Marathon Pundit: (Photos) Soon-to-be removed Dam Number 4 on the Des Plaines River

Yesterday I posted pictures of Touhy Dam on the Des Plaines River, a low-head dam that is scheduled to be removed this year. About a mile downstream in Rosemont, near O'Hare Airport, is Dam Number 4. That one is on the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's hit list too.

While there is seemingly not much to see here, the dam is a hazard to canoeists and kayakers.

A view from the opposite direction.

A bit closer. I nearly fell into the river when I took this picture.

The dams were built to prevent flooding and for sanitation purposes. Now they are just endangerments for kayakers and canoeists that also degrade the health of the river.

Then there are natural dams. I don't know where the beavers dragged these trees to, but it's darn ironic that beavers were at work adjacent to a man-made dam.

Swimming is not recommended in the Des Plaines, but it can be fatal next to a low-head dam. Bathers can be be captured in a hydraulic boil, which is why top-head dams are dubbed "drowning machines."

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