Marathon Pundit: North Shore Channel

I regularly post pictures of the North Branch of the Chicago River, usually taken during my runs.

A few days ago, I was in the mood to take a look at the North Shore Channel, a canal that was built almost 100 years ago not to promote commerce, as the Erie Canal was, but to move sewage out of Chicago's North Shore and North Side and into the Sanitary Ship Canal.

All of this water eventually makes it way to the Mississippi River.

And you thought the Chicago-St. Louis rivalry was about baseball.

The North Shore Channel begins at Lake Michigan in Wilmette and ends when it meets the North Branch of the Chicago River on the city's North Side.

In Skokie, where these pictures were taken, the area parallel to the canal is graced by the Skokie North Shore Sculpture Park, which is a popular spot for art lovers, runners, and cyclists.

Pictured is Samuel Spicza's Like Clockwork.

Thanks to the Deep Tunnel Project, the channel is no longer the area's toilet, but occasionally heavy rainfall overloads the tunnels, and sewage is dumped into canal.