Illinois Michigan Canal is Responsible for Chicagos Size Essay

Didnt expect no town -Early dinero Settler Mark BeaubienThe I & M line is universally considered the driving force behind the huge surge of addition that turned the tiny settlement on the banks of Lake Michigan named loot, in to a huge urban center and bustling center of trade.Ever since Joliet first pass the portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River in 1673, explorers, investors, politicians, and farmers alike all concur that constructing a lineise across the continental divide could benefit them greatly. The canal would connect the two largest water systems in the United States, creating a constant waterway between New York and New Orleans, but to a greater extent importantly, protrude Chicago on perhaps the most valuable piece of hearty estate in North America and in the position to incur an international city almost overnight.The plans to build the Illinois & Michigan canal began in the currently started Illinois legislature in 1818. It was drive n forward by the new construction on the Erie duct in New York. Once the Erie Canal was complete only a canal between the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers would be necessary to complete the chain of waterways connecting New York to New Orleans.In 1822, Congress gave Illinois a large portion of earthly concern on which to non only build the canal, but to sell to raise funds for its construction. The land contained the portage between the two rivers and about 100 miles of land to the south and westbound of it. It had just recently been coercively and dish singlestly purchased from the local Blackhawk Indians in a conformity that ended the Blackhawk War.As soon as the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, eastern investors quickly realized Chicagos huge potential. The land slightly what would one ... ...ys to twelve days.The canal remained a profitable enterprise until the year 1866 when the newly completed railroad system proved to be a cheaper and more efficient alternative. Us e of the canal did not disappear however until around 1900 when it began to fall into disrepair. The final deathblow to the Illinois & Michigan came when the big, wider, and deeper Illinois Waterway was completed in 1933. However, though no longer in commercial use, the Illinois & Michigan canal remains as a source of recreation and will incessantly be remembered as the spark responsible for Chicagos leap to prominence.In 1833 the universe of discourse of the newly incorporated town of Chicago was 250 people, by 1854, only 20 years later, the population had swelled to over 75 thousand. The city of Chicago had ascended from a tiny trading outpost to a thriving metropolis at an unprecedented speed.