History blog from Pat Camalliere Books- Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer now available from Eckhartz Press October 24, 2024I’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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- New Memoir Will Be Available Soon September 10, 2024You 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- For Halloween: The Ghosts of the Quarries! October 26, 2023Halloween 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Submarines on the Chicago Sanitary Canal – No kidding! September 18, 2023My 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal August 6, 2023In 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Illinois and Michigan Canal Celebrates 175th Anniversary. July 6, 2023In 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. Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- The Des Plaines River June 6, 2023I 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. … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Train Wreck in Lemont, July 1905 May 9, 2023Last 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Lemont Train Wreck: August 16, 1873 April 17, 2023Is history repeating itself? Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Admiral Dewey and the Battle of the Sanitary Canal March 1, 2023The 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 … Continue reading →Pat Camalliere
- Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer now available from Eckhartz Press October 24, 2024
Author Archives: Pat Camalliere
Lemont Waterways – The I & M Canal
Following a smattering of frontiersmen, explorers, and fur traders who moved through the area, early non-native settlers were predominantly farmers and tradesmen who settled here after the War of 1812 until the early 1830s. The construction of the Illinois and … Continue reading
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Lemont Waterways: The River – How it Got Its Name
This is a view of the Des Plaines River taken in August 2015, when the water was low. Note the calm ripples and vegetation mid-river. Note the shallow banks. Imagine how this same spot would look with the river at … Continue reading
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Lemont Waterways – The River
Correction: In last week’s article, in my desire to point out the reason the golf course and Argonne laboratory could not exist side by side, I inappropriately referred to Argonne as a “secret atomic bomb complex”. This shortcut to making … Continue reading
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The Lost Golf Course of Sag
In an earlier post about Al Capone’s connections with Lemont, I mentioned a lost golf course. There has been a lot of recent interest in this topic, so I’m going to tell you more about it. The photo on the … Continue reading
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Sag Bridge – Gone Town
Sag Bridge is now part of the Village of Lemont, but at one time it was a village in its own right. It boasted a hotel and it had its own post office, a number of businesses, a railroad station, … Continue reading
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Lemont and the Capones
Lemont and the Capones Okay, so this picture isn’t the Capones, but this early Lemont saloon does show you what taverns were like in the early 1900s. Note that there are no stools, and men gathered at the bar or … Continue reading
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Lemont – What’s in a name?
Lemont ca early 1900s (Photo courtesy of Lemont Historical Society) My novel, Mystery at Sag Bridge is set in the town of Lemont, a suburb about twenty-five miles southwest of downtown Chicago, Illinois. Future blogs will delve into interesting facts and rants about … Continue reading
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