
 
Why should you know about the I & M Canal? The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, that connected Lake Michigan to the Illinois River, was responsible for not only turning Chicago into a major metropolitan area, but for opening inland transportation by an all-water route from the East Coast of the United States throughout the rest of the continent by way of tributaries of the Mississippi River. Before this route was available, there was little incentive to settle the country, because there was no practical way to transport goods. Why would anyone farm here, or bring merchandise or services to sell, when so few people lived beyond the eastern states, and there was no way to move your product to where people were?
 
As early as 1673, Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, and his partner, Louis Jolliet, a fur trader, explored the area between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The Potawatomi who lived here at that time told of a route to Lake Michigan through a swampy area called Mud Lake. This route connected the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers except for a short portage. After making the trip, Father Marquette realized that a canal connecting the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers would open the entire North American interior to transportation.
 
Based on Marquette’s information, the United States government had long planned to construct the canal. Those plans were taken into consideration when negotiating treaties with the native population and when laying out state borders. It wasn’t until 1822 that construction of the canal was authorized by Congress. The canal was avidly supported by then-Congressman Abraham Lincoln, and after a series of delays to capitalize the project and develop supply routes, construction began when the first shovel of dirt was symbolically removed on July 4, 1936.
 
The first supply road to be laid out was Archer Avenue, which still exists today. Archer followed an old Indian trail that did not make it necessary to cross any bodies of water to reach Lake Michigan. The road was named for Colonel William Archer, who was a canal commissioner. Colonel Archer also had extensive property in the area and clearly benefited personally from the road, which caused some dissention at the time.
 
Completion of the road resulted in fierce competition from farmers who wanted to purchase land along the crucial roadway. They knew that, although completion of the canal was still a long way off, there would be a demand to supply food for canal workers, and the land would mushroom in value once the canal was finished.
 
In 1848, the completed canal ran ninety-six miles from the Chicago River at Bridgeport to the Illinois River at LaSalle. It was sixty feet wide and six feet deep, with a total drop of one hundred forty feet from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. This drop made it necessary to construct seventeen locks and four aqueducts.
 
A canal, unlike a river or stream, is not a moving body of water with flowing currents. It is more of a man-made tube that requires water to be fed into it. But what happens when the path of that canal encounters another body of water? In order to ensure that the water is not diverted, a water bridge, or aqueduct, must be constructed to carry the water over the river or creek.
 
Also, since canals have very little current to carry vessels, towpaths were laid out along the entire length of the canal for mules to pull barges from place to place, in either direction. Towns were laid out along the way at intervals the mules could easily traverse and as rest stops.
 
Canal boats and barges carried cargoes of lumber, grain, corn, and stone, as well as passengers and their belongings. Limited merchandise and supplies could be obtained at the rest stops, which also probably had a saloon or two.
 
Travel by canal did not break any speed records. The average rate of travel was about three miles per hour, and that was providing there was sufficient water in the canal. Passengers, tired of sitting for long periods, often got out to stretch their legs, walking along the towpath with the mule. Some just enjoyed a chance to rest and watch the peaceful scenery pass slowly before their eyes.
 
In 1840, prior to the opening of the I & M Canal, the population of Chicago was 4,470. Ten years later, in 1850, just two years after the canal opened, Chicago’s population was 29,963. By 1860 the population had grown dramatically to 112,172, and Chicago had become a major industrial center.
 
Today, the I & M Canal no longer transports merchandise. On August 24, 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated the entire length of the canal and its environs as the country’s first National Heritage Corridor. This was a new kind of national park, one that would combine preservation, conservation, recreation, and economic development. Since then, the canal and towpath have been improved to support recreational trails, and towns along its length provide food, lodging, activities, and events throughout the year, and especially during the current 175th anniversary celebration.
 
If this history has piqued your interest, visit the Canal Corridor Association’s website at www.iandmcanal.org. There you will find history, stories, maps, and events all along the canal.
 
Or, why not drive out to LaSalle, enjoy the Visitor’s Center at Lock 16, and take your family on a mule-drawn canal boat ride, watching the peaceful scenery pass before your eyes, just as our early settlers did. There’s even an aqueduct nearby. It’s not only informative and relaxing but will be a treasured memory.
 
Or just park your car anywhere along the route and step into the past as you stroll along the quiet and often scenic canal.

This is one of the aqueducts on the I & M Canal.
Photo is courtesy of the Sanitary District of Chicago.
News

I’d like to invite everyone to a fun event that is being sponsored by the I&M Corridor Association and hosted by St. James at Sag Bridge!

It will take place at St. James, 10600 S. Archer, on Tuesday evening, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. The evening will begin with a tour of St. James Mission, and we will then assemble in Sag Hall for a discussion of The Mystery at Sag Bridge, Q&A, and light refreshments. 

If you have read the book, can read it by July 18, or just want to come out to meet me and hear others discuss the book, please come!

To register, call Sue Roy at (630)888-5259 or email her at Susanroy5753@gmail.com.

There will be more Local Author Book Discussions sponsored by the Canal Corridor Association at other locations, so watch my emails for further details!

On July 11 at 6:30 pm  I’ll be talking about “Hidden Gems Road Trip” at the Green Hills Library in Palos Hills. Here’s the link for more information, or to register. If you haven’t heard this talk yet, come on out! It’s a fun trip: 
Hidden Gems Road Trip* | Demco Software (evanced.info)

On June 28 I was interviewed for a You Tube documentary titled “Welcome Home to Lemont”.

I will be signing books at all events. To check out more of my appearances, visit my website events page at:
 https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/ 

The Village of Lemont commissioned me to write an article titled “Lemont at 150 Years: Yesterday and Today.” If you didn’t get a copy, you can download one here; 
About | Lemont150.com 
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The Des Plaines River

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
This picture of the Des Plaines River was taken from the south bank in the fall of 2014. You can see the hillocks, calm flow, and low banks of the river at this time of year, compared to how the river would appear after heavy rain.

I get excited when I talk about Lemont’s waterways, because they are so important not only to the growth of Chicago, but to westward expansion across the entire continent. The only place all these important waterways come together is Lemont.

Today’s article is about the Des Plaines River, which was created some 13,000 years ago when a break in the Valparaiso glacial moraine channeled glacial melt waters from ancient Lake Chicago (later a smaller Lake Michigan) and formed the Des Plaines River Valley.

This was important because thousands of years later when men traveled the wilderness of Illinois, the river provided a route that connected the Great Lakes to the Illinois River, and from there into the Mississippi River.

Long before men built canals to improve the transportation route, there was the Des Plaines River, running through the Des Plaines River Valley, and creating bluffs that are unique to the Chicago area, as well as the only canyon in Cook County, Sagawau Canyon off Route 83 near Route 171. Native Americans made their villages along the river, notably the Potawatomi, the predominant tribe when the first white men came to the area.

Potawatomi and other Native American tribes depended on rivers not only for food and water, but as the primary way of getting quickly from one place to another, by canoe. Although Indian trails existed, these were not as convenient nor as fast as rivers and streams. The Des Plaines River was heavily traveled, as it connected south and west to the Illinois River, flowing into the Mississippi and to the Gulf of Mexico, and north and east it connected, after only a short portage (short land area between two waterways) to the Chicago River, then to Lake Michigan, to the Saint Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean.

This was not a perfect system. The Des Plaines River was greatly affected by seasonal, climatic, and weather changes. In the spring or during heavy rains, the river rose up to twenty feet, flooded its banks and became a raging torrent that was difficult to navigate. In the summer it dried up to the point that it became unnavigable swampland, full of mosquitoes and disease. In the winter it froze with treacherous mushy spots, making it unfit for either canoe or foot travel. Despite that, the natives learned the moods of the river and how to profit from them.

When Father Marquette explored this area in 1674, he is said to have stayed at or near what is today Saint James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church, off Route 171 near Route 83. Can you picture him, standing on a bluff overlooking both the Des Plaines River Valley and the Sag Valley, having been shown by local Indians the portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines, and conceiving of an idea to build a canal to create a water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico?

Father Marquette’s idea refused to die, but it was not until 1822 that the federal government finally set aside land for the creation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which would link the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan, and not until 1836 that sufficient funds were found to break ground. Lemont would become a major player in its construction.

Native Americans called the Des Plaines River She-shick-ma-wish-sip-pe, or “soft maple tree river.” I for one am glad that name didn’t stick. Most of the earliest non-native explorers spoke French, and historians propose the river was named after the plaine tree, a type of maple that lined the banks of the river. I would suggest another possibility, based on the experience of our old friend Father Marquette. I use the word “old” meaning that we are long familiar with him, not that he was aged, as he died just shy of his 38th birthday, on May 18, 1675, not long after the experience below.
 
Father Marquette well knew the river’s reputation for overflowing its banks, and in 1675 recorded this experience:

“On the 28th (March 28, 1675) the ice broke up, and stopped above us. On the 29th, the waters rose so high that we had barely time to decamp as fast as possible, putting our goods in the trees, and trying to sleep on a hillock. The water gained on us nearly all night, but there was a slight freeze, and the water fell a little, while we were near our packages. The barrier has just broken, the ice has drifted away; and, because the water is already rising, we are about to embark to continue our journey… (March 31). The very high lands alone are not flooded. At the place where we are, the water has risen more than twelve feet.”

A French word for “high water” is “plein”. I don’t know about you, but I like this story better than a “plaine” old maple tree, as it gives the river credit for its troublesome behavior. Take your pick.

Do any of you still remember the days before refrigeration was generally available and our kitchens depended on ice boxes? I lived on the south side of Chicago as a child, and I can remember when “the ice man cometh” for his weekly visit to the few homes that still needed ice. The children would flock around his truck begging for chunks of ice to nibble, and he usually obliged. I had no clue then where the ice came from, but I bet you know what I’m going to say – yep, it was local rivers, and perhaps most abundantly from the Des Plaines, particularly a few miles upstream from Lemont near Willow Springs. Huge blocks were cut from the frozen river, weighing about eighty pounds, layered with straw and stored in warehouses near the river banks until needed in summer months. The river may have been cleaner in those days, but I still wonder how we survived nibbling on those chunks of ice.

Here is the river from the north bank at a similar location in April 2017 after a heavy rain. The main stream of the river (compare to previous photo) is seen at the rear of the photo behind the telephone pole.
News

May was a very busy month, filled again with great people and a lot of fun.

 On May 2, I spoke to the Lemont-Homer Glen Rotary about Mother Theresa Dudzik, the “star” of The Miracle at Assisi Hill.
On May 5, I participated in the filming of a documentary about Mother Theresa, to be aired on EWTN on The Miracle Hunter program this fall. 
On May 11, I spoke about “Taming the Wilderness of Northern Illinois” at the Lemont Library.
On May 12, I spoke at a luncheon at Marian Village about writing The Miracle at Assisi Hill.
May 16, I spoke about “Taming the Wilderness of Northern Illinois” at Franciscan Village.
And on May 24, I met with a delightful group of ladies from a Joliet book club, where we toured the places that were featured in The Miracle at Assisi Hill.


June promises to be an exciting month too, as it features Lemont’s 150th anniversary celebration.

On June 9 at Village Green Park, 322 Main St. I will be participating in the 150th anniversary commemoration at 1 p.m.
June 10 is Lemont 150 Fest from 1 to 6 p.m. in downtown Lemont.The Village of Lemont commissioned me to write an article titled “Lemont at 150 Years: Yesterday and Today” that I hope will be ready to hand out on these days.
I will also be at Lockport’s Canal Days on Sunday, June 11.
To close out the month, I will be presenting my “Hidden Gems Road Trip” at the Palos Park Library on May 24.Some very fun events, and I hope you will stop by or register for the Palos Park Library event.

Here’s the link for “Hidden Gems Road Trip” at the Palos Park Library: Hidden Gems Road Trip | Demco Software (evanced.info)  
The program is free, but please register so the library can prepare properly. I will be signing books at all events.

To check out more of my appearances, visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/

So excited about the lovely professional reviews I’ve been receiving for The Miracle at Assisi Hill!  Here’s a review received from Midwest Review, by Senior Reviewer D. Donovan 
 
Pat Camalliere’s special brand of investigation of psychological and mystery matters is simply delightful, between its focus on Cora’s life and ongoing spiritual questions and the dilemmas faced by a woman destined to become a saint.

Between the health conundrums Cora faces with her husband Cisco’s startling mental health decline in the face of physical illness to subplots of ghost lore, Native American history and tribal interests, and miracles that portend religious revelations, the story is much more than either a mystery or a Christian examination, but a multifaceted production that draws on various levels.

It’s rare to see a novel as accessible to a wide audience of readers as it is to genre mystery followers or fans of Christian fiction. Camalliere creates a memorable story that resonates on more than one level, offering a draw that invites religious introspection as well as moral and ethical examination.

Another important note to know about its creation: the Sister who is presently in charge of the canonization process for Mother Mary Theresa participated in the editing of this book to ensure its historical and Catholic authenticity.

The Miracle at Assisi Hill is thus highly recommended not just for libraries seeking genre mysteries that stand out, or for Christian collections seeking fiction that invites thought and discussion, but for general-interest readers who will find Cora’s dilemmas and revelations about life, death, and what lies between are both intriguing and thoroughly engrossing.

Posted in General History, Illinois History, Lemont History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Des Plaines River

Train Wreck in Lemont, July 1905

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
Wreckage of Santa Fe Limited, July 29, 1905.

Last month’s post was about a train wreck in Lemont on the Alton-Chicago Railroad in 1873. Today we continue the subject of train wrecks with the Santa Fe derailment that also occurred in Lemont in 1905.
 
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (Santa Fe) had planned since the late 1880s to run a line to Chicago through Lemont on the north side of the Des Plaines Valley. When construction began on the Sanitary and Ship Canal through Lemont in 1892, railroad management saw the opportunity to move the line to run near the new canal, using fill from digging the Ship Canal to elevate its tracks. The line, with a bridge over the Sanitary Canal and a small train station, was not completed until 1899, shortly before the Sanitary Canal opened. 
 
In addition to freight service which still operates on the rails today, for a time local commuter and postal trains were in service, competing with the Alton line. At that time, the notorious sin strip, Smokey Row, was still going strong in Lemont.

Smokey Row had developed to suit the tastes of the men who built the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the 1840s, and flourished thereafter for an influx of barge, quarry, and railroad men. After the close of the Columbian Exhibition, men throughout Chicagoland looking for gambling, liquor, drugs, loose women, and other such amusements found it in Lemont, where two train lines dropped them off in the heart of the district. With the addition of workers on the Sanitary Canal, by 1895 it was estimated that over 100 such dives operated in Lemont. A “Gamblers Special” was run by Santa Fe in 1903 and 1904.

Some years ago, I posted an article about Smokey Row. Here’s the link if you’re interested: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2015/07/local-history-lemonts-smokey-row-beginnings-and-growth/

As trains approached Lemont from Chicago, the track ran over a graded curve near the bridge over the canal. On the evening of July 29, 1905, The Pride of San Francisco entered town over the curve at 50 miles per hour, slightly faster than usual. The telegraph operator at the Santa Fe station was the first to hear and see the disaster. The engineer and fireman were not even aware of the accident at first because the engine remained on the track.
 
The axle and wheels had broken off the baggage car on the curve. The baggage car and three cars following it left the track, throwing debris in all directions, and leaving the cars hanging dangerously in a tangled mess atop an overpass at Stephen Street.
 
The telegraph operator radioed for help, estimating that 40 or more people must have been killed. As passengers climbed out of the crumpled cars, the cars began to shift. Panic ensued, fearing the rest of the train would topple off the overpass. Those passengers that escaped tried frantically to rescue those trapped in the cars, but no tools were available because the baggage car had fallen on the railroad’s tool shed. Then one of the cars burst into flame.
 
Trapped passengers now feared that either they would burn to death or be crushed when the cars tumbled down the embankment. Fortunately, the accident occurred on a Saturday night, when the town was full of people seeking entertainment. Smokey Row to the rescue! In a short time, hundreds of rescuers and the fire department arrived, attracted by the fire and the noise.
 
According to the Lemont Phoenix Advertiser and Observer of August 3, 1905: “Not a vestige of the tool shed remained standing and the tools it had contained were all buried beneath the wreckage. Stone jacks and tools were soon hurried to the scene from the quarries with willing hands to work them, and the injured were soon removed from the cars.

“William Mcvey of Joliet was one of the injured who displayed remarkable courage. For an hour he was pinned beneath the car with his right leg and arm crushed. It was necessary to raise one side of the heavy coach with stone jacks before he could be released.”

The fire was quickly brought under control, a temporary hospital was organized in the Santa Fe Station, ladders and tools were found, and the passengers helped out of the cars. At the end, only one man died, one was critically injured, and 22 passengers had serious cuts or minor injuries, thanks to the townspeople.
 
After investigation, it was concluded that the sharp curve at Stephen Street may have been partially responsible, but the wreck was likely caused by a broken axle.

Today the Santa Fe railroad carries only freight through Lemont over a historic swing bridge. There is no longer a Santa Fe train station in Lemont.

Lemont currently has two sets of tracks that run through town. A third set was the Joliet-Chicago Electric Railway that ran down Main Street. I wrote about that line in my blog on February 19. If you missed it you can read about it here:  https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2023/02/lemont-streetcars-the-joliet-and-chicago-electric-line/

If you missed my April blog about the 1873 train wreck of the Alton-Chicago Railroad, you can read that here: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2023/04/lemont-train-wreck-august-16-1873/
 
Thanks to the Lemont Area Historical Society and Lemont and its People by Sonia Kallick for information that appears in this article.

News

A major theme of all four of my books explores the relationship of mothers to their children. With Mothers’ Day coming up this Sunday, it’s a perfect time to purchase a gift book for Mom! Buying information is below or come to hear me speak at the Lemont Library this Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. and have me sign a book for her.

Had a great time and met some great people in the past month. I participated in the Wheaton Library Author Fest on April 1, and on April 14 for the Downers Grove Library and Downers Grove Township Senior Center I spoke on “The Lost Town of Sag Bridge.” I repeated the “Sag Bridge” program for the residents of Franciscan Village on April 25. 

This month I have already spoken to the Lemont-Homer Glen Rotary about The Miracle at Assisi Hill, and on May 5 I was interviewed for a documentary that is scheduled to be shown on The Miracle Hunter on EWTN-TV in September. The subject of the documentary is Mother Mary Theresa Dudzik, the star of my book, The Miracle at Assisi Hill. This is my first televised interview, so the experience was quite exciting for me!

On May 11, Thursday evening at 6:30, I will be speaking at the Lemont Library about “The Settlement of Northern Illinois.” Northern Illinois was the last part of the state to be settled. I will talk about the lives of the Potawatomi who lived here at the time the first settlers arrived, how the land was surveyed for purchase, the first non-indigenous people to arrive, and the importance of Northern Illinois to the settlement of everything west of the eastern seaboard. Here’s the link to the Lemont Library registration screen: https://lemontlibrary.libnet.info/event/8172121

The program is free, but please register so the library can prepare properly. You don’t need a library card to attend – just skip that line on the registration form as it is not required. 

I will be signing books one half hour before and again after the presentation. I suggest you come early if you plan to purchase books. To check out more of my appearances, visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/ 

On May 12 I will be the featured speaker at a luncheon at Marian Village in Homer Glen, and then on May 16 I’ll be speaking about “taming the wilderness” again at Franciscan Village.

Hope to see some of you this month.

Posted in General History, Illinois History, Lemont History, Train wreck | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lemont Train Wreck: August 16, 1873

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
Typical locomotive engine used by the Alton-Chicago Railroad in 1873

By now I’m sure everyone is aware of the multitude of train derailments happening throughout the country. It’s likely this has been going on for some time, but the media is talking about it more. It seems an appropriate time to tell about train crashes that have taken place in Lemont’s history. There were TWO crashes of note.
 
Lemont currently has two sets of tracks that run through town. A third set was the Joliet-Chicago Electric Railway that ran down Main Street. I wrote about that line in my blog on February 19. If you missed it, you can read about it here: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2023/02/lemont-streetcars-the-joliet-and-chicago-electric-line/
 
The Alton Railroad opened in 1858 and ran between Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis. This is the line that currently serves Lemont at its historic train station, where daily commuter trains run. The third line is the Santa Fe that opened in the late 1880s and currently carries freight.
 
After the early success of railroads in the Midwest, by the 1870s the lines were overbuilt and undercapitalized. Does that sound like what may be happening today? Draw your own conclusions, but history says that was the case in the 1870s. Due to financial difficulties, rail management was forced to hire cheap labor and inexperienced trainmen. Also, the line had not been improved since it was built, maintaining a single track between Joliet and Chicago, with several side tracks, one of which was in Lemont, for trains traveling in opposite directions to pass.
 
In cool summer nights in Lemont, ground fog clings to the floor of the Des Plaines River Valley, and such was the case on August 16, 1873. Late that night, conductor Edward Beane drove a train of coal cars out of Joliet, heading east to Chicago. It was the first run for two new brakemen.
 
At approximately 9:00 p.m., Henry Russell pulled his passenger express train out of the station, heading west out of Chicago. The engineer was also on his maiden route for this train. The departure had been delayed, and further delay occurred at the Willow Springs station. To make up the time, Russell requested that all other trains on the line be sidetracked until he passed. At the Sag Bridge station, the engineer, new to the route, mistook the signal to stop and take on water for “Go.” The train roared through in an effort to make up lost time.
 
Meanwhile, on the same track from the opposite direction, the freight that had left Joliet approached Lemont. The Lemont station had been telegraphed to sidetrack the Joliet train until the express train passed. An agent ran out to the platform to stop the train, but was not seen by conductor Beane in the heavy fog that had rolled in. Racing down the platform, the agent yelled and caught the attention of one of the brakemen, who responded that he was new and did not how to stop the train. Both trains headed toward a head-on collision.
 
There was no way to reach either train. The dispatchers could only begin putting together a hospital train while they sat and waited for the tragedy.
 
In the fog, the headlights of both trains could not be seen by the conductors in time to blow a warning whistle to alert others on the trains. The trains met east of Lemont near Walker Road and Main Street as the express smashed into the freight, followed by its baggage, express, and smoking cars, in an explosion that rained debris hundreds of yards.
 
The result was 23 dead and 40 injured, many passengers, including John Smith, the Warden of the Joliet Prison, and 5 trainmen from both trains. Both conductors, who had leapt from the train before the collision, met and compared stories as they stared at the wreckage. Then Conductor Beane wandered off and was not seen again until September 2, when he was turned in for a $6000 reward. Beane was arrested but acquitted of any fault.
 
As a result of the disaster, the public demanded more safety and supervision of the railroads. They blamed the railroads for hiring cheap labor in an attempt to break labor unions and demanded a double set of rails through the valley. One month later construction of a second track was begun, and sidetracking in the Des Plaines River Valley no longer determined the train schedules.
 
Is history repeating itself? Despite over a century of progress, it seems that we could be once again at a point where infrastructure, economic concerns, and labor conditions are stressing the safety of rail travel.
 
Thanks to the Lemont Area Historical Society and Lemont and its People by Sonia Kallick for information that appears in this article.

News

Had a great time and met some great people in the past month. On March 5 I gave my “Hidden Gems Road Trip” talk, followed the next week at the Tinley Park Library to talk about “Taming the Wilderness of Northern Illinois.” Then on March 21 I spoke to the lovely people at Franciscan Village about writing The Miracle at Assisi Hill. I participated in the Wheaton Library Author Fest on April 1, and most recently for the Downers Grove Library and Downers Grove Township Senior Center I spoke on “The Lost Town of Sag Bridge.” An extremely busy month, but I loved every minute.

On May 11, Thursday evening at 6:30, I will be speaking at the Lemont Library about “The Settlement of Northern Illinois.” Northern Illinois was the last part of the state to be settled. I will talk about the lives of the Potawatomi who lived here at the time the first settlers arrived, how the land was surveyed for purchase, the first non-indigenous people to arrive, and the importance of Northern Illinois to the settlement of everything west of the eastern seaboard. Here’s the link to the Lemont Library registration screen: https://lemontlibrary.libnet.info/event/8172121

The program is free, but please register so the library can prepare properly. You don’t need a library card to attend – just skip that line on the registration form as it is not required. 

I will be signing books one half hour before and again after the presentation. I suggest you come early if you plan to purchase books. To check out more of my appearances, visit my website events page at: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/about/events/

Posted in Lemont History | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lemont Train Wreck: August 16, 1873

Admiral Dewey and the Battle of the Sanitary Canal

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Pat Camalliere
Post card, ca. early 1900s, courtesy of Lemont Area Historical Society. Post cards were very inexpensive during this time period and a popular way of communicating.

The I & M Canal had been a tremendous success in opening up shipping and transportation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. However, during dry periods the level wasn’t sufficient to float the barges and boats, and during heavy rains the river would overflow into the canal and send water back into the lake, water that was mixed with sewage and waste from industry and slaughterhouses that contaminated the water supply and spread diseases such as typhoid and cholera. A new canal was the answer.

The truth is, not everyone was in favor of the canal. St. Louis filed a lawsuit in 1899 to prevent the opening, fearing it would do little more than dilute Chicago’s pollution, move the contamination further “downstream” and poison the waters all the way to New Orleans. A battle ensued at the end of 1899: Missouri was preparing a case for a federal court to issue injunctions to stop the canal, and the Sanitary District was racing to complete the job before that could happen.

On New Year’s Day, 1900, the Sanitary District trustees declared the canal ready to open. That night, with no ceremony or official notice, a dredge began to work its way through a small barrier at 31st Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago, a thin strip that separated the Chicago River from the canal, and water began to trickle its way to fill the new canal. It worked its way to the Lockport dam by January 17. Once begun, the damage was done, and no injunction could now stop the flow.

Later that spring, Admiral Dewey, the great hero of the Spanish-American War at Manila Bay, paid a visit to Chicago. He was tremendously popular at the time and was being considered to run for President. Seeing an opportunity to correct the negative feelings that had been generated about the canal, he was invited to perform an inspection tour to demonstrate to the world the great accomplishment.

Construction workers along the canal were involved in bitter work disputes, but suspended strikes planned for the day and built a platform for boarding. Accompanied by Mayor Harrison of Chicago, Admiral Dewey and a host of 200 dignitaries boarded the cutter “Hilda” on May 2, 1900, for a trip down the canal to the Bear Trap Dam at Lockport.

Each town they passed along the way attempted to outdo the rest with ceremony, crowds of people, children waving flags and singing patriotic songs from the canal banks, with much cheering and setting off of cannon volleys. An elaborate luncheon was held on board, with an abundance of food and drinks for all—not a wise choice, as things turned out.

In order to ensure adequate flow, the chief engineer had ordered extra water in the canal, and as the boat neared Lockport, it began to rain heavily. The increased water level was creating an undertow, a hazardous situation as the cutter moved toward the dam.

Seeing this, Dewey suggested Mayor Harrison warn the captain to stay well clear of the controlling works at the dam. High on the excitement of the day and the honor of carrying the Admiral down the canal, and undoubtedly affected by the drinking of a good deal of spirits, the captain blustered that this was his boat, he knew what he was doing, and did not require any interference.

When Harrison returned to the deck, Dewey could not at first be found. Returning to the bridge, Harrison found Dewey at the helm. The captain was being held in a stateroom, ranting about mutiny and cursing Dewey. Dewey reassured Mayor Harrison that he was successfully getting the boat clear of the dam but noted that he had felt in greater danger than he ever was in Manila.

Meanwhile, the rain stopped, the people, unaware of what was occurring, cheered their hero, and the trip back to Chicago was made, not on the canal but by train.

This story is taken from anecdotes available at the Lemont Area Historical Society. Today the power house is operated remotely by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and the dam is not accessible to the public. However, occasionally tours of the Lockport Lock and Dam are offered, and a road runs along the south canal bank where the lock and dam can be viewed.

Admiral George Dewey – Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

News

Thanks to the many people who came out to the Lemont Historical Society on Sunday, February 26, to hear me speak about the “Lost Town of Sag Bridge.” What a wonderful crowd and what fun!

This coming Sunday, March 5 at 2 p.m. I’m speaking at the Lemont Public Library. The title of the program is “Hidden Gems Road Trip.” I will be showing photos I took while visiting the sites where my books are set, little-known places with great history. You can pick the ones you like from what you see and plan your own road trip with maps provided. Here’s the link: https://lemontlibrary.libnet.info/events

I will also be speaking at the Tinley Park Library on Monday, March 13, at 6:30, this time about “The Settlement of Northern Illinois.” Northern Illinois was the last part of the state to be settled. I will talk about the lives of the Potawatomi who lived here at the time the first settlers arrived, how the land was surveyed for purchase, the first non-indigenous people to arrive, and the importance of Northern Illinois to the settlement of everything west of the eastern seaboard. Here’s the link to the Tinley Park Library talk: https://signup.tplibrary.org/event/7739170?tpbutton=click

I hope to see some of you there. Both programs are free, but please register so the libraries can prepare properly. You don’t need a library card to attend – just skip that line on the registration form as it is not required. As of today both programs are still available.

I will be doing book-signings at both events one half hour before and again after the presentation. I suggest you come early if you plan to purchase books.

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