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Canal Corridor Association Coordinating entity for the Illinois Michigan Canal National HeritageArea At a stroke the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848 gave Illinois the key to mastery of the American midcontinent. The dream of the canal animated every vision and under laid every plan for Illinois for 200 years before. As that vision was realized the canals commissioners laid out a canal port that would grow into a great metropolis their fellow citizens patented agriculture and industrial innovations that would make this the richest economic zone the world had ever seen. That Illinois is now the most populous inland American state and Chicago the greatest city of the American heartland are directly traceable to the 96mile ditch that linked the Great Lakes to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.