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Efforts to preserve Trail of Tears fitting, proper

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 11:22 PM CST

One of the prettiest drives in Southern Illinois follows the route of Illinois 146 between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

One of the state's oldest communities, Golconda, nestles hard against the levee lining the Ohio River at the eastern edge of the route. Traveling west, the highway quickly moves out of the flattened floodplain into the rolling hills, heavy forests and farmland of our beautiful region.

Motorists are often surrounded by the Shawnee National Forest on the more than 60-mile route between the rivers, a natural palette of earthborn hues occasionally interrupted by a string of pleasant towns, including Vienna, Anna and Jonesboro.

The countryside that cradles the highway is a splendid scenic backdrop for any season, though many would agree spring and fall are the most special.

There is more than a little irony, then, in the history of the frontier route that predated Illinois 146. This was the Illinois segment among the Trail of Tears routes linking Georgia and the southeast, the native land of the Cherokees, to their federally mandated new home in Indian Territory lands that later became Oklahoma.

The irony? Using our beautiful land for such a sorrowful purpose.

Perhaps you reacted in a similar manner Sunday after reading Reporter Adam Testa's thoughtful account of the Cherokee's forced march across our region in the winter of 1838-1839. The route through Pope, Johnson and Union counties was one of devastation and death for the Cherokees.

Yet it is part of our history, not something we chose. It is important that it be recalled as it happened, just as we preserve the Illinois historic sites that were visited by Marquette and Joliet, Lewis and Clark and the frontiersman lawyer who became our nation's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.

We've done a great deal to preserve the heritage of explorers and statesman, rightfully so, and the efforts to raise awareness of the Trail of Tears are both overdue and justified. The recent dedication by the National Park Service of a site along Illinois 146 as part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was both the right thing to do and an encouraging sign for our region.

The history of our region is part of who we are as people, worthy of study and of greater recognition by history buffs everywhere. Proposals to further honor the Cherokees - interpretive signage for the Trail of Tears rest area in Union County, a statue of a Cherokee for the Pope County Courthouse lawn - should be pursued.

We think Steve Hudson, a member of the Pope County Board, understands the value of the projects goes beyond tourism, which, undeniably, benefits from historic preservation efforts.

"I think it comes from your heart sometimes," he said in Sunday's newspaper. "It's just something you've got to do."