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The Calumet River refers to a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. ==Background== The name "Calumet" is from the French colonial name for a particular type of Native American ceremonial pipe that served as a universal sign of peace among the Illiniwek, and which was presented to Pere Marquette in 1673. The area is extremely flat and the course and even the direction of the river system has changed repeatedly. The low gradient gives the river only a very small current. Before human alteration, water flowed westward from LaPorte County, Indiana along the Little Calumet River, made a complete turn, and flowed east along the Grand Calumet into Lake Michigan in the Miller Beach community of Gary, Indiana. Industrial development in the Calumet River area began around the 1870s, and by 1890 the West reach of the Grand Calumet River was heavily polluted with the waste of steel mills, foundries, a meat packing plant, and glue and cornstarch factories. Industry continued to spread along the East reach of the river between 1890 and 1910, with similar results. These decades of unrestricted pollution have left the river sediments highly contaminated to this day.〔(Project Management Plan )〕 In September 2008, areas of Lake and Porter County, Indiana, were declared national disaster areas. The Little Calumet River breached its levee and flooded portions of the towns of Munster and Highland, Indiana. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Calumet River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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