Dixon Springs State Park
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| Dixon Springs State Park, Illinois, USA | |
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| IUCN Category III (Natural Monument) | |
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| Location: | McDonough County, Illinois, USA |
| Nearest city: | Golconda, Illinois |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 801 acres (3.24 km²) |
| Established: | 1946 |
| Governing body: | Illinois Department of Natural Resources |
Dixon Springs State Park is an Illinois state park on 801 acres (3.24 km²) in Pope County, Illinois, USA, and is one of several state parks in the Illinois Shawnee Hills. The park is on a giant block of rock which was dropped 200 feet along a fault line that extends northwesterly across Pope County.
The 801 acre park is about 10 miles west of Golconda on Illinois Route 146 near its junction with Illinois Route 145. The first land acquisition was in 1946.
[edit] History
The area around the park was occupied by various tribes of Algonquins who, after the Shawnee had been driven from Tennessee, had settled near the mouth of the Wabash River. Dixon Springs was one of their favorite camping grounds and was called "Kitchemuske-nee-be" for the Great Medicine Waters.
One of the better known Indian Trails, which the early French called the "Grand Trace," passed to the west of the park and south to Fort Massac, then branched out into lesser trails. Much of the "Grand Trace" is Illinois Route 145, one of the most scenic highways in the state, running nearly all of its length south from Harrisburg through the Shawnee National Forest.
This section of the state was part of an Indian Reservation occupied for a time by about 6,000 Native Americans. Like the buffalo, most of the Indians were gone by the early 1830s.
Dixon Springs takes its name from William Dixon, one of the first white settlers to build a home in this section, who obtained a school land warrant in 1848 from Governor Augustus C. French. His cabin was a landmark for many years as was an old log church on the adjoining knoll.
A small community grew up at Dixon Springs with a general store, post office, blacksmith shop, grist mill, and several churches.
Dixon Springs became a 19th century health spa which attracted hundreds to the seven springs of mineral-enriched water. A bathhouse provided mineral or soft water baths, hot or cold, available at any time. The natural beauty of the area and its interesting stone formations helped to give the park valley a more equable temperature in the summer than most of southern Illinois. This made the resort so popular that people came by steamboat excursions from as far away as Paducah, Kentucky, Evansville, Indiana, and Cairo to Golconda. They then traveled by train to within a couple miles of the park.
[edit] References
- Dixon Springs - State Park. Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
- USGS. "Dixon Springs State Park, USGS Glendale (IL) Quad", TopoZone. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
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Protected Areas of Illinois Department of Natural Resources |
|---|---|
| State Parks | Apple River | Argyle Lake | Beall Woods | Beaver Dam | Buffalo Rock | Castle Rock | Cave-in-Rock | Chain O'Lakes | Channahon | Delabar | Dixon Springs | Donnelley/Depue | Ferne Clyffe | Fort Massac | Fox Ridge | Franklin Creek | Gebhard Woods | Giant City | Hazel & Bill Rutherford Wildlife Prairie | Hennepin Canal | Horseshoe Lake State Park (Madison County) | Illini | Illinois Beach | James "Pate" Philip | Johnson-Sauk Trail | Jubilee College | Kankakee River | Lake Le-Aqua-Na | Lake Murphysboro | Lincoln Trail | Lowden | Matthiessen | Mississippi Palisades | Moraine Hills | Morrison-Rockwood | Nauvoo | Pere Marquette | Red Hills | Rock Cut | Rock Island Trail | Shabbona Lake | Siloam Springs | South Shore | Starved Rock | Walnut Point | Weinberg-King | White Pines Forest | William G. Stratton | Wolf Creek |
| State Forests | Big River | Hidden Springs | Sand Ridge | Trail of Tears |
| State Recreation Areas | Clinton Lake | Eagle Creek | Eldon Hazlet | Frank Holten | Golconda Marina | Kickapoo | Moraine View | North Point Marina | Prophetstown | Pyramid | Ramsey Lake | Randolph County | Sangchris Lake | Stephen A. Forbes | Washington County | Wayne Fitzgerrell | Weldon Springs | William W. Powers |
| State Fish & Wildlife Areas | Anderson Lake | Baldwin Lake | Carlyle Lake | Coffeen Lake | Crawford County | Des Plaines | Edward R. Madigan | Green River | Hamilton County | Heidecke Lake | Horseshoe Lake (Alexander County) | Iroquois | Kaskaskia River | Kinkaid Lake | Kishwaukee River | LaSalle Lake | Mackinaw River | Marshall | Mautino | Mazonia/Braidwood | Mermet Lake | Middle Fork | Mississippi River | Newton Lake | Panther Creek | Peabody River | Ray Norbut | Rend Lake | Rice Lake | Saline County | Sam Dale Lake | Sam Parr | Sanganois | Shelbyville | Silver Springs | Snakeden Hollow | Spring Lake | Ten Mile Creek | Turkey Bluffs | Union County | Woodford |
| State Natural Areas | Cache River | Fults Hill Prairie | Goose Lake Prairie | Harry "Babe" Woodyard | Illinois Caverns | Kidd Lake | Piney Creek Ravine | Sielbeck Forest | Spitler Woods | Volo Bog |
| State Trails | Tunnel Hill |
