Chicago River (Cook County, Illinois, U.S.A.)

We are not responsible for errors or omissions. When boating, regardless of water depth, wear a PFD!

River History

The Chicago River has been pushed, shoved, turned around and worse. The south branch has even had its flow reversed in its short existence. During the Tolleston Era of the ice age, the river was completely submerged by Lake Chicago. Later, as the St. Lawrence River freed itself from ice and opened, the lake would recede, and the river would slowly carve its channel into the ground. Much later, the river would gain fame as one of four portages into the interior of the nation.

The Portages:

• Crossing Lake Michigan from the north, enter Green Bay, then take the Fox River through Lake Winnebago, and back to the Lower Fox. Portage to the Wisconsin River and ride it to the Mississippi. This was the route Marquette and Jolliet took into the new frontier in 1673.
• Travelling further south along the western shore of Lake Michigan to the Chicago River, take the South Branch and its West Fork. Portage to Mud Lake then travel to the Des Plaines River, then ride the Des Plaines and the Illinois Rivers to the Mississippi. This was the route Marquette and Jolliet took when returning from the new frontier in 1673.
• Still further south on Lake Michigan, take the Little Calumet River, portage to the Grand Calumet River, take Stoney Brook through the Saganaskee Swamps to the Des Plaines, and then on to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This was the shortest of the portages, but in 1804, massive spring flooding caused the mouth of the Grand Calumet to shift by creating a channel between both rivers. (See General Hull's map below and the Calumet River page.) This caused a lowering of the water levels in the Saganashkee swamps, making this once easy portage unusable.
• On the east side of Lake Michigan, take the St. Joseph River, portage from the St. Joe to the Kankakee, and take the Kankakee to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This is the route LaSalle took into the new frontier. Once, LaSalle took the Chicago Portage, but found Mud Lake miserable and preferred the longer distance over the discomfort.

The shifting of the Grand Calumet River mouth in 1804 eliminated that area as a portage, leaving the longer Green Bay, and St. Joe routes, or the shorter Chicago Portage. This helped push Chicago to be the center of commerce that it is today.

The River:

History tell us that the Chicago River never had a very strong flow, and that Lake Michigan often covered the river's mouth with sand, just as the lake still does today to the Dead River in northern Illinois. Probably its strongest flow ever was the day they opened the Ship and Sanitary Canal. Without locks at Chicago Harbor, the river rushed to fill the 25 foot deep, 28 mile long canal, reaching estimated flows of 300,000 cfm. At one point, a canal executive told a local newspaper reporter, "Look at the river, it's as blue as the sky!". The clean water would not last for long however, St. Louis wasn't very happy about Chicago sending its sewage their way, and Canada wasn't happy either about the diversion of so much Great Lakes water. After a series of court cases, the amount of water that can be drawn from Lake Michigan is now set by the U.S. Supreme Court. The river presently flows at a lazy pace of around 25 cfs (1500 cfm, or about 1/200th of the peak flow in 1900).

There have been a lot of changes on the Chicago River. Here is a general time line that I've found: (Note: The while the Illinois and Miami indians were from different tribes, the French considered them related in past history due to a common language and features.)

• 900-1400 An era called the mini-ice age affects weather all over the globe.
• 1??? Affected by a changing climate, Illini and Miami Indians migrate to this area from the Pacific (Washington State area) coast and become the primary inhabitants of the Chicago area.
• 1??? According to Illini legend, a tribe is held in siege at Starved Rock until they die of starvation.
• 1673 Marquette and Jolliet use the portage and report its existence.
• 1675 Fort Chekago established by the French at the rivers mouth.
• 1641-1701 Chicago, spared from the Beaver Wars (1600-1630: lack of beavers here), caught in the Iroquois Wars. This war was fought primarily by Iroquois to control fur trading.
• 1680 Father Allouez abandons Ft Chekago due to Iroquois attacks.
• 1682 Father Allouez returns to Ft Chekago.
• 1682 Henri de Tonti (LaSalle's Lt.), and Illini routed by Iroquois after siege at LeRocher (Starved Rock). de Tonti was critically wounded.
• 1684 Henri de Tonti, Illini and Miami Indians survive Iroquois siege at Starved Rock. This battle is generally considered to be the begining of the demise of the Iroquois.
• 1687 Iroquois massacre Miami's in village in south suburbs near Thorn Creek.
• 1742 Sauk and Mesquakie (Fox) become primary inhabitants of Chicago area.
• 1750 Potawatomi become primary inhabitants of Chicago area.
• 1763 French give up Chicago area in Treaty of Paris, 1763.
• 1763 Pontiac Rebellion... Illini indians halfhearted participation further isolates Illini from other tribes as the french no longer control the area. All in all, the Pontiac Rebellion set in motion the acts that would result in the Colony Revolt and ultimate independence of the United States.
• 1766 Sauk, Mesquakie, Ottawa and other tribes lay siege to Illini at Starved Rock to avenge alleged murder of Pontiac by an Illini brave, Illini die of starvation.
• 1783 British give up Chicago area in Treaty of Paris, 1783.
• 1787 The Northwest Ordinance recognizes the portage and declares that the portage area will always be free. The northern border of Illinois Territory was set around the Lake Calumet area.
• 1794 Chicago's Potawatomi suffer major smallpox epidemic.
• 1795 Indians cede the mouth of the Chicago River and the portage to the United States in the Treaty of Greenville after being defeated by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne.
• 1804 Fort Dearborn is built at the mouth of the Chicago River.
• 1812 Fort Dearborn is evacuated, its soldiers and families massacred and the fort is burned down.
• 1813 Chicago area is a no mans land.
• 1815 Treaty between Potawatomi and U.S. makes Chicago safe for settlers again.
• 1816 Fort Dearborn is rebuilt.
• 1818 After seeing haggling between other states building multi-state canals, the Illinois border is extended northward to ensure that the canal proposed along the portage will all be in the same state (Illinois northern border was to be in line with Ohio and Indiana).
• 1828 Using spring flood waters to help, Soldiers from Ft Dearborn dig out the sandbar at the mouth of the river.
• 1830 Deepwater harbor: Only in Chicago can a ship find safe harbor from a lake storm.
• 1832 Blackhawk War causes much panic but no attacks in Chicago.
• 1832 Chicago's Potawatomi suffer major cholera epidemic.
• 1848 I&M Canal opens and traffic begins moving through the city at a much higher rate.
• 1871 I&M Canal deep cut, but the canal is not big enough to carry away the wastewater or new ships of the decade.
• 1894 Construction starts on the Ship and Sanitary Canal and the Des Plaines River Diversion Channel.
• 1900 Ship and Sanitary Canal opens.
• 1904 Chicago River, North Branch is straightened.
• 1920 Work begins landfilling South Branch, West Fork.
• 1922-1928 Chicago River, South Branch is "straightened".

Myth: The Chicago River was the first natural body of water reversed.

Fact: The Chicago River was the third Chicago area river or creek to be reversed:

• The Grand Calumet River jumped mouths in 1804 (with both French and Indian traders helping) and began flowing backwards from Miller, Indiana (its original mouth)
• Stoney Creek was reversed and used as the Calumet Feeder Canal in 1848 due to a financial crisis on the I&M Canal. While work began in 1848, the Calumet Feeder Canal did not open until 1851 causing the I&M Canal to be plagued with water shortages during summer months for its first two years. The feeder would remain, but the 1871 deep cut would make it not needed and the dam on the Little Calumet would be removed. Sections of the Feeder are now part of the Cal-Sag Channel.
• The 1871 deep cut on the I&M canal (Eliminating Lock 0) began diverting more water from the Chicago, but the opening of the Ship and Sanitary Canal in 1900 truly reversed the flow of the Chicago.
• In 1970, the T.J. O'Brien Lock and Dam reversed the Little Calumet's flow.
  Note: U.S.G.S. maps are still confused as to the direction of the current in this area.

Soldiers from Fort Dearborn moved the mouth of the river from near Madison Street to its current location during spring floods in 1830.

The Chicago River has two main branches, the North Branch and the South Branch. Both branches also have several branches or forks of their own.

The North Branch

The North Branch's West Fork meets the North Branch just south of Golf Road, and the North Branches East Fork (or Skokie River) meets the North Branch just south of Winnetka Road.

The following maps show how the North Branch was moved and straightened in 1904 to accommodate shipping needs.

• East Fork, North Branch
  The headwaters of the East Fork of the North Branch are just south of IL 176 and east of IL 41 near Lake Forest.
• Middle Fork, North Branch
  The headwaters of the Middle Fork of the North Branch headwaters are located just east of Lamb's Farm, also just south of IL 176.
• West Fork, North Branch
  The headwaters of the West Fork of the North Branch are located just north of Everett Road, south of IL 60 and west of I-94.

The South Branch:

The South Branch of the Chicago River is presently made up of the South Branch itself and the South Fork which meet around Ashland. At one time however, there was a second fork (West) with it joining the river around Hoyne Ave.

• South Fork, South Branch
  The South Fork of the South Branch (or Bubbly Creek) meets the river just east of Ashland avenue. These days, the headwaters for the South Fork is the Racine Sewage Treatment Plant, which dumps its waste effluent into the river.

• West Fork, South Branch Filled in
  The West Fork of the South Branch has been filled in, but if you travel down the river west past Ashland, around Hoyne Ave, you'll see a wide area in the river. It is there that the West Fork once met the river, draining water into the river from Mud Lake.

A copy of General Hull's map. Hull was Governor of the Michigan territories.

Updates

4/23/98 Andersen Shrimp building has burnt down. Drove by there today.

8/98 There was a drowning on the Chicago at the Chicago Harbor Lock. A man was playing by jumping out of a boat to the lock wall, then jumping back in. Eventually he slipped, struck his head against the lock wall and fell into the water.

10/98 There is a new book called The Chicago River by David Solzman. I bought mine from Amazon.com. You may want to check it out for more info on the river. Make sure you read page 270! (It mentions this web site... ;-) (And no, I had no idea until I saw the listing that it was in there.)

The full publication information is: The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and its Waterways. David M. Solzman. Wild Onion Books, Chicago, 1998. ISBN 0-8294-1023-6.

General Information

An easy river to paddle both with and against the current, the Chicago is a nice place to paddle. One must, however be ever mindful of a few problems. Barges, powerboats, wind, and dirty water are the most serious. Also, because much of the river has been channelized, 10+ foot high steel walls surround the river. This impedes access and rescue. If you tip in the river, you will have to rescue yourself (and this act may have to be performed under pressure of an approaching tug/barge if you are in the navigable channels). Pay close attention to the wind on days your going to the river as it becomes very strong in the channel at times. (I got caught by a 38 mph gust once in the barge channel and lost a lot of ground (water) finding a place to hide from the wind.)

River Access

There was a boat ramp at 55th Street and the Ship & Sanitary Channel that could accommodate trailered power boats. It is presently closed, however there are plans underway to reopen the ramp as well as a park as part of Summit's bid for a riverboat casino.

There are also Chicago Park District ramps at Burnham Harbor and Monroe harbors on Lake Michigan. You could launch at one of these ramps and then travel back through the Chicago Harbor locks for access to the river.

Boating Information:

• Private power boats, canoes, rowboats allowed.
• Outboard motors permitted.
• Boat ramp is concrete (both above and below waterline).

• Dams
• Rentals

Canoe/Kayak access at: (carry-in dirt access)

• Any Cook County Forest Preserve along the river
• 27th and Ashland

River Pictures

River Maps

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers River Navigation Maps

Cook County Forest Preserve Map

Historical Maps of the River

The following maps show how the North Branch was moved and straightened in 1904 to accommodate shipping needs.
Between Foster and Lawrence
Between Lawrence and Montrose
Between Montrose and Irving Park Road
Between Irving Park Road and Addison
Between Addison and Belmont

The following maps show the river in 1873 (it still had backwaters!!)
Between North Avenue and Division Street
Between Clybourn Place and North Avenue

The following map shows bubbly creek in 1910 (before it was filled in)

Fish Information

Fish in this River include:

• Largemouth Bass
• Bluegill
• Bullhead Catfish
• Channel Catfish
• Crappie
• Carp

Trip Reports

8/96: I was on the river the day after a heavy rain storm. The river was moving quicker, making going up stream effort. I put in at Indian Road Woods. I picked that spot because on the forest preserve map it looked like the closest location from the car to the river without woods in between. Well, there was an open path, about 100 yards away from the parking lot to the river, however there was a 5 foot straight drop to the river from there... After searching a bit, I found a dirt beach to the north of the clearing in the woods.

According to the Chicago Tribune, they built a canoe access point at 27th and Ashland. This allows easy access to the South Fork and beyond. If you read the Tribune, John Husar's November 13th column in the Sports Section talks about the new launch and area surrounding it. (Mr Husar took a paddling tour of the area and tried fishing too.) The Chicago Sun-Times 8/11/97 also has an article on park plans for this area.

I went to this area with my canoe on 4/5/97. I've often wondered, just what is a canoe ramp anyways?. There is a bench, then a steep muddy slope down to the waterway. Several submerged piles in the area as well as a large underwater rocky obstruction help make launching interesting. It is possible to launch a canoe. I was glad I didn't bring a kayak, the water didn't smell good. I couldn't see the bottom near the launch, so I wasn't certain if I could have gotten in dry (I wouldn't have wanted that water on/in my booties).

I started my trip at the launch behind Andersen Shrimp and headed south into the wind and current. Along the way my daughter spotted a basketball in the river, so we stopped and spent some time liberating it from the debris holding it captive.

We always like to tell the good things about where we go, but to be honest, on the riverbanks in this area, there is trash everywhere. Along the shores, you'll see many industrial buildings, some in use, some, just hulks of buildings, no windows, burnt out interiors. On the bridges, gang graffiti is ever visible. Some of it makes you wonder just why they went to so much effort to paint "that" in a place that only a few boaters and barges would see. I also wonder how many of them fell in the river trying to paint some of them.

One area of the river that was interesting paddling thru was down near where the South Fork narrowed (on the map it's the area that is 19 feet deep). Two barges were parked there, nose to nose, but only one had been tied to shore. The other was tied to the first barge. The effect of this was that the second barge had drifted across the river (which is only about 1.5 barges wide at this point), leaving no choice but to paddle thru the cave created by the two barges bows tied together to get to the other side and continue the journey.

The day I was on the river in this area, it was quite windy. After paddling back to the launch area, we decided to go check out the Ship and Sanitary Canal. After riding out the wake of the first powerboater i've seen this season, I got to the beginning of the Ship and Sanitary Canal. Just then, the wind came up and hit me from the South Branch of the Chicago River and my first thought was "I'm gonna end up in Lockport". A few minutes later I was able to get back past the Ashland Bridge and into the South Fork.

Overall, it is a interesting area to see! It is definitely city scenery. The area is extremely industrial, with both operating industries and dying hulks of buildings in view. You can find both channels of the I&M canal, the entrance that most ships took (where they did the deep cut in 1871) is completely landfilled and the other entrance (where the pumping station was) still has a large drainage tube exposed). Based on some maps I received from the I&M Canal people, the entrance to the main canal channel appears to be just left of where the toppled pillars are. Normally I seek out places where I can't hear cars, or see people to paddle (these are hard to find, but not impossible in Chicago), but this was someplace I was glad I went to.

Hazards: If you were to capsize, you'd have to get back in on the river as most of the banks are either vertical steel/concrete, or very sharp dropoff mud banks. The best banks for getting back into your boat are at the bridges. The water quality isn't very good. At the "headwaters" of the South Fork is a sewage treatment plant that will, on occasion, have to dump untreated sewage into the river due to flow capacities.

Water Quality Reports