Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Chicago Portage was an ancient portage that connected the Great Lakes waterway system with the Mississippi River system. Connecting these two great water trails meant comparatively easy access from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and the Gulf of Mexico.
The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) is a complex of natural and artificial waterways extending through much of the Chicago metropolitan area, covering approximately 87 miles altogether. It straddles the Chicago Portage and is the sole navigable inland link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and makes up the northern end of ...
The site commemorates the Chicago Portage, first written about by French explorers Father Marquette and Louis Joliet during their use of the portage and exploration of the area between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The portage crossed what was known as Mud Lake, which could be wet, swampy, frozen, or dry, depending on the season, and ...
Watersheds of Illinois is a list of basins or catchment areas into which the State of Illinois can be divided based on the place to which water flows.. At the simplest level, in pre-settlement times, Illinois had two watersheds: the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, with almost the entire State draining to the Mississippi, except for a small area within a few miles of the Lake.
Most navigable rivers and canals in the United States are in the eastern half of the country, where the terrain is flatter and the climate is wetter. The Mississippi River System is connected to the Illinois Waterway, which continues to the Great Lakes Waterway and then to the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
A reversal flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan would have a negative impact on navigation and on the quality of Lake Michigan water, which is the source of drinking water. [5] Chicago's raw sewage in the river is normally carried upstream toward the Mississippi River which flows south towards the Gulf of Mexico.
A series of eight locks, managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, controls water flow from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River system. The upper lock, T.J. O'Brien, is 7 miles from Lake Michigan on the Calumet River and the last lock is 90 miles (140 km) upstream from the Mississippi River at the LaGrange lock and dam.
Major ports on the Great Lakes Waterway include Duluth-Superior, Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Two Harbors, Hamilton and Thunder Bay. [4] Shipping channels separate upbound traffic from downbound traffic. The upbound direction is away from the St. Lawrence River (westerly or northerly except in Lake Michigan where upbound is southerly).