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1908. "The Great Locks, Chicago Drainage Canal, Lockport, Illinois." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
This narrow old lock is still there, but I don't think it is in use. A much larger, 100 foot wide lock was opened alongside it in 1933. About 10 million tons of cargo per year floats through Lockport.
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is on the route from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. If you want to circumnavigate the eastern United States, you have to go through Lockport.
Annual Report of the Engineer and Surveyor
of the State of New York, 1905.Report of William B. Landreth
On my return from Rock Island to Chicago, I visited the controlling works of the Chicago drainage canal at Joliet. The controlling works were built for the purpose of regulating the flow from the Chicago drainage canal so as to, at all times, induce a current of clear water from Lake Michigan into the drainage canal. The height of water in the canal is controlled by a "bear trap " dam and several large gates. The masonry in the piers between the gates is of concrete, faced with paving blocks up to a certain height, above which the piers are of brick. The foundations of the "bear trap" dam, the vertical walls along the sides and at the end of the drainage channel, the vertical walls along the tail-race of the power-house and an arch bridge over the tail-race, are all of concrete. Where expansion joints were placed in these walls no cracks have occurred, but where these joints are omitted irregular cracks, extending through the wall, have developed at intervals of about twenty feet. The attendant at the controlling works stated that no repairs had been made on the mason work since its completion in 1900, and at the time of my visit the concrete work was in good condition. The mortar in the brick work of the piers was badly washed out by storms, and presented a very unsightly appearance.
I count at least a dozen places where a finger needs to be poked.
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