The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a 28-mile-long (45 km) 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 River, which now flows out of Lake Michigan rather than into it. It provides the only navigation for ships between the Great Lakes Waterway and the Mississippi River system.[1]
The Canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 2011.[2]