Hydrologic History of the Lake Michigan Basin in Indiana

The surface waters of the Lake Michigan coastal area include Lake Michigan; the Little Calumet River, the Grand Calumet River, the Galena River, and Trail Creek; several smaller tributaries and man-made ditches; many natural and man-made lakes; ponds and man-made excavations; and scattered remnants of marshes, swamps, and other wetlands. ¹ The present hydrology of the Lake Michigan coastal area in Indiana is significantly changed from what existed before development. The industrialization and urbanization which began in northwest Indiana during the late nineteenth century extensively altered the natural landscape and the natural drainage patterns.

Between the Calumet Beach Ridge (a narrow area just south of the west arm of the Little Calumet River) and the Lake Michigan sand hills formed over years by fluctuating lake levels, a vast wetland existed. Wetlands dotted other areas of the sand hills and further inland; however, none were as continuous as the wetland north of the Calumet Beach Ridge. From Michigan City west through the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore lay the Great Marsh, which averaged half a mile in width. The Great Marsh was centered on Dunes Creek, which flowed through a channel in Lake Michigan between the dunes. To the west of the Great Marsh, the wetland narrowed to approximately one-quarter mile. Further west, the wetland broadened again to encompass the lower meanders of the Little Calumet River. The enormous wetland complex evolved as back waters of Dunes Creek and Calumet Rivers, and as lagoons that were left standing after Lake Michigan finally retreated to its present lake level. ²

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Portions of the Great Marsh still exist at its eastern- most points. A remaining example of the pockets of wetlands among the sand hills may be found behind the foredunes on present-day West Beach near Ogden Dunes. There were also parallel beach ridges with intervening swales which contained classic interdunal wetlands such as the ones found in Miller Woods at Gary.³

Interdunal ponds at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

As settlement began in the Lake Michigan area, wetlands were generally considered wastelands, undesirable for farming and development. The marshland areas were primarily used for food from the plants and small animals found there. In 1850, Congress gave the "swamp lands" of the country to the individual states in which they were located. The swamp lands were to be sold and the money used to drain and "reclaim" the lands. Swamp land in the Calumet region sold for an average of $1.25 per acre.⁴

The Grand Calumet River and the Little Calumet River have undergone extensive changes by both man and nature. At one time, these two rivers were a single waterway that followed a "hairpin course." The source was in LaPorte County near its western boundary. The river flowed west though Porter and Lake Counties into Illinois. In Illinois the river flowed toward the northwest and then sharply curved to the northeast and re-entered Lake County. The river finally emptied into Lake Michigan at what is now Marquette Park in Gary.

Calumet Lagoons in Gary near the original mouth of the Calumet (Kalamick) River

A second waterway formed in about 1800 when a new channel to Lake Michigan in Illinois was opened by the Native Americans. Canoes were pushed and pulled through the marshes between Wolf Lake and Lake Calumet until a permanent channel was opened to Lake Michigan about twelve miles south of the Chicago River. The southern river, flowing west across the Calumet region and discharging into the Lake from Illinois became the Little Calumet River. The northern river, flowing east and discharging into the Lake in Indiana became the Grand Calumet River.

The mouth of the river in Illinois was cleared in 1870 for the development of Calumet Harbor. By 1872 the mouth of the river in Indiana was so clogged with aquatic vegetation and sand that it no longer could empty into the Lake. A map made by the US Topographic Bureau in 1845 showed that the Grand Calumet River no longer flowed into Lake Michigan in Indiana. Instead, the current had been reversed and its waters flowed with the Little Calumet in Illinois. ⁵ The present outlet for the Grand Calumet River in Indiana was created in the 1900s when the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal was constructed.⁶

The Lake Michigan watershed was further modified when Hart Ditch was constructed from the town of Dyer to a site near Munster in 1850 to improve local drainage. The watershed of Hart Ditch was enlarged when Cady Marsh and Spring Street Ditches were created to drain areas where Highland, Griffith and Schererville are now located.

In 1922, the construction of the Calumet Sag Channel drastically altered the hydrology of the Lake Michigan area. The new channel connected the Little Calumet River at its hairpin turn in Illinois to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Runoff from part of the Little Calumet River watershed was permanently diverted from the Lake Michigan Basin to the Mississippi Basin.

In 1926, Burns Ditch (now Portage Burns Waterway) was completed, changing the nature and course of the Little Calumet River. Because of periodic floods of the Little Calumet, the surrounding area was a marshland. The river would flow over the roads of Gary and in winter, causing ice jams at the Broadway bridge. In 1908, Randall Burns of Chicago launched an effort to "reclaim" the land. The high sands of the Tolleston Beach and the dunes separating the marsh and Lake Michigan were cut. The flow of the Little Calumet and the Deep River, which joins the Little Calumet, were diverted into the lake just east of Ogden Dunes. The Little Calumet was also dredged to the mouth of Salt Creek. These projects reclaimed more than 20,000 acres in Porter County and in Gary. ⁷

Mouth of Portage Burns Waterway

Dredging is still conducted along the Calumet River system to maintain navigation channels at authorized depths to accommodate deep-draft vessels. Contaminants in dredged spoil; however, pose serious environmental concerns. The flood plain of the Little Calumet River and its tributaries is one of the most flood-prone areas in the state.