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In a herculean effort to save the city from the ravages of typhoid, cholera, and other waterborne illnesses, engineer Sylvester Chesbrough suggested Chicago reverse the direction of its river away from the lake and toward the Mississippi River.
Thanks to polluted waterways and lack of a sewage system, waterborne diseases were running rampant, killing thousands of Chicagoans over the course of a few decades. At the heart of the problem was the Chicago River itself, which carried waste toward the city, not away from it.
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of 156 miles (251 km) [1] that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). [2]
27 maj 2015 · HOW THE CHICAGO RIVER WAS REVERSED 115 YEARS AGO. The year 2015 marks the 115th anniversary of the Chicago River’s reversal, an incredible engineering feat that turned the Eastern half of the United States into an island.
19 lip 2019 · The idea to reverse the flow of the river away from the lake had already been unintentionally attempted in 1871 when the existing Illinois and Michigan Canal was deepened, unexpectedly pulling in water from the Chicago River.
Completed in 1900, the reversal of the Chicago River, a major civil engineering innovation, required imaginative planning and ingenious construction. The result was a multi-purpose project that significantly benefited the development of America's heartland.
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.
