A Bicentennial Inventory of America's Historic Canal Resources
Published by the American Canal Society, 117 Main St., Freemansburg, PA 18017
DRAFT                                                                         Midwest                                              February, 2007

MIDWEST CANALS

Illinois
       Calumet Sag Channel
       Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal
       Fox River
       Hennepin Canal (Illinois & Mississippi)
       Illinois & Michigan Canal
       Illinois Waterway
       Kaskaskia River 
       Kankakee Navigation
       North Shore Channel
       Ohio River

Michigan
      Crystal Lake Outlet
      Keweenaw Waterway
      North Michigan Waterway
      Saginaw - Grand River
      St. Mary's River (Soo Canal)
      Clinton - Kalamazoo Canal

upper Mississippi River

Wisconsin
      Fox River Navigation
      Milwaukee Rock River Canal
      Portage Canal
      Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal

HENNEPIN CANAL  by Gary Wagle

The Hennepin Canal, in Illinois, can be imagined as an inverted "T."  The Feeder forms the stem of the T; and the Main Canal, with it’s 32 locks, forms the cross line of the inverted T.  The water that fills the Canal comes from the Rock River, located at the top of the inverted T’s stem, where there is the Guard Lock, which is in Rock Falls.  The water from the Rock River flows down the Feeder, with no locks, for 29.3 miles where it joins the Main Canal just West of Sheffield.  The water then flows both East and West.  The water flowing East spills into the Illinois River at Bureau Junction at Lock 1.  The water that flows West spills back into the Rock River at Colona, Lock 29.

The area where the Feeder junctions the main Canal is called the Summit Pool, and the Summit Pool, located between locks 21 and 22, is 11 miles long.  The distance East from the Summit Pool to the Illinois River is 18 miles and the drop down to the Illinois River is 196 feet, which is stepped down through 21 locks.  The distance West from the Summit Pool to the Rock River at Colona is 32.9 miles and the drop down to the Rock River is about 90 feet, which is stepped down through eight locks.

Canal boats traveling West that wanted to travel the Mississippi River would, after leaving Lock 29 at Colona, travel down the Rock River to Milan where they would reenter the Canal at Lock 30, just upstream of the Steel Dam.  The Canal continues from Lock 30 to the Mississippi River at Lock 32, located on Big Island, West of Rock Island.

The Main Canal, including the 8.8 mile trip on the Rock River is 75.2 miles. The combined distances of the Main and Feeder Canals is 104.5 miles

Map of the Hennepin Canal
by Gary Wagle

The Hennepin Canal (or Illinois and Mississippi Canal) connects the Illinois River coming from the Chicago area at the point it changes from a westward direction to southward flowing to the Mississippi River near Rock Island.  It was planned to haul Midwestern grain and reduce the travel distance between the upper Mississippi River and Chicago.  It was proposed for many decades, but not constructed until 1892 - 1907 by the Corps of Engineers.  It was built with concrete locks 35 feet by 170 feet long.   When opened, it connected at the east end with the Illinois and Michigan Canal which had much smaller locks and later with the Illinois Waterway which had much larger locks.  As such, it never lived up to its expectations.  It was the last U.S. towpath canal built.  Its locks were closed to navigation in 1951, but it remains watered throughout as a state park.

 

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Revised 2/13/07