of years before as the link between the two great waterway systems of America, would give birth to Chicago which would go on to become the transportation hub of the US and continue its role as the link between the East and the West. The official flag of the City of Chicago is a stylized map of the Chicago Portage, with four red stars symbolizing the city, separating two blue stripes symbolizing the two great waters that meet at the city. Chicago portage national historic site The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Preserved within the park is the western end of the historic portage linking the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, thereby linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The site is the only part of the historic Chicago Portage that remains in a natural and protected state more or less as it existed when revealed to French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette by Native Americans. The site, designated January 3, 1952 as an "affiliated area" of the National Park Service, is owned and administered by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County The Des Plaines River today is not the river as it was in 1673 when Jolliet and Marquette first encountered the Chicago Portage. During the period 1892-1900 the original channel of the river was straightened, cutting off the part that the Jolliet and Marquette party used to reach the west end of the portage, but a visitor to the site today can still see the remnants of the old course of the river. Gallery See also Chicago River Geography of Chicago Valparaiso Moraine Lake Chicago Saint Lawrence River Divide Laurentian Divide Eastern Continental Divide Stevenson Expressway Illinois and Michigan Canal Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal References External links Chicago Portage official site National Park Service Stateparks.com Chicago Portage Ledger: Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Jolliet and La Salle's Canal Plans at Encyclopedia of Chicago The Continental Divide in Oak Park Chicago Portage History Geography of Chicago Great Lakes History of Chicago Illinois waterways Mississippi River watershed Portages in the United States Transportation in Chicago Water gaps of the United States Valleys of Illinois