Canal system connecting the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers in Illinois
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
Lock and dam of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Lockport
CSSC highlighted in blue
Specifications
Length
28 miles (45 km)
Locks
1
Status
Open
History
Former names
Chicago Drainage Canal
Date completed
January 2, 1900; 124 years ago (January 2, 1900)
Date extended
1907
Geography
Start point
Des Plaines River north of Joliet, Illinois (41°33′19″N88°04′40″W / 41.5552°N 88.0778°W / 41.5552; -88.0778)
End point
South Branch Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois (41°50′30″N87°40′33″W / 41.8416°N 87.6757°W / 41.8416; -87.6757)
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a 28-mile-long (45 km) canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago River, which now flows out of Lake Michigan rather than into it. The related Calumet-Saganashkee Channel does the same for the Calumet River a short distance to the south, joining the Chicago canal about halfway along its route to the Des Plaines. The two provide the only navigation for ships between the Great Lakes Waterway and the Mississippi River system.
The canal was in part built as a sewage treatment scheme. Prior to its opening in 1900, sewage from the city of Chicago was dumped into the Chicago River and flowed into Lake Michigan. The city's drinking water supply was (and remains) located offshore, and there were fears that the sewage could reach the intake and cause serious disease outbreaks. Since the sewer systems were already flowing into the river, the decision was made to reverse the flow of the river, thereby sending all the sewage inland where it could be diluted before emptying it into the Des Plaines.
Another goal of the construction was to replace the shallow and narrow Illinois and Michigan Canal (I&M), which had originally connected Lake Michigan with the Mississippi starting in 1848. As part of the construction of the new canal, the entire route was built to allow much larger ships to navigate it. It is 202 feet (62 m) wide and 24 feet (7.3 m) deep, over three times the size of the I&M. The I&M became a secondary route with the new canal's opening and was shut down entirely with the creation of the Illinois Waterway network in 1933.
The building of the Chicago canal served as intensive and practical training for engineers who later built the Panama Canal. The canal is operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. In 1999, the system was named a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).[1] The Canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 2011.[2]
^"Chicago Wastewater System". American Society of Civil Engineers. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
^"Announcement". List for January 13, 2012. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
and 24 Related for: Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal information
ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a 28-mile-long (45 km) canal system that connects the Chicago River...
ChicagoSanitary District (now the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District) to replace the Illinois and Michigan Canal with the ChicagoSanitaryand Ship...
Its function was partially replaced by the wider and deeper ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal in 1900, and it ceased transportation operations with the completion...
fish barrier in the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. The canal connects the Mississippi River drainage basin (via the Illinois River and its tributary the...
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), originally known as the Sanitary District of Chicago, is a special-purpose district chartered...
Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The Illinois and Michigan Canal (I&M) opened in 1848. In 1900, the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal replaced the I&M and reversed...
areas along the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, and the Northwest Indiana area are clustered. Chicago gave its name to the Chicago School and was home to...
greater Chicago Harbor includes portions of the Chicago River, the Calumet River, the Ogden Canal, the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, Lake Calumet, and Lake...
with the construction of the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. This further improved the sanitation of Lake Michigan and helped to prevent further waterborne...
as the chief engineer of the Sanitary District of Chicago during the construction of the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. Randolph had no formal engineering...
area, which has a Mississippi River connection through the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, while Northwest Indiana has three 'riverboat' casinos in harbors...
is starting in the Chicago, Illinois, area, "Loopers" have the option to take the Chicago River andChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal or the Cal-Sag Channel...
established. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building constructed. 1900 ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal opens; the Chicago River is completely reversed....
Michigan, the Chicago River, the Calumet River, and the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. In part, these waterways comprise the Chicago Area Waterway System...
of the Chicago River, forming a favorite portage for early traders and creating the path of the future I&M andChicagoSanitaryandShipCanals. When the...
Cal-Sag Channel meets the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. In the woods is the original site of Argonne National Laboratory and the Site A/Plot M Disposal...
drainage canal built between 1907 and 1910 to flush the sewage-filled North Branch of the Chicago River down the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal. The sewage...
early twentieth centuries as new railroads and the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal brought residents and business opportunities to the village. The commercial...
Plaines River, the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, several railroad lines, Bluff Road, New Avenue and a forest preserve...
the Great Lakes and Mississippi by the ChicagoSanitaryandShipCanal, and the Canal des Deux Mers in France, connecting the Atlantic and the Mediterranean...
Global Information
