SOME years ago an old friend landed a contract from the state to promote Illinois nationally and internationally. He came up with a clever slogan: "Just Outside Chicago, There's a Place Called Illinois."

Unfortunately, when a state becomes identified with a particular major city, outsiders tend to think of it only in those terms. New York is one example . . . mention it and images of Wall Street, the Metropolitan Museum and the Empire State Building come immediately to mind, although the Adirondacks and the Erie Canal deserve equal attention.

The same is true of Illinois. So much attention is focused on Chicago and money spent promoting it, that one hears little about attractions that would make major news elsewhere.

Starved Rock Lodge remedies that by offering a unique trolley tour and lively narrator who guides visitors to local sites where important history was made. The tour is both fun, entertaining and educational. It's also wheelchair accessible with a special rear lift gate.

A recent survey reported in magazine shows more travellers are looking for vacation experiences that add an element of education to their trip. Their attitude, covering all ages, was described as people who are "abandoning dumbing down for braining up". They want to see new things and learn something along the way.

In these unexpected places, one often discovers truly unique success stories ? such as our first stop, Matthiessen State Park, a beauty land of canyons, woodlands and hiking trails along the Vermillion River.

Once the estate of multi-millionaire Frederick Matthiessen, unfortunately his 54-room home was not saved. It's sadly not uncommon in Illinois where efforts at historic preservation often are thwarted. However, efforts to save his boathouse are being attempted and his private golf course is now available to the public.

The impressive 57-room Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle was more fortunate and is now on the National Register of Historic Places and open to the public. Built by Matthiessen's former classmate at Germany's University of Freiberg School of Mining, the two emigrated to America together in 1858, and became partners. Both these ambitious young entrepreneurs saw the easy availability of close-by Wisconsin zinc and Illinois' abundance of coal, so they went into the zinc smelter business.

Their timing was perfect and Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Works became a major provider of zinc used in producing ammunition during the Civil War. By 1880 it was America's largest zinc company, literally a manufacturing empire in the heart of Illinois prairieland.

In addition to patenting a kiln used internationally by zinc manufacturers, the company pioneered recovery of sulphur dioxide an distributed sulphuric acid nationally. Money quite literally poured in.

As a history enthusiast, it's fascinating to not only tour spectacular homes but learn about their occupants as well. A daughter at age 96 could recite Shakespeare in both German and English, something few of us could master in one language at half the age. The last surviving son died in the house two years ago at the age of 103.

Edward Hegeler also had other interests and started the Open Court Publishing Company with his later-to-be son-in-law, Dr. Paul Carus, as managing editor. Its intent was to study philosophy, science and religions, publishing work by the world's great thinkers . . . names like John Dewey, Alexander Graham Bell, lawyer Clarence Darrow, Upton Sinclair and Ezra Pound.

The mansion was designed by the same architect responsible for Chicago's famed Water Tower, one of the few survivors of the Chicago Fire in 1871.

money so abundant, absolutely no expense was spared and practically nothing changed since its construction which started in 1874. It stands as a time-capsule of substantial wealth displayed in a surprising mid-west location. to learn more about it, check www.hegelercarus.org.

However, world transportation has certainly changed since the era covered on our next stop. In the early 1800s, a time before railroads began crossing the country, canals were dug across eastern United States and parts of the mid-west to facilitate movement of people and products across the country.

Portions of them still exist in places such as Ohio, New York State and in the Washington, DC area where national efforts are being made to restore and maintain them. The US National Park Service has decided the Illinois and Michigan Canal also warrants historic preservation.

French explorer Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette, travelling back to Canada with an Indian guide in 1673, first proposed the idea of a canal connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.

However, nothing happened until 1836 when construction began, finally completed in 1848. Abraham Lincoln was then a young member of the Illinois State Legislature and voted in favour of its construction in the mid-1830s. Delays were caused by funding problems. During its inaugural year, Lincoln took his wife Mary and two young children, Robert Todd and Edward, on a ride from Chicago to La Salle on a canal packet. Travel was so complicated in those days, the Lincolns then transferred to a steamboat bound for Peoria, and there boarded a Springfield-bound stagecoach.

With a series of locks, dams and towpaths for mules, as well as houses for lock tenders, it was a major project considered an engineering marvel ? 15 locks lowered and raised along 96 miles of canal levels. There was a total of 141 feet difference in elevation between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River.

It meant goods like grain, lumber, coal, stoves and wagons could be transported between Chicago and New Orleans . . . molasses, sugar, coffee and fresh oranges and lemons shipped back. Revolutionary for its time.

Trade soared and just as railroads could later create boom towns, the canal helped towns like Lockport, Joliet, Ottawa and La Salle flourish, sparking Chicago's booming growth.

Now undergoing restoration and preservation, a tugboat is set for delivery next year to be towed by mules or horses and a canal-side village restored so travellers can experience that era.

It promises to be colourful, but won't have the likes of William Butler Hickock guiding mules along the tow path as it once did. A local lad, it was one of young Hickock's first jobs before heading west and achieving headline fame as "Wild Bill" Hickock. Historians recall how he tangled with a fellow canal driver who abused his mules and both men ending up getting a canal soaking. Although he returned to visit family on several occasions, his life ended at 39 when shot in the back in a Deadwood, South Dakota saloon.

Many segments of the Illinois and Michigan canal already have picnic areas, some with fireplaces . . . they welcome hikers, bicyclers, canoeists and fishermen along a pathway originally followed by local Indians.

The segment visited on Starved Rock's trolley has impressive stands of oak, cedar and pine. And many vintage iron bridges dating back to early railroad times are visible along some river segments.

What makes this area unique is the opportunity to leap ahead over a century and a half and also view modern locks along the Illinois River where giant barges haul today's products.

, you'll be able to view it from a scenic vantage point atop Starved Rock's bluffs. Look out across the forest and down to the river far below where it's possible to watch barges moving along the river.

But you won't want to miss also seeing them from eye level. That's possible by driving across to the Illinois Waterway Visitor Centre operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers responsible for lock maintenance.

Visitors can either go inside the glass-walled viewing area or stay outside to watch the action. It's very reminiscent of the arrangement one sees at the Panama Canal. It's also free, another bonus of this very comfortably priced area.

Here at Lock 14, traffic is sometimes very heavy and giant barges hauling coal, grain, corn and so on are lined up, as water levels in the locks are lowered and raised.

The Illinois River is wide here, with a scenically wooded shoreline. Our spring visit found large families of young ducks photogenically parading around the grounds, much to the delight of youngsters.

There's something spellbinding about watching locks in operation, a sight that continues to fascinate even after several trips to Panama's Canal, then along Canada's Welland Canal, later aboard the Riverboat Explorer and also doing our thing locking our rented canal boat along the Erie canal out of Rochester, New York.

It's interesting to see that this once frontier method of moving essentials is still very much a part of modern transportation. No, you aren't watching a scene along Germany's Rhine or Mosel, but it's definitely just as interesting.