ORIGIN - Chicago River (IL)
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 53.280 W 087° 36.840
16T E 449060 N 4637523
The Chicago River begins here at Lake Michigan. Just 1.25 mi to the west, it branches both north and south.
Waymark Code: WM3DM6
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 03/20/2008
Views: 32
Prior to 1900, this location was the DESTINATION of the Chicago River. The direction of flow was reversed upon completion of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal in Jan 1900. That canal intersects the south branch of the Chicago River and links to the Des Plaines River near Lockport. Upon completion, this changed the direction of the river's flow to the southwest, ultimately to the Mississippi. The main reason for this amazing feat of engineering project was to divert sewage away from the growing metropolis of Chicago, thus reducing waterborne disease incidents. The folks down St. Louis way weren't too happy about this.
I have included some old drawings of the way it used to be, with the first settler DuSable and Ft. Dearborn in 1831. Also, you can see that at that time, a sandbar blocked the river mouth so that the outlet was further south (approx present day Madison St.). When a channel was cut through that, things really began looking up for Chicago as a port city.
Parking Coordinates: Not listed
Trailhead Coordinates: Not listed
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
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