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Powderhorn Lake

Landforms of Cook County, Illinois

Powderhorn Lake, within Illinois but close to the state line, is a 48 acres (19 ha) lake that is part of the sand wetlands of the Indiana Dunes, most of which are located in the nearby state of Indiana. It is the centerpiece of the 192 acres (78 ha) Powderhorn Lake Forest Preserve, part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County in Cook County, Illinois.Powderhorn Lake drains into the Grand Calumet River, which is historically part of the Lake Michigan watershed. Man-made engineering now moves the Grand Calumet River’s water into the Cal-Sag canal and valley system, which drains into the Des Plaines River and ultimately into the Illinois River.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Powderhorn Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Powderhorn Lake
South Brainard Avenue, Thornton Township

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N 41.640833333333 ° E -87.531388888889 °
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Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve

South Brainard Avenue
60633 Thornton Township
Illinois, United States
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Hegewisch station
Hegewisch station

Hegewisch is a commuter rail station in the city of Chicago, Illinois in the Hegewisch neighborhood, that serves the South Shore Line north to Millennium Station and east to the cities of Hammond, East Chicago, Gary, Michigan City, and South Bend, Indiana. The Hegewisch station has high-level platforms, as part of NICTD's continuing effort to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.Hegewisch is the South Shore Line's easternmost stop in Chicago and the last one in Illinois outbound, and offers pay parking. It is the only Illinois station on the South Shore Line not shared with the Metra Electric Line. There is a unique arrangement at the station as far as fares are concerned: although this station is a South Shore Line stop and the tracks are owned by NICTD, the station and the parking lots are actually owned by Metra and thus subject to Metra's fares, because the station is within the state of Illinois. Thus, when the South Shore Line adjusts its fares, the fares for Hegewisch do not change, but if Metra adjusts its fares, the fares at Hegewisch are adjusted accordingly. Having broken ground in July 1991, current station facility was officially opened June 2, 1992. The station has a 3,000 square foot building, and cost Metra $1.7 million to construct. Soon after the current station building opened, the former station facility (located approximately 1,500 feet west of the current one) was demolished.The station is just west of an at-grade junction with a former Pennsylvania Railroad branch line (ex-South Chicago & Southern). The line began at the main line near the Illinois–Indiana state line and continued to a connection with the line to Logansport, Indiana. As of 2011, the tracks only exist to the former New York Central Railroad (ex-Michigan Central) line. The Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad main line (carrying trains of the Erie, Monon, Chicago and Eastern Illinois, and Wabash railroads) ran parallel to the South Shore. The Nickel Plate Railroad also had its main line to the west of the C&WI.A station typology adopted by the Chicago Plan Commission on October 16, 2014, assigns the Hegewisch station a typology of Mixed Residential/Industrial Neighborhood (MRIN). This typology is an area in which the Metra station serves both residential and industrial uses. Like most of the MRIN stations, it does not have access to CTA rail.

Wolf Lake (Indiana–Illinois)
Wolf Lake (Indiana–Illinois)

Wolf Lake is an 804-acre (325.4 ha) lake that straddles the Indiana and Illinois state line near Lake Michigan. It is smaller than it was prior to settlement by European colonizers because of infilling for development around the edges. Despite years of environmental damage caused by heavy industries, transportation infrastructure, urban runoff and filling of wetlands, it is one of the most important biological sites in the Chicago region. Wolf Lake is located between Hammond, Indiana and the Hegewisch community area of Chicago, Illinois. It was once connected by an open channel to Lake Michigan on the Indiana side of the lake, but this channel was cut off for development on its northern side. Indianapolis Boulevard (U.S. 41) and various railroad and industrial facilities are located in former wetlands on the northeastern side of the lake where it once connected to Lake Michigan. There are currently proposals to reopen a channel between Wolf Lake and Lake Michigan. The Illinois portion of the lake consists of five, interconnected impoundments separated by dikes. The dikes were constructed in the late 1950s so that separate portions of the lake could be drained for the purpose of dredging for fill to use in the construction of the Chicago Skyway. The western impoundments are now part of the William W. Powers State Recreation Area and are drained by Indian Creek to the Calumet River. The Wolf Lake water level determines the drainage to Lake Michigan because the connecting Calumet River flows southward during elevated levels and northward during lowered levels. The Indiana portion of the lake consists of three, interconnected impoundments that are also separated by dikes. The longest dike, running roughly parallel to State Line Road and traversing the entire length of the lake, contains railroad tracks belonging to the Indiana Harbor Belt.The Indiana Toll Road (Interstate 90) runs through the middle of the lake just inside the Indiana state line. The lake is also transected by a number of railroad causeways, some of them no longer in use. Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad has an active spur line that runs through the Illinois side of the lake in the Hegewisch community area. Calumet Avenue (U.S. 41) is on its eastern side, with a strip of parkland in between. There are currently several large industrial properties adjacent to the lake and on filled wetlands adjoining the lake, including Cargill and Unilever on the north side. Other property near the edge of the lake is being used for housing. A significant portion of the property around the lake is now parkland or nature preserve, including the Eggers Woods parcel of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Other neighboring lakes include Lake George, Lake Calumet, Powderhorn Lake and Lake Michigan. There was also another lake that lay to the west between Wolf Lake and the river. It was called Hyde Lake and was filled in by Republic Steel. A swampy area near 130th Street and the railroad tracks is the only remnant of that lake.