Main entry:

Sells, Benjamin, author.

Title & Author:

The tunnel under the lake : the engineering marvel that saved Chicago / Benjamin Sells.

Publication:

Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2017.
©2017

Description:

193 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Series:

Second to none: Chicago stories

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Buckets, wells, and water carts -- The city takes over -- The engineer -- The Chesbrough plan -- Building the great Chicago lake tunnel -- The two-mile crib -- The wonder of America -- Never-ending demand -- Water and fire -- Epilogue -- Appendixes. Appendix A: Population of early Chicago, 1833-69 ; Appendix B: Chicago political roster, 1837-71 ; Appendix C: Annotated contract and specifications for the lake tunnel ; Appendix D: Expenditures on the lake tunnel and crib, 1863-April 1867 ; Appendix E: Growth of the Chicago waterworks, 1854-70 ; Appendix F: Chronology.

Summary:

The Tunnel under the Lake recounts the gripping story of how the young city of Chicago, under the leadership of an audacious engineer named Ellis Chesbrough, constructed a two-mile tunnel below Lake Michigan in search of clean water. Despite Chicago's location beside the world's largest source of fresh water, its low elevation at the end of Lake Michigan provided no natural method of carrying away waste. As a result, within a few years of its founding, Chicago began to choke on its own sewage collecting near the shore. The befouled environment, giving rise to outbreaks of sickness and cholera, became so acute that even the ravages and costs of the U.S. Civil War did not distract city leaders from taking action. Chesbrough's solution was an unprecedented tunnel five feet in diameter lined with brick and dug sixty feet beneath Lake Michigan. Construction began from the shore as well as the tunnel's terminus in the lake. With workers laboring in shifts and with clay carted away by donkeys, the lake and shore teams met under the lake three years later, just inches out of alignment. When it opened in March 1867, observers, city planners, and grateful citizens hailed the tunnel as the "wonder of America and of the world." Benjamin Sells narrates in vivid detail the exceptional skill and imagination it took to save this storied city from itself. A wealth of fascinating appendixes round out Sells's account, which will delight those interested in Chicago history, water resources, and the history of technology and engineering.

ISBN:

9780810134744 paperback ; alkaline paper
0810134748 paperback ; alkaline paper
electronic book
9780810134751
electronic book
0810134756

Subject:

Chesbrough, Ellis Sylvester, 1813-1886.
Municipal water supply Illinois Chicago History 19th century.
Water-supply engineering Illinois Chicago History 19th century.
Water tunnels Illinois Chicago History 19th century.
Waterworks Illinois Chicago History 19th century.
Eau Approvisionnement urbain Illinois Chicago Histoire 19e siècle.
Eau Approvisionnement Technique Illinois Chicago Histoire 19e siècle.
Tunnels hydrodynamiques Illinois Chicago Histoire 19e siècle.
Services d'eau Illinois Chicago Histoire 19e siècle.
HISTORY / Historical Geography.
HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Civil.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Environmental / Water Supply.
Buildings
Municipal water supply
Water-supply engineering
Water tunnels
Waterworks
Chicago (Ill.) Buildings, structures, etc. History 19th century.
Illinois Chicago

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Second to none: Chicago stories.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 296280
Call No.: BIB 242721
Status: Available