🚢 North Shore Channel

The North Shore Channel is a 7.7 mile long canal built between 1907 and 1910 to increase the flow of North Branch of the Chicago River so that it would empty into the South Branch and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Its water is generally taken from Lake Michigan to flow into the canal at Wilmette Harbor. Its carrying of excess run-off in high water events has been largely taken over by the Chicago Deep Tunnel, but there are still occasional intentional discharges back into the lake, as flood prevention in times of very heavy rains, causing episodic concern regarding effects on lake water quality.