Chicago Maritime Museum
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​Reversing the River’s Flow

​While the Chicago River continued to play a minor role in commerce, the growth of Calumet Harbor made it necessary to adapt the area’s inland waterways to the needs of the rapidly expanding Chicago area.  In 1900, the Metropolitan Sanitary District succeeded in permanently reversing the flow of the Chicago River.  Since the late 1860s, city engineers had used pumps to draw water from the river into the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, thereby reversing the flow.  The Chicago and Sanitary Canal improved on that by creating a wider and deeper waterway to pull clean water from Lake Michigan.
Chicago Maritime Museum is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit registered in the US under Tax ID 36-3205719
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Chicago Maritime Museum®. ​Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • Home
  • VISIT
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Events
  • SUPPORT US
    • Donate >
      • Donate to the CMM Recovery Fund
      • Donate to the CMM General Fund
      • Sponsor
    • Join
    • Volunteer
  • EDUCATION PROGRAMS
    • MODEL BUILDING >
      • WOOD CARVING CLASS
      • MODEL BUILDING CLASS
      • SHIP-IN-A-BOTTLE CLASS
    • SCHOOL VISITS
    • CHICAGO HISTORY CURRICULA
  • History
    • Commerce and the Waterways
    • Military Training
    • Shipwrecks
    • Recreation and Tourism
  • Collections
    • Artifacts >
      • Lyle Gun
      • Wells Light
    • Canoes >
      • Tete-de-Boule Birchbark
      • Canadian Birchbark Canoe
      • Eskimo Caribou Skin Kayak
      • Greenland Eskimo Kayak
      • U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Craft
    • Images >
      • Chicago Lighthouse
      • Lady Elgin
      • Rush Street Bridge
      • Fort Dearborn
    • Model Watercraft >
      • Le Griffon
      • Lady Elgin
      • Challenge
      • Subchaser 1943
      • USS Wolverine
  • News
  • Online Stories