These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
MWRD: North Shore Channel and Wilmette Pumping Station
MWRD posted on Dec 11, 2022 Work on the Wilmette Pumping Station, lock, and the Sheridan Road Bridge on April 24, 1911.
MWRD posted Work on the Wilmette Pumping Station, lock and the Sheridan Road bridge on April 24, 1911.
MWRD posted two photos with the comment: "Two views of the Wilmette Pumping Station, navigation lock and the Sheridan Road Bridge at the north end of the North Shore Channel on February 9, 1928." Charles M. LaBow Is there any difference in elevation between the north end of the channel and the south end, where it joins the river or is pumping required to maintain a southward flow? Kim IuCharles M. LaBow I'm not sure of the elevation further south toward downtown, but from the elevation gauges here at the O'Brien plant, the lake is about 4ft higher than the river level at Wilmette, and it drops another 1.5ft by the North Branch Pumping Station(Lawrence Ave), so the water flows south by just gravity alone.
1 MWRD posted The Wilmette Pumping Station looking northeast at the North Shore Channel side of the station and bridge on February 9, 1928.
2 MWRD posted The Wilmette Pumping Station and the Sheridan Road bridge on February 9, 1928.
MWRD posted on Dec 14, 2022 A scraper removes topsoil on June 8, 1904, in an area near Addison Street in Chicago. The Sanitary District of Chicago (now the MWRD) straightened and enlarged portions of the North Branch of the Chicago River at the beginning of the 20th century to improve drainage and reduce flooding. The original river was a relatively small, curved, and meandering stream between Lawrence and Belmont Avenues. By the end of the project, some portions of the river were widened and deepened, and other areas were filled in and replaced by a completely new channel.
MWRD posted A steam scraper removing topsoil in an area between Montrose and Lawrence Avenues on May 21, 1904. The Sanitary District of Chicago (now the MWRD) straightened and enlarged a portion of the North Branch of the Chicago River at the beginning of the 20th century to improve drainage and reduce flooding. The original river was a relatively small, curved and meandering stream between Lawrence Ave and Belmont Ave. By the end of the project, some portions of the river were widened and deepened, and other areas were filled in and replaced by a completely new channel.
MWRD posted Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Linden Avenue in Wilmette, Illinois, on September 21, 1908. Construction of the eight-mile channel began in 1907 and was complete in 1910. MWRD posted Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Linden Avenue in Wilmette, Illinois, looking north on September 21, 1908. Construction of the eight-mile channel began in 1907 and was complete in 1910.
MWRD posted Excavation of the North Shore Channel on December 23, 1908.
MWRD posted on Oct 28, 2021 A steam shovel moves material during construction of the North Shore Channel on May 24, 1910.
MWRD posted on Nov 2, 2022 Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Green Bay Road and the Chicago and North Western Railroad bridge in Evanston, Illinois, on June 6, 1910.
MWRD posted on Mar 16, 2022 Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Touhy Avenue on June 7, 1910.
MWRD posted on Nov 19, 2022 Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Main Street in Evanston, Illinois, on June 7, 1910.
MWRD posted on Nov 10, 2022 A view to the northeast showing construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station on August 15, 1910.
MWRD posted A view to the northeast showing construction of four pump tunnels at the Wilmette Pumping Station on August 29, 1910. The pumping station and the Sheridan Road bridge are located at the northern end of the North Shore Channel and were built between 1908 and 1910.
MWRD posted on Nov 23, 2022 A view of four pump tunnels during construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station on August 29, 1910.
MWRD posted A view to the southwest showing construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station, lock and the Sheridan Road Bridge on November 2, 1910.
MWRD posted Construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station and lock on November 25, 1910, with Wilmette Harbor and Lake Michigan in the background.
MWRD posted
A steam shovel in action during excavation for the North Shore Channel near Lake Michigan on May 9, 1908. MWRD posted on May 10, 2023
MWRD posted A portion of the nearly complete North Shore Channel in Chicago and work on the Lincoln Avenue bridge abutments and piers is seen in this photo from November 25, 1910, viewed looking north from the Peterson Avenue Bridge. MWRD posted
MWRD
Wilmette Pumping Station construction 1910. Wilmette Harbor & Lake Michigan in background.
MWRD posted Construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station, lock, and the Sheridan Road Bridge on November 2, 1910. This facility is located at the northern end of the North Shore Channel and was built between 1908 and 1910.
MWRD posted A view to the north showing construction of four pump tunnels at the Wilmette Pumping Station on August 15, 1910. The pumping station, lock and Sheridan Road Bridge are located at the northern end of the North Shore Channel and were built between 1908 and 1910.
MWRD posted on Mar 28, 2022 Construction of the Wilmette Pumping Station on August 29, 1910.
The building of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal and the dredging and widening of the Main Stem and South Branch of the Chicago River provided enough flow of water from Lake Michigan to flush the sewage and industrial wastes in those bodies of water towards the Gulf of Mexico. But the North Branch did not have a strong enough flow of water to flush it. So the MWRD built the North Shore Channel from where it turns west north to the lake at Wilmette. This provides a strong flow to flush the output of the Lawrence Avenue Pumping Station that is just a couple blocks south of the terminus of the channel.
To regulate the level of the channel, and consequently the North Branch, a pumping station and lock was completed under Sheridan Road in 1912. For years I have wondered why they built such a long channel to the north rather than a short channel to the east because the level of the lake doesn't change as they go north. When I saw the date of 1912, it occurred to me that the land further from the lake would still be undeveloped. If they dug the channel to the east, they would have had to purchase a lot of developed land along the lake shore.
MWRD posted
A view to the southwest from Wilmette Harbor showing the Wilmette Pumping Station, lock and Sheridan Road Bridge on May 5, 1926.
Looking towards the lake, under Sheridan Road, we see the pumping station on the left and the lock(s) on the right. On the far right is the Baha'i House of Worship.
Screenshot from a MWRD video. Note that, except for the first sentence, the YouTube comment is for another facility.
MWRD posted Excavation for a section of the North Shore Channel near Emerson Street in Evanston on September 21, 1908.
MWRD posted Excavation for the North Shore Channel in an area near Lincoln Avenue in Chicago on December 23, 1908. Construction of the eight-mile channel began in 1907 and was complete in 1910.
MWRD posted Excavation for Section 6 of the North Shore Channel in an area between Greenleaf and Main Streets in Evanston, Illinois, on October 16, 1908. The cableway excavators allowed for simultaneous excavation on both sides of the channel. One of the towers was destroyed by a fire in 1909 and work in Section 6 had to stop until the tower was rebuilt. Construction of the entire eight-mile North Shore Channel, which was divided into 11 Sections, began in 1907 and was complete in 1910.
MWRD posted on Apr 8, 2022 A view of excavation for the North Shore Channel on July 12, 1909,
MWRD posted on Dec 16, 2022 Workers in the nearly complete North Shore Channel north of Central Street in Evanston, Illinois, on June 6, 1910.
MWRD posted The North Shore Channel in Wilmette, Illinois, viewed from the Hill Street (now Maple Avenue) bridge towards the Linden Avenue bridge during hydraulic bank sloping work on November 1, 1916.
MWRD posted A view of a new fence and grading along Devon Avenue in Chicago looking west towards the bridge over the North Shore Channel on June 4, 1925.
It was rebuilt in 2012 for $17.5 million. Since they discovered since 1912 that four pumps were not needed, only two pumps were replaced. The other two tunnels are now used just for water flow. They have grates to prevent the Asian Carp from migrating into the lake in case the electric dispersal barrier down by 135th street fails. [SlidePlayer, Slide 4] But I never figured out what is supposed to prevent the carp from going through the locks when the lock gates open. The 30' wide lock was replaced with three diversion tunnels. (Another source said it was three 10' locks, but it looks like that source was wrong.)
Unfortunately, there was a significant rainfall event, and thus river flooding, during the construction.
WGNTV
Flooding causes a breach of the locks under Sheridan Road in Wilmette, overwhelming construction at the rehabilitation of the diversion pumps at the Wilmette Pump Station. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2013)
MWRD posted Workers assist a diver entering the waters of the North Shore Channel for an inspection of the pump tunnel flap gates at the Wilmette Pumping Station in Wilmette, Illinois, on October 26, 1926.
MWRD posted The east bank of the North Shore Channel in Wilmette, Illinois, between Linden Avenue and the Wilmette Pumping Station and the Sheridan Road Bridge on November 4, 1913. Mark Leibrock: This is where the Baha’i Temple is today.
MWrD posted on May 21, 2022 Hydraulic sluicing on the North Shore Channel on November 1, 1916, looking south from Hill Street (now Maple Avenue) in Evanston, Illinois. The original banks of the North Shore Channel were steep and slope failures were common, with the eroded soil ending up in the waterway. The MWRD addressed the problem in part by making the slopes less steep using hydraulic sluicing, during which a steam-driven pump generated a stream of high-pressure water to loosen some of the soil. The excess soil was then removed via dredging and barges.
A video describing the facility after its rebuild.
(Skip to the professional voiceover.) The narration at 5:10 says the gates provide fish migration. This drives me nuts every time I hear it because the purpose has to be to prohibit fish migration, specifically the Asian Carp.
I've been researching the construction and operation of the channel, recently, as I was interested in comparing and contrasting it with the other waterways in the system. Found lots of reports, research papers, books and even a few current and former employees to bounce questions off of. While I haven't found a comprehensive answer to my questions about past and current operations and purposes, I think I do understand it a bit better than I originally did.
I can confirm above that the outfall for the O'Brien treatment plant creates a gradient that causes weird flows "upstream" (towards Wilmette), so the water level is higher in that part of the channel than at least any area downstream. Some sources say that it creates a stagnant backwater "up" (toward Wilmette) when diversion is not occuring, which is during much of the year. What I'm unsure of is if this flow from the treatment plant is strong enough that it reaches all the way to Wilmette, or if the higher elevation of the bottom of the Channel at Wilmette stops this flow somewhere in between there and O'Brien. What I am sure of is this is the only reason they let in water through Wilmette, anymore: to increase dissolved oxygen levels in the channel, though upsteam of O'Brien in particular because of the generally poor flow downstream. The northen third of the channel is the "cleanest" because of this diversion. However, the studies say that even with the diversion, the dissolved oxygen levels don't meet standards and they are trying to figure out how to get it even higher. Dissolved oxygen is of importance, now, because it keeps the otherwise stagnant channel from stinking.
BTW, from the second the channel was first filled, it was permanently higher than the level of the lake - even high lake levels - because of its use as a sanitary canal, which meant that pumping was continuous for years at least until the treatment plant came online and reduced the need for diversion through the entrance of the channel. This seems to be why it was built as a pumping station, because flood control was not originally envisioned as a use or purpose for the system. As a consequence, it's the only one of the three lakeside controlling structures in which diversion can be an option during scenarios in which the lake remains below the level of the canal system for an extended amount of time. And that has left the question I haven't had answered which is why the later controlling works at Chicago Harbor and the Calumet were not also built with pumping structures. Perhaps, it's because the scenario described above would be so rare as to not justify the costs.
Reading back at the discussion at the top of the blog post, it should be understood that there is very little elevation change throughout the system in Chicago, and this is true of the channel, itself. Water flows primarily as a result of the Lockport controlling works, which creates a water surface gradient or slope. Because Wilmette is the furthest part of the system from this outlet, the North Shore Channel has very little flow, particularly when there is no water being diverted from Lake Michigan, which is now during much of the year. And as I spoke about above, during the period in which no water is being let in from the lake, the near constant flow from the outfall of the O'Brien treatment plant actually disrupt the already small gradient in the channel and cause it to reverse direction a bit.
Listen closer to that embedded video; the voice says "PREVENTING fish migration."
Another thing I've learned from the "Draining Chicago" was about the original lock. It's never explicitly stated, but it is implied that the only reason the Wilmette controlling work has a gate was for construction and maintenance vessels. In fact, they seemed to have discouraged the public from using the channel for navigation for year of waves created by boats eroding the channel slopes, which was a significant problem during construction.
Anyway, the lock had a set of mitre gates which pointed downstream since the water level in the canal was always going to be higher than the lake. But, apparently, they didn't work well with the varying water levels in lake Michigan, the eastern set where replaced with a single slide gate which recessed into the south chamber wall in 1930. But the western miter gates were still giving them headaches; they weren't really designed for backflows. So the western gates were replaced with a roller lift gate in 1959, and they permanently recessed the eastern slide gate into the chamber wall. So after 1959, the rarely used locking function of the structure was abolished, and from there it was used as a sluice.
While removal of the miter gates and thus the locking function was an improvement, there was still one problem: The sluice was so large that opening the gate for backflows created a bit of a tidal wave in Wilmette Harbor and could damage moored boats. More than that, the roller gate reached the end of its life, and wouldn't open all the way. The renovation project in 2012 replaced the single 30-foot roller gate with three smaller hydraulic lift gates for better, more even control of backflows into the lake. The removal of two of the pumps also made it so that they could funnel some of the backflows through those two pump tunnels...and can also use those same tunnels in the other direction for diversion, cutting down on the need for pumps in those rare times when the channel is higher than the lake level.
I've been researching the construction and operation of the channel, recently, as I was interested in comparing and contrasting it with the other waterways in the system. Found lots of reports, research papers, books and even a few current and former employees to bounce questions off of. While I haven't found a comprehensive answer to my questions about past and current operations and purposes, I think I do understand it a bit better than I originally did.
ReplyDeleteI can confirm above that the outfall for the O'Brien treatment plant creates a gradient that causes weird flows "upstream" (towards Wilmette), so the water level is higher in that part of the channel than at least any area downstream. Some sources say that it creates a stagnant backwater "up" (toward Wilmette) when diversion is not occuring, which is during much of the year. What I'm unsure of is if this flow from the treatment plant is strong enough that it reaches all the way to Wilmette, or if the higher elevation of the bottom of the Channel at Wilmette stops this flow somewhere in between there and O'Brien. What I am sure of is this is the only reason they let in water through Wilmette, anymore: to increase dissolved oxygen levels in the channel, though upsteam of O'Brien in particular because of the generally poor flow downstream. The northen third of the channel is the "cleanest" because of this diversion. However, the studies say that even with the diversion, the dissolved oxygen levels don't meet standards and they are trying to figure out how to get it even higher. Dissolved oxygen is of importance, now, because it keeps the otherwise stagnant channel from stinking.
BTW, from the second the channel was first filled, it was permanently higher than the level of the lake - even high lake levels - because of its use as a sanitary canal, which meant that pumping was continuous for years at least until the treatment plant came online and reduced the need for diversion through the entrance of the channel. This seems to be why it was built as a pumping station, because flood control was not originally envisioned as a use or purpose for the system. As a consequence, it's the only one of the three lakeside controlling structures in which diversion can be an option during scenarios in which the lake remains below the level of the canal system for an extended amount of time. And that has left the question I haven't had answered which is why the later controlling works at Chicago Harbor and the Calumet were not also built with pumping structures. Perhaps, it's because the scenario described above would be so rare as to not justify the costs.
Reading back at the discussion at the top of the blog post, it should be understood that there is very little elevation change throughout the system in Chicago, and this is true of the channel, itself. Water flows primarily as a result of the Lockport controlling works, which creates a water surface gradient or slope. Because Wilmette is the furthest part of the system from this outlet, the North Shore Channel has very little flow, particularly when there is no water being diverted from Lake Michigan, which is now during much of the year. And as I spoke about above, during the period in which no water is being let in from the lake, the near constant flow from the outfall of the O'Brien treatment plant actually disrupt the already small gradient in the channel and cause it to reverse direction a bit.
DeleteListen closer to that embedded video; the voice says "PREVENTING fish migration."
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I've learned from the "Draining Chicago" was about the original lock. It's never explicitly stated, but it is implied that the only reason the Wilmette controlling work has a gate was for construction and maintenance vessels. In fact, they seemed to have discouraged the public from using the channel for navigation for year of waves created by boats eroding the channel slopes, which was a significant problem during construction.
Anyway, the lock had a set of mitre gates which pointed downstream since the water level in the canal was always going to be higher than the lake. But, apparently, they didn't work well with the varying water levels in lake Michigan, the eastern set where replaced with a single slide gate which recessed into the south chamber wall in 1930. But the western miter gates were still giving them headaches; they weren't really designed for backflows. So the western gates were replaced with a roller lift gate in 1959, and they permanently recessed the eastern slide gate into the chamber wall. So after 1959, the rarely used locking function of the structure was abolished, and from there it was used as a sluice.
While removal of the miter gates and thus the locking function was an improvement, there was still one problem: The sluice was so large that opening the gate for backflows created a bit of a tidal wave in Wilmette Harbor and could damage moored boats. More than that, the roller gate reached the end of its life, and wouldn't open all the way. The renovation project in 2012 replaced the single 30-foot roller gate with three smaller hydraulic lift gates for better, more even control of backflows into the lake. The removal of two of the pumps also made it so that they could funnel some of the backflows through those two pump tunnels...and can also use those same tunnels in the other direction for diversion, cutting down on the need for pumps in those rare times when the channel is higher than the lake level.