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The Chicago River

This painting represents a view of the Chicago River from the LaSalle Street Bridge looking east towards the lake. As you can see, the cruise ship Fort Dearborn is coming back after taking some people on a sight-seeing trip through the locks and out into the lake.

The Chicago River is more interesting than you can imagine. It flows backwards. That's not indicative of the City's ideology, but rather the result of unique engineering in answer to a killer dilemma that plagued the City during the nineteenth century.

The flow of the river had to be reversed to keep sewage from entering the fresh water supply for the city. Construction began in September 1892 on the Sanitary Canal below the watershed level of the natural division between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. A canal was dug between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers forever changing the direction of the flow of water in the Chicago River.

The project took eight years to complete with the end results being very positive for the health benefits of the citizens of Chicago. A lock system was installed at the head of the river to regulate the flow of water away from Lake Michigan.

The river is spanned by a series of drawbridges for the benefit of waterborne navigation, including fireboats. Chicago has more moveable bridges than any other city in the world. There are 50 to be exact, but only 37 continue to operate today.

Print size: 10.5" x 15"

Original Watercolor Painting is Available

FRAME STYLES*

  • Style A is a gold-toned aluminum frame with a single white mat over the print.
  • Style B a gold-leaf wooden frame with a gorgeous linen mat, inner fillet of gold-leaf wood over another white mat.

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