The council has also pressed for stronger enforcement of air and water pollution control laws in the industrial areas near the park.

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STEVE EMBER: A modern federal road follows a walking path in the dunes called the Beach Trail. Long ago, this trail was a path between two forts. Settlers built the forts to provide protection against attacks by native Indian tribes. These forts became Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan.

In eighteen twenty-two, a trader from the state of Michigan settled in the Indiana Dunes. This man, Joseph Bailly, opened a store and raised a family near Lake Michigan. He exchanged warm blankets and guns for the animal furs supplied by Indians and travelers.

At first, Mr. Bailly and his family lived in a small wood home. The trader was building a bigger house when he died. The National Park Service has repaired the outside of this large white home.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Later, a student from the University of Chicago brought scientific knowledge to the dunes. Henry Chandler Cowles received money from the university to study landforms and plant fossils from the time when ice covered much of the world. In eighteen ninety-six, Mr. Cowles decided the Indiana dunes would be an excellent place for his research.

Mr. Cowles' studies showed how plant communities could make important changes in land. His work demonstrated how groups of plants could create conditions for a sand dune to become a living forest. He became a well-known professor and researcher. The work of Henry Chandler Cowles in the Indiana Dunes helped spread the science of ecology throughout the world.