The proposed Calumet National Heritage Area
 wraps around the south-western end of Lake Michigan,
 reaching from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
 on the east to the Illinois and Michigan Canal 
 National Heritage Corridor on the west.Including 
 southern sections of Chicago and extending well into
 Indiana, the Calumet region is a premier example of
 our country's urban and industrial growth over more
 than 100 years. With this growth have been dramatic
 impacts on the natural beauty and environment of a
 region where lake meets praires and woodlands.
      Heavy industries grew in the late 1800s as rail-
 roads came into the region and Great Lakes shipping
 increased. In those energetic days, these steel plants
 were models for the world and surrounding lakes and 
 wetlands were altered, filled and contaminated without
 thought.
      Once a wilderness of dunes, lakes and marshes, the
 region still has the highest concentration of diverse
 natural environments of any region in the Great Lakes.
 It is, in fact, a globally significant ecosystem.
      In and around these areas of natural richness, the
 legacy of struggle by workingmen took place. The creat-
 ion of Pullman and the great steel works on the lake-
 front, the 1894 Pullman workers' strike and the 1937 
 Memorial Day massacre at Republic Steel  are major mile-
 stones in the history of American industry and labor.

Photo by Paul Petraits