0:11

Hi, everybody. Welcome to

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episode six of the nifty

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50 show. Now after last

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week's riverine drama between Iowa

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and Nebraska. We're going to talk

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about a, another river today, the Chicago

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river. However, this

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does not involve any legal battles

0:29

necessarily. But rather it

0:31

is a question of health and safety.

0:34

So the Chicago river is very

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famous today. Obviously Chicago

0:38

sits on it. And it's famous because it gets

0:40

died every March. Which

0:43

is another story about how that still

0:45

happens and how it happens. But today,

0:47

we're going to talk about how they reversed the

0:49

Chicago river. Which

0:52

has been noted by many engineers

0:54

and many engineering societies as one of

0:56

the greatest accomplishments. Of

0:59

the late 19th and early

1:01

20th century. Before we get into

1:04

all of that. Let's

1:07

talk about the actual river. The Chicago

1:09

river today is considered a system

1:12

of rivers and canals. And

1:15

one report said, quote, it

1:17

never offered much drama in its natural

1:20

state and the quote. It is

1:22

roughly about 150 miles long.

1:24

And its importance does not derive from its

1:27

length, but rather its location. Obviously

1:30

cities are founded in strategic

1:33

locations. Chicago

1:35

was no different. But

1:37

why I'm that part of the lake? It's

1:40

a convenient place for inland

1:42

navigation. But it's

1:45

more than convenient for

1:47

just the Chicago river. Because

1:50

a mile inland from the lake, there

1:52

is a 12 to 14 feet Ridge.

1:55

That separates the Chicago river basin

1:57

from the Mississippi river basin. This

1:59

Ridge separates the Chicago

2:01

river from the Mississippi river basin

2:04

via the deaths Plains river. And

2:07

so it is a very easy and natural point

2:09

for a Portage. And

2:12

this had been quickly discovered

2:14

by natives who used it all the time,

2:16

who then showed the French.

2:19

The U S took notice of it after the

2:21

Louisiana purchase, they. Quickly

2:24

built a Fort at the mouth of the river, Fort

2:26

Dearborn. This Ridge became

2:29

particularly important

2:31

in Chicago's history because it made

2:33

it. Into a natural transportation

2:35

hub. But then also,

2:38

because of this story of reversing the Chicago

2:40

river. And why are verse

2:42

river? It seems to be a whole

2:44

lot of. Work.

2:47

To go against something nature has already

2:50

done for thousands of years. Well,

2:52

Chicago was founded in 1833

2:55

at the mouth of the Chicago river on lake Michigan.

2:58

This small city was already

3:00

extremely polluted. And it's

3:02

river. The Chicago river is

3:04

very lazy. Here's a quick fun

3:06

fact, Illinois is flatter than

3:08

Kansas. If you've driven that cross. You

3:11

can tell very easily that it is. A

3:13

lot of the rivers are extremely slow

3:15

moving. And in Chicago.

3:18

And then if an any other city with a

3:20

sluggish river, it causes problems

3:22

because it cannot flush wastewater

3:25

fast enough. One

3:27

example of this. Is there was a local

3:29

butcher that would kill 400 to 500

3:32

hogs a week and then dump all

3:34

of his waste in the river. Now imagine it's

3:36

a slow river. The

3:38

river's not moving that fast. The

3:40

waste just sits in the river. Decaying.

3:45

With bacteria and who

3:47

else knows what. Causing problems for

3:49

everybody else who needs to use the river.

3:52

The small city tried to pass an ordinance,

3:54

but they could not enforce it. It was too

3:56

hard and they were too small. However,

3:59

within a few short years, Chicago's population

4:02

explodes. And it was

4:04

known as one of the fastest growing

4:06

cities in the world. If not the fastest. For

4:09

several decades in the 19th century.

4:12

Now with this population, explosion comes

4:15

a need for food and

4:17

therefore more slaughterhouses. Slaughterhouses

4:20

contributed. Greatly to

4:23

the danger of the river. It

4:25

wasn't just slaughterhouses, the Chicago river

4:27

was also the main dumping ground for all of the city's

4:30

sewage. Which would then

4:32

be flushed and flake, Michigan. However.

4:35

Chicago. Takes

4:38

their water from the lake. So

4:42

there's already a problem. If

4:44

you're using the river to flush away the sewage

4:46

out of your city and push it into the lake,

4:48

but then you take water out of the lake. You're

4:52

setting yourself up for a lot of sadness. And

4:55

disease. Essentially. And

4:58

that's what happened for a long time.

5:02

In 1855. The

5:04

city commissioned Ellis S

5:06

Chesbro to design the nation's

5:09

first comprehensive sewer system.

5:12

And he designed a system that helped alleviate

5:14

a lot of the problems, but it did not get rid of

5:16

them all. Alice

5:19

S Chesbro as part of this also

5:21

raised the elevation of the city. Bye

5:24

12 feet in some places, they literally

5:27

lifted the buildings. Put

5:29

dirt underneath. And then raised

5:32

the street level. It's impressive.

5:34

That's a whole nother story for engineering. The

5:38

system, all of this innovation

5:40

and this great elevation

5:42

rise, really to not. I do

5:45

much. The population is far

5:47

outstripping, the system's capacity.

5:50

This would become a very big

5:52

problem when it rained, because

5:55

if it rained consistently and hard

5:57

enough over a period of time. To

5:59

not necessarily flood

6:01

majorly, but flooding enough

6:03

to backup the system. Now

6:06

you have all the sewage just floating around

6:09

in the river and not going out. And

6:11

so. It just. It

6:14

was not good. And in fact, one section

6:16

of the river was known as bubbly Creek.

6:20

Bubbly Creek. Was.

6:23

Notorious stretch beyond or

6:26

downriver from slaughterhouses.

6:29

Where they would dump so much organic matter

6:31

into the river, that one, this organic

6:33

matter sink. It would create

6:35

a sludge first off on top

6:38

mixing in with normal reverse sediment. But

6:41

then the decaying matter at the bottom of the river,

6:43

it would release so much methane that it would

6:45

bubbled. And I'm picturing something

6:47

like the little mud pots up in Yellowstone.

6:50

This very fit, liquid being.

6:53

Just. Gurgling bubbling.

6:55

And smelling because it's methane. Now

6:59

you're just becoming. A

7:01

massive problem. I mean, Gross.

7:04

It just sounds gross. You can't see much about it. It's just

7:06

nasty. And slaughter

7:09

houses keep being built

7:11

over and over and over more

7:13

and more and more and more because of the civil war

7:16

and because of Chicago's natural transportation

7:18

links. In 1864,

7:21

Chicago said, well, we have to fix this. Let's

7:24

build tunnels under lake Michigan, so

7:26

we can push the water and take farther

7:28

out. It worked

7:30

for 10 years and 1874. They

7:32

had to extend it two more

7:34

miles. Under the lake. So

7:37

now you're far, Probably not far

7:39

enough for some people. Anyway.

7:43

So in 1874, the tunnels

7:46

have been pushed out. The census

7:48

in 1870 recorded a population of

7:51

just under 300,000 people.

7:53

It's a lot of people for a very tiny river

7:55

to handle all of the waste, as

7:58

well as just the natural things.

8:00

Cities need. And in 1871,

8:03

you have the great Chicago fire. Which

8:05

destroys a lot of Chicago. They

8:08

use the water. But

8:10

imagine. Bubbly Creek.

8:13

Slow moving. The river

8:15

stank. It just, you

8:18

have to conjure up images. Or you don't want

8:20

to. People living in

8:22

Chicago, you'd probably walk across the bridge and was

8:24

told your nose or ran across the bridge.

8:26

I don't know. I don't know how you'd do that. This

8:28

then caused wealthy citizens to

8:31

buy bottled water. So now there's

8:33

a nice class disparity. I

8:35

can afford to drink non river water,

8:38

but all the poor people get stuck with it. The

8:41

city knows the city really

8:43

knows that there is a massive problem,

8:45

and if they don't fix it, There's

8:47

going to be. Just.

8:50

You have an epidemic you have.

8:53

A really bad circumstance. And

8:55

all of a sudden you have. A

8:58

lot of your population dying because of the

9:00

water quality. In

9:03

1885, there was a massive

9:05

rainstorm that flooded the area. And

9:08

it flooded the era so much that the

9:10

desk Plains river over

9:12

top to the Portage and then.

9:15

Started to flesh the Chicago river.

9:18

However it flushed it so much that it was starting to really

9:20

push out the filter into the middle of the lake

9:22

or farther out. Close to intake

9:24

valves. Now only

9:26

in offshore wind really kept a lot of the floating

9:29

disgustingness from

9:31

going out that far. It

9:34

didn't help because then it became

9:36

a massive sensationalized account.

9:39

People wanted to claim that anybody who got

9:41

sick after this, it was the water's fault.

9:43

The lake. All of

9:46

the river and now they're clamoring

9:48

for a solution and people are freaked out.

9:51

This spurs, the local government

9:53

into action. After some political

9:55

maneuvering for a couple of years, On

9:58

May 29th, 1889,

10:00

the Illinois general assembly approved

10:02

the act to create sanitary districts

10:05

and to remove obstructions in the desk, Plains

10:07

and Illinois rivers. This

10:09

creates the sanitary district of Chicago, which

10:11

covers. Approximately 185

10:14

square miles. Their first real

10:16

goal was to reverse

10:19

the Chicago river. To then flush

10:21

all the waste. Downriver.

10:25

The Mississippi. Via a canal.

10:28

They drew up a plan to draw water

10:30

from lake Michigan, push it through a

10:32

series of locks, thereby reversing

10:34

the Chicago river and sending

10:37

the diluted wastewater down the Mississippi river.

10:39

But then at the same time, create

10:41

a waterway for larger ships to traverse

10:44

the Portage. Because

10:47

up until a canal, you'd have to carry your

10:49

bouts. Doesn't really make much sense. By

10:51

the late 19th century, there's no way or hauling

10:54

a lake freighter over that or anything

10:56

reasonable that can get a lot

10:58

of goods down between the two. Water

11:00

bodies. So by creating this canal

11:03

that can solve two problems at the same

11:05

time. Now,

11:07

of course, this makes St Louis quite angry,

11:10

which we'll get into at the end. But

11:13

then also by taking water from the

11:15

lake and pushing it through the river, reversing

11:17

the river, pushing it through a canal and into the Mississippi,

11:20

they would then protect their drinking water.

11:23

It was a win-win win. And that's your St. Louis.

11:27

So this also helped

11:29

the desk, planes and Illinois rivers.

11:31

Because they like the Chicago rivers

11:33

were sluggish and prone to flooding. By

11:38

building the canal, they just managed to solve

11:40

a lot of the regions problems. And Marchioness.

11:43

They didn't just build that canal, but they built many

11:46

others. Two of the notable ones

11:48

being the north shore channel, which would drain

11:50

marshy areas to the north and

11:53

then pull lake water into the north

11:55

branch of the Chicago river. And

11:57

then the CALSAC channel to reverse.

11:59

The Calumet rivers. Today

12:02

there are 61.3 miles.

12:05

Of canals in the Chicago area. Thanks

12:07

to the sanitary district. However

12:10

one to focus on the Chicago sanitary

12:12

and ship canal. This

12:15

canal is 20 miles long, 24

12:17

feet deep and 160 feet wide.

12:20

No small feat. It took eight

12:22

years and 15,000

12:24

workers to build. And for many

12:27

of these workers, your wage was 15 cents

12:29

an hour. And then you lived in a company

12:31

town where they promptly. Robbed

12:34

you a lot of that wage. However,

12:37

these workers were extremely efficient. And

12:40

impressive. Because they removed

12:43

42 million, 340,000

12:45

cubic yards of soil and rock.

12:49

The methods at which they did this

12:51

became so famous that they

12:53

became known as the Chicago school of earth

12:55

moving. It influenced

12:58

the building of the Panama canal, which would happen

13:00

a little later. Initially

13:03

all of this was done by hand. Crazy.

13:07

You spend hours just with a shovel.

13:10

There's a lot of hard rock.

13:14

But then later complex series of machines

13:16

and conveyor belts, improved working conditions.

13:19

And efficiency. Part

13:22

of this though, wasn't that you just built the canal

13:24

and then pushed water through. They

13:26

also had to divert the desk Plains river

13:29

in 2013 mile long channel. That

13:31

paralleled a good portion of.

13:34

Their work area. It's a lot.

13:37

There's a lot that's going on here. They

13:39

also built 31 bridges. And

13:41

then a massive control center at Lockport

13:43

where the canal ended. And this is where.

13:46

A lot of the water management happens.

13:50

As I mentioned earlier, it didn't just solve the sewage

13:52

problem, but also gave Chicago stronger

13:54

transportation minks. However,

13:57

they had to build a massive water reclamation

13:59

plant. A lot of it is today

14:01

treated at the Stickney water reclamation

14:03

plant which is one of the largest in

14:05

the world. And this plant is able

14:07

to treat 1 million gallons of

14:10

wastewater in one minute. So

14:12

that's about 1.5 Olympic pools

14:14

worth of water. Every minute.

14:18

They really solved Chicago sewage problem.

14:21

The river was clean. It all was.

14:24

All this lake water's nice and fresh. No

14:27

more stinky summers. Well

14:29

St. Louis is now ticked off because

14:31

you're forcing the Chicago sewage

14:34

into the desert Plains river. Which has then

14:36

the Illinois river. Which then

14:38

dumps everything into the Mississippi

14:40

river. St. Louis takes its drinking water from

14:42

the Mississippi. They threatened to file

14:44

an injunction. They didn't really

14:46

follow up, but a couple of years later, the

14:48

state of Missouri sues the state

14:51

of Illinois. This is 1906.

14:54

However, the Supreme court sides with Illinois

14:56

saying that they could not prove any

14:58

threat to the city of St. Louis. By

15:01

then all of it's so diluted. Plus

15:05

it's being treated. Before all of

15:07

its dumped. As I

15:09

mentioned in another episode, I love when

15:11

states Sue each other. It's just fascinating.

15:14

It's not really all United. Is it? So

15:18

the Chicago river today. All

15:20

the drinking water has been saved. They

15:23

don't have the same problems anymore. Well,

15:25

hooray. Chicago is now

15:27

the third largest city in the United States. And

15:30

one of the largest Metro areas and still

15:32

one of the main transportation hubs of the country.

15:36

In 1999, the American society

15:38

of. Civil engineers named the system,

15:40

a quote, civil engineering monument

15:43

of the millennium and quote. That's

15:46

impressive. I mean, to move all of that.

15:49

They have to get some award, even if it was almost

15:51

a century later. Now,

15:54

despite reversing. The river.

15:57

The river will sometimes flow in two directions

15:59

during the wintertime. And this has been proven

16:01

by studies at the university of Illinois.

16:04

At Urbana champagne. The

16:06

surface water will flow east to west.

16:09

Which is how it's supposed to work. Drawing

16:11

water from the lake, taking it west

16:13

of the Chicago river and then down river, the Mississippi.

16:16

However near the river bed. The

16:19

water can travel west east

16:21

out into the lake. Fascinating.

16:24

How that still works. The

16:27

state of Illinois still issues, advisories

16:30

against eating any fish caught in the river. It

16:32

is still an urban river. It

16:34

still is. Polluted,

16:37

especially when you consider other. Rivers

16:40

in the United States. So they advise

16:43

you not to eat what you catch, but it is still

16:45

a very famous recreational fishing site.

16:48

Sometimes they pull

16:50

a reverse card on the reverse much

16:53

like an UNO. And

16:55

push the river back out to the lake. This

16:58

happens when there is a severe threat of flooding.

17:02

It did occur in July. Of 2023.

17:05

But they open it and reverse it. For

17:08

just under 7.5 hours.

17:10

So it's not like this huge, oh, we're going to reverse

17:12

it for a minute. No, it's literally a

17:15

matter of hours when there's that immediate

17:17

threat, flush it out into the lake

17:19

and then they will reverse that again.

17:22

And start pushing it out. Through the canal.

17:26

It doesn't happen that often, the last

17:28

time it happened was in 2020, and then

17:30

it happened in 2019. It's

17:33

very notable when it happens. I mean, I

17:35

found this out through a news article. That's how. That's

17:37

how rare it is. And

17:40

much in the same way. They still

17:42

do close beaches after just

17:44

in case any of the water pollution. Makes

17:47

the water quality unsafe at the beach.

17:50

However the. The news article said

17:52

that within a day or two.

17:55

All but one beaches have been reopened. So.

17:57

That's good. But that's the reversal

17:59

of the Chicago river. Crazy.

18:03

They managed to. Solve

18:06

a city's problems make it better than it was

18:08

before. And

18:10

then also. Have an engineering feat that

18:13

is still admired by engineers

18:15

today. Impressive.

18:18

So next time you're in Chicago or you see

18:20

it. Coming up. It's

18:22

going to be dyed green for St. Patrick's day. It's

18:25

reversed. They managed

18:28

to go against nature and reverse it.

18:31

And thereby. For

18:34

solve their sewage down to St. Louis. Anyway.

18:38

Thanks for listening today. And.

18:41

We'll see you next time. When we talk about

18:43

a Royal family and its

18:45

many ties to the United States.