I've read about dams and locks in Joliet before, but I can't find that info now. So I'm starting some notes to at least save some MWRD photos.
A new Lock #5 was built when the Brandon Lock & Dam was built.
Please read Joe's comment on his Flickr photo. He explains the location and purpose of this lock and dam. See Locks #6 for an extant example of how a dam's reservoir was used to avoid an aqueduct for a canal.
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| MWRD posted A wheelbarrow brigade moving gravel for concrete for a new lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899. Frank Stokes: It looks like the lock is still there. Would this be the original spot the I&M connected to the Des Plaines river? |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Frank's comment Frank Stokes The canal connection still exists north of Ruby Street. 41°32'20.7"N 88°04'56.5"W This lock went around a mill dam, and it was on the west side of the river. The truss bridge in the background of the photo is probably Ruby Street. In the left background and behind the riverfront industries we see the Illinois Iron Works. The building of the Brandon Road Lock & Dam would have put any remnants of this lock under water. |
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| MWRD posted on June 13, 2022 Workers moving gravel for concrete at the construction site of new Lock No. 5 at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899. MWRD posted |
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| MWRD posted A view to the north showing construction work on the I&M Canal Lock No. 5 in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899. |
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| MWRD posted on Apr 15, 2023 Construction of Lock No. 5 at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899. Construction of the canal was the largest earth-moving operation undertaken on the North American continent up to that time and was notable for training a generation of engineers, several of whom later worked on the Panama Canal. |
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| MWRD posted Construction of a new Lock No. 5 on March 24, 1899, at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois. |
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| MWRD posted on Nov 29, 2021 A barge passes through a newly built lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, downstream from the soon-to-open Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1899. MWRD posted on Mar 27, 2023 A barge passes through a newly built lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, downstream from the soon-to-open Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1899. Construction of the canal was the largest earth-moving operation undertaken on the North American continent up to that time and was notable for training a generation of engineers, several of whom later worked on the Panama Canal. |
I presume the black line on an angle across the river was Dam 1.
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| 925 Joliet Quad @ 62,500 |
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about this recently, and the rebuilding of the Lock #5 in the late 1890's was due to the construction of the CS&SC. Things were rearranged even more when the CS&SC was extended all the way to Joliet a few years later.
Anyway, Lock #5 existed at the same place both pre-and-post CS&SC construction and extension & the I&M entered the river at basically the same location. Coming south on the canal you first hit the pool of the Des Plaines called the Upper Basin created by the Jackson Street Dam. Keeping straight took you toward the west bank of the river where Lock #5 was directly west of the Jackson Street Dam.
Now, before the construction of the CS&SC, Lock #5 would lock you down into a slightly lower pool, the Lower Basin, which was created by a Dam at Jefferson Street to the south. You kept along the western bank of the river (this is where the towpath was) until you hit a guard lock just north of the Jefferson Street Dam. THIS is where you kind of formally re-entered the I&M as distinct from the river, again. This is where the eastern wall began to the I&M. This still all used the rivers right-of-way, though. But at this point is where the canal was again divided and independently controlled.
Now, when the CS&SC was planned, they at no cost, rebuilt the I&M through Joliet. Aside from raising the depth/height of the lock as you mentioned, and rebuilding the Jackson Street Dam, they also extended the eastern wall of the I&M from where it originally began at Jefferson Street Dam to beyond Jackson Street Dam. How far north, I'm not entirely sure, but the eastern wall/embankment extended north of Jackson Street. Because of this, the Jefferson Street Dam (Dam #2) no longer served a purpose; the guard lock at the dam to isolate the canal from the river's Lower Basin also no longer served a purpose, and both of these were removed. When and how I've not found an answer to.
There was also apparently another dam even further south in between the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad and McDonough Street called "Adams Dam." I do not know it's original purpose or when or how it was removed.
In any case, anything left was put underwater when the Brandon Road Pool was created. You can still apparently see the remnants of the western wall/embankment of Lock #5 and the I&M around Bridge Street, though.
The third dam - the downstream of the Jefferson Street Dam - appears to have lined up with Wallace Street, and was used for industry. Can't find when it was built or who built it, but it's the one that created the Lower Pool (in between Jefferson and Wallace streets). Apparently, it was about two feet lower in height than the Jackson and Jefferson street dams, and again, I don't know when or if it was removed. Maybe it (at least parts of it) is still beneath the waters of the current dammed river.
DeleteThat would be an interesting blog post.