Indigenous nations of the Kankakee region (seen left) were inhabitants of the Kankakee region (
Iroquois seen right). Evidence suggests the first
Indigenous peoples (
Paleo-Indians) existed in northern Ohio 13,738–13,435 years
Before Present (or YBP), and
Clovis culture existed in southwest Michigan 13,000 YBP. Indiana's archaeological history dates to 10,400 YBP. The
Collier Lodge site near the Kankakee River, in
Porter and
Jasper counties, contains artifacts spanning the last 11,000 years. The
history of Indigenous peoples (Native Americans, American Indians) in northern Indiana is marked by dramatic shifts in ecology and climate during the
Late Pleistocene and early
Holocene. Following the
Younger Dryas, the warming period 10,800–10,000 YBP triggered
conifer forests to transition to
deciduous forests. Indigenous peoples migrated to wetlands created from drained
proglacial lakes for more consistent resources. Indigenous peoples hunted between the
Great Black Swamp in northeastern Indiana, and the Grand Kankakee Marsh. The Kankakee Marsh offered hunting and fishing, opportunities for villages, and protection from enemies. Archaeological evidence in
middens reveal pottery, arrow points, and the bones of animals Indigenous people consumed (e.g., fish, turtle, deer, beaver, birds, bears). Scientists suggest these sites could represent an early stage of
Iroquois culture. The
Griesmer site in Lake County by the Kankakee River contains artifacts from 2,100 years B.C.E.–1,500 C.E., placing it between the
Late Archaic and the
Post-classic or Protohistoric stages. drawn by
George Catlin. They inhabited the Kankakee Marsh with other Indigenous nations. The Kankakee Marsh was home to the
Kaskaskia,
Kickapoo,
Lenape,
Mascouten,
Meškwahki·aša·hina (Fox),
Peoria,
Piankeshaw,
Potawatomi,
Shawnee,
Sioux,
Wea, and
Miami. The Miami trace their origins to the mouth of the St. Joseph River in Lake Michigan, called
Saakiiweeyonki, the "Coming Out Place".
Mohicans lived on islands in the marsh in 1721. The Potawatomi, the "people of the place of the fire", were the region's majority, maintaining close cultural and linguistic ties to the
Ojibwe (Chippewa) and the
Ottawa. They
burned soil for managing plants and crops, similar to
modern burns. , 1869. Hopkins based it on her experiences with Indigenous people. Their canoes show advanced engineering and design. The Potawatomi utilized the Kankakee River as a primary transit corridor, employing sophisticated birchbark canoes for navigation. According to Smithsonian historians Edwin Adney and Howard Chapelle, the canoes' advanced design and engineering skills showed "a long period of development must have taken place" before European contact. drawn by
George Catlin. Horses were used by Indigenous people in the Kankakee Marsh. Other modes of transport included horses and sleds. Horses were their primary domestic animal; they had no need for livestock as they fished and hunted game within the marsh. They also used ponies for travel. Potawatomi villages and hunting grounds encompassed the Kankakee region. Diets from the marsh's vegetation included seasonal fruits and nuts, and maple sugar, while corn was cultivated in fields fertilized with pulverized fish and manure. One of their largest corn fields was located in present-day
Wheatfield Township. Game included small mammals (e.g., rabbits, beaver, muskrat), large mammals (e.g., elk, bears, deer, bison), birds (e.g., turkey, prairie chicken, waterfowl), and fish (e.g., pike, bass, sunfish). Navigating the Kankakee Marsh developed the Indigenous peoples' wayfinding skills and deep ecological knowledge. It provides food and habitat for wildlife. The
Ojibwe and the
Anishinaabe harvested wild rice, which they called
manoomin, and viewed it as a sacred, important part of their identity, livelihood, religion, culture, and traditions. Substantial wild rice beds existed along the Kankakee River and in
Beaver Lake, which was known in the Potawatomi language as
Sag-a-yi-gan-nik-youg, or "Lake of the Beavers". Indigenous peoples used sandy, elevated ridges as high-ground islands for settlement, defense, and burial. Red Oak Island (LaPorte County) and Big White Oak Island (Lake County) could hold hundreds of people. Jackson's Island, or Indian Hill, was a prominent ridge until 19th-century drainage; the site is now adjacent to the
Starke County Airport. The islands also provided security; for example, Curve Island near
Shelby was fortified with defensive trenches during conflicts between Indigenous nations. Ridges were also culturally significant burial sites, with some graves dating back 2,000 years. Indigenous people would bury the dead with funerary objects (e.g., weapons, ornaments, tools), and occasionally their dogs. .
Ojibwe shared villages in the marsh region with
Potawatomi. Villages featured council houses, dance grounds, and agricultural fields. People lived in
wigwams around a village center reserved for ceremonies. Common possessions included breast plates, crosses, and
ceremonial pipes. First contact with 17th-century Europeans in the Kankakee Marsh included French explorers and
Jesuit missionaries. Indigenous peoples, followed by
French colonialists,
British colonialists, and
American settlers, influenced the Kankakee River's name. Some historians linked the original name — recorded as
Thea-kiki,
Huakiki, or
Kankekiki — to "the land inhabited by wolves and river", with
The-Ak (meaning wolf) and
A-Ki (meaning land). Conversely, others interpret it as
Ti-yar-ac-ke, meaning "wonderful land" in Potawatomi. In 1679,
La Salle recorded the name as
Teakiki. French explorers later modified it to
Quin-que-que, which British explorers
anglicized to
Kankakee. There are at least 19 historical spellings of the name. The Kankakee Marsh served as the hunting grounds for regional forts and traders. Encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans during marsh hunts were often non-violent and mutually respectful. The
North American fur trade, the
Beaver Wars, and the
French and Indian War fundamentally altered relations between Indigenous peoples and Europeans.
Pontiac's War, the
American Revolutionary War, and the
Northwest Indian War foreshadowed both the total destruction of the Grand Kankakee Marsh and the forced removals of Indigenous peoples. Modern historians continue to debate whether these actions constitute
ethnic cleansing or genocide. During the late-18th century wars, wildlife populations grew while men fought each other in battlefields; hunters in the Kankakee region noted an abundance of game in 1790, following lower numbers in previous years.
Indigenous removals and treaties for the marsh was a turning point for the Indigenous peoples of the Kankakee Marsh region, breaking the power of
Tecumseh's confederacy, and leading to the loss of Indigenous lands to the U.S. government. The 1787 establishment of the
Northwest Territory by the
U.S. Congress initiated profound changes for the Indigenous peoples of the Kankakee Marsh. Following the U.S. victory in the
Northwest Indian War, the
federal government systematically acquired Indigenous lands across the Midwest through a series of forced treaties. During the 1811
Battle of Tippecanoe, the Kankakee Marsh sheltered Indigenous women, children, the sick, and the elderly. The
War of 1812 proved a turning point, with the Indigenous peoples defending key sites along the Kankakee and Yellow rivers. Following the decline of British influence post-1812, the Pottawatomi moved toward peace with the U.S. government. By the 1820s, however, encroaching American settlements increasingly undermined the traditional hunting and trapping economies of Indigenous peoples.
Indian removals in Indiana began in the 1790s through government treaties. The Kankakee Marsh was acquired via five specific treaties. The first was the 1821
Treaty of Chicago (Cession 117), which forced the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi to cede headwaters near
South Bend and the
St. Joseph River. The second was the 1826
Treaty of Mississinewa (Cession 133), in which the Potawatomi ceded the remaining marsh's headwaters. (Cession 180). Other
land cessions on this map are visible by their number. Further treaty negotiations led to additional forced relocations of the Potawatomi in northeastern Illinois. This resulted in the third treaty for the region: the October 20, 1832 Treaty with the Potawatomi, Prairie, and Kankakee Band (Cession 177), which ceded the Kankakee Marsh in Illinois. The fourth treaty, the October 26, 1832
Treaty of Tippecanoe (Cession 180), ceded the entire Kankakee Marsh region across northern Indiana. The removal of the Potawatomi from the Kankakee region between 1833 and 1834 severely crippled the regional fur trade. The Potawatomi remained within the
Yellow River headwaters until April 1836, when treaties ceded the
Lake Maxinkuckee lands. The final treaty for the Kankakee Marsh region (Cession 218, signed on August 5, 1836) ceded the Yellow River's headwaters and the site of modern-day
Plymouth. Additional treaties followed in September 1836 covering the neighboring
Tippecanoe River headwaters. (seen here) and
Thomas Jefferson promoted
Indigenous assimilation. "
Civilizing missions" included
Isaac McCoy's mission schools in northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan (the
Carey Mission), followed later by
American Indian boarding schools. The genocide of Indigenous peoples (
American Indians, Native Americans) is often minimized by the
denials of such human atrocities.
Settler colonialism's eliminatory dynamic was driven by the desire to acquire land and resources, and by
anti-Indigenous racism that portrayed Indigenous people as "inferior" and as obstacles to conquest. Although the term
Manifest destiny was first used in 1845, the underlying ideas already existed in places like the Grand Kankakee Marsh region by the early 19th century. The 1830
Indian Removal Act enabled White settlers to continue the violent removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands. Indigenous people were vulnerable to "land sharks", speculators anxious to purchase Indigenous territories including "floats", which were small pieces of land granted to the tribe through the treaties. These speculators would buy up these floats, then sell them to settlers at higher prices throughout the Kankakee region. Small groups of Indigenous people remained in the Kankakee Marsh by 1835. The 1838
Potawatomi Trail of Death occurred when American militia forced remaining Potawatomi bands out of Indiana at gunpoint, marching them to Missouri and resulting in high mortality rates. Historians describe rare encounters with Indigenous people in the Kankakee region years after the removals.
Early settlements in the marsh and
St. Joseph counties, or to move east to places like
Allen County. During winter, people could cross its frozen rivers. Historians described marsh settlers as "a class of people out of the ordinary," and "afraid of no one." Myths about the marsh were fueled by tales of criminals hiding in swamps or on islands, fossil discoveries during drainage, and dangerous muck. Bogus Island in
Beaver Lake gained notoriety as a base for bandits, counterfeiters, and horse thieves between 1837 and 1858. The Land Act of 1820, pricing land at $1.25 per acre, accelerated settlements in the Kankakee region. Before 1832, the population consisted primarily of fur traders and trappers. The
Michigan Road facilitated migration to the Kankakee region. Despite the challenging wetland terrain, land surveys by the
General Land Office (GLO) were completed around 1830, with "claim seekers" arriving in Lake County by 1834, well before official sales commenced in 1839. In the 1840s, settlers utilized the marsh for livestock, aided by wolf bounties, and established homes on sand ridges using "ditch fences" for drainage and property marking. They cultivated cranberry and fertilized land with muck and organic waste. They harvested timber from marsh islands and used mineral springs medicinally. Sawmills and grain mills were established in 1836. Railroads expanded by the 1860s. Rails connected
Rensselaer and
Chicago by bridging the Kankakee River, allowing greater access to the marsh. Early settlers arrived from southern Indiana and Ohio, followed by European immigrants from Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and Bohemia. The population further grew with immigrants from Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands. Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and Methodists established churches between the 1830s and 1870s. Although Indiana was not a slave state, 19th-century Black settlers faced systemic discrimination, including mandatory registration, proof of freedom, and $500 good-behavior bonds. Such was the case of William Greenwood's 1834 citizenship in
Kankakee Township. Several successful Black farming communities emerged within the marsh region. Henderson Settlement near
Fish Lake in
Lincoln Township produced high yields from cattle and corn. The Banks Settlement in
Center Township also thrived. In
St. Joseph County, the Huggart Settlement was established in the 1830s near what is now
Potato Creek State Park.
The Underground Railroad and the Grand Kankakee Marsh hiding in a swamp from
slave catchers and their dogs. Wetlands like the Grand Kankakee Marsh helped slaves in the
Underground Railroad. The
Underground Railroad in Indiana operated near the Grand Kankakee Marsh, leveraging the difficult terrain to assist freedom seekers traveling toward Canada. Historian
W. Sherman Savage documented a stop in
North Judson, situated within the marsh, just south of English Lake.
Wilbur H. Siebert also studied Underground Railroad sites across the Kankakee region. Other documented stops reached by crossing the marsh were
Rensselaer (Jasper County),
Hurlburt (Porter County), and the Low Cemetery in
Coolspring Township (LaPorte County), with the latter being officially landmarked as part of the "Chicago-to-Detroit Freedom Trail." To avoid detection, the clandestine locations for the Railroad frequently shifted. Slaves used every precaution to evade recapture by
slave catchers, including hiding in wetlands. Before
runaway slaves reached the Kankakee Marsh to hide, they had already accumulated experience hiding in other wetlands. They included
Deming's Dismal Swamp,
Attica's swamps, and
Marion County's swamps and marshes where
abolitionist Quakers led slaves to freedom. hiding in a
marsh. Before slaves reached the Grand Kankakee Marsh to escape to
Canada, they already had experience using
wetlands in the
slave states to evade capture. Although most of Indiana's White population opposed the Underground Railroad, its operators included White people, particularly Quakers such as
Levi Coffin. In 1849, hundreds of armed men from Michigan liberated a group of recaptured slaves in
South Bend near the Kankakee Marsh's headwaters. Pembroke Township later established a large black population. Indiana operators and agents in the Underground Railroad helped slaves at the risk of being punished by the state. The
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 further imposed strict penalties. Unconfirmed accounts of Underground Railroad stops and hiding places within the Kankakee Marsh include slaves hiding on Bogus Island in
Beaver Lake. A small Black farming community later developed in
McClellan Township within the drained Beaver Lake by 1870. Lost Lake reportedly concealed slaves within the Kankakee Marsh. Unlike other wetlands such as the former
Great Black Swamp (in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan) or the
Great Dismal Swamp (in North Carolina and Virginia), the former Grand Kankakee Marsh does not currently have Underground Railroad sites recognized by the
National Park Service's Network to Freedom program.
Early drainage efforts , seen in this image beneath the person's foot, were laid 3 to 4 feet deep to lower the
water table and drain excess water into man-made
ditches, allowing farmers to grow
crops. grows in undrained (Fig. 7) and drained soils (Fig. 9).
Tile drains and
ditches lower a wetland's
water table (Fig. 8). Crop roots cannot grow in waterlogged, clay soils. Farmers struggled to drain the Kankakee Marsh due to inadequate technology and the absence of organized drainage laws. The federal government passed the
Swamp Land Act of 1850, donating wetlands to states for development and setting a sale price of $1.25 per acre. In May 1852, the
Indiana State Legislature began regulating the sales of wetlands and providing grants for drainage and land reclamation. Steam dredges excavated ditches typically wide and deep. In 1853, efforts began to drain
Beaver Lake for farming, which
Lemuel Milk later completed. Widespread fraud plagued government-funded ditch construction, as commissioners colluded with contractors to misappropriate funds, leaving much of the marsh undeveloped. An 1859 Legislative Committee confirmed significant theft, including over $40,000 in state-level losses and more than $100,000 in
Lake County alone, where less than half the allocated money actually funded drainage. The state failed to recover the assets. In 1869, Indiana enacted the Kankakee Drainage Law to facilitate wetland reclamation. The Kankakee Valley Draining Company formed that same year but dissolved after legal challenges from landowners protesting its power to levy assessments. In 1871, the state issued millions in bonds to fund further drainage. Geologists framed the marsh as a "vast waste" inhabited only by wildlife, and that professionally engineered drainage could transform it into an agricultural "garden spot."
"The march of evil": Public health issues in the marsh (or Maurice Dudevant), 1850, is an allegory for
malaria. Its mortality and infection rates in the Kankakee Marsh are unknown, often due to misdiagnosis of the disease. Mid-19th-century medical records were unreliable, with the 1870 U.S. census noting "gross incompleteness" in mortality reports. The Kankakee Marsh was impacted by misunderstandings about wetlands used to promote agricultural interests. In the 1860s, the agricultural community even considered wetlands "evil". Robert Clark Kedzie, author of
Shadows from the Walls of Death and a physician in support of drainage, described the "water-soaked soils" of wetlands as "The march of evil". Indigenous populations suffered
significant losses not from the marsh they had lived with for over 13,000 years, but from disease endemics newly introduced by European and American settlers. Diseases like
smallpox decimated Indigenous communities, killing an estimated 90% of all Indigenous peoples across the
Western Hemisphere. European
germ warfare also caused Indigenous population declines. Public fear of diseases like
malaria drove wetland destruction. Scientist
John Merle Coulter embraced
miasma theory in 1881, arguing that wetlands would "poison the air" unless they were drained for farming. Epidemics such as
cholera are primarily driven by inadequate human hygiene and sanitation. However, many Indiana physicians falsely asserted that draining the Kankakee Marsh would improve public health "a hundred-fold," prioritizing land reclamation over genuine sanitary reform.
"A hunters' and trappers' paradise": recreational hunting and fishing in the marsh . The introduction of the
breechloader increased hunting efficiency, facilitating the rapid slaughter of wildlife. Shooting accidents became common, and the Kankakee's dense forested swamps gained a reputation for danger, with reports of men and hunting dogs disappearing. Two hunters drowned in the river's treacherous meander known as the "Devil's Elbow." Trains transported Chicago-based hunters directly to the Kankakee Marsh and its private clubs. Out-of-state hunters paid a $25 license fee for access. While the Toleston Club, near the Illinois border, implemented a 25-bird daily limit, hunting remained intense. Many constructed seasonal shelters, while others utilized local hotels or commuted via the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Railroad, often staying at locations like the Hotel Riverview in
Kankakee. Famous people hunted and fished in the marsh, including
Lew Wallace, author of
Ben-Hur. The Kankakee River attracted sportsmen targeting
muskellunge,
bass,
crappies,
perch,
pickerel, and
catfish. Carp were
dynamited in large numbers with brutal efficiency. Unregulated hunting and fishing devastated the marsh's wildlife; local restaurants routinely served illegal game.
Porcupine,
otter and
coyote populations were locally exterminated. Commercial demand for game included pigeon, frog, and turtle. In 1883, an entrepreneur in
North Judson commercially exported 35 tons of frogs and hundreds of turtles to markets and universities. Expanded railroad networks facilitated this exploitation, enabling the rapid shipment of game and timber. By 1889,
Railroad Township joined a statewide oil supply network. Railroads supplied resources for Chicago. Telegraphs provided hunters real-time intelligence from English Lake and local bayous, optimizing the tracking and hunting of prize birds. Chicago mills profited from egret plumes sourced in the Kankakee. Despite market value for crane plumes in women's hats, hunters slaughtered 60 to 80 Great Blue Herons daily at "Crane Heaven" near English Lake, often discarding the carcasses where they fell on the ground.
Forest and Stream editors documented daily tallies of 100 birds per hunter, warning: "If this will not exterminate game, for goodness sake what will?" Commercial hunting for fur and pelts thrived in the Kankakee Marsh and at Beaver Lake. On Fuller Island near
Shelby, single hunts yielded large wagons filled with thousands of dead rabbits, while the region's
muskrat and
long-tailed weasel populations faced intense annual trapping. In March 1879, Indiana protected native fish populations, yet concurrently passed laws enabling wetland drainage without habitat safeguards. Despite proposals to repurpose wetlands for fish culture, large-scale drainage prioritized agricultural expansion. Distrusting Indiana politicians to enforce anti-trespassing laws, hunting clubs and private landowners hired their own security. By the 1890s, residents lobbied for protected areas and wardens. Deer populations collapsed statewide except in the Kankakee Marsh. Impending river channelization would further accelerate wildlife extirpation. While
Forest and Stream initially downplayed the threat of the draining of the marsh, economic pressure intensified; the Indiana State Board of Agriculture projected land values would jump from $4 to $30 per acre upon drainage. ==Draining the marsh==