Will County

County in northeast Illinois; area 2,186 sq km/844 sq mi; population (1990) 357,300. The state of Indiana borders the county to the southeast. The Des Plaines River and the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal flow across the northwest corner, meeting the Kankakee River from the southwest, to form the Illinois River just over the Grundy County line. Industrial centres such as Joliet, the county's administrative headquarters, and Lockport lie along the Des Plaines River in the west, while the southwest is an old coal mining area centred on Braidwood and Wilmington. The county's eastern half consists primarily of farmland.