Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Extends 33.9 miles from Chicago to Lockport, Chicago, Cook County, IL

Significance: To deal with Chicago's water supply and pollution issues, the engineers of the Sanitary District devised an innovative approach that involved diluting the city's sewage with water drawn from Lake Michigan and sending it downstream via a canal, thus protecting Lake Michigan, the source of the city's drinking water. The construction of this canal, known variously as the Main Channel and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, was a massive undertaking and required the contractors to devise large-scale earth moving techniques and machinery. In 1955, the American Society of Civil Engineers deemed the canal one of the "Seven Wonders of American Engineering." Finally, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is significant as a component of the Illinois Waterway, which opened in 1930 and created a navigable waterway connecting Chicago and Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River and beyond.

Survey number: HAER IL-197

Building/structure dates: 1892-1900 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1903-1907 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1938 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1986 Demolished

Building/structure dates: after 1960 Demolished

canals transportation engineering waterways water supply sanitation locks hydraulic facilities movable dams powerhouses water power lockport ill chicago sanitary chicago sanitary ship ship canal miles lockport cook county illinois energy generation agnew and company american bridge company angus and gindele ellis s chesbrough chicago board of sewerage commissioners justine christianson christie and lowe citizens association of chicago lyman cooley drainage boundary commission ed smith and company gahan and byrne gilman and company green and sons company griffith and mcdermott richards and company halvorsen hayes brothers heldmaier and neu historic american engineering record frank k hoover lafayette engineering company lidgerwood manufacturing company dana lockett arthur j mason hoge and company mason mcarthur brothers mcmahon and montgomery company metropolitan water reclamation district metropolitan water reclamation district of greater chicago william b ogden isham randolph ricker and lee company sanitary district of chicago the heidenreich company the qualey construction company us army corps of engineers weir and mckechney john wentworth western improvement company meysenberg wright photo manufacturing plants ecology pollution building plans architectural diagrams engineering diagrams

1900

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