Canals.—The Illinois and Michigan Canal, 100 miles in length, constructed from Peru and La Salle along the Illinois and Des Plaines valleys and across the low divide to the South Branch of the Chicago River, was opened in 185S. The towns along its course were laid out during the construction period, 1836 to 1848, and had their early growth because of the excellent transportation facilities of that day furnished by the canal. The canal was a powerful factor in the settlement and development of a wide region along its own length and far down the Illinois Valley.
The traffic on the Illinois and Michigan Canal did not decline as promptly as that on the rivers. The canal tolls increased until the middle sixties and the tonnage until the early eighties. A fair ton nage was maintained until 1899, when traffic almost disappeared in a single year.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal was a state enterprise. It cost about $6,500,000. The receipts for lands donated by the federal government to the state amounted to approximately $6,000,000, and the earn ings during its productive period were about $3,000,000.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal is asso ciated with the period of rapid settlement in the state. Two other canals were built after the state was fully occupied. These are the Illinois and Mississippi Canal, usually known as the Hennepin Canal, and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, more com monly referred to as the Chicago Drainage Canal.
The Hennepin Canal follows the line of the preglacial valley from the Great Bend in the Illinois River at Hennepin, 15 miles below the junction of the Illinois and Michi gan Canal with the Illinois River, to the Mississippi River at Rock Island. It follows the valleys of Bureau Creek and Green River. It was built by the national government. Construc tion work began in 1S92, and the canal was opened in 1907. The cost was $7,000,000. The canal is supported by the federal government, and no tolls arc charged.
The Chicago Drainage Canal is 28 miles in length. Its construction began in 1892, and the canal was opened in 1900. It joins the South Branch of the Chicago River 0 miles from Lake Michigan, and parallels the route of the Illinois and Michigan Canal across the low divide into the Des Plaines Valley. At Lockport the Drainage Canal empties into the Des Plaines River at the great hydro-electric power plant erected to utilize for power the water from the canal. The
canal is built wide enough and deep enough to carry large lake boats, but no traffic requiring large boats has been devel oped along the canal. The power plant supplies electricity for use in Chicago and the cities along the route of the canal.
A lock more than 40 feet in height has been constructed at Lockport. Canal boats now traverse the Chicago Drainage Canal between Chicago and Lockport and pass through this lock to and from the old channel of the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
The present traffic on the three canals of Illinois is almost negligible in quantity.
The Chicago Drainage Canal was constructed primarily as a sanitary canal with the expectation that it would become a part of the "Lakes to Gulf Deep Waterway." As a sanitary measure it has fulfilled expectations. Lake Michigan is the great reservoir for the water supply of Chicago and other cities on the lake front. With the opening of the Drainage Canal, a current of water was set in motion from the lake along the Chicago River and the canal, across the low divide and into the Illinois River system. This flow of water carries all the sewage of Chicago away from the lake, leaving the water supply pure. The Chicago Sanitary District has paid for this improve ment with taxes amounting to many millions of dollars. The canal, at the time of its opening in 1900, had cost $33,000,000. Extensions since that date and expense of operation have added many millions more to the cost of providing Chicago and vicinity with an inexhaustible supply of pure water.
The Illinois Waterway.—Recent transportation problems have led to renewed interest in the inland waterways of Illinois. Plans adopted by the state and approved by the federal government are now in progress of development. The project is known as the "Illinois Waterway." The construction involves the improvement of the Des Plaines River from Lockport in Will County to its confluence with the Illinois River at Dresden Heights in Grundy County, and the Illinois River from that point to La Salle in La Salle County. The Illinois River now affords water navigation from La Salle to the Mississippi.