a population of local illinois river settlers thinly settled the emiquon riverbank, which was too wet for traditional european-style farming. the region continued to yield a living to fur trappers, hunters, and fishermen. however, in 1919 joy morton, a wealthy chicago ceo, acquired the emiquon area and had a levee built around it and drainage ditches dug. emiquon became the "norris farm", and the former wetlands and lake beds were drained and converted into cornfields. the formerly free-flowing illinois river was dammed and confined to a narrow channel running between artificial banks. much of emiquon was low-lying and required periodic pumping with electric motors so that the land could remain dry and useful as farmland.