The Race to Reverse the River - A Chicago Stories Documentary

Chicago was growing by leaps and bounds throughout the 19th century. The frontier town quickly grew into the largest metropolis in the Midwest. But as Chicago’s profile and population grew, a hidden killer was taking lives. Sewage and waste was being dumped into the Chicago River and polluting Lake Michigan, the source of the city’s drinking water. Officials were left with no other option but to embark on a daring design to reshape part of the natural world - and reverse the flow of the Chicago River.
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#ChicagoStoriesWTTW

[@boataxe4605]

St.Louis was pissed,but they got their revenge by turning that water into Budweiser and shipping it right back to Chicago.

[@ohnoohyeah3205]

😂😂😂 Gold.

[@jeffking4176]

🤣

[@bl7355]

Revenge is a beverage best served cold…

[@shaunhickey7233]

Classic comment!😂

[@acespace7255]

St. Louis shrugged, and sent it back in kegs, cans and bottles

[@repairdrive]

Only a town in 1833 and hosting the World's Fair in 1893?!? Chicago grew FAST!!!

[@matildamarmaduke1096]

Cause they had to have a excuse to get rid of old structures just like the fires

[@jedpeeler4199]

My mother always showed us the Columbian Exposition coins that my grandmother brought home to their house on the North Side (North Avenue and St. Michael's Court).

[@NotProFishing]

Railroads and it's location it was going to be huge. Regardless of any issues

[@louskunt9798]

Their liberal democrats ruined the city even faster than it was built. A true shame, but a predictable one.

[@alicassidy8913]

The underground railroads

[@flashcar60]

I believe that pic of a man standing by Bubbly Creek was Philip Armour of the Armour meatpacking company. He was looking for a way to capitalize on all that pork fat in the creek. Thus he went into the soap business. If I am not mistaken, Dial soap is a modern product of that venture.

[@yosemite735]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial_(soap) "Armour had produced soap since 1888; its laundry soap[5] was made from tallow, a by-product of Armour's meat production processes."

[@Angela-bl5id]

Armour hotdogs etc as well.. yikes

[@DWalsh-bg1cu]

Dial is still a good product with excellent antiseptic properties.

[@junkman8742]

​@@DWalsh-bg1cu good grief Proctor and Gamble BOT

[@benhoch9967]

I just accidentally stabbed my wrist at work and cut into my artery and tendon. When I went to the hospital the nurses and doctor told me to wash the wound with dial soap because it has the best antibacterial properties than any other major brand soap.

[@cheriemcfadden5287]

Lived in Chicago all my life and NEVER was taught this. I'm so grateful for WTTW and youtube! I feel smarter already!!

[@mattstewart8962]

Well if you ever make it down to southern Illinois, you look me up lol 😂😍

[@secretagent5954]

alright ms cherie 👀

[@c.rutherford]

I was born in Chicago and I did hear about reversing the river... and even as a child I pictured all the poo going the other way, and basically crapping up the Mississippi River and the Gulf. It seemed underhanded and political. However, from a purely selfish standpoint, Lake Michigan is still a lot closer than the gulf, and I'm happy it was spared further destruction. Its since fared better than Lake Erie, which is basically an industrial toxic waste dump even today, at least on the bottom of it. Sad. Humans have always been well, short sighted idiots when it comes to their own waste. Which is why its best our population is kept low relative to the planet. .....oops.............

[@Mrbfgray]

In more recent times Dems have returned the cesspool to the city by turning sanity around 180 degrees.

[@katherinephillips8952]

I grew up in Minneapolis suburbs and learned this on a college trip. Love this series!!!

[@sblack48]

I’m always impressed by how they built infrastructure buildings to be beautiful in those days. That pumping station is a work of art.

[@c.rutherford]

Please view my comments at the top of the page and my theory about this, which will probably die with me forever unresearched lol. But I think its true!

[@davidelliott5843]

River Trent in the East Midlands of England is large (for UK) and meandering river. 50 years ago it was heavily polluted. Today we have trout and salmon. Water cleanliness that nobody dreamed possible.

[@jedpeeler4199]

England revolutionized water treatment. You should be proud of your country!

[@May-qb3vx]

Pretty sure the Thames and even the Clyde are the same! Huge reversal! Even with more cleaning up needing to be done :)

[@raoulcruz4404]

My dad told me about work camps such as mentioned in this documentary. He said there were long tables for the workers to eat at. Tin pans were nailed to the table and food put in the pans. A group of workers would sit and eat. Afterwards someone with a rag would wipe all the pans. The next group of workers would sit there and eat from those pans.

[@laurencezemlick1979]

That’s one way to keep your pans from being stolen😂

[@trainerskulb00d]

After watching this, it is amazing to think any of us are alive

[@mackpines]

Just fascinating. I thought the Willamette River through Portland was badly polluted back in the days, the Chicago River was a hundred times worse.

[@buckshot6481]

In the 1890's if you fell into the Chicago river you were considered a dead man, you'd have typhoid and cholera within days.

[@WillyMcCoy50]

Did they ever clean up the poop and needles in Portland of does it Flo into The Willamette River?!?

[@TheViettan28]

Oops. Eugene left the chat.

[@pazza4555]

Waving from the banks of the Cuyahoga.

[@PunaSquirrel]

​​@@WillyMcCoy50No, it all ends up in the river.

[@mard420]

So they could have filtered it like other cities, but chose for over a hundred years to dump waste into the water.....that is insane.

[@albertettinger9436]

Filtering was done eventually but that doesn't kill the bugs. Drinking water now is filtered and chlorinated. The lead pipes are another problem.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

Up past the Civil War microscopic life was unknown to people. Doctors thought that sanitation ment wiping their knives before cutting on the next patient.

[@chadsimmons6347]

Kansas City Mo. doesn't pollute the Missouri River with nasty sewage, the Blue & Kansas River that do flow into the Missouri, get the nasty waste dumped in them instead. St Louis drinks what KCMO flushes! LOL

[@donchoq]

THAT"S the Chicago way!!!!

[@danielj1063]

Happens many coastal cities around both U.S. and Canadian areas on N.American continent. Most coastal human habitat in countries around the planet do contribute with toilet mentalities toward nearly all seas and oceans.

[@wademills1616]

The reason you keep having more flooding is because you have such a big area with concrete,asphalt and buildings. It’s not bigger rain events.

[@kratzikatz1]

Additionally they build houses in every hole they can find and sell! In germany in the coaling areas the surface levels fell up to 10m through mining. And now they stop pumping the groundwater. Nice situation for the homeowners.

[@kendallkahl8725]

I grew up around LA and have been to Chicago a few times and its definitely a more down to earth place.

[@jedpeeler4199]

VERY down to Earth, and can be brutal!

[@ernestonavajr.6814]

Thanks for streaming great episode

[@dougtheviking6503]

And streaming all the pollution to the rest of the state.

[@dedrakuhn6103]

The race to send the sewer water down the river in the other direction to other towns downstream

[@user-wp4zh6po3k]

To Anheuser Busch ....

[@PatrickBaptist]

Yup, city was just looking to piss on or off other towns.... I'd never live in IL to begin with.

[@davidelliott5843]

England’s port cities from Newcastle on Tyne to London originally installed sewers perpendicular to the river. It cost £Billions to install interceptor sewers and many were not completed until 1980s. Newcastle with its steep banks to the narrow Tyne estuary was especially difficult. But especially important because the in-out of the tides meant river water (complete with sewage) took many days to reach the sea.

[@karenneill9109]

They did the same with the Thames. That wide boulevard in between Parliament and the river didn’t used to be there- that’s where the sewers are!

[@air4334]

I love this series of Chicago Stories. WTTW 😍🤗

[@jedpeeler4199]

I always liked the way new buildings were always sprouting up. I can remember watching all the buildings going up along Lake Shore Drive in the early 1950s, Marina Towers, the John Hancock Building, and the Sears Tower, among many others. Later, I even had a part time job at Sears Tower! Great city for restaurants, architecture and change; lousy political corruption. If the political corruption disappeared, it could be the greatest city in the World.

[@nbrown5907]

You do show why our species is doomed, one side cannot have the lakes polluted but screw everyone south of us. We deserve our fate.

[@sonyagair1219]

Wow, I have learned something new today. Thx for sharing 😊

[@benmcreynolds8581]

At some point during the reversing the river project and having to raise & lift the downtown project; Somebody had to have said: "Geeze someone really should have picked a different spot to first build this city?" ~it's mind boggling the amount of effort and giant projects that needed to be done in order to make Chicago liveable. It's absolutely crazy but I'm very fascinated with it all.

[@johnosborne3187]

Such a great documentary!

[@knighttuttruptuttrup8518]

I grew up north of the city and always wondered the history of the river. This was very informative. Thanks!

[@everydaybutterfly1]

Been in Chicago my entire life 47 years and never knew this. Thank you for this. I have a new found pride for my city ❤

[@PatrickBaptist]

Yeah they prob don't want to mention the fact they sent their waste down to other towns lol.

[@paulakpacente]

One of several of grandmother's sister came to Chicago after living in what is now the Czech Republic. Her husband was working in a quarry, and a flying stone decapitated him. She left shortly after the accident. She worked for years and raised 2 children by herself. She never remarried, but she was the only one of my grandma's sisters who learned to drive. Grandma tried it but never became a driver.

[@aleisaetheridge8682]

WOW , that's terrible , what happen to her husband . My Memaw never learned to drive either . I was going to teach her but She said I drove to fast lol I'm 60 now and was born in 63,so My Grandparents talked about Chicago and they told me about The diseases people used to get back before We knew what We know now but We're from Alabama .

[@twosencefromcleveland6084]

?????

[@Woody2Shoe]

Cool story.

[@halifornia2001]

This has absolutely nothing to do with this video, except that she lived in Chicago. This is so completely pointless.

[@paulakpacente]

@@halifornia2001- It reminded me because they talked about a quarry in here. Go insult somebody else.

[@joshjones3408]

This is simply great video thank you ....👍👍👍👍👍

[@renodowns5256]

I remember the beaches around Chicago and north of Chicago having hundreds of dead fish on the beaches in the mid 60s.

[@TheTeach56]

So do I. Awful smell!

[@1927su]

I heard that even the pilgrims brought beer to drink on the Mayflower; water was too dangerous! The brewing process boiled the water, but people didn’t know back then that was the key factor in ridding the water of bacteria etc .., Hindsight is always 20/20 & it’s just true even today; Man just isn’t known for being good stewards of the planet

[@atatterson6992]

Well, if that were true, there would be no river. We fixed it but now l8beral idiots are destroying the WHOLE city for black people. Well done.

[@jasonbare3472]

Not Man. "Mankind"

[@pazza4555]

Children drank beer long after that because of unsafe drinking water. Also, commercially sold milk was sold with chalk or powdered paint in it to increase profits. That was in the early 19th century, IIRC.

[@finnmcginn9931]

​@@pazza4555they were selling baby formula in China that was chock full of melamine only a few short years ago. Greed is never kn life support.

[@jedpeeler4199]

People in ancient times knew instinctively to add wine to water to "disinfect" it, even though they knew nothing about microbes until Louis Pasteur made that clear.

[@albertettinger9436]

A very well balanced summary of what was done with suggestions of what must be considered regarding the future.

[@marymcguffin9370]

Hi Mike, I live near Pt. Huron and send a lot of time on the beaches looking for various fun stuff, I love watching the freighters in the St. Clair River heading out to the lake, I always wonder where they go, now that I stared watching you, I realize just how far they do go, love your channel, I will start watching your past shows, ❤

[@lt1nut]

Those *huge* (1000+ feet) are built- and stay- within the Great Lakes Basin; they are "landlocked". You'll want to confirm the following ↓ : The lowest non-movable bridge between Chicago and the Mississippi River has an air draft of 19-20 feet - surface of the water to the underside of the bridge over the navigable channel. The only two other navigable ways in/out of the Great Lakes are the Erie Canal and the Canadian canal (sorry 🇨🇦, I forgot its name and locations) that bypasses the Niagara Falls; each of these are vessel size-restricted and contain locks.

[@David0lyle]

The concept of actually treating sewage and drinking water was the only the actual winner here. I live in Colorado essentially the highest point in the US where the water SHOULD be safest to drink, 🙄 every so often we have some tourist who drinks from one of our “clear mountain streams” and suffers greatly for it. Surface water isn’t really safe to drink and really probably never was. For millennia humans have been digging wells. Even that has it’s risks but it’s about as safe as safe as your going to get.

[@davidkimmel4216]

Very interesting. Thank you

[@dannylittlejohn1136]

What a documentary! Good and bad it's unbelievable what all was done. This is a incredible story good and bad.

[@LaBergeX]

Good stuff.

[@garysprandel1817]

Have extended family that live down in Marseilles Illinois and I'm not sure today but I remember a trip down there in the late 70s and being down by the big truss bridge over the river with some cousins with the river at high water and the river being churned up by the dam spillways being open still smelled of Chicago sewage.

[@toddsurgeon4842]

What an amazing film!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️…I learned so much!✅

[@uralbob1]

Wow! What an eye opener! Great documentary.

[@kwakka61]

So, essentially people built a town/city in a place that wasn't ever suitable for it. Then instead of looking for a better place, they made poor decisions over and over again, perhaps making their lives a bit better, but making it worse for far more people elsewhere. The selfish actions of humans to the detriment of other humans and all other forms of life on the planet seems unstoppable.

[@ShaneM420]

Very insightful.

[@KingSpaceySprockets]

That’s life. History tells that so many times.

[@chitownmedia101]

I now have more answers about my city. Very cool and educational documentary !

[@GrantSmithEllis]

I caught that "Big Dig" reference around 27:00! Great documentary!

[@jedpeeler4199]

I have studied the history of the Chicago and Sanitary Ship Canal. I worked right next to it for years. It's been said that more dirt and rock was removed to make the canal than was moved to make the Panama Canal! The dolomitic rock has fossils of cephalopods that can reach over twenty feet long!

[@vikingmike8139]

Excellent broadcast. Cheers!

[@user-jf4nj3ez2k]

Thats some crazy shit actually

[@tomquinn5437]

Excellent examples of cause and affect.

[@ShaneM420]

.....effect.

[@flyovercounty1427]

Good program - it even took 45mins before rain on a huge area of concrete and asphalt rapidly draining to the lake and river was blamed on “Climate Change” vs building and paving over natural land.

[@SarahWRah]

I had heard bits and pieces of this story before, but did not realize the devastation caused by Chicago's short-sighted decision. It's hard to understand why only St Louis put up a tough battle to stop the reversal when so many down-river communities were being affected.

[@999pr1]

The smaller communities along the river probably did not have the resources to fight legal battles for years. Peoria was the largest city upriver of St Louis and it was a lot smaller. I can't imagine how bad it would have been in the Joliet area!. I went to high school near Peru, and our campus extended down to the river and when we took hikes there (about a mile from the buildings) there were lots of "unmentionable" items floating in the river. We did not fish or drink or swim there, just stayed on the bank and kept clean. This was late 60's.

[@rikijett310]

They are still being effected by Chicago sewage.

[@Edgar-kl6us]

The area in question, is still being flowed into the Grand Calumet river, from the waste water plants & centers of Gary, East Chicago, Whiting, and Hammond, Indiana into the little Calumet river, the Des Plaines, and into the Illinois river, which is the confluence, of the Kankakee, The Grand Calumet, the little Calumet rivers, plus the Kankakee, the Iroquois river, and the DesPlaines, rivers make up the bulk of the Illinois river, which adds several rivers to the already lengthening list, before it dumps into the mighty Mississippi River, … like the DuPage, The Fox, The Rock river, and others combine to make the Illinois river a very long, and influential river in Illinois, feeding the Mississippi River, … plus the Old Hammond, Indiana Lead plant has also tainted the drinking waters …of East Chicago, and Hammond, Indiana, before continuing downstream to the convergence of the DesPlaines River, … and all towns, and suburbs along the way, … plus the facts that the old Standard Oil plant still use the waters of Lake Michigan, to continue the pollution thereof, … even more so, … It would make me quite happy to see a moratorium on all of Chicago/Wisconsin, from using these water ways in order to stop the continuing pollution of our natural resources, throughout the nation, … even waters of the rest of Indiana’s resources, must abide by the laws created by the EPA, and other federal entities, need to be restricted to filtering, refiltering the waters in use by the masses, that habitate throughout the land, … I guess the one main way to depopulate an area, is to either poison the inhabitants, or create wars, to do the same thing, … I moved away from that area, because of the cancers that one could, would be subjected to, too, … I could not move north because of an accident at work, where, my back was damaged from the work load placed upon me, … and because of biased standing in the community, I was considered a pariah, so I retired, & moved south, to a warmer climate… where my bones do not ache as much, … and often consider this my home now, …

[@henrivanbemmel]

Well isn't it great when you can dump your crap on another city!! Dr. Low correctly speaks of the unfairness to the natives. Hell the Europeans were quite willing to screw the cities/towns down river for their own success. In our politically correct,bend over backwards to be sensitive to others feelings, culture we have today it utterly foreign to us to hear how hard-hearted people were to each other, to animals and the environment not that long ago. I'm 62, as boy I knew plenty of men, due to the circumstances of their time were hard as nails. We need to remember, whatever morality you want to exert here, that all the comforts we enjoy today are due to these people; their steel-spined determination and their mistakes.

[@henrivanbemmel]

@@federyko00 Practically all of human history has been one if wars, subjugation, rape, enslavement. I think, socially, that since WW2 this notion has been largely set aside. Given how hard this has been for practically every culture, as even North American aboriginals fought amongst themselves etc. However regrettable, at least to some, it most important to go forward in fairness. We cannot undo the issues of the past. For in the past, and perhaps in the future, these things were not sins, but economic expansion. You can look in askance at all of this, but remember all our current comforts that are shared by many around the come from these beginnings.

[@user-nr4mr5ul3u]

Thanks you.

[@jimneustadt2688]

Great presentation

[@BobatBG]

Being downstream of any pollution source is not a good thing despite all the treatment. And it always has to do with how much $ folks are willing to spend to clean up stuff. Mostly I am not convinced that it is a good idea to make a direct connection of those two watersheds are the best decision despite what the experts say - I agree with the one fellow messing with nature at this level is risky!

[@XmalD73]

Fascinating tale of human intervention/interference that launched a series of unintended or unanticipated consequences. Remind me of the actions of one Captain Henry M. Shreve digging a canal to avoid a bend in the Mississippi River, and subsequent removal of an old log jam on the Atchafalaya River. Now the Mississippi wants to change course which would be a disaster for New Orleans, and the US. One would hope we learn from our mistakes!

[@wdmm94]

They will spend all that money and effort to divert a river but they wouldn't build a wastewater, or water, treatment plant????? Like the guy at 50:50 said. Good grief, they destroyed other peoples's livelihoods and stunk up other peoples's backyards instead of fixing THEIR mess.

[@boataxe4605]

You’ve heard of the Big Bang theory,this was the Big Flush theory. Chicago sent it’s sewage to St.Louis,St.Louis sent it’s sewage to Memphis, and Memphis sent it’s sewage to New Orleans.

[@St63420]

Shit rolls down hill? STATE?😂

[@mprest10]

Wonderful documentary!!! Thank you WTTW! 👍

[@Dinkledorpher]

Interesting. Now I know how it was done.

[@stephenmoerlein8470]

Interesting history. I once lived in Chicago, and now live in St Louis, so I understand both sides of the debate.

[@jorahtheandals8877]

So is chicago guilty?

[@karenneill9109]

Amazing how much work it took to do this, only to be unnecessary in the long run.

[@gailhandschuh1138]

So glad that Michigan and the other Great Lakes states fight to save our water supply. It was irresponsible of Chicago to save themselves by endangering the health of half of the country in this way. And in the end, it was really only a problem that they CHOSE TO FORCE ON SO MANY OTHER CITIES.

[@blairweinberg6279]

What this documentary underlines is that no one cares less about Americans than other Americans.

[@gnorman8852]

Many "down state" (south of I-80) Illinoisians toy with the idea of making the Chicago metropolitan area its own state. With polluting our water, taking most of the state's politics along its tax money there, not sure we'd miss its company. 😂

[@mountainjeff]

None of us were around back then. However, the corruption and criminal activity of the political power of that city are still here. Right, Hillary?

[@phuturephunk]

@@gnorman8852 Why would you want to cutoff your nose to spite your face. I find it kind of interesting that there's this same sort of talk in Illinois that there is in NYS in regards to NYC. You cleave the two cities away from their States and you're left with an 85 percent drop in gross state product. You want to be Mississippi? Because that's how you get to be Mississippi.

[@J-1410]

@@phuturephunk You'd be more so like Iowa or the Dakota's. One large are with about the same general ideas, instead of one big area ruled by a spot that shares nothing with the rest of the area, aside from the name. No one cares about state GDP when you're being taxed and ran over politically. Also, no that's not how you become Mississippi. Mississippi would have to be something big first for that comparison to work.

[@safetymikeengland]

26:30 - i wonder where that box of soil went? Probly in an obscure museum storage facility somewhere.

[@fredflintstoner596]

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

[@garysprandel1817]

Took me waaaaay longer than it should have to recognize that being from Fawlty Towers.

[@fredflintstoner596]

YOU IS WIT NIT !@@garysprandel1817

[@percywillis]

Thats dope how the water flows through the city. They wanted to do Something similar in Dallas. They have not completed it yet.

[@jaysoncody8716]

The one rule of thumb has always been! Is to never shit where you eat and drink!

[@charleshaggard4341]

I live in a small town and our first sewage treatment plant was built in 1962. Before that it flowed untreated into a river.

[@pazza4555]

We humans aren't so bright sometimes. Now we have cities fixing Combined Sewer Overflow under court orders because our dated sanitary sewer systems still dump into waterways after storms. I accidentally typed Samurai sewer systems, which is way cooler.

[@KingSpaceySprockets]

@@pazza4555I don’t think you understand that the technology wasn’t developed yet. I’m sure if it was, then we wouldn’t be using overflow sewage systems.

[@truckwhisperer116]

I'm impressed! Took much longer than I anticipated to hear someone bring up the "climate crisis ".

[@kelvintorrence5994]

i was told when i was young,lake erie in erie pa was a toilet 2,tons of junk and i herd i was on fire a couple of times, i live about 1 hour from erie

[@fabiodriven]

You still have to expect to live in filth in cities to this day.

[@mrs.morris5506]

I had always wondered about those low-lying residences on the southwest side. Now I know why it's constructed that way.

[@twosencefromcleveland6084]

No one involved was understanding root-cause. It's density of population. Cities should not overgrow their boundaries of resources and should never do major activities that effect others.

[@danielwiley5796]

It was a sewer back then literally and it is a sewer today politically

[@JohnJohn-nh2rl]

funny the never thought to stop dumping and cleaning it 😅

[@deepharrow8520]

Caprice, Dolomite, sheesh this reminds me of my childhood

[@wyattnordin9263]

Life is not fair, never has been and never will be. Accept that fact, and live a happier life!

[@paulsccna2964]

I was just down-town Chicago last week, walking around and the smell of raw sewage is always in the air.

[@jedpeeler4199]

Probably was from the homeless bums. The area that has the most raw sewage smell is Stickney, home of one of the World's largest wastewater treatment plants, and home to the World's largest and most colorful dragonflies and eighteen foot sunflowers! I used to work downstream from the plant on the Sanitary and Ship Canal. Smelled it every day! Not too bad for its' size!

[@finnmcginn9931]

At the 34 minute mark they make it out to seem as if it's a few trustees wiith shovels attempting to breach the frozen earthen dam, seconds later a dredge operator completes the task. The workers in suits never picked up those shovels, that seems like urban legend.

[@jedpeeler4199]

Everyone in Chicago knows that the ground is frozen until the middle of April.

[@johncashwell1024]

Interesting documentary! I live in Michigan and visit Chicago often. Of course we all know about asian carp and the electric fence, but I had no idea about the flow direction, past or present, of the Chicago river. All crap, literally, was flowing into the lake but then stagnated right at the exit point since lakes do not 'flow' in the manner that rovers do. That was heck of an undertaking simply reverse the flow of the river. Funny thing is, and the Chief Justice talks about it in his notes on the Opinion, that St. Louis sending all its sewage into the Mississippi for other cities to deal with just as they claimed Chicago was going to do to them. Of course, every city and town in the world did the same thing at that time; today many still do. Doesn't make it right, its just the facts.

[@marlinweekley51]

The illinois river is basically a sewer even today. Every town along the river sends there sewage down river when storm water exceeds treatment plants’ capacity. Its also basically silted in from erosion run off and full of phosphates and nitrogen from fertilizer run off. Its full of invasive carp that have destroyed many other species. Put a boat in the river for a hour and when you take it out theres a cruddy oily brown film on the bottom. 😜

[@jedpeeler4199]

The only time I ever kept a fish in Illinois was when I "noodled" a salmon at Illinois State Beach at Wadsworth. Delicious. Go out a mile on Lake Michigan, there, and you can drink the water right out of the lake. You do have to dodge the ore carriers, though.

[@kentkearney6623]

With 38:55 a name like Holmes you can believe everyone is safe until the fair of 1893.

[@PeterLee-zn3jl]

Siting Chicago in lowlands..and NOT CONSIDERING POLLUTION IS A LESSON... OH MY... PAY NOW...OR.. PAY LATER

[@michaelmccray3207]

Glad they stopped using the river as a toilet and started using the El to go to the bathroom

[@janaleland9038]

Maybe we need to put more money and effort into individual sanitation needs, ie. free restrooms for everyone.

[@c.r.p.968]

The name Ossian is the Scottish spelling of the Irish, Oisín, pronounced O SHEEN', not oss ee an'.

[@ShaneM420]

Who cares

[@zane43]

A large number of the commenters have negative views of this thing, but KZbin indicates 4.7k likes and 0 dislikes. What's up with that?

[@strawgynxking5944]

KZbin doesn't show dislikes anymore, ever since COVID controversy

[@PatrickBaptist]

YT doesn't show ZERO dislikes, you're lying, YT stopped showing dislikes 2-3 years ago. What would be the positive view on reversing shite river to pooh on St Louis??? Then invasive fish enter the water way and further damage the already ruined ecosystem...... Big cities have always been a blight on this country and every other country, always having to look to find someone to dump their shite on.... Chicago is a big waste of money to live in a filthy polluted area, you couldn't pay me to move there even if I could quit working, mountain life is for me where we don't deal with city slicker problems, we use septic tanks and don't dump our waste in the river (well most don't it's not legal anyways).

[@David-uy4jz]

Didvthey revetse the direction of thevriver,? Or did they redirect the outlet of the river?

[@chuckfry1227]

Yes the actual Chicago river was reversed. It started north west of the city. The Des Plaines river was always flowing to the Mississippi River. That’s why they made the two rivers connect, and both rivers flowed to the Mississippi River. Before the connection the Chicago river the only flow was from rain water, which was only a tiny bit of flow to the lake.

[@jedpeeler4199]

The Des Plaines River was also very polluted. If your foot went into the water, it would swell up like an elephant from all the plating chemicals dumped into it. I used to feel sorry for the carp that had to live there. It also smelled like concentrated detergent and was full of twenty foot tall bubbles where the dams crossed the river! @@chuckfry1227

[@ShakespeareCafe]

Diverting the flow and polluting the Mighty Mississip, the Old Man, Big River

[@haroldwilliams4183]

I wouldn't wade in the Chicago river today. You will not make me belive that a river running through a city is not polluted.

[@jedpeeler4199]

Having been born, educated, and worked there, I'm with you!

[@drgunnwilliams8239]

People still piss & shit in the river from homeless to drunks out on the town

[@RattyFlyer]

Southern States : Thanks for the cholera

[@havenzhai5187]

If the canal was built today it would take 30 years, union squabbles and 300 billion dollars.

[@PatrickBaptist]

Unions are ruining this nation and driving jobs off to other countries...... Altogether they have made theirself useless. I don't need more ticks sucking off me, I'd never join a union, it's just another game from foolmasons.

[@danielfantino1714]

Now i know what was that special taste in Montreal´s water. It was "Chicago flavor and aroma" 😅😊

[@safetymikeengland]

30:30 - what difference does it make what color the workers were? Workers moved the soil, and built the canal. Period. Workers. People who worked.

[@999pr1]

Big difference in how they were treated, paid, and where they worked. same as many other industrial and social situations.

[@smokeythebear1633]

wouldn't be public access television without race baiting BS

[@mitchellhorn1102]

Chief, any group of people (no matter how they are "othered") get treated differently and usually for the worse. American history, and world history to an extent, is riddled with stories of that decades (though all were oppressed for far longer) in-vogue peon-group being walked all over and treated as subhuman. It is important to understand how that affected the trajectory of those peoples lives and those of their descendants. So we know how best to remedy those effects in the future.

[@stewpacalypse7104]

But did the river ever catch on fire? The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire multiple times in the 50s & 60s.

[@jedpeeler4199]

No, the Chicago River never burned, but the house I lived in had burned down in 1871, as my ancestors looked on from Lake Michigan. They rebuilt it.

[@markmcgoveran6811]

I rode on the boat called the Chicago trader and I worked up in on that area Lamont was our home base. It was very nasty but it got cleaner out over a decade it still will take decades more before it clears out enough to be anything natural. I saw rats run across a river full of floating guts and I saw that bubbling Creek place. I rode on a boat through the steel mill area and I went 6 hours making 5 or 6 mi an hour easily and I never saw a single blade of grass. I was glad I was only naughty and I was hell's own boatman. It was hellish in its own way,

[@michiganporter]

Weird how that heavy masonry looks old as hell and looks like they just cleaned out the existing canal in some images...it's hard to tell but the old foundations aren't lieing...

[@HoverLambo]

So basically, first half: solve the problem, by making it somebody elses problem...

[@denjhill]

I'm left wondering what value the Chicago River provides to the city. Could it not just be filled in?

[@frankhandley7648]

Probably 15 minutes of useful information in this doc.

[@polly2587]

They should have bought up the unusable farms. Those people didn’t deserve that

[@movinon216]

Genius American Engineering I’m proud but again!

[@pamelasmith7740]

Maybe it's time to figure out how to clean up the muck. The lady in the end of this documentary is great at deflecting with her upbeat almost joyful voice accentuating the positives. She left out the fact that this great development stands in place at the loss of the little guys downstream. Now that the major damage has passed one would think that the main objective would be a continued effort to reverse the damage done instead another reverse of the poop ditch. As long as people in power continue to sacrifice whatever and whoever they consider expendable we all pay the price in the end. You've got a lot going on up there. Chicago is an amazing place. My first adventure there was telling. The bus driver wouldn't let us off the bus to pee at the first stop. For our own safety. After a short wait I went on to enjoy the field museum then back to Bloomington. Then I moved back home to rural Illinois, corn fields, bean fields and oil wells. I'd love to go back some day. I didn't get to enjoy much of my last two trips. The lake was beautiful but boy was it cold and windy and spitting snow. I didn't even get to try the pizza. 😢

[@tonyhanson1710]

Poor people working hard to better their lives….. hmmmm sounds like good incentive. Work hard have pride no matter what your skin color is and work for a better future. What a concept! 🎉

[@jedpeeler4199]

Chicago always was a place that you had to work inordinately hard to make a decent living.

[@PatrickBaptist]

Pride was the first sin of the devil, most people burn in hell because they don't want to repent of their pride and be humble. The Bible says over and over how pride is foolish and God resists the proud.

[@TPS070]

Damn never knew Chicago was some nasty ass mf's like that

[@GaryEllington-dy8li]

Well, something had to be done with the river, or there would never be a Chicago!

[@6421rich]

Not fair to dump toxic waste on your neighbors

[@jeffhowland867]

Yeah. That would be a real shame.

[@GordonWLearn]

We have the tech & $ now to clean the water & return the water in the river into its intended direction.

[@boataxe4605]

Yes, but everything that is built along the river such as the river walk is designed for the river being at it’s current height. Un reversing the river would make the river four to five feet higher. Also the sanitary and ship canal would have to be closed, and it is a major commercial waterway that connects the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

[@dickdavidson3616]

Two separate systems: i) Disconnect drainage pipe from Lake Michigan. ii) All surface runoff and storm drainage pipes discharge/outlet into Lake Michigan. iii) All grey and black sewage water drainage systems discharge/outlet into the existing Sewage Treatment System and discharge into the existing outlet of the Des Plaines River and Mississippi River.

[@PatrickBaptist]

"we have the $"?? This nation has trillions of dollars in debt, we don't have any money, we have DEBT. Just Chicago and it's tax payers need to feel their own burden, everyone else shouldn't have to pay for their mess because they want to over populate a low lying land.....

[@brettcurtis5710]

Ah, so that's why the bar in CHEERS was below street level!!

[@andymcdermott765]

This happened all across the US, send the problem somewhere else, let them deal with it..