The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately 250 mi (402 km) long, in central Illinois in the United States. It drains a largely rural agricultural area between Peoria and Springfield. The river is associated with the early career of Abraham Lincoln and played an important role in the early white settlement of Illinois, when the area around was known as the "Sangamon River Country".
Description
It rises from several short headstreams in northeastern Champaign County, along the Ford County line approximately 10 mi (16 km) northwest of Rantoul. The river's course forms a large arc through central Illinois, first flowing south through Monticello and Decatur, then turning northwest to flow along the north side of Springfield. It receives the Salt Creek approximately 25 mi (40 km) NNW of Springfield then turns west, forming the southern boundary of Mason County with Menard and Cass counties. It joins the Illinois from the east approximately 10 mi (16 km) northeast of Beardstown.
It is impounded in Decatur to form Lake Decatur , constructed in 1920-1922 for flood control.
History
The river was home to many different groups of Native Americans in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans. The name of river comes from a Pottawatomie word Sain-guee-mon (pronounced "sang gä mun") meaning "where there is plenty to eat." In the 18th century groups of the Kickapoo settled along the river. In the middle 18th century the region aroudn the river was the scene of conflict between the Illini and Fox as part of the larger French and Iroquois Wars. French traders were active in the region through the middle 18th century when it was part of the Illinois Country.
The first U.S. settlers arrived in the region in the 1810s. In 1821 Elijah Iles built the a log-framed store, the first commercial building in Springfield. Groups of Cumberland Presbyterians settled the river valley beginning in 1825, giving the region a distinctive culture identified and described at the turn of the 20th century by Edgar Lee Masters .
Abraham Lincoln arrived with his family in the area in 1830 to settle a section of government land bisected by the river. The site was selected by Lincoln's father after the family had economic and land-title difficulties in Indiana. The 21-year-old Lincoln helped build a 16 ft by 16 ft (4.8 m by 4.8 m) cabin along the river. The following year in 1831 he canoed down the river to homestead on his own near New Salem in Menard County northwest of Springfield. Later that year he floated down the river with companions on a flatboat , following the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Lincoln was impressed by the navigational difficulties on the river, especially during the arrival of the first steamship up the river to Springfield in 1832. During his first campaign for the Illinois General Assembly in 1832 he made navigational improvements on the river a centerpiece of his platform.
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Last updated: 05-09-2005 16:38:33
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
