{{Short description|Canal system in northeast Illinois}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox canal |name = Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal |former_names = Chicago Drainage Canal |image = Lockport1.jpg |image_caption = Lock and dam of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at [[Lockport, Illinois|Lockport]] |map = {{maplink-road|from=Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal 2.map}} |map_caption = CSSC highlighted in blue |date_act = |date_began = |date_use = |date_completed = {{start date and age|January 2, 1900}} |date_extended = 1907 |date_closed = |date_restored = |length_mi = 28 |len_in = |original_boat_length_ft = |original_boat_length_in = |len_note = |beam_ft = |beam_in = |original_beam_ft = |original_beam_in = |beam_note = |start_point = [[Des Plaines River]] north of [[Joliet, Illinois]] |original_start = |start_note = {{Coord|41.5552|-88.0778|region:US_IL_type:canal}} |end_point = [[South Branch Chicago River]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]] |original_end = |end_note = {{Coord|41.8416|-87.6757|region:US_IL_type:canal}} |branch = |branch_of = |connects_to = |locks = 1 |original_num_locks = |lock_note = |elev_ft = |elev_note = |status = Open |navigation_authority = |module={{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District | nrhp_type = hd | image = | caption = | nearest_city= [[Chicago, Illinois]] | locmapin = Illinois | built = {{Start date|1892}} | builder = Randolph, Isham; Wisner, G.M. | added = December 20, 2011 | area = {{convert|1128.4|acre}} | mpsub = Illinois Waterway Navigation System Facilities MPS | refnum = 11000907<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> }} }}
The '''Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal''', historically known as the '''Chicago Drainage Canal''', is a {{convert|32|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} canal system that connects the [[Chicago River]] to the [[Des Plaines River]] in [[Northeast Illinois]], US. 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-Sag Channel does the same for the [[Calumet River]], 10 miles to the south, joining the Chicago canal about halfway along its route to the Des Plaines River.
The canal was built to solve a public health problem. Prior to its opening in 1900, sewage from the city of Chicago was discharged 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 diluted with lake water, allowing flowing water to assimilate the waste load as it flowed through the canal, Des Plaines River and Illinois River.
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).<ref>{{cite web| publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |title=Chicago Wastewater System |url=http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/Projects/Monuments-of-the-Millennium/Chicago-Wastewater-System/ |access-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115202919/http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/Projects/Monuments-of-the-Millennium/Chicago-Wastewater-System/ |archive-date=15 January 2012 }}</ref> The Canal was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in West Side Chicago|National Register of Historic Places]] on December 20, 2011.<ref>{{cite web| title=Announcement| url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2012-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf| work=List for January 13, 2012| publisher=National Park Service| access-date=26 February 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620205219/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20120113.htm| archive-date=20 June 2012| url-status=live}}</ref>
==Reasons for construction== [[File:Illinois-michigan-canal.png|left|thumb|The location and course of the old [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]], which the Sanitary and Ship Canal largely replaced]] [[File:Diversion of Chicago Waterways.png|thumb|The flow of water before and after the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal. Note that the before image here does not include the layout of the transcontinental divide [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] (built 1848) which existed at the time (1900) but did not generally affect the directional flow of the waters]]
Early Chicago [[sewage]] systems discharged directly into [[Lake Michigan]] or into the [[Chicago River]], which itself flowed into the lake. The city's water supply also comes from the lake, through [[Water cribs in Chicago|water intake cribs]] located {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in}} offshore. There were fears that sewage could infiltrate the water supply, leading to [[typhoid fever]], [[cholera]], and [[dysentery]]. In 1871 the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] (built 1848) had been deepened in an attempt to reverse the river and improve shipping but the reversal of the river only lasted one season.<ref name="Miller, Donald L. 1996 p. 427">{{cite book| last=Miller| first=Donald L.| title=City of the Century| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0TNXWkIf0wC&q=city+of+the+century| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York| year=1997| page=427| isbn=978-0684831381| access-date=21 June 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109085948/https://books.google.com/books?id=N0TNXWkIf0wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=city+of+the+century&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUlYXu2ePbAhUDA6wKHQKvBD8Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=chicago%20ship%20sanitary%20canal&f=false| archive-date=9 January 2020| url-status=live}}</ref> During a tremendous storm in 1885, the rainfall washed refuse from the river far out into the lake (although reports of an [[Chicago 1885 cholera epidemic myth|1885 cholera epidemic]] are untrue), spurring a panic that a future similar storm would cause a huge epidemic in Chicago. The only reason for the storm not causing such a catastrophic event was that the weather was cooler than normal. The Sanitary District of Chicago (now [[Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago|The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District]]) was created by the Illinois legislature in 1889 in response to this close call.<ref name="straighdope">{{cite journal| last=Adams| first=Cecil| url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041112.html| journal=The Straight Dope| title=Did 90,000 people die of typhoid fever and cholera in Chicago in 1885?| date=12 November 2004| access-date=June 20, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006061128/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041112.html| archive-date=6 October 2008| url-status=live}}</ref>
==Planning and construction, 1887–1922== [[File:Chicago Drainage Canal construction, 1900s.jpg|thumb|left|Construction of the Chicago Drainage Canal, 1900s]] [[File:Chicago-Sanitary-and-Ship-Canal.jpg|thumb|left|Chicago Drainage Canal being built (1899)]] By 1887, it was decided to reverse the flow of the Chicago River through [[civil engineering]]. Engineer [[Isham Randolph]] noted that a ridge about {{convert|12|mi|km}} from the lakeshore divided the [[Mississippi River]] drainage system from the [[Great Lakes]] drainage system. This low divide had been known since pre-Columbian time by the Native Americans, who used it as the [[Chicago Portage]] to cross from the [[Chicago River]] drainage to the [[Des Plaines River]] basin drainage. The [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] was cut across that divide in the 1840s. In an attempt to better drain sewage and pollution in the Chicago River, the flow of the river had already been reversed in 1871 when the Illinois and Michigan Canal was deepened enough to reverse the river's flow for one season.<ref name="Miller, Donald L. 1996 p. 427"/> A plan soon emerged to again cut through the ridge and reverse the flow permanently carrying wastewater away from the lake, through the Des Plaines and [[Illinois River|Illinois]] rivers, to the Mississippi River and the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. In 1889, the [[Illinois General Assembly]] created the Sanitary District of Chicago (SDC) to carry out the plan. After four years of turmoil during construction, Isham Randolph was appointed Chief Engineer for the newly formed Sanitary District of Chicago and resolved many issues circulating around the project.
One of the issues for Randolph to resolve was a strike of about 2000 union workers, centered in [[Lemont, Illinois|Lemont]] and Joliet. On June 1, 1893, quarrymen went out to protest a wage cut, an action that also drew in 1200 canal workers. Reports describe 400 quarrymen marching along the length of the canal project on June 2, between Lemont and Romeo, conducting a "reign of terror" at worksites, "armed with clubs and revolvers", "almost crazed with liquor".<ref>{{cite news| title=A Brief Reign of Terror Striking Quarrymen Resort to Violence| url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18930603.2.11| access-date=23 April 2016| location=Los Angeles| newspaper=The Herald| date=3 June 1893| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506050006/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18930603.2.11| archive-date=6 May 2016| url-status=live}}</ref> On the 9th strikers clashed with replacement workers and local law enforcement, and Governor Altgeld called out the First and Second Regiments of the [[Illinois National Guard]].<ref name="Strikers Come to Grief">{{cite news| title=Strikers Come to Grief| url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18930610.2.5| access-date=23 April 2016| newspaper=The Herald| date=10 June 1893| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506011114/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18930610.2.5| archive-date=6 May 2016| url-status=live}}</ref> Dozens were wounded and at least five killed: strikers Gregor Kilka, Jacob (or Ignatz) Ast,<ref>{{cite news| title=Altgeld Inquiries: What is the Matter on the Drainage Canal| url=http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=RIA18930612.1.4#| access-date=23 April 2016| newspaper=[[The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus|The Rock Island Argus]]| date=12 June 1893| page=4| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221100257/http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=RIA18930612.1.4| archive-date=21 February 2018| url-status=live}}</ref> Thomas Moorski, Mike Berger,<ref name="Strikers Come to Grief"/> and 17-year-old bystander John Kluga.<ref>{{cite news| title=Much Bloodshed| url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/waterloo/iowa-state-reporter/1893/06-15/page-7?tag=john+kluga+shot+santa+fe+railroad| access-date=23 April 2016| newspaper=Iowa State Reporter| date=15 June 1893|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The strike was settled by the 15th.<ref>{{cite news| title=Lemont Strike Ends| url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1893/06/15/page/8/article/lemont-strike-ends| access-date=23 April 2016| newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]| date=15 June 1893| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604080624/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1893/06/15/page/8/article/lemont-strike-ends/| archive-date=4 June 2016| url-status=live}}</ref>
The new Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, linking the south branch of the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River at [[Lockport, Illinois|Lockport]], and in advance of an application by the Missouri Attorney General for an injunction against the opening, opened on January 2, 1900. However, it was not until January 17 that the complete flow of the water was released.<ref>{{cite news| title=The Chicago Canal Opened; Fear of an Injunction Hastens the Consummation of the Big Drainage Ditch| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1900/01/18/archives/the-chicago-canal-opened-fear-of-an-injunction-hastens-the.html| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=January 18, 1900| page=8| url-access=subscription| access-date=June 21, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621071823/https://www.nytimes.com/1900/01/18/archives/the-chicago-canal-opened-fear-of-an-injunction-hastens-the.html| archive-date=June 21, 2018| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="TheChicago1900">{{cite journal |last1=Smith| first1=Alfred Emanuel |date=January 6, 1900 |title=The Chicago Drainage Canal |journal=[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook]] |volume=64 |issue=1 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2pyPw_hYuAC&pg=PA9 |access-date=2009-07-30}}</ref><ref name="Baker1900">{{cite journal |last=Baker |first=M. N. |date=February 10, 1900 |title=The Chicago Drainage Canal |journal=[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook]] |volume=64 |issue=6 |pages=355–360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2pyPw_hYuAC&pg=PA355 |access-date=2018-06-18 }}</ref> Further construction from 1903 to 1907 extended the canal to [[Joliet, Illinois|Joliet]], as the SDC wanted to replace the previously built Illinois and Michigan Canal with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The rate of flow is controlled by the [[Lockport Powerhouse]], sluice gates at [[Chicago Harbor]] and at the O'Brien Lock in the [[Calumet River]], and also by pumps at [[Wilmette Harbor]]. Two more canals were later built to add to the system: the [[North Shore Channel]] in 1910, and the [[Calumet-Saganashkee Channel]] in 1922.
Construction of the Ship and Sanitary Canal was the largest earth-moving operation that had been undertaken in North America up to that time. It was also notable for training a generation of engineers, many of whom later worked on the [[Panama Canal]].<ref name="EB1">[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/110497/Chicago-Sanitary-and-Ship-Canal Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120234332/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/110497/Chicago-Sanitary-and-Ship-Canal |date=2011-11-20 }}</ref> In 1989, the Sanitary District of Chicago was renamed the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.<ref>Joseph T. Zurad, [http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?133042 The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago: Our Second Century of Meeting Challenges and Achieving Success] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324115803/http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?133042 |date=2012-03-24 }}, [[American Society of Civil Engineers]], 1996</ref>
==Diversion of water from the Great Lakes== [[File:Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Willow Springs, Illinois (1904).jpg|thumb|The canal at [[Willow Springs, Illinois]], 1904]]
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is designed to work by taking water from Lake Michigan and discharging it into the Mississippi River watershed. At the time of construction, a specific amount of water diversion was authorized by the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] (USACE) and approved by the [[Secretary of War]], under provisions of various [[Rivers and Harbors Act]]s; over the years however, this limit was not honored or well regulated. While the increased flow more rapidly flushed the untreated sewage, it also was seen as a hazard to navigation, a concern to USACE in relation to the level of the Great Lakes and the [[St. Lawrence River]], from which the water was diverted. Litigation ensued from 1907, which eventually saw states downstream<!-- There's a mistake here - downstream vs upstream? --> of the canal siding with the sanitary district and those states upstream of Lake Michigan with Canada siding against the district.<ref>J. Q. Dealey Jr., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2189864 The Chicago Drainage Canal and St. Lawrence Development] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818234144/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2189864 |date=2016-08-18 }}, ''[[American Journal of International Law]]'', Vol. 23, No. 2, Apr., 1929</ref> The litigation was eventually decided by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in ''[[Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States]]'' in 1925,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/266/405/ |title=Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States, 266 U. S. 405 |access-date=2011-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516100404/http://supreme.justia.com/us/266/405/ |archive-date=2008-05-16 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[[s:Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States/Opinion of the Court|Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States:Opinion of the Court]]</ref> and again in ''[[Wisconsin v. Illinois]]'' in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/281/696/case.html |title=U.S. Supreme Court. Wisconsin v. Illinois, 281 U.S. 696 (1930) |access-date=2011-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313012338/http://supreme.justia.com/us/281/696/case.html |archive-date=2007-03-13 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1930, management of the canal was turned over to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers reduced the flow of water from Lake Michigan into the canal, but kept it open for navigation purposes.<ref name="EB1"/> Today, diversions from the Great Lakes system are regulated by an international treaty with Canada, through the [[International Joint Commission]], and by governors of the Great Lakes states.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sheikh |first1=Pervaze A. |last2=Brougher |first2=Cynthia |title=Great Lakes Water Withdrawals: Legal and Policy Issues |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc94008/m1/1/high_res_d/RL32956_2008Sep04.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250331062958/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc94008/m1/1/high_res_d/RL32956_2008Sep04.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2025-03-31 |website=UNT Digital Library |publisher=Congressional Research Service |access-date=31 March 2025}}</ref>
==Wastewater== Most local sewers in the Chicago area were built over 100 years ago, before wastewater treatment existed. They were designed to drain sanitary flow and a limited amount of stormwater directly into the river. If intercepting sewers and the [[Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago]] (MWRD) water reclamation plants reach capacity during heavy rain, the local sewer continues to drain, or “overflow,” to a waterway, thus causing concern for pollution. The MWRD's [[Tunnel and Reservoir Plan]] (TARP) has worked to decrease the [[combined sewage overflow]] (CSOs) and nearly eliminated them in the Calumet Area River System. Since operationalizing the tunnels in 2006, combined sewage overflow events have been reduced from an average of 100 days per year to 50. Since 2015, when Thornton Reservoir came online, MWRD claims that overflow events have been "nearly eliminated." TARP captures and stores combined stormwater and sewage that would otherwise overflow from sewers into waterways in rainy weather. This stored water is pumped from TARP to water reclamation plants to be cleaned before being released to waterways. MWRD claims that the improved water quality has led to increasingly diverse and healthy populations of fish.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) Fact Sheet |url=https://mwrd.org/sites/default/files/documents/Fact_Sheet_TARP.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250331025359/https://mwrd.org/sites/default/files/documents/Fact_Sheet_TARP.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2025-03-31 |website=Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago |access-date=31 March 2025}}</ref>
== Navigation == [[File:Chicago_Sanitary_and_Ship_Canal,2010-01-23.jpg |thumb| BNSF Railway bridge in Lemont<br> Clearance: {{convert|19.7|by|180|ft|m}}]] Navigation on the canal has always been limited, as the Chicago Sanitary District was organized only to build a sanitary canal. Many people downstream of Lockport wanted the canal navigable to the Chicago River, and if it wasn't, they didn't want any state funds used.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fight to a Finish, Enemies of the Drainage Canal Have War Paint On|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|pages=9|date=April 24, 1895|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/349494736/|access-date=April 7, 2026}}</ref> Chicago was opposed to navigation, as the city was flat, and navigation would mean that the bridges would have to open for overhead clearance. With all of Chicago's railroads opening, the bridges would seriously impair traffic.<ref>{{cite news|title=Not a Ship Canal, Great Drainage Channel Not to Accommodate Vessels|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=1|date=June 6, 1895|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/349835544/|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref><ref name=hill2000>{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Libby|title=The Chicago River, a natural and unnatural history|year=2000|publisher=Lake Claremont|pages=120-122|isbn= 1-893121-02-X}}</ref>
In 1899 the older Illinois and Michigan Canal had little traffic between Chicago and Lockport, but its 1822 charter said it must remain a public waterway and the Sanitary District could not obstruct it. After years of negotiations the two canals made an agreement in December 1899: The Sanitary District would pump water into the I&M canal, which would be at a higher elevation, until they could connect with it farther downstream.<ref>{{cite news|title=Canal Opening in Sight, Signing of Agreement Gives Trustees Hope of Early Finish|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=9|date=December 22, 1899|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/349844455/|access-date=April 12, 2026}}</ref> Between 1907 and 1910 the Sanitary District lengthened the canal for an hydro-electric plant and a lock down to the southern portion of the I&M Canal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lockport 'Link' opened to Boats|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=1|date=July 26, 1910|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/349838581/|access-date=April 12, 2026}}</ref>
There were various plans to create the "Illinois Waterway" by improving the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers. In 1933 the federal government completed the Waterway and the Sanitary district opened a new larger lock leading down to it. Even then only the southern two bridges, 135th St./Romeo Rd. and 9th St. Lockport, ever opened for river traffic regularly. No bridge north of Romeo ever had permanent operating machinery, and they were only opened for special moves.<ref name=betterbridgestrib>{{cite news|title=Seek Better Bridges on Ship Canal|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=45|date=December 1, 1948|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/370534802/|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref> River sized barge tows could enter the canal but only go upstream to Lemont, where they need to be separated into smaller tows for the restricted canal. With the bridges closed the vertical clearances are less than twenty feet (6 meters) and only special towboats with low pilot houses can be used.<ref>{{cite book|last=Larson|first=John W.|title=Those Army Engineers, A History of the Chicago District |year=1980|publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers|page=220-225|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112039368748&seq=158|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref><ref name=clearances>{{cite book|title=Illinois Waterway Vertical Clearances Table-Bridges|year=2013|publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers|url= https://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/Nav/NavigationCharts/ILW/AppendixB.pdf|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Solzman|first=David M.|title=The Chicago River, An Illustrated History and Guide|year=1998|publisher=Loyola|page=204|isbn=0-8294-1023-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Navy to Furnish Lift Equipment for Canal Spans|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=10|date=September 20, 1942|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/370406289/|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref>
In 1941 the US government made plans to build ocean-going ships on the Great Lakes and then move them down the Mississippi River to avoid any German submarines along the east coast. All bridges had temporary machinery installed and the new Western Ave. bridge, which had just been opened as fixed by the City of Chicago, was converted to a lift bridge at their cost.<ref>Holth, Nathan (2012) p. 50</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Study big boat building plans for lakes area|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=9|date=May 15, 1941|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/372336075/|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref>
During World War II more than 1,200 ships were built on the Great Lakes and went through Chicago. Most were harbor or coastal types, such as tugs, service craft, and small patrol vessels, but larger ships went through too, including 28 [[Gato-class submarine|submarines]],<ref name=manitowocsubs>{{Cite web|title=USS Cobia & Manitowoc Submarines|publisher=Wisconsin Maritime Museum|url=https://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/collections/submarines?| access-date=April 9, 2026}}</ref> 26 [[Buckley-class destroyer escort|destroyer escorts]],<ref name=baycity>{{Cite web|last=Bernnen|first=Bert C.|title=Fighting Ships of Bay City|publisher=National Museum of the Great Lakes|url=https://nmgl.org/fighting-ships-from-bay-city/|access-date=April 9, 2026}}</ref> and 19 [[Tacoma-class frigate|frigates]].<ref name=frigates>{{Cite web|last=Allin|first=Lawrence Carroll|title=The Frigate USS Manitowoc|publisher=National Museum of the Great Lakes|url=https://nmgl.org/the-frigate-uss-manitowoc-summer-1988/|access-date=April 10, 2026}}</ref>. Small cargo ships and tankers were also built.<ref>{{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=U.S. Warships of World War II|year=1963|publisher=Doubleday|pages=163-164, 197, 201-202 248, 250, 280}}</ref><ref name=midwestideas>{{cite news|title=Midwest Ideas Untied Kinks in Building Ships|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=4|date=May 30, 1945|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/372583986/|access-date=April 12, 2026}}</ref>
Larger ships had problems with a thirty-nine foot (12 meters) vertical clearance on two highway bridges and the shallow Illinois Waterway, which was only nine feet (2.74 meters) deep.<ref name=clearances/> The destroyer escorts and frigates couldn't have their masts installed and needed to be ballasted to get under the two bridges. Then when they reached the shallower Illinois Waterway they had their propellers removed and pontoons attached to increase their buoyancy and reduce their draft. Submarines used a floating drydock.<ref name=manitowocsubs/><ref name=baycity/><ref name=frigates/><ref name=midwestideas/>
Between 1951 and 1957 seven World War II surplus ships were converted into [[lake freighter]]s and brought north through the canal into the Great Lakes. One unconverted surplus ship and three new-built freighters also came through. In 1953 the 634 foot (193 meters) long Marine Angel became the largest vessel to use the canal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Throngs Watch 620 Foot Ship Slip Thru River|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=33|date=May 10, 1951|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/370550449/|access-date=April 11, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Big Ore Ship Is Towed Through Chicago|newspaper=The New York Times|page=47|date=March 6, 1953 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/03/06/archives/big-ore-ship-is-towed-through-chicago-called-largest-have-done-it.html|access-date=April 11, 2026}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news|title=589 Ft. Ship Sails River Today|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=3|date=February 14, 1957|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/371135039/|access-date=}}</ref> In 1956 the new destroyer escorts [[USS Courtney (DE-1021)|Courtney]]<ref>{{cite news|title=News of Ships and Shipping|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=65|date=August 20, 1956|url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/372963807/|access-date=April 11, 2026}}</ref> and [[USS Lester|Lester]] went through southbound. With the opening of the [[St. Lawrence Seaway]] in 1959 there was no longer a need to bring over-sized vessels through Chicago. In 2013 the lowest fixed bridge clearance was {{convert|19.5|ft|m|adj=mid}} and the lowest closed is {{convert|17.6|ft|m|adj=mid}}.<ref name=clearances/>
==Asian carp and proposed closure== {{Further|Asian carp in North America}} [[File:Asian carp of Des Plaines river, infographic.jpg|thumb|Infographic explaining the electric barrier system designed to prevent Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan]] On November 20, 2009, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] announced a single sample of DNA from [[Asian carp]] had been found above the electric barrier constructed in the canal in an attempt to prevent carp from migrating into the [[Great Lakes]]. The [[silver carp]], also known as the flying carp, displace native species of fish by filter feeding and removing the bottom of the food chain. It migrated through the [[Mississippi River]] system, and could make its way into the [[Great Lakes]],<ref name="Belkin2009">{{cite news| last=Belkin| first=Douglas| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125874214275057775| title=Asian Carp could Hurt Boating, Fishing| work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]| date=20 November 2009| access-date=2009-11-21| url-access=subscription| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220104855/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125874214275057775| archive-date=20 February 2015| url-status=live}}</ref> through the man-made canal. Carp were introduced to the U.S. with the blessing of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA) in the 1970s to help remove algae from catfish farms in Arkansas. They escaped the farms.
On December 2, 2009, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal closed, as the EPA and the [[Illinois Department of Natural Resources]] (IDNR) began applying a fish poison, [[rotenone]], in an effort to kill Asian carp north of Lockport. Although no Asian carp were found in the two months of commercial and electrofishing, the massive [[fish kill]] did yield a single carp.<ref name="Garcia2009">{{cite news| last=Garcia| first=John| url=https://abc7chicago.com/archive/7151833/| title=One Asian carp found in canal after fish kill| work=[[WLS-TV]] News| date=3 December 2009| access-date=2010-01-07| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207113519/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=7151833| archive-date=7 December 2009| url-status=live}}</ref>
On December 21, 2009, [[Michigan Attorney General]] [[Mike Cox (U.S. politician)|Mike Cox]] filed a lawsuit with the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] seeking the immediate closure of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep Asian carp out of [[Lake Michigan]]. The state of Illinois and the Corps of Engineers, which constructed the Canal, are co-defendants in the lawsuit.<ref name="Hood2009">{{cite news| last=Hood| first=Joel| url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-asian-carp22-2009dec22,0,7502213.story| title=Fight to keep Asian carp out of Great Lakes reaches Supreme Court| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| date=22 December 2009| access-date=2010-01-07| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225174826/http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-asian-carp22-2009dec22%2C0%2C7502213.story| archive-date=25 December 2009| url-status=live}}</ref>
In response to the Michigan lawsuit, on January 5, 2010, [[Illinois]] State Attorney General [[Lisa Madigan]] filed a counter-suit with the Supreme Court requesting that it reject Michigan's claims. Siding with the State of Illinois, both the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the [[American Waterways Operators]] have filed affidavits, arguing that closing the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal would upset the movement of millions of tons of vital shipments of [[iron ore]], [[coal]], [[grain]] and other cargo, totaling more than $1.5 billion a year, and contribute to the loss of hundreds, perhaps thousands of jobs.<ref name="Merrion2010">{{cite news| last=Merrion| first=Paul| url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=36611&ba=1| title=Illinois fights back as states seek carp-blocking canal closures| work=[[Crain's Chicago Business]]| date=4 January 2010| access-date=2010-01-07}}</ref> However, Michigan along with several other Great Lakes states argue that the sport and commercial fishery and tourism associated with the fishery of the entire Great Lakes region is estimated at $7 billion a year, and impacts the economies of all Great Lakes states and Canada.
On January 19, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request for a preliminary injunction closing the canal.<ref name="Barnes2010">{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Robert |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011903955.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=20 January 2010 |access-date=2010-01-20 |title=More Supreme Court actions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111025904/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011903955.html |archive-date=11 November 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2011, the [[United States Court of Appeals]] also rejected the preliminary injunction.<ref>{{cite web|title=Important Invasive Species/Asian Carp Opinion issued in Typescript this afternoon by 7th Circuit (Link to Court opinion)|url=http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2011/08/ind_decisions_i_114.html|work=Indiana Law Blog|access-date=21 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425235034/http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2011/08/ind_decisions_i_114.html|archive-date=25 April 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Renaming== A coalition of local groups in 2025 suggested that the canal could have a name that represents the current and future uses rather than the past. They are gathering suggestions with the Intent of submitting them to the [[U.S. Board on Geographic Names]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norkol |first=Mary |date=2025-08-12 |title=Canal that famously reversed the Chicago River deserves a better name, groups say |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/environment/2025/08/12/chicago-river-ship-sanitary-canal-reversal-lake-michigan-water |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * {{Annotated link|Chicago flood}} * [[History of public health in Chicago]]
==References== {{Reflist|33em}}
== Further reading== * Barnett, William C., Ann Durkin Keating, and Kathleen Brosnan. "5. Cleansing Chicago: Environmental Control and the Reversal of the Chicago River." in ''City of Lake and Prairie: Chicago's Environmental History'' (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) pp. 64–77. * Cooley, Lyman Edgar. ''The Diversion of the Waters of the Great Lakes by Way of the Sanitary and Ship Canal of Chicago: A Brief of the Facts and Issues'' (Sanitary District of Chicago, State of Illinois, 1913) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yLVCAAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22Chicago+Sanitary+and+Ship+Canal%22&ots=hXPGu-GaGb&sig=0Td7LhHRbEv8v_lCk55E8yU2JU0 online]. * Corpolongo, John. "Refuse, Reform, and Reversal: An Environmental History of the Chicago River, 1830-1910" (PhD dissertation, The University of Oklahoma, 2020) [https://shareok.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/0da694d3-8d98-4ee9-b65a-de54fa07aa93/content online] * Herget, James E. "The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal: A Case Study of Law as a Social Vehicle for Managing Our Environment." ''University of Illinois Law Forum'' (1974): 285–313; online at [[HeinOnline]] * Olson, Kenneth R., and Lois Wright Morton. "Chicago's 132-year effort to provide safe drinking water." ''Journal of Soil and Water Conservation'' 72.2 (2017): 19A–25A. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/K-Olson/publication/314271686_Chicago's_132-year_effort_to_provide_safe_drinking_water/links/5aafb5ab0f7e9b4897c0c4f8/Chicagos-132-year-effort-to-provide-safe-drinking-water.pdf?_sg%5B0%5D=started_experiment_milestone&origin=journalDetail&_rtd=e30%3D online] * Platt, Harold L. "Chicago, the Great Lakes, and the origins of federal urban environmental policy." ''The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' 1.2 (2002): 122–153. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/25144293 online]
==External links== {{Commons category|Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal}} {{NIE Poster|Chicago Drainage Canal}} *A History from the Chicago Public Library [https://web.archive.org/web/20070307091435/http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/riverflow.html]. (However this credits Rudolph Hering, not Isham Randolph with the project.) *[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/11094.html An album of photographs of the dig], including a 26 stanza poem written by Isham Randolph to Admiral Dewey on the opening of the canal *{{HAER |survey=IL-197 |id=il0976 |title=Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal}} *[https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/reversal-of-the-chicago-river History and Heritage of Civil Engineering – Reversal of the Chicago River] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090509162017/http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/wlevels/lowlevels/plot/Michigan-Huron.gif Graph of Lakes Michigan and Huron water levels since 1860] *[https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo44782 Evaluation of the Potential for Hysteresis in Index-Velocity Ratings for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Near Lemont, Illinois] [[United States Geological Survey]]
{{Chicago Landmark districts}} {{Chicago}} {{NRHP in Chicago, Illinois}} {{NRHP in Cook County, Illinois}} {{NRHP in DuPage County, Illinois}} {{NRHP in Will County, Illinois}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|41|42|18|N|87|56|02|W|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Sanitary And Ship Canal}} [[Category:Canals in Illinois]] [[Category:Ship canals]] [[Category:Water supply and sanitation in the United States]] [[Category:Canals opened in 1900]] [[Category:Canals on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois]] [[Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago]] [[Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Cook County, Illinois]] [[Category:Historic districts in Chicago]] [[Category:Illinois waterways]] [[Category:Interbasin transfer]] [[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Chicago]] [[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in DuPage County, Illinois]] [[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Will County, Illinois]] [[Category:Lockport, Illinois]] [[Category:United States Army Corps of Engineers]] [[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois]] [[Category:Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks]] [[Category:Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago]] [[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Will County, Illinois]]