Key word: "ultimately." We're still pretty far from the Mississippi. But you just taught me some things I didn't know.


>The original headwaters of the South Branch of the Chicago River were in a swampy area called Mud Lake which was just a few thousand feet from the DesPlaines River which flows into the Illinois River and thence into the Mississippi River. This was a portage route for early explorers, and during times of heavy rain, water would flow between the two rivers. The construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal started in the 1890's from the South Branch of the Chicago River (near 31st & Damen) past Mud Lake to Lockport and a 1907 extension to Joliet connecting to the DesPlaines River permanantly reversed the flow of the Chicago River. So, yes corrupted water can flow from the sewers of Chicago to the Mississippi ultimately affecting St. Louis, Memphis, and N.O. John's comments were based in facts.
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>Thread drift: The success of the Sanitary and Ship Canal project demonstrated the feasibility of digging the Panama Canal, which was begun in 1906.
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>>Chicago is not on the Mississippi, nor do any major rivers run through it. But there is still corruption galore <g>.
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>>>I think I've discovered the problem. Nawlins is on the muddy Mississippi, Memphis, and St Louis too. There is also a river that connect through to Chicago, as I recall. So, it's the water that causes all this corruption!<g>
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>>>>AS to New Orleans, that is a particularly interesting case. Louisiana has traditionally the most corrupt government at all levels seen in the US and that puts it up against pretty stiff competition. After failing completely to provide for its citizens, when the levees broke and exposed what a disaster that state is, the locals decided it was George Bush's fault. FEMA didn't/couldn't cope and Washington was distant and unready and incompetant. But the outrage was focused on the idea that only Washington can make things right when the government at state a local level was far more culpable and far more incompetant and certainly should have been much more in touch with local needs.
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>>>>Putting NO 'back on its feet' implies it was on its feet before Katrina. The problems in NO were not and are not all water related and trying to get Washington to fix them by throwing a lot of money down there is magical thinking.
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>>>>I just don't like demagogues, and the wake of Katrina was as politically and rhetorically disgusting as the stagnant water it left behind.