We
all think we know the Chicago River, but, for most of us,
the acquaintanceship is slight. We have a jumble of impressions.
I have taken a boat up the river’s main stem to look
at the skyline; I’ve visited the I & M Canal in
Lockport; I’ve participated in restoration work along
the North Branch. But until recently, these impressions
have been fragmentary, and my desire to fit them together
was not strong.
All
this changed when I read Libby Hill’s new book, The
Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History. A part
of my world that had been relatively invisible has become
of great interest. I’ve even started my own explorations,
inspired by Hill, who "climbed through brambles, waded
through garlic mustard and buckthorn, squealed the car to
a halt" in her efforts to see and understand the river.
The
Chicago River is a good read. But it is also an important
book for it is the first to present, as Hill says in her
subtitle, both the river’s "natural" and
its "unnatural history." The book illumines the
river’s ancient history as well as its key role in
the birth and growth of Chicago. More than that, as "a
microcosm of the uneasy relation between nature and civilization,"
this history reflects the wider world in which we live.
There
are more than 30 maps, showing the changes to the river
over the years. The book is richly illustrated with photographs,
paintings, and drawings.
These
include a painting of Wolf Point as it was in 1832, complete
with a little log tavern; a drawing of a sectional view
of tunnels for foot and horse traffic built under the river
in the 1860s; and an amazing picture of a hotel being lifted
and moved by hundreds of men when the city of Chicago was
raised to build sewers.
The
book contains a glossary, extensive notes on sources, a
bibliography, a list of organizations and government offices
that can provide more information, and a five-page chronology
that is a great help in keeping track of the various strands
of the story.
The
Chicago River is organized chronologically in three sections.
The first section outlines the geological foundation of
the river and the legacy of the Ice Age as well as of the
Native American cultures that flourished in the region for
13,000 years before European settlement.
The
second and third sections are focused around various issues
or problems. Chapters in the second section reflect the
19th century passion for progress and commerce expressed
through huge engineering feats: the construction of the
I & M and the Sanitary and Ship Canals, the attempts
to remove the sandbar at the river’s mouth, the efforts
to dilute and divert sewage away from the growing city.
The
section on the 20th century shows a growing public consciousness
of the river as a source of beauty, and a new understanding
of disease that led to the construction of modern water
treatment plants. This section also includes chapters on
the transformation of the Skokie Marsh, the construction
of the deep tunnel, the work of the Forest Preserve District,
and a discussion of the citizens’ groups that are currently
involved in restoring health and beauty to the river.
Author
Libby Hill teaches in the Geography and Environmental Studies
Department at Northeastern Illinois University and works
for the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission. She is
also steward of Perkins Woods in Evanston and a member of
Friends of the Chicago River. She tells her story with energy
and enthusiasm, and she provides numerous quotes that reflect
the language as well as the thought of the planners, politicians,
common citizens, and press of the respective eras.
Hill’s
book demonstrates the bewildering multiplicity of interests
that have connected the river to the city and nation ever
since the early 19th century.
Indeed,
a reader can get tangled up in the political, planning,
and engineering developments, including the names and acronyms
of government and civic groups. The constantly changing
geography of the river can also be confusing. Yet Hill has
clearly worked to unsnarl the tangled strands of information.
And if the book seems too detailed, it is complete, and
thus an excellent reference.
In
the past, people found the meaning of life in stories of
their landscape. This sense of history, of belonging to
place, is often lost on those of us who live in the modern
city, in a landscape that is repeatedly being torn up. Libby
Hill’s book serves to reconnect us to our landscape
and to our history.
The
Chicago River is a hopeful book. Despite the current frantic
rate of development along the river, public awareness and
involvement in restoring the natural processes of the river
have never been greater. And despite all the straightenings,
the channels, the wallings in, the tunnels under, despite
its reversal, Hill reminds us, the Chicago River is still
there, at essentially the same place as it was when the
Native Americans camped along its shores.
