Ilstanners - my University of Illinois alumni magazine (liberal arts) brought me an insight on our focus area that was entirely new to me - although most of you may already know. But here it is, for those who - like me - came late to this knowledge: The article is entitled "Dredging Up the Past" and concerns the efforts of Professor Bruce Rhoads to naturalize the ditches and canals that crosscross central Illinois. I'll quote and then paraphrase somewhat: "Until the mid-1800s, the 16 county region that became Illinois' prime farmland was dense prairie, 60% of which was so swampy that pioneers often traveled by canoe rather than by rivers." Did I know that???? No - not a clue. Does that include our counties-of-interest? I bet so. "The swamps were the headwaters for many rivers such as the Embarras, Kaskaskia and Sangamon - which were home to fish and other wildlife. These swamps vanished buring the drainage boom of 1860-1890, when farmers underlaid the prairie with a network of clay tiles. The tiles drained into machine-excavated channels that transported water away from the fields into streams and on downstream. The few existing streams were dredged and straightened too, to speed the flow of water away from farm fields. This undertaking transformed 'uninhabitable' prairie into the most productive farmland in the world." Well, come to find out (the article tells us) that the streams and ditches modified for drainage did NOT have to be straight and regimented and boring in order to do a good job of taking excess water away from the fields. Where such streams and ditches have been modified by man back into a natural looking condition, with meanders, riffles, deep and shallow spaces, etc. (e.g., the Embarras, a little south of the U. of I campus), they provide inviting fish habitat and yet continue to work just as well draining the land. (The Embarras now hosts over 30 species of fish.) A bonus: natural features in the streams and ditches help with flood control, as well, according to the article. Another bonus: the changes made to replace or introduce natural features remain that way - simplifying maintenance. The article is on pages 6-9 of the Spring 2003 issue of the LAS News. I found it fascinating - and it gave me a whole new appreciation of the work our ancestors had to do when they tried to make the land they had chosen arable and productive. What a lot of hard work!!!! 1850-1870 is right when our gang arrived and tried to make a go of it, of course. Maybe the drainage tiles account to some degree for the exodus of some to Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc.! The LAS address is 112 English Building, MC-720, 608 South Wright Street, Urbana 61801. Phone is 217/333-3387. Email is: [email protected] and the Website is: www.las.uiuc.edu/alumni The article, if anyone is interested, may be online - or probably can be mailed on request. Hope this has not seemed too far afield (little pun, there!). Salut! Ginny Crawford