June 9, 2009 at 10:56 am (archeology, botany, ecology)
Tags: curly dock, Frank Keller, friary, lichen, Mayslake, moss, primary succession, Rumex crispus, Senecio pauperculus, soil formation, Wayne Lampa
by Carl Strang
A few days ago I shared an account of a morning spent with botanist Wayne Lampa and restoration steward Frank Keller. As we searched for lichens on the north deck of the old friary, Wayne remarked at how its bricks were becoming obscured by the plant growth.
Mosses had become established in the spaces between the bricks, and had spread over the edges. Those mosses in turn had provided a substrate in which a number of vascular plants were growing.
The most spectacular of those that day were balsam ragworts.
Curly dock was another.
This sequence of events is close to the ecological process of primary succession, in which life becomes established in stages on a new substrate that did not have life on it before. Wayne’s and Frank’s study of lichens, particularly those on the concrete and rocks, was in part an examination of the first stage of primary succession. Whether the friary deck counts as primary succession I would have to leave for a plant ecologist to say. There was a little soil between the bricks to provide a foundation for the mosses. Given time, the deck could be covered by a deeper and deeper layer of soil, ultimately with a forest growing over it, reminiscent of lost Mayan ruins in the jungles of Central America.
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March 22, 2009 at 11:19 am (archeology, history (human))
Tags: archeology, Butler Woods, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history, mystery structures
by Carl Strang
It’s time to conclude my series on Fullersburg Forest Preserve history and archeology. Time to put on the pith helmet one last time and check out a mystery. And if you can cast light on it, I will appreciate the assist.
If you take the informal dirt trail clockwise around the edge of Butler Woods from Rainbow Bridge, it will take you to the Hairpin Turn.
Shortly after you go around that turn you will see a branch of the trail heading right (east) and up the hill. At the top of the hill is a trench, dug no doubt for some agricultural purpose. It’s not a glacial feature.
Just below that trench is a trio of concrete structures whose function at present remains a mystery. These include a 25-foot-long, arc-shaped low wall built of 2’x2’ concrete blocks, one of which is being shifted as a large white oak grows in behind it.
This arc’s concave side faces south, and in the focus of that arc 30 feet further south there is a bunker-like structure 8’ wide, 7’ deep, and 3’ tall, open on the south side with some dolomite flagstones stacked in the bottom, an old decaying piece of lumber on the ground, a few red bricks scattered on top, and an iron ring set in the center of the roof piece on its south edge.
This bunker is dug into the side of the hill. Brookfield Zoo educator Jim Ritt has made the interesting suggestion that the structure was designed for dynamite storage. Its orientation away from farm clearings and buildings to the north that show on the 1939 aerial photo is consistent with this hypothesis. Back, now, to the trail. On the north side of that trail, roughly in line with the center of the arc and the bunker and 10 feet north of the wall, the third structure is a 3’ circular piece of concrete with a rectangular slot through its top that is about the length and depth of one of the wall’s elements.
The axis of that slot is in line with the bunker. These objects are within a string of older trees that are visible in the 1939 photo. Incidentally, piled in a refuse heap a short distance north of there, just south of the swamp and east of the Hairpin Turn, is a rusting tank of the sort used for heating oil in a home furnace, along with two rusted crushed objects which may be identical tanks, and a wheel still bearing its tire.
So that’s where I’ll end this topic, at least for Fullersburg. There are some other archeological features on that preserve I haven’t mentioned, but I’ll leave them, along with the ones I never found, for your own discovery.
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March 21, 2009 at 11:15 am (archeology, ecology, history (human))
Tags: Butler Woods, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history, Fullersburg trails, landscape history
by Carl Strang
Two old building foundations are waiting your discovery in northern Butler Woods. The informal dirt peripheral trail crosses one of these,
very close to a roadside sign and boulder which indicate that this was where a hunt club paused before crossing 31st Street in the old days. I wonder if this building might have been a rest shelter for hunt participants. If not, it probably was a farm outbuilding.
The second foundation clearly was a home.
It is located near the 31st Street Stem trail, west of Butler Prairie. The stone boundary of a foundation flowerbed still can be seen. An old trail or drive extends south from the west edge of the house. That this area was agricultural is supported by the presence of drainage tiles in the Butler Prairie area. The north edge of the forested block southwest of this house still can be seen as a straight boundary between older trees, and younger ones that have grown up post-agriculture. Many years will pass before the influence of this stage of Fullersburg’s history disappears from the forest.
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March 18, 2009 at 11:14 am (archeology, history (human))
Tags: Butler Woods, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history, Fullersburg trails
by Carl Strang
In a series of earlier posts I reviewed surviving ruins as well as structures still in use that were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve. Now is a great time to explore the ruins of Fullersburg, with temperatures warmer and obstructing vegetation not yet in leaf. Today I want to look at some fading signs of events at this preserve that followed the Great Depression, focusing on Butler Woods. Here is a map with place names.
The improvements made by the CCC, plus the limited number of other preserves available at the time, drew crowds to Fullersburg Woods. It was too much of a good thing, and by the 1960’s Fullersburg was regarded as suffering from overuse. The boat house was closed, and that building was converted to the Visitor Center, which opened on May 2, 1973. The addition of other forest preserves eased the pressure, allowing Fullersburg to recover. In 1975, Butler Woods was added via a 30-acre donation by the Butler Company, plus a 40-acre purchase. The 31st Street Stem trail was constructed to connect York Road to 31st Street through the preserve. New trails were developed through the Butler Woods addition. Except for the main trail along Salt Creek and the 31st Street Stem, these have always been dirt paths and are no longer maintained. Most of them continue to be used enough by people and deer that they still can be followed easily. Some railroad-tie steps remain in place where the trail climbs the hill at the end of the Hairpin Turn, and a few unused ties still are piled below there. Slight alterations in the trail route have accumulated over the years, possibly originating when tree falls forced detours. In addition, a new route developed after the 1970s which skirts the northern edge of the preserve along 31st Street. The old trails east of the 31st Street Stem now are almost exclusively the province of deer.
One approach to finding the disused trails east of the 31st Street Stem is to make your way along the south boundary of Butler Prairie. Along the way you may see the drains at each end of the prairie, both eroded over time so they seldom will be reached by flood waters.
Above the westernmost of these drains are concrete pieces that appear to be a corner and other bits of wall.
At the east end of the prairie, in addition to scattered pieces of brick from an earlier age, is one of the old trails, which still (in 2008) is fairly easy to follow southeast from there. Eventually that trail peters out into a deer trail that bends more straight east. With some effort you may be able to find one or both of the old human trails that descended to Salt Creek. These joined the trail you are on just after it curves east, with one essentially going straight south downhill, and the other angling more southwest. Both are marked by clear worn depressions, though fortunately neither has gullied. The more distinct one goes straight down hill. If you look carefully you can see the remains of timbers installed as steps or check dams. The most intact of these timbers is at the bottom of the old trail, which joins the main trail about 20 feet east of a bench.
If you choose to find this trail from this bottom end, note that there is a recent unofficial path angling down from the church parking lot. This joins the main trail at the same point. The historical trail heads straighter north, straighter uphill, and is less obvious. Look for that timber step. The place where the other branch of the historical trail joins the main trail at Salt Creek is obscure. To find it, follow the east bank of the little stream that passes under the main trail a short distance west of the same bench. This is the stream that originated at the westernmost of those two stranded storm drains. 10-20 yards from the main trail, look for the shallow depression marking where the historical trail angles NE up the hill.
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March 8, 2009 at 12:28 pm (archeology, history (human))
Tags: history, mystery structures, Waterfall Glen, Waterfall Glen history
by Carl Strang
Earlier I explained why I think it’s important to include inquiries of human history when studying the natural history of the local landscape, and I have illustrated that idea with several examples. Today I want to focus on one of my favorite spots in the forest preserves of DuPage County: the eastern bluffs at Waterfall Glen. To reach this area, park at the Environmental Education Camp parking lot. The driveway entrance to this lot is on Bluff Road, just east of the right-angle turn that marks the south end of Cass Avenue. Pick up a map, or download it from here, then walk a short distance back up the entrance drive to where an unsurfaced trail leads off right. That trail will take you to the bluffs area. As you wander around you should find an old road farther east, still used by Forest Preserve District vehicles, leading down the side of the bluff alongside a ravine.
That road is shown on the preserve map, and its north end connects with Bluff Road.
High up in the ravine that runs along the east side of that road is a place where a now-abandoned side trail crossed over the stream. Shaped stacked stones and a culvert give it an interesting look.
I don’t know the history of these roads. I don’t see the side one, at least, on the 1939 aerial photos but it could be obscure. On the lip of the hill above the west side of the main road (the one still in use) is a curious concrete structure.
It is a 6 by 6-foot square concrete platform. There is a 3 by 14-inch slot on the ravine side that reaches nearly to the center of the square, where there is an inset metal pipe, flush with the surface, around 6 inches in diameter. I have not yet figured out what this structure was. Suggestions are welcome.
If you go down the road to the bottom of the bluff and turn west along the service road it joins, you will pass some large lumps of concrete on the side of the bluff. Their original purpose likewise is a mystery, at least to me.
You can continue west to connect to the regional trail or turn north at the next service drive intersection (the map will help, here), to return to the parking lot.
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February 20, 2009 at 12:16 pm (archeology, history (human))
Tags: Civilian Conservation Corps, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history
by Carl Strang
Visitors to Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve experience works created by the depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps whether they know it or not. Most of the trails, the parking lot, bridges, dam, visitor center and trail structures were created by workers in the Fullersburg CCC camp. I have shared some of the ruins of other works that no longer are in use, and want to close the CCC chapter with a few more.
The 1937 map that has been our guide to CCC projects shows a number of latrines and “incinerators.” Some of the latrines still are in use, though updated and maintained by the Forest Preserve District. I provided directions to ruins of a latrine and possible incinerator yesterday . Now I want to cover the rest.
We’ll start at Willow Island, which itself probably was created by the CCC , reached by taking the trail north from the Visitor Center and crossing the little bridge.
On Willow Island, the still standing structure at its southeast corner is a picnic shelter, the one on the east side held a well. The spot marked “Incinerator” in the center of the island is our first ruin, a hollow cube of concrete set flush with the ground and bearing 3 holes broken in its top.
A short distance north of that cube is a rusting wire cylinder that once may have been the actual trash burning container.
Please remember not to disturb any artifacts you may find. The figure-8-shaped large channel in the southeast part of Willow Island was dug after the CCC was done, in a since abandoned attempt to provide an area for wildlife viewing.
Crossing back over the Willow Island Bridge and turning west to follow the trail around the Interpretive Trail river bend, you will pass a pump not marked on the map, a tiny shelter, and the functioning latrines shown on the 1937 map. I could not find a trace of the adjacent incinerator. The original support beams of the shelter at the northeast corner of the river bend were rotting, and replaced by octagonal planed beams in 2007. Our next ruin is one of the latrine vaults near the north end of the bend.
I could find only one in the area marked, but tall dense growth of garlic mustard and dame’s rocket obscured much of the ground that day.
We finish in the area of today’s buildings around the north end of the parking lot. Well #2 is not there, as far as I can see. There is an old broken concrete slab where an Incinerator is marked on the 1937 map, across the service road from the west end of the garage.
That concludes our archeological adventure for now. The next chapter will take us into parts of the preserve that were added after the CCC era. But in our current time of economic uncertainty there is something to be said for exploring works that date back to a period that historians still call the Great Depression.
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February 19, 2009 at 12:10 pm (archeology, history (human))
Tags: Civilian Conservation Corps, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history
by Carl Strang
Today I want to plant another idea for those who might wish to search out archeological ruins from Fullersburg Forest Preserve’s past. This might be a good expedition for late winter or early spring, after the snow has melted and before the woody plants leaf out. The ground might be wet or muddy in that season, so footwear should be selected carefully. This can be done on a warm sunny summer day, too, but leafed out shrubs will make the search more challenging.
In Fullersburg’s early heyday after the improvements made by the Civilian Conservation Corps , there was a picnic ground in the triangular area on the east side of Salt Creek, just downstream from the Visitor Center Bridge and across from Sycamore Island. The most conspicuous surviving structure is a grill or incinerator.
It is located close to where an unlabeled circle is marked on the map, northwest of where the labeled incinerator was crossed off (is this the relocated “incinerator?”). One of the latrine vaults still can be readily found.
If there was a second one, it is more obscure. Someone thoughtfully placed a log in it to ease the escape of any animal that might fall into the hole. Existing, but a little more challenging to find, are the ruins of the Shelter and Well #1. The shelter was at the northwest corner of a relatively elevated area, and must have provided a beautiful view of Salt Creek. Today all that remains are scattered bits of stone and concrete at the surface of the soil.
South of there, Well #1 no longer bears its shelter, but remains as a square of concrete with the circular center pump mount still in place.
Tomorrow I will conclude the CCC chapter of Fullersburg’s history.
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February 18, 2009 at 12:13 pm (archeology, history (human))
Tags: Civilian Conservation Corps, Fullersburg
by Carl Strang
This entry on the Civilian Conservation Corps chapter of Fullersburg Forest Preserve history is more speculative than the others, hence the question mark in the title. These are relatively large scale changes in the landscape, and documentation I have been able to find is limited.
The first stop is the most certain. The camp itself was located on the site of the present day Hilltop Prairie, west of the parking lot and buildings.
I suspect that the camp extended north of the prairie proper onto more level ground. Below that prairie to the north is the Amphitheater, annual home of a stop on Fullersburg’s Halloween Nature Walks.
The Amphitheater’s location coincides with a symbol on the CCC’s 1937 map (oval shape in the center of the excerpted map piece below).
This symbol on a topographic map usually represents a “cut,” a place where earth was excavated. This suggests that the Amphitheater is an artifact, perhaps created by the CCC themselves. An old newspaper clipping in the Forest Preserve District files says that performers (a singer, Elsie Janis, specifically mentioned) came from time to time to entertain the workers in a theater. The Amphitheater bowl, located immediately below the camp, seems the likely location of this theater.
Bits of retaining wall, some of which have been buried by slumping or erosion, persist in and near the Amphitheater, and likely were installed by the CCC.
Channels creating Willow and Sycamore Islands, along with two smaller islands west and northwest from Willow Island, are supposed to have been dug by the CCC as well.
These islands do not appear on the original 1840 survey sketch or on the 1874 DuPage County atlas, but they are clear in the 1937 map
and the 1939 aerial photo.
Thanks to siltation the channels have narrowed greatly and become shallower since that time, the smaller islets now are attached to the mainland except in times of flood, and Sycamore Island is now Sycamore Peninsula except in high water. The bridges over Salt Creek at the Visitor Center and the western extremity of the preserve (i.e., Rainbow Bridge), as well as the bridges providing access to Willow and Sycamore Islands, bear the marks of CCC work, their construction involving use of the same kinds of dolomite slabs and beams as the Visitor Center and many of the trail shelters.
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January 28, 2009 at 12:23 pm (archeology)
Tags: Civilian Conservation Corps, Fullersburg, Fullersburg history, history
by Carl Strang
Today I want to continue reviewing the Civilian Conservation Corps chapter in the history of Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve, this time focusing on some structures that still stand.
I’ll begin with the single remaining “Trail Shelter” marked on the 1937 map. Earlier I described some of these shelters that today are represented by only a few foundation stones. The standing one is very simple, and you can find it by traveling north from the Visitor Center, turning left just before the Willow Island bridge, and looking on your right.
This is simply a bench with a roof.
I long was puzzled by the different forms of shelters, sometimes so close together as to question what the builders had in mind. The map made this clear, however. Some of these structures have substantial beams and are larger.
They come in various shapes, but have in common the large round beams, which were formed from the trees that were cut to create the main parking lot, and the dolomite stone slabs, which came from the Lemont Quarries. All are simply marked “Shelter” on the map, and apparently were intended for picnics and other group activities.
The other common trail structure design has a square shape and smaller beams with square cross sections.
These are marked “Well” on the map, and originally contained pumps. Their frequent proximity to the shelters is explained as the provision of a water source for picnickers. None of these house pumps today.
The most substantial building left by the CCC is the Visitor Center, which they intended as a “Boat House”
In Fullersburg’s heyday as the most popular property in the then much smaller Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, this building was known as The Landing and indeed housed a boat concession from which people had excursions on Salt Creek.
It likewise is characterized by the use of large round beams and dolomite slabs in its construction. The CCC did a lot more at Fullersburg. Stay tuned.
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January 2, 2009 at 12:36 pm (archeology, birds, botany, methods)
Tags: awareness, Edward Stuyvesant Peabody, Equisetum hyemale, history, landscape history, Mayslake, red-tailed hawk, scouring rush
by Carl Strang
On my last two midday walks of 2008 I went to parts of Mayslake Forest Preserve I had not yet visited. At some point I will touch on the importance of awareness techniques in field studies, but for now the idea is to avoid getting into a rut. I have developed some standard routes, and that is good for establishing baselines when monitoring an area like Mayslake, but it’s also important to maintain a fresh perspective by altering that routine occasionally.
On December 30 I explored the stream between Mays Lake and the old wooden bridge. And what to my wondering eyes did appear…a big patch of scouring rushes!
This is Equisetum hyemale, with stems reaching half an inch in diameter at the base and a height of more than a meter. This plant belongs to an ancient group, with tree-sized relatives that were part of DuPage County’s earliest forests 300 million years ago. Smaller ones like this were then important in the understory.
Cottontails had cut some of the stems into short pieces. I’m not sure what’s going on there. Something to think about.
This is not a plant I have encountered often, so finding it was a pleasant surprise. Swink and Wilhelm characterize it as a plant of “artificial slopes.” That description applies here, as the plants were growing on fill that was piled when Peabody excavated an outlet channel within the original swale when he created Mays Lake out of a marsh.
On December 31st I walked around the periphery of the preserve, looking in from the edges of 31st Street and St. Paschal Drive. That new perspective was enjoyable, and I want to walk that route from time to time, but on this day the main product was a close look at a red-tail hunting from a perch near 31st Street.
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