Starved Rock State Park
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Starved Rock State Park is an Illinois state park located in Utica, Illinois, in rural La Salle County, Illinois, about 75 miles (120 km) west-southwest of downtown Chicago. The park is over 2500 acres (10 km²)in size and includes 13 miles (21 km) of hiking trails, numerous waterfalls (icefalls in winter) and other landforms. The park contains 18 glacier-carved canyon of sandstone. Starved Rock itself is a large eroded butte overlooking the Illinois River. French explorers built a fort called Fort St. Louis atop the rock in 1682 but had abandoned it by the early 1700s. The rock derives its name from a story that a band of Illiniwek was trapped in the 1760s on the rock by a band of Potawatomi trying to avenge the death of the Ottawa Chief Pontiac. The Illiniwek starved on the rock. Camping, boating and fishing are popular activities in the park. On the property there is also a 1930s lodge built of full timbers by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center.
Tragedies
In addition to the heartrending story of the Indians who suffered a slow and painful death atop the rock, a tragedy of somewhat more recent vintage was the triple murder that took place in St. Louis Canyon on a cold and snowy day, March 14, 1960. A lodge employee named Chester Weger confessed to robbing and killing the three women victims, and later recanted, alleging that his confession had been coerced. He was convicted and is currently serving a life sentence. There has been some movement to try to re-open the case from time to time. The mishandling of evidence has been alleged. The conviction came largely on the confession, which was taken in the pre-Miranda days. The full story of this event is told in The Starved Rock Murders, by Steve Stout.
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