River, northeastern Illinois, U.S. Rising in southeastern Wisconsin, it flows south into Illinois past Chicago , to join the Kankakee River after a course of 150 mi (241 km).
In 1900 Chicago completed a drainage canal from the southern branch of the Chicago River to the Des Plaines. It is part of the Illinois Waterway (1933), which allows modern barge traffic to pass between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River .