{"product_id":"a-history-of-the-chicago-portage-the-crossroads-that-made-chicago-and-helped-make-america-9780810143906","title":"A History of the Chicago Portage: The Crossroads That Made Chicago and Helped Make America","description":"\u003cb\u003eSeven muddy miles transformed a region and a nation\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This fascinating account explores the significance of the Chicago Portage, one of the most important--and neglected--sites in early US history. A seven-mile-long strip of marsh connecting the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, the portage was inhabited by the earliest indigenous people in the Midwest and served as a major trade route for Native American tribes. A link between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean, the Chicago Portage was a geopolitically significant resource that the French, British, and US governments jockeyed to control. Later, it became a template for some of the most significant waterways created in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The portage gave Chicago its name and spurred the city's success--and is the reason why the metropolis is located in Illinois, not Wisconsin. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA History of the Chicago Portage: The Crossroads That Made Chicago and Helped Make America \u003c\/i\u003eis the definitive story of a national landmark.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBENJAMIN SELLS\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the \u003ci\u003eThe Tunnel under the Lake: The Engineering Marvel That Saved Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e, also published by Northwestern University Press. His other books include \u003ci\u003eThe Soul of the Law\u003c\/i\u003e, which was recently reissued in a twentieth-anniversary edition; \u003ci\u003eThe Essentials of Style: A Handbook for Seeing and Being Seen\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eOrder in the Court: Crafting a More Just World in Lawless Times\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eThe Soul of Sailing\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Northwestern University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50929538531602,"sku":"9780810143906","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c6a18383-27e4-4dd2-9cda-8889c9c50f58.jpg?v=1739044871","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-history-of-the-chicago-portage-the-crossroads-that-made-chicago-and-helped-make-america-9780810143906","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}