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This "Basin," was a great-joy to the youth of Michigan Avenue and the neighborhood. In the summer the pair at the foot of Madison Street was crowded with freshly painted row boats which could be rented for twenty five cents an hour, while the fishermen sat perched on the break water beyond the rail road. In then winter it was a great place for skating. Step by step improvements were introduced and I will remember when the crib was built and towed several miles off the shore of the north side and sunk for the introduction of fresher water for city, beyond the outpourings of the drainage laden Chicago river. This again was moved further out and finally when the current of river was changed by the drainage canal taking from Lake Michigan instead of draining into it as in the early days the