Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn
Dan, that was a fan freaken 'tastick tour, one of the best posted here. How much do those foldable kayaks cost?
The South Branch had used to split into two separate forks, The South Fork and the West Fork. The South Fork still exists, although it used to be longer. It is locally known as "bubbly creek" because the stock yards threw away all of the leftover carcasses, blood and urine into the creek and methane gas rose to the surface causing the creek to bubble like champagne, and it still does to this day. The southernmost reaches of the South Fork were filled in after the stocks yards closed in 1971. It was determined that this portion of the creek was just far too polluted beyond any hope. The south fork splits from the south branch just east of Ashland Avenue.
The west fork then went west from the split into a prairie marsh (most of the land was marsh back then) and reached an area known locally as mud lake, where in times of ample rain the swampy lake drained into both the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers. Other times of the year required a short physical portage. The actually portage is along Harlem Avenue, just north of the Sanitary and Ship Canal which reversed the river's flow in January 1900. After the canal opened the west fork was filled in over time. The west fork ran just north of where the canal is now, and it split from the canal route just west of Damen Avenue; where today you see a large turning basin and the point where the West Fork had joined the canal years ago.
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Thanks, that really helped. So, the West Fork originated
in Mud Lake? Do you happen to know at what modern location it would have entered Mud Lake (i.e. how far west of where it split off from the original river)?