Much of the river still looks as tranquil and unspoiled as it did when
the first French explorers traveled through this area in their birch bark
canoes. Sometimes you feel as if you have transported back in time when
Potawatomis and Illini tribes hunted, fished, and farmed along the Fox River.
At the confluence of the Big and Little Rock creeks, there is the 100 foot
rhigh Merimack Hill. A granite marker atop the hill commemorates the
annihilation of 300 Fox Indians by an army of 300 French and 900
of their Indian allies in 1730.
Early maps show the river as the "Postekouy" which means buffalo. Robert
Cavalier, and Sieur de LaSalle, passed through this area during their
explorations from 1680 to 1684. Henri de Tonti, a lieutenant, refers
to the river as the "Pestagonky" in his journal. Later the French named it
"Riviere du Rocher" because of the large rock formations and bluffs. It is now
called the Fox in honor of the tribe almost wiped out on Merimack Hill.
the first French explorers traveled through this area in their birch bark
canoes. Sometimes you feel as if you have transported back in time when
Potawatomis and Illini tribes hunted, fished, and farmed along the Fox River.
At the confluence of the Big and Little Rock creeks, there is the 100 foot
rhigh Merimack Hill. A granite marker atop the hill commemorates the
annihilation of 300 Fox Indians by an army of 300 French and 900
of their Indian allies in 1730.
Early maps show the river as the "Postekouy" which means buffalo. Robert
Cavalier, and Sieur de LaSalle, passed through this area during their
explorations from 1680 to 1684. Henri de Tonti, a lieutenant, refers
to the river as the "Pestagonky" in his journal. Later the French named it
"Riviere du Rocher" because of the large rock formations and bluffs. It is now
called the Fox in honor of the tribe almost wiped out on Merimack Hill.