Golf Club Ruins Traditional Cache
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A golf course displaced by a nuclear reactor . . .and now a forest preserve.
Golf Club Ruins N41 41.866 W87 54.358
Aerial photos from 1939 still show the Palos Golf Club on the hills overlooking the Sag Valley. The current Saganashkee Slough was farmland. I’ve heard stories that Al Capone may have shot a few rounds here. I’m guessing that the club was around from the 1900’s until Argonne Lab was established and moved nuclear research from the University of Chicago to the area in the 40’s. Argonne has since moved to its current location a few miles northwest of this original setting; they did leave the world’s first nuclear reactor behind – a granite marker is at the burial site.
When I started hiking the area in the 60’s, the golf course seemed to be common knowledge; now however, I can find no information about the club beyond a map location showing the Palos Golf Club (historical).
Park at Saganashkee Slough (107th central lot - the West Parking lot is closer but more difficult hiking ...and you'll miss the historic roadway) and follow the path up towards the old club house – notice the stone walls bordering the path. This “path” was once a road paved with granite bricks – a few of the original bricks can still be seen at the top of the hill at the path junction. The bricks were removed by the Forest Preserve District around 1990.
The current bike path goes over the entrance (visible cement slab) of the club house. In front of the clubhouse (north of the current bike path) you can find the limestone walls defining the parking lot. Apparently the clubhouse was bulldozed towards a ravine to the west. Among the huge cement slabs you will find the cache. A couple of hundred feet west, at the edge of the ravine (100 ft north of 107th Street), you will find the sewage treatment system (septic tanks) for the club.
There are many other foundations and artifacts in the area; when hiking the trails you may see old pipes crossing the trails that were part of the irrigation system for the golf course. The largest remaining structure is the foundation of the Golf Club well building N41 41.940 W87 54.212 (200 feet north of the aforementioned bricks at the trail junction). This structure will not easily fade into olden times – there’s too much concrete. This building contained the well and the water tank for the drinking water for the club.
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(Decrypt)
Vg'f yvxr fgnevat qbja gur oneery bs n pnaba
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