In 1887, the city hatched a plan to reverse the flow of the Chicago River, making the city the first in the country to force a reversal of a river’s current. What was the goal of this feat?

a) To test a new invention called the “Flow Back”
b) To create an early public-transit system based on the canals of Venice
c) To rid the lake of human waste pollution
d) To irrigate the gardens of Mrs. Marshall Field

Scroll down for the answer.

Answer: c. After an 1854 cholera epidemic, followed by a series of devastating typhoid outbreaks, the Drainage and Water Supply Commission devised a system of manmade canals that effectively reversed the river’s flow and carried waste away from the lake and down to the Mississippi River. No, that doesn’t mean the Mighty Miss carries Chicago’s shit; after a 1930 court order, sewage treatment centers were built to remove the waste.

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