1. Illinois
What do you know about your state?
Why is Illinois so flat?

2. “Illinois is a state which, at the very heart of the “Corn Belt,” contains fields as fertile as any to be found anywhere in the world, and yet under its richly productive soil lie bituminous coal reserves greater than those of any other state. Nature has placed Illinois at the center of the waterways represented by the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River System, and man in slightly more than a century has added a vast railroad network and a series of highways totaling thousands of miles.” -Source: The Heartland: Pages from Illinois History

3. Illinois – Illiniwek - Algonquin for “Tribe of superior men” (Tribe of the Illini name given by the French)

4. Geography
60% prairie, 30% hills with prairie, and 10% hills

5. Illinois Great Lakes counties counted nearly 170,000 acres of prairie prior to European settlement. Today, only 671 acres of that original prairie habitat remain.

7. Thornton Quarries

8. About 425 million years ago, the land that is now our Village was a clear, shallow sea.  The sea grew coral that became immense reefs.  The Thornton quarry covers 550 acres of the coral reef, and Silurian age animals and their fossils can still be found there today!

9. Illinois State Dinosaur
No dinosaur remains have ever been found in the Chgo Southland because glaciers scraped away the geologic layers where dinosaur bones would be preserved.
Shark fossils discovered in IL
Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium)

10. Moraine Valley

11. When you travel south on Archer Ave after turning off 95th Street, the high hill on your left is an edge of a moraine!
The greenish boulders found around Maple Lake originated in Wisconsin, were transported by glacier to Illinois, and left behind when the glaciers melted.

12. New Madrid Fault http://www. weather

13. History
Illinois was discovered in 1673 by Joliet & Marquette

14. How Does Illinois Compare to Other States?
Size: ____ out of 50
Highway system: ____ out of 50
Railroad system: ____ out of 50
Soybean production: ____ out of 50
Corn production: ____ out of 50
Coal: ____ out of 50
Oil: ____ out of 50
Population: ____ out of 50

15. 385 miles long 218 miles wide 25th largest state
Temperatures generally vary by 10 to 12 degrees from one end of the state to the other. Cold, fairly dry winters and warm, humid summers with ample rainfall allow the land to support many kinds of crops and livestock.

16. Illinois ranks number 1 in total value of truck shipments and the value of shipments originating in the state

17. 3rd Largest Highway System

18. 2nd Largest Railroads system

19. 2nd Busiest Airport

20. Illinois ranks 5th in the nation in the number of manufacturing plants

21. #1 Leading Soybean Producer

22. #2 Corn Producer

23. 7th Leading Coal Producer

24. 14th Oil-Producing State

25. 5th Most Populated State in the Country

26. In the Chicago area… Highest Point – Charles Mound
Lowest Point – 4 miles west of Morris 475ft
Lake Michigan is 580 feet above sea level
Oak Lawn is 615 feet above sea level

27. Illinois Facts