FEXP 129 A River Runs Through It: Crossroads Chicago and the Making of America The blue horizontal lines that frame the iconic four red stars on the Chicago flag represent Lake Michigan and the Great Canal, waterways that link the City across time and space to the development and growth of modern America. In this course, students will learn about the science and natural history of the Continental Divide, a natural feature formed during the Ice Age that provided favorable conditions for development along the southern shore of the Great Lakes. Chicago also boasts a rich history of technological innovation to create the complex transportation network of canals, railroads, highways and air corridors that link East to West, and North to South. This network contributed directly to Chicago becoming an industrial and financial powerhouse and a beacon to adventurers, entrepreneurs, scientists, educators and artists. This course will explore how the natural and human-created environment led directly to innovations in science, engineering, manufacturing, and retail and distribution, sometimes with negative effects to the land and water. Students will explore a variety of sites in and around the City and will use a journal as a site of artistic and academic observation and reflection to document some of the scientific, environmental, technological, artistic and historic features of this great crossroads metropolis.