The Feeders

To handle waste from the north side and flush the river system, the Sanitary District opened the North Shore Channel in 1909. This pulled lake water into the North Branch through downtown and flushed sewage into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

To handle waste from the south side, they connected the Calumet River to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1922. The Cal-Sag (short for Calumet-Saganashkee) reversed the flow of the Calumet, and this route quickly overtook the Chicago River as the regions primary commercial waterway.