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Sanitary and Ship Canal

Sanitary-Ship Canal Construction, 1895
This channel runs 28 miles between Damen Avenue and Lockport, linking the South Branch of the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. 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 transportation route and a means to improve water quality by sending Chicago's sewage south into the Illinois River instead of into Lake Michigan.

Ann Durkin Keating

Bibliography
Cain, Louis P. Sanitation Strategy for a Lakefront Metropolis. 1978.
Hill, Libby. The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History. 2000.
Solzman, David M. The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways. 1998.

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