Calumet Feeder Canal facts for kids
The Calumet Feeder Canal was a short canal in Illinois that was used in the mid-1800s. It helped connect the Little Calumet River to the important Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal. The canal stretched from Blue Island, where the Little Calumet River made a sharp turn, all the way to Sag Bridge, where it met the I&M Canal.
This canal was finished in 1849 and was about 16.75 miles long. It was one of four "feeder" canals built to supply water to the main I&M Canal. The other feeder canals were the Du Page Feeder, Fox River Feeder, and Kankakee Feeder.
Building the Canal
Engineers first surveyed the path for the Calumet Feeder Canal in 1845. Construction started in 1848 and was completed by early 1849. The canal officially began operating in 1849.
The main reason for building the Calumet Feeder was to provide extra water for the I&M Canal. This extra water helped keep the I&M Canal deep enough for boats to travel safely. But the Calumet Feeder Canal also carried its own boats and goods, helping local businesses. Building the canal also brought a lot of growth and new opportunities to the town of Blue Island.
The canal was built to be 40 feet wide at the top and 26 feet wide at the bottom. It was about 4 feet deep, with an extra 3 feet of "freeboard." Freeboard is the part of the canal wall that sticks up above the water, preventing floods. To stop the Little Calumet River from overflowing into the canal, a special control lock was built at a dam near Blue Island.
Why the Canal Closed
By 1859, the city of Chicago started using powerful steam engines at a pumping station in Bridgeport. These engines could pump water directly into the I&M Canal. This meant the Calumet Feeder Canal was no longer regularly needed to supply water.
The canal also caused problems for the nearby state of Indiana. A large dam had been built to collect enough water from the Little Calumet River for the canal. This dam caused water to back up into Indiana, which made farmland there less valuable.
Because of these issues, and since the canal was no longer essential, Illinois agreed to remove the dam. The order to take down the dam was given on April 9, 1874. After that, the Calumet Feeder Canal completely stopped being a water source for the I&M Canal.
Later, in the 1910s, a deeper waterway called the Calumet Sag Channel was built. This new channel drained away any remaining water from the old Calumet Feeder. Today, very little of the original canal remains, except for a few parts of the old dam near Blue Island.
