The Illinois and Michigan Canal

The Illinois and Michigan Canal is a mystery to many people. The canal, also known as the I and M Canal, structured the economy for Chicago, and many other cities during the 19th century. The canal also brought about more efficient ways of transportation and shipping. The canal stretching a full 96 miles linked Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, creating a continuous waterway stretching from New York to the Gulf of Mexico. Also the canal changed sanitation for Chicago making it a better city, but turning the canal into a dump.

In Illinois the possibility of connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and thus to the Gulf of Mexico by way of a canal joining the Chicago and Illinois Rivers had been thought of by the French explorer M. Louis Joliet as early as 1673 soon after his passage through the Chicago area. When Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818 its border had been extended northward some sixty miles from the foot of Lake Michigan where the Northwest Ordinance earlier had prescribed it to be. This gave the new state the site of Chicago and a firm footing on the Great Lakes.

At the Illinois delegation’s urging the U.S. Congress in 1822 authorized the state to construct a canal running from the mouth of the Chicago River to a point on the Illinois River. The Illinois General Assembly approved an act appointing five canal commissioners to lay out the route and estimate costs. Civil engineers were hired to survey the pathway. Total construction costs were estimated to be $713,000. The state legislature then passed a law which had a private corporation to undertake the project. Unable to get the Assembly’s approval this entity surrendered its charter on January 12, 1826. After a while it was clear the project was floundering and proposals were put forward for a railroad connecting Lake Michigan and the Illinois River rather than a canal.

The U.S. Congress on March 2, 1833 then passed a law which allowed the state to use the lands the federal government had previously donated for canal purposes for either canal or railroad purposes, as the state legislature chose. After a debate the General Assembly in 1835 determined to proceed with a state controlled canal to be financed by a $500,000 loan backed by the security of the federal land donation and anticipated tolls. Three new canal commissioners were appointed. In a special session of the General Assembly an act to this effect was passed on January 9, 1836.

In ceremonies near Chicago the first ground of the I and M was broken on July 4, 1836. In the first year of construction poor weather and a lack of labor and equipment slowed progress. Most activity was devoted to building access roads, acquiring equipment, getting laborers, and putting up structures to house the work force.

Most of the work on the I and M canal was done by hand during 1837 and 1848. While canal workers included Native Americans, African Americans, Germans, English, and French Canadians, but most were Irish immigrants. Hundreds of Irish immigrated to America because of the huge potato famine in Ireland. They journeyed to the region for the hard, vigorous, low-wage work. Their poverty, foreignness, and catholic religion isolated them and it made it hard for them to find jobs. Today, there are many Irish residents in Chicago because of all the Irish immigrants who were canal workers in the 1830s to 1850s.

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Meantime state internal improvements were being promoted eagerly as well. The General Assembly of 1835-1836 chartered no fewer than sixteen railroad companies which promised to link virtually every significant settlement in the state. But by the end of 1836 almost all had failed to raise enough money to begin construction. After much haggling in the state legislature "An act to establish and maintain a General system of Internal Improvement" was approved on February 27, 1837. The state had committed to overseeing the construction and operation of 1,300 miles of railroads intersecting almost all of Illinois as well as the improvement ...

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The Panic of 1837 affected the canal greatly, which required that all federal land purchased after August 15 be paid for in gold or silver. This action sank land sales and sale prices and by the spring of 1837 the values of stocks had crashed as well. Banks failed, factories closed, and unemployment boomed. It created some hard times for the economy.

Canal construction continued into 1841 and other internal improvement projects progressed into 1840 through creative financing. Finally the state issued scrip to contractors promising to pay face values plus interest whenever funds became available. By the end of 1841 almost all work had stopped as it was clear that the state was unable to meet its obligations. The problem was so severe that in 1842 the state treasury collected a total of $98,546 in taxes at a time when the interest charges on its debt amounted to nearly $800,000 for that year alone.

Throughout 1845 and 1846 construction was slowed by a shortage of labor and poor weather. And during the nearly four years of abandonment much of the completed work had fallen into disrepair. But by 1847 progress was rapid. The I and M was first opened to navigation on April 10, 1848 when the canal boat General Fry, towed by the propeller A. Rossiter, arrived in Chicago from Lockport. With La Salle and Chicago the canal’s two connecting cities the entire line covered ninety-six miles. Towns along the way included Ottawa, Marseilles, Seneca, Morris, Channahon, Joliet, Lockport, and Lemont. As originally invisioned the I and M was to link the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Illinois River which connected the canal to the Mississippi never was a dependable avenue. Often for months on end portions of the Illinois from La Salle to Grafton were too shallow to permit navigation. And both the state and federal governments were reluctant to commit the funds required to make it otherwise.

When the I and M opened in April of 1848 Chicago had had no railroad, but by 1852 it had a connection to New York City, and by 1854 it was the railroad center of the West. The new railroad companies were private ventures with only some government aid. With the railroad a direct threat to the I and M it came as a bitter irony in 1851 when the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad Company obtained a right-of-way along the canal line. Although the railroad originally was to have replaced the canal for the loss of tolls, the canal stayed in hope of a better future. This railway between Chicago on Lake Michigan and Rock Island on the Mississippi River became fully operational in the summer of 1854. Almost immediately passengers and small bulk goods shifted to the railroad which was fast and inexpensive. And unlike the canal, which froze over during the winter, the railroad operated year round.

In head to head competition the I and M concentrated on bulk items as lumber, grain, coal, and stone. The canal and the railroad constantly changed their rates to undercut the other. The canal was able for awhile to lower tolls but increase revenue by raising the amount carried. As time progressed the I and M came to link the Illinois River valley and the Great Lakes.

Toward the end of the Civil War, Chicago began to address the pollution of its drinking water supply. The Chicago River was virtually a garbage dump and whenever it rained hard its contents went into Lake Michigan. Chicago contained 178,900 inhabitants in 1865 and their garbage and waste was dumped directly into the river which served as an open sewer. The solution proposed was to deepen the cut of the I and M as to direct the river’s flow to Lockport where the canal intersected with the Des Plaines River. A law was approved in February of 1865 to stop the pollution. The project was constructed in stages, mostly during the winter when the canal was closed to navigation. By the time work had been completed in 1871 Chicago had invested nearly $3,000,000 in this effort.

The year 1871 also was significant in the canal’s history in that it was the point at which the I and M paid for itself. At the end of April the trustees issued their final report. It stated that except for $13,000 worth of bonds that had failed to be presented for payment; the entire debt had been liquidated. At the same time a cash balance of $95,742 was given over to the state. With the canal trustees dissolved, the governor subsequently appointed three commissioners to oversee the I and M. These commissioners had to be approved by a majority of the Illinois Senate. When the Great Fire of October 8 and 9, 1871 destroyed much of Chicago, the General Assembly responded on October 20 by making an emergency appropriation of $2,955,340 to the city as reimbursement for the canal’s "deep cut."

Unfortunately, by 1880 Chicago had a contaminated water supply. The 1880 census counted 503,185 residents. This large amount of people was disposing a greater amount of waste into the Chicago River which was polluting the lake. Even with the deeper cut the I and M was unable to handle the increase. The Chicago Sanitary District was created in 1889 and on September 3, 1892 it began construction of a mammoth twenty-eight mile Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connecting the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers at Lockport. When this project was completed in January of 1900 the eastern portion of the I and M immediately became obsolete and soon after was closed to navigation permanently. From that point on canal traffic between Chicago and Joliet passed through the Sanitary and Ship Canal with the I and M maintaining land and water power lease along this portion of its line, but collecting no tolls. By the 1920s the canal line extending down from Bridgeport became a garbage dump.

During World War One the Joliet to La Salle part of the I and M was renewed for defense purposes. This was the last option to save the I and M as a working canal. The Illinois Waterway, connecting with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, opened in June of 1933. Official completion was on June 22. This closed the entire length of the I and M permanently. Soon after, the Civilian Conservation Corps began restoring portions of the I and M line to make it into a recreational and historical park. The I and M canal triumphed over tragedy by structuring Chicago’s economy and creating efficient and inventive transportation during rough times and hard competition. The canal also improved Chicago’s water sanitation and preserved the lake from being polluted. The Illinois and Michigan Canal is almost forgotten, but should be remembered for it was one of the biggest projects in the 19th century, that shaped Chicago.

The I & M Canal

Online Sources

Chicago History Muesum- I learned about worker’s rights in building the canal and regulations.

Canal Corridor Association- I found out about specific laborers that had a large effect on the building of the canal.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources- I found out more about the environment the canal was built in and how it effected the cities around it.

Forest Preserve of Cook County IL- This source had many useful general facts about where the canal was located.

National Park Service- This source had information on the National Park Services role with the canal.

CPL- 1848 Illinois & Michigan Canal Completed- This site gave me a timeline that helped me understand events that happened with the canal.

Putnam, James William. The Illinois and Michigan Canal: A Study in Economic History: 1917 University of Chicago Press– Chicago’s Historical Society

This site is a book online that is only accessible at the Harold Washington Library. I learned about the canal’s influence on Chicago’s economy.

Illinois State Archives Documents-

Conzen, Michael P., and Kay J. Carr, eds. The Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor: A Guide to Its History and Sources. 1988.

PBS- American Experience(Chicago: City of the Century)

The Illinois and Michigan Canal: A Northeastern Illinois Landmark

Lewis University- Special Collection

The Development of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Arrival of Immigrants- Article/ Essay- Alejandra Ponce de Leon

Division of Resource Review and Coordination Cultural Resource Program

The Lincoln Legal Papers Curriculum- Maps of Canal

I & M Canal- Article/ Essay- Benjamin M. Wassel

New York Times- Archives

Library Sources

Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners’ and Trustees’ Reports to the General Assembly (Springfield: Illinois and Michigan Canal, 1846-1916

Walter A. Howe of the Division of Waterways of the Illinois Department of Public Works and Buildings Documentary History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal: Legislation, Litigation and Titles (Springfield: Division of Waterways, 1956)

James William Putnam The Illinois and Michigan Canal: A Study in Economic History (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1918)

John H. Krenkel’s Illinois Internal Improvements, 1818-1848 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch Press, 1958

Alfred T. Andreas’s first two volumes of History of Chicago (Chicago: A.T. Andreas, 1884 and 1885)

Bessie Louise Pierce’s first two volumes of A History of Chicago (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937 and 1940

Theodore C. Pease’s The Frontier State, 1818-1848 (Springfield: Illinois Centennial Commission, 1918)

Michael P. Conzen and Kay J. Carr have edited The Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor: A Guide to Its History and Sources (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1988).

Andreas, A.T. History of Chicago, Chicago: A.T. Andreas,1884 (Folio F548.3.A5)

Historical Map and Guide to the Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor Lockport, Ill. Canal Corridor Association, 1993

Miller, Donald L. City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996

National Park Service Archaeology of Nineteenth Century Canal Boats at the Morris Wide Water, Pamphlet

Ranney, Edward Prairie Passage: The Illinois and Michigan Canal Corridor Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998

Redd, John The Illinois and Michigan Canal: A Contemporary Perspective in Essays and Photographs Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press

Solzman, David M. The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the Chicago River and its Waterways Chicago: Loyola Press, 1998

Lamb, John. A Corridor in Time: I&M Canal, 1836–1986. 1987.

“Letter from James Brooks to the Canal Commissioners Concerning Irish Rioters.” In The Illinois and Michigan Canal, 1827–1911: A Selection of Documents from the Illinois State Archives, ed. Robert E. Bailey and Elaine Shemoney Evans, 1998, 37.

Cain, Louis P. Sanitation Strategy for a Lakefront Metropolis. 1978.

Hill, Libby. The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History. 2000.

Solzman, David M. The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways. 1998.

Gobster, Paul, and Lynne Westphal. People and the River. 1996.