to create cultivated cropland. Two large ditches were constructed in 1858, as part of the Swamp Act of 1852, the first attempt to drain the marsh. A lobby grew among the large landholders in Lake County who advocated the complete drainage of the marsh, but due to the American Civil War and the subsequent economic downturn, little action occurred until the 1880s. In 1884, meetings were held by land owners in South Bend to discuss the drainage of the marsh. Two of the largest landholders agreed to build a network of drainage ditches in their lands to begin draining the eastern edge of the marsh. State funding was granted to the project during the term of Indiana Governor Claude Matthews and the project was expanded to include the entire marsh. At the time, it was heralded as a great advance for the state which was also in the process of draining the Great Black Swamp. By 1910, most of the marshlands were drained and work on rerouting the Kankakee River began. In 1917, the river was dredged to make it significantly deeper; by 1922, the process was mostly completed and the river was several miles shorter than its original course. The upper river was also highly channelized with levees to allow easier transport of cut timber from the wetlands to saw mills downstream in Illinois. The channelization aided in the desiccation of the surrounding wetlands and reduced the river to less than half of its original length. Of the original marsh, only remain, comprising approximately one percent of the original area. The channelization of the river has rendered it especially prone to flooding. Starting in the 1980s, federal and state efforts have attempted to restore part of the original floodplain of the river through strategic widening of the levees. Today The river remains a popular destination for recreational canoeing and fishing for warm-water species. Kankakee River State Park is located along the river, northwest of Kankakee, Illinois. The Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area is located in Indiana. Route St. Joseph County (South Bend) The headwaters of the Kankakee River is southwest of downtown South Bend, Indiana, within the city limits. An area of wetlands and springs to the northwest of the South Bend Ethanol Plant is the start of the Kankakee River. An old Indian portage, about long, stretched from this area towards the northeast to what are today Highland