Read About Our Journey down the Chicago Canal and Illinois River to: Peoria, IL

Captain John's Navionics Cruise Log - Day 27

Miles Traveled Today: 35.0

Cumulative Miles: 1089.1

Duration of Stay: 1 day Illinois Yacht Club (IVY) dock

Information on Arrival Port: Peoria, IL

The city is associated with the phrase "Will it play in Peoria?", which originated from the vaudeville era and was popularized by Groucho Marx. A major port on the Illinois River, Peoria is a trading and shipping center for a large agricultural area that produces corn, soybeans, and livestock. Although the economy is well diversified, the city's traditional manufacturing industries remain important and produce earth moving equipment, metal products, lawn-care equipment, labels, steel towers, farm equipment, building materials, steel, wire, and chemicals. By way of history, on October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln made his Peoria speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Prior to prohibition in the 1920's, Peoria was the center of the whiskey industry in the United States. More than 12 distilleries operated in Peoria by the end of the 19th century, more than any other city in the U.S. Today, KENTUCKY is the whiskey/bourbon center of the liquor universe!