THE YEAR 2003 MARKED A BICENTENNIAL in Illinois history. It was not as important as that for the launching of Lewis and Clark's exploration of the West, but for those living in the Indiana Territory, especially in its western portion, the federal government's purchase of a mere four square miles of land surrounding two salt springs near Shawneetown, in what is now the southeastern corner of Illinois, was of much greater importance than a route to the Pacific.1 This, excepting land for a fort or an Indian reservation, was the smallest parcel of land ever specified in the annals of American Indian-white settler negotiations.2
When the first surveyors were sent into the Northwest Territory in 1785, they were specifically told to look out for “mines, salt springs, salt licks, and mill seats.”3 The salt springs in Illinois eventually proved to be the most productive in the northwest...
