Starved Rock State Park

and Surrounding Areas

Welcome to the Human History Page

This page covers the general history for the area and specifically the history of Starved Rock; it also relates the Lovers' Leap legend

The main history for this location started in 1673, when Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet found the village of Kaskaskia on the north bank of the Illinois River. Marquette and Jolliet were on an expedition to find a new shorter route to China. They came down through the Great Lakes, to the Wisconsin River, then into the headwaters of the Mississippi. They traveled as far as the Arkansas River where they received reports from local Indian tribes about the Spanish being further down river. Since they did not want a confrontation with the Spaniards, they decided to turn back. They heard from local Native Americans that there was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. This route happened to be the Illinois River.

While traveling up the Illinois River they came upon the Kaskaskia people. The chief of the tribe, Chasogoac, greeted them and made them feel at home. This was not how Marquette and Jolliet were used to being treated by tribes. After their encounter with the Kaskaskia people, they returned to their mission where Marquette became ill. When Marquette grew strong enough, he returned to the village in 1675 because he had been treated so well by the Kaskaskia people.

When he returned, he founded the Mission of the Immaculate Conception. Before the mission had an opportunity to take off, Father Marquette was forced to leave for St. Ignace due to sickness. While in route to St. Ignace, Father Marquette died.

Following Marquette and Jolliet, the next Frenchmen to come through the Starved Rock area were Robert Cavalier Sieur de LaSalle, his lieutenant Henri Tonti, and 20-30 voyager paddlers. It was their mission to build a chain of forts so King Louis XIV's claim in the New World could be maintained. The true reason for the forts was to keep the English from moving westward. The Frenchmen made it to the Illinois River in 1678 where they then noticed this sandstone bluff, however, they decided to continued down the river to Peoria. In Peoria, they built fort Creve Coeur in 1680. After the fort had been build, LaSalle returned to Canada. While in Canada, he heard that troubles had arisen with the Native Americans and his own men at fort Creve Coeur. When LaSalle returned to the fort, he found it destroyed and all the men, with the exception of Tonti, had deserted.

In 1682-83 Fort St. Louis was built on top of Starved Rock. The location of the fort was chosen from the standpoint that it provided protection to the Illinois Tribes from the Iroquois. The Illinois consisted of eight sub tribes. The main sub-tribes were they Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Michigamea, Moingwena, Peoria, and Tamaroa. In 1684, the Iroquois attempted to attack the fort but withdrew without success.

In 1685, LaSalle was returning to Fort St. Louis when a storm hit and he became shipwrecked on the coast of Texas. The survivors of the shipwreck suffered various fates; some of the survivors escaped with part of the fleet, Native Americans killed others, Spaniards captured some, while the rest wandered with LaSalle to find the Mississippi. In 1687 LaSalle is murder by upset members of the party. After awhile a small group, including his brother Abbe Cavalier, makes their way to Fort St. Louis. In the meanwhile, Tonti is fighting the Iroquois and again defeats them to return to Fort St. Louis where he meets up with survivors of the shipwreck who tell him nothing about the death of LaSalle. Tonti continued as commander of Fort St. Louis until royal proclamations order the fort to be abandoned. At this point, the French and Native Americans of the area moved southward to Cahokia and Kaskaskia (new villages on the Kaskaskia River) and other points further south.

Starved Rock remained pretty dormant until 1718, when the old Kaskaskia village again became occupied, however, most of the old trade was gone. In 1722, increasing hostility between the French and Fox led to an attack on the Illinois. This group was driven to the top of Starved Rock for a couple of days until the French came to stop the siege. The Fox then fled north for asylum with Sioux. The Fox next moved east to join up with the Iroquois, however, a French army with allied Native Americans exhausted and massacred them in 1730.

In1760 the English appeared at Starved Rock and started trading with the Native Americans. By 1763 the French had left and the English dominated the countryside. Meanwhile, Pontiac, a great Ottawa chieftain, had gone down to the southern part of Illinois to negotiate trade agreements with the French. During his stay he was murdered by an Illinois of the area. Word got back to his tribe and they wanted to avenge Pontiacs' death. So the Potawatomi and Fox, sub-tribes of the Ottawa people, paddled down river and attacked the Illinois village by Starved Rock. For several days the attack raged on. By the end of the attack the Illinois people were reduced by half and the Potawatomi and Fox returned to regroup.

The Illinois knew that in order to survive they had to leave the area. They decided to seek refuge on top of the rock. They climbed up to the summit of the rock hoping that the Potawatomi and Fox would by-pass them on their way southward. Unfortunately, the plan backfired and the Potawatomi and Fox surrounded the base. As the Illinois tried to get water by lowering buckets with rope the Potawatomi and Fox would cut the ropes or shatter the buckets with their arrows. They also climbed up on top of Devil's Nose and showered them with arrows. As the Illinois grew more desperate, some tried sneaking down, but they were murdered. The rest that were left on top starved. Since then, the rock has been known as "Starved Rock." Then the rock laid dormant again for years until 1805, when a growing legend of Tonti's buried gold on top of the rock led to digging there by residents. Starved Rock became a State Park in 1911.

The Lovers' Leap  legend is that there was an Illinois boy who met and fell in love with a Potawatomi girl. Since the tribes were at war, neither chief would marry them. The lovers walked around for a while trying to find a solution. When they could not find one they decided that if they could not be married they would die together. So they proceeded to the cliff, joined hands and jumped so they would be together through all eternity.