Don Wildman

But let's nail one thing down, which is the name Chicago.

Where does that come from?

I did see that word, shikakwa, right?

Shikakwa is the name of that.

It's a leek or a wild onion.

And I guess they grew all over the place there in that marshy land.

Probably smelled a little.

Yes.

And of course, the French explorers are the ones who are writing things down at this point.

So they write it as Chicago with an OU at the end.

That is then anglicized to Chicago for maps and such until it becomes the accepted name.

But Chicago remains in New France until the French and Indian War makes it British, which in turn then makes it American after the revolution.

and part of what is called the Northwest Territory, which is formally established by the U.S.

in 1787, at which point we begin the process of removing Native peoples from their ancestral lands.

This is one of those big chapters.

Chicago is where this project really begins in that area in earnest, right?

Well, real estate was money, you know, as far as the Americans were concerned.

This was the beginning of how to value things in these areas.

And you start with real estate.

So that was never part of the calculation for Native American tribes.