Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Date: November 15, 2013 01:27PM
Paul Petraitis Wrote:
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> Geologically it may be that Goose Island at one
> time WAS an island in the North Branch possibly
> formed by a particularly violet spring freshet
> (thaw) caused the Des Plaines to rage UP the south
> branch and poceed up the North creating a separate
> path in the river bed of the North Branch...when
> the city of Chicago began dredging the harbor and
> the chicago River it likely widened a low marshy
> area that was already there. When the army was
> building Ft. Dearborn in the fall of 1803 they set
> up a little saw mill on the north branch, near the
> woods just north of Goose Island.
Interesting. Libby Hill, author of the Chicago River book mentions (pg 85-86) that small islands once dotted the original North Branch, but Goose Island was not one of them. Early maps show the river making a lazy, bow-shaped bend to the northwest close to the city between what was to become North Ave on the north and Chicago Ave on the south.