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Lake Calumet is the largest body of water within the city of Chicago. Formerly a shallow, postglacial lake draining into Lake Michigan, it has been changed beyond recognition by industrial redevelopment and decay. Parts of the lake have been
dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
d, and other parts reshaped by
landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
. Together with the rest of the city of Chicago, the remnant of the lake now drains into the Des Plaines River and the Mississippi River basin via the
Cal-Sag Channel The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the ...
and the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago R ...
. ''Calumet'' is a Norman word used since the 17th century by
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
colonists in Canada for the
ceremonial pipe A ceremonial pipe is a particular type of smoking pipe, used by a number of cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in their sacred ceremonies. Traditionally they are used to offer prayers in a religious ceremony, to make a ceremonia ...
s they saw used by First Nations peoples.


History

Until the 1800s, Lake Calumet was near the center of an extensive wetland area near the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Like other wetland areas, the Lake Calumet area and its rivers were a center of Native American life and settlement. In 1861, the Lake Calumet region was mapped into Hyde Park Township, south of what was then the town of Chicago. In the 1880s, because the lake's Calumet River created shipping opportunities to connect into Lake Michigan, the swampy zone was rapidly filled and developed by industry. Hyde Park Township developed rapidly and was annexed into Chicago in 1889. The area remains heavily industrialized today. The Chicago neighborhood of Pullman was developed as a
company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
with residences and services offered for rent to the workers in railroad
passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
factories. The complex, now a
National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...
, is sited on the lake's west shore. Steel mills began to line the Calumet River. The Illinois Central railroad was built nearby. In the 1950s, part of the former lakebed was used as a right-of-way for a freeway, which was originally named in the lake's honor as the ''
Calumet Expressway Interstate 94 (I-94) generally runs north–south through the northeastern portion of the US state of Illinois, in Lake and Cook counties. It is signed east–west in Illinois in accordance with its general alignment across the country, wi ...
''. The lake was deepened in 1958 and large slips were added with the intent to harbor large ocean-going freighters anticipated after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. However, the increased traffic never truly materialized, and the port infrastructure largely lay dormant. Another parcel of former wetland, south of the lake, was designated as what is now the Paxton Landfill, the final home for much of the household and industrial solid waste generated within the city of Chicago. Some of the landfill was
steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finishe ...
slag Slag is a by-product of smelting ( pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-pr ...
and other industrial wastes. The revelation of hazardous chemicals in much of the fill material has created a push to have parts of the Lake Calumet area added to the national
Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
list for environmental cleanup. In the early 1980s, the Lake Calumet area was proposed as a site for the later-cancelled
Chicago 1992 World's Fair The Chicago 1992 World's Fair was planned to be held in Chicago as the first World's Fair to take place in the United States since the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) approved Chicago' ...
. In 1996, the Calumet Expressway was renamed the
Bishop Ford Freeway A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, honoring Chicago religious leader Bishop Louis Henry Ford.


Today

The remains of Lake Calumet lie east of the Bishop Ford Freeway (
Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern term ...
) on the far south side of Chicago, between 103rd and 130th streets. The lake is part of the underutilized Port of Chicago. A lakeside grain elevator can be seen from the freeway. South of the lake, the freeway passes the Paxton Landfill, including pipes that collect methane and other gases generated by the landfill. The vestigial lake officially lies within Chicago's
South Deering South Deering, located on Chicago's far South Side, is the largest of the 77 official community areas of that city. Primarily an industrial area, a small residential neighborhood exists in the northeast corner and Lake Calumet takes up a larg ...
community area. Cleanup efforts in former landfills areas continue .


Ecology

The
wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
surrounding Lake Calumet were noted as the only location where specimens of '' Thismia americana'', an example of endemic wet
prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or ''skin flora''. ...
, were ever collected. Due to the profound physical changes that have taken place in the Lake Calumet catchment area, this plant is now believed to be extinct. Although Lake Calumet has undergone extensive human alteration over the period from 1880 through 2010, parts of the basin remain a wetland. The basin has been designated an ''Important Bird Area of Illinois'' and is part of the flyway along Lake Michigan and the rivers.


Superfund status

On March 2, 2010, the EPA designated the ''Lake Calumet Cluster'', a cluster of sites grouped around Lake Calumet, for the Superfund List. Several local areas within this cluster are extremely hazardous; excavation workers must use masks and self-contained supplies of air or oxygen. Despite these challenges, planners hope to conduct remedial cleanups of less-severely contaminated sites to permit adaptive reuse. They will cap the more heavily contaminated sites within the cluster.
Landfill gas Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, ...
could be collected and the methane filtered for use.http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/LakeCalumetClusterSite/LakeCalumetClusterPHA--2-10-2009--%20FinalReleaseA.pdf


Maps and images


Placemark for Lake Calumet area
(requires Google Earth)


References

{{authority control Geography of Chicago Calumet Bodies of water of Cook County, Illinois