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Two Thousand Acres of Moorland Along Lake Front Contain Pro fusion of Plant Varieties Editor’s note: The remarkable area of land on the lake front near Waukegan commonly known as Waukegan Flats, is described in an unusually interesting manner in the appended article, which is a copy of a paper read before the Evening Garden club of Wilmette on July 8 by Mrs. George B. Williams of 1137 Lake avenue, Wilmette. It will be of interest to our readers to learn that a movement is now in progress to have this land area kept undisturbed as a state preserve. By George B. Williams How many of you have been up to the Waukegan Flats or Moorlands? Well, then some of you know that this region is located just north of Wauke gan along the lake. The general width of the area is one-half to one mile and it is three to four miles long, com prising approximately two thousand acres. Immediately north of Wauke gan, there is a road going east which passes a little station called “Beach” and this takes you into about the mid dle of the tract, but this road is im passable in the spring or during wet weather, and you must be a brave driver if you undertake it even in dry weather. However it is not necessary to take this road—there is another which leads into the flats by the ceme tery in Zion. This goes east a mile, then you turn south and you are in the moorlands. This road is even worse than the other one at Beach station, but if you are a good walker, so much the better. Historically, the region was a portion of ancient Lake Chicago. It is imper fectly drained by Dead river which is a deep slough forty feet wide and ex tends for about a mile. Dr.. H. . Peppon who has written a book just off the press, on the “Flora of the Chicago Region” gives some space to the Waukegan moorlands, and he lists the general topography as follows: 1—Deep water areas. Dead river. 2—Permanent marshes. 3—Low moist ridges 4—Dry ridges 5—Sand knolls and dunes. Sand Dune Formation The ridges trend north and south, with belts of marsh or slough in be tween, and represent the action of the waves and wind on sand dune forma tion. The soil is of course very, very sandy and with extra flora humus, be comes muck and peat. Now as to the various species of trees which are found in the Wauke gan flats. On the higher ground, we find black and burr, oak; along the marsh regions, willow, cottonwood and ash prevail. A few tamarack are here also. In the region south of the out let of Dead river, occupying a large area of the dry elevation just west of the shore dune, is a veritable miniature forest of conifers or cone-bearing trees of many species. The story of the plant ing of the seed of these trees is one of the most remarkable and interest ing things I have learned about this region. A Mr. Douglass, who had a nursery located near Waukegan, went through on horseback some sixty years ago scattering mixed pine seed whole sale, and the result is this wonderful pine forest. There are white pines, Austrian, Scotch and pitch. When you are on Sheridan road just north of Waukegan, look over toward the lake and you will see this pine forest which looks black against the sky and water. It extends for about a mile and is a beautiful sight. Work of Nature Dr. Peppon says: “To the unobserv ant, this growth has every appearance of being natural, and in fact is, so far as all practical purposes are concerned, and if no disturbance occurs in the next generation, the evidence will all point to Nature instead of Art, as the causation of the peculiar coniferous forest. On the high ridges, there are prick ly pear, bearberry, red cedar, dwarf juniper and trailing juniper. This last trailing juniper, makes carpets twenty to sixty feet in diameter. It is remark ably beautiful. On the sand ridges of moderate ele vation, we found asparagus—thorough ly naturalized and quite abundant. Some say they got enough for a meal in one day. Coreopsis, Indian paint brush, both red and yellow are here. And the lupine! I wish everyone of you could have seen the lupine as we saw it on two occasions this Spring. The first time we went up, my neigh bors, Mrs. Naper and Mrs. Halliwell
Newspaper Details
Wilmette Life
Wilmette, Illinois, US
Fri, Jul 18, 1930
Page 13
Full Page
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Sonya S.
USA 13 Feb 2026
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