Connected by Water

Connected by Water. . , Glaciers as tall as the Willis Tower (1,450 ft. or 110 stories), moved everything in their path. Some of the rocks beneath your feet are from as far north as Canada!, As the glacier retreated, large masses of ice broke off. Meltwater formed Lake Defiance., Moraines are long hills made up of glacial till, sand, gravel, silt, clay, and boulders. This loose formation of rocks allows water to penetrate and flow in streams above and underground., Change is Constant , 12,000 BCE , (Before Common Era) , The Wisconsin Glacier retreats leaving moraines, kames, and kettles, 9,000 BCE , First people use this site, See these artifacts and more on Display in the Nature Center!, 4,000 BCE , Potawatomi, Sauk and Fox tribes use this site, 1800's , Horace Long builds a home on the southeast corner of the park in the early 1830's, 1907 , McHenry Dam is built, including a hand-operated lock, 1934 , A new concrete block dam replaces the 1907 dam, 1939 , The State of Illinois acquires land for McHenry Dam State Park, 1960s , The Division of Water Resources manages locks on the park property west of the Fox River, 1971 , The State of Illinois acquires 2,200 acres of land including Lake Defiance, 1975 , Park facilities are constructed, 1976 , Moraine Hills State Park Grand Opening, 1990's through today , volunteers work with staff to restore natural areas, 2007 , Friends of Moraine Hills State Park is founded to promote awareness and support the park , www.friendsofmorainehillsstatepark.org, Did You Know... , Kames are mounds of sand and gravel deposited by running water along the edge of the retreating ice., Lake Defiance is a kettle lake that has been filling in with peat for thousands of years. Peat is soil made up of partially decomposed plants., Wetlands, including marshes, fens and bogs, make up about half of our park's 2,200 acres!