Slice of Life: The Definition of Lonely

Every time you brush your teeth, clean your pits, flush the toilet, give the dog a drink, or otherwise use water in Chicago, you have some of the loneliest people on earth to thank.

While most Chicagoans know that their supply of fresh water comes from a network of cribs located miles off shore, like the one pictured above, or Four Mile Crib, they don't realize that there are people there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  People who monitor, maintain, and otherwise ensure that you have water.  It's my understanding that they stay on the crib in shifts of a week or longer, and eagerly anticipate the arrival of the next supply ship.

Slice of Life: The Boiling Seas

When you were a kid did you have that fantasy about a vein of volcanic magma opening up underneath Lake Michigan and the water boils and makes the world's largest pot of spaghetti?  Yeah, me too.

Here we see the comparatively waters of Lake Michigan boiling into the frigid air on a winter's morn with Navy Pier (600 East Grand Avenue) silhouetted in the foreground.

Slice of Life: Silent Running

Chicago's broad skyline and still harbor waters welcome boaters gliding across Lake Michigan on a beautiful morning.

Slice of Life: A Walk Along the Lake

Couples stroll along Chicago's lakefront on a summer's evening.

Where the Beach Used To Be

Years ago, Michigan Avenue was merely Pine Street.  Before that, it was a beach and the waters of the Lake Michigan would lap against the shore right about where Water Tower Place is now.

Back then Holy Name Cathedral (735 North State Street) was just a chapel in Our Lady of the Lake [Michigan] University.  The college has since moved out to the 'burbs.

A lot has changed along the Lake Michigan shoreline, but there are still hints if you know where to look.

In Lincoln Park there is a long berm that looks like it serves no purpose other than to keep the snow from blowing in from the lake.  But it's actually an ancient sand dune that helps mark the edge of what was once the Lake Michigan shoreline.

If you're intrepid enough, you'll find a marker in Lincoln Park showing you exactly where the water used to be.  It reads,

"Abandoned Shoreline of Lake Michigan

This ridge is an ancient beach of sand bar of Lake Michigan whose waters reached this point 8,000 years ago when the lake level was 20 feet higher than now.  Clark Street runs north top this ridge.  The park ponds lie between such old beaches, abandoned by the shrinking lake.

The outer boundary of Diversey Harbor and the boat slip running south of it to North Avenue are man-made land.

The Chicago Park District"

Chicago to welcome transients -- It's a good thing

There's been a lot of talk among the lakefront set lately about the two new harbors the city plans to open.  The one at 31st street seems pretty straightforward.  But unless you live in the South Loop, who wants to dock at 31st Street?

The other is more interesting -- the new docking area planned south of Navy Pier called Gateway Harbor.  This area outside the Chicago River lock is envisioned as having 350 slips.  But more important than that is that 169 of those slips will be for transient vessels.

That means that, for the first time, people will be able to sail to Chicago, tie up at a transient slip, have lunch, take in a show, and then sail off back home to Michigan or the North Shore or Toronto, or Europe, or wherever they came from.  It's a fantastic idea that is long overdue.

Skippers pay for the transient slips by the hour, like you pay for parking at a parking garage.  High fuel prices notwithstanding, this could open up a whole new tourism avenue for Chicago.

Right now, the plan is to have both harbors open by 2010, but people in the know say that given the current state of the project, that goal is unrealistic.