History of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
​For millennia a natural portage, which linked the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, made transit between the great watersheds of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi easier in a biodiversity rich region where prairie, forest, wetland, river, and lake came together in a natural mosaic.
ITS EARLY HISTORY
This region was the aboriginal homeland of many Indigenous nations including the Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Myaamia, Wea, Sauk, Meskwaki, and Ho-Chunk.
The area was also alive with ancient oak woodlands and abundant wildlife including fish, turtles, beavers, otters, owls, deer, elk, and black bear.
In 1673 the Kaskaskia, a tribe of the Illiniwek, showed the portage (aka Mud Lake) to French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette. They too recognized the value of the connection which 175 years later led the way to the Illinois & Michigan Canal (built 1836-1848) which unjustly displaced Native Americans while it inspired the explosive growth of Chicago. Growth which contributed to pollution and degradation of the land, the river system, and Lake Michigan. Chicago's source of drinking water.
A RIVER REVERSED
In 1889, civic leaders formed the Sanitary District of Chicago (now Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago) to address the problem of the sewage and industrial pollution that was directed to the Chicago River and thus Lake Michigan. Their solution was to dig the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal which would reverse the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan, establish a permanent shipping route, preserve Chicago’s source of drinking water, and improve public health. Opened in 1900, the Canal moved water and waste away from Lake Michigan and toward the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers. And, while it protected the public from typhoid and cholera, the Canal faced opposition, stirred controversy, contributed to further negative cultural impacts, and opened the door to other environmental problems as well.
Still, when the massive 28-mile canal, which starts at Damen Avenue in Chicago and flows southwest to Lockport where it joins the Des Plaines, opened, its intended impact was immediate and it was recognized as an engineering marvel.
The Canal, along with the Cal-Sag Channel completed in 1922, formed a permanent connection between the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins. It was a strategically located waterway which attracted industry and commercial enterprise which continue to thrive to this day.
A PLACE OF NEED AND OPPORTUNITY
​The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal flows through five congressional districts, three counties, 13 municipalities, and multiple districts represented in the Illinois General Assembly. It is an important corridor for addressing the Chicago region’s pressing community, environmental, and climate resiliency challenges.
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal sub-watershed includes dense urban neighborhoods and suburbs with a need for investment, surrounding industrial districts, and regionally important infrastructure. Simultaneously, it is adjacent to some of the most ecologically significant habitat in the region including the 15,000 acre Palos Forest Preserves system which is celebrated as an International Urban Dark Sky Place.
Data from the Greater Chicago Watershed Alliance’s Natural Solutions Tool and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s Community Data Snapshots show that many of the communities along the Canal face health disparities, lower incomes, lack of access to parks, poor air quality, and other challenges. All this demonstrates that this work is integral to investing in ecological restoration, public health, and community enhancements.
BOLD PAST, BRIGHT FUTURE
Since the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was completed, it and the entire 156-mile Chicago-Calumet River system have transformed. Massive improvement in water quality stem from the near-complete Tunnel and Reservoir Plan which has virtually eliminated once common sewage discharges to the river, as well as other clean water investments.
While it remains an important space for shipping, commerce, and industry, the Canal now also supports nearly 80 species of fish up from under 10 decades ago. New public parks, boat launches, and riverwalks along the banks draw more residents to some stretches in greater numbers than ever before. River-edge amenities are on the increase too such as The Forge in Lemont and the Centennial Trail which runs from Willow Springs to Romeoville. Forest preserves and parks serve community members away from industrials zones and opportunities for ecological restoration abound instream, along the entire reach and throughout the broader watershed.
