The Illinois And Michigan Canal At Ottawa, Illinois During the 1920's And Early 1930's: Final Chapter in the Story of the Feeder Canal, the Lateral Canal, the Hydraulic Basin, and the Spillway

This eye-witness account of the eradication of portions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in Ottawa Illinois, told through personal reminiscenses, photographs, and news stories. Although the Main Canal is now part of the National Heritage Corridor and has been preserved, much of the infrastructure supporting the operation of the Canal and businesses that used it has been lost. This book is in effect two stories: the destruction of the Feeder Canal, the Lateral Canal, the Hydraulic Basin, and the Spillway into the Fox River is the first story. The second story relates how a small, central Illinois city coped with the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930's by instituting public works relief projects. The author's father, Mayor H. J. Hilliard, was instrumental in these efforts. Under his guidance, the City hired local, unemployed men for public works projects designed to improve the city's infrastructure by filling parts of the derelict Illinois and Michigan Canal to create streets and parking areas.