Illinois and Michigan Canal
E442127
The Illinois and Michigan Canal is a historic 19th-century waterway in Illinois that linked the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system, playing a crucial role in the region’s economic development and westward expansion.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Illinois and Michigan Canal canonical | 21 |
| Illinois & Michigan Canal | 1 |
| Illinois & Michigan Canal (historic) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4457206 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Illinois and Michigan Canal Context triple: [Lockport, Illinois, locatedNear, Illinois and Michigan Canal]
-
A.
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is a man-made waterway in Illinois that reverses the flow of the Chicago River, diverts wastewater away from Lake Michigan, and serves as a key navigation link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system.
-
B.
Ohio and Erie Canal
The Ohio and Erie Canal was a 19th-century waterway in Ohio that linked Lake Erie to the Ohio River, spurring economic growth and the development of cities such as Akron.
-
C.
Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal
Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is a major industrial waterway in northwest Indiana that serves as a key shipping and steel-production hub on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
-
D.
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic man-made waterway in New York State that opened in 1825, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and transforming U.S. commerce and westward expansion.
-
E.
Champlain Canal
The Champlain Canal is a historic waterway in New York State that links the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, forming part of the state's inland navigation system.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Illinois and Michigan Canal Target entity description: The Illinois and Michigan Canal is a historic 19th-century waterway in Illinois that linked the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system, playing a crucial role in the region’s economic development and westward expansion.
-
A.
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is a man-made waterway in Illinois that reverses the flow of the Chicago River, diverts wastewater away from Lake Michigan, and serves as a key navigation link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system.
-
B.
Ohio and Erie Canal
The Ohio and Erie Canal was a 19th-century waterway in Ohio that linked Lake Erie to the Ohio River, spurring economic growth and the development of cities such as Akron.
-
C.
Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal
Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is a major industrial waterway in northwest Indiana that serves as a key shipping and steel-production hub on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
-
D.
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic man-made waterway in New York State that opened in 1825, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and transforming U.S. commerce and westward expansion.
-
E.
Champlain Canal
The Champlain Canal is a historic waterway in New York State that links the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, forming part of the state's inland navigation system.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
canal
ⓘ
historic waterway ⓘ |
| addedToNationalRegisterOfHistoricPlaces | 1966 ⓘ |
| architect | William Gooding NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| authorizedBy |
Illinois General Assembly
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States Congress land grant ⓘ |
| builtFor |
transportation of goods
ⓘ
transportation of passengers ⓘ |
| closed | 1933 ⓘ |
| connects |
Chicago River
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Great Lakes NERFINISHED ⓘ Illinois River NERFINISHED ⓘ Mississippi River system NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| constructionBegan | 1836 ⓘ |
| constructionMaterial | limestone ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| designatedAsNationalHistoricLandmark | 1964 ⓘ |
| designation | National Historic Landmark NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| elevationChange | approximately 140 feet ⓘ |
| endPoint | LaSalle, Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasHeritageCorridorDesignation | Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasNumberOfAqueducts | 4 ⓘ |
| hasNumberOfDams | 5 ⓘ |
| hasNumberOfLocks | 17 ⓘ |
| hasUse |
biking trail
ⓘ
hiking trail ⓘ historic tourism ⓘ recreation ⓘ |
| historicalEra | 19th century ⓘ |
| length | approximately 96 miles ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Illinois
ⓘ
Midwestern United States ⓘ |
| NRHPType | historic district ⓘ |
| opened | 1848 ⓘ |
| operator | State of Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| partOf | Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| passesThrough |
DuPage County, Illinois
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Grundy County, Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ Kendall County, Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ LaSalle County, Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ Will County, Illinois NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| replacedBy |
Illinois Waterway
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
railroads ⓘ |
| significance |
contributed to growth of Chicago
ⓘ
facilitated westward expansion ⓘ linked Great Lakes to Mississippi River system ⓘ stimulated economic development in Illinois ⓘ |
| startPoint | Bridgeport, Chicago NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| status | no longer used for commercial navigation ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Illinois and Michigan Canal Description of subject: The Illinois and Michigan Canal is a historic 19th-century waterway in Illinois that linked the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system, playing a crucial role in the region’s economic development and westward expansion.
Referenced by (23)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Lockport, Illinois
subject surface form:
Lockport, Illinois
subject surface form:
La Salle, Illinois
La Salle, Illinois, United States of America
→
hasHistoricalTransportationRoute
→
Illinois and Michigan Canal
ⓘ
subject surface form:
La Salle, Illinois
this entity surface form:
Illinois & Michigan Canal
this entity surface form:
Illinois & Michigan Canal (historic)