Chicago River Week 3

The Chicago River

The Chicago River flows from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River on a 156-mile long path.  To stop the build-up of pollution that was collecting in Lake Michigan, the flow of the Chicago River was reversed in the early 1900s. Building a canal that forced water to flow away from the lake and towards the Mississippi River allowed this change to be made. The drainage pattern that exists within the Chicago River is a dendritic pattern, due to the relatively uniform terrain surrounding the river and the land throughout the Midwest. This also plays into the low gradient that exists within the river, the river has a relatively slow channel flow. The Chicago River has a discharge of 1007.2 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second) in its most rapid flowing zone. Many sections of the river are well under this number and hover around 16 CFS. This large CFS is correlated to the connection the river has with the Mississippi River, where the CFS tends to be larger the closer it gets to the Mississippi. In certain location along the Chicago River, one-can observe point bars where the collection of branches and rocks have formed raised surfaces. These point bars are observed typically away from the main river flow and on tributaries and inlets of the river. The Chicago River’s connection with the Mississippi River impacts the formation of the Mississippi River Delta. The collection of sediment starts in the Chicago River and ultimately collects near New Orleans. The Chicago River provides both transportations of goods and people through the state of Illinois, and the reversal of water flow is still to the day one of the greatest feats in United States history.