Based on a collection of fifty-two vignettes of Illinois history originally published as weekly columns in newspapers and revised for publication in book form, Tales and Trails of Illinois presents little-known episodes and adds perspective to tales of the state's varied past. Pairing readable commentary with striking description and detail, the book is a useful compendium of Illinois heritage in an accessible and entertaining format.Stu Fliege highlights historical events, such as the Herrin Massacre and Chicago's Iroquois Theatre fire, and covers the diverse terrain of Illinois's natural and constructed wonders, from Lusk Creek Canyon to Robert Allerton Park. Readers will meet a colorful cast of characters including pioneers, squatters, miners, gangsters, and utopian leaders. They'll travel back in time to when salt production was the state's main industry and learn of the Illinois ingenuity that spawned inventions including barbed wire, the steel plow, and the Ferris wheel. From Oquawka's elephant memorial to Murphysboro's mysterious mud monster, the book also offers quirky facts and spooky stories that aren't found in the average history book. Liberally illustrated and clearly written, Tales and Trails of Illinois is a helpful learning tool for Illinoisans of all ages, perfect for families, history buffs, libraries, and the classroom.
Tower Rock - ageless landmark of the Mississippi: salt mines in Illinois - an important early industry; the Great Sauk Trail across northern Illinois; Europeans come to Illinois - the Jolliet and the Marquette expedition; a grisly reputation - John Moredock - Indian slayer; the sucker state and mining galena at Galena; the last trails of Chief Ducoigne and his Kaskaskia; across Illinois with the famed birdwatcher John James Audubon; ''Black diamonds'' along the Big Muddy - Illinois' first coalmine; waiting for the second coming - the Rappites Harmonie; a ''perfect society'' experiment - Robert Owen's New Harmony; the midnight ride of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard; stillman's run - a debacle of the Black Hawk War; Illinois martyr to freedom of the press - Elijah Parish Lovejoy; the singing plow that ''scoured'' - John Deere and Company; a trail of tears across southern Illinois - a Cherokee tragedy; James Semple's trackless train - the prairie car; shaping the state - the Illinois and Michigan Canal; a French quest for Utopia in Illinois - the Icarians; up-up and away - two kids in a runaway balloon; an angelic hero of the Civil War - Mary Ann ''Mother'' Bickerdyke; fencing the west - De Kalb and its barbed wire; James Buchanan Eads and his wonderful bridge; elixers in Illinois - mineral springs - baths and resorts; who threw the bomb? - the Haymarket Riot; death stalks the rails - the Chatsworth train wreck; Quincy's pioneer in the sky - Thomas Scott Baldwin; a shortcut to the Mississippi - the Hennepin Canal; Illinois's most heinous murderer - Herman W. Mudgett; Chicago's master boodlers - Michael ''Hinky Dink'' Kenna and ''Bathhouse'' John Couglin; of ferris wheels and Jacksonville's Eli Bridge Company; ''General'' Alexander Bradley's marches on the coalfields; the man who electrified Illinois - Samuel Insull; John Alexander Dowie's Utopia - Zion - Illinois; ''The most dangerous woman in America'' - Mary Harris ''Mother'' Jones; Chicago's new Iroquois Theatre becomes a fiery death trap; a big lake - a small town and William Patrick Rend; Illinois's worst coal mine disaster - the Cherry Mine fire; Rock River Valley - Lorado Taft and the Black Hawk statue; Calbraith Perry Rogers and the Vin Fiz Flyer cross Illinois; World War I hysteria - the Prager hanging; ''Butchery wrought in madness'' -the 1922 Herrin Massacre; the minister served arsenic - Ina's great scandal; nature wreaks devastation - the 1925 Tri-State Tornado; Illinois's last hanging - the gangster Charley Birger; the nuclear age dawns in a Chicago squash court; Illinois's beautiful gorge - Lusk Creek Canyon; the Sun Singer and Robert Allerton's exotic park; Oquawka - the town that immortalized an elephant; monsters and creatures of the Big Muddy River; an Illinois ecological Eden - LaRue Swamp-Pine Hills area; the Koster site - ''Amerindians'' and Dr. Stuart Struever.
ADVANCE PRAISE ''Tales and Trails of Illinois is well written and the vignettes are interesting and varied in content. The book will appeal to a wide readership who enjoy popular history. Also, teachers need more worthwhile publications to aid in presenting Illinois history to their students. Stu Fliege's account does just that.'' -- Rand Burnette, president of the Illinois State Historical Society
