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Illinois and Mississippi Canal

CITY:

Rock Falls

COUNTY:

Whiteside

DEDICATED BY:

Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society

DEDICATION DATE:

January 1, 1974 at 6:00:00 AM

The maker is located in Rock Falls, by the upper dam across the Rock River, on the west side of the feeder canal, near the power plant parking lot.

Construction on the “Hennepin Canal,” as it was commonly known, began in 1892 and was completed in 1907 at a cost of more than seven million dollars. A feeder canal from the Rock River at Rock Falls joined the main canal 29 miles to the south near Mineral. Utilization of the Hennepin Canal never reached expected proportions because of rapid technological advances in other modes of transportation, and in 1951 it was closed to traffic.

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