Transportation
10
The Illinois River served as the first highway through this area, bringing the earliest settlers by canoe, dugout, longboat, or flatboat. Beginning in 1829, steamboats increased the flow of passengers and goods. Just south of here, the wreck of the Columbia excursion steamboat in 1918 caused the death of 80 passengers. Although rail succeeded river traffic, barges loaded with grain, construction materials, coal, and chemicals still travel from Peoria to Chicago or the Mississippi River near St. Louis.
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East Peoria, Illinois · United States
