1848: The Illinois & Michigan Canal (continued)

The I & M Canal profoundly affects the Illinois River, both directly and indirectly. In addition to the population increases in Chicago, the opportunity for work also brings immigrants into the Illinois River valley in large numbers. Cities such as La Salle, Peru, DePue, Hennepin, and Utica are founded on the banks of the Illinois River between 1820 and 1840. The population of the counties within the Illinois River basin increases from about 500,000 in 1850 to 1,629,738 in 1870, over a three-fold increase in 20 years (Bellrose 1966).

With the completion of the I & M Canal, populations and industry explode along the Illinois River and lead to serious water and air pollution. The shores of the river are crowded with canal boats and lumber. (see Figures 5b and 6). Prairies are converted to farmland, levees are built, industries and people dump their waste into the Illinois River, and navigation improves with the deeper channel and the increased the flow with Lake Michigan water - and sewage from Chicago.

Figure 5b: Engraving of the Re-opening of the I & M Canal in Chicago after the deepening of the channel (Chicago Historical Society)

Figure 6: Fish Market Wharf at Havana, Illinois (Penny Postcards from Illinois)

The resulting population explosion and industrialization that occurs from Chicago to Grafton also leads to a tremendous loss of natural resources. Timber, for example, fuels this growth. Timber is needed to build dwellings, bridges, railroad ties, steamboats, and for mine timbers. Timber companies cut down many forests along the Illinois and other large, navigable rivers. By 1870, only 6,000,000 acres of forests remain in Illinois, compared with the 13,800,000 million acres that existed at the time of European settlement (Illinois State Museum 2001). No forests are left unscathed. Even trees in the Cache River in southern Illinois are harvested to meet the demands in Chicago.

This loss of over one-half of the state’s forest resources causes tremendous problems for the Illinois River. While no one documents the loss of soil that occurs, the amounts are tremendous. This non-point source pollution - sedimentation - fills in the backwaters and carries with it other pollutants that degrade the quality of the Illinois River.