"Typhoid Fever City"
The Illinois and MIchigan Canal not only earned Chicago the nickname "Economic Boomtown," it also branded Chicago with "Typhoid Fever City." Epidemics, such as typhoid and cholera, spread rapidly around the city because of the contaminated water. A major health crisis had begun in Chicago.
“In 1885, raw sewage was being dumped directly into Lake Michigan or into the Chicago River, which flowed into the lake. Intake pipes were extended further into the lake. Undercurrents and wind shifts, however, made it a losing battle and Chicagoans were gagging on their own waste, which was also infecting them with typhoid."
-Chicago Tribune
-Chicago Tribune
"By the late 1800s, the river had become the boomtown's waste canal, channeling sewage, runoff, and disease-causing bacteria into the drinking supply." -City of Chicago |
"The Deep Cut"
"The proposed solution was to deepen the cut of the I and M so as to direct the river's flow south all the way to Lockport where the canal intersected with the Des Plaines River." -Elaine Evans |
Video Clip From: The Water District of Chicago
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Video Clip From: "The Reversal of the Chicago River" Documentary
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"In 1871, a few months before the Great Chicago Fire, the “Deep Cut” was completed and temporarily restored the city’s health. Chicago’s population continued to grow at an unprecedented rate, reaching one million by 1890. The narrow I&M Canal was unable to keep Chicago’s waste out of its water supply. Outbreaks of typhoid, cholera and dysentery continued – in 1885 12% of Chicago’s residents (over 100,000 people) died. Clearly, the Deep Cut plan no longer worked, and a more dramatic solution was needed. In 1892, the digging of a larger canal that ran parallel to the I&M, from Chicago (at Bridgeport) to Joliet began."
-The Canal Corridor Association |