Chicago: “Naiad” Towing in Past the Rush Street Bridge in 1872

Scarcely any evidence remains today, but in the latter part of the nineteenth century — even though the area was active fro only nine months of the year because of ice on the lakes — The Chicago River Watercourse, with some 75 miles of commercial canals and rivers off the lake, was a teeming labyrinth of waterborne commerce. Measured in ship clearance, then totaling about 20,000 a year, Chicago had become the fourth largest port in the world.

View Artist’s Biography