Joliet Iron Works

Last Sunday I took the Rock Island Metra to Joliet to explore the Illinois and Michigan Canal. My long term goal is to walk most if not all of the canal path, but this weekend I set the modest goal of walking from the Joliet Metra to Lockport's Dellwood Park. Along the way I detoured through the Joliet Iron Works ruins, which are no more than a 20 minute walk through downtown Joliet from the Metra Station. The Joliet Iron Works ruins are a developed historical site, with explanatory signs that give the history of the various parts of the site. I found the explanations and history to be interesting and I came away from the site wanting to know more about it. The industrial ruins have a post-apocalyptic quality to them, like they are what remains from some kind of futuristic robot war that destroyed humanity. I spent a couple of hours walking around the site, reading the signs and taking pictures.

The walk from the Joliet Iron Works to Dellwood park is about 3 miles along the abandoned tow path of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Along the way there are numerous sights to be seen. For example, the guard tower of the old prison looms cinematically over part of the route. There are also two abandoned locks carved from the limestone creating waterfalls in the canal that are very picturesque. My favorite part of the route however was the remains of the Joliet Iron Works slag heap. I learned that the Joliet Iron Works used to dump its slag not far from the prison. Now they have hauled almost all of the slag away and way remains is a gray plain of iron ore cinders and crumbled, burnt bricks that has an almost lunar quality.

I could have walked all the way from Joliet to the Palos Hills Forest Preserve if I had alloted more time, but I only had a few hours until the last train into the city, so I didn't get as much time to explore as I would have liked. My short term goal is to take the Metra to Joliet some Saturday morning and then walk along the Illinois and Michigan canal to Moraine Valley Community College (which is at 107th and 88th Ave) where it is easy to catch a Pace Bus to either Midway or the Red Line.

Here are some pictures from the trip...

http://picasaweb.google.com/thomas.garman/JolietIronWorks?feat=directlin...