Constructed on the west side of the I and M Canal to take advantage of the valley’s natural slope toward the Des Plaines River, the Hydraulic Basin was begun in 1848 and, at 260 feet by 370 feet, gave Lockport the greatest water power potential of any point along the canal. Its 21-foot fall of water, fed by the canal, powered a complex of Norton Company mills that included a flour mill and grain elevator, a cooper shop, and a sawmill that later became a paper mill producing strawboard, a coarse cardboard. The basin also served as a turning basin for boats. In 1871, deepening the canal between Chicago and Lockport stabilized the basin’s water level, increased its hydraulic power, and enabled the Norton Company to become one of the largest flour milling operations in Illinois. As canal use declined, the Hydraulic Basin was gradually filled in, and the site is now marked by a picnic shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
