Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Obama):

S. 2985. A bill to establish the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage Area in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to establish the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage Area in southern Illinois. I am pleased that my colleague, Senator Obama, is an original cosponsor of this legislation.

The unique landscape of southern Illinois helped to shape the history of our Nation, from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, from westward expansion to trade along the rivers. Designating this area a National Heritage Area will help to provide assistance in both the conservation and historic preservation of southern Illinois and many areas that influenced events in our Nation's history.

The name ``Land Between the Rivers'' was a phrase first used by Native Americans to describe the area covered by this bill. It includes 17 counties in the southernmost region of Illinois located between the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers and between the Mississippi and Wabash Rivers. Native Americans arrived in southern Illinois about 10,000 years ago and formed the largest settlement north of the Mayan/Aztec civilization.

The arrival of the Europeans, including French, British and Spanish explorers, began a period of settlements and fortifications in the area. The Spanish first explored the Mississippi River in 1542, followed by the French in 1673.The French founded Cahokia in 1699 and Kaskaskia in 1703. While the British occupied much of the area after the French and Indian War and the Treaty of Paris in 1762, British control of the area lasted only until the onset of the Revolutionary War. In 1778 and 1779, George Rogers Clarke and a group of about 200 men forced the British out of the area and captured the British occupied Fort Cahokia and Fort Sackville at Vincennes.

Southern Illinois's central location made the area a hotbed of racial issues as well as a pivotal point militarily, socially and politically during the Civil War. As the southernmost slavery-free location, southern Illinois, and particularly Cairo and the surrounding area, was the destination of numerous runaway slaves. As the Civil War approached, thousands of African-Americans fled to southern Illinois, seeking the help of southern Illinois abolitionists such as Benajah Guernesy Roots. During the Civil War the Union Army maintained its southernmost point of operations in southern Illinois with BG Ulysses S. Grant headquartered in Cairo. Southern Illinois is also the home to numerous victories of the Union Army along the Mississippi River. The inland Union Navy came through to defeat the Confederate forces culminating in the capture of Vicksburg in July 1863.

Finally, this area of southern Illinois has tremendous historical significance in the transport of trade goods along the Mississippi River. The oldest Illinois town, Shawneetown, was once the most important entry port on the Ohio River. Steamboat transport flourished in the early part of the 19th century with more tonnage on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers than on the Atlantic coast. Towns such as Chester, Elizabethtown, Cairo, Metropolis, and Golconda were created during the steamboat era.

The legislation I am introducing today, would call for Southern Illinois University Carbondale to be designated as the management entity for the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage Area.

The unique natural history of southern Illinois combined with its historical and cultural features are making it an important contribution to tourism in Illinois. Creating the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage Area will provide the ability to connect the entire region into one cohesive historic unit in which the places and events of the past can be united to provide the full story of southern Illinois's influence in the shaping of our Nation.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 2985

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