Standing at Mud Lake

“We remained [in Chicago] about a week to rest our men and prepare for the fatigue and hardships of crossing our boats and goods to the Des Plaines River. Our goods were transported across the prairie on the backs of our boatmen. The boats thus lightened were passed through the eastern outlet of and into Mud Lake…This lake was well named; it was but a scum of liquid mud, a foot or more deep, over which our boats were slid, not floated over, men wading each side without firm footing, but often sinking deep into this filthy mire, filled with bloodsuckers, which attached themselves in quantities to their legs. Three days were consumed in passing through this sinkhole of only one or two miles in length.”
- Gurdon Hubbard, 1818