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Thanks very much for watching - and very glad that you found it interesting! We fully agree that it is a remarkable story, and we had a great time piecing together Norton's fateful journey across the Kane County landscape, with our friends at the St Charles History Museum.

Thanks for the very kind words of support! So glad that you discovered our channel - and that you find the videos informative! That is why we make them - to do deep dives into some of these very interesting stories of history and prehistory, often right under our own noses. Hope all is well in Texas - and thanks again!

Thank you for watching this series! And thanks for the kind words of support! We very much appreciate it! This continues to be one of our favorite stories and series, even if it hasn't had the viewership that other series have had. So thanks for taking the time to take it all in!

Thanks for watching and commenting! Indeed, we believe this to be one of the more interesting stories in northern Illinois history - and reminds us that the Wild West lay much further east and one or two generations earlier than the traditional Wild West. Thanks again!

Thanks for commenting! Do you mean the outbuilding behind the Woodbine depot? Unfortunately, many of these remaining artifacts are decaying right before our very eyes. There is an urgency to documenting these sites as they are disappearing. Thanks again for your support!

@@BeHistoric the street goes east and west so it was a small outbuilding right to the east of it il get another pic when i make the no leaves trip so il be able to see in the woods

Thank you for watching the video and for the ongoing support! We very much appreciate it! Thanks too for taking the time to comment - that very much helps!

Very glad that you enjoyed the video and found it interesting! That makes it all worthwhile for us! Thanks too for taking the time to comment!

Thanks very much for watching and for the thoughtful comment! We very much appreciate it! We always look forward to your comments and support! Thanks for the ongoing support of our channel - and for all of your thoughtful comments and observations!

So glad that you enjoyed the video! Thanks for the kind words and the support!

Thanks for watching and the question! Yes, this is very likely to be the gulch referred to by Norton, as it fits the description (including Otho Perkins fence) very well, although the actual path of the gulch has also very likely changed in the past 170 years. Thanks again!

@@BeHistoric truly fantastic thank you for sharing this story.

Thanks for taking the time to comment! We appreciate it!

Thanks for watching - and for taking the time to comment! Hope that you enjoyed the video and found it informative!

Very glad that you enjoyed this video! Thank you for watching and leaving a comment! The Jo Daviess story of the Chicago Great Western is indeed one of the most compelling parts of its history. Thanks again!

So glad that you enjoyed the video and the story! We stumbled upon this story while doing research for our other videos - and felt that it was one that we had to tell! Thanks for commenting!

Thank you for watching and for the kind words and support! We very much appreciate it! We fully agree that this is quite a story - which is one of the reasons that we wanted to investigate and explore it, looking at all of the contemporary sources that we could find. Our sense is that most Americans do not realize how close we came to being a French speaking nation, how the power struggles between the English and French were at such a delicate tipping point - and how people like Dubuque paved the way for so many who came after. Thanks again!

Thanks very much for the kind words - and glad that you are enjoying the series! It is something like cutting a cross section of American history, through the prism of the railroads, which were central to the story. Thanks again!

And Lincoln might not be much but to my understanding it was the highest point on the line between Olwien and Marshalltown, on top of that while you're in the local area you also had both the Chicago northwestern and Chicago Great Western depots in Gladbrook Iowa the last of the chicago and northwestern depots is still in Gladbrook, plus you had the worst train wreck in history up until that point in time just south of Gladbrook which was a Rock Island passenger train that derailed when it was being detoured on the Chicago great westerns line Southwest of Gladbrook between Green Mountain and Gladbrook

Thanks for the excellent suggestion! Yes, we may very well continue on the journey into Iowa, and either head north to St Paul, or veer southwest to Kansas City. Thanks for watching and for the very good idea!

Very glad that you found this informative - and appreciated all of the maps and details found during our research! Very glad that you noticed that. Thanks for watching our videos, for the kind words, and for taking the time to comment!

Thanks for watching and for the supportive words! We very much appreciate it! We hope to make more videos in our Native American site series in the coming months! Thanks again!

And glad that you found Part 3 informative and enjoyable too! Thanks for watching the entire series - so glad that you enjoyed them! Thanks too for commenting on each of the videos!

Glad that you enjoyed Part 2 as well! Hopefully, you found that they flowed well, one into the other. Thanks for taking the time to write a comment!

Very glad that you enjoyed Part 3 of the series! Thanks too for taking the time to comment! Much appreciated!

Thanks for the offer! We tend to go out, sometimes on a moment's notice - depending upon the weather. But we'll keep that in mind for future excursions in the area. Thanks again! Thanks too for watching and commenting!

Very glad that you enjoyed the video and found it informative! Thanks for all of your help on the video!

Very glad that you enjoyed watching the Mayslake Peabody building tour! Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment!

Thanks for watching and for the continued support! Very glad that you found the video enjoyable and informative! There is quite a bit of history to unpack there, and so we hoped that we did the topic justice. Thanks again!

Wow, that's interesting! Thanks for sharing that information. The depot was approximately 40' x 15' in size, give or take, and not including the overhangs. It's very possible that it was repurposed for a house or other structure, as this was often done back at that time. Today, we simply tear things down and haul off to a landfill, whereas old buildings were more often recycled 50 years ago or more. We've looked at Google maps and there may be a few buildings/houses that are candidates. We don't see anything as yet with a distinctive corner entrance or the small tower - but both of those could have been removed, as you said. We will keep any eye out on future trips to that area. Perhaps another viewer might have more information. Thanks again!

I’d rather not put the address in an open forum. But it sits in an odd spot. It’s small, and rectangular. If I heard right, their driveway is actually Comed property. So I assume the house has right of way to use it. In the aerial photos of the 1939, you can’t see the house but what you do see is that driveway off the west end of railroad street. That suggests the house is under the clump of trees and why it can’t be seen. I’ll have to walk down there with some pictures of the old station to see if they match up in any way. And speaking of repurposing, there’s also an old house in this neighborhood that was moved from the corner of main and elm many years ago that was an old type school house. It sat on the school district’s property, southeast corner.

Thanks for watching the video and commenting! And thanks too for sharing your own personal experiences with the Winston Tunnel! Very interesting how open it was even 25 years ago. We didn't explore the east end, except by drone, as we could not find the property owners - and did not want to trespass. Besides, the pictures we had seen indicated that the east portal had been pretty much blocked up by now. As our video indicated, the west end was open, at least around the gated entrance - but the water drainage made it difficult, as it was about a foot or more deep. We would advise anyone exploring there to bring along and wear waders, if they want to get up close to the gate. The tunnel tips to the west and water will always accumulate there, unless the IDNR installs suitable drainage. Thanks again! Very much enjoyed your observations!

Thanks for commenting and for adding to the conversation regarding this enigmatic station! You observation is very interesting - and it is indeed possible that the station was further east, towards 25th Street. This is one that is still a bit of mystery to us - and is easily the confounding of all of the stations that we've encountered between Chicago and Oelwein. Since we published this video, we've seen a few more bits of evidence - nothing definitive - some suggesting close to the IHB - some suggeting further away, perhaps west. It's remarkable that so little tangible evidence exists for this station and depot. We've not been able to find a single image of the depot, for example. Given it's proximity to Chicago and the growth of the suburbs along the line, it's surprising that not one image exists for this site. Perhaps it demonstrates that this station was little used as a passenger station, even from early days. And that it's primary function was as a freight station, as an interchange, given its proximity to the IHB and the CA&E. Thanks again, you very well may turn out to be correct on this!

Thanks for watching the video and commenting! Yes, it sort of catches you off guard, as you come up on it quickly. But it's great that it's still there and surviving after 50 years or more of disuse. Hopefully, it will survive decades into the future. Thanks again!

Thanks for watching the Julien Dubuque video and for taking the time to comment! Very glad that you found it informative!

Thanks for watching and the interesting question! It is important to note that Albert Scharf (and others) was describing second-hand information, and so there was no ability to examine either the human remains or the burial site immediately after their removal. We therefore have to rely on the original accounts as being reasonably accurate. But instead of a burial site, what if we consider the multiple human remains as being the result of a mass death scenario, such as immediate poisoning? First, this would be an extremely rare event, as most toxins take hours or even days to cause death - and so finding all of the human remains within close proximity of one another is highly unlikely. Second, if they all did pass away on the surface of this hillside, their remains would have decomposed and been scattered across the landscape, by predators and scavengers, and by the action of water draining down the hillside towards the creek basin. Most bones on the surface would decompose - and would only be preserved if buried by sediments. Third, given that there is ample evidence for a habitation site in the nearby river valley, the next question becomes how and where did they dispose of their dead? Known, documented burial mounds and burial sites are common along the major river systems of northeast Illinois - and so it is reasonable to expect that the East Branch of the DuPage River would likewise have burial mounds and burial sites, especially where there were known habitation sites. We obviously cannot know for certain without more detailed investigation of the possible burial site and the nearby habitation sites. And up to this point, there has not been such an investigation. Thanks again for the question!

Wow! Thanks very much for taking the time to comment on this very sad and tragic story. It was one of the saddest stories that we found while doing our research regarding the CA&E., two young sisters being killed in the same accident, simply riding home from work. Thanks for the clarifications and corrections. Many thanks too for sharing this family lore. Your great-grandmother's premonition is unsettling. It must have been a terrific and terrible blow to the entire family, something that was remembered for generations. Thanks again for sharing this information!

Thanks for watching the video and for commenting. We use the term "station", referring to the place, which includes the depot and railyard. Most of the depots have been removed or destroyed. However, the place, the site of the former station, remains in some fashion. Our goal is to highlight and describe these staton sites, which are no longer used as railroad stations.

Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad that you found the video informative and interesting!

@@BeHistoric You’re more than welcome! I’ll be watching more later. Quite a unique channel you have. ☺️☺️☺️

Thanks for watching and the the words of support! Much appreciated! Glad that you found the video informative. Yes, very few of these mastodon and mammoth finds, at least in this area, are found articulated. However, at least for the Perry Mastodon, the Blackwell Mammoth, and Wheaton Mastodon, much of the skeleton was found within an area one or two hundred feet square. It's interesting to attempt to reconstruct how the bones may have been moved by water or predators, or possibly other factors. Thanks again!

That would be a few blocks west of the school and Lake Ellyn? Thanks for watching the video and for the interesting observation regarding the author, Ada Harmon. We used her book for a portion of our research in this video. Thanks again!

@BeHistoric yes, Hawthorne and Main are a couple blocks west of the school and lake ellyn. My understanding is that though now this area of Glen Ellyn is very wooded, in the day it was mostly prairie. So, that intersection would’ve had a very high view of the land around it. Is this what the Indians were looking for as a burial ground? I’m not sure but the valleys would’ve been wet. I have a copy of Ada Harmon’s book, I think printed in 1928. Also, recently I found images of the original surveyor’s plats for this area. They had hand written notes on them for what the found and observed. VERY interesting. I live near Stacy’s tavern so it was interesting to see what the land originally looked like, I.E. creeks, swamps, forests, etc. it is different now.

Very glad that you enjoyed the video - and thank you for watching and for taking the time to leave a comment! We very much appreciate it!

Kane County is indeed a wonderful place, chock full of prehistory and history. In this particular case, the Kautz Site is located in DuPage County, right on the north edge of Winfield Township, and the south edge of Wayne Township.

Thanks for watching the video! And thanks for taking the time to comment and to share your memories of Bolton. We didn't have much opportunity to see whether the ROW was intact and extended east and west of there - so very good to know that it's still there to an extent. Thanks again!

It is a wonderful place to visit and explore. The canyons to the south of the Julien Dubuque monument are absolutely stunning. Would recommend to anyone interested in Nature, prehistory, or history, as there is much to see and experience there. Glad that you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching and sharing your experiences with the Mines of Spain!

Thanks for watching and commenting! Thanks too for the continued support! It is indeed an interesting journey, as it puts you in touch with many of the communities and infrastructure that were part of the rapid growth of our country. Well worth the trip. Thanks again!

Thanks for watching and glad that you enjoy this series! We will definitely consider it for the future. We've got a few other railroad lines that we may do first, however. Thanks again for the comment!

Thanks for watching the series - and thanks too for the kind words and the support! We very much appreciate it! We've got at least a few more CGW videos yet coming, as part of the series. But we too feel the loss as we approach the end of the series. It's been a adventure, a learning experience, and we've met dozens and dozens of very nice people along the way. Thanks again!