The Chicago River, which gave to the city its location and fostered its commerce, has become a dumping spot and a cesspool; bridges of every possible style and condition span it at irregular intervals and at all angles; and year by year riparian owners have been permitted to encroach upon its channel until there are to be found as many as four lines of docks, each newer one having been built further into the stream. Tunnel-backs have restricted its depth for purposes of navigation. The widening proposed by the Sanitary District authorities and the fact that almost all the docks are in a dilapidated condition will combine to make changes imperative. The opportunity should be seized to plan a comprehensive and adequate development of the river banks, so that the commercial facilities shall be extended, while at the same time the æsthetic side of the problem shall be worked out. Boulevards should extend from the mouth of the river along the North and South branches and on both sides, at least from the mouth of the river to North Avenue on the North Branch and to Halsted Street on the South Branch. These thoroughfares would be an important factor in the relief of traffic congestion down-town; they should be raised above the normal traffic level in order to afford greater facility of circulation, and to allow warehouses to be constructed below the roadway. This upper level would thus connect the points on the river at which the street scheme calls for an elevation, as in the case of the north-and-south connecting boulevards, the junctions of the three branches of the river, and Twelfth Street. These boulevards apart from their practical advantages would become the most delightful route to the Lake.