In 1951, Congress authorized the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which opened in 1959. As this report indicates, industrial planners and developers recognized that the waterway would attract more industry and shipping to the entire Great Lakes, including the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Advocates on both sides of the fifty-year debate between preservation and development realized that their battle had reached a culminating moment. With the opening of the Seaway and the potential for increased commercial traffic, all participants identified the need to act quickly in order to ensure either the protection of the duneland from imminent development or the construction of a deep-water industrial harbor.

Creator: Illinois-Indiana Bi-State Development and Study Commission
Source: Calumet Regional Archives, Indiana University Northwest, Gary (CRA#43, b.2, f.38)