This lock is located between the waters of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River.   It was part of the project to reverse the course of the River.    This was built by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.  It was built between 1936 and 1938.  It was originally built to prevent contamination of Lake Michigan water by the polluted water of the Chicago River.  Currently it separates Chicago River Storm water from the Lake.   It also regulates the amount of Lake water entering the River.  In 1984, the operation and maintenance of the lock was transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The lock is 600 feet long and 80 feet wide.  It is 22 feet deep.  Filling and emptying the lock occurs through a partially opened gate.  The lock maintains a 2 to 5 foot water height differential between the Lake and the River.

The control house was replaced in 2007.  The lock gates were renovated in 2011.  The lock is operated 24 hours a day.

This is a swing  bridge over the Sanitary and Ship Canal. It is the longest on the  ship canal.  It is located between Kedzie Avenue and California Avenue in Cicero, Illinois.   It is also known as the Illinois Central Swing Bridge # 2.  It was built in  1899.  Its design is Pratt through truss.   The sub structure contractors were the McArthur Brothers and Winston and Company.  The superstructure contractor was the Toledo Bridge Company.  It’s cost was $110,644.  The completed bridge was 2,511,140 pounds. It rested on a central pier.  The bridge pivoted on this pier to create navigable channels on either side.

Its length is 479 feet.   Railroads having used the bridge include CN, Chicago Madison and Northern RR., and the Illinois Central Railroad.

The 18th street railroad bridge is actually 2 bridges.  One is called the Saint Charles Air Line Bridge.    This is currently owned by the CN railroad.  It is the southern most of the two bridges.  It was originally 260 feet in length.  It was  built in 1919.  It was designed to be modified when the Chicago River straightening project was completed.

The bridge was was designed by the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company.  It was fabricated by the American Bridge Company.  It was a double track structure.  It was assembled in its original location by the Ferro Construction Company.    The original substructure was built by the Foundation Company of New York.

When the river straightening project was completed, the bridge was moved and shortened in 1930.  E.J. Albrecht Company built the relocation substructure.  The Stroebel Steel Construction Company dismantled and and re-erected the superstructure in its location.  The bridge was shortened to 220 feet.  This  bridge  is still operational.

The adjacent bridge was commissioned  by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.   It was constructed by the American Bridge Company.    It contained two tracks.  It is a single leaf Strauss trunnion bascule bridge.  It measures 186 feet in length.  Its supports are concrete.

 

The second bridge over the Cal Sag Canal is the Archer Avenue Bridge.  This is located in Lemont.  It is a Pennsylvania Truss Bridge with a west side pedestrian walk.  It was built in 1934.  It is 507 feet in length and 43.9 feet in width.  It was renovated in 1997.  It is currently painted blue.

Photos added 4/9/2018

This is a view of this bridge from the Archer Avenue Bridge.

 

This is a view of this bridge from a boat at the junction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Cal Sag Canal.

This is the first bridge across the Cal Sag Canal traveling from west to east.  It is currently being used by the CN railroad.  Other railroads using this bridge include  Amtrak and Metra.   The builder is unknown.  Date of construction is unknown.   It is 395 feet in length.  Its design is typical of railroad bridges on the Cal Sag Canal.  It is riveted metal truss technology.

     This unusual bridge crosses the Sanitary and Ship Canal west of the south Western Avenue Traffic Bridge.  It was constructed in 1901 and 1909-1910. The construction was done in 1901 by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company.   The 1909-1910 construction was done by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works.

     The original contract was awarded to Scherzer.  Its design was four parallel double tracked, double leaf bridges.  This was to accommodate multiple railroad lines that crossed the Ship Canal at this site.

     In 1908, Chicago Bridge and Iron Works was awarded a contract to erect a new bridge using existing approach spans and piers.  The new piers were placed adjacent to the old ones.

    The bridges are four parallel single-leaf Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule bridges.  Each bridge has two sets of tracks.  The lift bridges are 140 feet in length.  The original lines using the bridges were Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis Railroad,the Illinois Stock Yards and Transit Railroad, Chicago and Northern Pacific Railroad.  The supporting piers are limestone covered with concrete.

     Other railroads that have used these bridges include Baltimore and Ohio Terminal Railroad, CSX Railroad, CN Railroad, Chicago Junction Railroad, Norfolk Southern Railroad..

     The two western spans are no longer operational.

This railroad lift bridge is the only remaining one on the Chicago River.  It was originally built for the Pennsylvania Railroad.  It is located near Canal St.

It was constructed in 1915.  It replaced an existing bridge. It is now operated and maintained by Amtrak.

The bridge was designed by Waddell and Harrington.  Pennsylvania Steel Company fabricated the main span.  This weighed 1500 tons.  It contained two tracks.  It was 272 feet.  The two lift towers were 195 feet in height.  They rested on concrete piers.  The original bridge tender cabin rested on the top of the main spam.  The bridge is now controlled from a location near the base of the bridge.

Much of the information was found in HAER IL–112

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry, Illinois is a small town in central Illinois Bureau County.   It current population is approximately 500.    In the early 1900’s, it was a coal mining town.  The mine was started by the Saint Paul Coal Company in 1905. It was operational until 1927.   It provided coal to the Milwaukee Railroad.  In its prime, it produced 1,500 tons a day.  The mine consisted of three horizontal shafts of varying depth and two vertical connecting shafts.  The mine was considered to be safe at the time.  It had a ventilation fan.  It was thought to be fire proof.  It was illuminated with electric lights.  The miners were predominantly Italian immigrants.  Many spoke no English.  Many children some as young as 11 worked in the mine.

     The mine was the site of one of the worst mine disasters in the United States at the time.  It occurred on  November 13, 1909.  At the time there were approximately 500 miners working.  There had been an electrical shortage and the mine light system was not operational.  The miners switched to the old kerosene lanterns.    At approximately noon, a car filled with hay caught fire and spread to the support timbers.   The fire spread despite many maneuvers used to control it.   There were approximately 259 victims of this disaster.  Shortly after November the mine was sealed and left that way for 3 months.  It was then reopened and the bodies of the missing miners.

The Saint Paul Mining Company paid $1800 to the families of the victims.