Tradition says that after the Illinois Indians had killed Pontiac, the great Indian Chief of the northern Indians made war upon them. A band of the Illinois, in attempting to escape, took shelter on this rock, which they soon made inaccessible to their enemies, and where they were closely besieged. They had secured provisions, but their only resource for water was by letting down vessels with bark ropes to the river. The wily besiegers contrived to come in canoes under the rock and cut off their buckets, by which means the unfortunate Illinois were starved to death. Many years after, their bones were whitening on this summit.
Deer Park is a gorge or ravine, worn by the action of water through the sandstone superstructure, about thirty or forty feet in width, seventy or eighty in depth, and about a quarter of a mile in length. It is entered on a level with the bottom of the Big Vermillion, about four miles from Peru, and can be explored with carriages its entire length. The upper end is enlarged into an amphitheatre, about one hundred feet in diameter, and over arched with projecting sandstone cliffs. In the center of this enlargement bubbles a fountain of cool and refreshing water, whence trickles a crystal rill down the entire length of the gorge. During the sultry days of summer it is a delightful place of resort, and, to use a popular term, is extensively "improved." Its name is supposed to be derived from the practice of the Indians, in driving herds of deer into its mouth, when, having no aperture of escape, they became an easy prey.
The Sulphur Springs are several streams of water, issuing from the crevices of the sand stone rock, on an elevated plateau, rising from the river bottom, not far from midway between Ottawa and Peru. Near them is a fine, commodious Hotel, for the accommodation of visitors. The waters are highly charged with sulphur and other mineral, are quite offensive to the taste of the novice, and are said to posses valuable curative properties. For a more particular analysis of these waters, the reader is referred to the gentleman, yet living in our midst, who enjoyed the advantage of listening to Doctor Harrison's learned disquisition, and who has doubtless treasured much of the lore dragged to light on the memorable occasion referred to in the preceding pages.