From a press releases:

Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Illinois River Encounter to Share Living and Working River

Peoria – Some 15,500 years ago, a huge surge of glacial meltwater swept across Illinois. The result: the Illinois River and its broad floodplain—and a complex eco-system of which humans have long been a part. And that’s just the beginning of the fascinating story visitors to the Peoria Riverfront Museum will experience at The Illinois River Encounter.

At a media event on Oct. 15, Lakeview Museum President and CEO Jim Richerson shared the components of the museum’s Liberty Street Wing and specific plans for The Illinois River Encounter, a major gallery in that wing. “Without the Illinois River, Peoria would not be Peoria,” he said. “It was the river that first drew native people to this area 12,000 years ago. And it is the river that continues to offer commercial and recreational opportunities today.”

Doug Blodgett, director of the Illinois River portion of the Nature Conservancy, has been working extensively with museum designers and shared details of what The Illinois River Encounter will offer. “The gallery will feature parallel, interactive exhibits,” he explained. One side, known as The Living River, will focus on the river’s natural history and habitats. The other side, The Working River, will highlight the changing human relationship to the river over the years.

“Moving through the gallery will evoke the feeling of a trip along the river—through both time and space,” he added, noting:

• The first section in The Working River will place visitors in the northern reaches of the river, with exhibits on the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal—the beginning of human attempts to control the river.
• In the middle of the experience, both The Living River and The Working River will focus on Peoria, including its early history as a fishing town, the role of the river in its industrial development and the ongoing work to address the sedimentation problem in the Peoria Lakes.
• The final exhibits will focus on the river today, with emphasis on the shipping industry and the work being done to restore the river’s health.

The Living River

In The Living River, visitors will experience a simulation of the rushing meltwaters that formed the Illinois and view photos and samples of geological features caused by the torrent. A recreation of an archaeological dig in the river’s floodplain will include artifacts from various periods, including the Peoria Falcon, a 500-year-old embossed copper plate portraying a bird of prey. “This artifact, likely part of a Native American warrior’s ceremonial headdress, was found in Peoria in 1859, not far from the site of The Block today,” Blodgett said.

A timeline of fishing on the river will offer interactive experiences and artifacts, including footage of jumping carp, mounted specimens of native and invasive fish species and tools from the river’s once-thriving fish and mussel industries. “Beginning in 1891, mussels were harvested to manufacture shell buttons,” Blodgett explained. “When the Illinois River reached its maximum shell production in 1909, there were more than 2,600 boats and 15 button factories along the river.”

The Working River

“The Working River will focus on how we have changed the Illinois River over the centuries, connecting it to Lake Michigan and developing it as a channel for transportation and commerce,” said Steve Jaeger, executive director of the Heart of Illinois Regional Port District. Interactive opportunities will allow visitors to experience what it’s like to pilot a barge, control the flooding of the river in a simulation of downtown Peoria, affect the flow of the river through locks and dams and observe the impact of levees on the river channel and floodplain use.

A look at the future will include information on the efforts of conservation groups to restore the river’s natural ecology, including a display showing the progress and goals of the Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon floodplain restoration project, one of the largest restoration projects in the country.
In addition, The Illinois River Encounter will feature an adjacent River Science Lab. The lab will feature hands-on activities, including a boat interactive where kids can float different types of boats to see which create less turbulence and therefore contribute less to erosion and sedimentation problems.

The multifaceted Peoria Riverfront Museum will join the Caterpillar Experience as key components of a planned downtown center for the arts, education and entertainment known as The Block.

And here are pictures of what these displays look like (click on thumbnails for larger images):