Down Chicago’s Drain

An Alliance for the Great Lakes report released today warns that there is not enough protecting the Great Lakes from invasive species such as Asian carp. Currently an underwater electric barrier at Lockport is the only defense keeping the fish from travelling up the Chicago River into Lake Michigan. The group recommends further separating the two watersheds which were artificially joined when the city reversed the flow of the river in 1900.

Sunday night the bluegrass band Tangleweed held a CD-release show at the Hideout. One of the tracks on their new record Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals is an instrumental tune inspired by our 2007 trashboat journey down the Chicago River.

It was a great show, but if you weren't there you can hear a live recording of it in the Internet Archive. Here's an mp3 of our song:

Mississippi Trashboat

Majestic America Line, the company which owns the Mississippi River paddlewheeler Delta Queen has cancelled all cruises for the 2009 season. The company has been up for sale for the last year, with no buyers.

The Delta Queen is the last steam paddlewheel passenger boat on the Mississippi River, a living relic built in 1927. It has been cruising the Mississippi since 1948. The wooden ship has received repeated exemptions to the 1965 Safety of Life At Sea convention to allow it to continue sailing inland rivers. But in 2008 Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota blocked the exemption due the 2006 sale of the boat to owners who hired non-union workers.

Will Congress be persuaded to allow the Delta Queen to keep sailing?

Save the Delta Queen