The Miracle At Assisi Hill Now Available!

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Pat Camalliere

I am so excited to announce the arrival of my newest book, The Miracle at Assisi Hill, which has been two years in the making. It’s here at last, just in time for Holiday gifting (or gift yourself!). 

For those of you who have read my previous books, Cora Tozzi is back in this one, with many of her old friends and a few new ones. This time, Cora is experiencing a number of personal crises, and turns not to a ghost but to a woman in Heaven for help.

Once again, the main events take place in little-known areas of Lemont, Illinois, include authentic details from Lemont’s rich history, and involve the solving of a mystery from the past. The historic character in the book is based on the life of a real woman with ties to Lemont who is a candidate for sainthood, Mother Theresa Dudzik.

I will soon be sending new posts to my local history blog, but I wanted you to know right away that you can catch up with Cora, or start with your first Cora mystery and get to know her. All my books can be read as stand-alones, so jump right in anywhere that interests you. Other books in the series are listed below.

For those of you who live in or near Lemont and would like a signed copy for yourself or for a friend, I will be signing books this Saturday during Lemont’s Hometown Holidays. I’ll be at Smokey Row Antiques Saturday, December 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 and will have all my books available. Stop in any time, to get a book or just to chat—I’d love to see you!

Pat Camalliere at Book Release Party April 26, 2015, The Inn at Smokey Row

Here’s the details:

Book Signing:

Lemont’s Hometown Holidays
Smokey Row Antiques, 112 Stephen Street, Lemont
Saturday, December 3 from 5:30 to 7:30

 

Paperbacks are available at the following stores:

Smokey Row Antiques, 112 Stephen Street, Lemont
Centuries and Sleuths, 7418 Madison Street, Forest Park
Anderson’s, 5112 Main Street, Downers Grove store only

 

All books available online at Amazon.com in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, including free to Kindle Unlimited members.


Here’s the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Pat-Camalliere/dp/B0BLB35PXV/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1669921667&refinements=p_27%3APat+Camalliere&s=books&sr=1-1

The Mystery at Sag Bridge, The Mystery at Black Partridge Woods, and The Mystery at Mount Forest Island can be purchased at Smokey Row Antiques in Lemont, Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore in Forest Park, and at Amazon.com. Amazon links are provided below.

As always, written reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are very much appreciated.
Please visit my website at: www.Patcamallierebooks.com or click here: Pat’s website
The Mystery at Mount Forest Island
Based on a real place in the forests near Lemont, Jessica Fletcher meets the Sopranos in this third book in the Cora Tozzi Historical Mystery series.
Crime, deceit, love, and the value of friendship. A woman whose family’s involvement in the Chicago Mob devastates lives throughout generations.

“Fiction at it’s best….” — Red City Review
“Superb storytelling…” — Readers’ FavoriteAmazon link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+mystery+at+mount+forest+island&crid=1W3I9CY3F9AFY&sprefix=the+mystery+at+mount+forest+island%2Caps%2C176&ref=nb_sb_noss
The Mystery at Black Partridge Woods
A legendary water beast, mysterious wolves, and an unsolved murder echo through two centuries.
What lengths would a Potawatomi woman go through to save her son, and why would someone commit a violent act to keep people from knowing her story two hundred years later?Order from Amazon
The Mystery at Sag Bridge
A century-old murder mystery
A dangerous ghost
An amateur historian…
What binds them together?
A ghost and an unsolved triple homicide lead Cora Tozzi to uncover a hundred-year-old mystery and the history of Sag Bridge, Illinois.
 Order from Amazon
 
Posted in Lemont History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Miracle At Assisi Hill Now Available!

Chicago’s South Side Mob – Concluded #4: The Chicago Mob, The FBI & Fun Facts

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Pat Camalliere
Chicago’s South Side Mob – Concluded #4
The FBI and Fun Facts

What effect did the government and law enforcement have on the Mob?
Among the skills developed by the Outfit was the ability to avoid, minimize, and overturn criminal punishment. Money was spent wherever necessary: payoffs for looking the other way, bribes, top legal defense, whatever it took. It’s common knowledge that the only successful effort to penalize Al Capone was to charge him with tax evasion. Even while imprisoned, Capone was able to effectively influence the operations of the Outfit. This was typical throughout the organization. Business as usual.

After the efforts carried out by Eliot Ness (facts now hint he was less instrumental than is represented in the movies and television), J. Edgar Hoover directed his agents to targets outside of organized crime, focused on bank robbers, Communists, and Cuba. It is said this was because he didn’t want to wreck his reputation for always getting his man, and the Mob had a way of making fools of government efforts by trial manipulations and overturned verdicts.

An interesting fact was that law enforcement routinely flew small planes over suspect areas in the winter, looking for roofs with no snow, as snow would melt if alcohol was being cooked. In Chicago Heights the mobsters painted their roofs white.

Organized crime seemed always able to find people willing to work outside the law and cooperate to spread corruption, with fingers that reached into a vast array of entities. Not only were police departments and judges made to “go along,” but union money was said to be used to build mob casinos, and politicians often played ball with the Mob for a variety of reasons. Not only was it said that the Mob had a lot to do with getting the “right” politicians into office (some say including John Kennedy), but it is rumored that there are mob ties to Watergate, and that high-level members of the Mob were paid informants for the FBI and CIA. With those connections and potential, it’s no wonder mobsters often escaped prosecution and conviction.

Despite this, today’s Outfit has been largely affected by Federal prosecution. Other factors have come into being, such as legalization of gambling, ethnic changes that shifted the effectiveness of organized crime on a larger level to street level and community gang activities, and a reformed population that no longer tolerates visible traditional organized crime and violence.

 Interesting Facts 

In the 1890s Chicago had a population of 1.2 million, but only 1100 policemen. Today Chicago’s population of 2.7 million has 12,000 police officers.

In the early 1900s, Chicago’s consumption of alcohol was three times the national average.

In 1927 Cicero was the “wettest” spot in the U.S., with Chicago Heights being #2. At that time, bootlegging brought in $183 million ($103 million from beer, $56 million from hard liquor, and $23 million from the production of pure alcohol), while gambling brought in $65 million, vice $52 million, and labor racketeering $26 million. Of these totals, the Capone Outfit brought in 30%, which was more than double the next most profitable crime organization. 

During the Prohibition Era (1919-1933) 729 people were killed gangland-style in Cook County. 

At the 1933 World Fair in Chicago, Ralph “Bottles” Capone, Al Capone’s brother, controlled the market on bottled water and soda. 

The term “underworld” in Chicago reportedly came from the fact that a large percentage of organized crime originated from an area of Chicago where the streets had been raised by ten feet in 1850, leaving the buildings that had lined these streets significantly below street level. 

It is rumored that between Prohibition and the 1990s the mob had so much cash overflow that it’s likely that to this day undiscovered stashes are buried all over Chicagoland. Such cash, after being dug up, was routinely exchanged at racetracks, since the money would have gotten moldy and the smell would have given it away.

With the exception of casinos in Las Vegas and in the West, the Chicago Outfit controlled all mob activities west of Chicago across the United States. 

In 1950 and 1951 the estimated annual illegal gambling take alone was $15-20 billion. In those same years, the annual U. S. Military budget was $13 billion. During that period, Chicago was the crime capital of America. 

The Freehauf Building in Lemont at the northeast corner of Talcott and Stephen housed in its deep basement a large “alky cooker” that turned out alcohol for Lemont’s many “soft drink parlors.” A raid there in 1925 by Sheriff Hoffman and his men found nothing but equipment after breaking down the door, except for a few gallons of alcohol in a shed behind the building. The still had been taken down and the operators were nowhere to be found. In the 1950s a bookie joint operated on the building’s upper floor. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip into the Underworld. If you found it interesting, please check out my newest book, The Mystery of Mount Forest Island, which is based on much of the material covered here.

You can also read one of my older posts from April 1, 2015, “Lemont and the Capones.” The link is: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2015/04/lemont-and-the-capones/

If you question something in my articles, please look to these authorities, the real experts who know so much more than I ever will about organized crime.

Some of the books I used, from which I derived notes used to write this article, are:
The Chicago Outfit – John J. Binder
Al Capone’s Beer Wars – John J. Binder
The Neighborhood Outfit – Louis Corsino
The Boys in Chicago Heights – Matthew J. Luzi
The Outfit  – Gus Russo 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Chicago’s South Side Mob #3: After Prohibition, Villa Venice, and the Rat Pack

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Pat Camalliere
Performers often appeared at clubs owned by organized crime. From left to right: Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Frank Sinatra from an appearance at the Villa Venice in Wheeling, owned by Sam Giancana.

Now that the holidays are over and things seem to have calmed down, hopefully you are looking for things to read while the weather is still keeping most of us indoors.

This is part three of a series of articles about the South Side Chicago mob. This segment focuses on the Chicago Outfit during the period after Prohibition.

I have many Italian friends and became Italian by marriage, so my sons are part-Italian heritage. When I decided to write a historical mystery novel based on a friend whose family had loose ties to organized crime in the late 1950s, I did a fair amount of research.

The Mystery at Mount Forest is now available, and I’d like to share with you some of what I found most interesting with a particular focus on the South Suburbs where I grew up and my story takes place.  I thought that the things that caught my interest might also interest my readers. I’m not trying to compete with the experts on all things Chicago Mob, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I will be including some references with the last post in this series.

If you missed the first two articles in this series, you can read them on  my website,  http://www.patcamallierebooks.com

Chicago’s South Side Mob – Continued #3
After Prohibition, Villa Venice & the Rat Pack

What happened to the Outfit after Prohibition?

When Prohibition was repealed and those seeking alcoholic beverages were no longer dependent on organized crime, the Chicago Mob returned to their previous businesses, improved and then expanded into new areas, taking advantage of opportunities. They became even more profitable than they had been during Prohibition, with peak profits taking place in the 1950s.

What were those activities?

  • Gambling, craps, bookie joints, and thoroughbred racetracks
  • Labor racketeering, union infiltration, and misappropriation of union funds
  • Exploitation of businesses, control of pension funds and construction jobs, employer kickbacks
  • The entertainment industry: strip joints, prostitution, vending machines, jukeboxes, slot machines (back rooms in neighborhood bars), casinos and nightclubs (such as Condessa Del Mar on South Cicero Avenue and Villa Venice), sponsored entertainers (such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Frankie Avalon, Fabian)
  • Bail bonds
  • Loan sharking
  • Street taxes
  • Entry into “legitimate” businesses: cement, housing, garbage disposal, real estate, liquor stores, motels, laundromats, breweries, restaurants, dairies.

Notably missing from this list is narcotics. In general, the Chicago Outfit washed its hands of involvement in drug trafficking, discouraging involvement due to risks involved. There were many practical, rather than ethical, reasons. Managing street gangs was something they preferred not to do, since it would draw from what they deemed more lucrative activities they had refined. Also, the Outfit always strongly defended its members, and legal defense for drug crimes was expensive. Members involved in wholesale trafficking on their own time may have been overlooked in later years, but narcotics was not a business the Mob wanted. Therefore, drug trafficking was largely left to other ethnic groups that were growing in the area.

At this point some definitions may be helpful.

Extortion, also called shakedown, is a criminal activity whereby the target is forced (coerced) to pay to avoid being damaged in some way. The extortionist is thus both the problem and its solution. Typically, the target will be offered “protection” to make the problem go away. For instance, a service will be offered to protect a business from dangerous individuals in the neighborhood unless money is paid. The extortionist is both the person who profits by the payment and the “dangerous individual.”

Racketeering is an organized criminal act, or business, that earns illegal money on a repeated or regular basis. This often involved extortion.

In 1945 the Mob opened its first casino on the strip in Las Vegas when Bugsy Siegel broke ground on the Flamingo. Chicago’s Outfit joined the Vegas strip in 1953 when Accardo and Giancana opened a string of casinos. Although mob affiliation with casinos has never really gone away, in the 1970s legitimate owners started buying up casinos in Vegas, and by the end of the 1980s the Outfit was largely out of Vegas.

Vegas was not the only Mob venture in the entertainment industry. For example, two nightclubs in the Chicago suburbs come to mind – the Condessa Del Mar near 122nd and South Cicero Avenue in Alsip, and the Villa Venice on Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling.

The Villa Venice was owned by then-Chicago-boss Sam Giancana. The elaborate and gaudy nightclub was unlike anything of its day, built to resemble the canals of Venice. The building had a boat landing and patrons could actually ride in a gondola. The showroom seated 800, and a Quonset hut nearby housed a gambling casino. Visitors were transported between the supper club and the roulette and dice tables by the syndicate.

Famous entertainers performed at the Villa in the early 1960s, including such notable singers as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, and Eddie Fisher. Tina Sinatra, Frank’s daughter, explains that the “Rat Pack” of movie fame that included Sinatra, Martin, Davis, and President John Kennedy’s brother-in-law Peter Lawford, performed there as a favor to owner Giancana, who had helped get union support for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election.

The Villa Venice burned down in a “mysterious” fire in 1967, and today a Hilton Hotel is on the site of the old nightclub.
           

In addition to live performers and nightclubs, the Mob’s control of the jukebox industry not only resulted in huge profits but greatly influenced which entertainers became popular. Top 10 and Top 40 listings determined what was played on radio shows and drove record sales. The lists were derived from statistics taken from juke box playings, the selections in the boxes made by the mobsters who filled them.

Another lucrative area was thoroughbred horseracing, not only in bookie joints but also crime taking place at the tracks. Anyone who had access to stables could be involved—jockeys, trainers, stable boys, owners—with such activities taking place as doping, prods, bribing jockeys, racing under false names and ringers, and other “fixes.” Jimmy Emery from Chicago Heights was particularly involved, as written in the preceding article.

After its peak in the 1950s, a variety of changes influenced the direction the Outfit took. In the 1960s, for instance, the advent of “free love” took a significant bite out of the vice trade. The population became less tolerant of criminal behavior and violence, and reform of the area’s legal system and law enforcement crackdowns became more successful. As a result, the Outfit concentrated on bookie joints, graft, union interference, racketeering and extortion, and a new business of chop shops was conceived.

Jimmy “The Bomber” Catuara had been a hit man for the Mob from a young age. He was short, thick, and bald-headed, with a violent streak. He earned his nickname by blowing up taxicabs in the ‘20s and ‘30s, for which he had served a jail sentence. In the 1940s he became Jimmy Emery’s chief enforcer for the Chicago Heights Outfit. He lived in Oak Lawn, and controlled mob operations for the South Side and in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, running chop shops in the 1960s. This major mob activity under his direction led to the Chop Shop Wars and many gangland deaths.

Because he shorted mob bosses of their full share of profits and promoted violence and infighting, thereby drawing much unwanted attention, the Mob eventually replaced him. However, he refused to leave, and when it was rumored that he had turned informant he was found shot gangland style on July 28, 1978.

By the time of Catuara’s slaying, the Outfit was declining for a multitude of reasons. The 1970s saw the death of a number of major mobsters, such as Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Frank LaPorte, and Sam “Momo” Giancana. Legal off-track betting and a state lottery cut into gambling profits. Pressure increased on crackdowns on union corruption. Vegas casinos were being bought out by legitimate owners. The Mob faced serious competition due to ethnic changes and narcotics, with effective operations focused on neighborhoods. Thus, far-reaching organized crime lost its attraction.

By the 1980s the Outfit was largely out of Vegas, and had reorganized and downsized. The business now concentrated on video poker machines in neighborhood bars, professional sports betting, juice loans, and extortion.

In addition to factors listed above, the number of recruits for a “career” in organized crime was affected by a decrease in immigration and the decisions of children of mobsters who made other choices. By the 1990s the mob’s impact was minor.

Despite these changes, the Outfit is still alive today, according to Chicago Outfit expert John J. Binder, author of The Chicago Outfit and Al Capone’s Beer Wars. “They can still be found in their favorite haunts, but they have a much lower profile. However, the Outfit is ready to move any time it sees an angle for itself…”

Postcard image of boat landing and gondolas at Villa Venice, Wheeling, Illinois

Exciting news!

My new novel, The Mystery at Mount Forest Island is now on sale! 

Get your copy now at Amazon, paperback or Kindle, at https://amzn.to/2QReq6J

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Chicago’s South Side Mob – Continued #2

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Pat Camalliere

CHICAGO HEIGHTS AND JIMMY EMERY


This is part two of a series about the South Side Chicago mob. I hope it will provide you a moment of respite from the troubles of this trying year.

Since my teen years I had many friends who were Italian, and later I became Italian by marriage, so my sons are partly of Italian heritage. When I decided to write a historical mystery novel based on a friend whose family had loose ties to organized crime in the late 1950s, I did a fair amount of research.

The Mystery at Mount Forest is now available, and I’d like to share with you some of what I found most interesting with a particular focus on the South Suburbs where I grew up and my story takes place. I thought that the things that caught my interest might also interest my readers. I’m not trying to compete with the experts on all things Chicago Mob, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I will be including some references with the last installment of this series of posts.

Photo credit www.timeout.com.
Also included in the collection of John J. Binder and in his book, The Chicago Outfit. Binder identifies the people in the photo as from left to right: (front row) Frank LaPorte, Vera Emery, Al Capone, Willie Heeney, and Jimmy Emery; (back row) Rocco DeGrazia, Louis “Little New York” Campagna, Claude “Screwy” Maddox, Jack Heinan (probably) and Sam Costello. The photo was taken behind Jimmy Emery’s house in Chicago Heights.

What were mobsters like, and what was their life like? What about the lives of their families and others connected to organized crime?


The private lives of mobsters generally was separate from and often bore little resemblance to life within the mob. Most had strong family ties and adhered to strong family principles. Sunday dinners, picnics and other family gatherings, especially those that centered on food, were an important part of their lives. However, also typical is the presence of heavy drapes on the windows of mobster homes, closed when certain visitors arrived and under other circumstances.

Typically, mobsters were generous and charitable in their communities, supporting widows and others in need. Image was important, and characteristic dress was a suit, button-down shirt, tie, hat and coat. Casual clothing was unusual.

Loyalty was all-important. “Omerta,” the code of silence, ensured that members would not betray each other. To join the Outfit was to join for life, and formal initiation ceremonies included burning images of saints in the hand and pricking of fingers, which ensured that mob expectations would be remembered.

A general characteristic of a member is a willingness to commit violence. Violence is the Mob’s method of punishing members who break the law, its internal answer to maintaining control of its membership. Traditionally little violence occurs outside of mob business, at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Of course, sometimes there were bystanders. Although sources differ, some say that in order to become a “made man,” a contract killing must first be carried out. During the Prohibition Era (1919-1933) 729 people were killed gangland-style in Cook County.

People outside the mob were sometimes used for tasks such as helping to make illegal goods or guns “disappear,” often in the middle of the night. The term that referred to these people was “connected,” and loyalty ensured that favors would be granted in return. Sometimes these activities had a charitable component, as for instance a widow may allow bootlegging in the basement of her home in return for support for her seven children.
 

How did the South Side Mob come into existence?


Even before Prohibition, as early as the 1870s and 1880s, the labor movement was at its peak and cheap land was not available in Chicago. This drove manufacturers and residents to small towns forty to fifty miles away, towns like Chicago Heights. Italian immigrants followed the movement for jobs as unskilled laborers, in construction, and as factory workers. By 1910 Chicago Heights had the largest percentage of Italian Americans of any town in America. To underscore the fact, by 1920 only 4.8% of Chicagoland was Italian, but Chicago Heights population was 25% Italian. Through the 1940s Italian Americans continued to outnumber all other ethnic groups in Chicago Heights.

Since the earliest arrivals were mostly men, from the beginning saloons, gambling, and girls were highly popular and these ventures were firmly established in the Chicago Heights branch of the Outfit. With gambling, vice, and prostitution in full swing pre-Prohibition, they  had a huge advantage.

In addition, Chicago Heights location was ideal. A large population of Italian recruits were available, land and buildings were plentiful and cheap, it was away from the spotlight of competing downtown, west side, and north side mob operations, and convenient for distribution since it was a railroad hub and located on Lincoln Highway (Route 30), a major thoroughfare at that time. The Chicago Heights area was also near waterways and forests that provided dumping grounds for illegal materials (or bodies!) when needed as well as for temporary stashes.
 

What happened in Chicago Heights that made that branch of the Outfit so successful?


Eliot Ness once said that Chicago Heights was “the pickup depot for most of the illicit alcohol trade in the entire Midwest.”

As the clandestine center for production and distribution of illegal alcohol for the whole Midwest, it helps to understand what was involved. Beer was manufactured locally and was ready for sale within a few days. Alcohol, however, needed to be aged. Therefore, in addition to beer, two types of alcohol were distributed by the Outfit. What was produced locally was not aged and was exported throughout the Midwest. Quality, aged alcohol was preferred by those willing to pay for it and was imported from Canada through Detroit.

First locations were set up for the product to be made. Often this was in the basements of homes and restaurants. Sometimes the basements were extended out to enlarge the space. Then funds were obtained, raw materials purchased and imported, and workers recruited. Once manufactured, the product was ready to be distributed and transported.

Throughout the process, “protection” from law enforcement and hijackers was crucial. Chicago Heights was particularly successful. It was rumored that up to fifty percent of Chicago Heights police accepted bribes, and even helped to convoy whiskey to Chicago during Prohibition. The “protection” accomplished by the Chicago Heights group extended to other Chicagoland networks.

Unlike the wars that were taking place between Capone and the North Side gangs, the Chicago Heights operation was smooth with relatively little infighting. Under Capone’s leadership, ties to Chicago Heights remained close, but after Capone Chicago Heights was less intimate with other Chicagoland groups.

It is rumored that Al Capone was just about everywhere in the Chicago area, but it is known that he did in fact spend a lot of time in Chicago Heights. He was close friends with Jimmy Emery, who ran the Chicago Heights operation from 1928 until the early 1940s, and remained active in Outfit activities until his death in 1957. Capone often spent time in Emery’s home, and was the godfather of Emery’s daughter, Vera.

There is some argument to support the theory that the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was planned at Emery’s home, and that the killers spent time at the home while passing from Indiana to and from the scene of the crime.

After Prohibition, Emery led the Chicago Heights operation to return to and enhance previous endeavors in gambling, strip joints, and prostitution. He extended the territory to include Blue Island, Hammond, and Calumet City, creating centers of vice known throughout the Midwest. Eventually the South Side branch of the Outfit under Emery extended to include all of Cook County from 95th Street to Kankakee, from Joliet to Northern Indiana, and included Oak Lawn and Willow Springs.

Emery drove a 1930 V-12 Cadillac and was a significant figure in thoroughbred horse racing until he was banned from the sport due to illegal track activities. One of his horses, Dolly Val, had a habit of finishing last when favored and winning when she was a long shot. Emery kept a string of horses in Miami, where he spent a great deal of time, and operated a horse-breeding farm reportedly in Tinley Park. He appears in my book, The Mystery at Mount Forest Island, in a fictional representation.

Despite the importance of the Chicago Heights network to the Outfit, little is written specific to this branch of the Chicago Mob. Its activities and decline follow a similar pattern to the remainder of the Outfit’s branches up to the present day.

Credit: The Chicago Outfit, John J. Binder Racehorse Dolly Val, Jimmy Emery holding the reins.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Chicago’s South Side Mob – Part 1

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Pat Camalliere

Since my teen years I had many friends who were Italian, and later I became Italian by marriage, so my sons are partly of Italian heritage. When I decided to write a historical mystery novel based on a friend whose family had loose ties to organized crime in the late 1950s, I did a fair amount of research.

The Mystery at Mount Forest is now available, and I’d like to share with you some of what I found most interesting with a particular focus on the South Suburbs where I grew up and my story takes place.

I was particularly interested in the South Suburbs where I grew up and where my story takes place. I thought that the things that caught my interest might also interest my readers. I’m not trying to compete with the experts on all things Chicago Mob, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I will be including some references with my blog.

From personal experience with Italian friends and family-by-marriage, I noticed subtle signs of mob connections. An uncle who led a well-to-do lifestyle with no apparent job. Guests wearing suit and tie, appearing nervous, appeared at a cousin’s back door during family gatherings. They would follow the cousin to his “office” and he would close the door. Another cousin getting a break as an entertainer in a known mob-owned club. Hush-hush talks and laughter using terms such as “connected” and “fell off the truck.” Bragging about high-end merchandise purchased at ridiculously-low prices from someone’s basement or trunk. Statements like, “Let me know if you want someone to take care of him for you.” Just enough to let me understand this was outside the norm.

So I approached my research with a number of questions in mind. This article is meant to answer the questions that were foremost in my mind, and to highlight what I found of particular interest, and are my opinion where disagreements in facts appear. If you doubt me, please refer to the sources I will list at the end of the series of articles. They are much more knowledgeable than I am.

To begin, what exactly is organized crime, and what is the difference between The Mob, The Chicago Outfit, The Mafia, and The Cosa Nostra?

The terms are not interchangeable.

One definition of organized crime is a grouping of criminals who operate in a centralized manner, engaging in illegal activity for profit.

The Mob is a loose term generally used to refer to a group of violent criminals engaged in organized crime. A common association is an Italian identity.

In the United States, the Mafia is understood to operate only out of Sicily. Sicilians and their family may be in the U. S., but Mafia operations in the U. S. originate in Sicily, not here.

The Cosa Nostra, or American Mafia, on the other hand, arose during Prohibition as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia. It developed into a separate entity of Italian-American gangsters and Italian crime groups, not required to be of Sicilian origin. Members do not report to a Cosa Nostra boss, but hold discussions and make decisions for mutual benefit. Chicago is a member.

The Outfit is Chicago’s own brand, or the Chicago Mob. It refers to the organization as it operated in Chicago under Al Capone, and continues to this day. Capone, by the way, used the term with a lowercase “o.” It was not until the 1950s that Outfit capitalized became popular.

Why is organized crime in the United States associated with Italians?

During the years of heavy immigration from Italy and Sicily, it was typical that men came first and later sent for their wives and families. In general Italian immigrants had few skills and were looked down upon, even by other immigrant minorities. This anti-immigrant bias limited job opportunities to poor-paying rough labor. In addition, discrimination forced the immigrants into communities of close-knit social networks. With no one else to turn to, Italians could depend only on themselves.

Prohibition offered a unique opportunity to unskilled Italian men as the tasks of operating stills, transporting product, etcetera required no skills and the tremendous profits were tempting.

What made Al Capone’s gang and the Chicago Outfit so notorious?

The short version is that Al Capone was a great leader. He made good decisions. He just did things better.

Many factors made the Chicago Outfit stand out from other organized crime networks, some due to location and coincidence, but many due to wise decisions by Capone and other leaders.

Al Capone inherited an organization that had been founded by “Big Jim” Colosimo and Johnny Torrio, which got him off to a good start. When Prohibition became law, Chicago already had a larger mob presence in vice, gambling, and labor racketeering than other mob syndicate, and the experience and cash available from these activities gave Chicago a real advantage in funding and carrying out a bootlegging operation.

The Chicago Outfit always had excellent leadership at the top—people like Al Capone and Frank Nitti. They also had strong underbosses throughout the years—people like Ricca, Accardo, Guzak and Humphreys. Strong underbosses also ensured uninterrupted operation in the event of prison terms or other reasons top leadership may be temporarily unable to maintain full control.

The Chicago area had a large Italian population, providing for strong recruiting and an ideal market. The Outfit also made the wise decision to welcome a multi-ethnic membership and include talented non-Italians. A pattern was established of being good innovators and taking advantage of opportunities.

The level of commitment and devotion at all levels was unique. Underbosses were loyal, informers were few. Only Outfit activities were performed; ordinary crime such as robbery was avoided even at the lowest levels of the organization. Other forms of crime in the area were stamped out, such as Black Hand activities. This led to fewer jurisdictional disputes or family wars, and when conflicts did arise the Outfit usually won.

Unlike Eastern United States, Chicago had no competition from nearby rival cities and other large criminal organizations. Territory was for all intents and purposes unlimited, and able to spread into communities, then suburbs, then other states.

Ample funding and profits were available. The political and law enforcement environments were highly tolerant, if not equally corrupt, allowing organized crime to flourish. Although it cannot be denied that greed and personal gain were large factors, it can also be argued that the Outfit was only providing consensual activities. Customers weren’t forced at gunpoint, they only got what they wanted: drink, gambling, and vice. Criminal activity was tolerated in order to have access to these activities.

Certainly, an element of luck was also at play here!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manhattan Project to Covid-19: Argonne National Laboratory, Then and Now

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Pat Camalliere

A major setting in my novel The Mystery at Mount Forest Island is the former site of Argonne Laboratory Site A. Not only did Site A conduct major research that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, but today the laboratory is figuring prominently in the fight against Covid-19.

In 1939 Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt about Nazi plans to develop an atomic bomb. He asked the president to fund an American research program. In short order, the first advisory commission for American atomic research was founded.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, chemists and physicists working on the project assembled at the University of Chicago. The Army Corps of Engineers leased 1025 acres of land in July, 1942 from the Cook County Forest Preserves in Palos Woods, near Archer Avenue, to build a nuclear research facility. However, due to a labor strike, the facility could not be completed quickly and time was of the essence. Therefore the project was temporarily moved to the University of Chicago, under the bleachers at Stagg Field. It was there that CP-1 (Chicago Pile 1), the first nuclear reactor, was constructed, and the first sustained nuclear reaction took place on December 2, 1942.

For safety and secrecy, Site A in Palos Woods was completed, and in early 1943 CP-1 was dismantled and reassembled on 19 acres of forested land. The reassembled reactor was named CP-2. The facility was named Argonne for the French forest in which a major World War I battle had taken place, but was also referred to as “The Country Club,” referring to the golf course that had previously been nearby.
(Click https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2020/05/the-abandoned-golf-course-of-palos-woods/ for my previous article about the golf course.)

Site A contained reactors, a control room, research labs, a library, machine shop, cafeteria, dormitory, and recreational spaces that included tennis, basketball, football, hiking, and golf on the former golf course. Scientists could live on the property, as strict secrecy was required by the military. This led to some conflict between the military and scientists.

Argonne Site A, aerial view, 1943
Photo credit Forest Preserve District of Cook County

Until the end of the war, nuclear research was focused on beating the Nazis to the bomb. At Argonne, no materials for nuclear weapons were produced, but the lab provided knowledge that led to creation of the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

CP-3 was constructed, and the first water-cooled reaction took place on May 15, 1944. It was here also that effects of radiation on human bodies became known, and where the first studies were made.

After the war, the facility was designated as the nation’s first nuclear lab and named Argonne National Laboratory. In 1946 the Atomic Energy Commission assumed control over the Army Corps of Engineers. Because the land was only leased from the Forest Preserves, it was moved a couple of miles to the north side of the Des Plaines River, and in 1955 and 1956 Site A was dismantled. At that time radioactive fuel and coolant was removed to Oak Ridge National Lab, the reactors were buried on the site, and nearby low level waste was encased in concrete and buried deep at another site in Red Gate Woods (Site M).

Today both Site A and Site M are now deep in Red Gate Woods and identified with monuments and signage near recreational trails. Since the burials, a number of cleanups have taken place. The area is measured annually and shown to be safe since 1995.

This information is from the website of the Cook County Forest Preserves, written by Dr. Theodore Karamanski and a team of graduate students from Loyola University. The excellent article with detailed information is available here: https://fpdcc.com/site-a-the-worlds-first-nuclear-reactor/.

Today Argonne National Lab conducts basic research. It provides access to over 10,000 scientists needing specialized instruments and expertise on materials, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, advanced energy systems, computation and analysis. Among the resources are:

  • The Advanced Photon Source – a ring-generated x-ray beam for research in almost all scientific disciplines
  • Computing Facility – among the world’s fastest supercomputer capability
  • ATLAS – the world’s first superconducting linear particle accelerator
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility – the world’s largest climate research facility.
  • Center for Nanoscale Materials – nanotechnology research
Argonne today, aerial view
Photo Credit: Flickr

Why do we care? Well, aside from being impressive, Argonne is playing a key role in research into the current Covid-19 crisis, including analyzing the virus, finding new treatments and cures, and studying and forecasting the effect of Covid-19 on the population.

It is interesting to see how Argonne’s unique resources are utilized to study the problem of Covid-19.

Covid-19 Virus
Photo Credit: www.thepathologist.com

SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus that causes the disease Covid-19. Understanding the make-up and structure of the virus helps to identify agents that inhibit it. There are literally billions of possibilities. The Advanced Proton Source can help to limit the possibilities by determining which are more likely to block viral entry into human cells, to block the proteins needed for the virus to replicate, and to show how the human host responds to the virus.

Argonne has joined a consortium of sixteen supercomputing systems from government, academia, and industry to coordinate and analyze results, identify proteins for vaccines, and models to predict risks. Combining results with analysis by supercomputers helps to limit the potential options. Nine thousand potential drugs are already on the market, so they are studied first to see which may work. Already thirty potential possibilities have been identified. These can be further refined by study with the Advanced Proton Source.

A number of treatment drugs have been identified, but none are ideal yet. The answer is likely to be a combination, or drug cocktail.

Many of us have been asking questions like: What outcomes can we expect? When will we hit a peak? Will social distancing affect virus spread? What else can we do? Do masks help? What do the statistics really mean?

Supercomputers help by creating models, plugging in variables, and forecasting what will happen based on collected statistics. Virus spread can be measured on a variety of behaviors to give answers to decision-makers. For example, one scenario compares stay-at-home to lax behaviors, and establishes that stay-at-home would result in 95% reduction of spread and no second peak, versus 50% and a second peak with lax behaviors. Decision-makers need to know this!

There is an excellent article on Argonne’s website with details on their Covid-19 studies. You can access the article by clicking this link: https://www.anl.gov/article/argonnes-researchers-and-facilities-playing-a-key-role-in-the-fight-against-covid19.

This article is already long, although there is much more I could say. I hope my summary is accurate, but I am not a scientist. For questions, details, or errors please refer to the websites I have included above.

Doesn’t it inspire pride and hope to know that right here in Lemont top dedicated scientists with the world’s most advanced technological resources are working hard to save not only our country but the world from the disaster that has affected us all?

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000001036 StartFragment:0000000469 EndFragment:0000001019

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Abandoned Golf Course of Palos Woods

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Pat Camalliere
Clubhouse at the Palos Golf Course, ca 1930. Photo by Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Some years ago I spoke at the Lemont Historical Society on the history of local golf courses. While doing research for the talk, I stumbled across one of the first courses in the area, the Palos Golf Course, owned and operated by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC).

The course opened in 1921 and closed in the early 1940s when the property in Red Gate Woods was leased by the FPDCC for the purpose of creating a nuclear reactor (the Manhattan Project) under the direction of the University of Chicago. This led to creation of the atomic bomb. Because the property was adjacent to the golf course, the top-secret nature of the project mandated closure of the course. Clearly it wouldn’t have been a good idea for golfers to look through the fence and wonder what was going on.

Momument that marks the site of buried waste from the Manhattan Project, Red Gate Woods.

I previously wrote about the course in some detail. Click for more info:
https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2015/04/the-lost-golf-course-of-sag/

I was able to verify local lore that Al Capone played the course and used the clubhouse during prohibition, along with reports that Al’s brother, Ralph Capone, operated a bottling company in Lemont and that a stone barn on the Brown Farm in Lemont had been used to store beverages during Prohibition. That was enough to interest me in the site of the golf course, but the proximity to the Manhattan Project made it even more so.

Since that original blog, I’ve learned a lot about the course. I was contacted by a gentleman through the historical society. He wanted to compare notes with me about the old course, as Dave and his sister Sandy had lived on the property as children in the 1950s. The course had been closed, and the clubhouse abandoned but not yet demolished. Dave and Sandy lived on a farm that once served the caretaker of the golf course, their family tasked with keeping an eye on the property and reporting vandals, trespassers, and fires.

Over the next couple of years I met with Dave and Sandy on a number of occasions and we walked the area, where little was left to be seen. By this time I was interested enough that I picked Dave’s and Sandy’s brains for memories of their time there.
Research had established that Argonne National Laboratory operated the first nuclear reactors, CP-2 and CP-3, in red Gate Woods for ten years. The reactors were shut down on May 15, 1954, and buried on the site. The cleanup involved transferring high-level nuclear waste to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for disposal. The remainder was buried forty feet deep, encased in concrete, in Red Gate Woods Forest Preserve, where a monument marks the burial site today. Since the first time I walked the area and found the monument, signs have been put up with further information.

Then I chanced upon a group of pictures of the old clubhouse and course on a Facebook page, Exploring Mount Forest. The author of the page had found remnants of the clubhouse, farm, and course. He agreed to meet me and show me the artifacts.
 

Photo taken by the author of remaining foundation and plumbing from golf clubhouse.

This is when the place really came to life for me. Limestone borders still lined where the entrance road had been, stone pavers visible beneath the dirt path now and then, pieces of the clubhouse foundation, the foundation of the farmhouse and pole barn Dave had described–all had been hidden due to the years when forest was allowed to reclaim the area. We even found a piece of the old red tile roof from the clubhouse. I could visualize the places and their proximity to 107th Street and Saganashkee Slough, and other known places.

Could I write a mystery story about this place? Maybe include organized crime?

You bet I could! The result: The Mystery at Mount Forest Island.

Click here to read more details about the course from my blog of April 15, 2015, “The Lost Golf Course of Sag.”https://www.patcamallierebooks.com/2015/04/the-lost-golf-course-of-sag/.

The Mystery at Mount Forest Island is now available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Click here to order: https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Mount-Forest-Island-Historical-ebook/dp/B086GNGYV8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KIV7WUJKM94G&dchild=1&keywords=the+mystery+of+mount+forest+island&qid=1588700117&sprefix=the+mystery+of+mount%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

QUARANTINE 1903 – THE SIEGE OF LEMONT

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Pat Camalliere
I had a different topic scheduled for the March blog, but due to recent events I thought you would be interested in reading about how epidemics were handled over a hundred years ago, with both similarities and differences to today’s pandemic.

To read other posts about local history, visit my web site here: https://www.patcamallierebooks.com

The article that follows is excerpted from The History & Anecdotes of Lemont, Illinois, 6th Edition, that I revised in 2016. For information about ordering the Lemont Historical Society publication see below.

History & Anecdotes of Lemont, Illinois, copies are available at the Lemont Historical Society and Smokey Row Antiques. You can also purchase copies on Amazon, and a Kindle edition is available. All proceeds, both local and Amazon purchases, benefit the Historical Society.

“In November of 1903, a small group of armed farmers from DuPage and Will Counties encircled Lemont and Lemont Township, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave the area. The township was cordoned off to the outside world, while vigilante groups stopped terrified refugees from the town and turned them back on threat of death. Only foodstuffs and medical personnel were allowed to enter the village and township. Dissatisfied with the lack of any effective public health action by the local authorities, this drastic move was the only way they knew to control the spread of smallpox that had plagued Lemont since the middle of October.
 

“The rumors and whispered fears started around October 20, when a worker at quarry No. 6, who had been very ill, broke out in a rash. After visiting him, Dr. Fitzpatrick, who tended most of the quarry workers, had stationed someone in front of the patient’s home, allowing no one to enter or leave. Soon the frightening word “smallpox” began to creep into conversations.

“Dr. Fitzpatrick was evasive when his patients tried to get information, but he did explain the early symptoms of the disease for all who asked: very high fever, headache, weakness, upset stomach, backache, and leg pains. He added that isolation and vaccination were the best means to control the disease.”

However, Lemont’s mayor at the time, Otto Earnshaw, disagreed, saying “It is only a case of chicken pox, and we are just instituting normal precautions.”

“…soon others became ill with a rash that appeared on the third or fourth day of the illness. The rash started with a red spot that became raised, filled with a fluid, and crusted over. When the crust came off, often a scar remained. This process, from the red spot to the crust, took about a week.”

Old timers knew the signs of smallpox, and knew what was infecting Lemont’s residents was certainly not chicken pox.

As more and more cases developed, Mayor Earnshaw and Township Supervisor Joe Starshak placed Dr. Fitzpatrick for the village and Dr. Leahy for the township in charge of the “health problem.” They were told they could decide the fee for their services once the emergency was over.

“Dr. Fitzpatrick had the bulk of the work, as the village was hit harder than the township. He demanded that all cases be strictly isolated, with guards posted at the homes, and that the Board of Health and the county authorities be notified of the epidemic.

“The mayor was reluctant to take such drastic measures. It would severely hurt business if word got out that Lemont was having a serious outbreak of smallpox. Farmers would ship from other towns and not come to town to buy goods. He and Supervisor Starshak reasoned that the disease was fairly mild and the epidemic would probably end soon.

“This attitude angered Dr. Fitzpatrick, who was frustrated and tired. In ten days, he had cared for three hundred cases and saw the outbreak as a serious health problem, so he quit the job as health officer and went back to caring for sick patients. In his place, Dr. Leahy accepted full control of the village and township

Lemont’s Main Street, ca 1900-1910 Photo courtesy of Lemont Area Historical Society

“Meanwhile, the farmers began their siege. They were determined to prevent the spread of the disease. The siege lasted ten weeks through bitter cold weather… Some Lemonters were angry. It was suggested that the siege was an attempt by DuPage and Will County towns to get the local farm shipment and trade, but most of the townspeople understood the fear that initiated the vigilante action.
 

“Finally…the County Board of Health was notified and medical help was sent… Fifty special deputies were sworn in to guard quarantined homes. The very things Dr. Fitzpatrick had requested were done at last.

“The epidemic began to wane in late December, and by the first week in January no new cases were reported. In all, about 450 people contracted the disease…No fatal cases were reported, but about one-half of the victims had permanent pox scarring.”

The population of Lemont was around 2500 at that time.

“On January 7, 1904, the farmers, satisfied that the disease was under control, lifted the siege and commerce flowed in and out of Lemont once more.”

In January Drs. Fitzpatrick and Leahy presented their bills, which were disputed by Village and Township Boards. Dr. Fitzpatrick’s bill was $18 per case for 300 cases, Dr. Leahy’s $57 per case for 100 cases. The contentious handling of the epidemic and bills resulted in the Village and Township Boards being swept out of office in the next election.

“Lemont experienced a form of smallpox called Alastrim, a relatively mild form of the disease which was introduced into the state with the return of the troops from the Spanish-American War. From 1899 through the spring of 1904, it was widespread throughout Illinois. Lemont was lucky, however, because in the fall of 1904 the character of the disease changed and returned to a more virulent type with a death rate of 22 percent of all persons affected. Lemont’s epidemic had the effect of naturally immunizing a large part of the unvaccinated population against smallpox, because infection with Alastrim conferred the same immunity as if the patient had had the more virulent form of smallpox.”

For those of you who are interested in purchasing your own copy of History & Anecdotes of Lemont, Illinois, copies are available at the Lemont Historical Society and Smokey Row Antiques. You can also purchase copies on Amazon, and a Kindle edition is also available. All proceeds, both local and Amazon purchases, benefit the Historical Society.

Posted in General History, Illinois History, Lemont History | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

MOUNT FOREST ISLAND AND LAKE CHICAGO

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Pat Camalliere

My new release (due soon – stay tuned!) is titled The Mystery at Mount Forest Island. So where is Mount Forest Island, you may ask? It is a triangular-shaped elevation of land between Lemont, Willow Springs and Palos. Most of Mount Forest Island is Cook County Forest Preserves today, but its history is fascinating.

Blue areas indicate “super” Lakes Chicago and Maumee.
Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

When the Wisconsin Glacier that covered Northern Illinois retreated 14,000 years ago, the melt waters collected in a glacial basin that geologists called Lake Chicago. The basin created was much larger than Lake Michigan, the shore extending roughly to where LaGrange Road is today.

The waters were held back by a pile of debris left as the glacier advanced and retreated, known as the Valparaiso Moraine. At the southwestern edge of Lake Chicago was a triangular-shaped island that geologists named Mount Forest Island.

Photo Credit: drupal.library.cmu.edu

Through a complex process over thousands of years, at some point in time the water broke through the moraine at the Chicago Outlet, flowing around Mount Forest Island, creating the Des Plaines River Valley to the northwest, and the Sag Valley to the south. The valleys met at the southwestern tip of Mount Forest Island, which is now not an island but an approximately one hundred foot elevation of land between the two valleys.

Native Americans lived, hunted and fished along the river and camped, hidden and protected, in the ravines along the valleys. From the bluffs of Mount Forest Island they were able to spot herds of bison and deer, normally hard to find in wooded areas. They could also easily spot invaders on the rivers or by land, making the area ideal for survival.

The Sag Valley was primarily swampland and not navigable. However, just north of Mount Forest Island the Des Plaines River approached the Chicago River, with only a long marsh called Mud Lake between. During spring rains the area between the two rivers became navigable. Native Americans used the rivers and developed trails along them.

Then an important event happened in 1673 when Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet traveled through the area. It is not documented, but is likely, that they stopped at Mount Forest Island, near where St. James at Sag Bridge is today on its southwestern tip. It is known that they learned from the natives of the portage at Mud Lake, and realized that a canal built between the rivers would establish a transportation route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River via the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers.

Marquette stated in his journal:

We have seen nothing like this river that we enter, as the fertility of the soil, its prairies and woods; its cattle (bison), elk, deer wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beaver. There are many small lakes and rivers. That on which we sail is wide, deep and still…in the spring and during part of the summer there is only one portage of half a league. (Mud Lake)

The I and M Canal was eventually built and opened, but not until 1848, 175 years later. The Sag Valley also connects to Lake Michigan via the Calumet River. This geography had much to do with the development of Chicago as a major city and transportation hub, as the routes connected the interior of the country to established ports on the east coast and Gulf of Mexico by way of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

Photo: liskahaas.org

South of Mount Forest Island was dug deeper and became the Calumet-Sag Channel, part of the plan to reverse the flow of the Chicago River.  The northern portion of the glacial valley (north of Mount Forest Island) was dug deeper and became the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, drawing Lake Michigan water to flow toward and eventually reach the Illinois River.

However, by the end of the 1800s sanitation issues on the canal made it necessary to revise the canal system. The Sanitary and Ship Canal replaced the I and M Canal, the direction of the Chicago River was changed, and later the Cal-Sag Channel was dug through the Sag Valley to connect to the Sanitary Canal. The canals meet in Lemont at the southwest point of Mount Forest Island.


This photo shows where the Cal Sag meets the Sanitary Canal in today’s Lemont. The wider channel on the right is the Cal Sag, the narrow one on the left the Sanitary Canal. The body of water at top is Saganashkee Slough in the Sag Valley. The wooded wedge of land between the two canals is Mount Forest Island. The Des Plaines River runs parallel to the Sanitary Canal to the left (West) and cannot be seen in the photo. The lower bridge is railroad, the upper one Archer/Rt. 83. The Sag Quarries can be seen to the right of the upper bridge.

Today the elevation that was once Mount Forest Island is mostly Forest Preserves owned and managed by Cook County. At one time these preserves operated a golf course, and in the 1940s a laboratory that conducted research as part of the Manhattan Project. Today it is bike and bridle trails, picnic groves and lakes for the enjoyment of all. The towns of Lemont, Willow Springs, Palos Park, Palos Hills, and Hickory Hills ring its edges.

For the interested, I suggest you check out the Facebook page titled Exploring Mount Forest. I have only touched on its marvels in this blog.

Some months ago, I was driving from Lemont to La Grange, and left inbound Route 55 to exit onto Joliet Road. It was a clear day, and as I headed east past Indian Head Park I suddenly noticed the vast depressed landscape ahead. I realized with surprise and delight that what I was looking at was the ancient bed of Lake Chicago!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Taming the Wilderness #3

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Pat Camalliere

Exciting news! My new novel, The Mystery at Mount Forest Island. is now in the design phase at Amika Press and should be out soon!

Meanwhile, enjoy reading the last article in the series about surveying Northern Illinois.

If you have read the first two posts in this series about surveying Northern Illinois, it is likely you are impressed by the magnitude of the task of our state’s surveyors. This series is concluded with some interesting facts about our early surveyors.

Information to be Recorded

It was crucial that surveyors report information as accurately as possible, since buyers often never saw the land they were investing in and were dependent upon those descriptions. It was also the surveyor’s responsibility to describe the land to its best advantage in order to bring the best price. Some surveyors did this better than others.
 
Yet the early descriptions, despite the skill of the surveyor, often stand and are used even today. Under current laws, the original monuments that marked the boundaries have priority, and will stand even if the original survey was in error, as demonstrated by a new survey.

Here are some of the elements surveyors were required to describe:

  • The exact length of every line. Any deviations in the line and the reasons for deviations.
  • All “bearing trees” and “witnesses,” the type and size, and the distance between true corners relative to witness corners.
  • Mounds and the materials of which they were made (earth, stone, etc.)
  • The kind, diameter, and distance to all trees that lines intersect.
  • The distance at which each line first intersects and then leaves every settler’s claim.
  • The inclusion or proximity to “improvements”: prairie; river, creek, “bottom”; swamp, marsh, grove, and wind fall.
  • Hills and ridges, the distance at which each ascent is begun, the top is reached, descent is begun, and foot is reached, and estimated height, in feet, above the level of the surrounding land, or above the nearby bottom lands, ravines, or waters.
  • All rivers, creeks, and streams that the line crosses; the distance at the points of intersection, and the width of each.
  • Whether the land is level, rolling, broken, or hilly.
  • Estimation of the quality of the land: first, second, or third rate.
  • Timber – description of the kinds of timber and undergrowth, and the quantity of each.
  • Bottom lands – either wet or dry. If subject to flooding, how deep.
  • Springs of water – whether fresh, saline, or mineral, and the course of the stream.
  • Lakes and ponds – description of the banks and their height, the depth of the water, and whether it was pure or stagnant.
  • Nearby towns and villages; Indian towns and wigwams; houses or cabins.
  • Cultivated fields or other improvements, such as sugar tree groves, camps, mills, forges, and factories.
  • All diggings, with description of quality and extent: coal banks or beds; peat or turf grounds; minerals and ores; salt springs and licks.
  • Roads and trails, with their directions, where they go to and come from.
  • Rapids, cascades, or waterfalls, and their height.
  • Precipices, caves, sink-holes, ravines, stone quarries, naming the kind of stone.
  • Curiosities, such as fossils, ancient works of art, mounds, fortifications, or similar objects.

As is obvious, a great deal of information was required to be reported once the actual measurements had been performed!

One might wonder about existing improvements–after all, this is wilderness. Yes, mostly it was wilderness, but some squatters, tradesmen, and merchants came ahead of surveyors to grab the best before the rush. Although they risked being unable to purchase the land for themselves, they were generally able to negotiate a sizeable profit from purchasers for the improvements they had made.

Some Interesting Survey Facts:

The country’s first county surveyor was George Washington.

 Abraham Lincoln became an assistant to John Calhoun, Sangamon County (Illinois) Surveyor, in 1833. His instruments are now on display at “Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site“. 

 For as long as 100 years, U. S. surveyors used instruments invented in the 16th and 18th centuries. Although techniques improved with time, the results were often less than perfect.  Today’s land surveyors spend much time finding and correcting errors to clear titles.

The instruments changed little from the early 1800s well into the twentieth century. Most work was done with a magnetic compass and a surveyor’s chain. (See previous post.) The compass, invented in 1511, was used until 1894.  The chain invented in 1620 by Edmund Gunter, was used until the steel tape measure replaced it in the late18th century.

 Survey procedures could be less than precise. Iron chains stretched with use.  The magnetic compass was subject to daily, annual and lunar variations in the earth’s magnetic field, solar magnetic storms, and static electricity. If a tree blocked a line of sight, a surveyor might sight to the trunk, walk around it and approximate the continuing line.

 To the surveyor, precision may not seem important when the land appeared endless and, at $1.25 an acre, cheap.  Surveyors were paid by the mile, lack of supervision was common, as well as a shortage of trained surveyors. But, on the other hand, hostile Indians, bears, wolves, wind, rain, snow, burning sun and rugged terrain were plentiful!

Posted in Illinois History | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment