It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate, report, explore, from WBEZ.

Not long after 1900, farmers up and down the Illinois River began to notice something troubling.

Their once fertile land was

growing soggy. The river was spilling over its banks and across their fields. Sometimes they couldn't

plant their crops at all. When they could, they were far less productive. These central Illinois

farmers blamed Chicago, specifically the reversal of the Chicago River. Nearly 300 landowners claimed the

dirty water now flowing downstream and into the Illinois River was drowning their crops and

threatening their way of life. In Eureka, Illinois, about 100 miles southwest of Chicago,

three sisters, Clara, Emily, and Medora Hunter, sued the Sanitary District of

Chicago for $40,000. Clara took the stand. She described one flooded field as a, quote,

frog ranch. Tell the jury what now grows on the remainder of this 160 acres. Buckbrush, flags, waterweeds, cat tails.

I don't know the names of the grasses. Sawgrass, I suppose.

Swamp vegetation in general?

Swamp vegetation, yes.

Have you noticed any drift of any kind?

I have. I've seen great logs that have laid there until they seem to have rotted.

Rails, pieces of boat, fish boats, timbers, weeds, fishnets, brush from the river, all drips

the hunter sister's trial dragged on for 34 days.

In the end, they walked away with $6,000.

Hardly what they asked for, but a small win. And yet what swamped so many farmers

downstream brought prosperity to Chicago. Today, the blue-green water of Lake Michigan winds its way

through a canyon of glass and steel. The Chicago River is one of the most visited landmarks

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