ILLINOIS PRAIRIE PATH
Trials and Triumphs

Presented By: Samual S. and Elizabeth R. Holmes
Delivered at the Mill Race Inn, Geneva, Illinois on April 12, 1979

SAM -
Any discussion of this kind about the IPP should, we think, include some mention of its immediate predecessor, the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway -- or "the 3rd Rail", as it was often called.

That railroad as we knew it commenced passenger service in 1905.* Its western terminals were Aurora and Elgin. Those two lines met in Wheaton and continued across DuPage County into Cook County to its eastern terminal at Quincy and Wells Streets in Chicago. From Laramie Avenue in Chicago to Quincy and Wells, it ran on the elevated tracks and a good portion of that route was in the middle of what became the Eisenhower Expressway. West of Laramie, it ran on the ground on its own property and that of Commonwealth Edison.

(* Editor's Note: Passenger service was inaugurated August 25, 1902.)

That road provided good commuter service. Its fastest evening train was known to all as "The Cannonball", which name I think had its origin as much in its trajectory between Laramie and Wheaton as it did in its speed. It struck terror in the heart of the new rider.

By 1949, the railroad's fortunes were fading. It was purchased by a syndicate headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, which wanted to liquidate it. Then the Eisenhower Expressway was built and the elevated tracks were relocated, there was no room for the Third Rail. It then terminated at Forest Park and its passengers transferred there to the elevated. This happened in 1953. By 1957, a petition to discontinue passenger service by the railroad was approved and two years later, a similar petition to discontinue freight service was approved, and the Third Rail was dead.

The Aurora Corporation was the name of the company organized to liquidate its assets and the cars, rails and ties disappeared quickly. The real estate remained, and fortunately for us, the Aurora Corporation wanted to sell it as one parcel.

ERH -
When I look around this room, I have to laugh at the idea that we felt it advisable to put one of our Path maps at each place -- most of you know that map by heart! But -- at least they eliminate the necessity of our having to hang a large map on the wall here, somehow.

As you may remember (and what we're about to give you is a view from Sam's and my vantage points -- not a many sided history!) in September, 1963, a Letter to the Editor appeared in the Chicago Tribune, written by May Theilgaard Watts. It said -- in part -- "We are human beings. We are able to walk upright on two feet. We need a footpath. Right now, there is a chance for Chicago and its suburbs to have a footpath -- a long one.

"The right-of-way of the Aurora electric road lies waiting. If we have courage and foresight, such as made possible the Appalachian Trail (and she named several others) ... then ae can create from this strip a proud resource." The letter continued with her vision of future bicycle paths, scientific field trips and nature walks. She concluded -- "Right now, the right-of-way lies waiting, and many hands are itching for it. Many bulldozers are drooling."

Mrs. Watts was then the well known Naturalist Emeritus of the Morton Arboretum, a magnetic teacher and lecturer, author of several unique flower and tree guides. Her best known book, Reading the Landscape, was on the required reading lists in many university earth science courses. (Isn't it interesting to note that in 1963, she felt it necessary to include, on the jacket of that book, a definition of the unfamiliar word "ecology"?)

Public response to her letter was immediate -- and enthusiastic Mrs. Watts and the Tribune were deluged with encouraging letters and phone calls. Residents in the towns along the right-of-way, conservationists in Chicago, friends north to Lake Forest and west to the Fox Valley rallied to her call. Devoted students in her Arboretum classes met with her and talked and consulted. Those here tonight who did not know Mrs. Watts must remember that she generated the deepest kind of admiration and loyalty. She possessed some special magic to arouse in all of us who studied with her a vivid AWARENESS. We looked at a dandelion differently, or an oak or an old farmhouse.

Well -- enthusiasm was fine, but how to make the path idea WORK? Where and how do we begin?

Later that winter, in a lecture to the Wayne Garden Club, Mrs. Watts spoke at some length about her footpath "dream". Afterwards, she and her close friend, Helen Turner, and our neighbor, Phoebe Ryerson, came back to our house on Dunhan Road for more discussion. Phoebe came because she was fascinated by her first exposure to Mrs. Watts, AND -- Phoebe loves projects!

"What can we do to HELP you?" she asked Mrs. Watts.

"Just get it for me," was the answer. So we went to work on it.

Six of us somehow evolved into a "committee of exploration": Mrs. Watts, Helen Turner (Naperville) who had retired from teaching geology in Oak Park High School and now taught and assisted Mrs. Watts at the Arboretum; Jane Sindt, part-time actress, sometime antique dealer and collector, neighbor of Mrs. Watts in Caperville; Lillian Lasch of Morton Grove, serving her 20th year as night supervisor of Donnelley presses in Chicago, chairman of the Prairie Club Canoeing Council and an Arboretum student; plus Phoebe and me, keeping house and raising young sons in Wayne. Phoebe was NOT an Arboretum alumna but that was no hindrance to her -- she is loaded with that I have to call political savvy. Undaunted by our frequent corrections, she blithely continued to call our project "the Primrose Path"!

We were particularly lucky in our timing: REMEMBER that urban and environmental problems were bursting into national headlines just then. Out of the blue came an important volunteer: Gunnar Peterson. He too had seen the letter in the TRIBUNE. Gunnar was the Director of the recently formed OPEN LANDS PROJECT, an organization which began under the wing of the Chicago Metropolitan Welfare Council and then rapidly developed into a valuable independent clearing house for land use problems and conservation causes. OPEN LANDS and Prairie Path grew up hand in hand, with Gunnar officiating as our Advisor and his office staff supplying enthusiastic support, broad contacts and (Oh how we needed this!) -- secretarial services!

Of course, first we had to know who really owned the CA&E right-of-way. Through George Pratt, our Wayne township supervisor, we learned that the Aurora Corporation held title to about a quarter of the 28 miles in DuPage County; that Commonwealth Edison Company owned a somewhat larger portion and (most important) held easements in perpetuity over nearly ALL of it. Furthermore, Northern Illinois Gas Company had title to a number of short narrow bits and pieces for their pipe crossings, plus some easements. The remainder of the property had REVERTED to its original owners when the railroad stopped running. The Aurora Corporation wanted $1,700,000 for their portion.

Then our next question was: who has interested in buying it. We soon learned that Glen Ellyn and Wheaton wanted it for much needed parking for Chicago and North Western commuters and local shoppers. But the public body most seriously seeking ownership was DuPage County. Their supervisors and lawyers had already spent two years and hundreds of dollars investigating titles and land values. Like Mrs. Watts, the County Board felt it would be folly to let that good continuity be chopped up; it should be preserved "for future public multiple use". which to them, meant water from Lake Michigan or storm and waste sewerage or -- that perennial threat -- a monorail!

Well! -- the phrase "future public multiple use" gave us our clue. We would have to convince the DuPage supervisors that a FOOTPATH was compatible with sewer and water pipes, and that it, too, was a "public use". All we would need was a lease-agreement allowing us to walk on the right-of-way. We had no money and no real clout, so -- we would have to arouse public interest, public demand and public support (like voters, maybe?).

So we began meeting with the supervisors, specifically Ronske, Rickson and Raymond. Paul Ronske was Board Chairmen, Rickson was Transportation and Robert Raymond was Roads. Again, through our Wayne supervisor, we learned a few more fundamentals: (1) that there was no money in the DuPage Forest Preserve District coffers (the Forest Preserve seemed to us the Path's natural home). The only available funds were from gas tax revenues in the Transportation Department. (2) That the cities and towns along the right-of-way were afraid -- IF the County bought the right-of-way, it might be used as a roadbed for a new highway which, of course, would cut their communities in half.

Conclusion? -- we'd just have to appeal to the cities, too, especially Wheaton, and show them that a narrow footpath could be a very real asset in their downtown areas.

Early in 1964, our "Committee for the Illinois Prairie Path" (by then we had agreed on a name!) gathered in Mrs. Watts' dining room with quite a varied group: Gunnar Peterson of Open Lands, a Villa Park City Planner, a Cook County Forest Preserve Representative (Eisenbeis), and Elmhurst Park District Director (Ron Johnson) -- there were others, but chief among them, for us, was Commonwealth Edison's Ray Franke, head of their Real Estate Department. He fully recognized the fine potential of the footpath idea, but he also saw N0 possibility whatever of his company ever granting permission for a public path for hikers, bicycle or horseback riders or even nature study. "In legal terms, you would be an attractive nuisance." Period. We were stunned, but he explained that their experience over the years had shown that any time someone turned an ankle or fell off a bike or was injured in any way, if they found out that a utility company had something to do with the location of the accident, they sued the company -- to the hilt. Nevertheless, he agreed to present our project to higher authority, and we realized that we would just have to go to work on Commonwealth Edison, too!

In the meantime, we were learning who was President of the DuPage Forest Preserve District and who chaired the Committee for Land Acquisition, and so on, and Phoebe managed to maneuver us onto agendas or make dates for luncheon meetings. She believed in tackling the TOP MAN, whether of a utility company or a planning commission or the CNW railroad. She had her vital facts, but -- to use her own phrase -- she "just flirted them up a bit", and led them to see what a terrific public relations opportunity we were offering them and what a privilege it would be for them to participate in this unique community "grass roots" project. It was during that period, also, that Helen Turner, Lil Lasch and Phoebe began their hours and days of tedious pouring over CA&E records from the Chicago Title & Trust Company files, checking titles, finding the reversionary parcels, and marking ownerships one by one on the big U.S. Geological Survey map, procured for us by Mr. Watts (bless him!).

Little by little the supervisors -- at least the "Three R's" -- began to recognize that we were doing our homework, and also that we could see the problems they faced, among them selling of the

Path idea to the other supervisors, some of whom disapproved strongly of spending current funds for an undefined future purpose. But that same DuPage County Board was beginning to hear from its constituents about "this crazy scheme". We had started our campaign to develop PUBLIC SUPPORT.

We sent out a broad mailing, offering $1.00 memberships in the Path group. (The letter was generously produced by Open Lands, with postage paid by Northern Illinois Gas.) Then we put together a 9-minute film-strip to spread the word throughout the area contiguous to the right-of-way. We each dug up a few of our own color transparencies that might look like a future footpath -- or that showed the current condition of the old CA&E roadbed. Next, we consulted a film company in Wheaton, and finally, we propositioned Mac Stone, President of the DuKane Corporation, manufacturers of communication equipment in St. Charles. We said we needed a projector -- with sound -- to help us sell our "product"

"Take half a dozen of 'em, my dears!" was his response, "and don't worry about them. We'll just cross 'em off the inventory. Good Luck!"

Last month, I went over to the Path Members Room in Wheaton and set up the old projector (we returned all but one) in the hope that I could show you that first Great Film. But it was too dried out and a part of the machine was missing. The narration was provided by Clint Youle, Chicago's first well-known TV weatherman. Clint lived in Wayne, and -- with Mrs. Watts and Gunnar Peterson -- he worked out a text and cut a record that meshed with our slides.

The film strip began with a picture of a bulldozer "drooling", then a picture of the dear old Roaring Elgin bucketing down the track. Pictures of prairie dock and big bluestem grasses and blazing star showed why the Prairie Path was so named, There were pictures of gray dogwood hedges and wild plum thickets, cows in pastures and sheep in farmyards, hawthorn blossoms and scattered piles of track along the way. You caught a glimpse of hikers on a snowy winter trail and bikers enjoying a summer jaunt. It took only 9 minutes -- and it was FREE. (Donations were welcomed!)

Mrs. Watts and Helen Turner didn't need a film strip, they were giving splendid chalk-talks and lectures out on THEIR "circuit", gathering fame and fortune for the Path as they went. We three, Phoebe, Jane and I, were delighted to have the machine. It was a quick way to introduce the Prairie Path and led easily into a good question period. We showed that film for two years -- about 400 shows -- in Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties, to garden clubs, Girl Scouts, Jaycees, Audubon Societies, civic and conservation and church groups, The PTAs and school assemblies were usually fun -- responsive -- town meetings and county hearings were sometimes rough. I remember one stocky man, with his hat on the back of his head and a cigar sticking belligerently out of the corner of his mouth, rising up from the rear of the room (after my usual enthusiastic presentation) and calling out -- "Listen, lady, you just try and gimme one good reason why I should vote for one damn penny of my taxes to go for some kinda trail where my daughter could be raped!"

Fortunately, I could answer by quoting the superintendent of both the Chicago Park District and Elgin's Trout Park -- "There'll be fewer opportunities for crime on a popular Prairie Path than on an old abandoned railroad grade." Ditto: Frederick Law Olmsted.

Gunnar Peterson was also traveling around with the projector, contacting Chicago foundations, North Eastern Illinois Planning Commission, consulting with the County supervisors and Commonwealth Edison. And he was so very good with people -- an optimist, a listener, and a real "communicator." The Open Lands Project had made friends among the legislators in both Springfield and Washington, plus in the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and the Illinois Department of Conservation. How VITAL those two authorities were to be for the Path!

Another effective stick we used to stir up public interest and convince the supervisors to support our use of the right-of-way as a "Path" was a series of WALKS. They were planned by the Naperville group as they had scouted every foot of the right-of-way, and each WALK was led by one or more talented volunteers-from among our friends or by our own Board members -- a botanist or a geologist, perhaps an ornithologist or a historian or railroad buff.

The very first one was exploratory and started from the little Wayne station where the CA&E had clicked across Army Trail Road, On two days notice, eighty people gathered here, experts from Chicago museums and from the Arboretum, hikers and students and residents from most of the western commuter towns. In that Wayne area, the walkers could visualize a future footpath, leading past open fields or an occasional marsh, passing small back yards through a village and becoming a connecting link between various forest preserves. That Walk generated real excitement.

Soon Helen and Mrs. Watts worked up a trail guide folder, showing special points of interest and indicating hikes of various lengths, We offered bird walks and spring wildflower walks for dues paying members and a big Annual Fall Walk open to the general public.

One of the loveliest routes, and probably still the most popular, covers the stretch from County Farm Road in Wheaton to Route #64. I remember vividly the "expedition" which followed the Old Geneva Line, cutting cross-country through West Chicago, It had been abandoned 30 years earlier, and we (sad to say) could not claim this as part of our proposed Prairie Path because it was not part of the package offered by the Aurora Corporation. But we could SEE, there, how delightfully time and feet had mellowed the right-of-way. The rough stones of railroad ballast were partially earth covered and the plants and tree volunteers taking over made it great for birders and botanists. The remnants of the foundation and the steps of the old High Lake Station were a perfect spot to rest and regroup, after some of us had crossed the West DuPage River, on foot. High water that spring had flooded out the small bridge, so we had rolled up our jeans and waded across, cameras and children held high! (a cold and squishy ooze between our toes!).*

(*Editor's Note: This walk occurred May 9, 1964.)

I HAVE to mention one more specific WALK: the one on October 23, 1965. Twenty-three special field trips were offered, to show our varied appeal. It was a cold, drizzly, windy, wretched day! In spite of this, local press and radio came out to cover some of the events. Floyd Swink led the one on prairie plants. There was one on land forms and rocks, another on nature photography, and Mrs. Watts -- statuesque Earth Mother -- was seen giving her talk on "methods of teaching nature classes" crouched on a camp stool in the shelter of a big culvert! Two hundred people came that day -- Boy Scouts, Pony Club riders and even canoeists -- oh yes! Lil Lasch and her Prairie Club friends "put in" at South Elgin and were fairly BLOWN down the churning Fox River to St. Charles (This last event was to demonstrate that, someday, the river could provide a connecting link for Path users between Elgin and Aurora.)

The Path began to be news. From Chicago to the Fox River, the press was covering DuPage County's negotiations for the right-of-way, and the Prairie Path was regularly discussed. Mrs. Watts was now in the "big time" on TV and radio in Chicago, while Jane Sindt and Phoebe and I graciously gave interviews on Elgin's WRMN and on Ben Oswalt's Aurora radio station. And I might add that early in 1965, the North Eastern Illinois Planning Commission had endorsed the Path and was drawing it in on their metropolitan planning maps. What's more, a large impressive paperback -- "Trails for America" -- published by the Interior Department, carried an introductory letter by President Lyndon Johnson. We were amazed to find that he had singled out for attention the Illinois Prairie Path, calling it an example of future "green ribbons" interlacing urban areas.

This was all pretty positive stuff! -- but there was a big NEGATIVE. Although the Aurora Corporation and DuPage County had finally arrived at a satisfactory agreement and both parties were ready to include the right to surface-use by the Prairie Path, WHEATON was still a solid block of opposition to the final purchase.

Mayor Heimke and his City Council distrusted the supervisors -- still believed that the right-of-way would be converted into a highway -- and they wanted no part of the County owning a piece of their City. So ... Wheaton slapped a condemnation suit on four blocks of the right-of-way in the downtown area to act as a stopper in the Wheaton bottleneck. HOW could we get them over this last hurdle? We took the only means available to us: we enlisted in our "cause" every Wheaton resident or group we knew; we found out about the candidates running for city officials in the approaching election (and discovered how susceptible candidates can be at such a time!). We attended city council meetings until we learned more than we really cared to know about sewage disposal, zoning problems and secondary lien bonds!

At one meeting, we even provided a bit of information about a dedicated street contiguous to the right-of-way which would prohibit any future highway. This stopped them cold, but only temporarily. In spite of this jolt, in spite of our strong point that the Path would be a form of insurance against a new road, in spite of State's Attorney Ed Vander Houten's repeated assurances about the County's intentions, even in spite of Phoebe's and George's dinner party for Mayor and Mrs. Heimke -- the Council voted 3-to-2 to proceed with their condemnation suit and, for $104,000 to acquire that segment of the right-of-way for parking space.

Finally, however, with changes brought about in the makeup of the City Council through the April election, and with another deal involving the old CA&E Yards in Wheaton, agreement WAS reached!

Sam had been for two years a reluctant observer of all this effort and turmoil, but one night, I came home from a meeting and called out jubilantly -- "We've got it! DuPage is going to buy the right-of-way and give us a lease!!"

SAM -
"Give WHOM a lease??"

These people had worked so single-mindedly on acquiring the right to use the right-of-way, that they had never asked themselves the question: What if we win?

Now, they had won and I suggested to Liz that one of the first questions the State's Attorney who was drafting the lease was going to ask was: Who is the lessee? There was no answer to that question at that moment. But after a number of hurried telephone conferences, it was decided to organize a not-for-profit corporation. Looking to the future, we thought we should have a 13-member board, that there would be enough work for that many people, At the outset, however, there were so few persons actively involved with the Path that four husbands had to be recruited as board members for the time being.

The following day, I set about the task. The one real problem was drafting a purpose clause (that is, an explanation of what the corporation is organized to do) because we would apply for income tax exemption and we did not fall squarely within any of the categories of activity which qualified, I thought the matter was solved adequately but I found the IRS was not at all sure.

This footpath idea was a new one then, and it was hard to imagine that a privately organized group could acquire the right to use a 27-mile strip to walk on, or that, having acquired it, the group would grant to the public, the right to use it. But beyond that, the government was not in the business of subsidizing some place for people to WALK. The "purpose" had to be "educational, religious or recreational (the bike)."

Finally, that block was removed by re-drafting our purposes into a lengthy series of paragraphs which I thought said, in two pages, what had originally been said in one short paragraph. Tax Exemption was granted!

ERH -
"It took him 18 months eventually to achieve that triumph!" I only remember one superb letter from Dick Wason, Director of Education at the Arboretum -- it would have convinced even the sourest IRS man that the Path was "educational!"

Then began the waiting and wondering period -- when would the DuPage lease come through?

Our new Board was meeting wherever we could, at the Naperville Y or the North Central College Union or at each others' houses. Gus Sindt chaired the meetings (as Mrs. Watts' deputy), Jane was Treasurer, Phoebe -- Public Relations, and Watts/Turner -- Planning and Development, Dr. Keck who taught Biology at North Central College and Jack Heddens, ex-Mayor of Glen Ellyn were also active members. Lillian Lasch could take shorthand so she was Recording Secretary, and even mimeographed the minutes for us. I answered the mail or distributed it to appropriate experts. My job was really being a kind of clearing house and filing cabinet and intercommunication system.

By the Fall of 1965, Bill and Betty Nemec had joined us; Betty became officially Path Historian and Bill -- between piloting for United Airlines -- was really, I guess, a general handyman! (Probably why he was such a great second President of our Board.) He and Betty had been Arboretum members for years as well as personal friends of Mrs. Watts. They were wonderful at lubricating some of the Board's disagreements, and indeed, we HAD them! Doesn't every Board?

Meanwhile, Helen Turner had begun a program to offer various lengths of the Path "for adoption". The Walks and the publicity all helped to bring us volunteers who would clean up segments of the right-of-way, in Spring and Fall and if necessary -- in between. The volunteer "custodians" would report any vandalism, could install bluebird houses on fence posts, or plant and label prairie material. Some of the larger groups spread gravel on the old ballast, and in Glen Ellyn, a charming small park was created, Most of all, they guarded our vital CONTINUITY. In three years, 80% of the Path was assigned.

We were still waiting for a lease in February, 1966 when a remarkable luncheon meeting was held at the Baker Hotel in St. Charles, sponsored by the Path board. It brought together for the first time Kane and DuPage County supervisors, Commonwealth Edison and Northern Illinois Gas Real Estate Departments, and the Kane County Regional Planning Commission. Our valuable friend, Gunnar Anderson (then of the Kane County Forest Preserve), introduced us to each other and Phoebe and State's Attorney Vander Houten led a discussion of the Path potential in Kane County. Senator Bob Mitchler joined representatives of the St. Charles and the Aurora Park Districts in endorsing the project. Everyone would "take the matter under advisement".

Finally -- we had a document from DuPage County in our hands!

SAM -
The two leases of importance were those between the Path and the County and between the Path and Commonwealth Edison Company.

There was no difficulty with the County lease. There were several conferences with the State's Attorney who drafted it, and if the first draft had to be changed, the changes were not of substance. Our main concern was that there be CONTINUITY. The County, in addition to the lease it offered us, granted leases of wide areas in the cities to those cities for parking lots. But the County reserved to the Path a l0-foot strip in all of those leases.

The same can be said of the Commonwealth Edison lease except for one point -- that of fencing. Edison had power poles the entire length of the Path and some of them were high voltage. Edison was extremely wary of adding to its exposure to public liability which it thought traffic on the Path would increase.

The Company's original requirement was for a 6-foot chain link fence, enclosing the Path. Here was an organization which had about enough money to pay for its postage and it was being asked to provide 55 miles of 6-foot chain link fence! Apart from cost, you can easily think of other reasons why that requirement would destroy the Path. On the other hand, one had to sympathize with the utility company.

Our counter arguments were two in number: first, such a requirement would kill the Path and its popularity was widespread and was gaining; secondly, the use of the right-of-way would not Change the hazard from what it then was and always had been, and -- if anything -- the increased use would reduce chances of mischief. The points were referred back to the Legal Department and were resolved in our favor. The Edison lease was signed.

ERH -
I have to read you the note from Phoebe I found clipped to one of the original Path copies of the DuPage lease -- "Yowie!! -- I gave Vander Houten a chaste hug and kiss on the cheek in his office, after collecting this for Mrs. Watts and Helen's signature. I'm to return it to them on Monday -- 9:30 a.m. -- Love, Phoebe."

On May 10, 1966, in a formal but joyful occasion, Mr. Ronske signed the County/Path lease, and actually thanked Mrs. Watts for the valuable help rendered by the Path to DuPage.

Sam felt that -- maybe -- our tale should end there, this evening, but I couldn't stand it. That was when the IPP began!

In that year, activities exploded on the Path. On June 18th, 100 people joined us in a celebration Walk -- which incidentally exposed (again) our dire need to somehow improve the surface of the right-of-way. We had walked for two years on nothing more solid than Commonwealth Edison easements. Now we had our agreements and now Northern Illinois Gas had deeded their segments in DuPage to the County, stipulating that the surface was for Prairie Path use. And now we were covered by general public liability insurance, for which the original cost was $264.00 -- compared to 1977's cost of over $3,000.

Now we spent our time in Wheaton making plans and walking the right-of-way with the City Manager, Bob Eppley, who tried to break through Mrs. Watts' obvious distrust of city officialdom by quoting Robert Frost to her! She didn't believe any part of his hearty cooperation, feeling quite sure that he had supported our campaign mostly to help Wheaton become the "All American City" for 1966.

It was difficult for Mrs. Watts to deal with ANY governmental body: she wanted her Prairie Path to be successful through an upsurge of HUMAN BEINGS, and indeed it was just that. But victory in this bureaucratic society could only have been won through various public authorities.

Actually, Mrs., Watts was half right in distrusting Wheaton. After all the fine promises, and without any notification to us, the City embraced its right under the County lease to use the right-of-way lying parallel to the CNW tracks for public parking. They paved it over and marked out 118 new parking places. Yes, they respected our right to a l0-foot path. Not along the grassy edge as had been planned, but right down the middle of three blocks of parked cars! In an attempt to cool our wrath and to appease us, Eppley had the street crews stencil ENORMOUS "Green Giant" footprints to mark the Path route.

The City also offered the Path a block-long patch of solid, bald mud, between Wheaton and West Streets, "for you to develop as a Demonstration area". Later, a large sign was mounted announcing this gift. The Seedlings Garden Club of Wheaton accepted that challenge and attacked its ugliness with grim determination and with plans worked out with Mrs. Watts (O.K.'d by the City). YOU KNOW what it takes to crack that kind of solidified earth, interspersed with broken concrete slabs and rubble of all kinds. The Seedlings hauled their tools from home each day, and when they were ready to plant their prairie material, they hauled every necessary bucket of water. They put on a Christmas bazaar and raised $700 to pay for their planting program. It was just beginning, a year later, to shape up when an unsupervised CNW maintenance crew came with their large commercial-type power mowers and BY MISTAKE, mowed down all the new young trees and shrubs. It was a slaughter! With deep apologies, the CNW checked out the destruction and paid $1,300 in damages. Years later, it was developed into an attractive park with the full cooperation of the City Parks Department, and today, it is designated "Founder's Park" as a memorial to Mrs. Watts.

Of necessity, soon our Board was increased from 13 to 15 members, with the addition of Harold Ade, of League of American Wheelmen, Charles Peterson -- electrical engineer and Boy Scout leader (of Silver Beaver rank) and Joan Hamill. Joan -- with the Wayne DuPage Hunt and National Pony Club in her blood stream -- came on the Board primarily to encourage and cope with our horseback riding members, but later she became Path Treasurer too. And WHAT a Treasurer! No dues or donations that came to Joan linger in our checking account. Every penny not immediately needed for signs or gravel or bridges or postage or insurance or printing is switched over to our savings account -- to start EARNING.

Lillian Lasch took over as membership Chairman to relieve Jane Sindt for further film shows. Lil has been a heroine, in what to most of us, would be a dull repetitious finicky filing job. Her records are a model of efficiency and she'll have to keep on forever because no one feels capable of succeeding her with such dedication and accuracy.

SAM -
"Come on, Liz, what were you doing all this time?"

I was BUSY! Our mail was exploding, too and our publicity! We sent teenage Sam III out on the right-of-way with my old Leica to take pictures for the newspapers which kept asking for glossy prints to illustrate their Path articles. Remember -- our timing was super-lucky -- the environmental conservation wave was just cresting at this time. There were Earth Days and Arbor Day plantings and Ladybird Johnson's campaign to Beautify America. Students in high school and college were taking the Path as a subject for their term papers on ecology. Newly formed committees in Door County, Wisconsin and Portola Valley, California and Red Wing, Minnesota were writing us to ask "How can WE turn our old railroad right-of-way into a nature trail?" Hundreds of requests came -- "Send map and info" -- and 99% of them did NOT enclose a return envelope! The real rewards lay in the letters from those who had explored the Path personally and wanted to thank us for providing such a great recreational resource.

Yes, Sam! There were a lot of other jobs besides the mail -- helping Lil with membership files and renewal letters, trailing after Phoebe to meetings in Cook and Kane Counties, learning how to sort and band and label bulk mailings! We still used our own P. O. Box 5 post office box in Wayne as the Path address (to save money), and every day, it bulged and every day, there was something different -- whether challenging or devastating or warmly encouraging -- or Money!

We held our Annual meeting proudly and gratefully at the Arboretum and then began preparations for a Prairie Path booth at the Chicago World Flower Show. Panels were painted,* a give-away flyer printed, prairie grasses and huge brown prairie dock leaves gathered from the Nemecs' collection. They had accepted the tough responsibility for setting up and manning the booth. What a time consuming job it was! And then, McCormick Place burned! But the show went on at the International Amphitheater and was a very real success. We mounted an exhibit in the Flower Show for several years when we felt we still needed additional public exposure -- and we GOT it!

(* Editor's Note: Painted by Barbara K. Lewis of Elmhurst.)

Remember the problem of "reversionary clauses" in right-of-way ownership? One of the breaks in our vital continuity was the huge segment of the right-of-way that had crossed St. James Farm in Warrenville -- which had reverted to the McCormicks. Joan and Mrs. Watts gained Mr. Brooks McCormick's permission for the Path to cross the farm -- not where the original track had been laid, because that would have passed between barns and across handsome lawns near the house. But he generously laid out a route within the farm fence, along Butterfield Road and UNDER it to the old right-of-way leading to Warrenville's attractive forest preserve on the DuPage River. He even offered to move the route and maintain two entrances and build a stile for us. We signed a great formal agreement, and all of his fine offers were fulfilled by his helpful staff.

It was here, later, that we tried to execute Mrs. Watts' design for a portion of the path for the handicapped, especially for the blind. When it was half finished, we persuaded a well-known relative of ours named Alice to check it out for us. But then vandals or motorcyclists destroyed it: they cut through the fence, stole the 800 feet of guide ropes and mutilated our sign. I only hope they are still itching from the poison ivy that grows along part of the fence-line. The McCormick staff was unbelievably kind about the damage, "Don't worry about it. They cut through from Cantigny museum and ride motorcycles and horses right across the property! We just fix it up 'til next time." So -- the Path was not "thrown out"; it still goes through St. James Farm and is thoroughly used, by the Wheaton-Warrenville cross country team, among others.

Over the years, we have learned the sad truth that, unless it can be policed or monitored, no special trail is feasible on the Path, we cannot provide security guards for 28 miles,

In April 1967, Betty Nemec and I took pictures (in a drizzle) of Bill Nemec and Chuck Peterson mounting our first real Prairie Path sign, just west of Route 59 in Oak Meadows. Paint came from the 3M Company, Meyercord Company made the silk screen for us (FREE), and -- incredibly -- the DuPage Highway Department, on orders from Superintendent Dold (who didn't want any part of any Path!) put the design on the heavy-weight aluminum blanks,

During that year, three excellent projects were started, by people quite outside the Path organization, The Aurora Corporation offered to rent us the old CA&E station in Elmhurst at Poplar Avenue. Would we like to rehabilitate it and use it as a headquarters? We yearned -- for weeks -- but we refused because we couldn't afford necessary repairs, Then they offered it to us, FREE, for a 6-month trial, and we happily accepted. That was at a regular Tuesday night Board meeting. Thursday, two days later, vandals burnt it.

One of the leaders of the Fox Valley Girl Scouts in Aurora asked to "adopt" the segments of the right-of-way near Eola Road, where one branch goes southwest to Aurora -- the other northwest to Batavia. We rejoiced! The girls and their parents cleared the triangle within the "V" formed by the two branches, and with permission from all authorities involved, they constructed a council ring, put up char-burners, and erected a large wood covered sign with-map. One of the girls won a national Coca-Cola prize for her "environmental" work here. The leader, Aileen Anderson, who has worked for years in the St. Charles Photoshop, found and brought from 80 miles away on her own small flat-bed trailer, an ancient out-house. Oh, yes, she complied with every Health Department rule and Girl Scout fathers helped haul and install the required concrete underpinnings. As they pounded in the last nail on the roof, an angry woman and two men marched toward them down the right-of-way yelling "You get off our property -- get out right now -- or we'll have the police on you!" When we all recovered from shock and (with legal help) had made a thorough title search, it was revealed that her family were descendants of the original owner and that both they AND DuPage County had been paying taxes on the triangle ever since the CA&E was sold. Well -- we still have the actual right-of-way, but the Girl Scouts were banished and, I hear, that the matter is still in the courts.

Which reminds me -- in his book called the Last Landscape, William H. Whyte discusses the creation of linear parks on disused railroad right-of-ways and mentions specifically the Prairie Path. Then he adds, "It is a rare right-of-way which does not have an incredibly complicated legal and political history behind it, and unsnarling questions of title and jurisdiction is difficult under the best of circumstances. It takes a hard core of screwballs to see this kind of project through." You'd think he knew us personally.

The third project came by way of a telephone call from a Colonel James Moroney of the Illinois National Guard. He said he had been much interested in reading about the Path, had flown over its entire route in one of their helicopters, and was worried about how we were going to get hikers and bikers across the East and the West DuPage River. I told him WE WERE, TOO! -- What did he have in mind? He answered that he thought he could use the construction of a bridge for the Path as a field training assignment for his Engineers. The Path to pay for materials, labor to be free under his personal supervision. Well!! Helen Turner and I met him that weekend in Warrenville. He was just peeling off his hip boots, having been exploring the river bottom of the West Branch. Because the land on both sides of the river in Warrenville was in litigation at that point, we could not unleash the Engineers there, but they began quickly to survey the site on the East Branch.

Our Board and the National Guard commanding officer approved the Engineers' design, and it was O.K.'d in Washington, D.C., and also in Springfield (waterways rules). For uprights, Bill Bangs (bless him) arranged for the telephone company to donate old poles; upon request, the CNW donated railroad ties. For other lumber, Chuck Johnson, Superintendent of the DuPage Forest Preserve District, allowed as how there was an abandoned barn in the new forest preserve near County Farm Road. It needed to be taken down, and the Engineers could camp out there while they took it apart.

Work went forward slowly on the bridge structure high above the small riverbed, but it was finally complete with its narrow floor -- just the width of two -- new -- planks, Within a month, the railings were partly torn out and dumped in the river. Not even USED! Vandalism increased weekly to the point where we feared for both our Path users and our insurance policy. Bill Nemec finally spent an entire Saturday out of his limited time between flights sawing sections of the bridge OUT -- to make it unreachable. He mounted signs at either end -- DANGER, KEEP OUT! But we couldn't even keep the signs or their posts.

Within a year, the structure we'd been so grateful for was removed, and bikers had to detour on Hill Avenue to cross the river. That was only the first of a succession of bridges constructed at that spot. The next one was built for us by Sierra Club members, and it was followed by another one -- low, this time, by the DuPage Forest Preserve men. That was flooded out and rebuilt -- Oh well in 1978, a beautiful all metal one was set in place, paid for by the Path and matching the handsome long one now spanning the West Branch in Warrenville.

I'm happy to tell you that one permanently successful project was accomplished by the DuPage Council of Boy Scouts. They christened the 13-mile stretch between Wheaton and Wayne "The Red Caboose Trail" and they award patches to Scouts who complete certain mileage requirements. (Hold up picture in April 1979 Geneva Republican of Boy Scouts being given awards.) They mounted oil drum. trash barrels at intervals along the way and painted then with the Path logo. We were proud to learn that within two years, more than 3,000 Scouts had earned their Red Caboose patches.

Those trash barrels were badly needed. I remember one of our Board members muttering as she went along the right-of-way filling her garbage bag with pop and beer cans, etc. -- "Where do you suppose they put all this junk when the TRAIN was still running?" The dumping of junk and grass clippings and unwanted foundation clay and old mattresses was, and still is, one of our worst problems. Many of our volunteer groups were not keeping up maintenance of their segments, although the Audubon members faithfully cleaned out their bluebird houses (or re-mounted them) and the Prairie Club and some others faithfully did chores on their sections. So eventually, Clean-up Days, Spring and Fall, were instituted under Path Board supervision, and -- believe me, the Board members were not "chiefs" -- they were "Indians"!

Also persistent is the dangerous and noisy motorcycle problem. It was defeating both the recreational and the educational purposes of the Path. Superintendent Dold declared that we could not exclude motorized vehicles because the Path had been purchased with Transportation Department funds. "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES" was one of the four simple regulations we had printed on our trail guides and flyers, from the beginning.

As traffic of bicycles and horses and walkers increased (and even those three modes should really have separate paths), we worried more and more about the motorcycles. But County Supervisor Raymond was firm. Until -- one lovely weekend when he rode horseback between Naperville and Wheaton on the Path. Two days later, we had a very cordial letter from Mr., Raymond, stating that he now understood our difficulties and saw the danger, and that he would propose an ordinance to be approved by the County Board to the effect that motorized vehicles were NOT PERMITTED on the Path. It passed, and it's a hard statute to enforce, but it's at least THERE to back us up.

(Editor's Note: The ordinance is dated December 7, 1971)

Sam -- YOU ought to take a turn in here -- really!

Well, he won't. So I'll just point out that he was involved all along, with questions of rights and with various abuses, such as illegal parking, dump trucks using it for passage, construction machinery parked in new developments. Mostly, telephone threats by "the Path attorney" worked, and Sam says -- he doesn't think we have to dwell on those aspects. He could tell you a good deal, too, about our search for the best resurfacing material with which to cover the old and uncomfortable railroad ballast. Limestone screenings turned out to be the answer. They pack down after rain or frequent use, and wash off only in severe storms or in case of a neighboring drainage problem. The County provided the labor to put down the first loads of screenings out in the unincorporated areas, which we have to replenish occasionally, and now the towns along the way take most of the responsibility for keeping the surface in decent condition.

Sam's glancing meaningfully at the clock so I know I'm going on too long but there are a couple of things left that can't be skipped. 1963 saw the publication of Helen Turner's first NEWSLETTER. It as mailed out quarterly, and it was not only a showcase for things to enjoy along the Path throughout the year, and a means of reporting to our members and friends on our activities, it somehow added STATURE. It noted the series of movies shown Saturday afternoons at the Wayne School -- for the benefit of the Prairie Path. It announced the Glenn Family's Christmas Tree Sale (for the Path) held in the triangle near the old Wayne station. It told of the transformation of the Warrenville station into a town hall and police station (landscaping by Jane Sindt and Vi Kolse).

And the NEWSLETTER reflected the great variety of people of who were using the Path. Joggers, of course, adults walking to work and children to school. But also, for instance, a fourth grade teacher in Elgin who held classes regularly on the right-of-way before it ever became Kane County's Prairie Path. Students from the Wayne School had all kinds of experiments in natural science going on in the section near the schoolyard. We granted permission for one student to trap shrews on the Path for a special study, and one winter, our Board also approved a dog-sled training program the runs to be made in early morning. George Williams College in a class taught by Gunnar Peterson, elected as a project the making of a detailed map, mile by mile, of the Path. We had 282 dues paying-members by then and we wanted them to feel proud with us! We'd already made the Reader's Digest and Woman's Day and Landscape, not to mention the school magazine "Current Events", but they all dealt with the larger issues -- larger than shrews, that is.

Please let me take a minute more to go into the amazing process by which the NEWSLETTER was printed. Helen sent the art work for the first page and the news-text into Chicago to our Board member, Eugene Pomerance. He is a Vice President of Foote, Cone & Belding in Chicago, and he and his experienced advertising team went to work on layout. Then he brought the two pages out to Elmhurst where he lives, and the Park District ran the copies off for us. Open Lands addressed our mailing labels to begin with, and later, Bell Labs in Naperville computerized them! We did outgrow the Park District's small facilities pretty quickly, and then all Helen's copy went from Chicago to Ruby Frank's office in St. Charles. There Nancy Potts typed, checked and nursed it through to the VIP printer. And then, we counted, sorted, bundled, labeled the finished product!

In spite of all our promising developments that year, and after many heated conferences, Kane County turned us down, along with a rather generous Commonwealth Edison deal. We were sharply criticized in SOME of our western local papers (a lifted eyebrow at Dick Cooper, then a supervisor, and then and now publisher of Elburn Herald -- ERH), but the Kane supervisors assured us that, although they endorsed the Path project, they just didn't feel that County money should be used to acquire it.

We really hated being rejected -- we felt it was only natural for the Path to extend to the Fox River, but other people LOVED US! We tried to draw comfort from some of their compliments: (hold up each item mentioned) -- the 400 letters that accumulated after a Sunday Tribune article about the Path, the new Commonwealth Edison folder, the Northern Illinois Gas and the Bell Telephone Company house-organs, and the Illinois Sesquicentennial booklet -- in living color!

We'd also been steadily gaining "believers" through an informative and entertaining weekly column written by Louise Headen. Called "Along the Prairie Path", it appeared in one of the Wheaton newspapers. Louise soon joined the Board, thank goodness -- and continues to be a real "pro" at press releases. She's a speedy trouble-shooter, too, whizzing out on her bike to inspect a problem area; once, for instance, stopping an eager gardener from fencing off a plot square in the middle of the Path in which she was planting her tomato and zucchini crop! Louise has been our Vice President, too, and when Helen Turner moved to North Carolina in 1974, Louise took on the responsibility for the NEWSLETTER. Most of the credit for the development of "Founder's Park" -- after Mrs. Watts' death belongs to this same gal.

The Path needed very much to be kept in the public eye, because we were shooting for a new goal: The National Trail System. This has just been established under the wing of the Department of the Interior, and we aimed to become the Number One trail in a metropolitan area. A quick look at the requirements showed us that we didn't -- quite -- qualify. Our lease with the County did NOT extend for a full 10 years, and parts of the route were still very rough walking. Also, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation inspectors, hiking the entire length of the Path with Bill Nemec and Eugene Lewis (Path Secretary) pointed out that we had not yet put up signs at all street and road crossings. We could and did correct these failings, but our hardest job was to persuade the DuPage County Board to give us an extension of our lease. After weeks of persuasion, the headlines told the story:

February 10, 1971	IPP Lease Extension Sought from County Board
February 11th	County Approves Lease
February 17th	Path Fate Uncertain: Board Passes then Rescinds Lease Extension
February 24th	Board President Weeks Fears Federal Control Take-over
March 7th	Board Votes 18-6 to Approve Path Lease; Starts IPP on Way to National Status

On June 2, 1971, Secretary of the Interior, Rogers C. B. Morton, announced designation of 27 trails in 19 states as new National Trails. And - we were No. 2! Mrs. Watts, Helen, Bill, Phoebe, and Gunnar Peterson were there for the ceremonies in Washington, D. C. Secretary Morton "honored Mrs. Raymond Watts of Chicago ... for her outstanding efforts toward establishment of the Illinois Prairie Path. In honoring this woman, we reflect honor on all those like her. She is today symbolically representing a growing community of concerned citizens."

The designation then covered only 12.5 miles, but now the entire 28 miles in DuPage is included.

In the same year, the Illinois State Highway Department agreed to give the Path an expensive underpass at Route 59 near the East-West Tollway, and in 1972, the Illinois Department of Conservation under Henry Darkhausen did buy the CA&E right-of-way in Kane County. (DuKane Valley Council and Gunnar Anderson pushed mighty hard!) It Is leased to the Kane County Forest Preserve for 99 years, for use as a Prairie Path, and now -- The Cook County extension is waiting in the wings! Paul Mooring is our dauntless leader and onward we go!

Sam, YOU wrap it all up now -

SAM -
That follows the growth of Mrs. Watts' idea into a full fledged National Trail. You'd think its stature would guarantee its security. But I want to read you part of an article that appeared just last July in the Little Trib -- "Path's Future a Mesh of Options". The article explains that some of the towns and chiefly the County of DuPage do not want to renew our Path lease in 1981! And then it quotes Robert Raymond, Chairman of the County Board Highway Committee: "The county didn't buy the right-of-way for a Prairie Path or parking lots or water lines or any other specific purpose. We want to avoid commitments that may put us in a bind in the future ..."

So -- it's wise to be aware that the battle is not over, and that is won't BE over until the Path becomes part of a larger authority. The bulldozers are still drooling.

Thank you and good night.