Calumet River

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Calumet River
Data
GNIS ID	US :  405379
location	northern United States of America
River system	Saint Lawrence River
Drain over	St. Clair River  → Detroit River  → Niagara River  → Saint Lawrence River  → Atlantic Ocean
origin	Confluence of the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers in Cook County, Illinois, 41 ° 38 ′ 38 ″  N , 87 ° 33 ′ 39 ″  W
Source height	177
muzzle	in Lake Michigan coordinates: 41 ° 43 '58 "  N , 87 ° 31' 46"  W 41 ° 43 '58 "  N , 87 ° 31' 46"  W.
Mouth height	175  m
Height difference	2 m
Big cities	Chicago
Map of the rivers of the region

Grand Calumet River
GNIS ID	US :  409251
source	at Miller Beach, Lake County, Indiana, 41 ° 37 ′ 4 "  N , 87 ° 15 ′ 34"  W.
length	25.7 km

Little Calumet River
A resident's boat in the floods of Little Calumet in Munster in September 2008
Data
GNIS ID	US :  424126
origin	as Burns Ditch at the mouth of East Calumet arm Little River in the Portage Burns Waterway in Portage County ( Indiana ) 41 ° 36 '48 "  N , 87 ° 10' 31"  W
length	66 km

East Arm Little Calumet River
GNIS ID	US :  450501
source	in New Durham Township , LaPorte County ( Indiana ) 41 ° 36 '15 "  N , 86 ° 51' 25"  W
muzzle	in Porter County, Indiana 3 miles north of Portage in the Little Calumet River 41 ° 36 ′ 48 ″  N , 87 ° 10 ′ 31 ″  W
Mouth height	178  m

Calumet Sag Channel
GNIS ID	US :  405380
location	Cook County (Illinois)
Beginning	on the Little Calumet River, east of: 41 ° 41 ′ 6 "  N , 87 ° 50 ′ 49"  W
The End	on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal , west of: 41 ° 41 ′ 38 ″  N , 87 ° 54 ′ 56 ″  W
Mouth height	176  m
Calumet Saganashkee Canal

The Calumet River (/ ˌkæljʊˈmɛt /) is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals between Chicago , Illinois and Gary , Indiana . The Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River used to be one river. The former flowed from Indiana to Illinois and then back east to its confluence with Lake Michigan at Marquette Park in Gary.

background

The name "Calumet" is derived from a French colonial name for a certain type of peace pipe used by the Indians , which was considered a universal symbol of peace among the Illinois and the Pere Marquette was shown in 1673.

Prior to the human change, the water flowed westward from LaPorte County along the Little Calumet River, made a hairpin turn at Blue Island, and then flowed eastward along the Grand Calumet River at Miller Beach on Blue Island into Lake Michigan. The area is very flat, and the course and even the flow direction of the river system has changed over and over again. The slight slope ensures that the river has only a very low current.

Industry developed in the Calumet River area from around the 1870s. In 1890 the western part of the Grand Calumet River was heavily polluted by waste from steel processing, a meat factory, and glue and starch factories. The industry spread along the eastern part of the river between 1890 and 1910 with similar results. These decades of unregulated pollution have left the river sediments heavily polluted to this day.

In September 2008, the Lake and Porter Counties were declared a Disaster Zone. The Little Calumet River broke its levee and flooded parts of the towns of Munster and Highland . In September 2019, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal notified Indiana's authorities that toxic wastewater from its steel mill had spilled into an arm of the Little Calumet River, temporarily closing three beaches on Lake Michigan.

The Calumet River originally only drained Lake Calumet into Lake Michigan on the South Side of Chicago . According to legend, a canal that extended it was built by voyageurs in an area where many boat transports took place. There, an excavation connected the two Calumet Rivers, at the point where the name changes from Grand to Little .

The TJ O'Brien Lock and Dam was built in the river in 1960 to regulate the exchange of water between Lake Michigan and the river.

The Grand Calumet River, whose source is in Miller Beach, flows 16 miles through the cities of Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond, and Calumet City and Burnham on the Illinois side. Most of the river water flows into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal . About 42 cubic meters of water flow from the river into the lake every second. Today, much of the water transported in the river comes from urban and industrial sewage. Although discharges were reduced, the area continued to be contaminated.

Little Calumet River

The Little Calumet River originally flowed through New Durham Township in LaPorte County, Indiana, to its confluence with the Grand Calumet and Calumet Rivers , but the construction of the Burns Waterway in 1926 effectively divided the Little Calumet River into western and eastern branches . The western branch is now known as the actual Little Calumet River and flows through, or past, Portage , Lake Station , Gary , Highland, Griffith , Munster and Hammond , South Holland , Dolton , Lansing , Calumet City , Harvey , Riverdale , Phoenix , Dixmoor , Burnham and Blue Island in Illinois. It flows together with the Grand Calumet River to form the Calumet River. This section of the river is 66 kilometers long. Its course has been divided into two parts by the construction of the Burns Waterway since 1926 . The part east of Hart Ditch in Munster flows eastward into Burns Waterway and from there into Lake Michigan. The portion west of Hart Ditch in Munster flows westward into the Calumet River and Cal-Sag Channel. The Little Calumet has a length of 175 kilometers. Its catchment area is 550 km². The most important tributaries are the Deep River , whose tributary Turkey Creek, and the Salt Creek , a tributary of the East Arm Little Calumet River. All tributaries arise from the Valparaiso moraine and flow northward into the Little Calumet River.

The East Arm Little Calumet River, also known as the Little Calumet River East Branch, begins just east of Holmesville in New Durham Township in LaPorte County , Indiana, then flows through Chesterton , Porter and Burns Harbor, where it is connected to the port of Indiana-Burns Waterway. It has a total length of 35 kilometers. It flowed further west towards Illinois as the Little Calumet River, but the establishment of the Burns Waterway in 1926 diverted part of its flow into Lake Michigan.

Until the late 1940s or early 1950s, the Calumet River carried heavily polluted sewage, and the only fish living in the river were carp. During heavy spring rains, the river often flooded areas of adjacent rivers.

The Litte Calumet River has been rebuilt since 1990 as part of a $ 200 million flood control and regeneration program by the Chicago District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers . The project should be finished in 2013. The project included the construction of 35 km of levees and walls, a regulatory structure at Hart Ditch and almost 27 km of hiking trails. In addition, 11 km of the river has been relocated to improve water flow. In addition, the bridges over which the expressways lead have been modified so that an unhindered flow of water is possible. A flood warning system has also been set up. Once completed, this project will protect over 9,500 homes and businesses in the cities of Gary, Griffith, Hammond, and Munster, Indiana, and prevent approximately $ 11 million in annual flood damage. Due to the foothills of Hurricane Ike , heavy rain occurred on September 15, 2008 in the shores of the Little Calumet River. Homes and shopping centers in northern Munster and southern Hammond have been evacuated. Hundreds of houses were damaged by the flood. A new levee was recently built along Northcote Avenue in Munster to protect residents from future floods.

Calumet Saganashkee Canal

The Calumet-Saganashkee Canal is a shipping canal in southern Cook County . It serves as a canal between the Little Calumet River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal . It's 16 miles long and was punctured over a period of 11 years, from 1911 to 1922.

The Calumet-Saganashkee Canal serves inland navigation and has been an active area of heavy industry in the southern neighborhood of the city of Chicago and adjacent suburbs. Since 2006 it has mainly been used to discharge sewage from the southern Cook Country, including the Deep Tunnel Project in the Chicago area, into the Illinois Waterway . It was also used by pleasure boats in the summer.

The western 4.5 miles of the canal runs through the Palos Hills Forest Conservation Area , a large parkland operated by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

The Cal-Sag Channel served as the rowing route for the 1959 Pan American Games .

The Calumet-Sag Trail , a 25-mile (41 km) bike path, will surround the canal and will be extended from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to Burnham Greenway once it is completed.

Web links

Commons : Calumet River  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• US EPA Area of ​​Concern
• Prairie Rivers Network
• TopoQuest, Cal Sag and Little Calumet
• Encyclopedia of Chicago - Calumet River System

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Grand Calumet River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed August 14, 2020
2. ↑ Little Calumet River in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System , accessed August 14, 2020
3. ↑ Calumet River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed August 14, 2020
4. ↑ ^{a b} U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map The National Map ( Memento from April 5, 2012 on WebCite ), accessed May 19, 2011
5. ↑ ^{a b c} U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Please provide either wayback - or webciteID - or archive-is - or archiv-url parameters , accessed May 19, 2011
6. ^ ^{A b c} East Arm Little Calumet River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed August 14, 2020
7. ↑ Calumet Sag Channel in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed August 14, 2020
8. ↑ Definition of CALUMET ( en )
9. ↑ Project Management Plan (PDF) ( Memento from December 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Michael Hawthorne: Toxic spill from northwest Indiana steel mill kills fish, forces closure of Lake Michigan beaches .
11. ↑ Little Calumet River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
12. ↑ Our Community & Flooding - Federal Programs ( Memento from August 31, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ USACE Chicago Dist - Little Calumet River Home ( Memento June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
14. ↑ Bill Lyke: Drive Out to the Pan-Am Gamnes! , Chicago Tribune. August 29, 1959, p. B1. Retrieved on August 14, 2009  ( page no longer available )