A New Water Highway

A New Water Highway. . , Prior to the 20th century, the Illinois River was shallow and much of it was not navigable. The Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal was built in 1848 to connect Lake Michigan to the navigable part of the Illinois River, thereby connecting this part of Illinois to New York harbor and New Orleans by water. By the early 20th century with advances in equipment and materials, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed a lock system turning the shallow Illinois River into the navigable Illinois Waterway. In 1933, commerce moved from the I&M to the much larger river-based waterway. , The Starved Rock Lock and Dam is part of this larger waterway, one of seven locks creating a "water stairway” between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The waterway's locks can handle eight barges and a towboat as opposed to the "one small boat at a time” locks on the I&M Canal. More than 45 million tons of coal, gravel, silica, soybeans, grain, fertilizers, petroleum, iron products, and chemicals are locked through here each year. , The Illinois Waterway Visitors Center across the river has displays about lock and dam operations and the area's history. From the observations deck you can view the working lock.