Charts of waterways leading to the Illinois River.
We left Chicago on Friday September 11. The day was clear and a contrast with the day we arrived. The DuSable Marina where we had stayed is on the right side of this picture. It sits on the lake in front of the tall downtown buildings and right next to the Chicago Harbor lock that separates Lake Michigan from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Sanitary and Ship Canal was created to divert the Chicago River, which was essentially the sewer for Chicago, so that rather than draining into Lake Michigan it would drain south to the Illinois and Mississippi.
After passing through the Chicago Harbor Lock and the first bascule bridge this view is the sight we saw. The Chicago Sanitary Canal passes right down through the center of of downtown. The first bridge in this picture is the Michigan Avenue bascule bridge. Within Chicago we will pass under 29 bascule, 2 fixed and 1 lift highway bridges. There will also be 6 railroad bridges for a total of 39 bridges with 9 more on the way to the Illinois River. Chicago is truly the city of bridges.
This is one of the bascule railroad bridges that shows how half the bridge is raised up and with counterweights to balance the bridge weight.
Just outside downtown Chicago we moved into a narrow canal sheltered with high banks and trees on each side. Some of the sides are stone walls.
At 31 miles from the Chicago Harbor we reached the Carp Barrier! This is a 1/4 mile section of canal that has two different electrified wires running across the canal under the water. It was first created about 6 years ago when officials determined that the electrical stimulation would block the Asian Carp (a jumping fish) from getting into Lake Michigan. In August officials decided the Carp were getting closer and raised the voltage from one volt to two volts. Then the Coast Guard decided this posed a hazard to non- steel recreational vessels and banned movement across this "barrier". We heard about this about August 15 while in Lake Michigan. Within a few days they modified this ruling to allow passage if your vessel was towed through the barrier area by a steel tow boat. So here we are tied to some barges with two other boats in front of us waiting to be towed through.
This picture of two boats ahead of us shows how boats were towed. We first had to get advance permission from the Coast Guard (they also had a guard boat on site.) Then we had to disconnect all electronics and be secured to the side of the tow boat with another boat on the outside of us. Kaye and I had to go down into a cabin inside the tow boat - we couldn't be outside at all. All this for 1/4 mile and 2 volts. Oh, did I mention it cost $500 to pay for the tow! The final blow was that while on the tow boat another Great Looper called me to say that the Coast Guard just announced that starting the next day non-steel boats could go through the Carp Barrier under the own power and not be towed. Apparently the Coast Guard decided that the risk was minimal. We are still not sure what risk they were trying to protect us against.
Four and 1/2 miles past the "Carp Barrier" we reached the Lockport Lock. One of the other "Carp Barrier" boats is ahead of us. The lockmaster gave us lines to secure to the bow and stern.
The lock door at the upstream end was unusual. The lock door comes up from under the water like a sliding window. The door moves straight up to hold water in the lock or down to allow passage in or out of the lock.
The lock lowered us 40 feet which is not a huge drop but seemed big compared to the Canadian Historic locks we had been through most recently.
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was joined by the Calumet River and Sag Canal 24 miles south of the Chicago Harbor. The Calumet Canal was an alternate path from Lake Michigan and had more bridge clearance for tall boats, but is not as scenic. It starts on Lake Michigan a few mile south of downtown Chicago. At the lock our waterway becomes the Des Plaines River.
On the Des Plaines River we reached Joliet and tied up for the night for free on a wall downtown. The town even supplied power stands to hook to. The next day we passed Ottawa and anchored near this cliff pictured.
The next day we took our dinghy back up river to see the town of Ottawa. Several downtown buildings were decorated with painted murals.
One of Ottawa's claim to fame (beside being surveyed at the same time as Chicago) is for being the site of the first Lincoln Douglas debate on August 21, 1858. You will remember that these two men were contesting the a US Senate seat and that their seven debates were largely about the issue of slavery. I had forgotten that until the 17th Amendment become part of the Constitution in 1913, Senators were elected by their state's legislature, not directly by the people. This debate occurred on the main square of town and is commemorated with signs and statues.
One other claim to fame is that Ottawa is the birth place of the founder of the Boy Scouts in the US, William Boyce. We passed his gravesite while on the way to Ottawa on the dinghy and we also toured a Boy Scout Museum in town.
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