Author writes about the Illinois River south of Peoria to the confluence with the Mississippi and how drainage and flood protection altered the natural habitat.
"John Thompson provides a historical account of the development process, sectoral conflicts, and outcomes related to major alterations of land and water relationships, as well as habit changes, caused in the valley downstream from Peoria by the large-scale reclamations for agriculture and the post-1900 intrusion of large volumes of wastewater from the Sanitary and Ship Canal of Chicago."--Jacket.