Starved Rock State Park is located on the Illinois River, one mile south of Utica, IL. Here, glacial melt sliced deeply through sandstone bluffs, creating over a dozen deep, narrow canyons.
In May 1673, Louis Jolliet, Father Marquette, and five Frenchmen in two canoes, were the first Europeans to travel through the Starved Rock area. They were returning to St. Ignace (located in the upper peninsula of Michigan) from an exploration of the upper Mississippi River.
Father Marquette returned to the area in 1675 to establish a Mission in the Kaskaskia Indian village located across the Illinois River from Starved Rock.In time, New France claimed the entire Mississippi Valley and all of the Great Lakes. To hold their claim, the French built a chain of forts throughout the Great Lakes and along important rivers.As a southern defense, the French built Fort St. Louis atop Starved Rock in the winter of 1682-83. This site was chosen because of its commanding strategic position high above the last rapids on the Illinois River.In February 1684, the newly built fort was attacked by 500 Iroquois warriors. Sharing command of the fort where explorer Henri Tonti and French army officer, Chevalier Baugy. Their command consisted of a tiny force of twenty-two French soldiers, traders, trappers and craftsmen. In addition, twenty-four Shawnee, Miami and Loup warriors and their families were safely protected by the forts’ log walls.Perched 170 feet above the river, Fort St Louis could not be taken by assault. The Iroquois tried, but were driven off. The invaders had no choice but to besiege the place. The French were short of food and gunpowder. . . but so were the Iroquois who had just traveled a great distance on foot. With their food supplies mostly consumed, the Iroquois soon depleted the local area of fish and game. For eight days the Iroquois hung on, sniping, probing the forts’ defenses, torturing Shawnee captives and growing more desperate. Soon, the Iroquois realized they had no choice but to withdraw.By the early 1700s, the French abandoned Fort St Louis and moved to what is now called Peoria, where they built Fort Pimitoui. Over the next twenty years, the remains of Fort St. Louis, now a haven for trappers and traders, slowly disappeared. The diorama pictured was researched and built by the History/Social Science Department and students of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. This reconstruction is based on descriptions of the fort by LaSalle, Henri Joutel, property deeds and a variety of business and French army documents. These sources, though contradictory at times, describe the fort of 1684 as upright logs and earthworks of about 600 feet in circumference which protected housing for between eleven and fifty men, contained seven bastions, a storehouse, forge, officers’ quarters, a chapel and at least three traders’ cabins.
Father Marquette returned to the area in 1675 to establish a Mission in the Kaskaskia Indian village located across the Illinois River from Starved Rock.In time, New France claimed the entire Mississippi Valley and all of the Great Lakes. To hold their claim, the French built a chain of forts throughout the Great Lakes and along important rivers.As a southern defense, the French built Fort St. Louis atop Starved Rock in the winter of 1682-83. This site was chosen because of its commanding strategic position high above the last rapids on the Illinois River.In February 1684, the newly built fort was attacked by 500 Iroquois warriors. Sharing command of the fort where explorer Henri Tonti and French army officer, Chevalier Baugy. Their command consisted of a tiny force of twenty-two French soldiers, traders, trappers and craftsmen. In addition, twenty-four Shawnee, Miami and Loup warriors and their families were safely protected by the forts’ log walls.Perched 170 feet above the river, Fort St Louis could not be taken by assault. The Iroquois tried, but were driven off. The invaders had no choice but to besiege the place. The French were short of food and gunpowder. . . but so were the Iroquois who had just traveled a great distance on foot. With their food supplies mostly consumed, the Iroquois soon depleted the local area of fish and game. For eight days the Iroquois hung on, sniping, probing the forts’ defenses, torturing Shawnee captives and growing more desperate. Soon, the Iroquois realized they had no choice but to withdraw.By the early 1700s, the French abandoned Fort St Louis and moved to what is now called Peoria, where they built Fort Pimitoui. Over the next twenty years, the remains of Fort St. Louis, now a haven for trappers and traders, slowly disappeared. The diorama pictured was researched and built by the History/Social Science Department and students of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. This reconstruction is based on descriptions of the fort by LaSalle, Henri Joutel, property deeds and a variety of business and French army documents. These sources, though contradictory at times, describe the fort of 1684 as upright logs and earthworks of about 600 feet in circumference which protected housing for between eleven and fifty men, contained seven bastions, a storehouse, forge, officers’ quarters, a chapel and at least three traders’ cabins.