M. J. Hogan Grain Elevator

This is one of the oldest remaining structures along the I&M Canal. Built in 1861-62, it was typical of the industries that benefitted from the Canal. In its heyday, it would handle 750,000 bushels of grain per season. The remnant of the Canal bed is the overgrown ditch to the left. This is what fascinates me about the I&M - it's like finding an old, abandonded stretch of highway that's now hidden in the weeds. When it was operational, the I&M was the link between the East coast, through the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. It opened the flow of commodities through what had been just a trading post on Lake Michigan and allowed it to grow into Chicago. Eventually the railroads came, and the Sanitary and Ship Canal was dug parallel to it which spelled the end of the I&M. But for many years, that ditch was a superhighway from Chicago to LaSalle, IL. Olympus E-M5, m. Zuiko 12-50