Canals and Railroads:Canals and Railroads:

• These methods of transportation were the key to Chicago’s growth in the 1800s

• They helped Chicago grow faster than any other city in the Midwest

• The I&M Canal and the city’s first railroad both opened in 1848

This is the Canal Origins location in the Bridgeportneighborhood of Chicago today

Canal Construction

This is an actual picture of workers building the canal

Construction took place from 1836 to 1848

Origins Site, 2800 S. Ashland

• This drawing from 1871 shows an attempt to deepen the canal and reverse the flow of the Chicago River

• This would not work, and the river would not be reversed until the Sanitary and Ship Canal was built in 1900 using technology that would later be used to build the Panama Canal

Route of the I & M Canal

• The canal was 96 miles long, and it stretched from Chicago to LaSalle Peru

• Still passes through towns such as Lockport, Joliet, and Ottawa today

• Portion that was in Chicago is mostly paved over by the Stevenson Expressway (55) and can no longer be seen in the city

When the canal opened, boats often started off on the Chicago

River before heading into the canal

Towns along the I & M Canal

• Many towns along the canal had grain elevators

• One in Seneca still exists today

Other historic views of towns along the I&M Canal

Examples of aqueducts and locks

Though the canal was important for Chicago history….

It would not be long before the railroad would overtake the canal

in importance

Galena and Chicago Union Railroad

• The first train was called the Pioneer, and it ran from Chicago to Galena

• On display at CHM

A train coming through Galena, Illinois, today

Canals and railroads would help bring a lot of businesses to Chicago, such as….

GRAIN TRADE

LUMBER

MEATPACKING

MAIL-ORDER CATALOG

Over a century and a half later…

canals and railroads are still important ways that Chicago is connected to the

rest of the country.

Today, the Sanitary and Ship Canal, opened in 1900, is still used for shipping goods.

And trains still link Chicago to the rest of the state and country.