Sanitary and Ship Canal

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class="entrynav1">S</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="145" height="30" valign="top" bordercolor="#000000"> <div align="left" class="entrynav2">Sanitary and Ship Canal</div> <div align="left" class="entrynav1"><a class="entrynav1link" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/11094.html">Next</a></div> </td> </tr> </table> <p> </p> <p class="entryBIBLIO"> </p> <p class="entryBIBLIO"> </p> </td> <td height="39" colspan="2" class="ideEssay"><span class="feature">Sanitary and Ship Canal</span><div align="left"></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <p><span class="feature"> <table class="ideCaption" cellspacing="10" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="152" align="left"> <caption align="bottom" class="ideCaption">Sanitary-Ship Canal Construction, 1895</caption> <tr> <td><a href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3810.html"><img border="0" src="/web/20080513214821im_/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/images/1684_3810.jpg" clear="left"></a></td> </tr> </table></span>This channel runs 28 miles between Damen Avenue and <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/760.html">Lockport</a>, linking the South Branch of the <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/263.html">Chicago River</a> to the <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/375.html">Des Plaines River</a>. With the construction of a series of locks, the Sanitary and Ship Canal permanently reversed the flow of the Chicago River in 1900. The canal was designed both as a <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1269.html">transportation</a> route and a means to improve <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1324.html">water</a> quality by sending Chicago's sewage south into the Illinois River instead of into <a class="standard" href="/web/20080513214821/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/711.html">Lake Michigan</a>. </p> <p class="entryauthor">Ann Durkin Keating</p> <p class="entryauthor"> <div class="entryBIBLIO"><em><strong>Bibliography</strong></em></div> <div class="entryBIBLIO">Cain, Louis P. <i>Sanitation Strategy for a Lakefront Metropolis.</i> 1978. </div> <div class="entryBIBLIO">Hill, Libby. <i>The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History.</i> 2000. </div> <div class="entryBIBLIO">Solzman, David M. <i>The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways.</i> 1998. </div> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> <div class="copyright">The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2005 Chicago Historical Society.<br>The Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2004 The Newberry Library. 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Sanitary and Ship Canal