Captain's Choice blog: Heading down the rivers

Awesome! What can I say...Thursday morning we took our boat down the Chicago River, right through the heart of downtown Chicago, the same river they color green for St. Paddy's day! Sure we experienced it on the river cruise, but taking our own boat down was just plain cool!

Once you get past the city you are in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC), which is pretty ugly. It's all industry and not much to look at, the upside is it creates jobs and keeps America running. The history behind it is pretty amazing. The Chicago River use to flow into Lake Michigan but during the 19th century when the city was booming and growing all of the sanitary waste and dumping from the industries would go into the river. There is an urban myth that they had a cholera epidemic and 100,000 people died but that is just a myth. They were concerned with the contamination of the water in Lake Michigan (the lake was the water supply) so by 1900 they changed the flow of the river by digging a canal westward through the ridge of land that was originally causing the Chicago River to flow towards Lake Michigan. Now the water could flow toward the Illinois River, they added a lock in Chicago to keep Lake Michigan from flowing through the canal they dug and later built a lock further downstream to facilitate navigation. Now all of the water (and everything else) flows into the Illinois to the Mississippi and into the gulf. The residents along the rivers tried to stop the reverse flow but were unsuccessful. With the pollution control standards of today, the rivers are not very dirty.

We have seen some wonderful wildlife along the way, including herons, egrets, a large buck, doe and fawn, white pelicans (I never knew they had pelicans in Illinois), geese and ducks.

We went as far as Joliet on Thursday where we tied to the town wall. We were surprised to see 3 looper boats tied there as well because they left Chicago the day before. We found out the lock right ahead had been closed all day for repairs and wasn't going to open until 5 pm and they had tows they had to get through first. By 4 pm there were 8 boats tied to the wall and we met for "docktails".

Friday morning we called early to see if the Brandon Road lock was fixed and if we could get through - they told us to be there within 35 minutes, so off we went and we got through fairly quick. There were 4 of us traveling together today through the Des Plaines River and the Illinois River. When we got to the Marseilles lock they asked us to wait until they locked a tow down. Knowing this would take at least an hour the 4 looper boats rafted off a barge. It actually took more than 3 hours, so we met on Last Call for "locktails". We headed to the Heritage Harbor marina in Ottawa and the others headed to the dock in town.

Saturday morning we woke to rain, so we were moving a little slow. We called the Starved Rock lock and they said they would lock down the pleasure craft soon so come on down. Soooo its a hurry up to get to the lock and wait. We are at their mercy, we make the best of it but there usually isn't anywhere to tie up so we hover near the lock just waiting. Saturday we waited at least an hour before they locked us through. The rain finally cleared but it was windy and there was a lot of debris in the water. Nothing like a few floating logs to keep you on your toes. We decided to anchor in an old "gravel pit" just outside Henry, Illinois. The water level is up and there was plenty to anchor in, at least 8-10 feet, with 6 feet at the entrance. It turned out to be a great anchorage, well protected and very quiet. We had a good vantage point to watch the tows and other boats go by.

Sunday morning was gorgeous with sun, blue skies and cooler temperatures. No locks today! Hooray! Lots of tows out and not as much debris in the water. I should also add that the river has gotten much prettier. The rivers are winding and narrow in many sections, we are vigilant about calling the tow and asking which side they want us to pass on. It's one whistle pass to your right and 2 whistles pass to your left. Tonight we are at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria and will head out in the morning.

A little something about the tows, call me crazy but i am fascinated with watching them, much like the freighters in the lakes. After doing a little research I found out that about 116 million tons of commodities valued at more than 23 billion are shippped annually on the Illinois inland waterways. A typical 15-barge tow can move the same amount of cargo as 216 rail cars or 1,050 semi-trucks and is the least costly transportation mode. The problems they encounter are the inefficiencies of the locks. The locks were built over 50 years ago and are not long enough to accommodate the size of the tows. Many times they have to break down the number of barges to move through the locks. The tow we waited for at the Marsailles lock had 8 barges attached, they push the barges in and then due to the length they disconnect the tow and move it over to where a 9th barge would be. That way everything fits in the lock. When they open the lock the tow nudges the barges up enough to get behind again, reconnect and off they go. As slow as these locks are I can only imagine the frustration of some of the tow operators. Another neat item is how they "beach" the barges. They just push the barges to the side of the river until they hit bottom and sit there, waiting for new crew, their turn in the lock, etc. The tow has so much power it just pushes it off the ground and back in the middle of the channel when they are ready to move on.