Pat Dollard

I love my white stereotypes. :beer: :gun:

Your question about the Chicago river flow
http://www.inficad.com/~ksup/chiriver.html

Reversing the Chicago River
In 1887 it was decided to attempt a bold engineering feat and reverse the Chicago River. Rudolph Hering, chief engineer of the drainage and water supply commission, noted that the Great Lakes drainage system was separated from the Mississippi River drainage system by a summit or ridge approximately 8 feet high located some 12 miles west of the lake shore. A plan was evolved to cut through that ridge with a canal from the southerly tip of the south branch of the Chicago River and carry the wastes away from the lake and down to the Mississippi River through the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers. The Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago was created in 1889 under a law passed by the state legislature to effect this plan.

To reverse the flow of the Chicago River, a 28-mile canal was built from the south branch of the river through the low summit and down to Lockport. It was completed in 1900. The flow in this canal, commonly known as the Sanitary and Ship Canal or main channel, is controlled by locks at the mouth of the Chicago River and at Lockport. Thus, Chicago had built the first of its own rivers to dispose of waste waters.

In 1910 another small artificial river was completed by building a dam, lock, and pumping plant at Wilmette and by digging the North Shore channel, connecting Lake Michigan with the north branch of the Chicago River. The wastes from the north suburban communities of Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, and others were diverted away from the lake and drained through the newly created main canal. This artificial channel is 8 miles long.

In 1922, the third of Chicago’s artificial rivers was created. This river, the Cal-Sag channel, extends 16 miles westward from the Little Calumet River at Blue Island to a junction with the main canal. Here again, the flow of a natural river was diverted away from Lake Michigan and into the main drainage system flowing to the west. Today the entire waterway system consists of 71 miles of canals, channels, and rivers.