Monday, May 24, 2004 :::
The Chicago River originally flowed into Lake Michigan; canoeing up from the lake, going pretty much straight west, one would have come to a T intersection only half a mile or so from the lake, where the north branch flowing south and the south branch flowing north come together.
Late in the 1800's the river was famously reversed; the north branch was left out of this, though. Most of the time these days, you pretty much have a river running parallel to the lake front, with some lake water running half a mile west to join it as it flows south.
The reversal was really only possible because it was always pretty flat to begin with. It didn't really "run" to the east; it kind of moseyed. And now it moseys to the west, and then the south, until it hooks up with the canal to the Mississippi watershed. If a lot of rain comes down at once, the river level goes up; the lake will be less affected, and often the river finds itself higher than the lake, and recidivates.
I now work overlooking the north branch of the river, but I used to work in the Loop proper, which is south of the east branch and east of the south branch, and commuted into Union Station, which is on the west bank of the south branch. (I'll give you a moment to figure that all out.) It used to be that I could come into the city after a big storm and see the river flowing backward, or forward, or whatever it usually doesn't do anymore. Anymore, I don't really pass by the parts that are variable.
This is cross-posted.
::: posted by dWj at 8:13 PM
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