A 21-mile recreation and nature trail in northeastern Illinois
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	History		Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Timeline
			Trail History The Old Plank Road Trail has seen lots of changes over the past 150 years. Before 1850 it was a major communication, trading and transportation corridor for Native Americans and the occasional missionary, fur trader, trapper, or explorer. Since 1850 it's been an emigration route for European settlers looking for land to settle on. It's also a communication and transportation hub for our modern society. The OPRT area is a railroad corridor, the route of oil and gas pipelines, Chicago's link to the electric distribution grid, a crossroad of Interstate traffic, and the home of microwave, copper and fiber optic networks that link the nation with Internet, telephone and television services. Now the trail is a recreation and nature preserve but there's plenty of evidence along the right-of-way of other and older uses. History pages 1 through 7 and the timeline will give you a better idea of what came before. You'll see things in a new and different light the next time you travel down the OPRT.
			Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Timeline
			Maps | History | Nature | Events | Get Involved | Management | Links
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