Quote:
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 273 miles (439 km) long, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of 40,000 square miles (104,000 km²). The river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. The colonial settlements along the river formed the heart of the area known as the Illinois Country. After the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Hennepin Canal in the 19th century, the river's role as link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi was extended into the era of modern industrial shipping. The Illinois River is an important part of the Great loop; the circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water.
Quote:
The Illinois Waterway system consists of 336 miles of water from the mouth of the Chicago River to the mouth of the Illinois River at Grafton, Illinois. It is a system of rivers, lakes, and canals which provide a shipping connection from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1849. In 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal replaced it and reversed the flow of the Chicago River so it no longer flowed into Lake Michigan. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a 9 foot deep navigation channel in the waterway.[1]
Read it carefully please, or you'll miss the connection in all those river and junk. It took me a bit to find the right sources, and I'm scared to cut anything...
Bill, I promise, it collects great lakes water and it puts it into the Mississippi. The only reason I know any of this is because my great great granwhatever was captured in the War Between the STates, and interred at Camp Douglas, on the shore of Lake Michigan. He died there and his grave was eaten by the lake. I did a bunch of reasearch on this back in the 90's when I was doing some geneology work.
I know you Canucks have trouble with the idea that anybody but you can be hurt by Yankee polution, but they've been pooing in our food for years and years, same as you guys...
