TC 62S.B8r""'""""«y Librae, ^ "ifcse Channel anw The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004627646 ■^f ' ' ' ? -, K ■■ P5 13 H X B DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY f '-y Carnall LlniJ,!! r juN lo A HISTORY Offi \^ <: ■ ■ .isUA, N. THE EFFORT TO SECURE AN EFFECTIVE AND HAl4j^P:^I*e33J£ID DISPOSAL OF THE SEWAGE OF THE CITY OF rPJteAfiQ^jQffi CREATE A NAVIGABLE CHANNEL BETWEEN LAKE MICHIGAN AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER By G. p. brown PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CEREMONIES AT THE INAUGURATION OF WORK ON THE DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1892, PURSUANT TO A RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE CITIZENS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THOSE CEREMONIES, AND BY THE AITTHORITY OF THE BOAKD OF TRUSTEES OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO CHICAGO R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY 1894 n /- ^-t ^'11 Copyright by the Board of Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago, 1894. PRE FACE. Chicago stands at the summit of the watershed between the basins of the Mississippi and the St. Law- rence, yet its drainage problem has been a most perplex- ing one. This has been due, in .part, to the fact that the great lake at the city's feet has been both the source of its water supply and the receptacle for its sewage. The inability to reconcile these conflicting con- ditions became apparent many years ago, but the city was unwilling to make a radical change in its methods. With a perpetual fountain of unparalleled water on one side from which to draw at will, and a declivity on the other down which the waste might be discharged, an ideal plan of sewage disposal was offered. But there were long believed to be insurmountable obstacles to its adoption. One makeshift followed another, and the people were urged to believe that it was neither danger- ous nor obnoxious to drink diluted sewage. At length the conclusion was forced upon the munici- pality that the public drains must be turned away from Lake Michigan. The disposal of sewage upon land was found to be impracticable and chemical treatment impos- sible. The inhabitants of the valleys of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers protested against the contamination of those streams. It was finally shown that sewage soon became harmless and inoffensive if properly diluted. At IV PREFACE. the price of a serviceable waterway between Lake Michi- gan and the Illinois river, with consequent dilution, all objections to the construction of a drainage channel to the westward were withdrawn. Such is the origin of the drainage channel and waterr way. It is a work of great magnitude, ranking among the largest of the century. Chicago's prosperity is dependent upon it. The commercial welfare of the State will be augmented by it. When the United States Gov- ernment shall have completed the navigable highway in the bed of the Illinois the entire country will be bene- fited. In time of war with a foreign power, whose ad- vent no one can foretell, it will be the means of sav- ing millions of dollars in the protection of the cities on the great lakes. Both State and Nation thus have a vital interest in the work. The idea of an artificial waterway from Lake Michi- gan to the Mississippi river dates from the discovery of this western country, its first suggestion having been made by Joliet who, with Marquette, more than three hundred years ago, explored the valleys of the Des- plaines and Illinois. Among the internal improvements of the country proposed in the early part of this cen- tury was the construction of a canal between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi suitable for the commerce of the West. The National government has given the question consideration for nearly one hundred j'ears. The channel so long urged is now in the hands of contractors. It will extend from Chicago to Joliet a distance of forty miles, and will be adequate for vessels PREFACE. V navigating the- Great Lakes and the Great River. It is being constructed at the expense of a municipality which includes the greater part of the city of Chicago and portions of adjoining townships. Its extension to the Mississippi will depend upon the State and the National Government. ' In the following pages an effort has been made to trace the development of the idea of this waterway com- munication from its inception to the date when it took definite shape in the inauguration of work. If a compi- lation were made of all that has been said and done concerning the subject it would fill a hundred volumes. No public question relating to the physical improvement of the country ever received closer and more prolonged attention. Such facts have been gleaned from the mass of material uncovered as seemed necessary to a connected and comprehensive history. According to present plans the channel now begun will be completed in 1896. Chicago will then have secured satisfactory drainage, and the advantages of a new highway of commerce from the lakes to the gulf will have become apparent to State and Nation. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. SUBJECT. PAQB. I. Water Supplies op Large Cities 9 II. Quality of the Water op Lake Michigan 15 III. Chicago's Water Supply System . 26 IV. Methods op Sewage Disposal 37 V. Chicago's Sewerage System 49 VI. Epforts to Purify the Chicago River 63 VII. Outlet to the Mississippi 94 VIII. First Suggestions op a Waterway 111 IX. Congress and Internal Improvements p.23 X. Government Aid of the Illinois and Michigan Canal 135 XL Waterway Legislation by the State 153 XII. Thirteen Years op Prparatory Work 174 XIII. Period op Canal Construction 190 XIV. Commercial Period op the Canal 203 XV. Chicago River and Harbor Convention - 215 XVI. Ship Canal Before Congress 231 XVII. Deepening op the Illinois and Michigan Canal 243 XVIII. National Canal Convention of 1863 254 XIX. Improvement of the Illinois River 260 XX. Government Surveys by Wilson and Gooding 275 XXI. Government Surveys by Benyaurd and Marshall 287 XXII. Bridgeport Pumping Works 307 XXIII. Ogden-Wentworth Canal 320 XXIV. Fullerton Avenue Conduit - 328 XXV. Work op the Chicago Citizens' Association 336 XXVI. Drainage and Water Supply Commission 345 XXVII. Chicago Sanitary District Created 374 XXVIII. Organization of the Sanitary District 392 XXIX. Time and Money Needlessly Wasted 405 XXX. Definite Plans and Preparations , 416 XXXI. Inauguration of the Work 424 Chronological Table 461 Biblogkaphy . 465 Index 467 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Excavation in Rock pok Drainage Channel and Water- way, Frontispiece 2. Excavation in Earth for Drainage Channel and Water- way, 36 3. New Channel for Diversion of the Desplaines River 62 4. Cross Section of Ancient Outlet and DrainagiT Chan- nel AND Waterway, 96 5. Map Made by Marquette in 1673, 107 6. Map op Chicago in 1812, 137 7. Drainage Channel and Waterway in Rock. Full Width and one-third Depth, 152 8. Rock in Drainage Channel and Waterway after Blast- ing, 176 9. Removing Excavated Material prom Drainage Channel and Waterway, 202 10. Method op Removing Rock from Drainage Channel and Waterway, 230 11. Territory Drained by the Illinois River, 260 12. Desplaines River Spillway, North op Summit, 326 13. Profile of Desplaines and Illinois Rivee Valleys. (Plate I.) 344 14. Profile op Desplaines and Illinois River Valleys. (Plate II.) 344 15. Cross Sections op Drainage Channel and Waterway, 374 16. Chicago Sanitary District and Desplaines Valley, 392 17. Cross Sections of Noted Channels. (Plate I.) 420 18. Cross Sections op Noted Channels. (Plate II.) 420 19. Map and Profile of Drainage Channel and Waterway, End ix LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO. For the Years 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893 and 1894. JOHN J. ALTPETER. WILLIAM BOLDEISrWECK, (Elected to fill vacancy November 3, 1891.) LYMAN E. COOLEY, (Elected to fill vacancy November 3, 1891.) BERNARD A. ECKHART, (Elected to fill vacancy November 3, 1891.) ARNOLD P. GILMORE. CHRISTOPH HOTZ, (Resigned January 16, 1892.) THOMAS KELLY, (Elected to fill vacancy November 8, 1892.) JOHN A. KING, (Resigned July 22, 1891.) MURRY NELSON, (Resigned June 19, 1891.) RICHARD PRENDERGAST. WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. FRANK WENTER. HENRY J. WILLING, (Resigned September 23, 1891.) OFFICERS, SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO. January 18, 1890, to Dbcembee 2, 1890. President, MURRY NELSON. Clerk of District, AUSTIN J. DOYLE (Resigned June 25, 1890.) THOMAS F. JUDGE (Elected July 12, 1890.) Treasurer, BYRON L. SMITH. Chief Engineer, LYMAN E. COOLEY. Attorney, S. S. GREGORY (Declined June 26, 1890.) GEORGE W. SMITH (Elected July 12, 1890.) Seoretary, CHARLES BARY. Dbcembee 2, 1890, to December 8, 1891. . President, RICHARD PRENDERGAST. Clerk, THOMAS F. JUDGE. Treasurer, BYRON L. SMITH. Chief Engineer, LYMAN B. COOLEY (Services dispensed with December 10, 1890.) WM. E. WORTHEN (Elected Dec. 17, 1890 ; resigned April 21, l891.y SAMUEL G. ARTINGSTALL (Elected May 9, 1891.) Consulting Engineer, JOHN NEWTON (Elected December 10, 1890 ; resigned April U, 1891.) Attorney, GEORGE W. SMITH (Resigned April 23, 1891.) ADAMS A. GOODRICH (Elected June 13, 1891.) ^Secretary, CHARLES BARY (Resigned January 3, 1891.) ♦Clerk Judge appointed Acting Secretary. On revision of rules the oflico, of Seoretary was abolislied. FiioM Dbcembek 8, 1891, to December 6, 1892. President, FRANK WENTER. Clerk, THOMAS F. JUDGE. Treasurer, BYRON L. SMITH (Resigned January 15, 1892.) MELVILLE E. STONE (Elected January 23, 1892.) Chief Engineer. SAMUEL G. ARTINGSTALL (Resigned January 16, 1892.) BENEZETTE WILLIAMS (Elected January 16, 1892.) Attorney. ADAMS A. GOODRICH (Resigned February 23, 1892.) ORRIN N. CARTER (Elected February 24, 1892.) From Decembee 6, 1892, to Decembee 5, 1893. President, FRANK WENTER. Clerk, THOMAS F. JUDGE. Treasurer, MELVILLE E. STONE. Chief Engineer, BENEZETTE WILLIAMS (Resigned June 7, 1893.) ISHAM RANDOLPH (Elected June 7, 1893.) Attorney, ORRIN N. CARTER. Feom Decembee 5, 1893. President, FRANK WENTER. Clerk, THOMAS F. JUDGE. Treasurer, MELVILLE E. STONE. Chief Engineer, ISHAM RANDOLPH. Attorney, ORRIN N. CARTER. COMMITTEES FOR 1890 AND 1891. Committee on Judiciary. (Appointed January 25, 1890.) RICHARD PRWNDERGAST (Chairman), HENRY J. WILLING, FRANK WENTER. Committee on Finance. (Appointed June 14, 1890.) HENRY J. WILLING (Chairman), JOHN A. KING, RICHARD PRENDERGAST. Committee on Room^ and Offices. (Appointed June 14, 1890.) ARNOLD P. GILMORE (Chairman), JOHN J. ALTPETER, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. Committee on Federal Relations. (Appointed Marcli 1, enlarged June 14, 1890.) RICHARD PRENDERGAST (Chairman). HENRY J. WILLING, ARNOLD P. GILMORE, JOHN J. ALTPETER, FRANK WENTER. Comm,ittee on Engineering Department. (Appointed July 26, 1890.) CHRISTOPH HOTZ (Chairman), FRANK WENTER, RICHARD PRENDERGAST, PRESIDENT MURRY NELSON, (Ex-oificio member of each Committee.) Clerk of the District. AUSTIN J. DOYLE (Resigned June 25, 1890), THOMAS F. JUDGE (Elected July 12, 1890), COMMITTEES FOR 1891 AND 1892. Committee on Judiciai'y. WILLIAM BOLDENWECK (Chairmaa), JOHN J. ALTPETER, BERNARD A. ECKHART. Committee on Finance. BERNARD A. ECKHART (Chairman), ARNOLD P. GILMORE, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. Committee on Engineering. LYMAN E. COOLEY (Chairman), JOHN J. ALTPETER, WILLIAM BOLDENWECK. Committee on Federal Relations. ARNOLD P. GILMORE (Chairman), LYMAN E. COOLEY. RICHARD PRENDERGAST, CHRISTOPH HOTZ, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. Committee on Rules. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, LYMAN E. COOLEY, BERNARD A. ECKHART. Clerk of the District. THOMAS F. JUDGE. COMMITTEES FOR 1892 AND 1893. Committee on Judiciary. THOMAS KELLY (Chairman), WILLIAM BOLDENWECK, JOHN J. ALTPETER. Committee on Finance. BERNARD A. ECKHART (Chairman), WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, THOMAS KELLY. Committee on Engineering. LYMAN E. COOLEY (Chairman), THOMAS KELLY, WILLIAM BOLDENWECK, JOHN J. ALTPETER, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. Committee on Federal Relations. WILLIAM BOLDENWECK (Chairman), ARNOLD P. GILMORE, LYMAN E. COOLEY, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, JOHN J. ALTPETER. Committee on Mules. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, BERNARD A. ECKHART. Committee on Health and Public Order. ARNOLD P. GILMORE (Chairman), WILLIAM BOLDENWECK, JOHN J. ALTPETER. Clerk of the District. THOMAS P. JUDGE. COMMITTEES FOR 1893 AND 1894. Judiciary. THOMAS KELLY (Chairman), WILLIAM BOLDENWECK, JOHN J. ALTPETER. Finance. BERNARD A. ECKHART (Chairman), WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, THOMAS KELLY. Rules. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, BERNARD A. ECKHART. Engineering. LYMAN E. COOLEY (Chairman), THOMAS KELLY, WILLIAM BOLDENWECK, JOHN J. ALTPETER, WILLIAM H. RUSSELL. Health and Public Order. ARNOLD P. GILMORE (Chairman), JOHN J. ALTPETER, RICHARD PRENDERGAST. Federal Relations. WILLIAM BOLDENWECK (Chairman), LYMAN E. COOLEY, JOHN J. ALTPETER, RICHARD PRENDERGAST, ARNOLD P. GILMORE. Lahor. JOHN J. ALTPETER (Chairman), THOMAS KELLY, BERNARD A. ECKHART. Clerk of the District. THOMAS F. JUDGE. DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. CHAPTER I. WATER SUPPLIES OF LARGE CITIES. Chicago is the only great city in the world that has easy access to an unlimited supply of pure water, — not the chemi- cally pure product of distillation, but that which is free from organic pollution. Water is suitable for domestic use when it does not contain matter which is itself poisonous, or which is food for disease-producing bacteria. In its natural state, the water of Lake Michigan contains no trace of such matter, and in this sense is pure. Not only does Chicago obtain unrivalled water from an exhaustless reservoir, but from one which lies at its very door. It needs to build no costly aqueducts, construct no arti- ficial storage basins, and make no provision against drought. Nature has fairly lifted the cup to Chicago's lips. Lake Michigan has been one of the sources of the city's unrivalled prosperity. Good water flows through the arteries of a city as pure blood through the body, refreshing and sustain- ing it. Without wholesome water there can be no perma- nent aggregation of people. The growth of cities is limited by their ability to secure and maintain a suitable supply of water. The struggle for it is often so great as to excite pity. Vast sums of money are spent and useful lives sacrificed. Energies which should be used in developing commerce and manufactures are wasted in a warfare with nature. New York was compelled to go into the country forty 10 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. miles and collect the waters of small streams into artificial lakes. These are more or less contaminated, and constant efforts are required to check the pollution. Dams, aque- ducts and tunnels have cost the city nearly $30,000,000, and still the system must be extended as the city grows. Plans have been adopted recently for the construction of a new dam which will collect the waters of a region 376 square miles in extent. This and its auxiliaries will cost 15,000,000, and six years will be required for its comple- tion. Boston goes to Lake Cochituate for its water supply, a distance of twenty miles, and has paid more than $10,000,- 000 for storage reservoirs and a brick conduit. Philadelphia is supplied mainly from the Schuylkill Eiver, whose waters are deleteriously affected by the sew- age of towns, and the waste of factories. Three plans for an improved supply are now under consideration, any one of which will cost not less than $20,000,000. London obtains about one-half the water it uses from the Thames above tidal limits, and the remainder from smaller streams and springs. At the present rate of increase in the population of the city it is estimated that, within thirty years, the amount required will exceed the supply of the entire Thames basin in times of drought. In the near future it will be necessary to provide increased storage capacity, or discover new sources of supply. Dr. Frankland says the water of the Thames and Lea is becoming more and more unfit for domestic use, on account of sewage pollution, notwithstanding the most efficient means of filtration are employed at the reservoirs. Paris derives its supply from the Seine, (he Marne, 'the Ourcq canal, artesian wells and springs. Only that from the wells and springs is fit for domestic use and this is limited in amount. Expensive works have been required to conduct the water supply from the various sources to reser- WATER SUPPLIES OF LARGE CITIES. 11 voirs on heights near the city. The main aqueduct is 110 miles in length, and there are subsiding conduits 50 miles long. Vienna goes to the Styrian Alps for water, a distance of 56 miles. Marseilles also depends upon the melting snows of the Alps, and the canal it constructed to the Durance was one of the boldest undertakings of modern times. This canal is carried through three chains of limestone mountains, which are penetrated by forty-five tunnels. It crosses many valleys by aqueducts, one of which, carrying 198,000 gal- lons per minute, is 262 feet in height. Manchester built seven impounding reservoirs, whose embankments are from 70 to 100 feet above the level of the valley in which they are constructed. The water with which they are filled is collected from the River Etherow and its tributaries, and is conveyed by an aqueduct 20 miles in length. The gross supply from the entire drainage ground will not exceed 40,000,000 gallons daily. Versailles spent large sums of money and sacrificed many lives in an unsuccessful attempt to bring water from the River Eure, and the famous aqueduct bridge of Main- tenon is the most magnificent structure of the kind in the world. Finally, the waters of the plateau between Ver- sailles and Rambouillet were collected and led by channels 98 miles in length through the city. Constantinople brings its water through valleys and by aqueduct from the valley of Belgrade, a distance of 15 miles. The diiEculties encountered by Glasgow were almost in- surmountable. The beautiful scenery about Loch Katrine, was made generally known by Sir "Walter Scott, in ' ' The Lady of the Lake." Public attention was directed* to the clear waters of the Highland lakes, and their use by the city was suggested. After years of discussion, an Act was passed for tapping Loch Katrine. Water is now conducted 12 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. from this lake to the city by built tunnels, mined tunnels, aqueducts and iron pipes. In all, there are seventy tun- nels, eicht feet in diameter. One of these is 600 feet below the surface. There are twenty-seven aqueducts built over rivers and ravines. Some are of masonry and some of iron. A reservoir with a capacity of 500,000,000 gallons was constructed 26 miles from Loch Katrine, and 7 or 8 miles from Glasgow. Into this the water is first discharged. After undergoing a filtering process, it is conveyed in pipes through the city. It has cost nearly $9,000,000 to perfect the system. The famous aqueducts of ancient cities are generally familiar. They are monuments to the skill required to overcome difficulties which have stood across the path lead- ing to wholesome water. Of the two principal aqueducts of Rome, the Aqua Claudia received its waters from the Sabine Hills, 35 miles from the city, and the Anio Novus from the River Anio, 62 miles distant. The early Greeks depended upon natural springs and cisterns hewn in the rock, but the insufficiency of the supply led to daring engineering works. As early as 625 B. C, a tunnel 4,200 feet long 8 feet broad, and 8 feet high was cut through a hill, which stood between Samos and a coveted source of supply. Fifty or sixty years later, extensive works of a similar nature were constructed to bring water to Athens from the hills of Hymettus, Pentelicus and Parnes. Two conduits from Hymettus passed under the bed of the Ilissus, and were cut in the rock for most of the distance. This conduit and one from Pentelicus met in a large reservoir just outside Athens, and from this the water was distributed throughout the city by underground chan- nels. Some of the ancient aqueducts continue to supply Athens to the present time. These are a few examples of the exacting conditions en- countered by large cities. In striking contrast is the ease WATER SUPPLIES OF LARGE CITIES. 13 with which Chicago turns to an endless supply at arm's length, with no serious obstacle to overcome. Lake Michigan, from which Chicago derives its water, is the second in size in the group of the Great North American lakes. Its mean latitude is 44 degrees north. Its length is 320 miles, and maximum breadth 80 miles. Its greatest depth is 840 feet. Although its surface is 594 feet higher than the surface of the sea, at the bottom it is 24:6 feet below the surface of the sea. The area of Lake Michigan is 26,000 square miles, and its basin about 43,000 square miles, a total area of 69,000 square miles. The lake is sup- plied by rainfall and the small streams which empty into it on every side, and its outlet is through the Straits of Macki- naw into Lake Huron. Chicago is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Its original site was low and flat, only a few feet above the level of the lake. The Chicago river, with its two branches, separates the city into three divisions. This comparatively insignificant stream is the remnant of a great outlet from the lake to the westward, which once dis- charged into the Mississippi river. As the waters of the Great Lakes I'eceded, a ridge of limestone rock, nearly parallel with the western shore of Lake Michigan, and 12 to 20 miles distant, rose above their surface and created the watershed separating the basins of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The Chicago river then began to draim the ponds and the swamps which successively appeared on the eastern slope and turned its course toward Lake Michigan. By artificial moans the river has been made to turn back- ward much of the time since the city has had a population of 300,000, and has become an open sewer. Spring floods and heavy rains frequently counteract the work of pumps, and the sluggish current has been first to the east and then to the west. The so-called stream is usually a stagnant bayou. It has been the source of much annoyance and has 14 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. endangered the health of the people. The city's first rude sewers, constructed of planks, and even the open gutters along the streets, emptied into the river ; so have nearly all of the more systematic sewers ever since. There has never been suflicient means to lift the sewage above the ridge which separates the river from the old outlet to the southwest, and the result has been an almost constant discharge of sew- age into the lake. If the conditions could have remained as nature planned them, Chicago's water supply would never have been con- taminated. When the city was small, the inhabitants were not troubled ; a little sewage did not affect so large a body of water. As the city expanded, this method of sewage disposal became an evil, too great to be ignored. But the plan could not be easily changed, and the city has gone on ever since in a sort of blind fatuity, trying to convince itself the situation was not serious. Spasmodic efforts were made to cleanse the river when self deception was no longer possi- ble. These efforts have failed to secure permanent relief. CHAPTER II. QUALITY OF THE WATER OF LAKE MICHIGAN. There is no absolute standard by which to test the organic purity of water. Dr. Smart says that the presence of organic substances can easily be detected in most waters, for there are few which are organically pure, but that there is no royal road to an estimation of the quantity, nor to an appreciation of the quality. " The examination must con- sist, ' ' he says, ' ' in instituting a series of experiments on the organic matter, or the substances which accompany it in the water, and on those derived from it. These various witnesses are, as it were, interrogated, and from a considera- tion of their testimony an opinion is formed as to the quan- tity of the organic contamination, as to its origin in the ani- mal or vegetable kingdom, as to its source, whether near or remote ; in a word, as to the wholesomeness or the un whole - someness of the water which contains it. ' ' The chemist may be able to estimate the proportions of free and albuminoid ammonia, of nitrates and nitrites which a water contains, and the bacteriologist to count the number of micro-organisms in a cubic centimeter of water, but the figures either will give can have no more than a relative value. There must be taken into consideration the source of the contamination, the conditions under which the samples examined were secured, and the uses to which the water will be put. There are traces of richly carboniferous matter in the waters of Loch Katrine, taken up from the peat of the surrounding hills. The waters of all the Highland Jakes contain large quantities of both free and albuminoid 15 16 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ammonia. And yet both are drank with impunity. Bac- teria, algae, infusoria and allied organisms are usually found in the waters of lakes in wooded districts, but their presence is not an infallible indication that the water is unfit to drink. Undecomposed organic matter, if not poisonous, may exist in water without producing harmful results on those who drink it. If decomposed, it may cause a temporary disarrangement of the stomach, resulting in headache, fevers and diarrhoea. The real danger from contamination by organic matter lies in the possibility, or probability, that such organic matter is maintaining bacterial life. The fact of decomposition is evidence of the existence of micro- organisms of some kind. Bacteria are classified as saprophytic and pathogenic. The former are the cause, or the medium, of fermentation and decay; the latter, of specific diseases. To saprophytic bacteria are to be charged the offensive odors which accom- pany the decomposition of organic matter, whether in con- taminated water, sewage, or elsewhere, and which are not seriously harmful in themselves ; to pathogenic bacteria are to be attributed those diseases, contagious or epidemic, which result from the use of polluted water. No analysis of water is complete until the presence or the absence of dis- ease-producing bacteria has been absolutely determined. But it is generally safe to assume that, of the bacteria found in water contaminated by sewage, a greater or less propor- tion are pathogenic. Of them it is said : ' ' Pathogenic bacteria are not believed to grow and develop outside the animal body. They are, however, known to exist for great lengths of time after leaving the body. And it is found that the conditions under which saprophytic bacteria exist and develop, namely, in decaying organic matter, are at least conducive to the existence of the disease germs. Hence, although in a particular water it may be impossible QUALITY OF THE WATER OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 17 to discover or isolate a definite species of pathogenic bac- teria, yet the presence of organic contamination, especially of animal origin, or of bacteria in greater numbers than should be expected in a normal water, is regarded as an im- portant reason for its prompt rejection." A complete analysis of water requires investigation by the microscopist, the chemist and the bacteriologist. Ordi- narily, tests by the chemist and the bacteriologist are suffic- ient; those of the chemist generally are, if the sources of the supposed contamination are known. It may be assumed that pathogenic bacteria will be found in water which contains food for them. The presence of this food is indicated by the ammonias and nitrates. It is the work of the chemist to discover these compounds. The results of his' investiga- tions are commonly expressed in the number of parts each of free ammonia, albuminoid ammonia, nitrates and nitrites in 1,000,000 parts of water. The analysis may also show the amount of chlorine in the water, which suggests a pos- sible pollution by sewage, the latter always containing salt. But salt may come from other sources. The amount of oxygen a given quantity of water will consume, is a measure of the present decomposition of the organic matter in the water, and is often determined. Free ammonia and albuminoid ammonia indicate differ- ent stages of decomposition. But ammonia does not long remain in this form in water, as it is either assimilated by living plants, or is converted by the action of bacteria into nitric acid. Uniting with sodium or calcium, this acid exists in water as nitrates of these bases. The nitrates indi- cate the complete oxidation of other forms of organic matter. The nitrites simply contain less oxygen than the nitrates. In a word, the degree of contamination of water may be determined approximately by the proportion in it of these different forms of organic nitrogen. Since there is no abso- lute standard for the determination of the purity of water, 2 18 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the best that' can be done in an examination is to investigate the sources of supply and compare the results of analyses with those of waters of known wholesomeness. The most exhaustive examinations of water supplies in this country have been made by the State Boards of Health of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Massachusetts Board was the pioneer in this work, but the Connecticut Board has produced equally authoritative results. Investi- gations relating to the pollution of streams were begun by the Connecticut Board some years ago and were afterward considered of such value that the State Legislature made special appropriations for their continuance. Results are published in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Board, issued in 1892. Samples of water were taken regularly each month from the reservoirs of several cities, for a period of twenty-three months. These samples were subjected to microscopical, chemical and bacteriological examinations. The public water supplies of these cities are derived from lakes in the interior of the state, and, so far as possible, from those located in wooded and inaccessible districts. The conditions are such that the danger of contamination should be reduced to the minimum, and in these waters should be found a fair standard of wholesomeness. Supplies were examined by the Connecticut Board's experts, which covered the widest possible range, and are said to have included as large a proportion of the population as practicable. So far as a comparison of these waters with those of Lake Michigan is concerned, it is not necessary to refer to the results of the microscopical examinations, since the really deleterious contaminations are shown by the chemical tests. But it is of interest to note that the micro- scope never revealed such an abundance of minute vegetable forms in Lake Michigan, as are found in the public water supplies of Connecticut. Dr. Williston, chemical expert for the Connecticut State Board of Health, said of the Thomas- QUALITY OF THE WATER OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 19 ton supply: "The water, as received in September, 1889, showed a decided greenish tinge, and the unfiltered water gave the enormous number of nearly 200,000 organisms in the cubic centimeter, or nearly 100,000,000 in an ordinary glassful of water." Of the Connecticut supplies in general he said that, on the average, about 7,000 plants and animals, aside from the bacteria, are swallowed with every glassful of reservoir water that was drank. Although it may be conceded that the water of Lake Michigan, beyond the reach of sewage contamination, is incomparably pure, the water drawn from the hydrant is known to be more or less polluted. The hydrant water was never in a worse condition than during the season of 1885 and 1886. At that time a series of examinations was made for the Illinois State Board of Health, by Professor John H. Long, a member of the Faculty of the Chicago Medical College. The results were published in the Ninth Annual Report of the Board. Besides a chemical examination of water from a hydrant in the Chicago Medical College build- ing, at Twenty-sixth street and Prairie avenue, on Saturday of each week from September 6, 1885, to August 28, 1886, daily records were made of the changes in the lake level, of the level of the water in the canal lock at Bridgeport, anH of the temperature, rainfall, and movement of the wind. Chemical examinations were also made of the Lake View, Hyde Park and Evanston water supplies during a portion of the same period. Similar chemical examina- tions were made of samples of canal water collected at Bridgeport and Lockport, of canal and Desplaines river water at Joliet, and of Illinois river water at Ottawa and Peoria. The purpose of these examinations was to deter- mine ' ' the rate of oxidation of sewage and the consequent purification of the contents of the canal." There were 152 chemical examinations, 880 water measurements, and 1,760 meteorological observations. 20 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Dr. John H. Rauch, then secretary of the State Board of Health, reports that the conditions existing at the time of these examinations and observations were unusually bad. During the month of August 1885, following a month drier by one-third than the average, there was a rainfall of over Hi inches, an amount nearly four times greater than the average, and more than twice as much as any previous August rainiall on record in Chicago. "On August 2, nearly six inches of rain fell, and the Desplaines river poured through the Ogden-Wentworth ditch into the South branch of the Chicago river, flushing the entire contents of the river and branches,^ — unusually foul from the sewer accumulations during the previous dry weather, — and the concentrated filth of the South fork, out into the lake. , The pumps at Bridgeport were suspended on the 3d, but resumed operations on the 4th, and continued until the 11th, when, it being obvious that they were simply lifting Desplaines water, which, if unimpeded, would flow by gravity down the canal, the pumps were stopped and the gates opened, making the level in the canal and the river the same. Meanwhile, the sewage product of the city was accumulating in the river owing to the high lake level, and, combined with the high temperature, there resulted a more offensive condition than had obtained at any time since the ' deep cut, ' was completed. On the I4th, although the Desplaines con- tinued to pour in through the broken dam of the Ogden- Wentworth ditch, the pumps were again started, and, with the entire plant pushed to its utmost, succeeded on the lYth in raising the level in the canal twenty-six inches above the level of the canal; and this, with the reducing flow from the Desplaines, produced a sensible improvement of the main river and South branch which continued until the heavy rain of August 24th and 25th, nearly four inches. This again flushed out the South fork, and, with the Desplaines torrent taxing the full capacity of the canal, the filth of the South QUALITY OF THE WATEB OP LAKE MICHIGAN. 21 fork and the contents of the river were again poured into the lake. The pumps were stopped on the 27th, not resuming until September ith. At this time the flow from the Desplaines river into the South branch through the Ogden- Wentworth ditch was practically unimpeded, and this flow impaired, by so much, the effect of the Bridgeport pumps upon the condition of the Chicago river." The first of the weekly chemical examinations was made on September 5, 1885. The sewage of the city had been flowing into the lake through the river for almost a month. The analyses, therefore, show the water supply at its worst. An average of the determinations for each month is com- puted from the chemist's reports, and compared, in the table below, with the analyses of the water supply of Hartford, a fair representative of the water supplies of Connecticut, under usual conditions, as well as of the average supply throughout the country. No estimation of the nitrates and nitrites was made in the Chicago analyses, although the amount of oxygen consumed was reported ; but the oxygen consumed is not given in the Hartford reports. It is pos- sible, therefore, to compare only the amounts of free and albuminoid ammonia found in each case. For the purposes of comparison this is quite sufficient. The figures show the number of parts of ammonia in 1,000,000 parts of water, the highest figures showing the greatest degree of pollution, the averages indicating the comparative purity of the waters. The samples of the water were collected on the dates given for the Hartford supply. There were weekly examinations of the Chicago supply, and the figures opposite each date are the average for the month. 22 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. CHICAGO WATER SUPPLY. Date Free Albuminoid 1885 Sept 26 Oct. 31 Nov. 38 Dec. 36 1886 Jan. 80 Feb. 37 Mar. 37 Apr. 34 May 39 June 36 July 81 Aug. 27 Averages Ammonia Ammonia .0105 .0043 .0047 .0047 .0137 .0175 .0047 .0087 .0013 .0005 .0033 .0018 .0057 .085 .078 .074 .088 .090 .079 .073 .079 .079 .068 .067 .068 .077 HAR.TFORD WATEB SUPPLY. Date Free Albuminoid 1889 Aug. 5 Sept. 3 Oct. 5 Nov. 3 Dec. 3 1890 Jan. 7 Feb. 3 Mar. 3 Apr. 1 May 1 June;,3 Julys Ammonia Ammoi .016 .340 .013 .142 .030 .143 .016 .123 .020 .110 .033 .078 .034 .100 .006 .086 .016 .093 .033 .098 .034 .168 .020 .164 .019 .139 These figures show that the Chicago water supply, in its worst possible condition, contained far less organic matter than the Hartford supply in its average condition. But organic pollution of the Chicago supply is the result of sew- age contamination which is by no means constant. Unfor- tunately no systematic examinations of the water of Lake Michigan, beyond the point of possible shore contamination, or of water drawn from the city hydrants when in its best condition, microscopical, chemical or bacteriological, have ever been made. For practical purposes the figures given are suflScient to establish the truth of the statement that the Chicago water supply, bad as it is, is preferable to that of the average city. Wanklyn says : "If a water yield 0.00 parts of albu- minoid ammonia per million, it may be passed as organic- ally pure, despite of much free ammonia and chlorides ; and if, indeed, the albuminoid ammonia amount to .02, or to less than .05 parts per million, the water belongs to the class of very pure water. When the albuminoid ammonia amounts to .05, then the proportion of free ammonia be- comes an clement in the calculation ; and I should be inclined to regard with some suspicion a water yielding a consid- QUALITY OF THE WATER OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 23 erable quantity of free ammonia along with more than .05 parts of albuminoid ammonia per million. Free ammonia, however, being absent, or very small, a water should not be condemned unless the albuminoid ammonia reaches some- thing like .10 per million. Albuminoid ammonia above .10 per million begins to be a very suspicious sign; and over .15 it ought to condemn a water absolutely." When at its worst the water of Lake Michigan does not belong to the class which Professor Wanklyn would " be inclined to regard with some suspicion." The sources of Hartford's water supply are storage reservoirs and the Connecticut river, but water from the river was not used during the period of the examinations re- ferred to in the table. The reservoirs are situated five or six miles west of the city, and have an aggregate capacity of 1,270,000,000 gallons. The water is collected from small streams and adjacent basins, the total area of which is about eleven square miles. The basins are rocky pasture and woodland, and are said to be quite free from house drainage. The population of the city of Hartford is about 53,000, and the average daily consumption of water is 5,000,000 gallons. In the Illinois State Board of Health Report, containing Professor Long's figures, Dr. Ranch notes the relations between the excessive discharge of sewage into Lake Mich- igan and the excessive impurity of the water supply as shown by the analyses, and the slight discharge of sewage into the lake and the better condition of the water. The greatest contamination was during the week ending Febru- ary 27. About the 7th of the month thawing weather set in, with light rainfalls. The Desplaines river overflowed, the ice and snow of its basin having melted rapidly, and the Bridgeport pumps were idle most of the month, unable to counteract the strong current lakeward. The combined effect of these causes, aided by the direct discharge of sew- 24 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. age and storm water into the lake, was apparent in the chemical determinations, the free ammonia figures being higher than at any time during the previous seven months. The best results were obtained from May to August, when the conditions were reversed. The pumps were able to counteract the outward flow, and little sewage found its way into the lake, except from the sewers along the shore. "The observations of these four months demonstrate," says Dr. Rauch, "that the sewage of Chicago can be pre- vented from polluting its water supply, and that when this is done the city has the best supply, all things taken into consideration, of any large city on the continent, if not in the world." Under the natural conditions found in Lake Michigan, a great lake is the best possible source of a water supply. Such a lake is a vast settling reservoir, in which the changed constituents of the impurities that find their way into it are precipitated. Through the changes of tempera- ture in this climate and the action of the wind, constant currents are maintained throughout the entire body of water. Aiding these forces is the action of the inflowing streams and of the outflowing excess. The waters of a great lake are said to be thoroughly mixed once a year. A sufficient evidence of the natural purity of the waters of Lake Michi- gan is found in its characteristic blue color. Spring waters are imported and used in Chicago in large quantities, in the belief that they are free from the impuri- ties found occasionally in the water of Lake Michigan, the result of sewage contamination. That the latter does con- tain these impurities in a greater or less degree, with a large proportion of the city's sewage flowing into the lake, there is no doubt. But the imported spring waters are far from pure. In bacteriological examinations made in Decem- ber, 1892, by Professors Belfield and Haines, of Rush Medi- QUALITY OF THE WATER OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 25 cal College, bacteria were found in a spring water brought from Wisconsin, and extensively used in Chicago. Bacteria were also found in water drawn from a local hydrant, and from samples of ice. A sample of artificial ice contained no bacteria. CHAPTER III. CHICAGO'S WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM. Chicago obtained its first water supply from wells. These were dug in the sand which had been heaped up by the winds, or in the silt deposited by the receding waters of the lake. Acting as a great filter bed the sand might have kept the water free from pollution, had there not been an impermeable stratum of blue clay near the surface. In spite of serious contamination the wells were used for twenty years after Chicago was incorporated as a village, although they were not the only source of water supply. To understand how the wells became unfit for use, a reference to the geological structure of the region embrac- ing Chicago is necessary. The underlying rock is Niagara limestone. Upon this rests the blue clay, whose average depth is about 100 feet. Lake Michigan formerly extended to the ridge already referred to as the watershed of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi basins. As the underlying rock comes to the surface at the ridge, so the clay stratum thins out at the rim. When the lake receded, sand banks, or dunes, were formed across the basin, which extended from the bluffs at Winnetka southward twenty or thirty miles. Between these ridges of sand there were formed inland lakes or ponds in which a luxurious vegetation sprang up. From the resulting decay came the vegetable mold which lies on the surface in some places within the city limits. It is upon this bed of sand and vegetable mold with blue clay beneath that the city of Chicago stands. At no place was the origi- nal level more than twelve feet above the lake. It was the 26 Chicago's water supply system. 27 custom when Chicago was a village, as in small villages everywhere to-day, to dig both the well and the vault on the same lot. The wells were never more than twelve feet deep, and usually six. The seepage from the vaults moving freely over the surface of the clay was naturally toward the wells. No health statistics were kept, but there were epi- demics which were believed to be expressions of divine wrath. Dr. A. S. Martin, an early resident of Chicago, wrote to The Sanitary iVews in 1884: "The water supply was taken from wells sunk on individual premises, or on vacant lots, — sometimes in the streets. Dish-water, wash- water, and all fluid refuse from the kitchen, were generally thrown on the ground in back yards. In time, the water drawn from the wells began to taste, — a little brackish at first, then saltish, and finally it had a perceptible odor, which ultimately became offensive. A well, at length, had the odorous characteristics of a privy vault. When it rained, the water in well and privy vault rose accordingly; unless the prudent householder ' banked ' the latter it often overflowed. ' ' The disuse of wells brought into existence a new enter- prise, that of hauling water from the lake and selling it. A hogshead mounted on an axle between two wheels and drawn by a horse was first used. The only opening was a hole at the top sufficiently large to admit a pail. The vehicle was backed into the lake until the water came conveniently near the top, when the hogshead was filled by the use of pails. The driver then proceeded up the street, mounted on a cross-piece in front of the hogshead, and served those who hailed him with water at a shilling per barrel. The use of the pail in emptying was finally superseded by a hose, tacked around a hole about four inches in diameter near the bottom. At length contracts were made and many families were supplied on certain days of each week, or every other week. 28 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. " When Chicago became a city, water works were estab- lished just south of the south pier. Although primitive, they answered the purpose for which they were intended very well. I think the mains were originally of wood, and were tapped by lead pipes. At times they would fail, when the water carriers would have a harvest. As the system was extended, iron mains were laid along the principal streets. Various devices were tried; some failed, others succeeded. On the whole, the people of the Garden City made very little complaint." OiEcial action was taken on November 10, 1834, to sup- ply the people of Chicago with water. The village council appropriated $96.50 for digging a public well at the corner of Cass and Micliigan streets. This well supplied only a small colony on the North side ; persons living on the South side continued to draw water from their individual wells, or to buy it from the water purveyors. Water cart owners found their business a lucrative one, and a company was organized. Water was taken from the lake at the foot of Van Buren street, and supplied by carts as late as 1846. But the lake was often tempestuous and it was impossible to fill the carts. The resulting dissatisfaction and hardship among the inhabitants prepared the way for a pumping system. The Chicago Hydraulic company was incorporated by special Act of the Legislature on January 18, 1836. The disastrous panic of 1837 checked the company's plans, and work was not fairly begun until 1840. The company's charter permitted it to operate a mill. The combined mill and water works were located at the present intersection of Michigan avenue and Lake street, then directly on the lake shore. An inlet pipe was laid on a crib-work foundation and extended out into the lake about five hundred feet. The pipe was of cast iron, about fifteen inches in diameter, turned downward at the lake end five or six feet. At the shore end was a tank with a capacity of five or six hun- 29 dred barrels, raised above the ground a few feet by a block foundation. This slight elevation created the only pressure in the distributing system. The works were equipped with a 25-horse power engine and pump to draw the water from the lake to the reservoir, and about two miles of rude wooden pipe were laid. The sections of the pipe were pine logs, bored out by hand and strapped with hoop iron. The mains were six inches in diameter and were laid in the alleys about three feet below the surface. Eemnants of these pipes have been unearthed from time to time, the latest when the foundations were dug for the new Chamber of Commerce building in 1889. This primitive system supplied only a limited portion of the South division with water. Notwithstanding its ap- parent advantages, it is said that at least four-fifths of the people living within the corporate limits obtained their water for domestic use from the river or by water carts from the lake. In a reminiscent lecture delivered in Mc- Cormick Hall, on January 23, 1876, Governor Bross said : "In 1848, Lake and Water, and perhaps Randolph streets, and the cross streets between them east of the river, were supplied from logs. James H. Woodworth ran a grist mill on the north side of Lake street, near the lake, the engine for which also pumped the water into a wooden cis- tern that supplied the logs. Whenever the ' lake was rough the water was excessively muddy ; but in this myself and family had no personal interest, for we lived outside the water supply. Wells were in most cases tabooed, for the water was bad, and we, in common with perhaps a majority of our fellow citizens, were forced to buy our water by the bucket or the barrel from water carts. This we did for six years. ' ' The Hydraulic company does not appear to have made money out of its venture, but it maintained an existence until February 15, 1851, when the Legislature, again by 30 ' DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. special Act, incorporated the Chicago City Hydraulic com- pany. The indifference of the people was shown at the spring election. Of the 4,445 voters, 513 cast their ballots against the acceptance of the privilege granted by the Leg- islature, and 1,244 did not vote on the question at all. Dr. John H. Rauch, first secretary of the State Board of Health, says, in his Second Annual Report, that the effect of drinking well water was so marked during the prevalence of cholera in 1849 and 1850, compared with that of drinking lake water supplied to a few inhabitants by the Hydraulic company, this was one of the reasons urged for the incorporation of the City Hydraulic company. Concerning the contamination of the wells during the cholera epidemic, it was observed that nearly all who drank the water of a certain well on North LaSalle street died. This attracted attention, and was supposed to be owing to the fact that the well received the drainage from privies in the neighborhood, and in this way infected those who drank the water. This was true. But Dr. Rauch dis- covered afterward that, in this neighborhood, the soil was stratified with thin layers of blue clay, which was imper- vious to water, and whenever these layers were penetrated by wells, they acted as drains for a great area, the remain- ing portion of the soil being composed of sand until the thick stratum of blue clay underlying the greater portion of the city was reached. There was some dispute as to the right of the city to encroach upon the privileges of the old Hydraulic com- pany, and satisfactory terms could not be made with it until the year following the incorporation of the company. The city then began the construction of its own works, which were put in operation in February, 1854. This was the beginning of the present system. Authority over the works was vested in a Board of Water Commissioners. The first board consisted of John B. Turner, A. S. Sher- Chicago's water supply system. 31 man and H. G. Loomis. The pumping works were located on the lake shore at the foot of Chicago avenue. Already the discharge of sewage into the lake from the river had caused annoyance, and an alternative location for the pumping works at a considerable distance south of the river was suggested. In recommending the site chosen, Chief Engineer J. McAlpine said: "It is very questionable whether the small quantity which is discharged from the river would affect the quality of the water in the lake at a point IJ miles south. From the consideration which I have given the subject, I am of the opinion that there is no per- ceptible difference between the quality of the water in the lake above the pier and that at the place 1^ miles south of the river, on which the estimates have been predicated." The water was taken from an inlet basin on the lake shore, separated from the lake by a semi-circular break- water with an opening to the southeast, and distributed through three reservoirs, serving the three divisions of the city, situated, respectively, at LaSalle and Adams streets, Chicago avenue and Sedgwick street, and Morgan and Monroe streets. The first two were built in 1853, and the latter in 1854. Each held about two or three days' supply. The first iron distribution pipe was laid in Clark street in 1852, and was four inches in diameter. To keep the three reservoirs filled it was necessary to operate the pumps about twelve hours a day. The use of these reser- voirs was discontinued after the completion of the West side tunnel in 1874. In a sketch of the water supply system, written in 1876, Chief Engineer Chesbrough says that the increased growth of the city after the inauguration of the water works, and the introduction of sewerage, together with the establishment of the packing houses, distilleries, etc. , so increased the quan- tity of filth discharged into the lake, that complaints began to be made of impurity and offensiveness in the supply from 32 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. the pumping works. Governor Bross, in the address re- ferred to on a preceding page, spoke of the new works, and added: " But our troubles were by no means ended. The water was pumped from the lake shore the same as in the old works, and hence, in storms, it was excessively muddy. In the spring and early summer it was impossible to keep young fish out of the reservoir, and it was no uncommon thing to find the unwelcome fry sporting in one's washbowl, or dead and stuck in the faucets. Besides, they would find their way into the hot water reservoir, where they would get stewed up into a very nauseous fish chowder. The water at such times was not only the horror of all good house- wives, but it was justly thought to be very unhealthy. Worse than all this, while at ordinary times there is a cur- rent on the lake shore south, and the water, though often muddy and sometimes fishy, was comparatively good ; when the wind blew strongly from the south, often for several days, the current was changed and the water from the river, made from the sewage mixed with it into an abominably filthy soup, was pumped up and distributed through the pipes alike to the poorest street gamin and to the nabobs of the city." In 1859, Mr. Chesbrough relates, one of the water commissioners, Mr. Edward Hamilton, proposed to sink a wrought iron pipe, five feet in diameter, one mile out into the lake, to obtain the supply from a point which could not be affected by the river. This plan was referred to the chief engineer of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners, Mr. Chesbrough himself, to be examined and reported upon, with the request ' ' that he also take under consideration and report on the matter of erecting additional pumping works, in such locality as shall secure a supply of pure water. ' ' In his report Mr. Chesbrough discussed several plans, but made no specific recommendation. A tunnel was suggested, but it was thought best to defer action until there could be CHICAGO'S WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM. 33 further expert examination of the water, in the hope that much of the complaint was without foundation. But the water continued to grow worse and became very offensive both to the taste and smell. The Board of Public Works, created in. 1861, discussed the various plans proposed for relief and experimented with filters, which were soon found inadequate. ' ' The engineer of the Board, after much doubt and careful examination of the whole sub- ject, became more inclined to the tunnel plan than any other, as combining great directness to the nearest inex- haustible supply of pure water, with permanency of struc- . ture and ease of maintenance. The possibility, and, in the estimation of many, the probability of meeting insuperable difficulties in the nature of the soil, or storms, or ice on the lake, were fully considered. One by one the objections appeared to be overcome, either by providing against them, or discovering that they had no real foundation. ' ' When the plan was so far worked out as to show how the tunnel could be constructed it was submitted to several skilled engineers, all of whom expressed their belief in the practi- cability of the scheme. The president of the Board of Public Works supported the plan, but the two other meui- bers of the Board were very cautious and doubtful at first. It was not until a new Board was elected and more thor- ough examinations of the soil were made that the project was recommended to the Common Council. At length, the necessary ordinances were passed and the Board advertised for bids. " The opening of the proposals," says Mr. Chesbrough, ' ' was looked to with great interest, as it was feared that no responsible parties would offer to take the work for less than millions, instead of only about $300,000, the engi- neer's estimate, in which not only the public generally but the Board of Public Works themselves had no great confi- dence. The result was both surprising and gratifying to 3 34: DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the Board. Seven bids were received, ranging in amount from 1239,648 to $1,056,000. Owing to failure to appear with sureties at the proper time, and to objectionable conditions, the two lowest bids were rejected." After considerable inquiry as to the financial responsibility of the bidders a contract for the construction of the tunnel was entered into with J. J. Dull and James Gowan of Penn- sylvania on October 20, 1863. On the evening before the date of the contract an attempt was made in the Common Council to repeal the ordinance authorizing the contract, on .the ground that the proposed crib would be a permanent obstruction to navigation. The Board of Public Works agreed to lower the crib to such a depth below the surface of the lake that it would not interfere with navigation, if it should prove to be necessary, and the repealing ordinance did not pass. Ground for the tunnel was broken on March 17, 1864. The plan of the work included a land shaft at the western extremity of the tunnel at the foot of Chicago avenue, and a lake shaft at the eastern extremity. The tunnel was to be two miles in length, extending in an east-northeasterly direction from the pumping works. The horizontal dia- meter of the tunnel was fixed at five feet, and the vertical at five feet and two inches. Mr. Chesbrough says this size was determined upon for two reasons : It was sufficient to deliver a supply for one million inhabitants at the rate of fifty gallons a day for each person, the average quantity used at that time ; and experience in Europe had shown that, while it was possible to make small tunnels in the most troublesome ground, the attempt to make large ones had sometimes failed, and at others had been attended with enor- mous difficulties. "Although there was every reason to expect easy work here, there was a possibility of meeting deposits of quicksand, or other soft, wet material. Jn order to remove as far as practicable every doubt of the CHICAGO S WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM. 35 final success of the work, this small size was adopted, in the full conviction that whenever it should prove insufficient to supply the demand upon it, the population and wealth of the city would be abundantly able to construct another, and, if necessary, a larger one." The tunnel was completed substantially as planned, and the last stone was formally laid on December 6, 1866. The contract price was $315,139. The final settlement was for $380,784.60, including $27,420 for extras on the tunnel proper, and $41,225.60, for extras on the shaft, crib and east and west connections. The exact length of the tunnel was 10,567 feet. The system of water-pipe tunnels under the river was originated in 1869. Previous to that time the pipes were laid on the bottom of the river, but the large main crossing the river at Chicago avenue was broken on August 18, 1869, by a vessel dragging her anchor. As a result of this acci- dent the West side was without water for three days. The buildings and the water tower, comprising the North side pumping station, substantially as they are to-day, were completed in the same year. In the great fire of 1871 all the buildings connected with the works, except the tower, were partially destroyed. The machinery was so damaged that pumping was stopped, cutting oflf the supply of water and leaving the city without the means to protect it from the fire. One of the engines was put in running order eight days after the fire and the others a month later. The water supply system expanded rapidly after this. At the present time there are six pump- ing stations, as follows: Lake View, on Sulzer street; North Side, on Chicago avenue ; West Side, on Twenty- second street; Central, on Harrison street; Fourteenth street, on Fourteenth street; and Hyde Park on Sixty- eighth street. The total capacity of the stations is 305,- 000,000 gallons. The average rate of supply to each 36 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEEWAT. inhabitant during the year 1891 was 135 gallons. At the same rate the present pumps will supply 2,250,000 inhabit- ants. In 1874 a second tunnel, seven feet in diameter, was completed under the lake from the crib to the North Side station. In the same year this tunnel was extended, also seven feet in diameter, under the city to the new West Side pumping station at Ashland avenue and Twenty-second street. There are other tunnels to connect the Central and Fourteenth street pumping stations with the West Side tunnel. In 1887 a shore inlet tunnel, seven feet in diam- eter and 1,500 feet long, was extended under the lake op- posite the North Side pumping station, to be used when the supply at the two-mile crib should be endangered by ice or otherwise. This tunnel was seldom used until the latter part of 1891. In November of that year a new tunnel, planned to be eight feet in diameter, but which was made double and six feet in diameter for a part of the distance, was completed. It extended out under the lake four miles from the foot of Peck court. It was opened in November, 1892, and gave the city an ample supply of wholesome water. The use of the shore inlet tunnel was then discon- tinued. Q l-H W I o I «i '^ O I— I « m H 02 H Eh O O « o H <1 3 CHAPTER VI. EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. It was foreseen by Chief Engineer Chesbrough that the discharge of the sewers into the Chicago river would make that stream offensive. To remedy this, he proposed in his plan of 1855 to construct a covered canal in Sixteenth street through which water should be drawn from the lake by pumps to flush the South branch. The offense, so far as the sewers were concerned, does not seem to have become serious enough to attract official attention until the year 1860. In February of that year Mr. Chesbrough was in- structed by the Sewerage Commissioners to visit the canal office at Lockport and learn what steps were to be taken by the Canal Commissioners toward deepening the canal. "You are aware," said the Sewerage Commissioners, "that it has for a good while been regarded as desirable by many interested in the commercial prosperity of our state and the city, to make a channel by which the waters of Lake Mich- igan may flow directly to the Illinois river. To effect this, it is proposed either to cut down the summit of the Illinois and Michigan canal, or to make a new channel through Mud lake to the Desplaines river, and then to deepen the channel of that stream sufficiently to answer the purpose. The obvious bearing of this scheme upon the sanitary condition of the Chicago river, as affected by the sewage of the city, renders it desirable for this Board to obtain whatever relia- ble information can be had in reference to its practicability and expense, and the probability of its being carried out. As bearing also upon the same point, it is desirable to 63 64 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. obtain information as to the proposed pumping arrange ments for the supply of the present summit level of the canal, as to what amount of water the canal company expects to pump from our river daily, and for what portion of the season of navigation." Mr. Chesbrough's report was made in the following June. He thought the Board should not take any steps at that time toward the construction of a flushing inlet, or in doing any other work to introduce water from the lake into the South branch to purify the river. His reasons were : If the canal should be lowered at its summit level, such works would be useless ; if the Calumet feeder should be cut off, as had been suggested, it would be necessary to create a constant stream up the South branch during most of the season of navigation by pumping if the canal should not be lowered ; if the canal should not be lowered and the Calumet feeder should not be cut off, the experience of the preceding twelve years had shown that pumping was neces- sary about forty-six days in a year to keep the canal in nav- igable condition. He thought this amount of pumping would be suflScient to prevent any offensive smells that might have been caused from the sewage, ' ' at least for some years to come." If the necessities of the Canal Trustees did not require them to keep their pumps at work long enough to meet the requirements of the city, it would be cheaper for the city to pay the Trustees to operate them about ninety days a year than to pay the interest on the cost of the Six- teenth street canal. This, in connection with what the canal trustees would find it necessary to do for their own benefit, would keep the pumps in operation about three-fourths of the time between May and November, " the only time," Mr. Chesbrough said, "during which any serious incon- venience could arise from the effect of sewage on the river. Sometimes in the coldest weather of winter," he added, " the water of the river, when covered with ice a foot or EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 65 more in thickness, becomes offensive to the smell ; at least, offensive gases are generated somewhere, and they make themselves very sensibly felt wherever they find openings in the ice. No detriment to the public health is found at such times, however." Another important reason for deferring action on the flushing channel was that the board might profit by the experience of London which was then constructing works for the treatment of its sewage. The history of the Illinois and Michigan canal will be found in succeeding chapters. It may be stated here that the construction of the canal was begun in 1836, and that it was completed on the " shallow-cut " plan in 1848. The contract for deepening the canal was let in 1865, but the work was not begun until two years later. It was finished in 1871. Not having been dug as planned at the outset, water would not flow through the canal by gravity across the summit. As a canal without water was useless it became necessary to erect pumps at the head of the canal at Bridgeport. The pumps were operated when the Des- plaines river ran dry, and drew water from the Chicago river. In 1861 the Board of Sewerage Commissioners went out of existence. Their duties, together with those of the Water Commissioners and of other departments, were trans- ferred to the Board of Public Works, which was organized on May 6, 1861. In his first report to the new Board, on February 24, 1862, Chief Engineer- Chesbrough called atten- tion to the impurity of the river. " There have been sev- eral occasions during the last three years," he said, "when many persons thought they could perceive the effect of the river in the taste of the water, but not until the night of the 10th inst., and during several days since, did that effect become so striking *as to convince all who have examined into it of its real nature. On the morning of the 10th, the 5 66 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. wind being from the south and westward, the lake fell to an unusually low point. This, of course, caused a very large amount of water to be discharged from the river into the lake, producing the well known disagreeable eflfect upon its taste and smell, so that it could be distinctly perceived along the shore, from a considerable distance south of the river to the cemetery on the north. Since the 10th the water has twice been free from this taste and smell, and twice it has become offensive. The taste thus given to the water supplied to the city is much more offensive than that caused by the fish, while it is utterly impossible by any means at the disposal of the Board to prevent it at present. ' ' Two questions presented themselves to Mr. Chesbrough's mind : What means had the board of preventing the con- tamination of the water supply in the early future, and how could the earliest possible relief be obtained ? Before answering these questions he thought it best to point out the causes of the pollution of the river. While the sewers were responsible to some extent, the pollution was charge- able chiefly to the discharge of blood and other refuse from the slaughter and packing houses in and around the city, besides that from distilleries, glue factories, establishments for rendering offal, etc. To show that the packing houses and allied establishments were mainly responsible for the condition of the river, the chief engineer said: "Last spring the river became quite offensive in smell, and a com- mittee was appointed by the City Council to confer with the officers of the canal in relation to changing the water in the river by pumping at Bridgeport. It so happened that before any arrangement was made it became necessary to pump to supply the wants of the canal itself, and noth- ing more was done by the city. During the whole summer and early part of autumn the river, though receiving its full amount of sewage, did not become'so offensive at any time as to be a cause of complaint. Very soon, however. EFFOETS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 67 after the packing season commenced, a most disagreeable odor was observed near the Old Street bridge on the South branch, which is above the outlet of any existing sewer. This peculiar odor could be traced afterwards, as it moved down stream, till it reached the mouth of the river." Another proof that the sewers were not responsible for all the bad smells was that in 1860 the discharge from pig- geries and cow stables high up on the North branch made that stream exceedingly offensive throughout its entire course. It was also very offensive during the preceding winter, yet, ordinarily, no sewer emptied into it, and two only, those on West Kinzie and Fulton streets, when there were heavy rains. Many of the older inhabitants of Chi- cago could remember that, before any sewers were built, and when the packing business was in its infancy, the river became so offensive from the discharge of blood and other refuse into it that a city ordinance was passed prohibiting such disposal of the waste. Still another reason for the bad condition of the river was found in the prolonged and unusually cold winter. The river had been almost continually covered with ice, interfer- ing with the purifying action of the air. ' ' It has been like a bottle with two mouths," said Mr. Chesbrough, " which, originally filled with comparatively pure water, but receiv- ing only continual accessions of filth into one mouth, soon ceases to discharge anything but filth from the other. ' ' The chief engineer again referred to his suggestion that an arrangement be made with the Canal Board to keep its pumps in operation so much of the time during six months of the year as might be necessary to maintain a good condi- tion in the river, and advised that the arrangement include occasional pumping in the winter. This was only a tempo- rary expedient, pending the settlement of several important questions affecting the future of Chicago. " The questions alluded to are the probable growth of Chicago, the direction of 68 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. that growth, the harbor improvements that may be adopted, the construction of the proposed ship canal to the Illinois river, and the necessity or the expediency of imitating the great sewerage intercepting scheme of London now being carried out. The light which a few years will throw on these questions would be of immense advantage to Chicago in the planning of permanent works to remove the evils now complained of." In the spring of 1862, Dr. Mariner, assayist of the city, was employed by the Board of Public Works to ascertain the causes of the black appearance of the river. He reported that the sewers, distilleries, slaughter houses, glue factories, etc., combined, were responsible, but that the gas works were more blamable than all the others. Dr. Mahl, chemist, was afterward employed by the City Council to make an investigation. He found that the greater portion of the river nuisance was generated along the North branch, into which not a single sewer ever emptied. All the sewers south of Madison street, with one exception, were of little importance. The excepted sewer was in Monroe street. This seemed to discharge about everything that could make the river foul. Mingled with its liquid contents were tarry substances " which," the chemist said, "have accumulated in the river to such an extent that its whole bed seems to be covered with it, for every steam tug wheeling up the water makes a portion of tar rise to the surface." These tarry substances could be traced from Adams street to Rush street. It is not necessary to say that the gas works were located on Monroe street. The slaughter and packing houses on the South branch could not then be charged with any of the offense, but the chemist had information to the effect that that they were leaving refuse matter where it would decay in the summer months. He thought it might as well be thrown into the river at the outset. He proposed that the proprietors of these establishments should convert their EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 69 waste matter into saltpeter, and the owners of the gas plant theirs into ammoniacal salts. In his annual report dated April 1, 1863, Mr. Ches- broagh, now city engineer, again discussed plans for improv- ing the river. These he divided into three classes : (1) Those which would drain the city into the Illinois river ; (2) Those which would divert the Desplaines into the South branch of the river, and thus keep up a constant current to prevent oflfensiveness ; (3) Making canals from the lake to the North and South branches and driving water enough through them from the lake to keep the river and the branches compara- tively pure at all times. The first class, he said, was one requiring much larger means than the Board could then con- trol. The second was defective since a supply of water from the Desplaines river would be likely to fail when most needed. The third was undoubtedly feasible, would be completely under the control of the city, and there was every reason to believe that it would be effectual. In support of his claim that the third plan would be eflfectual, the city engineer noted the fact that after heavy rains, and while the canal pumps were not at work the South branch lost its ' ' disagreeable color and smell. ' ' The City Council checked the nuisances on the North branch for a time, and the main river recovered a ' ' very bear- able condition which it retained until after the commence- ment of the packing season. Then the offensive smells re- appeared in both branches and the main river and were per- ceived at the water works. As the amount of cattle and hogs to be killed here during the winter was known to be greater than ever before, it was with great reason feared that the condition of the river and of our drinking water would be more intolerable than ever. But soon after this threaten- ing state of things commenced the season became* unusually mild and rainy and has continued so ever since. Besides this, by an arrangement between the city government and the 70 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Canal Trustees, the Calumet feeder has been discharged this way a good portion of the time. Owing to these causes, we have not had such exemption from offensiveness in the river and in drinking water for several years as we have had this winter. The above facts show that on the recurrence of another protracted rainless season we may look for a repe- tition of the evils already suffered, and that an effectual remedy therefor would be a constant current from the river into the lake." It was proposed by Mr. Chesbrough to pump 400 cubic feet of water per second from the lake into the river through a covered canal or aqueduct, 12 feet in diameter. This amount would be sufficient, he said, to change all the water in the South branch and the main river in less than twenty- four hours. A head of one and a half feet at the lake would create the requisite current in the canal, and a steam engine of 100 horse power would secure this head. The water could be raised either by means of a bucket wheel, like those in use at Bridgeport to supply the canal, or by a propeller wheel such as were used on the lake boats. The probable cost of the canal and auxiliaries would be $140,000. This estimate was sufficient to place the bottom of the canal six- teen feet below low water. It could then be used as a part of the main outlet of a system of intercepting sewers, if one should ever be adopted. The fact that they were carrying out such systems in London and Paris " admonishes us, " said Mr. Chesbrough, "that sooner or later we may be satisfied that such a system should be carried out here. It is well to keep this subject continually in mind, and for- tunately for us we have done nothing whatever to prevent the adoption of such a system whenever its necessity may become sufficiently apparent." Still Mr. Chesbrough could not shake off the idea that an enlarged channel would yet be constructed to the Illinois river, although he did not expect the city to undertake the EFFORTS TO PUEIFY THE CHICAGO EIVEE. 71 work. If a flushing channel through Sixteenth street would be effective in purifying the South branch, why not con- struct one from the lake across the city to the vicinity of Bridgeport, since the river south of Sixteenth street would not be affected by the former, and another from the lake north of the city limits to the North branch ? Estimating the cost, he concluded : " Should the national or state government ever construct the contemplated ship canal to the Illinois river, neither of the canals now mentioned would be needed for purifying the South branch, at least during the season of navigation and probably not in winter, except when repairs might be needed." The Board of Public Works approved of the recommen- dations of the city engineer, and asked the City Council to pass an ordinance authorizing the Board to take imme. diate steps for the construction of the Sixteenth street canal and pumping works. The Council took no action on the recommendation and the Board of Public Works renewed it in 1864. But the Board had found that the canal would probably cost $200,000 instead of $140,000. In its report dated that year the Board said: "The condition of the river during the year has been about as it has been for the last two or three years. At times it has been in a very offensive state, nor can it be otherwise so long as it is made the receptacle of the filth of the distilleries, cattle and hog yards, slaughtering establishments and like establishments on its banks, throwing out an immense amount of animal and vegetable offal." Commercial and sanitary interests joined hands in the winter of 1864-5 and agreed upon measures for the deepen- ing of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The river does not seem to have become more offensive than it had been during the previous two or three years, but it was apparent that the ultimate result would be most serious unless steps were soon taken to purify it. Public discussions were had as to 72 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the legislation which would best accomplish this object, and a joint committee was appointed by the City Council and Board of Trade to consider the matter. On the recommen- dation of this joint committee a commission was appointed by the City Council to continue the investigation. The commission consisted of Mayor F. C. Sherman, William Gooding, R. B. Mason, John Van Nortwick, E. B. Talcott and E. S. Chesbrough. In the meantime the question was agitated in the State Legislature, and an amendment to the charter of the city was secured which authorized the appointment of two ad- ditional members on the Board of Public Works, empow- ered to act with the other members of the Board, but only on matters relating to the cleansing of the Chicago river. The new members were William Gooding and Roswell B. Mason. The regular members at this time were John G. Gindele, president, Frederick Letz and Orrin J. Rose. Be- fore the special commission made its report, an Act was passed by the Legislature providing for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal upon the plan adopted by the state in 1836. This Act was approved February 16, 1865. The preamble recited the fact that it had been repre- sented that the city of Chicago, in order to purify or cleanse the Chicago river, by drawing a sufficient quantity of water from Lake Michigan directly through it and through the summit division of the Illinois and Michigan canal, would advance a sufficient amount of funds to accomplish this de- sirable object ; that the original plan of the canal was to cut down the summit so as to draw a supply of water for navi- gation directly from Lake Michigan,- which plan was aban- doned for the time after a large part of the work had been executed in consequence of the inability of the state to procure funds for its continuance, and that under the law the plan of the summit division was changed, the level be- EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 73 ing raised so as to require the principal supply of water through the Calumet feeder, subject to serious contingencies, and by pumping at Bridgeport. Then followed the enact- ment, which made these provisions : 1. To secure the completion of the summit division of the Illinois and Michigan canal, upon the original "deep cut " plan, with such modifications and change of line, if necessary, as will most effectually secure the thorough cleansing or purification of the Chicago river and facilitate the execution of the work, the city of Chicago, through its constituted authorities, may at once enter into an arrange- ment with the Board of Trustees of the canal with a view to the speedy accomplishment of the work. 2. The canal shall not be constructed of a less capacity than provided in the plan adopted by the Canal Commission- ers in 1836, nor shall the work of deepening it be prosecuted so as materially to interfere with navigation. By consent of the Board of Trustees navigation may be opened later and closed earlier than usual in former years, but it shall never be diminished to a less time than six months. 3. It shall be lawful for the city of Chicago to enter upon and use any lands which may be necessary for right of way, if the route should vary from the present line of the canal, and to take and use any materials necessary for the prosecution of the work, their value to be determined in the manner provided by the general laws of the state. 4. The amount expended by the city of Chicago in deepening the canal according to the plan of 1836 shall be a vested lien upon the Illinois and Michigan canal and its revenues after the payment of the present canal debt, pro- vided the cost shall not exceed $2,500,000. 6. The state of Illinois may at any time relieve this lien upon the canal and revenue by refunding to the city of Chicago the amount expended in making the contemplated improvement and the interest thereon. 74 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEBWAY. Under date of March 6, 1865, the city's Commission made its report to the Mayor and Common Council. This report gave in detail the plan for cleansing the Chicago river and was an important document. It is reproduced in full: " The undersigned having been duly notified that they were, on the 9th of January, 1865, appointed a Board of Commission to devise the best plan for cleansing the Chi- cago river, and having carefully considered the questions involved in this important subject, have the honor to sub- mit the following report : ' ' Knowing that various modes of purifying the river had been proposed by gentlemen of intelligence having a direct interest in the subject, we resolved to avail ourselves, as far as practicable, of their opinions. Accordingly, at our first meeting, we caused a notice to be published re- questing all persons who had formed any plans for effecting the object in view to present them with the necessary ex- planations. In response to this request a great number of communications were received, some of them containing valuable suggestions and showing that much thought had been bestowed upon the important questions involved. "We here desire to express our thanks to the parties who so kindly and promptly came forward to assist us in the solution of a difficult problem, and especially to those who had devoted much time to the preparation of elaborate plans and estimates. ' ' We do not deem it necessary to discuss, in this report, the merits of the various plans and suggestions which we have considered. Suffice it to say that at our different meetings we have endeavored to fully and impartially con- sider all their various merits and defects, and to give them all the weight to which, in our judgment, they were justly entitled. "These communications more or less directly bear upon EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. TS three general plans which seem to be the only ones through which the main object in view can be accomplished, to-wit: "1. Intercepting sewers which shall receive the filth that would otherwise flow into the river and carry it to the lake, to some point or points into which it would be pumped by machinery, thus keeping impurities out of the river to as great an extent as practicable. " 2. Cutting canals or making covered sewers from the two branches of the river to the lake, and by pumping works erected thereon force the filthy water out or the lake water in, thus keeping up a constant and suflScient current to keep the river pure. We do not believe that the neces- sary current can be produced by the natural action of the waves of the lake, as has been suggested. " 3. Cutting down the summit of the Illinois and Michi- gan canal below the level of the lake, so that a sufficient quantity of water may be drawn from it to create the neces- sary current through the main river and the South branch (and, perhaps, to some extent in the North branch also) to thoroughly purify the same at all times. ' ' Without recapitulating all the arguments which have been urged for and against these three general plans, it may be sufficient to briefly state a few of the prominent advan- tages and disadvantages of each. ' ' We believe the system of intercepting sewers has not been introduced anywhere in America as yet, and into but few cities in the Old World, where it has scarcely had a thorough trial yet, but is said to be steadily growing in favor. It seems to us that the system is more particularly adapted to older cities, where stringent municipal regula- tions can be more easily carried out, and where other facili- ties for getting rid of offensive matter are less available than here. "It is believed that its advantages would consist in receiving and conducting, in covered sewers, to a point or 76 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. points outside of the city, the filthy contents of all the sewers that now discharge into the main river and branches, and thus prevent the water of the river, and from it the atmos- phere of the city, from being polluted as at present. It would also allow the lowest districts of the city, which are now partially flooded in times of high water in the lake, to be drained better than can be done at present. '' Besides the first cost of construction, upwards of $1,000,000, and the length of time, not less than two years, required to carry it out, the system of intercepting sewers would be subject to the disadvantages which necessarily belong to so complicated a scheme. At the outlet it would be necessary to construct, and keep in operation night and day, pumping works, to raise and discharge into the lake the constantly increasing filth of the city. Along the river and branches self-acting gates, or valves, would have to be constructed with great care in the first place, and forever after maintained with unceasing faithfulness. ' ' Should intercepting sewers be constructed for the purpose of receiving the discharges from distilleries, pack- ing houses, and other establishments that have rendered the river offensive, it is to be feared that it would only remove the nuisance from the river to more vital points. The experi- ence of the city thus far in the maintenance of its sewers shows that, while the men employed in cleaning have never been injuriously affected by ordinary house drainage, they cannot stand the emanations from substances improperly and unlawfully discharged into the sewers from packing houses or rendering establishments. It would be exceed- ingly difficult, if not impracticable, to prevent the effluvia caused by such establishments, as well as distilleries, from pervading all the sewers of the city, and causing serious complaints where no annoyances are now felt. " Should it be found best ultimately to carry out a sys- tem of intercepting sewers in Chicago, and we are by no EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 77 means prepared to say it will not, we think there would finally be a necessity for keeping up a constant current in the river because it would be impossible to prevent the discharge of improper substances into it from the shipping, the docks, and sewers themselves, in times of heavy rain, to say nothing of what might be thrown into the North and South branches outside of the limits and jurisdiction of the city, and afterwards brought within by a sluggish current. ' ' In regard to the second general plan, we think that there can be no doubt that it can be made to accomplish the main object desired at a less expense at the outset than any other. To do this in the most effectual way, we would adopt the following specific plan, to-wit : "An open canal from the South branch to the lake through or near Douglas avenue ; length 13,700 feet, width at bottom 25 feet; at surface at low water of Lake Michigan 65 feet, and depth 10 feet. Estimated cost, $547,230. "Also an open canal, of the same dimensions as above, from the North branch of the Chicago river to the lake, through or near FuUcrton avenue. Length 11,200 feet, and estimated cost, 1469,269. ' ' These canals would have a capacity sufficient to dis- charge 24,000 cubic feet of water per minute each (without raising it more than four inches), which, it is supposed, would change the entire volume of water in the river once in forty-eight hours. The machinery for pumping might be placed either upon the river or lake ends of the canals. "The advantages of this plan consist mainly in its sim- plicity, the comparative cheapness of construction, and the facility with which repairs could at any time be made. "Its disadvantages would be found in" the constant ex- pense of sustaining and operating the machinery, keeping the canals in repair, protecting and keeping open their en- trances into the lake, and contingencies to which works of this kind are more or less liable. These can, however, be 78 DRAINAGK CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. provided against, in a degree, by duplicating the machinery. Another objection to both this and the intercepting sewer plan is, that all the accumulated filth of the city must be discharged within or near its limits. "The estimated cost of the third plan for purifying Chi- cago river, which is to cut down the summit of the canal below the level of the lake, so as to draw from it, at a low stage, not less than 24,000 cubic feet of water per minute, is $2,102,467.60. ' ' This estimate provides for increasing the capacity of the canal somewhat over the plan adopted by the Canal Commissioners in 1836, so as to create a current in Chicago river which is deemed sufficient to cleanse it. The quantity of water drawn from the lake through the river would seldom be less than 24, 000 cubic feet per minute, and at the average stage of water much greater. ' ' The advantages of this plan are briefly as follows : "1. It famishes the only possible self-acting means of cleansing the main river and the South branch (and possibly to a certain extent the North branch also) every hour of the day, and every day of the year, for all time to come. "2. The filth of the city which passes into the river will be drained off into the canal without contaminating the waters of the lake, and the continual current will prevent the water in the river from ever becoming very offensive. " 3 . The cost of construction will be the only expense to the city, as all subsequent expenses in keeping the chan- nel open, and enlarging and improving it, will be borne by the state. ' ' 4. The money expended in cutting down the summit of the canal, so as to procure the supply of water directly from Lake Michigan, will constitute a part of the expense of enlarging the present canal so as to admit the passage of steamboats of the largest class, — an improvement which must soon be made. EFFORTS TO PUKIFY THE CHICAGO KIVER. 79 "5. By using the present summit locks, or, if the canal be enlarged, constructing other locks at each end of the '.deep cut ' of the enlarged dimensions, a large quantity of water could be accumulated at any time by filling the canal to the present surface, which could be suddenly discharged into Chicago river, making a strong current to the lake. This may never be necessary, but the plan admits of the arrangement described, should it hereafter be deemed de- sirable. " We have mentioned the prominent advantages of the plan. The principal disadvantages are its cost and the time which must be occupied in doing the work. The prob- able cost has been given. The time which would be re- quired to execute the work economically, without seriously interfering with the navigation of the present canal, would be about three years. ' ' But no other plan 'by which the river could be effect- ually purified could be executed in less than one year ; so for a year, at least, some means within reach must be adopted to remedy the evils which it is intended ultimately to entirely obviate. "It is believed that the hydraulic works at Bridgeport, if worked to their full capacity, or even so as to raise all the water which the present canal, with some slight additions to its banks, could discharge, would prevent the river from becoming very offensive, if especial vigilance were exercised to keep out deleterious substances. This we deem of the utmost importance, and, in fact, indispensable to the well- being of the city, until some plan of thorough drainage be carried out. "Even then, it appears to us, that the distilleries which have at times rendered the waters ot the North branch almost putrid, and other establishments which have given Chicago a world-wide fame for its vile odors, should not be permitted to remain the nuisances which they have been. 80 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Certainly the process of thoroughly cleansing the river would be greatly simplified if no more offensive substances were discharged into it than could possibly be avoided. It would seem to be the part of wisdom as much to avoid an evil, if possible, as to cure it. "Until some plan for cleansing the river be fully com- pleted, it should not be expected that the temporary remedies which may be resorted to will entirely prevent the water from becoming impure. They will only mitigate the evil. "The recommendation has frequently been made that the Desplaines river should be turned into either the South or North branch, and thus purify it ; but at the very sea- son when the process would be most needed, there is not water enough in that river to do any good, and if there was the city has no right to take it. But it is said that the river would furnish, in times of freshet, water enough to scour the South branch and main river two or three time a year so thoroughly that it could not become very offensive in the meanwhile, and would also be kept in a far better navigable condition. As a measure of satisfactory relief from nuisances in the river, we believe it would not answer the purpose. As an important aid in maintaining a suitable depth in the harbor, we think it might be made valuable ; but after care- ful examinations and surveys we are thoroughly satisfied that the small expenditures heretofore recommended for the purpose would be totally inadequate. Some of us have had actual experience in matters of this kind, and we believe that a canal that would cost less than $100,000 would only end in disappointment. To this sum should be added what- ever it might cost to dredge out deposits in the river below Bridgeport, brought in from the canal. "The Commission has made the proposed survey of Desplaines river with reference to a new channel from Bridgeport to Lockport, independent of the Illinois and Michigan canal, which was referred to us by your honorable EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 81 body. "We have found, as was expected, very extensive deep places in the channel of the river, but notwithstanding this, it would cost upward of $1,000,000 more to make a new channel of equal size to that of the Illinois and Michi- gan canal, from Bridgeport to the Desplaines river, and thence down that stream to Lockport, than it would to deepen the present canal. The new channel, after being completed, would be encumbered with the drainage of the Desplaines valley; but the present canal deepened would not. ' ' In case it should be thought advisable to construct the proposed canals between the lake and the North and South branches, the question of power to be used becomes an im- portant one. We do not, at present, feel perfect confidence in anything but steam ; but the experience of several of the railroad companies of this state in the use of windmills is so satisfactory, and withal so economical in first cost and maintenance, that it might be worthy of a trial, and we think it far more promising than reliance upon the action of waves, because these could only be depended upon during northerly or easterly winds, while windmills could take advantage of any breeze. There is also another natural power that could be made use of, and that is a species of tide or ebb and flow occurring sometimes as often as once in ten minutes in the calmest days of summer. The cause of this ebb and flow has never been satisfactorily explained, to our knowledge, but of its existence there is no doubt, and as little that by means of self-acting gates it could be utilized for changing the water in the proposed canals, to some extent at least, if not to a sufiicient one for permanent benefit. "The suggestion has been made that reservoirs could be constructed on the North branch of the Desplaines, and a sufficient quantity of water stored in them to flush the river occasionally. This could undoubtedly be done, but a slight investigation of the subject will show the impossibility of obtaining from such sources a supply sufficient to keep the 6 82 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. river pure at all times, unless at a cost greatly exceeding other methods ; and as the value of but two or three flush- ings during the season is so doubtful, when compared with a constant purification, we do not think it advisable to con- struct such reservoirs. "In view of all the facts of the case, the best plan for cleansing the Chicago river that we can devise, is to cut down the summit of the canal so as to draw a sufficient quan- tity through it from the lake to create the necessary current in said river. ' ' We are aware that the first cost of executing this work would exceed that of constructing short canals from the North and South branches to the lake and erecting the nec- essary machinery thereon. We are aware also that, theoret- ically, the interest on the additional cost would be more than the expense of operating said machinery. But we do not think that in deciding this question we have a right to disregard other considerations of great importance to the in- terests of the city, especially the law passed at the recent session of our State Legislature which gives the city of Chicago a lien upon the Illinois and Michigan canal and its revenues after the payment of the present canal debt, until the whole cost of making the ' deep cut ' and the interest accruing thereon shall have been reimbursed to the, city. " With regard to the North branch, while we consider the proposed open canal from the lake to the river, along or near FuUerton avenue, the best plan to recommend for per- manently cleansing it, if the discharge of filth into it must be suffered to go on as heretofore, we believe it is both the right and the duty of the city to prevent all such dis- charges. This would be by far the simplest, cheapest, and quickest way of purifying that branch ; in fact, the only method we can think of to obtain immediate as well as per- manent relief. ' ' It has often been said within the last three years, that EFFORTS TO PUKIFT THE CHICAGO RIVEK. 83 any effectual prohibitions of such discharges would drive the distilleries from the city and thus inflict a serious blow upon its prosperity. By an Act of Congress, of last year, such heavy taxes were imposed upon distilled liquors as to cause the stoppage of these distilleries last July. But one has resumed work since, and that within the last two months. As a result the north and northwestern portions of the city have enjoyed unusual freedom from nuisances, which were often before of a most abominable character, while no com- plaints of any injury to the general growth or prosperity of the city have been heard of. " The proposed canal on or near Fallerton avenue woald cost, as already stated, about ^500,000, and probably cost not less than |20,000 annually afterward to maintain it, particularly if steam power should be required. It would be better for the city to pay now at least $500,000 should that be necessary to prevent the North branch from being polluted, than to construct and maintain this canal, what- ever may be the final necessity for keeping up an artificial current in said branch. We believe the true policy of the city is to prevent all nuisances, as far as possible, from being made, and then the unavoidable ones will be comparatively easy to remedy. The proposed canal would probably en- courage and increase, to a very great extent, filthy dis- charges into it and the river from establishments that vrould be, most probably, nuisances of themselves to their neigh- borhoods. "The present sewerage system of the city has been planned and thus far carried out at some additional incon- venience and considerable expense, with reference to keep- ing the North branch as free as possible from pollution, for the purpose of avoiding the heavy expense that would other- wise be required to purify it. Up to this time there is but one sewer, and that only a few blocks long, on Chicago avenue, that discharges constantly into the North branch. 84 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The West Kinzie street sewer discharges into it during heavy rains only. The probability is that, for many years to come, the amount of sewage it may be necessary to dis- charge into that branch would not be sufficient to cause offensiveness, if the establishments above mentioned, as well as similar ones, can be prevented from discharging their filth into it." The plan proposed in the report of the commissioners was promptly approved by the Common Council. The Board of Public Works caused the necessary surveys to be made, and prepared to enter upon the work as soon as pos- sible. A formal request was addressed to the Board of Trus- tees of the Illinois and Michigan canal asking that authority might be granted to the city to deepen the canal in the man- ner proposed, and that the water might be let off from the canal from November 15 to April 15, of each year during the progress of the work. The Canal Trustees granted the request under certain conditions. The time for opening the canal in the spring was fixed at April 1, instead of April 15. Bids for the enlargement of the canal were received on September 2, 1865, and after some delay contracts were executed with Fox, Howard & Walker for the work on sec- tions 1 to 44, at 33 cents per cubic yard for the earth work, and $2 for the rock excavation, and with Sanger, Steele & Co., for the work on sections 45 to 64, inclusive, rock exclusively, at $1.64f per cubic yard. These two contracts covered the entire work. The time stipulated by Sanger, Steele & Co., for the conjpletion of their contract was April 1, 1868, and by Fox, Howard & Walker, September 1, 1868. Little was done during the first winter, as the time was short for procuring and setting up machinery and for building the necessary dams and protecting works. In order to hasten the work during the following winter, an arrangement was made with the Canal Trustees to close the EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 85 canal one month earlier than the stipulated time, or on October 15, the city to pay for lost tolls during the month $20,826.13, and the Canal Trustees added another set of boilers to their pumping works. This kept the river clean up to the time work on the canal began. The pumps were set in motion the latter part of June and were operated steadily, the result being that the river, with the exception of the North branch, was free from offensive odors. The city agreed to pay the Canal Trustees the expense caused by the extra pumping. The offensiveness of the North branch was still charged to the distilleries, and the city seemed to be unable to enforce its ordinances prohibiting the use of the river aS the receptacle for their waste. To raise the money necessary to pay for the enlarge- ment of the canal, bonds were issued, known as river improvement bonds. These bore interest at the rate of 7 per cent, and the face value of each was $1,000. Ninety- three of these bonds were sold the first year. Although bearing so high a rate of interest they were discounted nearly 9 per cent, the proceeds of the first lot amounting to $84,669.11. The prices at which the work was let did not seem to be remunerative to the contractors, and the progress made was very unsatisfactory to the city. The contracts were there- fore annulled and no work was being done at the close of the working season in the spring of 1867. The Board of Public Works advertised for new proposals to be submitted on May 1, 1867, but the Board authorized Fox, Howard & Walker to keep their dredges at work, payment to be made at the new rate. To maintain the sanitary condition of the river, the Bridgeport pumps were operated only from June 21 to September 5, but the city paid the Canal Trustees for lost tolls from November 1 to November 15, 1866, $8,642.99, an item which measures the anxiety of the city to hasten the work. The amounts for increased pumping 86 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. and lost tolls became greater from year to year as the yyoxk. progressed. When the new proposals came in on May 1, 1867, they were so high that the Board of Public Works would not take the responsibility of letting contracts under them, and the whole matter was referred to the Common Council. By direction of the Council contracts were closed for a portion of the work at once, and for the remainder, the following spring. There were now twelve contractors instead of two, and the time for the completion of the work was extended to March 31, 1871. At the request of the Board of Public Works, the Calumet feeder was discharged through the canal into the river during the winter of 1866-7. The out- ward current prevented the accumulation of filth in the river, and left it in good condition in the spring. Less than 5 per cent of the sewage of the city was dis- charged into the North branch at this time, and for some years afterward, but the refuse from the distilleries had made it so offensive that attention was directed specifically in the spring of 1870 to means for its purification. City Engineer Chesbrough suggested several plans, one of which he recommended for adoption. This provided for the con- struction of a conduit in FuUerton avenue. The recommen- dation was concurred in by the Board of Public Works, but no immediate action was taken by the Common Council. The plan was afterward carried out. Of numerous plans which had been proposed for cleansing the North branch, Mr. Chesbrough mentioned four: (1) intercepting sewers ; (2) canals between the river and the lake ; (3) reservoir high up the river ; and (4) artesian wells. By the use of intercepting sewers, there would be no drainage into the river. Such sewers, he said, should be made near to and parallel with the river. They would nec- essarily be lower than the lake and incline toward their out- let, requiring their contents to be pumped up. Here arose EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 87 an important question, as to whether there should be but one outlet for the entire city, and where that should be. This question suggested three others : (1) What was to be the final use or disposal of the sewage of the city? (2) What the probable cost of any plan of intercepting sewers ? (3) What the cost of maintainance ? The experiments in Europe during the previous twenty years in methods of sewage disposal had been watched in Chicago with a great deal of interest. ' ' The result thus far seems to be," said Mr. Chesbrough, " that no city con- taining a population of 100,000 or upwards, has been able to utilize the contents of all its sewers in the irrisation of land ; and yet, of all the methods hitherto tried, this has by far the greatest number of able advocates, both in England and France. The attempt to manufacture sewage into solid manure has proved a commercial failure. The process of deodorization by means of lime or chemicals is enormously expensive, and has not proved satisfactory in its results. As yet, there seems to be no alternative for large cities but to discharge the contents of their sewers into some running or large body of water, and at the nearest point compatible with public health. What the future may develop, it is difficult now to foresee, bu£ in the light of experience thus far gained, the strong probability is that the ultimate recept- acle of the sewage of this city must be the lake, either from the river, or from the outlets of intercepting sewers. In the latter case the contents of the intercepting sewers would descend towards the lake and there be pumped up. If, however, irrigation of the land should ever prove advanta- geous here, then the intercepting sewers should incline towards the districts to be fertilized and their contents there pumped up." While the cost of a complete system of intercepting sewers for the entire city would depend upon the district and the population, Mr. Chesbrough thought it would not 88 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. be less than $3,000,000. Investigation as to what the city had the power and the resources at that time to do, led him to recommend a covered canal, or conduit, circular in form and 12 feet in diameter, along the line of Fullerton avenue, with the requisite machinery for pumping or driving water in either direction, near the North branch. Such a canal would be two miles long. With a bottom 14 feet below low water, and a head of 4i^ feet, it could be made to dis- charge 24, 000 cubic feet of water per minute, sufficient to change all the water in the North branch and main river every thirty-six hours. The estimated cost of the canal was 1480,000, including the cost of machinery. The ma- chinery recommended was a 300 horse power engine and a propeller wheel so placed as to draw or drive the water in the direct line of the canal. A navigable channel had been proposed, with sufficient size to pass the largest vessels navigating the lakes, thus creating four miles of additional dock front, making it less expensive to force the necessary quantity of water into or out of the river. Both the authority and the propriety of the city's undertaking such a work were considered doubt- ful. ' ' This is perhaps the most proper place to mention, ' ' said the chief engineer, " that some of our ablest citizens have started the project of a ship canal between the North branch and the lake, 2^ miles north of the city limits, where the ground is very favorable for such a purpose and the land much cheaper. Should this work ever be carried out, and the North branch be made navigable to it, the owners of such a canal could easily supply the current de- sired, and a much greater one than it would be practicable to supply through the covered canal. "To avoid the expense of steam machinery for pro- ducing the requisite current in the covered canal, it has been proposed to construct a long basin, with sloping sides, on EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO EIVER. 89 the lake shore, and let the wind and waves drive water enough into it to supply the canal. Besides the various doubts with regard to the working of such an arrangement, the necessity of always relying upon a current from the lake into the river would be very objectionable. It is expected that by next spring the South branch will be drained into the Illinois river, through the deepened canal, but it was never supposed that 'this would purify the North branch. If the North branch must discharge its filth, in all stages of the stream and at all seasons of the year into the main river, then the water to flow from the main river into the South branch, instead of being drawn from the lake, would be the foul discharge of the North branch. It is easy to see that in that case there would be great disappointment with regard to the expected benefit of deepening the canal. It would therefore be necessary, in constructing a canal be- tween the North branch and the lake, for the purpose of purifying the former, to provide for discharging into the lake whenever there might be very little or no natural cur- rent in the river. " A reservoir high up the stream, sufficient to supply for one month the quantity it is proposed to drive through the covered canal, would, it is estimated, cover about 2,600 acres. When it is considered that not merely one month's supply, but four, and possibly six or even more, might be needed, it seems useless to discuss such a plan. But if the great cost of this plan did not stand in the way, the impos- sibility of producing any current, except towards the mouth of the river, would be a great objection. Besides the nec- essary exposure of such large surfaces as a reservoir would cover, by the drawing down of the water in warm weather, could not be tolerated. " Supposing it practicable to get water enough from arte- sian wells to produce the requisite current, leaving out of view the objection that it. would be impossible to turn that 90 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. current from its natural course into the main river, the number of such wells, judging from the most successful one yet bored in this city, that of the Union Stockyards Company, would hare to be 405, that is if 24,000 cubic feet per minute should be required. All experience thus far, in other cities and countries where many artesian wells have been bored, goes to show that their enlargement, either in size or number, does not produce a corresponding increase in the quantity of water furnished. There is no good reason why a different result should be expected here, but strong proof to the contrary." In the light of his knowledge Mr. Chesbrough did not think it advisable to begin the construction of a system of intercepting sewers, although the probability of having to do so ultimately seemed to increase from year to year. He urged again the construction of the proposed covered ca nal on FuUerton avenue. In answer to the objection that the outfall of the sewage at the lake end of the conduit would create a nuisance on the Lake Shore drive, he said if enough lake water were introduced into the North branch to render it inoffensive and then discharged through the proposed canal into the lake the nuisance would not be diminished. ' ' Let what may be done, ' ' he concluded, ' ' such a city as this cannot get rid of all its filth without producing some- thing unpleasant to sight or smell somewhere, and no more convenient or economical receptacle for the whole of it can be suggested at the present time than the lake, if the ob- jectionable condition of the North branch is to be reme- died." By cutting away a temporary dam which had been thrown across the canal at Bridgeport to stop the flow of water from the river the final act in deepening the Illinois and Michigan canal was accomplished. This occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, July 15, 1871. " Quite a strong current was at once created, and an entire change of the EFFORTS TO PURIFY THE CHICAGO RIVER. 91 water in the main river and the South branch was effected in about thirty-six hours. " The water in the South branch is said to have become « ' quite clear and entirely free from noxious odors," and the favorable effect upon the water of the North branch was perceptible. The completion of this work was an impressive event in the history of the city. " No more important and necessary public improvement has ever been undertaken by the city," said the Board of Public Works. " The water of the river has become more and more filthy and offensive with the increase of our sewers having their outlet therein, and the absolute necessity of providing a way of carrying off this accumulation of filth has become more and more apparent. It is confidently believed that this will prove an adequate and permanent means of relief so far as the main river and the South branch are concerned." The total amount expended by the city in deepening the canal was $3,300,883.71. The discount on the canal bonds amounted to $95,682.61, and the total of lost tolls paid by the city was $43,501.07. By the Act of the Legislature authorizing the work the city was given a lien upon the revenues of the canal to the extent of $2,500,000 and inter- est. As a compensation for the loss by the great fire of 1871 the Legislature, on October 20 of that year, appro- priated $2,955,340, with interest until paid, to relieve this lien. There was this provision in the Act that not less than one-fifth, nor more than one-third, of this sum should be applied by the city in reconstructing the bridges and public buildings and structures destroyed by the fire, the remain- der to be applied to the payment of the interest on the bonded debt of the city and the mainteifance of the fire and police departments. For some years the effect upon the South branch was wholly satisfactory. ' ' At all ordinary times now, ' ' said the chief engineer in 1872, "the water of Lake Michigan 92 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATBEWAY. enters the mouth of the river, flows up it and the South branch to feed the canal, thus completely deodorizing what was so oflfensive and unbearable a year ago." " But obser- vation as well as reflection shows," he said a year later, " that the purifying power of the canal is limited, and it will not do to suppose that any amount of filth, from a city of the size to which Chicago promises to grow, may be dis- charged into the river and branches for all time to come without producing injurious results." The condition of the North branch had become worse than ever. In the fall of 1872 Alderman Schaffner pro- posed in the Common Council that it be cleansed by means of artesian wells, the water from them to be first discharged into the sewers. A report was made to the Council on Sep- tember 5, which seems to have settled this question. It was shown that it would require more than five hundred wells to discharge 24,000 cubic feet of water, or 180,000 gallons per minute, the amount it had been assumed would be necessary to purify the North branch. These at an average cost of $5,000 represented an investment of f2, 500,- 000, or five times the estimated cost of purifying that part of the river in what was believed to be a more certain way, by means of a canal or conduit from the lake. It was also urged that the filthy water of the North branch would be carried, by the introduction of more water up stream, to the forks of the river, where, at ordinary times, it would enter and flow up the South branch, adding one-fourth to the foul- ness of the latter. Again, there was doubt that the expected supply of water could be had from artesian wells ; if it could, a steady discharge of water into the sewers would not remove the deposits' in them, this requiring a sudden dash of a large quantity of water. Of the river in early days it is to be said that it was a clear stream and a choice fishing ground. " Citizens of Chicago who livQd here upwards of twenty years ago," EFFOETS TO PUKIFY THE CHICAGO RIVEK. 93 says the 1872 report of the Board of Pubhc Works to the Common Council, "remember well that the North branch, previous to the erection of any distilleries on it, was a clear stream with a gravelly bottom, and abounded in fish." Charles Cleaver, who came to Chicago in October, 1833, in some early reminiscences published in Fergus' Historical Series, gives an interesting account of a fishing excursion on the North branch soon after he arrived. There was no difficulty in seeing fish at the bottom of the river, he said, even in six feet of water. " In those times," he added, "it was a clear, sparkling stream with quite a strong current, especially near the dam, five miles from the city, over which the water rippled and ran, making a soft, soothing, mui'muring sound heard on that still winter's night for a considerable distance before we reached it." CHAPTER VII. OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. By constructing an artificial waterway from Lake Michi- gan to Joliet, Chicago will restore an ancient outlet to the Mississippi. The great lakes were once an arm of the sea, like the Baltic in Europe. An upheaval of the earth left this body of water in a depression of its own. The tides of the ocean no longer swept through it, but its own overflow sought the sea in mighty rivers. Its surface was many feet, perhaps hundreds, higher than it is now. There is abundant evidence of this. Deposits of sand and clay containing fresh water shells on the shores of Lake Huron are found forty feet above the present water level, and extend back in some places twenty miles. Terraced deposits of alluvial material, indicating former water levels, extend along the shores at heights ranging from 120 to200 feet. Seven ancient beaches were found by Logan at inter- vals up to a height of 331 feet above the level of Lake Superior. With such a volume of water in a great reservoir at the summit of the continental watershed, continually increased by melting 'glaciers and almost constant precipitation, the outfall both to the east and the west was enormous. With the passing of the glacial epoch the ice withdrew to the north, the waters settled in their individual basins, the bed of the channel to the eastward yielded to their corroding action and there has since been a continuous discharge through the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic. The rocky ridge west of Lake Michigan, like an imperfect dam, weakened at 94 OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 one point and a crevasse was opened through the solid lime- stone to a depth of 200 feet. For ages the waters of the lake were poured into the Gulf of Mexico, through this outlet, by way of the Mississippi valley. The trough hewn out of the rock for a distance of twenty miles, the bottom of which is only six feet above the present level of the lake, is from one to two miles in width. It may be said to begin at Summit, eleven miles west of Lake Michigan, and to end at Lockport, twenty miles further west and south. It is in the bed of this natural outlet that a new channel is now being excavated, of suflBcient depth to renew the outflow from the lake. In Worthen's "Geological Survey of Illinois," H. M. Bannister says it is evident, with very little observation, that at a comparatively recent period, subsequent to the glacial epoch, a considerable portion of Cook county was under the waters of Lake Michigan, which at that time found an outlet into the Mississippi valley through the pres- ent channel of the Desplaines. The deposits of this period consist of beds of stratified sand and gravel in the central and eastern portions of the county, either underlying the flat prairies or arranged in the form of ridges, skirting the, shores of the lake, and in one or two cases trending west- ward away from it to a distance of several miles. These ridges, he says, seem to indicate the shores of the ancient bay, which with these boundaries would require the level of Lake Michigan to be nearly forty feet higher than at the present time. The outlet was evidently near Summit, where an alteration of the level for a very few feet would send the waters of the Chicago river into the Desplaines. Another very evident outlet, to the south of this, was through the channel utihzed by the Calumet feeder, joining the Desplaines at the Sag. The mound or ridge at Blue Island, Mr. Bannister thinks, must be referred to this level of the waters. Ho found numerous evidences of a power- 96 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ful stream on the rocks at Athens, in the shape of water- worn surfaces, pot-holes, etc. The nearest ridges running parallel to the present coast line, appear to him to indicate a very gradual recession of the waters of the lake, before reaching its present Hmits. The structure of these ridges, he finds, is similar to that of beach deposits, generally consisting of irregularly stratified sand and gravel beds, with sometimes a Ihin seam of vegetable mold. This structure, he adds, is well displayed on the lake shore north of the University grove at Evanston, where the wearing action of the lake storms upon the shore has cut down one of the ridges upon which the town is built. Frank H. Bradley, who wrote the geological history of Will county for the same work, says that throughout the val- ley of the Desplaines, DuPage and Kankakee rivers the allu- vial deposits constantly remind the observer that Will county once bordered the lower end and the outlet of Lake Mich- igan. The mounds along the Desplaines which were for- merly attributed to the industry of the aboriginal mound builders, are, to him, evidently the islands and banks of the old western outlet. There are varying opinions as to the manner in which this outlet was created. Worthen says of all the river val- leys of the state, that if we could strip oflE from the surface the superficial deposits of sand, clay and gravel, varying in depth from ten to one hundred feet, we should find broad and deep valleys, cut into the solid rock strata to a depth varying from one hundred to three hundred feet. It is his opinion that these valleys were excavated, in part, at least, by streams of water, but that they may have been greatly enlarged by the joint action of ice and currents of water, perhaps during a period of submergence, and were after- ward filled, either wholly or in part, by the superficial ma- terial called drift which now occupies them. Ossian Guthrie, whose name has been associated with C/rirM^o * Jirf,tm.Jl.3f. /t.ttNo/s <* A^/Cff/e^M C^MAl A^^/M CffANMCl OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 97 every effort of the past forty years to renew an outlet to the Mississippi, and who has made personal investigations of the physical conditions, believes that the Desplaines valley was excavated by glacial action. In a paper read before the Geological Society of Chicago he estimates that the glacier, which, he believes, once occupied the bed of Lake Michigan, was 2,500 feet in height above the present surface of the lake at its southern extremity, and 16,000 feet in height at its source. He traces the course of this glacier by its moraines, and concludes that it turned to the westward at the present location of Chicago and ploughed its way through the rocky divide. There were two channels, one by the way of Mud lake and the other by the way of the Sag. " Hundreds of acres of rock, easy of access and in many places exposed to view," he says, "are glacial scored and plainly indicate this ; and along both channels glacial debris is scattered in such variety and profusion that it would seem to be more difficult for the geologist to lose the glacial trail than to fol- low it." A remnant of the ancient stream is found in the Des- plaines river, which now, a mere thread, winds through the valley over its rocky bed. This river rises in the southern part of the state of Wisconsin, and flows southward parallel with the western shore of Lake Michigan, twelve to forty miles distant. At Summit it turns abruptly to the south- westward and follows the valley to a point sixty miles below Chicago where it unites with the Kankakee to form the Illi- nois. The Illinois river continues south westward across the state emptying into the Mississippi at Grafton, 325 miles from Chicago. From Chicago to Romeo, a distance of twenty-seven miles, the bed of the Desplaines river is six feet above the level of Lake Michigan. From Romeo to Joliet a distance of ten miles, there is a descent of seventy- seven feet, the greater part of it below Lockport. From Joliet to Lasalle, a distance of sixty miles, there is a further 7 98 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. descent of seventy feet. From Lasalle to the mouth of the Illinois, 225 miles, the fall is only twenty-seven feet. It is more than two hundred years since the Desplaines valley was discovered, but it became at once the path of communication between the previously settled portions of Canada and the valley of the Mississippi. History gives the credit of the discovery to Joliet and Marquette, but it is certain that French traders penetrated this region many years earlier. The latter faced the perils of exploration solely for purposes of gain, and have left no records of their discoveries and their transactions with the Indians. Organ- ized exploration in the western parts of America was prompted by a desire to discover a waterway across the continent. Apsley, a London dealer in beads, playing-cards and gewgaws, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, said he expected to live long enough to see a letter carried to China by a water route that would be discovered across the American continent between the 4:3d and 46th parallels of north lati- tude. LaSalle set out on his expeditions with the expectation of finding that the great river (the Mississippi) which had been partially described to him by the Indians, emptied into the Gulf of California, and he was disappointed when he found that it led into the Gulf of Mexico. Jean Nicolet came from Cherbourg, France, to Canada, early in the seventeenth century, and entered the service of the fur company known as the Hundred Associates under Champlain. He lived among the Indians and acquired their habits, becoming, like others of his class, fearless and hardy. In a frail canoe, in 1634, he is said to have threaded his way among the isles which extend from Georg- ian Bay to the extremity of Lake Huron, passed through the straits of Mackinaw, discovered Lake Michigan, and coasted as far south as Green Bay. On his return he said: OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 99 ^' If he had travelled three days more on a large river (prob- ably the Wisconsin), he would have found the sea." On the death of Champlain in 1635, the zeal for discovery was checked, but it was rekindled thirty years later by Talon, intendant of police, justice and finance, the first incumbent of that office in Canada. In the summer of 1669, he des- patched Louis Joliet and one Pere to search for copper on the shores of Lake Superior, and to discover a more direct route from the upper lakes to Montreal. Joliet went as far as Sault Ste. Marie, but did not remain there long. On his return he met LaSalle at an Iroquois village between Grand river and the head of Burlington Bay, to whom he undoubt- edly repeated the stories the_Indians had told him of the western country. Louis de Baude, Count de Frontenac, was appointed governor and lieutenant general of Canada in 1672. Upon the advice of Talon, Frontenac dispatched Joliet on an ex- pedition to the Grand river (the Mississippi), which the Indians had alleged flowed southward to the sea. Such were the circumstances which led to the first organized effort to explore the interior of the western country which resulted in the discovery of the Mississippi, the Illinois and the Desplaines rivers, and the site of the future city of Chicago. Joliet was the Columbus of this portion of the western world. He lias not been given the credit due him for his conception of the commercial advantages which the unex- plored country offered, for his intrepidity in facing without hesitation and without adequate means of defense unknown tribes of Indians, for his endurance of untold hardships, and for the persistence with which he accomplished the purpose of his expedition. It is true that Marquette shared the hardships and braved the same dangers, but he accompanied Joliet as a religious instructor only. Marquette sacrificed his life in the noble purpose to establish missions and sow the seeds of civilization among the Indians, but the fate of 100 DBAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Joliet was harder than that of immediate death. Marquette is remembered and honored by the records he has left, but Joliet was robbed in advance of the memory and the honor due him by the loss of his records. Misfortune never dealt a heavier blow and history never lost more important material. The grant of the barren island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for his services was but a mockery of a recom- pense. Marquette himself has fixed the place in history which the name of Joliet should occupy, for he says in the open- ing sentence of his journal: "I embarked with the Sieur Joliet, who had been chosen to conduct this enterprise." Further on he says: "We have had the care to collect from the savages all the knowledge they have of these countries; we have traced a map from their information, the rivers being marked upon it, the name of the nations we shall pass through, and the course that we should be obliged to pursue in this voyage. ' ' This was the information that Joliet had prepared, of which fragments only were repeated verbally, and have been preserved. Marquette's narrative relates almost entirely to his efforts to christianize the Indians. Without lowering the name of Marquette on the monument of western discovery, that of Joliet should be lifted into greater prominence. Louis Joliet, the son of a wagon maker, was born in Quebec. " In boyhood," says Edward D. Neill in Winsor's ' ' Narrative and Critical History of America, " "he had been a promising scholar in the Jesuits' school at Quebec, but imbibing the spirit of the times while a young man he became a rover in the wilderness and a trader among the Indians. Three years before his appointment to explore the groat river beyond the lakes he had been sent with Pere to search for a copper mine on Lake Superior, and the year before he stood by the side of Saint Lusson as he planted the arms of France at Sault Ste. Marie. It was not until December 8, OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 101 1672, that he reached the Straits of Mackinaw, and as the rivers between that point and the Mississippi were by this time frozen, he remained there during the winter and fol- lowing spring, busy in questioning the Indians who had seen the great river as to its course, and as to the nations on its shores. On May 17, 1673, he began his journey toward a distant sea. At Mackinaw he found Marquette, who became his companion, but had no official connection with the expedition." These two men set out with two birch bark canoes and five voyageurs. Entering Green Bay they ascended the Fox river and from it dragged their canoes across the narrow portage to the Wisconsin. Down this river they floated, passing into the Mississippi and thence toward the Gulf of Mexico. Near the mouth of the Arkansas they encountered hostile tribes of Indians and decided to return. They were told by friendly Indians that a shorter route to the great lake could be found through a stream which emptied into the river they were traversing and they turned into it. After ascending the stream, Joliet and his companion entered the Illinois river, "which he (Joliet) designated as the Divine, in compliment, it is supposed, to Fronte- nac's wife, a daughter of Lagrange Trianon, noted for her beauty, and Mademoiselle Outrelaise, her fascinating companion, who were called in court circles ' les divines.' Upon the west bank of one of its tributaries, the Des Plaines river, there stands above the prairie a remarkable elevation of clay, sand and gravel, a lonely monument which has withstood the erosion of a former geologic age. It was a noted landmark to the Indians in their hunting, and to the French voyageurs on their trading expeditions. By this Joliet was impressed, and he gave the elevation his name, Mont Joliet, which it has retained, while all the others he marked on his map have been forgotten." This mound was 102 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEEWAT. about 60 feet high, 225 feet wide, and 1,300 feet long. Only a portion of it remains. Joliet and Marquette ascended the Desplaines river to the bend at Summit where they dragged their canoes across the portage, a strip of land a mile and a half in width, between the river and a stagnant pond, afterward called Mud lake, from the eastern end of which they entered the stream now known as the Chicago river. Floating down this river they emerged upon Lake Michigan, or the lake of the Illinois, as it was then known, and returned along its western coast to Green Bay. It is suggested by Neill that Joliet may have remained in the vicinity of the mound to which he had given his name during the winter of 1673-4 to trade with the Indians, although Marquette implies in his narrative that Joliet accompanied him to Green Bay. At any rate Mar- quette stopped at Green Bay to recuperate while Joliet the following year descended the St. Lawrence to bear the report of his discoveries to Count Frontenac. He had been favored by fortune throughout his long and perilous jour- ney, but as he was about to place his papers in the hands of his superior officer his canoe was upset in La Chine rapids, and everything was lost. Two of his men and an Indian boy were drowned, and he narrowly escaped with his own life. Marquette's journal contains this fragment about the trip up the Illinois river and across the Chicago portage: "After a month's navigation down the Mississippi from the 42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the gorspel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the village of Akamsea on the 17th of July to retrace our steps. We accordingly ascended the Mississippi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents. We left it, in- deed, about the 38th degree to enter another river, which greatly shortened our way, and brought us with little trouble to the Lake of the Illinois. Wo had seen nothing like this OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 103 river for the fertility of the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wild cats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots and even beaver; its many little lakes and rivers. That on which we sailed is broad, and deep and gentle for 65 leagues. During the spring and part of the summer the only portage is half a league. ' ' In October, 1674, Marquette, with two Frenchmen and a number of Illinois and Pottawatomie Indians, attempted to return to the principal town of the Illinois Indians, through which he and Joliet had passed the previous year, his purpose being to establish a mission there. When they reached the Chicago river Marquette was physically unable to proceed and the party encamped for the winter. Their camp was evidently at or near the point where the Illinois and Michigan canal connects with the South branch of the Chicago river. The following extracts are from Marquette's last letter, addressed to Father Dablon, Portage river ap- parently referring to the Chicago river: " Dec. 4. We started well to reach Portage river which was frozen half a foot thick. ' ' ' ' Dec. 14. Being cabined near the Portage, two leagues up the river, we resolved to winter there, on my inability to go farther, being too much embarrassed and my malady not permitting me to stand much fatigue." ' ' Feb. 20. We had time to observe the tide which comes from the lake rising and falling, although there appears no shelter on the lake. We saw the ice go against the wind. These tides made the water good or bad, because what comes from above flows from the prairies and small streams." ' ' March 30. The north wind having prevented the thaw till the 25th of March, it began with a southerly wind. . . On the 28th the ice broke and choked above us. On the 29th the water was so high that we had barely time to uncabin in haste, put our things on trees and try to 104 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. find a place to sleep on some hillock, the water gaining on us all night; but having frozen a little and having fallen, as we were near our luggage, the dike burst and the ice went down; and as the waters are again ascending already, we are going to embark to continue our route. ' ' "March 31. Having started yesterday, we made three leagues on the river, going up without finding any portage. We dragged for half an arpent. Besides this outlet the river has another (Desplaines) by which we must descend. Only the very highest grounds escape inundation. That where we are (on or near the Desplaines) has increased more than twelve feet. Here we began our portage more than eighteen months ago. . . The ice still brought down detains us here, as we do not know in what state the river is lower down." Marquette called the Chicago river Portage river, but it does not seem to have been worthy the distinction of any name for many years afterward. LaSalle speaks of it merely as a "channel formed by the junction of several rivulets, or meadow ditches." The title Chicago, or Che- cagou, as originally spelled, was bestowed upon the Illinois river, a continuation of the Desplaines. The name Des- plaines was given later to the northern branch of the Illi- nois, so-called because of the maple trees along its banks, which the French Canadians called Plaine. It was then, presumably, the title Checagou was transferred to the present Chicago river, the word meaning strong or mighty, having been originally the name or title of an Indian chief. In 1812 agents were employed by Governor Ninian Edwards to ascertain the different routes of travel to and from the lakes, and secure other information relating to the country from Mackinaw to St. Louis, to be transmitted to the Secretary of War. Among the notes prepared is the following, which appears to indicate that the name Che- cagou was moved up the Illinois river beforie it was entirely OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 105 transferred to the present Chicago river : " One and a half leagues higher is the forks of the Quin-que-que. On the south side at this place the Illinois loses its name, and is called from here the Chicago river to the lake, a distance of about twenty leagues." Joliet, as previously stated, gave the name ' ' La Divine ' ' to the Illinois river. He also called it "L'Outrelaise," and the "River of St. Louis." The Mississippi was known as the Colbert, and Lake Michigan as the Lake of the Illinois. Mud lake is well described by its name, but it deserves a recognition which the name does not suggest. As the waters of Lake Michigan receded in pre-historic times, the Chicago divide, stretching from Summit to Lemont or beyond, became a permanent barrier against the outflow toward the Mississippi, and alluvial deposits formed a sec- ond barrier in the vicinity of Bridgeport. In the depres- sion between the Desplaines and Chicago rivers was thus created a pond or lake that stood at the summit of the watershed which separates the St. Lawrence and the Missis- sippi basins. For its own supply it depended upon the freshets of spring and autumn, its stagnant waters during the remaining months of the year furnishing sustenance for lilies, reeds and marsh grasses, and a home for every variety of the smaller amphibious animals. When its little basin was filled to overflowing it discharged its waters in both directions, — into the Mississippi by way of the Des- plaines, and into the St. Lawrence by way of the Chicago river and the great lakes. To Le Petit Lac, as the wander- ing French Canadians called it, belonged the exclusive dis- tinction of contributing to two of the greatest river systems of the world. The dimensions of this lakp were gradually con- tracted, and a strip of land varying in width from a mile and a half to three miles separated it from the Desplaines in the time of Joliet, Marquette and LaSalle. By them it 106 DKAINAGE OHANNETi AND WATERWAY. was called the Portage. The Chicago river had its origin at the eastern extremity of Mud lake, not far from the pres- ent location of Kedzie avenue. It is less than twenty years since this lake lost its identity, but its former bed was covered with water at every overflow of the Desplaines, until the latter was permanently diverted to a new channel by the Trustees of the Sanitary District in 1893. Numerous maps embracing the locality were made by the early explorers. Soon after LaSalle's first voyage down the Illinois a map was published by an unknown per- son. On this map Lake Michigan appears as "Lac Mitch- iganong ou des Illinois." Opposite the site of Chicago are the words of which the following is a translation : ' ' The largest vessels can come to this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake Frontenac ; and from this marsh, into which they can enter, there is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine, which can lead them to the River Colbert, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico. ' ' Marquette made a map which was a rude sketch of a por- tion of Lakes Superior and Michigan and of the route taken by himself and Joliet. The Illinois river appeared on the map, but it was nameless. A map of greater interest was made by Joliet after his return from the Mississippi, which he presented to Count Frontenac. Following the title is this statement : ' ' Lake Frontenac is separated by a fall of half a league from Lake Erie, from which one enters that of the'Hurons, and by the same navigation into that of the Illinois, from the head of which one crosses to the Divine river by a portage of a thous- and paces. This river falls into the River Colbert which discharges itself into the, Gulf of Mexico." In the more recent past the condition of the ancient out- let to the Mississippi, or that portion of it nearest to Chi- cago, is described in a report written by William H. Keating, FacSimiubovMap opIatmr Mabquette 1673. J 108 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. who accompanied the Government expedition of Major Stephen H. Long, U. S. A., in 1823. His account shows the interest taken in it even before there was a permanent settlement in this vicinity. He said : "The South fork of the Chicago river takes its rise about six miles from the fort in a swamp which communi- cates also with the Desplaines, one of the head branches of the Illinois. Having been informed that this route was fre- quently travelled by traders, and that it had been used by one of the oflB.cers of the garrison, who returned with pro- visions from St. Louis a few days before our arrival at the fort, we determined to ascend the Chicago river in order to observe this interesting division of waters. We accordingly left the fort on the 7th of June in a boat which, after hav- ing ascended the river about four miles, we exchanged for a narrow pirogue that drew less water ; the stream we were ascending was very narrow, rapid, and crooked, presenting a great fall ; it continued so for about three miles when we reached a sort of swamp, designated by the Canadian voy- ageurs under the name of Le Petit Lac. Our course through this swamp, which extended for three miles, was very much impeded by the high grass, reeds, etc., through which our pirogue passed with difficulty. Observing that our progress through the fen was very slow, and the day being consider- ably advanced, we landed on the north bank, and continued our course along the edge of the swamp for about three miles, until we reached the place where the old portage road meets the current, which was here very distinct towards the south. ' ' We were delighted at beholding, for the first time, a feature so interesting in itself, but which we had afterwards an opportunity of observing frequently on the route, viz., the division of waters starting from the same source and run- ning in two different directions, so as to become the feeders of streams that discharged themselves into the ocean at OUTLET TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 109 immense distances apart. Although at the time we visited it there was scarcely water enough to permit our pirogue to pass, we could not doubt that in the spring of the year the route must be a very eligible one. Lieut. Hopson, who accompanied us to the Desplaines, told us that he had trav- elled it with ease in a boat loaded with lead and flour. The distance from the fort to the intersection of the Portage road and Desplaines is supposed to be about twelve or thirteen miles. The elevation of the feeding lake above the Chicago river was estimated at five or six feet, and, it is probable that the descent to the Desplaines is less considerable. The Portage road is about eleven miles long ; the usual distance travelled by land seldom, however, exceeds from four to nine miles ; in very dry seasons, it has been said to amount to thirty miles, as the portage then extends to Mount Joliet, near the confluence of the Kankakee. " When we consider the facts above stated, we are irre- sistibly led to the conclusion, that an elevation of the lakes of a few feet (not exceeding ten or twelve) above their present level would cause them to discharge their waters, partly at least, into the Gulf of Mexico ; that such a dis- charge has at one time existed every one conversant with the nature of the country must admit ; and it is especially ap- parent that an expenditure, trifling in comparison to the im- portance of the object, would again render Lake Michigan a tributary of the Mexican Gulf." There were seasons apparently when the upper part of the channel of the Chicago river was dry, and there were two portages instead of one. A ' ' rough draft " of a mem- orandum dated December, 1718, designed to aid Governor Keith of Pennsylvania in preparing a memorial to the British Board of Trade, says: "From Lake Huron they pass by the Strait of Michilimakinac four leagues, being two in breadth and of great depth, to the Lake Illinoise; thence 150 leagues on the lake to Fort Miami, situated at 110 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the mouth of the River Chicagou. This Fort is not regu- larly garrisoned. From hence came those Indians of the same name, viz., Miami, who are settled on the foremen- tioned river that runs into Erie. Up the River Chicagou they sail but three leagues to a portage of a quarter of a league; they then enter a very small lake of about a mile and have another very small portage; thence down the same 130 leagues to the Mechasipi." CHAPTER VIII. FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. Joliet's commercial instincts foresaw the advantages of a continuous waterway from Lake Michigan to the Missis- sippi. The purpose of his expedition was to determine whether the Grand river, of which the French Canadians had received indefinite information from the Indians, led across the continent. If there was any disappointment in finding that it did not there was an unexpected compensa- tion in the discovery of a fertile country in the valley of the great river, and the easy means of reaching it through the combination of streams connecting it with Lake Michigan. To Joliet belongs_the^redit^ of_thg_first sug gesti^ n_of a restored waterway from the great lake to the Grand river. As his records were lost the only information whicTTcan be had from him comes through another person. Father Dab- Ion, to whom Joliet gave a verbal account of his journey and discoveries, says in a letter written August 1, 1674, reporting what Joliet had said: "The fourth remark concerns a very important advan- tage, and which some will, perhaps, find it hard to credit; it is, that we can quite easily go to Florida in boats, and by a very good navigation. There would be but one canal to make, by cutting only one-half a league of prairie, to pass from the Lake of the Illinois into St. Louis river. The route to be taken is this: the bark should be built on Lake Erie, which is near Lake Ontario; it would pass easily from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, from which it would enter the Lake of the Illinois. At the extremity of this lake HI 112 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. would be the cut or canal of which I have spoken, to have a passage to St. Louis river, wliich empties into the Missis- sippi. The bark having entered this river, could easily sail to the Gulf of Mexico. . . . The fifth remark regards the great advantages there would be in founding new colonies in such beautiful countries and such fertile soil. Hear what Sieur Joliet says: 'When they first spoke to us of these lands without trees, I figured to myself a burned- up country, where the soil was so wretched that it would produce nothing. But we have seen the reverse, and no bet- ter can be found either for wheat, or the vines, or any fruit whatever. The river to which we have given the name of St. Louis, and which has its source not far from the extremity of the Lake of the Illinois, seemed to me to oflfer on its banks very fine lands well suited to receive settle- ments. The place, by which after leaving the river you enter the lake, is a very convenient bay to hold vessels and protect them from the wind.' " Frontenac wrote the French government on November 14 : " Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon advised me, on my arrival from France, to despatch for the discovery of the South Sea, returned three months ago, and found some very fine countries and a navigation so easy through the beau- tiful rivers, that a person can go f^om Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac in a bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being only one carrying place, half a league in length, where Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. . . . He has been within ten days journey of the Gulf of Mexico, and believes that water communication could be found leading to the Vermillion and California seas, by means of the river that flows from north to south, and is as large as the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec. ' ' La Salle was not favorably impressed with the idea of a water communication between Lake Michigan and the Mis- sissippi by way of the Chicago valley ; the fact that he FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. 113 usually passed over the route afforded by the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers to the Illinois indicates a prejudice against the former. At any rate, he questioned the feasi- bility of an artificial waterway between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river, and on his return to Canada in 1680 he replied to the suggestions made by Joliet in somewhat obscure but forcible language. It is likely this was prompted by a jealousy engendered by Joliet' s priority of discovery ; it is certain that an attempt was made a few years later to rob Joliet of the credit belonging to him. An unknown person is said to have heard from LaSalle himself in France, long after it was published to the world that Joliet had dis- covered the upper Mississippi and the Illinois, that he, LaSalle, had descended the Ohio to the Mississippi and returned by way of the Illinois. This is not generally believed to be true. But it is seen that the controversy over the desirability of connecting the great lakes with the Mississippi began at a very early day. Recalling the words of LaSalle, he said in a memoir to Count Frontenac, written November, 9, 1680 : ' ' The basin into which you enter to go from the Lake of the Illinois to the Divine river is no way suited for com- ihuhication, there being no anchorage, wind, or entrance for a vessel, nor even a canoe, except in a great calm; tjie prairies by which a communication is spoken of being flooded when- ever it rains by the waters from the neighboring hills. It is very difficult to make and keep up a channel there that will not at once fill up with sand and gravel ; and you can- not dig into the ground without finding water ; and there are sand hills between the lake and the prairies. And were this channel possible, at great expense, it would be useless, because the Divine river is not navigable for forty leagues from there to the great village of the Illinois. Canoes can- not pass there in summer ; and there is even a great rapid this side of the village." 114 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. In a fragment of a letter written by LaSalle, without date, but evidently after the communication to Frontenac, the great explorer says : " I sent M. de Tonty in advance with all my people, who, after marching three days along the lake, and reaching the division line called Checagou, were stopped, after a day's march along the river of the same name, which falls into the Islinois, by the ice, which entirely prevented further navigation. This was the 2nd and 3rd of January, 1682. I remained behind (at the St. Joseph river) to direct the making of some caches in the earth of the things I left behind. . . . Having finished my caches, I left the 28th of December, and went on foot to join the Sieur de Tonty, which I did the 7tli of January, the snow having detained me some days at the portage of Checagou. This is an isthmus of land at 41 degrees, 50 min- utes north latitude at the west of the Islinois Lake, which is reached by a channel formed by the junction of several rivulets, or meadow ditches. It is navigable for about two leagues to the edge of the prairie, a quarter of a league west- ward. There is a little lake divided by a causeway made by the beavers, about a league and a half long, from which runs a stream which, after winding about a half league through the rushes, empties into the river Checagou, and thence into that of the Islinois. This lake is filled by heavy summer rains, or spring freshets and dischax-ges also into the channel which leads to the Lake of the Islinois, the level of which is seven feet lower than the prairie on which the lake is. ' ' The river of Checagou does the same thing in the spring when its channel is full. It empties a part of its waters by this little lake into those of the Islinois, and at this season, Joliet says, forms, in the summer time, a little channel for a quarter of a league from this lake to the basin which leads to that of the Islinois, by which vessels can enter the Che- cagou and descend to the sea. This may very well happen FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. 115 in the spring but not in the summer, because there is no water at all in the river as far as Fort St. Louis, where the Islinois begins to be navigable at this season, whence it con- tinues to the sea. It is true that there is still another diffi- culty which the proposed ditch would not remedy, which is that the lake of the Islinois always forms a sand bar at the mouth of the channel which leads to it ; and I greatly doubt, notwithstanding what is said, that it could be cleared or swept away by the force of the current of the Checagou, since a much greater, in the same lake, has not removed it. Moreover, the utility of it would be inconsiderable, because I doubt, even if it should be a complete success whether a vessel could resist the great freshets caused by the currents in the Checagou in the spring, which are much heavier than those in the Ithone. Moreover, it would only be serviceable for a short time, and at most for fifteen or twenty days each year, after which there would be no more waters. What confirms me in the opinion that the Che- cagou could not clear the mouth of the channel is, that when the lake is full of ice, the most navigable mouths are blocked at this period; and when the ice is melted, there is no more water in the Checagou to prevent the mouth from filling up with sand. Nor should I have made any mention of this communication if Joliet had not proposed it without regard to its difficulties. " Moreover, I maintain that even should such a commu- nication between Louisiana and New France be desired, it is too difficult by way of the lakes because of the diversity of the winds to which their situation exposes them, the furious gales that must always be encountered near land on account of their narrowness of the waters and want of depth or anchorage in case of necessity. The channel between Lake Erie and Huron presents a great difficulty because of its great current, which cannot be surmounted except by a strong stern wind, and because there are places between 116 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. there is only a width of four feet of water, so that vessels capable of supporting the storm of the lakes could scarcely pass, for, whether because of the height of their situation on the mountains of Niagara, or the nearness of other moun- tains by which they are almost wholly surrounded, the autumn and spring storms are so furious, so sudden, and so long, particularly furious from the northwest and northeast, and from the southeast in the spring, that sometimes for three or four days it would be impossible to carry sail or keep clear of the land, which is never more than fifteen or sixteen leagues distant, the lakes being no more than thirty leagues wide ; and because if this communication should be insisted upon by means of barques, the lakes could not be navigable before the middle of April, and sometimes even later, because of the ice and winter at this season ; nor for the rest of the year is the Checagou navi- gable, even for canoes, unless after a storm. The water being always low in the month of March it would be easier to effect the transportation from Fort St. Louis to the lakes by land by using horses, which it is easier to have, there being numbers among the savages called Pana, etc., etc. . . . This is what I have to say concerning this passage by which Joliet pretended an easy communication could be had with Louisiana. ' ' For the next hundred years dreams of commercial possi- bilities were smothered by struggles for existence. Wars with the Indians were followed by wars among the different nationalities inhabiting the country and then by the Revolu- tion. Nothing more was heard about the feasibility of a water route from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi until August 3, 1795, when a treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians, "to put an end to a destructive war to settle all controversies, etc. " For a " consideration " the abori- gines ceded to the United States fourteen pieces of land, one of which, six miles square, was " at the mouth of the Chi- FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. 117 kago River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood." Then followed this clause, which may be considered the first official sug- gestion of a canal across the Chicago Divide : ' ' And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country, along the chain of posts hereinbefore mentioned, that is to say, . . . Again from the mouth of Chikago to the commencement of the portage between that river and the Illinois and down the Illinois River to the Mississippi." In < j81T> Samuel A. Storrow, judge advocate of the United States army, made a three months' tour through the west. An account of his trip appears in a letter to Major General Brown, dated December 1, of that year. He speaks of the Chicago river as deep and about forty yards wide. His attention was attracted to the interesting fact of the division of the waters at its source, part flowing east- ward to the lake and part westward to the Mississippi, and he commented on the practicability of a permanent water- way. He says : " Before it (the river) enters the lake its two branches unite, the one proceeding from the north, the other from the west, where it takes its rise in the very fountain of the Plein, or Illinois, which flows in an opposite direction. The source of these two rivers illustrates the geographical phe- nomenon of a reservoir on the very summit of a dividing ridge. In the autumn they are both without any apparent fountain, but are formed within a mile and a half of each other by some imperceptible undulations of the prairie which drain it and lead to difl'erent directions. But in the spring the space between the two is a single sheet of water, the common reservoir of both, in the center of which there is no current towards either of the opposite streams. This circumstance creates the singular fact of the insulation 118 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of all the United States excepting Louisiana, making the circumnavigation of them practicable from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to that of Mexico, with the single hindrance of the falls of Niagara. The Chicago forms a third partition of the great country I had passed. The Ouisconsin and Fox rivers make a water communication between the Mississippi and Michigan, with the exception of four miles. The Millewackie and Kiver a la Roche, the same, with half the exception. The Chicago and De Plein make, in the manner I have described, the communication entire. The latter should not escape national attention. The ground between the two is without rocks, and with little labor would admit of a permanent connection between the waters of the Illinois and Michigan." Storrow's observations could not have extended beyond the portage between Mud lake and the Desplaines river, where he saw no indication of a rock formation. But his statement was correct when he said : ' ' Fort Dearborn has no advantages of harbour, the river itself being always choaked and frequently barred from the same causes that I have imputed to the other streams of this country. ' ' The obstructions referred to were sandbars. As the idea of a navigable waterway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi rolled through the minds of the thinking men in the early part of the present century, it acquired increasing importance. It was not too much to hope for a passage way for any vessel that traversed either lake or river. St. Louis was already a considerable town> and an artificial channel which would discharge the waters of Lake Michigan westward was enthusiastically advocated by its editors and speakers. In 1818, William Darby, an author -of prominence in the East, made a tour through the West. His notes were published in the following year. They contain the follow- ing paragraph : FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. 119 "No doubt now remains but that the Chicago and Illi- nois rivers afford by far the most eligible natural connex- ion between the northern and the southern waters of the United States. It appears that the great spine running from the Hudson to the Maumee river terminates at or is interrupted by the valley of the Illinois. The latter stream is formed towards its source by two branches, one of which rises south of Lake Michigan, and the other (River Plein) rises in the flat country west of Chicago, and flowing south, unite to the southwest of the extreme south part of Michi- gan. The Chicago heads in the same plain with the River Plein, and winding for some distance parallel to the latter stream, thence turns east, falls into Lake Michigan. The Chicago and Plein intermingle their sources, and afford one of those instances where rivers have their sources in plains so nearly approaching the curve of a real sphere as to leave, for the discharge of the waters, scarce inclination sufficient to de- termine their courses. This is the case with the two rivers we are now reviewing. The precise descent of the Chicago, from its nearest approach to the Plein to the level of Lake Michigan, has never been ascertained, but it is known to be without falls, or even rapids. The Plein also flows with a very slight current, and the two streams present almost a strait between the Mississippi river and Lake Michigan. The land contiguous to this important pass was ceded to the United States by the savage tribes who formerly pos- sessed the right of soil. The land thus ceded is now about being surveyed and in course will, ere long, be sold to in- dividuals and settlers. The development of the natural sources of this region will be disclosed with the ordinary celerity that marks the newly established settlements in our western world. ... If the people of the United States ought ever to unite in opening any channel of communica- tion it is that by the Illinois river and Lake Michigan. If the various points from St. Louis to Buffalo were united 120 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. by commercial facility, a numerous population would be the immediate consequence." In 1816 the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie In- dians ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles in width from Chicago to Ottawa, embracing the valley of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers. Two years later surveyors were sent oufr to locate the boundary lines, one beginning ten miles north and the other ten miles south of Chicago. Commenting on this work, as the surveyors set out from St. Louis, the Enquirer of that city gave the following information as to the extent of navigation through the valley at that time and the means of crossing the portage in dry weather: ' ' The communication between the lake and the Illinois is a point which will fix the attention of the merchant and the statesman. They will see in it the gate which is to open the northern seas into the valley of the Mississippi and which is to connect New York and New Orleans by a water line, which the combined navies of the world cannot cut off. Never did the work of nature require so little from the hand of art to complete so great a design. The Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario lie from west to east, in the direction of the St. Lawrence, manifestly seek- ing their outlet through the valley of that river. But the Michigan departs from that direction; she lies from north to south. United to the other lakes by a strait, she stretches the body of her water towards the head of the Illinois river, as if intending to discharge herself through that channel into the Mississippi. And no hills or mountains intervene to prevent the conjunction; on the contrary, the ground between is flat and covered with ponds in wet weather which turn their waters partly to the lake and partly to the river. The Chicago and the Plein are the drains from these ponds; they have neither falls nor shoals; they have not the character of streams, but of canals; the water hardly moves FIRST SUGGESTIONS OF A WATERWAY. 121 in their deep and narrow channels. The Illinois itself is more a canal than a river, having hardly current enough to bend the lofty grass which grows in its bed. ' ' The French of Canada and of the valley of the Missis- sippi have communicated through the channel since the set- tlement of the countries. In high water boats of ten or a dozen tons pass without obstruction. In the dry season, they are unloaded, placed on vehicles and drawn by oxen over a portage of a few miles and launched into the river or lake, as the course of the voyage may require. Hundreds, nay thousands, of boats have been seen at St. Louis which have made a similar passage. It may be hoped that the Government will not limit itself to the barren work of mark- ing the lines about this portage. While the state of New York opens a canal of three hundred miles, the Federal Government should not be appalled at undertaking one of three hundred rods. It might be dug in the time that a long-winded member of Congress would make a speech against its constitutionality." The few permanent settlers at the mouth of the Chicago river at the time St. Louis was agitating the construction of a canal, had no influence and their interests were hardly taken into consideration. As late as 1836, the year in which work on the Illinois and Michigan canal began, Chicago had a population of only 3,820. But the East never lost sight of the benefits it would derive from a water communication with the valley of the Mississippi, and the National Government was repeatedly urged to develop it. A fair illustration of the feeling in the East is shown by a quotation from a letter written by C. F. Hoff- man of New York, editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine. Mr. Hoffman made a trip to the West, reaching Chicago in the latter part of 1833. Writing from Chicago under date of January 10,<^3?^e says: ' ' There is one improvement to be made, however, in 122 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. this section of the country, which will greatly influence the permanent value of property in Chicago. I allude to a canal from the head of Lake Michigan to the head of steam navigation on the Illinois, the route of which has been long since surveyed. The distance to be overcome is something like ninety miles; and when you remember that the head waters of the Illinois rise within eleven miles of Chicago river, and that a level plain of not more than eight feet elevation above the latter is the only intervening obstacle, you can conceive how easy it would be to drain Lake Mich- igan into the Mississippi by this route, boats of eig hteen tons having actually passed over^the intervgning prairie at high water. Lake Michigan, which is several feet or more above Lake Erie, would afford a never-failing body of water that would keep 'steamboats afloat on the route in the driest season. St. Louis would then^ be brought compara- tively near to New York, while two-thirds of the Missis- sippi valley would be supplied by this route immediately from the markets of the latter. "This canal is the only remaining link wanting to com- plete the most stupenduous chain of inland communication in the world. I had a long conversation this morning with Major H., the United States engineer who is engaged in superintending the construction of a pier at this place. He was polite enough to sketch the main features of the route with his pencil in such a manner as to make its feasibility very apparent. The canal would pass for the whole dis- tance through a prairie country where every production of the field and the garden can be raised with scarcely any toil, and where the most prolific soil in the world requires no other preparation for planting than passing the plough over its bosom. The most effectual mode of making this canal would be to give the lands along its banks to an incorporated company, who should construct the work within a certain time. The matter is now merely agitated at elections as a political handle." CHAPTER IX. CONGRESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. Western interests were almost entirely neglected by the National Government prior to the year 1807. The West was as distant from the East as though they were separated by an ocean, and those who were bold enough to cross the Allegheny mountains did so with the full understanding that they were penetrating an unknown country and might never return to civilization. The first steamboat was launched on the Hudson river in 1807 and its successful operation at once suggested a means of profitable navigation on the large rivers in the interior of the country. A new impulse was given to emigration to the West, and out of the conditions it created sprang the idea of providing better means of communication with the new world in the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Prior to this time the West had been taxed for the benefit of the East, as all the ' money raised by the National Government had been spent in the improvement of harbors, building lighthouses and the execution of other public works along the seacoast. It had not been many years since the East itself demonstrated the fact that there could not be taxation of a free people with- out representation, and it was quick to suggest that the West, now developing a strength which was really feared, should have a share in the benefits of a national existence. Thus began the system of internal improvements which created good roads, built canals and improved the rivers of the West. The first to suggest specific action by the National Gov- 123 124 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. eminent along the line of internal improvements was Thomas Worthington of Ohio, who moved in the United States Sen- ate on March 2, 1807, that "the secretary of the treasury be directed to prepare and report to the Senate at their next session a plan for the application of such means as are within the power of Congress to the purposes of opening roads and making canals, together with a statement of the undertakings of that nature which, as objects of public im- provement, may require and deserve the aid of Government ; and also a statement of works of the nature mentioned which have been commenced, the progress which has been made in them and the means and prospect of their being completed, and all such information as, in the opinion of the secretary, shall be material in relation to the objects of the resolution." Complying with this order A-lbert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury, made a report on roads and canals to the Sen- ate on April 6, 1808. This was a very complete statement of the condition of the roads and canals then in existence or in preparation and contained definite plans for a system of internal improvements. ' ' The inconveniences, complaints, and perhaps dangers, which may result from a vast extent of territory, ' ' he said, ' « can no otherwise be radically removed or prevented than by opening speedy and easy communication through all its parts. Good roads and canals will shorten distances, facilitate commercial and per- sonal intercourse and unite by a still more intimate commu- nity of interests the most remote quarters of the United States. No other single operation within the power of Gov- ernment can more effectually tend to strengthen and per- petuate that union which secures external independence, domestic peace and internal liberty." Referring to the natural communication between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi he said of the Illinois river, that it "rises in a swamp which, when the waters are high, CONGRESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 125 affords a natural canoe navigation to the sources of Chicago creek, a short stream, which falls into Lake Michigan at its southern extremity." He did not doubt that if the inland navigation between the western rivers and the lakes was completely opened the whole Indian trade, either of the Mississippi by Lake Michigan, or of the Northwest by Lake Superior, must necessarily center in an Atlantic port of the United States, a consideration of minor importance as a commercial object when compared with the other advantages of that great communication, but of great weight in its relation to the political intercourse of the United States with the Indians. His estimate of the cost of the improve- ments to reach Lake Michigan was $16,600,000; to reach the Mississippi, $20,000,000. To raise this sum he sug- gested that the Government sell ten million of its one hundred million acres of public lands. He believed the increase in the value of the remaining ninety million acres would more than repay the outlay. His report was referred to a committee and a week later 1,200 copies were ordered printed. That was the only official recognition it received, probably because Congress was in daily fear that it would exceed its constitutional powers. In spite of his sensitiveness over the rights of the states and the limitations of the powers of the General Govern- ment, Thomas^ Jefferson, in his message to the Tenth Con- gress on November 8, 1808, guardedly suggested that the surplus of revenue, beyond what could be applied to the payment of the public debt, should be devoted to internal improvements. In the House on December 27, 1809, John Nicholson of New York introduced a resolution providing that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of making permanent provision by law for constructing public canals and roads. This resolution was at once laid on the table. 126 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAT. In the Senate on January 5, 1810, a bill introduced by John Pope of Kentucky received some consideration. This provided that when any company incorporated in one or more states for constructing canals and roads had sold one- half of its stock the United States might subscribe for any part or all of the remainder. To pay for the stock, certifi- cates were to be issued, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. To provide for the payment of these certificates the proceeds of the sale of public lands west to Lake Michigan were to be appropriated. This bill passed to the second reading, but amendments proposed by the select committee to whom it was referred were rejected, and further consider- ation was postponed. Nothing further was heard of the bill. In the House on February 8, 1810, Peter B. Porter of New York rose to discuss the internal improvements of the- United States by roads and canals. He said he had listened to appeals for the protection of commerce. It was to be presumed that Congress would be as willing to give a direct encouragement to agriculture as to do it indirectly through the medium of commerce. He referred to the bill intro- duced in the Senate by Mr. Pope, in the preparation of which he had had a part. Some great system of internal navigation, such as was contemplated in that bill, was not only an object of the first consequence in the future pros- perity of the country, considered as a measure of political economy, but as a measure of state policy it was indispensa- ble to the preservation of the integrity of the Government. For twenty years the United States had been favored in external commerce in a manner unequalled. Their citizens had not only grown rich, but they had almost gone mad in the pursuit of this commerce. This was owing in part to the unparalleled succession of events in Europe. The course of events had now materially changed and with it the tide of this country's commercial prosperity. He was far CONGKESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 127 from believing that this might not eventually prove fortu- nate to the people of the United States. One of the objects of the system he was about to propose was to unlock the internal resources of which the country found itself possessed, to enable the citizen of one part of the United States to exchange his products for those of another, and to open a great internal commerce which was acknowledged by all who professed any skill in the science of political economy to be much more profitable and advantageous than the most favored external commerce. The system had another object in view not less important. "The people of the United States are divided," he said, " by a geographical line into two great and distinct sec- tions, the people who live along the Atlantic on the east side of the Allegheny mountains, and who compose the three great classes of merchants, manufacturers and agriculturists, and those who occupy the west side of those mountains, who are exclusively agriculturists. This diversity and supposed contrariety of interest and pur- suit between the people of these two great divisions of the country, and the difference of character to which these occupations give rise, it has been confidently asserted and is still believed by many, will lead to a separation of the U nited States at no very distant day. In my huin^ ble opinion, sir, this very diversity of interest will, if skillfully managed, be the means of producing a closer and more intimate union of the States. ' ' By producing a mutual dependence between these great sections and by these means only could the United States be kept together. There was no market for the products of the West, he continued. The disastrous effects were seen on the industry and the morals of its people. Their increase in numbers and the ease with which their children were brought up and fed, far from encouraging them to become manufacturers, put at a great distance the time when, quitting the freedom 128 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. and the independence of the soil, they would submit to the labor and confinement of manufactures. Ifc became an object of national importance, outweighing almost any other that could occupy the attention of the House, to inquire whether the evils incident to this state of things might not be removed by a great navigable canal from the Atlantic to the western states, thus promoting the natural connection and intercourse between the farmer and the merchant, so highly conducive to the interests of both. Proceeding to show by geographical detail both the importance and the practicab ility of_such_jQ avigation , he found west of the Alleghenies ' ' a scene of natural internal navigation unequalled in the world." To the south and the west of the great lakes ' ' the waters of the Ohio and the Mississippi approach within short distances of and are inter- locked by the waters of the lakes. The lands along these dividing waters are generally level, and the rivers are navi- gable and might be connected by short canals at little expense. At the southwestern extremity of Lake Michigan, the most inconsiderable expense would open a canal between the waters of that lake and the Illinois river, one of the principal branches of the Mississippi. Nature has already made this connexion nearly complete, and it is not uncom- mon for boats in the spring of the year to pass from the lake into the Illinois and from thence by the waters of the Illinois and Mississippi to New Orleans without being taken out of the water. ' ' The effect of a canal system would be to reduce the prices of manufactured articles to the people of the West and increase the prices of the public lands. The United States owned about 250,000,000 acres of land in the western country, independent of Louisiana. More than 100,000,000 acres of this was in the vicinity of the great lakes, 50,000,000 of which were within thirty miles of the lakes. To appropriate 1,000,000 acres for the construction CONGRESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 129 of a canal from the Atlantic to the lakes would enhance the value of the remaining 49,000,000 acres some hundreds per cent. Canals and roads would increase the duties on imports and be a military advantage. They would enable the western settlers to pay their debts to Congress. " Every motive of interest and policy," said Mr. Porter, ' ' unites in urging the Government to undertake this system of internal improvement. It is a subject too vast to be accomplished by individual enterprise. The means of the citizens of the western country are peculiarly inadequate to such an undertaking. They cannot construct canals, for the very obvious reason that they are already deeply in debt for their lands, and they must continue so until this great work is executed for them. They will not only bo able to pay you for their lands, but they will remunerate you for the expense of opening canals by the tolls which they will be able to pay. In the advantages which these outlets for their produce will give them, and on which their prosperity must so essentially depend, you will have a pledge for their future attachment and fidelity to your Gov- ernment which they will never forfeit. But, sir, if you neglect to avail yourselves of the opportunity which this system affords of securing the affections of the western peo- ple, — ^if you refuse to extend to them those benefits which their situation so imperiously demands, and which your resources enable you and your duty enjoins it on you to extend to them, — if, while you are expending millions yearly for the encouragement of commerce, you affect con- stitutional doubts as to your right to expend anything for the advancement of agriculture, — if y ou can constitu tJon- ally creat g^ banks _f or__the accommodation j)f the merchant, but cannot construct canals for the benefit of the farmer, — if this be the crooked, partial, sideway policy which is to be pursued, there is great reason to fear that our western brethren may soon accost us in a tone higher than that of 9 130 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the Constitution itself . They may remind us (as the people of this country once did another power which was regard- less of their interests) of the rights of which the God of nature has invested them by placing them in the possession of a country which they have the physical power to defend, and which it is to be feared they would defend against all the tax gatherers we could send among them, supp.orted by all the force of the Atlantic states." Mr. Porter submitted a resolution providing for the appointment of a committee to examine into the expediency of appropriating a part of the public lands, or the proceeds of their sale, to the construction of such roads and canals, as might be most conducive to the general interests of the Union. The resolution was adopted and a committee of twenty members, with Mr. Porter^ as chairman, was at once appointed. On February 23, 18.10, Mr. Porter, for his committee, reported a bill essentially the same as the one introduced in the Senate by Mr. Pope. This was read tvrice and referred to the committee of the whole. Its fate seems to have been the same as that of Pope's bill in the Senate. During the second war with Great Britain, the question of internal improvements received little consideration. In the early part of the year 1812, memorials were presented to Congress, soliciting aid for local improvements, among them one from the commissioners of the State of New York, respecting a canal from the Great Lakes to the Hudson river. The committee to whom these were referred reported on February 20, lamenting that the inauspicious situation of the United States in regard to foreign relations rendered it improper at that time "to grant that effectual aid to the undertaking to which they are so well entitled." Accom- panying the report was a letter from Gallatin, still secretary of the treasury, who said the state of the finances of the country would not permit the proposed application of moneys to any new objects of improvement. But lands CONGRESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 131 might be donated, the proceeds of the sales to be antici- pated by authorizing loans. He believed that a system of improvements embracing all the important communications pointed out by the great geographical features of the coun- try would have a most powerful effect toward promoting the prosperity of the country, and consolidating the inter- ests of the most remote quarters of the union. The mem- orials and the report were referred to the committee of the whole and dropped. In the House, on April 2^ 1814, Thomas Wilson of Pennsylvania submitted a resolution providing that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of a provision by law for the progressive improvement of the routes of communication by land and inland navigation throughout the United States and the territories upon the principles and general plan contained in Gallatin's report, to be carried into effect as soon as might be practicable after the termination of the war in which the United States were then engaged. The resolution was ably supported by Mr. Wilson, but it was tabled. President Madison in his annual message of December 5, 1815, called the attention of Congress to the great import- ance of establishing throughout the country the roads and canals which could be best executed under the national authority. The committee to whom this part of the message was referred reported on February 6, 1816. Resolutions were introduced providing for the annual appropriation of a blank sum to constitute a fund for making roads and open- ing canals, the fund to be under the direction of the secre- tary of the treasury, who, when authorized by Congress, should subscribe for stock. The resolutions reached a third reading and were then indefinitely postponed. In the House on December 16, 1816, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina moved that a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of setting apart the bonus and 132 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the net annual proceeds of the national bank as a permanent fund for internal improvement. The motion was carried and a committee was appointed, with Mr. Calhoun chairman. The committee reported a bill on December 23, embodying the idea Mr. Calhoun had advanced, and the bill was passed on February 8, 1817. It went to the Senate two days later and was passed by that body on February 28. President Madison vetoed the bill on March 3, maintaining that Con- gress had no constitutional power to make such an appro- priation. An unsuccessful effort was made to pass the bill over the veto. President Monroe, like his predecessor, found no au- thority in the Constitution for the use of the public moneys in the construction of canals and roads. In his first mes- sage to Congress on December 2, 1817, he said of the right of Congress to establish such a system of improvements : ' ' Disregarding early impressions, I have bestowed on the subject all the deliberation which its great importance and a just sense of my duty required, and the result is a settled conviction in my mind that Congress do not possess the right. It is not contained in any of the specified powers granted to Congress, nor can I consider it incidental to or a necessary mean, viewed on the most liberal scale, for carry- ing into effect any of the powers which are specifically granted." He recommended that an amendment to the con- stitution giving Congress the necessary power be submitted to the States. Such an amendment was proposed in the Senate on December 9, by James Barbour of Virginia. On March 26 the matter was indefinitely postponed. The constant reverses which attended the agitation of the question of internal improvements were arrested finally by the bold action of the House which expressed its dissent from the views of President Monroe in a very emphatic manner. On December 15, 1817, Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia, for the committee appointed to CONGRESS AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 133 consider that part of the President's message relating to roads and canals, reported that Congress had the power to construct roads and canals through the several States, on such terms as might be agreed upon, leaving the jurisdic- tional rights in the States respectively. The debate which followed occupied the time of the House for many days. At last, on M arch 14, 1818, the following resolution came to a vote and was passed: "That Congress has power, under the Constitution, to appropriate money for the con- struction of post roads, military and other roads, and of canals, and for the improvement of water courses." From ^jj^datj until about 18^0, through the aid of the General^ Government, though not without frequent inter- ruption, internal improvements were carried forward in every part of the country. One result was a rapidly increasing emigration to the West. Subsequent acts of Con- gress relating to this subject were confined mainly to spe- cific grants. Although no direct action was taken by the National Government to improve the means of communication between the East and the West before the year 1807, the question had been agitated before that date. There is evidence that an attempt was made in the Convention of 1787 to provide for internal improvements, but it was abandoned through fear that it would defeat the adoption of the Constitution. As early as June 18, 1786, Washington wrote to Richard Henry Lee, referring to the navigation of the Mississippi : " It is neither to relinquish nor to push our claim to this navigation, but in the meanwhile to open all the communi- cations which nature has afforded between the Atlantic states and the western territory, and to encourage the use of them to the utmost. In my judgment, it is a matter of very serious concern to the well being of the former to make it the interest of the latter to trade with them ; with- out which the ties of consanguinity, which are weakening 134 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. every day, will soon be no bond, and we shall be no more a few years hence to the inhabitants of that country than the British and the Spaniards are at this day ; not so much, indeed, because commercial connexions, it is well known, lead to others, and united are difficult to be broken, and these must take place with the Spaniards, if the navigation of the Mississippi is opened." Again, on July 19, 1787, six days after the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787, Washington wrote to Lee: "I have ever been of the opinion that the true policy of the Atlantic states would be, instead of contending prematurely for the free navigation of that river (which eventually, and perhaps as soon as it shall be our true interest to obtain it must happen), to open and improve the natural communica- tions with the western country, through which the produce of it might be transported with convenience and ease to our markets." CHAPTER X. GOVERNMENT AID OF THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL. Repeated reference to the importance of a canal com- munication between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river, in the many years of congressional discussion and attempted legislation in the line of internal improvements, was an acknowledgment of its national character. No link in the chain of commercial advantages was more important than this, since it was on the great highway from the manufac- turing East to the agricultural West. The speeches made in the National Legislature indicate the prevailing sentiment, but the following paragraph from an editorial in Biles' Begister, of August 6, 1814, published in Baltimore, shows an exuberance of feeling : ' ' By the Illinois river it is probable that Buffalo may be united with New Orleans by inland navigation through Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan and down that river to the Mississippi. What a route! How stupendous the idea ! How dwindles the importance of the artificial canals of Europe compared with this water communication ! If it should ever take place the territory of Illinois will become the seat of immense commerce and a market for the commodities of all regions." John C. Calhoun, when secretary of war, suggested to Congress in a report made on January 14, 1819, a plan for the application of such means as were within the power of Congress for the purpose of opening and constructing roads and canals that might deserve and require the aid of the 135 136 DEAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Government with a view to military operations in the time of war. Enumerating certain I'outes worthy of consideration he said; " If to these communications we add a road from Detroit to Ohio, which has already been commenced, and a canal from the Illinois river to Lake Michigan, which the growing pop- ulation of the State of Illinois renders very important, all the facilities which would be essential to carry on military operations in the time of war, and the transportation of the munitions of war for the defense of the western portion of our northern frontier would be afforded." Mr. Calhoun transmitted with his own report one made by Major Stephen H. Long, dated May 12, 1818, giving an account of a tour of exploration in the West the year pre- vious. Major Long said a canal uniting the waters of the Illinois river with those of Lake Michigan might be consid- ered the first in importance of any in this quarter of the country, the construction of which would be attended with very little expense compared with the magnitude of the object. The first practical step toward the construction of a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river was the execution of a treaty with the Indians by which a strip of land about twenty miles wide extending through the Des- plaines and Illinois valleys from Chicago to Ottawa was ceded to the United States Government. This treaty was negotiated at St. Louis, August 24, 1816, by Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois Territory, William Clark, governor of Missouri, and Colonel Auguste Chouteau of St. Louis. By this treaty the Indians ceded all the land ' ' which lies south of a due west line from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. And they more- over cede to the United States all the land contained within the following bounds, to-wit : beginning on the left bank of the Fox river of Illinois, ten miles above the mouth of the said Fox river ; thence running so as to cross Sandy Creek, ten 138 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. miles above its mouth ; thence in a direct line to a point ten miles north of the west end of the Portage, between Chi- cago creek, which empties into Lake Michigan, and the river Depleines, a fork of the Illinois -, thence in a direct line to a point on Lake Michigan ten miles northward of the mouth of Chicago creek ; thence along the lake to a point ten miles southward of the mouth of the Chicago creek ; thence in a direct line to a point on the Kankakee ten miles above its mouth ; thence with the said Kankakee and the Illinois rivers to the mouth of Fox river and thence to the beginning." For this land the Indians received ' ' a considerable quan- tity of merchandise," and an agreement that they would receive annually for twelve years goods to the value of $1,000. The grant contained 9,911,411 acres and included the present site of Chicago. Governor Edwards said after- ward in a communication to the State Legislature that he personally knew that the Indians were induced to believe that the opening of a canal through these lands would be very advantageous to them, and that, under authorized expectations that a canal would be constructed, they ceded the land for a trifle. On this fact the governor based an argument for the early inception of the work, saying : "Good faith, therefore, towards these Indians, as well as the concurring interest of the State and of the Union, seems to require that the execution of this truly national object should not be unnecessarily delayed, and nothing is more reasonable than that the expense should be defrayed out of the proceeds of the very property which was so ceded for the express purpose of having it done." Whatever the form and the extent of the agitation im- mediately following the execution of this treaty, it resulted in the introduction of a resolution by John Holmes of Mass- achusetts in the lower House of Congress on December 11, GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 139 1817, instructing the committee on so much of the Presi- dent's message as related to roads and canals to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for constructing a navi- gable canal to unite the waters of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi. The resolution was carried, but the committee made no report. In the House on April 3, 1818, when the question of the admission of the Territory of Illinois to statehood was under discussion Mr. Pope of Kentucky offered an amendment which carried the boundary further north. The object, he said, was to gain for the proposed State a coast on Lake Michigan. This would afford additional security to the per- petuity of the Union, inasmuch as the State would thereby be connected with the States of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York through the lakes. The facility of opening a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river was acknowledged by every one who had visited the place. Giv- ing to the proposed State the port of Chicago, embraced in the proposed limits, would draw its attention to the opening of the communication between the Illinois river and that place and the improvement of that harbor. The amend- ment was agreed to and Illinois gained both Chicago and the Illinois and Michigan canal. Illinois became a state in 1818. Daniel P. Cook, a son- in-law of Governor Edwards, was its second representative in Congress, serving from 1819 to 1827. He devoted him- self assiduously to the interests of the proposed canal. Through his influence the Illinois State Legislature of 1820-1 had a partial survey of the route made, sufficient to dem- onstrate the practicability of the undertaking. A report of this survey was laid before Congress by Mr. Cook on December 7, 1821, with this resolution : " That the com- mittee on public lands be instructed to inquire whether any', and, if any, what provision is necessary to be made to 140 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. enable the State of Illinois to open a canal through the pub- lic lands to connect the waters of Lake Michigan with the Illinois river. ' ' As an illustration of the opposition to the implied coop- eration of the United States it may be noted that John Floyd of Virginia thought that Congress had already suffi- ciently evinced its liberality to the new States. On a former occasion he had proposed a resolution to appropriate a por- tion of the public lands for the endowment of colleges. That resolution had received the decided opposition of the new States. A constitutional question was raised on the subject, which, if it did not convince, at least it created so much doubt in his own mind as to induce him to forbear to press it. Nor could he, in the present instance, as a mem- ber of a State which had done as much at least as any State in the Union for the general benefit, consent to a proposi- tion of this sort. As well might Virginia ask for an appro- priation of the public funds for the purpose of completing canals to the city of Richmond. He was disposed to leave the subject of canals to the energy and ability of those States through which they passed and for whose benefit they were intended. Mr. Cook replied that he did not expect a proposition so reasonable as he conceived this to be would meet with oppo- sition. The States northwest of the Ohio felt grateful for all the favors they had received, but in the present case no favor was asked. The object of the resolution was not to solicit a donation from the General Government to assist in making the ca nal, b^jit^merelyjg reserve a narrow strijT of land injhe direction of the contempl atedTcanal ImcTEhrough - which it Rhf)n liL_pass. By this measure the "Gorermneat instead of impairing its funds, would increase them. Such an act would undoubtedly enable the Government to dispose of the reservation afterward at a price greatly enhanced and at the same time virtually authorize the government of Illinois GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 141 to go on with its contemplated undertaking. The resolu- tion was adopted. A few days later the matter was brought to the attention of the Senate by Jessie B. Thomas of Illinois, who presented on December 19, 1821, a resolution adopted by the Illinois State Legislature praying to be authorized to construct a canal conaecting the waters of Lake Michigan with the Illi- nois river, and asking for the donation of a certain quantity of land for that purpose. This was referred to the commit- tee on roads and canals. Resolutions and debates at last begun to bear fruit, although of doubtful quality. In the House on January 14, 1822, Christopher Rankin of Missouri, for the committee on public lands to whom the matter had been referred, re- ported a bill authorizing the State of Illinois to open_a canal through the public lands, and a similar bill was introduced in the Senate on January 24, 1822, by Mr. Thomas. Hav- ing passed both Houses, it became a law on March 30, 1822. The Act reserved ninety feet of land on each side of the canal from any sale to be made by the United States. "The use thereof forever," said the bill, "shall be, and the same is hereby, vested in the said State for a canal, and for no other purpose whatever ; on condition, however, that, if said State does not survey and direct by law said canal to be opened, and return a complete map thereof to the treasury depart- ment, within three years from and after the passage of this Act ; or, if the said canal be not completed, suitable for nav- igation, within twelve years thereafter ; or, if said ground shall ever cease to be occupied by, and used for, a canal suitable for navigation, the reservation and grant hereby made shall be void and of none effect. ' ' Congress took care that this meager grant should not carry with it any liabilities. It was provided that nothing in, the Act should be construed to imply any obligation on the part of the United States to app ropriate a ny^jnojifiy to 142 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. defray the expense of surveying or opening the canal ; also, " that the said canal, when completed, shall be, and forever remain, a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or charge whatever, for any property of the United States, or any persons in their service, passing through the same. ' ' Permission to construct a canal through the lands owned by the United States was in no sense an aid to the young and struggling State of Illinois. Its population at this time was less than 60,000, and the people were unable even to pay for the survey of the route of a canal. It Jiad_been repeatedly_sliQwnihat~the proposed work was, at that time, of greater National than State importance, and every public officer of lEEe National Government who had giveiTany at- tention to the canal had recommended its construction. Not only were the indirect advantages apparent, but it was ac- knowledged by all that there would be a direct financial gain to the Government, if it were to donate sufficient land to pay for th«-w-or-k,_.in the increased value of the unappro- priated lands. Mr. Cook was not disposed to accept a ques- tionable favor, and, on behalf of the State, he renewed his appeals in Congress for something like a reasonable recog- nition of the undertaking. On March 26, 1824, on his motion, the House committee on roads and canals was in- structed to inquire into the expediency of vesting in the State of Illinois, for the purpose of defraying the expense of opening a canal between the waters of the Illinois river and Lake Michigan, the land bordering on the proposed canal that had been reserved from sale by Congress. In the following year this committee reported in favor of the appropriation. Among other suggestions it urged that, in a political point of view, its importance would be found not less imposing than in either of those in which it had already been viewed. In uniting and drawing together the interests of the remote extremities of the eastern, the GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 143 southern and the western sections of the Union, no work of the same magnitude, it was believed, could be more effectual. The geographical position of Illinois and Missouri, the two States particularly interested in it, was such that they would, under the advantages of this communication, have a com- mon and almost equal interest in preserving their connec- tion with the North and the South. Their trade would ulti- mately flow through the lakes and the Mississippi, and the advantages of a choice of market would be so important to them that they must ever be unwilling to surrender it. By a reference to the map of the country, it would be seen that these Stales would have it in their power at all times, in the event, should it unfortunately ever occur, of any internal commotion, to command the waters of the Ohio and Missis- sippi. From their commanding position, therefore, as well as from their capacity to sustain a dense, and it must mainly be a free population, they would always hold the balance of power in deciding every effort that might be made to separ- ate the West from either or both of the great geographical divisions of the Union ; and, if from no other cause, their interests would direct their exertion of that power in favor of the Union. Nor was the interest of these States in pre- serving a free outlet for their commerce both through the lake and the Mississippi, the latter of which opened to them the New Orleans, the West Indies and South American mar- kets, stronger than must be that of the North and South in being united with them. The feeling among the people of Illinois was reflected in a letter written by ex-Governor Edwards to Henry Clay in 1825, just after the latter had been chosen secretary of state by John Quincy Adams. Mr. Edwards said : "A favorite object and, indeed, a political hobby that supersedes all others in this state and Missouri, is a canal to connect Lake Michigan and the Illinois river. Nothing could sustain the administration or its friends in these two States so effect- 144 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ually as its countenancing this measure." The writer ven- tured to suggest that it might be very judicious in the President, without descending to any particular case, to introduce in his message to Congress some sentiment favor- able to the connection of the great lakes with the Atlantic and western waters. He knew it would contribute greatly to the support of the administration. In its anxiety to have the work on the canal begin the Illinois State Legislature, on January 17, 1826, incorpo- rated the Illinois and Michigan Canal association and granted it extraordinary privileges. It was provided in the charter of the association that all cessions, grants and transfers made, or that might thereafter be made by the Government of the United States, for the purpose of promoting the con- struction of the canal, should be vested in that corporation. Congress is said not to have approved of the State's giving away valuable privileges in advance of their possession, and the Act nearly deprived the State of any future grant of lands. Mr. Cook was alarmed over the action and hastened to advise the State Legislature to repeal the Act. The incorporators finally surrendered their charter, but not until Mr. Cook had sent an address to the people of the State, setting before them the interest which the National Govern- ment had in the undertaking. ' ' This is a work, ' ' he said, ' ' in which the nation is inter- ested and which the General Government should, therefore, aid in executing. As a ligament to bind the Union together, no work of the same magnitude can be more useful. Occupy- ing, as Illinois and Missouri do, a central position in the great semicircle of States on the north and west, and com- manding, as they do, the commerce of the three great rivers of the "West, the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri, they may well be called the keystone of the widely projected arch. From New York to Louisiana, following the frontier curve of that portion' of the Union, in the event of any political GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 145 commotion or attempt at separation, the influence of these States would, ere long, be sensibly felt, and would even decide the contest. And their interest will be so happily balanced, by their desire for a free outlet through both the Mississippi and the lakes, that so long as commercial advan- tage continues to influence the policy of the States, they must and will decide against disunion. The friends of the Union, therefore, have a strong interest in this communica- tion." Having undone an iniudicious act of the people at home Mr. Cook redoubled his efforts in impressing upon Congress its duty in the matter of extending substantial aid to the canal. On December 30, 1824, he moved a resolution in the House providing that a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and, if any, what provision it would be proper or practicable to make to aid the State of Illinois in opening a canal. By way of explanation he said it was not likely the State, from its ordinary means, could carry the measure already passed by Congress into effect. Congress had given to the State of Illinois a certain proportion of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands for the encourage- ment of learning. If no better means should present them- selves, and if the Government of the United States should not consider the canal, in a national view, of so much importance as to construct it at its own cost, the State might be allowed to conve rt its sc hool lands into a fund for th e pur pose__Qi. makin g the canal, and to apply the tolls from the canal, to schooL purposes, thus merely changing the land into a canal stock, the profits of which to be applied to the same purpose the land was to serve, that ofencour- aging_jl^arning. The canal was really a national object, worthy of the employment of the national means. After a number of discouraging postponements, Mr. Cook succeeded in getting his resolution before a committee, and in the following year a bill was reported. This was the 10 14:6 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. basis for the Act under which the Illinois and Michigan canal was constructed. The bill was repeatedly postponed, lost and reconsidered, and there were many acrimonious debates. One member went into a calculation to show that the proposed grant of lands would not only defray all the expenses of the canal, but would leave a balance in the Illi- nois treasury of $500,000 to fl, 000, 000. Another denied that Illinois had any better right to a portion of the public lands than Virginia or any other State. The lands, when ceded, were to be set apart to pay the public debts, but Con- gress appeared to have forgotten that stipulation, and the lands, it seemed, were to be given to any person who lived nearest to them. Would it not be best, he asked, to sell the whole at once and divide the proceeds ? Charles Miner of Pennsylvania, wanted the bill recom- mitted with instructions to the committee to inquire into the expediency of subscribing on behalf of the United States for stock in the proposed canal, to an amount not exceeding one-third of the whole, the stock to be paid for out of the proceeds of lands on or near the route. He avowed his de- cided hostility to the bill. What did it propose? To give to the State of Illinois alternate sections of land along the whole line of the proposed canal from Lake Michigan to the Illinois river. What was the extent of this grant ? It was es- timated at about 200,000 acres ; but, as the extent of the line of the canal was indefinite, so the grant was indefinite. Illinois might make the canal only fifty or sixty miles long and de- mand 200,000 acres ; but she might extend the canal down the Elinois along the whole extent of the State, and, under the bill, demand 500,000, 800,000 or 1,000,000 acres. Such uncertain, indefinite grants were extremely objection- able. "On the line of the canal," said Mr. Miner, "villages, towns and cities will grow up. Some of the tracts will be of great value. Take them all together, it will not be an GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 147 unfair estimate to put them at $5 an acre. Suppose the canal sixty miles in length and the land given 200,000 acres. You give then $1,000,000 to Illinois. The canal is esti- mated to cost from $600, 000 to $800,000, so that you make the canal and give a bounty to that State besides. Who makes the canal? Those who furnish the funds. The peo- ple of the United States make the canal, and then they are to be taxed to all enduring time for liberty to use it. This seems to me a wild waste of the public domain. I entreat you, gentlemen, to pause before you make this excessive grant. In my opinion it will bring a system of internal im- provements more into disrepute than all the arguments of its enemies. Pennsylvania came this session, I will not say cap in hand and with bended knee, but in the most respect- ful manner, and asked the grant of one little township for her institution for the deaf mutes, — poor dumb mouths ; they could not plead for themselves. What was the ans- wer? This petition was rejected, — this request was refused. And now you propose to give to Illinois 200,000 acres. I hope the bill may be recommitted." The bill was not recommitted, nor was it otherwise de- layed. It passed both the House and the Senate on March 2, 1827, the day on which Mr. Miner made his vigorous op- posing speech, and was at once approved by the Executive. Much credit is due Mr. Cook for his persistent and eloquent advocacy of the bill. Through his influence the Legislature of Illinois was called together in special session in January, 1826, and the following memorial to Congress was adopted : ' ' The memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois respectfully represents : That the construction of a canal, uniting the waters of Lake Michigan with the Illinois river, will form an important addition to the great connect- ing links in the chain of internal navigation, which will effectually secure the indissoluble union of the confederate members of this great and powerful Republic. By the 148 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEEWAY. completion of this great and valuable work, the connection between the North and South, the East and the West, would be strengthened by the ties of commercial intercourse -and social neighborhood, and the union of the States bid defi- ance to internal commotion, sectional jealousy and foreign invasion. All the States of the Union would then feel the most powerful motives to resist every attempt at dissolu- tion. To effect so great and desirable an object your memorialists believe to be of suflicient importance to engage the attention and awaken the munificent patronage of a Government whose principle of action is the promotion of the general welfare. Your memoralists are sensibly alive to. the spirit of improvement that manifests itself in almost every section of our extensive country, and would fain lend a helping hand in so great and good a cause ; their situation, however, forbids their doing much, without the aid of the Federal Government, into whose treasury almost all the funds, whether brought hither by immigrants, or earned by the industry of their citizens, are paid for the purchase of the public lands. While this state of things shall continue, and the money thus paid into the treasury of the Union is taken out of our State, our people will not be able to engage in the glorious work of improving our common country. " Ought the people of this State stand by, with folded arms, and behold the great work of internal improvement progress in other States, without making an effort to improve their own condition, and at the same time advance the interest of our beloved country? A condition thus paralyzed is at war, not only with our interests, but with the best feelings of our hearts. Did this State possess the public domain lying within its bounds, as is the case with older members of this confederacy, your memorialists would not appear before your honorable body to solicit aid in this important work. If, as your memorialists believe, the con- GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 149 struction of the canal would be highly beneficial to the Union at large ; if the receipts into the treasury of the United States would be augmented by the increased sales of the public lands, and if the interests of the State would be also advanced thereby, is it unreasonable to apply to a paternal government for assistance in the promotion of such beneficial ends? It is unnecessary for your memorialists to enlarge on the great advantages of this canal to the Union, in the facilities to be afforded in the event of a war either with the Indian tribes inhabiting our frontier, or the British Nation. Your honorable body is aware that this State is situated on the borders of an Indian country, filled with numerous and powerful tribes of the sons of the forest. If our country should be again engaged in war, the saving of expense in the transportation of the munitions of war would alone defray the expense of the contemplated canal, and justify the United States in making a liberal appropriation for its construction. "Your memorialists do not, however, ask your honor- able body to appropriate money out of the treasury to aid them in this work. They only ask for a tract of land, through which the contemplated canal may pass, and which for a series of years will be wholly unproductive to the Government, unless the canal shall be commenced under auspices favorable to its construction, in which event all the land in its vicinity would immediately become available to the United States. Your memorialists sincerely believe that a liberal appropriation of land for this object would, «ven in a pecuniary point of view, be of immense impor- tance to the treasury of the Union. The public lands in the vicinity would not only sell, but at a considerable advance of the minimum price. Should this opinion be correct (and does not experience justify it ? ) the United States would be gainer by the proposed donation to the State. "Your memorialists further state that, at their last ses- 150 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. sion, they passed an act of incorporation, upon very liberal terms, authorizing a company to construct the projected canal; but the remoteness of the country from the residence of capitalists has prevented them from engaging in the work. At their present session, your memorialists have repealed the charter, and their only hope of soon beginning the work depends upon the liberality of your honorable body. Your memorialists have caused the route to be explored and estimates to be made of the probable expense of the work, from which it appears that the cost of construct- ing the canal will not be less than $600,000, and may pos- sibly amount to |700,000. "To the end, therefore, that your memorialists may be enabled to commence and complete this great work, we pray your honorable body to grant to this State the respec- tive townships of land through which the contemplated canal may pass, the avails of which to be appropriated exclusively to the construction of said canal, upon such terms and conditions as to your honorable body may seem proper. ' ' The bill which this memorial must have aided greatly in J passing enacted ' ' that there be and hereby is granted to the State of Illinois, for the purpose of aiding the State in opening a canal to unite the waters of Illinois river with those of Lake Michigan, a quantity of land equal to one- half of five sections in width, on each side of said canal, and reserving each alternate section to the United States, to be selected by the commissioner of the land office, under the direction of the President of the United States, from one end of the said canal to the other; and the said lands shall be subject to the disposal of the Legislature of the said State^ for the purpose aforesaid, and no other: Provided, That the said canal, when completed, shall be and forever remain a jpublic^hway f or the use of the government oF the United^ States, or persons in their service passing through the same: GOVERNMENT AID OF THE CANAL. 151 Provided, That said canal shall be commenced within five years, and completed in twenty years, or the State shall be bound to pay to the United States the amount of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid." It was enacted, in the second section of the bill, that, so soon as the route of the canal was agreed upon, it should be the duty of the governor, or such person, or persons, as might be authorized to superintend the construction of the canal, to examine and ascertain the particular sections to which the State should be entitled. By the third section the State was empowered to sell the whole or any part of the land. Before the State was ready to begin work on the canal, the superior advantages of railroads were making a strong impression upon the minds of the people. The most extra- vagant schemes for the improvement of the means of inter- communication were projected, and ultimately brought the State to the verge of financial ruin. It was urged that a railroad be substituted for the canal, and the National Leg- islature was asked to make the necessary amendment to the Act of 1827. Such an amendment was passed and approved on March 2, 1833. The time for commencing and com- pleting the canal, or railroad, whichever the State might choose to make, was extended five years. The Government reserved the same rights and privileges in the use of the railroad as in that of the canal. These three Acts include all the national legislation in the interest of the Illinois and Michigan canal. It was tardy and parsimonious treatment of a great public enter- prise, a work of greater national than local importance. But the legislation by the General Government made pos- sible an improvement which the State could not have under- taken alone. When the construction of the canal was finally assured, western immigration received a new impetus. 152 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAr. The population of Illinois was nearly doubled in the five years from 1836 to 1840. While the canal has been of inestimable value to the State, it has also been an important factor in the development of the entire West and North- west. CHAPTER XI. WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. At the first session of the Illinois Legislature following the Act of Congress authorizing the state to open a canal through the public lands, the conditions of that Act were ac- cepted and steps taken to proceed with the work. No less than forty Acts and two joint resolutions relating to the canal and the improvement of the Illinois river have been passed by the State Legislature since. Little progress was made during the first ten years. Commissioners were appointed to examine the route of the proposed canal, but the State found it difficult even to pay their expenses. The undertaking was abandoned in 1833, nothing having been accomplished except to make some im- perfect surveys. The construction of railroads in the West had just begun and the people came to the conclusion hastily that canal transportation would be wholly superseded by the new methods. They soon found that railroads could not be built for nothing and that canals had many advantages. In 1836 a new canal Act was passed and work under it was at once inaugurated. Since that date the Illinois and Mich- igan canal has been the subject of excessive State Legisla- tion. Its history can be traced through the more important enactments, an abstract of which is here given, the date pre- ceding each Act being that of its approval : February 14, 1823. Act to Provide for the Improve- ment of the Internal Navigation of the State. Emanuel J. West, Erastus Brown, Theophilus W. Smith 153 154 BKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Thomas Sloo, Jr., and Samuel Alexander are appointed a Board of Commissioners to adopt such measures as may be requisite to effect a communication, by canal and locks, be- tween the navigable waters of the Illinois river and Lake Michigan. The Commissioners shall require an examination of the probable route of the canal to be made, cause the necessary surveys and levels to be taken, and maps, field books and drafts to be made, and adopt plans for the construction of the canal. They shall make an estimate of the expense of constructing the canal and report all their proceedings to the next General Assembly. The Commissioners shall recommend to the Governors of Ohio and Indiana and the Legislatures of those States the importance of connecting the waters of the Wabash and Maumee rivers by canal communication. The sum of |6,000 is appropriated to pay the expenses of the Commission. January 22, 1829. Act to Provide for Constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The Governor shall appoint biennially three Commis- sioners who shall adopt such measures as may be required to effect the communication, by means of a canal and locks, between the Illinois river and Lake Michigan. The Com- missioners shall cause surveys to be made to determine the most eligible route, and as soon as they may be able to command sufficient funds shall commence the work of con- struction . The Canal Commissioners shall select, as soon as practi- cable, in conjunction with such Commissioners as shall be appointed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, under the direction of the President of the United States, the alternate sections of land granted by Act of Congress. As soon as the hinds shall have been selected the Commis- WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 155 sioners shall proceed to sell the lands at any place, either in this State or elsewhere. The canal shall have the following dimensions : At least 40 feet in width at the Summit water line, 28 feet at the bottom, and of sufiScient depth to contain at least four feet of water. It shall be furnished with locks, aqueducts and dams required by boats at least 75 feet long, 13 feet and six inches wide, and drawing three feet of water. February 15, 1831. Act to amend the Act of January 22, 1829. The concurrence of the Senate is required in the appoint- ment of the Canal Commissioners. The Governor shall appoint one of the Commissioners of the Board Acting Commissioner, who shall be constantly employed on the canal route. He shall fix the prices and let the contracts for the excavation and construction of the canal. The Commissioners are authorized to sell lands in tracts of forty acres, and may subdivide other tracts into smaller lots and sell them as they may think most profitable to the canal fund. The Commissioners may employ an engineer, without regard to any that has been promised on the part of the General Government, to survey the line of the canal, and for all other purposes connected with it. They may cause the engineer to examine the Illinois river from the mouth of the Fox river down to the head of the steamboat naviga- tion. If, in their opinion, the navigation of the Illinois river can be improved by dams and locks, or otherwise, so as to secure its navigation as far upward as the mouth of the Fox river, with as little expense and as much utility as canalino' from Fox river to the Little Vermilion, or foot of the rapids, they may terminate the canal at the mouth of the Fox river. 156 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The Commissioners may so improve the, mouth of Fox river, if they deem it proper to terminate the canal there, as to open a channel under the bluff of the town of Ottawa of sufficient depth for steamboat navigation. All the ground between the bluff and the Illinois river in the town of Ottawa shall be reserved from sale. The Commissioners are authorized to give a quantity of lots, not exceeding ten acres, to aid in the erection of pub- lic buildings in any town laid off on the canal lands that has become the seat of justice. The superintending commissioner and the engineer are empowered to fix the dimensions of the canal. The engineer employed by the superintending commis- sioner shall ascertain whether the Calamic will be a sufficient feeder for the part of the canal between the Chicago and Desplaines rivers, ' ' or whether the construction of a rail- road is not preferable, or will be of more public utility than a canal." If the Commissioners shall be satisfied of the suffi- ciency of the river, and that a canal will be of more public utility than a railroad, it shall be their duty to commence the excavation without delay. If they should be of the opinion that it would not, all further proceedings in relation to the canal shall be deferred until the next meeting of the Legislature: Provided, the Commissioners shall cause such commencement to be made in the progress of the canal as to bring the State within the act of Congress making such grant so as to save the grant to the State. March 1, 1833. Act to Abolish the Office of Canal Commissioners. The office of Canal Commissioners, created by the acts .approved January 22, 1829, and February 15, 1831, is abolished. The Caual Commissioners shall deliver all moneys, books, etc. , in their possession to the treasurer of the State and the auditor of public accounts. WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 157 The treasurer of the Board shall deliver to the treasurer of the State all moneys in his hands belonging to the canal fund, and shall deliver to the auditor of public accounts all books, papers, etc. The auditor, attorney general and treasurer of the State shall adjust the affairs of the Canal Commissioners and their treasurer and report a detailed statement of their proceed- ings to the next General Assembly of the State. January 9, 1836. Act for the Construction of the Illi- nois and Michigan Canal. The Governor of the State is authorized to negotiate a loan on the credit and faith of the State to aid in the con- struction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal for a sum not exceeding $500,000. Certificates of stock for the loan, to be called the Illinois and Michigan Canal stock, bearing interest not exceeding 6 per cent, payable semi-annually, at the bank of the State of Illinois or any of its branches, or at some bank in the cities of New York, Philadelphia or Boston, and reimbursable at the pleasure of the State at any time after the year 1860, shall be issued, for the payment of which the faith of the State is irrevocably pledged. The stock shall not be sold for less than its par value. The Governor, with the concurrence of the Senate, shall appoint three citizens of the State to constitute a Board to be known as the Board of Commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. After the first Monday in January, 1837, they shall be chosen biennially in such manner as the Legisla- ture may direct. One of the Commissioners shall be acting commissioner and receive $1,200 per annum. The acting commissioner shall make all contracts for the supply of material and performance of labor, have the immediate care and superintendence of the canal, and per- form the duties of an executive officer. 158 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The canal shall be not less than 46 feet wide at the sur- face, 30 feet at the bottom, and of sufficient depth to insure a navigation of at least four feet. It shall be supplied with water from Lake Michigan and such other sources as the Canal Commissioners may think proper. Ninety feet shall be reserved on each side of the canal to enlarge its capacity whenever, in the opinion of the Board, the public good shall require it. This ground may be leased until needed. Means shall be taken for the immediate construction of the canal. The Commissioners may enter upon and use any lands, water, streams and materials of any description nec- essary for the prosecution of the works contemplated by this Act. The Commissioners shall select such places on the canal route as may be eligible for town sites and cause them to be laid off into town lots, including the canal lands in or near Chicago. The revenue arising from the canal and from the sale of the lands granted, or that may hereafter be granted to the State by Congress for the construction of the canal, and the net tolls, are pledged for the payment of the interest accru- ing on the stock, and for the reimbursement of the principal. The canal shall commence at or near the town of Chicago and terminate near the mouth of the Little Vermillion in La Salle county. Maech 2, 1837. Act to Amend the Act Approved Jan- uary 9, 1836. At the present session of the Legislature three citizens shall be appointed to constitute the Board of Canal Commis- sioners, one of whom shall be president, one treasurer and one acting commissioner. The Commissioners shall proceed immediately to the final prosecution and completion of the canal upon the plans set out upon by the Commissioners in the year 1836. They ■WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 159 shall require a survey of the route as now established by an engineer whose report shall be transmitted to the next ses- sion of the General Assembly. The examination shall be made with a view of ascertaining whether there is sufficient water within the legitimate authority of the State to supply a canal of the size of the one now contemplated. As soon as convenient the Board shall authorize a survey and estimate to be made of the route of a canal diverging from the main trunk of the Illinois and Michigan canal through the Aug-sau-ge-nash-ke swamp and lake, to inter- sect the Calumet river at the nearest practicable point, the work to be constructed whenever the State of Indiana shall undertake a similar work, connecting her system of internal improvements with the Illinois and Michigan canal. The Commissioners shall have power to sell such parts of the canal lands in the township in which Chicago is situ- ated, and such alternate lots in such town sites at the ter- mination of and along the canal route as may be laid out by them, as may be necessary to produce the sum of $1,000, 000. The Commissioners shall construct a navigable feeder from the most practicable point on Fox river to the Illinois and Michigan canal at the town of Ottawa. The Governor is authorized to borrow |600,000 on the same terms and in the same manner as prescribed in the Act to which this is an amendment, which sum shall be expended on the canal in the year 1838, in addition to the moneys arising from the sale of the canal lands and which may then be in the treasury of the Board. The Commissioners shall retain in their bands, during the progress of the work, at least 15 per cent and not more than 30 per cent of the value of the work performed until the full completion of the contracts. July 21, 1837. Act to Provide for the Sale of Certain Lands, and for other Purposes. 160 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The Commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan canal are authorized to select lots or tracts of land along the line and subdivide them into lots of not less than forty, nor more than eighty acres, no lot to lie within less than one-half mile of the canal, and the quantity not to exceed in value $400,- 000, one-tenth of the purchase money to be paid at the time of sale and the balance payable in ten equal annual in- stallments, bearing an interest of 6 per cent. The navigable feeder at Ottawa may be so altered as to connect with the Fox river instead of the Illinois river. The Commissioners are authorized to enlarge the natural basin at the confluence of the North and South branches of the Chicago river. Block No. 7 of canal lots in the city of Chicago shall be reserved from sale for the purpose of ex- changing it for block No. 14, which will be required in the enlargement of the basin. If the funds provided by existing laws prove insufficient to meet the expenditures upon the canal for the years 1837 and 1838, the Governor is authorized to negotiate a loan not exceeding 1300,000. February 26, 1839. Act to Amend the Several Laws in Relation to the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Sales of lots may continue until they amount to |400,- 000. When contracts have been forfeited or abandoned, the Commissioners may make new contracts without advertising for proposals, provided the price does not exceed the esti- mates of the engineer. The Canal Commissioners shall proceed to the construc- tion of the canal diverging from the main trunk of the Illi- nois and Michigan canal through the Saganaskee swamp whenever they shall be notified that the state of Indiana has commenced the construction of a corresponding work to con- nect her system of internal improvements with the Illinois WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 161 and Michigan canal. This canal shall be considered a part of the Illinois and Michigan canal. If the Board shall be satisfied that any section of the work can be executed at less cost to the State by the em- ployment of laborers than by contract, they are authorized to adopt that plan. February 1, 1840. Act to Amend the Several Laws in Eelation to the Illinois and Michigan canal. There shall be one principal engineer whose salary shall be $2,000 per annum, one resident engineer at a salary of 11,500, and seven assistant engineers at a salary each of $1,000. Should there be no funds on hand to meet the liabilities of the State to the contractor, at the estimate to be made on the first of March next, checks shall be issued bearing 6 per cent interest. February 21, 1843. Act to Provide for the Comple- tion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and for the Payment of the Canal Debt. The Governor of the State is authorized to negotiate a loan solely on the credit and pledge of the canal, its tolls, revenues and lands, to be granted to Trustees, of $1,600,000, for a term not exceeding six years, and at a rate not exceed- ing 6 per cent, payable out of the first moneys to be realized from the canal, its lands, tolls and revenue. The holders of canal bonds and other evidences of in- debtedness of the State in aid of the canal, shall be first entitled to subscribe to the new bonds. After the loan shall have been subscribed, there shall be appointed three discreet persons to constitute a Board to be known as the Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan canal. One of the Trustees shall be appointed by the Gov- ernor, and the other two elected or appointed by the sub- 11 162 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. scribers to the loan. The first Trustees shall be elected at Lockport, and hold office for two years. Subsequent elec- tions shall be held every two years. The Trustees shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties conferred upon the Commissioners. To secure the payment of the loan, the State irrevocably grants to the Board of Trustees the bed of the canal and the land over which it passes, including its banks, margins, tow- paths, feeders, basins, right of way, locks, dams, water power, structures, stone excavated, and the stone material quarried, purchased, procured or collected for its construction; all the property, right, title and interest of the State of, in and to the canal, with all the hereditaments and appurtenances belonging to it, and all the remaining lands and lots belong- ing to the canal fund, or which may hereafter be given, granted or donated by the General Government to the State to aid in the construction of the canal, the Board of Trustees to have, hold, possess and enjoy the same as fully and as absolutely in all respects as the State now can or here- after could do for the uses, purposes and trusts hereinafter mentioned. When appointed, the Trustees are authorized to take possession of the canal and its property and proceed to com- plete the canal. They are authorized to make such changes in the original plan of the canal as they may deem advis- able, without reducing its present capacity, or materially changing its present location, having due regard to economy, permanency of the work and an adequate supply of water at all seasons. None of the lots, lands or water powers granted to the Trustees shall be sold until three months after the .completion of the canal. The Trustees shall proceed to the completion of the canal in a good, substantial and workmanlike manner, so that, if practicable, it shall be ready for use and navigation within two years and six months from the time this Act goes into WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 163 operation, and they shall make annual reports to the Gov- ernor. The Board shall establish annually a tariff of tolls, the Legislature reserving the right to increase the tolls. When completed, the canal shall, in all future time, be free for the transportation of the troops of the United States and their munitions of war. After the completion of the canal, annual dividends shall be paid, first to holders of certificates, second to sub- scribers to the loan who are holders of bonds, third to non- subscribing holders of bonds in payment of interest, and fourth to the principal of the bonds. Upon the payment of all debts the canal shall revert to the State. Three persons shall be appointed by the Governor to appraise the damage sustained by the contractors in being deprived of the canal. Certificates in payment of the canal indebtedness, bearing 6 per cent interest, shall be issued, the holders of the certificates to be entitled to ail privileges con- ferred upon the other holders of canal indebtedness. Bondholders and others failing to subscribe for the loan, the Governor is authorized to effect a contract to meet the requirements of the Act. March 1, 1845. Act Supplemental to the Act of Feb- ruary 21, 1843. 1 The Governor shall execute a deed of trust to the Trus- tees after the contract for the loan of $1,600,000 has been executed. The election for Trustees may be held in the city of New York. If the canal shall not be completed in three years the subscribers shall not forfeit the priority of payment secured to them. Febeuaey 14, 1857. Act to Incorporate the Illinois Eiver Improvement Company. 164: DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. William F. Thornton, William B. Ogden, George Steele, George Barrett, John B. Preston and forty others are made a corporation under the name of the Illinois River Improvement company, and there is granted to this corpor- ation the right of raising and maintaining in the Illinois river by means of a system of dams and locks a body of water of such height as to admit the convenient passage of steamboats of ordinary draft between the steamboat basin at LaSalle and the Mississippi river, having in all places between these points a depth of water not less than six feet. The dams shall not be raised so as to overflow the lands adjacent to the river to a greater extent than may be neces- sary to secure a depth of six feet of water in the channel at all times. The capital stock of the company shall be $3,000,000 and the par value of each of the shares $100. When $50,000 shall have been subscribed, a meeting may be held and thirteen directors elected. The directors shall not begin the construction of locks or dams until hona fide subscriptions are made to the amount of $1,000,000 and $100,000 is paid in. Work shall be effectually com- menced within two years and be completed within seven years. The plans must be approved by a board composed of the Governor, auditor, treasurer, Stephen A. Douglas, William F. Thornton, William H. Swift, William Gooding, William B. Ogden and twenty others. A lock not less than 350 feet long and 75 feet wide must be constructed in each dam. The company shall have power to lease all water power and collect rents and reasonable tolls. The net revenue above 15 per cent and 10 per cent interest added to the cost of the work shall be paid to the towns, cities and counties holding stock for the use of the public schools. Counties, cities and towns upon the Illinois river are authorized to become WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 165 stockholders in the corporation by a vote of the inhabitants by issuing bonds bearing interest not exceeding 10 per cent, but no bonds shall be issued until $1,000,000 shall have been subscribed to the capital stock of the company by others and $100,000 paid in. The Illinois River Improvement company is authorized to borrow money to supply the means for the construction of the work and to issue bonds for a loan in sums of not less than $500 and bearing interest not exceeding 8 per cent. The corporation must not engage in commerce or a com- mission business. Februaey 22, 1861. Act Establishing Police Power. The Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan canal shall have all the power in regard to police regulations and making rules and regulations for the convenience of busi- ness over that part of the South branch of the Chicago river within 1,000 feet of the lock at Bridgeport which it has over the canal proper ; also the same power over the canal basin at the termination of the canal on the Illinois river. February 16, 1865. Act to Provide for the Completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal upon the Plan adopted by the State in 1836. (This Act is given in abstract on page 73 in the chapter entitled "Efforts to Purify the Chicago River," upon which subject it has an important bearing.) February 28, 1867. Act for Canal and River Improve- ments. To secure the improvement and extension of the Illinois and Michigan canal through the valleys of the Bureau and Green rivers to the Mississippi at or above Rock Island 166 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. with a navigable feeder to Rock river at Dixon and Ster- ling, and to secure the improvement of the navigation of the Illinois, Rock and other rivers, the Governor is author- ized, with the consent of the Senate, to appoint seven per- sons as Canal Commissioners, for a term of six years. The Commissioners are authorized to make such changes in the location of the present canal, or adopt a river improve- ment instead of the canal between Chicago and La Salle as may be deemed expedient. The Commissioners may commence the construction of a dam with lock on the Illinois river between La Salle and Peoria, not less than 350 feet long and 75 feet wide. The outstanding bonds of the State, now a lien upon the franchises and revenues of the Illinois and Michigan canal, may be refunded or replaced by new bonds of a similar character, the interest not to exceed 6 per cent, and not for a longer term than twenty years. If the owners or holders of such bonds shall assent to such refunding of the canal bonds, or a majority make such an exchange, it shall be lawful for the Board to take pos- session of the Illinois and Michigan canal and manage it as heretofore by the Canal Trustees, so far as the same maybe practicable, in its enlargement into a ship or steamboat canal. There shall be appointed by the Governor two persons, who, together with the Governor, shall constitute a com- mittee to present a memorial to the Congress of the United States and urge the necessity of an immediate and liberal appropriation in aid of these improvements, such Commis- sion to use its best endeavors to secure an appropriation of at least 17,000,000 in aid of the improvements herein named. If the United States appropriate one-half of the estimated cost of the improvements, then the Canal Commissioners may proceed with the work. WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 167 To carry on the improvements an annual tax of one mill on the dollar on all real and personal property is authorized until the improvement is completed. The first of the im- provements to bo begun and completed shall be the improve- ment of the Illinois river from La Salle to the mouth of the river. The Board of Public Works of Chicago shall annually report to the Board of Canal Commissioners hereby created all the facts concerning the canal improvements under their charge. Water power created in the construction of any of thB improvements shall not be sold, but leased at 6 per cent of the valuation by the Commissioners, the valuation to be re- newed every ten years, no lease to run longer than one hun- dred years. February 29, 1869. Act to Amend the Act of Febru- ary 28, 1867. The number of the Commissioners is reduced to three and the term of service to two years. The appropriation is lim- ited to $400,000. The Commissioners are restricted to the surveys contemplated and to the construction of four locks and one dam in the Illinois river, and to the dredging out of the mouth of the canal at La Salle between the lower lock and the river. The Commissioners are forbidden to commence the con- struction of the lock and dam, or the improvement of the Illinois river, unless they first ascertain from the estimates of at least two competent engineers, separately made, that the work can be completed for a less sum than $400,000. The Commissioners shall not take possession of, nor in any manner interfere with, the Illinois and Michigan canal, or its tolls or revenues. April 22, 1871. Act to Settle up and Close the Trust of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 168 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The Canal Commissioners shall take charge of and exer- cise full control over the Illinois and Michigan canal from and after the passage of this Act. March 7, 1872. Act for the Control of the Canal and other Improvements. The Board of Commissioners shall have the general con- trol and management of the Illinois and Michigan canal, the lock and dam in the Illinois river at Henry, and of the Little Wabash river improvement. April 4, 1872. Act to Grant the Use of the Canals in this State to the Inhabitants of the Dominion of Canada. When the Dominion of Canada shall have secured to the citizens of the United States the use of the Welland, St. Lawrence and other canals in the Dominion on terms of equality, then the use of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and of all other canals that may be constructed by the State, connected with the navigation of the lakes or rivers traversed by or contiguous to the boundary line between the possessions of the high contracting parties, is hereby granted to the subjects of her Britannic majesty on terms of equality with the inhabitants of the United States. The sum of 12,956,34:0, with interesir until paid, is appropriated to relieve the lien for $2,600,000 and interest, expended by the city of Chicago in the completion of the Summit division of the Illinois and Michigan canal, provided that not less than one-fifth, nor to exceed one-third, be applied by the city in reconstructing bridges and public buildings and other structures destroyed by the fire, the remainder to be applied to the payment of the interest on the bonded debt of the city and the maintenance of the fire and police departments. July 1, 1873. Act Authorizing a Dam and Lock at or near Copperas Creek. WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 169 There is appropriated the net proceeds of the revenue of the Illinois and Michigan canal and lock at Henry on the Illinois river, until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after the adjournment of the next regular session of the General Assembly, to be expended by the Canal Commis- sioners for the construction of a lock and dam across the Illinois river, at or near Copperas Creek, the lock to be not less than 350 feet long and 75 feet wide. The state treasurer is required to invest the net earn- ings of the canal in United States or other interest bearing bonds until the amount has reached $100,000, to be desig- nated the Illinois river improvement fund. When the com- missioners shall have $100,000, they may commence the work, provided the cost shall not be more than $400,000. March 27, 1874. Act Authorizing Removal of a Dam across the Calumet River. The Governor is authorized to direct the Canal Commis- sioners to remove the feeder dam across the Calumet river near Blue Island without delay. May 11, 1877. Act Appropriating the Unexpended Balance of the Illinois River Improvement Fund, and $54, - 453.18 out of the Treasury for the Completion of the Cop- peras Creek Dam and Lock. May 21, 1879. Act Appropriating $30,000 for Each of the Next Two Years to Keep the Illinois and Michigan Canal in a Navigable Condition. May 27, 1881. Act Appropriating $30,000 for Each of the Next Two Years to Keep the Illinois and Michigan Canal in a Navigable Condition. 1881. Joint Resolution. In a preamble it is recited that the deepening of the canal has become totally inadequate for the purposes 170 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. intended, and that the quantity of the sewage of the city of Chicago is far greater than the water of the canal will deo- dorize or render innocuous; The foulness of the water destroys millions of fish in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers; The sewage in an entirely undecomposed and putrid mass is carried by the current of the canal into the Desplaines river and thence into the Illinois river, and in its foulest condition is transported to and below the city of Peoria, rendering the air at all points along its passage so impure and foul as to be exceedingly offensive, taking with it the germs of disease of all kinds, and spreading them broadcast through the entire Desplaines and Illinois river valleys, causing much illness and poisoning the blood and debilitating the systems of 200,000 people; Careful investigation leads the people to fear that an epidemic may spread over that section of the state; In addition to this distress there has been a great loss to property, business industries and to the communities in that region ; Prior to the deepening of the Illinois and Michigan canal the water necessary for all purposes of navigating the canal and propelling machinery was obtained from the Desplaines river and the Calumet feeder through Lane's lake ; The bed of the Desplaines river at the Summit and thence westward along the line of and adjacent to the canal is, at a low stage of water, eight feet above the surface level of the canal and will average a supply of water suffi- cient for all canal and power purposes during seasons of navigation ; and Supplying the canal from these sources will so dilute and weaken the sewage of the city of Chicago as ' ' greatly to relieve it of its foulness and stench, to the great delight, relief and health of the people near to and bordering upon the line of the canal, the Desplaines and Illinois rivers." WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 171 The Canal Commissioners are directed to open sluice ways from the Desplaines river to the canal near Summit and at or near Lemont, and also to construct a dam across the former Calumet feeder at such a point as will cause the waters from Lane's lake to flow into the canal : Provided, They shall first confer with the Mayor of the city of Chicago, and if the city shall proceed without delay to cause to flow into the canal from the Chicago river suffi- cient water to dilute and purify the water and remedy the evils complained of, the flow to be not less than 60,000 cubic feet per minute, including the ordinary flow from the river, and accomplish this by the first day of September, 1881, the Commissioners shall accept this plan ; and Provided, The adoption of this resolution shall not commit the State to a system of permanent drainage of Chicago sewage either through the canal or the Desplaines or Illinois rivers, the State reserving the right to require the city of Chicago in future years to take care of its sewage through other channels ; and Provided, If the city shall erect pumping works, the Commissioners shall allow it to do so upon canal lands in Bridgeport, ' ' and said city shall support, control and man- age said pumping works, subject to the direction of the Canal Commissioners, relative to the amount of water to be received into the canal from time to time as the exigencies of the canal may require, but at the expense of the said city of Chicago." April 28, 1882. Act Ceding the Illinois and Michigan Canal to the United States. The Illinois and Michigan canal is ceded to the United States for the purpose of making and maintaining an enlarged canal and waterway from Lake Michigan to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, upon the condition that the canal shall be enlarged in such manner as Congress may 172 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. determine, and be maintained as a national waterway for commercial purposes, to be used by all persons without discrimination, this Act to take effect upon a vote of the inhabitants of the State. June 25, 1883. Act Appropriating $20,000 for the Maintenance of the Canal for each of the two Succeeding Years. June 27, 1885. Act Appropriating $20,000 for the Maintenance of the Canal for each of the two Succeeding Years. May 31, 1887. Act Appropriating $20,000 for the Maintenance of the Canal for each of the two Succeeding Years. June 6, 1887. Act to Organize the City of Chicago into a Drainage District. The city of Chicago is organized as a drainage district and the corporate authorities may exercise the powers con- ferred by the Act of June 22, 1885, vesting them with power to construct drains, ditches, levees, dykes and pump- ing works for drainage purposes by special assessment upon the property benefited. Such corporate authorities may construct a cut-off drain or ditch for the diversion of the flood waters of the Des- plaines river into Lake Michigan at some point north of the city of Chicago in aid of any drainage system within the dis- trict. The North branch may be widened and deepened if needed for any part of the cut-off. Such cut-off may be used as a drain for the lands through which it may pass. No more of the water of the Desplaines river shall be di- verted by such cut-off than the excess above the ordinary water mark in that stream. During dry weather no water shall be diverted into Lake Michigan, and during floods no WATERWAY LEGISLATION BY THE STATE. 173 more than 3,000 cubic feet per second shall be allowed to pass the point of diversion down the river. The city of Chicago may construct and maintain a dam across the Mud lake valley. May 29, 1889. Act to Create Sanitary Districts and to Kemove Obstructions in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers. (Printed in full in Chapter XXVII.) May 27 and 28, 1889. Joint Resolution Relating to Illinois River Dams and Deep Waterway. (Printed in full in Chapter XXVII. ) June 4, 1889. Act in Reference to the Improvement of the Illinois and Desplaines rivers and to Repeal an Act. The Act entitled " An act to cede certain locks and dams in the Illinois river to the United States, ' ' approved May 31, 1887, is repealed. The State works at Henry and Copperas Creek and the river slackwatered by these works are ceded to the United States on condition that the dams shall be removed when- ever the depth now available for navigation can be secured and maintained by channel improvement without the aid of the dams. If these works are not accepted within four years the Canal Commissioners are authorized to remove the dams at Henry and Copperas Creek. This act of cession is based upon the condition that the plan of improving the Illinois river below La Salle by slack- water maintained by dams and locks be changed to one of improvement by an open channel and water supply from Lake Michigan. CHAPTER XII. THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. It was more than forty years after United States Senator Worthington of Ohio introduced a resolution in the United States Senate relating to interna) improvements before a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river was com- pleted. After it had been finally decided that such a canal should be constructed thirteen years were spent in prepara- tion. This delay was not due to any doubt of the commercial usefulness of the canal. On the other hand there was an almost universal sentiment in its favor. Enthusiasm reached a higher pitch than has been shown over any public work since. But the State of Illinois was financially unable to proceed. The United States Government was slow to recognize the importance of the West and the advantages to be gained by aiding in its development. When a grant of lands was finally and grudgingly made the State lost no time in accepting it. But the lands had little value at first. There was no Chicago, no railroads, and almost no internal commerce. The State was just emerging from a wilderness. To add to other discouragements the engineers who were at last detailed to survey the route of the canal made indefinite and conflicting estimates of its cost. To sixteen years of agitation and thirteen of preparation there were yet to be added twelve spent in construction and seven in an enlargement for sanitary purposes. The great expectations were ultimately realized. The canal was profit- able for many years and its construction fully justified. 174 THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 175 When its usefulness in a commercial sense began to wane it served Chicago as an outlet for its sewage and in this capa- city fulfilled an unexpected and more important purpose. The history of the Illinois and Michigan canal may be divided into the following periods: 1. Agitation, 1807-1823 2. Preparation, 1823-1836 3. Construction, 1836-1848 4. Commercial Use, 1848-1864 5. Enlargement and Sanitary Use, 1864-189- The first period has been reviewed in preceding chap- ters. The second dates from the first canal enactment by the State Legislature. This Act became a law on February 14, 1823. It provided for the appointment of a Board of Commissioners consisting of Emanuel J. West, Erastus Brown, Theophilus W. Smith, Thomas Sloo, Jr., and Sam- uel Alexander who were directed to carry out the provisions of the Act of Congress passed the previous year. The Commissioners spent $10,589.87 in preliminary surveys which seem to have had no practical value. The first engineer employed was Colonel Justus Post of Missouri. Accom- panied by several of the Commissioners he simply made a tour of exploration along the proposed route. In the fall of the following year Colonel Rene Paul of St. Louis, was employed with a corps of engineers to complete the exam- ination. Five routes were surveyed and an estimate made of the cost of each. These estimates ranged from $639,946 to $716,110. The superficial character of the examination is apparent from the estimates. The Commissioners reported to the Legislature in Janu- ary, 1825. A few days later, on January 17, the Act was passed creating the Illinois and Michigan Canal association. This association agreed to construct the canal and accept in payment the land bonus offered by the United States Gov- 176 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ernment. Its charter was afterward surrendered through the influence of Daniel P. Cook, Illinois' representative in Congress. Mr. Cook contended that any act which gave to private individuals aid which the canal might receive would defeat the efforts to secure such aid. He foresaw the value of the proposed gift and insisted that the State and not pri- vate individuals should receive the benefit. On October 28, 1825, Mr. Cook sent to his constituents a long address attacking the canal policy of the State. He demanded that the rich harvest which the canal was destined to yield should go into the treasury of the State and declared that in thirty years it would relieve the people from the payment of taxes and even leave a surplus to be applied to other works of public utility. To raise capital to construct the canal he was ready to sell or pledge a million acres of the school lands. The next two years were spent in urging upon Congress the necessity of a more reasonable grant of land. Such a grant was secured by the Act of March 2, 1827. This was followed by the comprehensive Act of the State Legislature on January 22, 1829, which authorized the appointment of three Commissioners to carry out the provisions of the Act. The Governor named as such Commissioners Edward Rob- erts of Kaskaskia, president, Gershom Jayne of Springfield and Charles Dunn of Pope county. These gentlemen met at Belleville on March 13 and effected an organization. They addressed a letter of inquiry to General Gratiot, in charge of the Government corps of engineers, soliciting the Government's cooperation. They were informed by Gen- eral Gratiot that United States engineers would reach Chi- cago about the first of the following October and would at once proceed to locate the Illinois and Michigan canal. The engineers, in charge of Dr. Howard, arrived on the 24th of that month. This was so late in the season that little was accomplished and the force soon returned to Washington. THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 17T Before the departure of the engineers Dr. Howard wrote the Commissioners "that from the examinations and surveys made the canal must be confined to the valley of the river, following the left bank of the Desplaines at its upper por- tion and the right bank of the Illinois at its lower, the proper point and mode of crossing the Desplaines remaining to be decided by the progress of the survey, the canal to begin on the Chicago creek at the fork near the point designated ' A ' by the former Commissioners, and proceeding by a direct course to the valley of the Desplaines, but keeping to the south of the Portage lake. ' ' Acting on information which they already possessed and that which they obtained from Dr. Howard, the Commis- sioners located the canal at a meeting held on December 21, 1829, at Kaskaskia, and selected the lands donated by the National Government. These lands were advertised for sale in the National Intelligencer, published at Washington,, the Alhany Argus and the Cayuga Patriot. Sales were held' at Springfield on April 19, 20 and 21 and in the following September and October. In the meantime the canal lands at the mouth of the Chicago and Fox rivers had been laid off into town lots. The sales of the lots in the town of Chi- cago amounted to about $4,363, and were " so flattering as to inspire the Commissioners," as they themselves reported to the Legislature, ' ' with a confident hope that the remain- ing lots, say about three-fourths, would, with proper care and management, yield a very handsome increase to the canal fund." Incidentally the Commissioners had something to say about the future of Chicago. By subdividing the canal lands into town lots, in the latter part of the year 1829, they really founded the great city. Under date of Decem- ber 27, 1830, they reported to the Legislature: "This town is situated on the Chicago river near its mouth, and possesses many advantages, natural and adventitious. It is 12 178 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the only eligible site for a town on the lake shore within the limits of Illinois, surrounded by a beautiful, champaign, fertile country, surpassed by none in the richness of its products, and from the long experience of its inhabitants is decidedly healthy. Its prominence, in a commercial point of view, has already prompted merchants from the north- eastern part of this State and northwestern part of Indiana to take their produce to Chicago, ship for Detroit, Buffalo and New York and return by the same route as the safest and cheapest, saving on the transportation of their goods $1.25 per hundred weight, and performing the trip ten days sooner than by either of the other channels through which merchandise is brought into these sections of the two States. The circumstance of Chicago being located at the head of the contemplated canal will make it the future depot of all the surplus products of the country on the river Illinois and its tributaries. These advantages point out its importance and at once elicit the fostering care of the Legislature of this State." After the September and October sales the amount of funds on hand was thought to be sufficient to justify a beginning of the work on the canal. Commissioner Dunn remained at Chicago to complete the preparations. He engaged James M. Bucklin, an engineer from the Miami, liOuisville and Portland canal, and Colonel Samuel Alex- ander, a local surveyor, to assist him. They received very little aid from the United States engineers, who had left their field notes taken in Washington, and were ill most of the time during their second visit to Chicago. Commissioner Dunn determined to relocate the line. " On the 20th of Octo- ber," he afterward reported, " the Commissioner and party left Chicago to perform this labor and returned on the 12th of November following, having completed the examination, surveys and levels on that part of the canal which is included between its entrance into the Chicago river and THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 179 the western margin of the Ausaganashkee, or Reed swamp, about 18^ miles from the point of beginning." The Ausa- ganashkee swamp is now familiarly known as the Sag. The spelling seems to have varied with every writing in the early reports until the present convenient abbreviation was reached. Engineer Bucklin, in this lightning-like survey, had time also to note the physical characteristics of the country. He said of it : " From the mouth of the Chicago river to the point fixed upon as the entrance of the canal, there is no obstruction whatever to its navigation by boats drawing under five feet for that distance, which is five miles. This river forms a perfect natural canal, its banks being low and of a uniform height, and its waters supplied by the lake. "Leaving the river at the point above mentioned, the canal inclines toward the Regula and follows along the mar- gin of the Portage lake until it strikes the river Desplaines at the ford, a distance of nine miles. The excavation throughout this distance will pass through a hard ferrugin- ous clay (as has been ascertained by borings) at an average depth of 15.41 feet. From the ford of the Desplaines to the Ausaganashkee swamp the line runs through the valley of the Desplaines river at an average elevation of 16.27 feet above the bottom of the canal. On this part of the route, which is nine miles in length, the excavation to the depth of 6. 27 feet is good, consisting of sand and clay, but the remain- ing ten feet composes a continuous map of limestone, extending with little intermission from the ford of the Desplaines to the end of the line surveyed. It is probably of the same character as that in the bed of the river, the upper strata only of which appear to be detached. "The Ausaganashkee, or Reed, swamp does not present any insurmountable obstacles to the passage of the canal through it, although with the lake as a feeder it must necessarily be attended with great expense. The canal is 180 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. located immediately across its mouth, which is half a mile in breadth, the depth of the excavation rendering it expedi- ent to select the most direct route. The surface of this swamp is 15.86 feet above the bottom of the canal, 9.30 feet above the level of Lake Michigan, and 2.30 feet above the river Desplaines at its low stage. The excavation through it will consist of 5^ feet in depth of mud and earth and 10.36 feet of rock." Mr. Bucklin's estimate of the cost of the canal through this 18^ miles was $1,544,497. The bottom of the canal was to be 4^ feet below the surface of the lake. To con- tinue the canal through the deep cut, which would terminate about six miles below the Ausaganashkee swamp, would increase the cost, he thought, to $2,500,000. He suggested an alternative plan which would reduce the cost of the eanal to |160,699. He said it was evident from the nature of the ground, as well as from the representa- tions of the inhabitants of the country, that in times of high water there was a communication between the Desplaines and Calamick (Calumet) rivers through the valleys of the Ausaganashkee swamp and Stony creek. Neither of these rivers rose more than ten or twelve feet, and there was no perceptible current between them when both were up. It ■v^as therefore reasonable to conclude that the intermediate ground was low enough to permit the waters of the Cala- mick to be brought into the valley of the Desplaines at a small expense, provided a dam could be made in the former at a sufficient elevation to give the feeder its proper descent. On the supposition that the Calamick was on a level with the lake from its mouth to the foot of the rapids, a distance of fifteen miles, the erection of a dam at the foot of the rapids, ten feet in height, would raise the waters of the river to within .68 of a foot of the average height above Lake Michigan. It would be necessary to give the feeder a considerable descent, but there was apparently no difficulty THIRTEEN YEAKS OF PKEPAKATORY WORK. 181 in locating the dam a sufficient distance up the river to secure the required elevation, say, five miles. This distance would probably increase the length of the feeder to 21 miles, allow it a descent of four inches to the mile, and reduce the depth of cutting on the canal to 4.93 feet. The Commissioners approved the latter recommendation of Engineer Bucklin and advised the necessary modification of the law. A year later Mr. Bucklin found an obstacle to his plans in the prospective damages which the state would be called upon to pay if a dam were constructed across the Calumet river and land in Indiana overflowed. He sug- gested again, as an alternative to the project for a dam, the construction of a great reservoir in the Ausaganashkee swamp having a capacity sufficient to supply the canal dur- ing eight months of the year, depending upon the Des- plaines during the remaining four months. Mr. Bucklin seemed to have little confidence in his own plans, and noth- ing ever came of them. Commissioners Roberts, Jayne and Dunn are entitled to more than ordinary credit for even the little which they accomplished. They began their work without a cent of public money with which to defray expenses, drawing heavily upon their individual purses until money could be realized from the sale of public lands. They believed the State Legislature would see the wisdom of the policy of prosecuting the work on the canal as rapidly as the means granted by Congress would justify. " It is obvious to every one," they said with a hopefulness which has animated the advocates of an enlarged waterway since, ' ' that when these means are usefully employed and exhausted, the liberal policy of the General Government will bestow further aid to complete a work of so much national importance as the Illi- nois and Michigan canal is admitted to be by all. ' ' The amount of money in the hands of the Commission on December 1, 1830, available for canal purposes, was 182 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. $12,552.03. The expenses for the two years precedmg amounted to |5,498.58. The land at the disposal of the Canal Commissioners did not sell as rapidly as had been anticipated, and there were many other discouragements. It was questioned whether it would not be better to abandon the canal and build a rail- road instead. The Legislature instructed the Commissioners to ascertain ' ' whether the construction of a railroad is not preferable or will be of more public utility than a canal." Engineer Bucklin was directed by the Commissioners, in compliance with these instructions, to make an investigation. On November 21, 1831, he reported with surprising facility that ' ' the facts elicited by the examination of the route of the proposed canal are unfavorable to the practicability of its safe and economical construction. The route examined for a railway, commencing at Chicago, crossing the Des- plaines at Laughton's ford, and pursuing the northwest bank of the Desplaines, was found extremely favorable for the adoption of that species of improvement." Acting Commissioner Dunn reported to the Board that the state- ments of the engineer confirmed an opinion which he had long entertained, and the full Board, in turn, made the remarkable statement to the Governor that they could not hesitate to say that a railway was decidedly preferable to a canal. To be certain that the position they had taken was ten- able, the Commissioners again instructed Engineer Bucklin to continue his investigations. Mr. Bucklin presented a detailed report on January 1, 1833. He now fixed the probable cost of the canal at $1,601,695.83. But it was hardly possible, he said, to anticipate the limit of the expenditure, when it was considered that the greater part of the excavation was below the rocky bed of the Desplaines, and that the work was liable to constant interruption from the water of the river which would find its way through' the THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 183 numerous fissures of the rock into the canal. He reached this startling conclusion: "In the rocky and cavernous district of country to which the location of the great part of the route of the canal is confined, there are too many difficulties to be reasonably apprehended in carrying it into successful operation to jus- tify the establishment of a water communication on any route or plan whatever. While, however, so many obstacles are opposed to the construction of a canal, the examination of the route for a railway was very successful in developing' its great advantages for the adoption of that species of im- provement In reviewing the capabilities of the country between Chicago and the foot of the rapids of the Illinois river for the construction of canal or railroad, it would seem (laying aside the great difference of expense) that the obstacles opposed by nature to the formation of a good canal, on any route or plan whatever, are such that nothing could justify the undertaking but the fact of its being the only means of attaining the accomplishment of so important an object as the improvement of the communica- tion between the above mentioned points. ' ' Below the rapids of the Illinois the conditions were altogether too precarious, Mr. Bucklin thought, to warrant the construction of a canal. This report, fortified by the growing belief that rail- roads were to become the only successful means of inland transportation, produced a very decisive effect upon the State Legislature, and an Act was passed on March 1, 1833, abolishing the office of the Canal Commissioners. The Commissioners were instructed to make their final report and settle with the State in full at once. The people were not willing to permit the valuable grant of lands made by the National Government to lapse, and dis- cussion favoring a canal was soon heard. In his annual message to the Legislature in the fall of 1834, Governor 184 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Duncan made a strong plea for the canal. He said the time had arrived when a proper respect for the interest of the State of Illinois, and all the States, required that the work be commenced without further delay. More than seven years had passed since Congress had made a grant of land, which was then supposed to be sufficient for the construction of the canal, a work which had been generally considered to be of greater national importance than any other of the kind ever proposed in the country. Ho believed that ample funds could be secured on the most favorable terms for its speedy execution. The Governor suggested the propriety of reserving all the lands on the route from sale, except town sites, and that loans be effected with which to commence the work. He had no doubt that Congress would make another appropria- tion to assist in completing the work. " No one," he said, " who has visited the different canals and railroads in the United States and compared the country through which they pass with the fertile lands which lie between the lakes and the Mississippi, to say nothing of the unbounded country that is washed by the 25,000 miles of river and lake navigation which this canal will unite by the shortest and most certain route that can be possibly made, can doubt that it will yield a larger profit upon its cost, in a very few years, than any other work of the kind that has ever been, or can be, constructed in this country. ' ' Governor Duncan said he differed from the late Board of Canal Commissioners and his worthy predecessor on the merits of a railroad. His judgment and experience had taught him that canals were much more useful and cheaper in construction than railroads. When well made, they required less expensive repairs, were continually improving, and would last forever. Railroads were kept in repair at a very heavy expense, and would last only about fifteen years. In the present case, especially, a canal should be preferred, THIRTEEN YEAES OF PKEPAKATOEY WORK. 185 because it would connect by a short and direct route two great navigable waters that wash the shores of most of the States and Territories of the United States and British Prov- inces, thus opening a commerce between the remotest parts of the continent. The Governor referred to the success of the Erie canal and compared the difficulties met with in its construction with th« natural advantages along the line of the proposed canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river. ' ' Judging of the future by the part and present rapid improvement which is everywhere in progress in our State," he continued, "and estimating its future population by the inexhaustible resources of the country and by the flood of enterprising citizens pouring into it from every quar- ter of the civilized world, the imagination is lost in contem- plating the millions of happy and independent people which it is destined to sustain, and whose surplus produce will scarcely find room to float upon the majestic rivers, the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, flowing to the north and to the south, which Providence in the fulness of its benefi- cence has provided on a scale only equalled by the vast country they are destined to accommodate." The Governor's plea resulted in the passage of the Act of February 10, 1835, which re-authorized the construction of the canal. The Governor was given authority to negoti- ate a loan for $500,000 with which to begin the work. Ex- Governor Coles was made president of the new Canal Board. He was delegated to negotiate the loan and he visited several eastern cities. On his return and under date of March 20, 1835, he reported to the Governor that he had been unsuc- cessful because the faith of the State had not been pledged as security. He had had an offer of $500,000 in cash for the canal lands. But the offer had come from land and stock jobbers and was not accepted. He had received from New York capitalists the most positive and gratifying assur- 186 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ances of confidence in the State. They were willing to loan the money if the State would satisfactorily pledge its faith as security. Governor Duncan transmitted the correspondence had with Ex-Governor Coles to the Legislature at its opening session in the following December, and recommended that the loan be authorized on a pledge of the faith of the State. The recommendation was concurred in by the Act oi Janu- ary 9, 1836, which again placed the canal upon a working basis. The Governor appointed William F. Thornton, Gurdon S. Hubbard and William B. Archer Commissioners, and Mr. Thornton was designated acting commissioner. The money needed was secured, William Gooding was elected chief engineer, and work was resumed. A party was organized early in March and, under the direction of E. B. Talcott, senior assistant engineer, it made a new examination of the Summit division of the Illinois and Michigan canal. Two lines of levels were run across the country lying between Chicago and the Desplaines river near the mouth of Portage, or Mud lake. One commenced near the mouth of the broad slough on the North fork of the South branch of the Chicago river at the point where the former canal surveys were commenced ; the other, on the North branch of the river about half a mile above the "point," or the junction of the North and South branches. The former line, or the route of the old surveys, was found to be the most favorable, the depth of the cutting being much less. It passed over ground but little elevated above the surface of Portage lake at an ordinary stage of water. This territory was generally inundated during the floods of the Desplaines, the waters of which frequently flowed across the low country into the South branch of the Chicago river. A particular examination was made of Portage ,lake and of the Desplaines river with the view of occupying portions THIRTEEN YEARS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 187 of each with the canal should the result prove favorable. But it was found that no saving could be effected by such an arrangement. Portage lake was a succession of ponds on the same level connected with each other and with the Desplaines river and extending about six miles toward the Chicago river nearly in the direction of the canal line. The surface of the water at an ordinary stage was 10^ feet above Lake Michigan, and the mud in the bottom was usually from five to six feet above Lake Michigan, or from eleven to twelve feet above the bottom of the canal. To excavate the canal to the requisite depth through the ponds and the marshes on their borders, it was found, would be attended with great difficulty and at a cost far exceeding that of making the thorough cut along the borders of the marshes on grounds more favorable. The examination of the Desplaines river resulted less favorably than that of Portage lake. The bed of the Des- plaines for 13^ miles below the point where the canal line entered the valley, except in a few places and for short distances only, was from eight to twelve feet above the bot- tom of the canal, and nothing could be gained by occupying any portion of its channel, as the difficulty of disposing of or keeping out the waters of the river to make the necessary excavation would more than balance the diminution of the quantity to be excavated by such a location. From the examinations made it soon became apparent to Chief Engineer Gooding that the Summit division was likely to prove far more expensive than any former estimate had made it, and it was believed that if a permanent and ade- quate supply of water could be provided without cutting down the Summit so as to introduce the waters of Lake Michigan, a change in the existing law should be recom- mended to the Legislature at its next session. A level was consequently run, in compliance with an order of the Canal Board, from a point on the Desplaines river nearly opposite 188 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAT. the mouth of Portage lake to the Fox river at Elgin, thirty or thirty-five miles south of the State line, with a view of introducing a feeder from that river to make up the quan- tity which, according to the estimate of Mr. Bucklin, would be required exclusive of the whole available supply to be derived from the Calumet and Desplaines rivers. From the great quantity of water discharged at all times by the Fox river it was known that, if practicable to bring it on to the Summit at a reasonable expense, an unfailing supply could not only be provided for the canal, but a very great saving in the cost of this division effected, and the advantage gained of having the canal completed two or three years sooner than could be otherwise anticipated. But the result of the examination proved unfavorable. In the lowest depression that could be discovered the ridge was thirty feet higher than the river. The greatest elevation of the dividing ridge was estimated to be fifty or sixty feet above the Fox river. During the season the line from Marseilles, or the rapids of the Illinois river, to the western termination was revised, and on the 20th of October the work, except the structures, was offered for contract. A portion of the Summit division was advertised for letting in June. Mr. Gooding's estimate of the cost of the canal from Chicago to La Salle was $8,654,337.51. This was much higher than any previous estimate. "The character of the work has not been- well under- stood," said Mr. Gooding, "no minute examinations hav- ing been made except by Mr. Bucklin, whose estimate of rock excavation on the Summit division (which forms a large item of the cost of the whole work) was even higher than that now submitted, when the comparative sections of the two canals arc taken into consideration. The dimensions of the canal estimated by Mr. Bucklin were as follows : Width at top water line 60 feet, at bottom 26 feet, and depth 4 THIRTEEN YEABS OF PREPARATORY WORK. 189 feet, the cross section consequently 132 feet. Dimensions now estimated, 60 feet wide at surface, 36 feet wide at bot- tom and 6 feet deep in earth excavation, and the same width at surface and the same depth, but 48 feet wide at bottom in rock excavation ; section in earth 288 feet and in rock 326 feet. Thus it will be seen that the cross section of the canal now estimated is more than twice as great below top water line as that estimated by Mr. Bucklin." CHAPTER XIII. PERIOD OF CANAL CONSTRUCTION. Contracts for the first work on the Illinois and Michigan canal were let on Jun e 6, 1836. The line was divided into three divisions, Summit, Middle and Western. The Sum- mit division extended from the North fork of the South branch of the Chicago river to the first lock at Lockport, but incidentally included the river, about five and one-half miles in length. It was proposed originally to construct a towpath along the south side of the South Branch from the " point," or junction of the North and South branches, crossing the river by a bridge at the mouth of the North fork up which it would continue to the mouth of the slough. The eastern terminus was subsequently changed to its pres- ent location. Chief Engineer Gooding found the prairie over which the line was run to be level and extremely wet except in times of severe drought. The cutting would be chiefly through a stiff blue clay, he said, from seven to nineteen feet deep. In his description of the route he said the canal would continue down the valley of the Desplaines. For thirteen or fourteen miles the river had little descent. The current at low water was scarcely perceptible, and the land along its borders was so low as to be overflowed at every slight rise of the water. After the line of the canal entered the valley the direction was changed by a gentle curve and another straight line obtained of S^ miles. There were sev- eral other straight lines on this division and the curves were all gentle and uniform. 190 PERIOD OF CANAL OONSTEUCTION. 191 The depth of cutting continued about the same down the valley to Brewer's Ford. From that point the engineer announced that the cutting would be very much more expen- sive as the excavation was principally in rock. The depth of earth in rock above the mouth of the Saganashkee swamp was found to be much less than was anticipated. A difficult section of canal was encountered in crossing the mouth of the swamp where there was earth to the depth of five or six feet, the most of which was in a semi-fluid state, resting upon rock. The cutting here was about 17^ feet. From this point to the first lock the rock was generally near the surface. The level ran out a short distance after crossing Big Run, which was about IJ miles above the first lock and in the bed of which the cutting was about two feet. The first two locks were located on section 23, town 36 north, range 10 east of the third principal meridian, on land belonging to the State. The canal or basin, for about three- fourths of a mile above the first lock was planned to be 120 feet in width. The length of the canal from the begin- ning to the first lock was 34 miles and 35.78 chains. The estimates on the Summit division were for a canal 60 feet wide at the surface, 36 feet wide at the bottom in earth and 48 feet in rock, and six feet deep. A declivity was given to the bottom of the canal of one-tenth of a foot per mile. The rock was found to be stratified limestone, the greater part of which, it was believed, could be quarried without much difficulty. The strata adhered to each other so closely as almost entirely to prevent the water from flowing be- tween them, as was feared it might do. The strata were generally from two to six inches thick and of a quality, it was said, suitable for building purposes. The expense of constructing the Summit division of the canal and the time required for its completion were found before the end of the first year of construction likely to be much greater than was 192 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. anticipated, but nothing had occurred to diminish confidence in the practicability of the work. The average price at which the contracts for the excavation in earth in the Sum- mit division were let was 33.35 cents per cubic yard, and for that in rock 11.54. When proposals were advertised for in the spring of 1836 there were no contractors in this part of the country, and no mechanics or common laborers when the contracts were awarded in June. It was with difficulty that the con- tractors could secure workmen to build their shanties, or teams and tools with which to begin work. Operations were formally begun on July 4, 1836. The occasion was a memorable one, and Chicago was in a state of considerable excitement. At a signal given by three cannons at Fort Dearborn the citizens assembled in the public square and moved in a body to the scene of the inaugural ceremonies at the head of the proposed canal. Some went by boat and others on foot or with teams along the Archer road. The steamer Chicago started from the foot of Dearborn street with her decks crowded and proceeded up the river. Two schooners and other vessels towed by horses followed, carry- ing as many people as could crowd upon them. The locality where the canal was to connect with the Chicago river had been named Canalport and a public house called the New House opened. The crowd collected in front of this public building and saluted Judge Smith as he solemnly read the Declaration of Independence with the characteristic enthusiasm of a pioneer audience. Dr. W. B. Egan followed with an eloquent address, and Gurdon S. Hubbard spoke of the promising condition of the settlement as compared with that of the one he had found eighteen years previous when he ascended the river in a canoe. When one of the speakers in his exuberance of feeling ran along the scale of years and boldly prophesied that Chicago in a hundred years would have a population of 100,000 he PERIOD OF CANAL COKSTRUCTION. 19S excited the ridicule of his hearers and Was hooted oflP the barrel from which he was speaking. Ground was after- ward broken for the canal by Colonel Archer, acting com- missioner. Addresses by Judges Smith and Brown of the Supreme Court and Commissioner Hubbard followed. Work was soon begun, but few laborers were to be had until about the close of the year, when there were S60 at work along the entire line, or so much of it as was under contract. The scarcity -oLiaibQrers and sickness were the princi pal causes of delay throughout the entire peribd of constru ction. By the Act of March 2, 1837, the appointment of Canal Commissioners was taken from the Governor and their elec- tion assumed by the Legislature. With a more direct inter- est in the work than it previously had the Legislature appointed a committee to inquire into the probable cost of a canal of the dimensions authorized. Out of the report of the committee grew a dispute over the propriety of con tinning the deep cut, the committee contending that the esti mates of the chief engineer were far too low, and the engineeer maintaining that the work could be done for less^ than he had estimated. The committee was right and the engineer wrong. But the discussion was dropped within a year and the work continued on the deep cut plan. It was jjjtjm til the State was absolu tely unable to raise the money to ca rry on the work t hat it accepted the alternative^f a shallo w cut and pumping works . An incident of interest is found, in thej)ptimism_ of Chief Engineer Gooding ^iiich seems to have been shared by the ComrnTssiohe'r s . By a revision of the plans in 1836 it was pTovi(Iea:~that the canal in passing through the town of Lockport should be 120 feet wide. A hydraulic basin was to be constructed in such a manner that the mills or manu- factories which, it was assumed, would spring up there, might be built upon the, banks of the basin and be operated 13 194 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. by the water drawn from it. Upon the side of the build- ings next to the canal, and separated from it only by the towpath, there were to be a street and a tier of warehouse lots. The basin was to be connected with the canal in such a manner that boats or vessels could readily pass into it and load or unload at the mills or warehouses. The value of the water power created there and at other points along the canal, by drawing a supply directly from Lake Michigan, could be fully appreciated, Mr. Gooding said, after a season of such severe drought as the previous one had been. The Desplaines river and many other con- siderable streams of the country had been nearly dried up, and probably three-fourths of the water mills throughout a large portion of the United States had been standing still for the preceding three or four months. Had the canal been completed there would have been during the season an unusual supply of water, as the surface of the lake had been nine feet and four inches above canal bottom, three feet and four inches higher than was originally counted upon. Again Mr. Gooding expected phenomenal results at the Sag. ' ' When the canal at this point is completed upon the present plan, ' ' he said, ' ' a quantity of state land amount- ing to about 270 acres will be reclaimed, which is at present entirely valueless. The whole of the impassable marsh that now presents so forbidding an appearance will be made dry land." On March 2, 1837, the Legislature had authorized a sur- vey and estimate to be made for a canal, diverging from the main trunk of the Illinois and Michigan canal, through the Ausauganashke swamp and lake, to intersect the Calumet river at the nearest practicable point, the work to be con- structed whenever the State of Indiana should undertake a corresponding work connecting her system of internal im- provements with the Illinois and Michigan canal. "The junction of the canal from the Calumet river with the main PERIOD OF CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 195 line being made at this point upon reclaimed state land, ' ' said Mr. Gooding, referring to the Sag, ' ' will make it one of the most valuable town sites upon the line of the canal, or in the State." Estimates made by E. B. Talcott, resident engineer in charge of the Summit division of the canal, on December 10, 1837, provided for turning or pivot bridges, the engin- eer believing that it would be frequently found advantageous to the commerce of the country for lake vessels to navigate the canal as far as Lockport. The formation of a basin at the forks of the Chicago river considered as part of the gen- eral plan of the canal, was also embraced in his estimates, and the Legislature, by Act of July 21, 1837, authorized the enlargement of " the natural basin at the confluence of the North and South branches of the Chicago river so as to ren- der the same as useful and convenient as possible." The many extravagant schemes fo r int ernal improvement projected in TsBTmJure d the State's credit, and canallafids were not _easily sold. On April 11, 1839, the Canal. Com- missioners ordered an issue of checks or scrip payable in ninety days. The total amount issued for that year was 1394,554. This was used in paying the estimates of con- tractors and meeting other direct expenses. In 1840 the contractors agreed to take $1,000,000 worth of State bonds at par to 25 per cent discount. These bonds carried the work along unt il March, 1843^ when the gxp^nditures^could no longer be met and the work was entirely suspended. More than $5,000,000 had been spent and the canal was stiff far fro m bein g completed. The expenditures by years were as foUows : 196 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. 1836 - - -9 39,260 58 1837 350,649 90 1838 911,902 40 1839 - 1,479,907 58 1840 1,117,702 00 1841 - 644,875 94 1842 155,193 33 Superintendence 210,000 00 Contractors' damages 230,000 00 Total 85,139,492 03 It became apparent at last that the resources of the State, aided by the unproductive sales of the canal lands, were en- tirely inadequate to the completion of the canal on the basis of the deep cut. Reluctantly it was agreed by every one that a^ shallow cut mus t be m ade, and t hat water to_ o£erate the canal^must be obtained from some other source than Lake Michigan. It had been shown that it was impractica- ble to construct a feeder from the Fox river to the eastern end of the canal, although there were many who believed it would be cheaper thus to divert the waters of the Fox river than to make the channel of the dimensions originally planned. At last the suggestion was made by Ira Miltimore, who con- structed Chicago's first water works , that water mig ht^be^ pumped from the (Ihicago r iver . into ^ th e canal. The idea was endorsed by the Mechanics' Institute and received the favorable consideration of the Canal Commissioners. It was estimated that it would require $1,600,000 to complete the canal on the shallow cut plan, and there fol- lowed the Act of the Legislature of February 21, 1843, by which the Governor was authorized to negotiate a loan for this amount. As security the Governor was empowered to pledge the canal, its tolls, revenues and lands. The loan was to run for six years and bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent. After the loan was subscribed, three "discreet persons " were to be appointed to constitute a Board, to be known as the Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan PEBIOD OF CANAL CONSTKUCTION. 197 Canal. One was to be appointed by the Qovernor of the State, and the two others by the subscribers to the loan. They were to possess all the powers and perform all the duties conferred upon the Canal Commissioners. In the following March, Governor Ford appointed Michael Ryan and Charles Oakley commissioners to secure the loan. They proceeded to New York, wh^re they obtained subscriptions to a part of the amount required. To secure the balance, they crossed the Atlantic and laid the matter before prominent European capitalists, some of whom were already holders of canal bonds. The latter doubted the ability of the State of Illinois to meet its obli- gations, and insisted on an investigation of the financial con- dition of the State as well as that of the canal. They agreed to accept the statement of a committee of Boston men, con- sisting of William Sturgis, T. W. Ward and Abbott Law- rence. This committee detailed Captain W. H. Swift, a United States engineer, and ex-Governor John Davis of Massachusetts, to make an examination of the canal. The latter verified the statements made by Commissioners Ryan and Oakley, and reported that the securities for the pro- posed loan of $1,600,000 were satisfactory. The money was then soon subscribed, the contract with the bondholders and the trust deed were executed, and the Trustees were appointed. W. H. Swift and David Leavitt were named by the bondholders to represent them, and Jacob Fry was appointed by the Governor to represent the State. Work was resumed on the canal in September, 1845, now wholly under the control of the Trustees, and the busi- ness of the canal was directed from their office, first in Lockport, then in Boston, and finally in New York. The Trustees were in control of the canal until_ 1871, jviien the deepening of the canal for sanitary purposes was completed. At a meeting of the Tfiistees on 'April 20,(::l8^7^iejplan ioT pumping water from the Chicago river into the canal 198 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. was adopted, and it was also ordered that na vigable feeders should 1)6 consfructed from the Calumet river to the Sum mit level at or near the outlet of the Sag. The contract for the construction of the Calumet feeder was let in May, 1846, and at the end of the year work on it was in full progress. Engineer Gooding, in his annual report, covering the operations of the yeav 1846, gave a careful review of the changes made, and the reasons therefor. He said : "The existing law for completing the work having author- ized a change of the plan of the canal without diminishing its capacity, and the amount of the funds raised for the pur- pose rendering it absolutely necessary that a cheaper plan than the one required by the original law should be adopted, my attention was early called to the various plans proposed. .... The only important change proposed, and the only one which, in the then advanced stage of the work, could have resulted in much saving of expense, was the raising of the level upon the Summit division. This, it was supposed, could only be effected by introducing a supply of water from other sources, as a substitute for that which would have been derived from Lake Michigan upon the original plan. . . . ' ' The original plan was to supply the canal with water from Lake Michigan, except what was to have been derived from the Desplaines and Du Page rivers, as far down as Marseilles ; and from this point to the western terminus at La Salle, the supply was to be received as at present desig- nated from Fox river through the feeder introduced at Ottawa. There could be no doubt that the supply of water for the canal below Marseilles would be ample, at least for the purposes of navigation, and consequently the investiga- tion was more particularly directed to the demands and sup- ply above. It had been ascertained that a feeder from the Kankakee river could be introduced upon the Dresden level, which commences at the Du Page river, at lock No. 7, at a PERIOD OF CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 199 moderate expense ; and it was known that through this feeder a supply of water, to almost any extent for the canal between lock No. 7 and Marseilles might be drawn. It was also known that a feeder from this river might be intro- duced on the Joliet level, extending the supply up to dam No. 1, in Joliet village. Upon this same level the waters of the Desplaines and Du Page rivers could be brought into the canal, whilst upon the Summit it had been proved that the waters of the Fox and Calumet rivers could be brought through feeders of greater length. It was known, too, that a feeder of some seven miles in length would bring the waters of the Du Page on to the Summit, and that this and a part of the Fox river feeder might be iden- tical. . . . "The obstacles in the way of this work (the construction of the Fox river feeder) led to a more attentive considera- tion of the plan for raising a supply of water, in part, from Lake Michigan by steam power. This plan had frequently been recommended by various individuals well acquainted with the application of steam power ; but so long as it was believed practicable to procure an abundant supply of water through navigable feeders at a reasonable cost and without serious embarrassment, it was not thoroughly investigated. But measures were now taken to obtain the opinions of sci- entific and practical men upon this subject and to ascertain the probable cost of erecting the necessary machinery. The president of your Board kindly furnished me the communi- cations upon this subject of several gentlemen, eminent for their science and skill ; and the result of the information obtained from these and various other sources was such as to induce me to recommend the adoption of this mode of supply, and for the present not to construct the Fox river feeder. ' ' In his annual report, dated December 10, 1847, Engineer Gooding refers to the fact that the canal is still unfinished, 200 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. attributing the delay to sickness among the employes and to bad weather. Charles Oakley, Trustee for the State, took exception to these excuses, and, in an appendix to the annual report of the Trustees, said : ' ' There has been a culpable delay in the prosecution of the work, and its sup^ posed remote causes are again referred to ' unusual sickness upon the line in the summer and autumn of 1840 ' — ' high water and the scarcity of hands. ' Those pleas have served their turn. . . . The places of the sick could have been supplied for the time at least, and the scarcity of hands could have been provided for if proper exertions had been made to do so. . . . The chief engineer now regrets that he is 'compelled to state that the canal is still unfinished,' and were it not for the galvanic shock which I may claim the credit of having administered to him, and which has aroused him from his usual apathy and torpor, he might be ' compelled ' to make that statement in another annual report. ' ' This indicates that an extremely bitter feeling had been aroused by the delay in the completion of the canal. When all the circumstances are considered, the delay seems to have been unavoidable. The financial difficulties^ which nearly wrecked the State itself and temporarily weakened the confidence of capitalists in the canal scheme, the inability of the contractors at times to secure all the laborers needed^ the almost continual floods in the Desplaines valley and con- sequent sickness among employes approaching an epidemic in more than one season, were causes beyond the control of any person. Nevertheless Engineer Gooding was charged with blame so vigorously that his removal was ordered by Governor French on April 18, 1848, but not until the work was practically completed. In the light of all the facts the most severe criticism that can be made upon Mr. Gooding is, that he did not correctly estimate the cost of the canal and permitted the adoption of a plan impossible of comple- PERIOD OF CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 201 tion within the resources of the State. If he had been more correct in his estimates and less hopeful of the future the work might not have been undertaken at all. The canal was so nearly completed as to permit a Chi- cago boat, the General Fry, to pass over the Summit level, from Chicago to Lockport, on April 10, 1848. The formal opening w as not announced until April 23j when the Gen- eral Thornton of LaSalle passed through the entire length of the canal, from LaSalle to Chicago. This boat reached Chicago on April 23, and the event was celebrated by all the citizens. Nearly twelve years had elapsed since the work on the canal was inaugurated, a period characterized by discour- agement and misfortune from beginning to end. Chicago and the State of Illinois owe much to it, for it was the cor- ner-stone of their prosperity. T he opening of the canal increased the price of lands in the northern part of the State" at- once, and immfgration was given a new impetus. In 1835, the entire population of the State was only 271,727. By 1840 it had reached a total of 476,183, nearly twice the number of five years previous.- Chicago really owes its existence to the canal, having been platted in order that town lots might be put upon the market. Its advan- tageous location was not fully realized until the canal was completed. Edward B. Talcott, assistant chief engineer, in charge of the Summit division of the canal, was appointed chief engineer on the removal of Mr. Gooding. He took posses- sion of the office on May 3, 1848. In his annual report, dated November 30, 1848, he states that all the work on the canal had been completed, with the exception of three unimportant items. The total cost of the canaLga i, $6> 537,. - 254.79. O f this amount $1,401,192.79 had been paid from the $1,600,000 loan. 202 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Distances on the Illinois and Michigan canal were fixed as follows: From Chicago to Bridgeport 4 miles Summit 13 " Desplaines 21 " Athens 25 " Lockport 83 " Joliet 37 " DuPage 48 " Kankakee Feeder — 51 " Dresden 54 " Aux Sable 56 miles Morris 61 " Marseilles 78 " Ottawa 85 " TJtica 95 " LaSalle -.- 100 " Calumet Feeder Head 38 " Kankakee Feeder Head.. 55 " Fox River Feeder Head.. 89 " -1- .'.,•1 1/y &4i I 1. *- 3BSB o H O O fa (^ M H EH o H > O / V? CHAPTER XIV. COMMERCIAL PERIOD OF THE CANAL. Free navigation of the canal in the early part of the season of 1848 was impeded by a scarcity of water. From Lake Michigan to the Du Page river, a distance of 44 miles, the entire supply of water v^as obtained from the Chicago river by pumping, and by gravity from the Desplaines and Du Page rivers. The Calumet feeder, which was expected to supply the Summit level, was not completed until the following year. From Joliet to the Du Page river, the canal was con- structed through a very porous soil. Although the sides and bottom had been lined, it proved to be very leaky. During the months of August and September, 5,000 cubic feet of water per minute were discharged into this section of the canal, but the surface level was raised at the rate of only one inch in twenty-four hours. The pumping engines proved to be a most important adjunct. The purpose of their construction was to raise water from the river to the Summit level in times of drought. It was not supposed that more than one would be needed after the Calumet feeder was completed, but it was thought prudent to provide two. The cost of the engines was $27, 805.16. Buildings, engines and all other machin- ery cost $54,156.69. The pump house was located about 250 feet west of the South branch of the Chicago river and near the junction of the canal and the river. It was 166 feet in length and 55 feet wide, and was constructed of brick and stone. One of the engines operated four cast- 203 204 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. iron cylinder pumps, each 54 inches in diameter and seven feet long. Attached to the other was a wheel 32 feet in diam- eter, with sixteen float boards or buckets seven feet long working in a trough. The water was lifted by these buckets into a flume which communicated with a basin, the latter discharging into the main canal. The combined capacity of the four pumps was 6,300 cubic feet of water per minute, and that of the wheel 6,370 cubic feet per minute. About two years before the completion of the canal the Trustees had endeavored to construct a towpath from the canal lock at Bridgeport to the north line of section 16, along the Chicago river, but property holders defeated the plan by excessive demands for right of way. In the spring of 1848 the board renewed the attempt to construct the tow- path and began work upon it. An injunction was secured by a property holder in section 21, and the work was stopped at the southeast quarter of that section. The towpath had been completed for about one-half the distance from the head of the canal to the junction of the two branches of the river. Failing in this undertaking the board authorized the construction of a steam tug to be used in towing boats along the river. It proved defective and was laid aside. A tug was then hired at the rate of $27.50 a day to make stated trips and haul such boats as were offered. The same rates were charged for towing on the river as were charged on the canal. The trustees soon found they were losing money and canal boats were left at the head of the river to shift for themselves. Very few boats were ready to traverse the canal at its opening. This was believed to be due to rumors which had been circulated that the canal would not be ready for use before June or July. Only fifteen boats were registered before the first day of June. The total at the end of the year was 162, a fair average for the season. In the opinion COMMERCIAL PERIOD OF THE CANAL. 205 of Chief Engineer Talcott sufficient business had been done to demonstrate the economy of the canal mode of carrying produce and merchandise, and to insure for the coming sea- son a line of steamboats exclusively for towing canal boats at fair prices. ' ' With this arrangement, ' ' he said, ' ' the river may be very properly regarded as an extension of the canal, — 300 miles to 'St. Louis. Assuming then that the markets are equal, the economy of shipping grain in bulk by canal boats over the usual mode of sacking (which is necessary when shipping by steamboats) must give to Chicago a liberal share of the river trade. To divert business from an old and familar channel to a new one requires not only time to form new associations, but an actual demonstration of the benefits resulting from it. Operations of the past season have at least directed the attention of forwarders to this route, and I feel confident that each succeeding year will more firmly establish its economy and witness a rapid increase in the business and revenue of the canal." Extravagant hopes of the future of the canal were enter- tained. Charles Oakley, State Trustee, said in his report to the Governor on December 2, 1848, that notwithstanding all the disadvantages resulting from a lack. of water and defects in construction, the canal had made a beginning which augured well for its future success. The rapid increase in the population, of the State would necessarily create a corresponding increase in trade. From this a large revenue would be derived, by means of which the canal debt would be finally discharged, probably much earlier than was antici- pated. Without the drawbacks mentioned the tolls of the season just passed would have been $150,000 instead of $86,000. "We may congratulate ourselves," Mr. Oakley said, ' ' on the ultimate success of what was once conceived to be a visionary project. We have, after strilggling throilgh 206 DBAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. many difficulties and surmounting obstacles which might have damped the energies of States possessing greater resources, prosecuted to completion a great public work. We may- say it is done. The doubts of the timid have no longer a resting place, and the anticipations of its most sanguine friends will be more than realized. As a work of art it will bear a comparison with any structure of the kind in the world, and as a channel of trade and revenue we cannot overestimate its benefits. It has given an impetus to the growth and prosperity of Chicago which has already excited the envy of rival cities. ' ' In their report for the year 1848 the Trustees speak of it as a matter of considerable interest that sugar and other merchandise from New Orleans, brought to Chicago by the General Thornton on its first trip through the canal, were received at Buffalo by way of Mackinaw two weeks before the first boat reached Buffalo by the Erie canal. As the Straits of Mackinaw were not usually open until after Lakes Michigan and Erie were free from ice, it was clear to the Trustees that with the Michigan Central railroad completed from New Buffalo to Detroit, the Illinois and Michigan canal could be advantageously used for throwing in supplies for Lake Erie from New Orleans and the Mississippi some weeks before the lake region could be supplied from the cast by the Erie canal. Governor French shared the universal optimism. In his annual message to the State Legislature on January 2, 1849, he said : ' ' The Illinois and Michigan canal, which for so long a time remained in an unfinished condition and was the cause of so many fruitless struggles, is at length completed, and from the success attending its operations thus far seems destined to realize the hopes of its warmest friends." In spite of the flattering prospects tribulations soon fell upon the canal. The_first_ were found JP destructive freshets . There was one in December, 1848, and another in March of COMMERCIAL PERIOD OF THE CANAL. 207 the following year. In the latter year the Desplaines river overflowed the entire valley. It caused serious breaches through the towpath of the canal and deposited large quan- tities of material in the canal. The feeders also sustained considerable damage. It became necessary as early as the spring of 1849 to hold out induc ements for trade. - In May the trustees offered a drawback of 50 per cent " on such of the following named articles as might pass from the Mississippi river to the Hudson via the Illinois and Michigan canal, viz. , beef, pork, bacon, lard, flour, tallow, wool, tobacco, hemp, beeswax, furs and peltries ; and on the following articles passing from the Hudson to the Mississippi via the Illinois and Michigan canal a reduction of 25 per cent, viz., dry goods, groceries, hardware, crockery and glassware and some minor articles ; upon salt and lumber from the lakes to the Mississippi, 25 per cent drawback, and upon white lead and shot from the Mississippi to the lakes 50 per cent drawback." This action was taken, as the Trustees explained, " with a view of inducing a portion of the trade between the East and the West, which usually passed by the Ohio river, to take the route by the Illinois and Michigan canal. ' ' In 1850, wheat and other breadstuffs, instead of passing through the canal from the Illinois river to Lake Michigan, unexpectedly took the opposite direction. Lar g e quan tities of these commodities were drawn from Michigan and even from points as far east as Buffalo for the supply of the St. Louis market, the prices there having been such as to create this ualeeked for diversion. Articles of food wEicli would^ have sought a market eastward by way of the canal and lakes were thus withdrawn from the Illinois river. Boats carrying lumber, salt and merchandise out from Chicago were compelled to return from the Illinois river without freight. In addition to these untoward circumstances, the Trustees complained, cholera made its appearance, water in 208 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. th e Illinois river was unusually low fr om the middle ^ f Mny to the middle of August, there were breaks in t he canal^ 4lhe_busyLS.eason, and^ finaljy, high er prices were paid in S t^ Louis for produce than in Chicago. Up to the year 1851 it had been supposed that consider- able produce would be shipped from the Calumet river feeder to Chicago. The Trustees came to the conclusion that shipments were prevented to some extent by the fact that boats traversing the feeder could draw only three feet of water. They found that the Michigan Central and Michi- gan Southern railroads would have connections reaching to Chicago completed before the next season, consequently very little business could be expected from the Calumet region thereafter. Nevertheless it was proposed to deepen the Calumet feeder. In the following year ledges of rock were removed producing a uniform depth of four feet. In 1 8i>2 the low water in the Illinois river f rom the mid- dle of July to the middle of September greatly diminished the business of the canal. The river between La Salle and Henry, a distance of about thirty miles, was less than twenty inches in depth over the bars. Between the 18th of Jaly and the 1st of November first-class steamboats could not reach La Salle. The tolls received in 1862 were less than those of 1851 by $4,723. The loss was attributed solely to low water in the Illinois river. Congress made an appropriation in August, 1852, of $30,000 to be applied in dredging the Illinois river, but the low water from June 20 to November 5 in the following year was again a serious detriment to the carrying business of the canal. .JLairgn_gtaamkoats_we re unable to_ navigate the Ejinois river, "an evil," the Trustees said, "which calls upon the General Grovernmont of the United States loudly for a remedy." The Trustees hoped the small appropriation made by Congress would be judiciously applied, and that a further sum would be granted sufficient COMMERCIAL PERIOD OF THE CANAL. 209 for a substantial and permanent improvement of the river, ' ' commensurate in some degree with the extent of the great and constantly increasing interests which are dependent upon the line of water communication between the Missis- sippi river and the great lakes for their carrying busi- ness. ' ' "All who have exact knowledge upon this subject," the Trustees said in 1853, "believe the improvement of the river to be an object of easy accomplishment and one to be effected at comparatively moderate cost. Until the Illinois river shall be improved, say in such a manner as shall secure a constant depth of three feet, the advantages which the State promised herself by the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and for which she has expended so much money, cannot be realized ; nor can the wants of the com- munity, in the interchange of commodities, be supplied until this improvement is accomplished." Compared with the previous year, there was an increase in the tolls received in 1853 of $4,794.81, but there was a falling off of an equivalent of 1,231 boats and 25,966 pas- sengers passing through the entire length of the canal. The decrease in the number of boats was due to the low water in the Illinois river, and of the passengers to the opening of the Rock Is landj ailrnafI During the year 1854 the loan of $1,600,000 was paid with the exception of $3,231.54 due in Illinois. There had been received on the loan $1,569,828. The total amount paid on its account, including interest, discounts, expenses, etc., was $2,114,199.70. The following statement made by the Trustees on November 30, 1854, gives the cost of the canal, the receipts from tolls and other items : 14 210 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. Classification. Receipts. Expenses. Loan of $1,600.000 $1,569,828 00 $3,114199 70 Construction of Canal and Feeders .... 2,132 35 1,429,606 21 Canal Lands, Sales, Protection, etc 3,370,814 98 73,827 31 Interest on Registered Bonds, etc - 558,793 88 Maintenance and Repairs Canal, etc ... 4,545 94 382,633 04 Tolls, Collections, Inspection, etc. 1,045,340 49 40,200 16 Canal Damage, Flowage, etc 15,557 07 General Expenses and Contingencies... 8 00 183,080 85 Interest and Exchange — 82,870 67 3,656 47 Aggregate .-. $5,075,035 33 $4,800,503 12 Over Credit in the Receipts of 1858 134 00 Balance to Credit of Fund, November 30, 1854 274,408 21 I'he $1,600,000 loan having been paid, the proceeds of sales of canal lands and town lots and the net revenues of the canal were thereafter devoted to the payment of arrears of interest on registered bonds and other registered securi- ties, and to the redemption of the principal of the remaining debt. Although the loan had been paid the trust authorized by the act of 1843 was not fully executed until the principal and interest due to bondholders and all other evidences of canal indebtedness had been extinguished. This was not accomplished until April 30, 1871. On the following day the canal reverted to the State. Notwithstanding a reduction in the rates of toll and the loss of the greater part of the passenger business, the gross revenues of the canal in 1854 were $25,000 lai'ger than the year previous. Commenting on the ability of the canal to compete with the railroad, the Trustees said it was not the railroad competition the canal had to fear, but the lack of sufficient water in the Illinois river. With the river available for boats drawing four feet of water for the eight or nine months of the year in which the canal could be used there would be nothing for the friends of the canal to ask. So long as the Illinois river remained in its existing condi- tion, unimproved either by the State or the United States, so long would the canal lie partially idle one-half of the sea- son of navigation. The revenues of the canal might just as COMMEEOIAL PEEIOD OF THE CANAL. 211 well be 1500,000 per annum as $200,000. All that was required was an outlay of $1,200,000 to $1,500,000 in im- proving the Illinois river by a system of slack water navi- gation between La Salle and the Mississippi river. Until such improvement was effected interruptions to continuous navi- gation must be looked for, and the State could not hope to realize a tithe of the full advantages which she promised her- self by the construction of the canal. During the year 1855 there was a falling off in the tolls of nearly $18,000. The more favorable condition of the market at St. Louis in the early part of the season, due to a lack of provisions in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, was specified as one of the causes. Short crops along the Illinois river in 1854 contributed to some extent toward the depression. Again the Trustees lamented that the canal must continue to be a work of secondary importance until the Illinois river should be made navigable at all seasons for boats drawing at least three feet of water. ' ' This object," they said, " so easily accomplished and compara- tively at such moderate cost, must remain unattempted, we fear, until the same kind of spirit which carried through the Illinois Central railroad so successfully shall make its ap- pearance in another shape. The canal and river navigation are slower channels of communication, we know, but with the river improved, quite as sure and certainly much cheaper than any railroad can be. ' ' In 1856 the situation became still more harassing. John B. Preston, general superintendent of the canal, advised the Board of Trustees that the business of the canal had suffered severely on account of the unusually low water in the Illinois river. From the middle of June until November there were not more than twenty inches of water on many of the bars, virtually suspending navigation on the river for six months. The revenues of the canal from grain, lumber and other articles to and from the Illinois 212 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. river were |55,000 to |60,000 below a reasonable estimate of' what they should have been with four to six feet of water on the bars. In Mr. Preston's opinion, a permanent improvement of the Illinois river, which would give six feet, of water and permit the passage of boats of 800 to 1,000' tons from St. Louis to La Salle, would reduce the cost of transportation on that river one-half upon produce and lum- ber, and open a reliable communication to one of the most productive portions of the State wholly closed during three-fourths of the season just passed. The Trustees endorsed all that Mr. Preston said, and emphasized it by adding : ' ' The Mississippi river on one side and Lake Michigan on the other are the true termini of the canal, and until the communication by water between La Salle and St. Louis can be made certain for navigation, say from March to December, the period during which the canal is free from ice, this great work must be subjected to the risk of just such interruption to its usefulness as has happened this year, lo-wit : three-fourths of it rendered entirely unavailable for purposes of navigation." Low water in the Illinois river and. other, misfortunes may have checked the prosperity of the canal during the early ^ars 'o"f~rEs"existence ; yet, the canal must be con- sidered to have been a phenomenal success. The annual land sales, in Chicago attracted settlers, and mone y^was more plenty in Chicago than in any ^ other city in the country. During the first ten years of the canal's existence there were transported through it approximately 563,000,000 feet of lumber, 27,000,000 pounds of pork, 26,000,000 bushels of corn, 6,500,000 bushels of wheat, and 50,000 tons of coal. _The_toUs^col]ected_^t_Chicago jlone^^ to more than $1,000. 000. The high water mark in 'tolls during the first decade was reached in 1854, when they amounted to $198,326. In 1859 they dropped to $132,140. COMMEKCIAL PERIOD OP THE CANAL. 213 The War of the Rebellion improved the conditions, and in 1861 the collections amounted to $218,040 ; in 1862 they were $264,657. Again there was a decline to be followed by an upward turn, the collections reaching the sum of $302,958 in 1866. This was the largest total of any year in the history of the canal. The lack of sufficient water in the IlKnois river was the burden of complaint in succeeding years as it had been during the first decade. When the deepening of the canal by the city of Chicago was in progress in 1867 the Trustees were prompted to say that whether the canal had a depth of six or eight feet it mattered little so long as its great feeder, the Illinois river, remained unimproved. Up to that time, or at the end of the first twenty years, the aver- age yearly receipts from tolls had been $189,077. The average yearly cost of repairs and renewals had been $617 per mile. The Trustees relinquished control of the canal on April 30, 1871, and on the following day the property was out of pawn and again in the possession of the State. On April 30 the Board of Trustees rendered the following statement of account with the State of Illinois, covering the period from June 26, 1845, the date of the execution of the deed of trust, to April 30, 1871, inclusive : DEBIT. Loan of $1,600,000, Principal and Interest -- $1,601,891 90 Construction of Canal, Feeders, etc. - 3,132 35 Canal Bonds, Sales, Protection, etc 4,706,483 68 Maintenance and Kepairs of Canal and Feeders 111,003 97 Tolls, Collections, Inspection and Salaries 4,405,658 37 General Expenses and Contingencies 3 00 Premium on Gold for Dividends on Bonds Payable in London. ., 933 37 Interest and Exchange -- 181,413 07 Total - $11,009,507 41 214 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. CREDIT. Loan of $1,600,000, Principal and Interest $3,153,771 31 Construction of Canal, Feeders, etc _. 1,429,606 21 CanalBonds, Sales, Protection, etc -.- 115,528 33 'Arrears of Interest on Registered Bonds 2,155,633 38 Principal Registered Bonds 3,195.46:^ 67 Maintenance and Repairs Canal and Feeders — 1,853,049 61 Tolls, Collections, Inspection and Salaries 160,463 71 Canal Damages, Flowage, etc 33,163 33 General Expenses and Contingencies 431.600 83 Premium on Gold for Dividends on Bonds Payable in- London 370,864 43 Interest and Exchange 31,073 80 Losses on " Wild-Cat" Currency. Counterfeit Bills, Broken Banks.etc, 1848 to 1863, inclusive 14,563 53 Balance in Hands of Treasurer of the Board of Trustees April 30, 1871 95,743 41 Total-.. $11,009,507 41 CHAPTER XV. CHICAGO RIVER AND HARBOR CONVENTION. Although Chicago and the greatest of the western States owe so much to the Illinois and Michigan canal, it had a pronounced national importance. Through its agency the distant West was brought near to the East, — near, as time and distance were reckoned half a century ago, — and it may be said to have become the bond which united the East and the West indissolubly. Until a few years before the War of the Eebellion political issues were divided by a line running north and south as well as by one extending through the country from east to west. This fact is illustrated by President Polk's veto of the river and harbor bill on August 3, 1846. This veto prompted the great river and harbor convention held in Chicago a year later. In the bill referred to there were a number of items ranging from $5,000 to $80,000 for the improvement of harbors on the inland lakes and some of the larger rivers, Hudson river above and below Albany among the others. The item of $80,000 was intended for the benefit of the harbors at Racine, Little Fort, Southport, Milwaukee and Chicago, including the cost of a dredge boat. Mr. Polk thought it prudent to husband the means of the country, ' ' and not waste them on comparatively unimportant ob- jects." Some of the objects of the appropriation con- tained in the bill, he contended, were local in their char- acter and within the limits of a single State. Although in the language of the bill harbors were specified, they were 215 216 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. not connected with foreign commerce, nor were they places of refuge or of shelter for the country's navy or commer- cial marine on the ocean or the lake shores. These were considered sufficient reasons for a veto of the bill. The resulting indignation of the people was not local. Before rebellion was tried and found a poor weapon for the redress of real or fancied wrongs, war was a convenient and not always an ineflPective threat. " If no measures for pro- tection and improvement of anything North or West are to be suffered by our Southern masters," said the Chicago Dcdly Journal^ "if we are to be downtrodden and all our cherished interests crushed by them, a signal revolution will ensue. The same spirit and energy that forced emancipa- tion for the whole country from Great Britain will throw off the Southern yoke. The North and the West will look to and take care of their own interests henceforth." In a calmer mood the same journal called attention to the fact that in a few years the trade and commerce of the lakes would nearly equal that of the Atlantic. " When the various arteries to the main channel shall have been opened, — especially when the boundless West shall have poured in her tribute through the Illinois and Michigan canal, — the increase in the amount of produce will be immense and the tonnage on the lakes will increase in proportion. Through this channel, most probably, the States and Territories bor- dering on Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, includ- ing the copper region, will be supplied with the necessaries and luxuries of life from the tropical regions, thus creating an entirely new era in the commerce of the West." Public feeling was reflected by other newspapers in the West, and a definite suggestion for a national convention was made by the St. Louis RepvhliGan. It proposed that men in office should be convinced by the moral force of the popular will that the Government was framed for the bene- fit of the people, and that they would exact from their CHICAGO EIVEK AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 217 agents the benefits and assistance they had aright to expect. On the evening of September 28, 1846, a meeting was held in New York to encourage the movement, the call for which summoned together all those who resided on the borders of the northwestern lakes then in New York, and all others in- terested in the improvements of the harbors on those lakes. Resolutions were adopted endorsing the suggestion for a convention. Chicago was recommended as the most suit- able place and June 17 of the following year as a favorable time. A public meeting was held in Chicago in November following the New York meeting and active preparations for the convention were begun. Among the active participants at this meeting were John Wentworth, J. Young Scammon, Isaac N. Arnold, Norman B. Judd, Grant Goodrich, Thomas Hoyne, William B. Ogden, Mark Skinner, John H. Kinzie, Walter L. Newberry, Jesse B. Thomas, Gurdon S. Hub- bard, David M. Bradley, Ira Couch, Philip F. W. Peck, Alfred Cowles, William B. Egan, Levi D. Boone and Rob- ert D. Sherman. No citizen of prominence, whose name bas since become historic, was absent from the meeting. An address to the public was issued. In it the attempt to give the convention a political significance was deplored. The construction of harbors upon the northern lakes as well as upon the Atlantic, and the improvement of the great rivers where commerce was of a national character, neces- sarily involved no questions of party difference. It was shown that there had been no scruples on the part of the national administration down to the time of President Polk against signing bills for the improvement of rivers and the construction of harbors. After the General Government had expended more than $17,000,000 for works of internal improvement, principally in the old States, by the consent and support of the very framers of the Constitution and their contemporaries, and by men of all political parties, but little consideration could be given to the cry that it was unconsti- 218 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. tutional, or the plan of any party to extend the advantages of new works to the new States. A general convention might be the means of disseminat- ing the information then lacking as to the necessities of the West. There was not a State in the confederacy that did not touch the lakes, the ocean, or the great rivers of the West. The lakes stretched along almost our entire northern frontier and separated us from a foreign country, and the rivers like arteries ran through the whole country constitut- ing an extent of navigation sufficient to reach around the globe. These great waters were soon to be united by the Illinois and Michigan canal. The commerce of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, New Orleans, Cincin- nati, St. Louis, and indeed the whole country, would then become in a great measure connected. This commerce had a common interest. No injury could arise from a common consultation, and there might result the greatest advan- tages. Although the construction of harbors and the improve- ment of rivers would be the principal subject before the con- vention, whatever related to the prosperity of the West and to the development of its resources would come properly before it ; all plans and suggestions would be freely enter- tained. The committee on address invited a general attendance from all sections of the Union, and tendered, in behalf of their fellow citizens, the hospitality of the city of Chicago. The members of the committee who prepared the address were John Wentworth, George Manierre, J. Young Scam- mon, I. N. Arnold and Grant Goodrich. The date of the convention was changed to July 5, 1847. In the interval meetings were held in all the States endors- ing the proposed convention. The result was a gathering of distinguished men such as the country had never before seen. Chicago's population in 1847 was only 16,000, but the CHICAGO EIVEK AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 219 attendance at the convGntion is said to have been 20,000. Of this number 10,000 were accredited delegates. Horace Greeley was present both as a delegate and as a reporter, and a complete report of the proceedings was made by him for the New York Tribune. Thurlow Weed was a delegate from New York, and he personally reported the proceedings for the Albamy Evening Journal. Abraham Lincoln, who had just been elected to Congress from the only whig district in the state of Illinois, and whom Horace Greeley characterized as " a tall specimen of an Illi- noian," was a delegate. This was his first visit to Chicago. Schuyler Colfax came as a delegate from Indiana, and was made a secretary of the convention. New York State sent about three hundred delegates. Besides Greeley and Weed there were David Dudley Field, Alvin Bronson, Amasa Wright, Erastus Corning, Andrew White and John C. Spencer. Massachusetts was repre- sented by Anson Burlingame, Henry Loring, Jr., William T. Eustis and Eleazar Porter. There were eight distin- guished men from New Jersey, and twenty-seven from Penn- sylvania. Georgia sent two representatives, one of them Thomas Butler King. There was one delegate each from South Carolina and Florida. New Hampshire was repre- sented by two. Nineteen States were sufficiently interested to send delegates. But the largest representation came from Illinois and other western States. The proceedings of the convention were held in a large tent in the public square bounded by Clark, Washington, La Salle and Randolph streets. Preliminary to the opening there was a parade through the streets, of which Horace Greeley said, ' ' the spectacle was truly magnificent. " " The citizens of Chicago, of course, ' ' he added, ' ' furnished the most imposing part of it, — the music, the military, the ships on wheels, ornamented fire engines, etc. I never wit- nessed anything so superb as the appearance of the fire 220 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. companies with their engines drawn by led horses, tastefully caparisoned. " The principal emblem seen in the procession was a ship with all sails set and signals flying, drawn by eight horses and manned throughout by sailors. This was typical of the object of the convention. The citizens were fairly delirious with joyous excitement. "At an early hour," according to the Chicago Evening Journal, ' ' the streets were thronged with strangers, the gray haired and the young, the matron and the maid, the hope and the promise of a coming day, and the veteran of his three score and ten. Flags were flying from every steamer and sail vessel in port, blasts of martial music swelled ever and anon upon the air, and the deep notes of artillery boomed over the prairie and the lake. Joyous faces were everywhere, and Heaven itself smiled upon the scene. At 9 o'clock the roar of cannon and the roll of drums announced the hour for the formation of the proces- sion. The fort, Water, Lake and Washington streets were alive with the military, the fire companies and the civic pro- cession. Column after column and line after line, away they moved to the rendezvous ; banner after banner, band after band, host after host. It was a glorious, almost a sublime spectacle, worthy the time ere Babel left the world. Five thousand men, five thousand yV-eemen, in solid column mov- ing on, not to carnage, but to the expression of a great truth, the pleading of a great necessity, the arguing of a great cause." The convention assembled at 12 o'clock and elected Edward Bates of Missouri presiding officer. Thurlow Weed says an immense throng of citizens gathered around the seats provided for the convention. "An army of reporters" was seated on either side of the president. "This is undoubtedly the largest deliberative body that ever assembled," was Mr. Weed's opinion. "In looking around the sea of faces turned toward the chair I recognize CHICAGO RIVER AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 221 from various parts of the Union men of distinguished talents. Among the most prominent are Senator Cor win and Gover- nor Bebb, ex-Governor Morrow of Ohio, Andrew Stewart, Joseph R. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, Thomas Butler King of Georgia. ' ' The convention was first addressed by Rev. William Allen, a delegate from Massachusetts. He sought to show ' ' that the land of the Puritans was the hive from which swarmed the intelligent and enterprising settlers who were now developing the agriculture of this boundless and fertile region." Thomas Corwin of Ohio was called before the conven- tion and made a characteristic speech. In it were covert but pertinent allusions to the delicate distinctions made by the Memphis convention the year previous between objects which the General Government could legally aid and those it could not. The following paragraph is from Corwin' s speech as reported by Thurlow Weed: ' ' Congress has power to regulate commerce between the several States. If you send a cargo of wheat from Chicago to Buffalo, a distance of 1,000 miles, crossing lake after lake, stretching away in their magnificent length, would not one naturally think that this might be called commerce ? But no, that is a mistake, we are told. What is it then, my brother ? Why that is trade (a laugh). But if you send the same cargo from New York to New Orleans, what is it then ? Well, then, it is commerce. Why is it not in the first instance as well as in the last ? Oh, it is not on salt water (a laugh). He begged gentlemen would notice this nice distinction between commerce and trade. If we are engaged in business upon salt water it is commerce. If upon fresh water, then it is trade (a laugh). Such is the beautiful construction of that clause in the Constitution, as given to it in various parts of the Union. If you are desir- ous of knowing the construction of that clause, recollect. 222 DRAINAGK CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. you are not to ask the opinion of some able lawyer or erudite statesman, but you must seek some distinguished chemist and have the water carefully analyzed to discover whether it is salt or fresh (a laugh)." On the second day letters were read from public men who were unable to be present. Thomas H. Benton of Missouri wrote that the lake and river navigation of the great West very early had a share of his attention, and he never had a doubt of the constitutionality or expediency of bringing that navigation within the circle of internal improvement by the Federal Government, when the object to be improved should be one of general and national importance. The junctions of the two great systems of water which occupy so much of our country, — the northern lakes on the one hand, and the Mississippi river and its tributaries on the other, — appeared to him to be an object of that character, and Chicago the proper point for effecting the union. .Nearly thirty years previously he had written and published articles in a St. Louis paper in favor of that object, indicated and alnlost accomplished by nature herself and wanting but little from man to complete it. Articles in the St. Louis Enquirer of April, 1819, ex- pressed the opinions he then entertained. A report to the secretary of war on this subject, which was written by him- self, Mr. Benton said, was, he thought, the first formal com- munication upon authentic data in favor of the Chicago canal. Messrs. Graham and Phillips, with John C. Sullivan of Missouri, having been appointed by the secretary of war to run a line from the south end of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, Mr. Benton proposed to them that they examine the ground between Chicago and the headwaters of the Illi- nois river with a view to the construction of a canal by the Federal Government. They did so, and on their return to St. Louis submitted all their observations to him, Benton ; CHICAGO KIVEE AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 223 hence the publications in the newspapers and the report to the secretary of war. Henry Clay wrote that he cordially concurred in what was announced to be the object of the convention, and that he should be happy to assist in the accomplishment of it if it were in his power. Martin Van Buren begged the convention to be assured that it did him but justice in assuming that he was by no means indifferent to its objects. Having visited the most distant parts of the interesting West, and witnessed with admiration and high hopes its peculiar capacities for improve- ment, he could not but wish success to all constitutional efforts that have that direction. In a letter received too late to be read at the convention Daniel Webster insisted that he was a firm advocate of the improvement of the rivers and harbors of the West. ' ' Does anyone suppose, ' ' he asked, ' ' that any government or any administration can receive any support and confidence which refuses all harbor improvements to the city in which the convention is now to assemble ? Chicago, a commercial place of recent origin, is already a large city. It is the sea- port of Illinois. It is now accessible by vessels from the Atlantic ocean. It is also on a great line of internal com- munication from Boston and New York to New Orleans. Shall it have no convenient harbor ? Shall it be able to afford no safe refuge for property and life from the storms which vex the lake?" Mr. Webster was sure he would see the cause of internal improvement triumph by decided majorities. He would see the noble rivers of the West cleared of their obstructions. He would seethe great inter- nal improvements of the country protected and advanced by a wise, liberal and constitutional exercise of the powers of government. Letters were received from Silas Wright of Ohio, Oovernor Alpheus Welch and General Lewis Cass of Mich- 224 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. igan, Thomas B. Curtiss and Joseph Grinnel of Massa-: chusetts, Bradford R. Wood, George P. Barker and "Wash- ington Hunt of New York. The resolutions adopted contained no specific recommen- dations, but sought to prove that the distinction between objects of national and local importance was not well founded. It was urged that Congress, possessed of the means and power which had been denied to the States, became obli- gated to provide the facilities and the protection which the States individually would have afforded had the revenue and the authority been left to them. An export from the American shore to a British port in Canada was as much foreign commerce as though it went directly to Liverpool. An exportation to Liverpool neither gained nor lost any of the characteristics of a foreign export by the directness or circuity of the route. It was the same whether it passed through a custom house on the British side of the St. Lawrence, or descended through that river and its connecting canals to the ocean, or whether it passed along the artificial communications and natural [streams of any of the States of the Atlantic. The General Govern- ment, by extending its jurisdiction over lakes and navigable rivers, subjecting them to the same laws which prevailed on the ocean and on its bays and ports, not only for purposes of revenue but to give security to life and property by the regulation of steamboats, had precluded itself from denying that jurisdiction for any other legitimate regulation of com- merce. If it had the power to control and restrain it must have the same power to protect, assist and facilitate. If it denied jurisdiction in the one mode of action it should renounce it in the other. Finally, the resolutions declared that the convention was utterly incapable of perceiving the difference between a harbor for shelter and a harbor for commerce, but it believed that a mole or pier which would afford safe CHICAGO RIVE.E AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 225 anchorage and protection to a vessel against a storm must necessarily improve such harbor and adapt it to commercial purposes. In the discussion of the resolutions, David Dudley Field sought to make the distinction that national aid should be given to the construction or the improvement of the water- ways which traversed more than one State ; those lying wholly within a single State could not be constitutionally aided. In his report of the proceedings, Horace Greeley thus quotes and answers him : " In the same mistaken spirit (referring to Silas Wright), Mr. David Dudley Field of our city, when arguing before the convention in favor of a ' strict construction ' and dis- playing the awful perils of latitudinarian views and policy on this subject, being asked, ' Do you consider an appropri- ation for the improvement of the Illinois river constitu- tional ? ' — ' Does it run through more than one State ? ' was his Yankee answer. ' No, no,' responded a hundred voices. ' Then I do not consider it constitutional, ' was his response. Now the principle here aimed at may be sound yet the ap- plication be flagrantly blundering. A river may be wholly in one State, yet its navigation be immensely important to a dozen, — as the Hudson, for example, — while another may run through two or more States, yet its navigation be far less important to any or all. Thus the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, only a few miles long, lying wholly within the limits of the smallest State in the Union, is plainly a work of great national importance, while the Delaware and Hudson, ten times as long and penetrating two great States, is palpably local in its character and uses. Mr. Field's dis- tinction is ill taken and worthless. " ' But do you hold that the Hudson may be constitu- tionally improved ? ' was the next question. ' Below a cus- tom house it may,' replied Mr. Field. Here was revived in essence the very distinction between salt and fresh water 15 226 DEAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. improvements which Mr. F. had just before most emphati- cally repudiated. And is it not a most fallacious and irra- tional distinction ? Consider its practical eflfect in filling the country with inland custom houses, — at St. Louis, at Albany, at Pittsburg, etc., — to the pernicious multiplica- tion of offices and the sensible increase of our public burdens. Who can seriously regard it as more constitu- tional to improve the Ohio with a custom house at Pittsburg than if the goods had paid duties at Cincinnati, Louisville, or even New Orleans ? Who does not see that the doctrine here enunciated makes the improvement of our rivers subor- dinate entirely to the raising of revenue, while the facilities of commerce and the promotion of national well-being are made the merest incidents of the taxing power ? Instead of raising revenue for purposes of general beneficence, we tol- erate such purposes as incidental to the raising of revenue. I protest. ' ' ' But may the Government make a harbor at Chicago ?' Mr. F. was asked. ' Was there any harbor here already ? ' he queried in turn. Here is Mr. Wright's distinction again. But just consider it for a moment. Suppose there had been originally a dozen perfect harbors on the southern coast of Lake Michigan, with half a dozen needing some work to render them safe and accessible, these latter being needed only for local accommodation, might not their im- provement have been fairly deferred to local and personal enterprise, on the ground asserted by Colonel Benton that they in truth ' harbored nothing but the interest of their owners ? ' Now take the actual case of the entire coasts of Lake Michigan, nine hundred miles in extent and covered with commerce, yet without a single harbor or place of refuge for vessels in a storm, who can doubt that the construction of one or more harbors is imperatively demanded by con- siderations of national and general well being ? No matter if they have to be made entirely, — scooped out of the shifting CHICAGO KIVEK AND HARBOR CONVKNTION. 2^7 sands and fortified by expensive piers, — the very fact that they must be expensive puts them beyond the reach of pri- vate enterprise or local exertion. The greater the natural deficiency, — -the necessity of harbors being obvious and con- ceded, — the more palpable the necessity, and thus the con- stitutionality of national interposition." Although this remarkable convention was called specifi- cally for the purpose of furthering the interests of harbors and navigable rivers,its thought could not be disassociated from the paramount advantages of a waterway communication between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river. The Government had already aided the Illinois and Michigan canal, then near- ing completion, and there was no word of protest from the strict constructionists. Discussion did not dwell upon the canal, because there was then no indication that its capacity was not sufficient for the commercial needs of the future. But the influence of the convention has strengthened the sentiment that an adequate waterway through the Desplaines and Illinois valleys is of national importance. Thurlow Weed was strongly impressed with the future of Chicago. Rewrote to his paper : " Chicago is destined to be a large and beautiful city. It is regularly laid out, with its broad avenues, and out of the business part of the city it is thickly planted with trees which will soon, in addition to adorning the city, furnish a grateful shade. It has four admirably conducted schools, much larger than ours and filled with children. The various religious denomi- nations have large houses of public worship. The river extending well through the city furnishes an ample and excellent harbor. All are looking forward anxiously to the completion of the canal. That done, Chicago will eclipse even its own past magic-like growth. In ten years Chicago will contain more inhabitants than Albany. ' ' The Chicago river and harbor convention was prompted by the unsatisfactory results of the Memphis convention 228 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. held in Ndvember. 1845. The object of the latter conven- tion was "to confer on the measures which should be adopted for the development of the resources of the valley of the Mississippi and the adjacent States on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast. ' ' Nearly six hundred dele- gates were in attendance. Sixteen States and one territory were represented. John C. Calhoun presided. The delib- ations of the convention, in the main, were directed to the development of the Mississippi as far north as Memphis into an arm of the sea, and to the construction of a railroad to connect the Mississippi or the Gulf with the Atlantic States. Although Calhoun was firmly opposed to internal im- provements at the expense of the General Government, unless three or more States were benefited, he thought there were occasions when the principle might be made elastic. He is reported as saying in his opening address that ' ' it was the genius of our Government, and what to him was its beautiful feature, that what individual enterprise could effect alone was to be left to individual enterprise ; what a State and individuals could achieve together was to be left to the joint action of States and individuals ; but what neither of these separately or conjointly were able to accomplish, that and that only was the province of the Federal Govern- ment. ' ' Mr. Calhoun favored a grant of land to aid the construc- tion of a railroad between the Mississippi river and the southern Atlantic States because other public lands would be benefited thereby, and the National Government could not be expected to refuse to do what would result in its own benefit. "It would neither be just nor fair," he said in a report drawn by him and presented to the United States Senate, " for it to stand by and realize the advantage they would derive from the work without contributing a due pro- portion towards its construction. It would be still less justifiable to refuse to contribute if its effects should be to CHICAGO KIVER AND HARBOR CONVENTION. 229 defeat a work the construction of which, while it would enhance the value of the land belonging to the public and that of individual proprietors, would promote the prosperity of the country generally. ' ' Scant recognition was given the advantages which might result from an improved communication between the Missis- sippi and the Great Lakes. Of twenty resolutions adopted the following brief one alone referred to it: "That the project of connecting the Mississippi river with the lakes of the north by a ship canal, and thus with the Atlantic ocean, is a measure worthy of the enlightened consideration of Congress. ' ' A committee was appointed by the convention to draft a memorial to Congress. In this memorial it was con- ceded that a connection of the northern lakes with the Mississippi and the Atlantic by a ship canal was among the objects not within the jurisdiction of a single State to con- trol, but common in its benefits to the whole Union and within the powers of the General Government. But the benefits which warranted the consideration of Congress were military and not commercial. "As a mere speculative improvement within the limits of a single State, simply to open a new channel between other natural outlets of com- merce, this project," the committee said, "could claim, probably, no action from your honorable body. As a ship canal (if practicable) connecting the northern lakes of the Mississippi with the Gulf of Mexico it may, however, under the powers of the General Government to provide for the general defense, merit ' the enlightened consideration of Congress.' The frontiers of the lakes and Gulf are now disconnected. They are in opposite directions and the ex- treme points of the Union, and the naval forces intended for the defense of either must be local, prepared for that specific object. By no means could they now be made to combine or cooperate together. If the Mississippi, how- 230 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ever, could be made navigable at all seasons for war steam- ers, and a communication of like capacity could be opened between that river and northern lakes, it must be apparent to your honorable body that the project might be made to contribute most essentially to the security of the country in time of war, not merely in the great despatch secured, but in the greater economy in the application of the means to the end. It would enable our fleets to circumnavigate three-quarters of the circle of the Union. It would enable one fleet to act on two frontiers, or two fleets to combine and cooperate, whether in the Gulf or the lakes, wherever danger called. The practicability of the project estab- lished by scientific examination and survey, and its policy,. as a means of protection, would merit grave consideration." The report of the Senate committee to whom this me- morial was referred was written by Mr. Calhoun. In it occurs this clause : "In reference to that portion of the memorial which relates to the connection of the Mississippi and the lakes by a canal which would admit ships of the largest class navigating either to pass from one to the other, your committee fully concur in all which it states in reference to its importance ; but they are of the opinion that Congress has no power under the Constitution to con- struct such a work. It stands, in that respect, on the same ground with railroads and other works of internal improve- ment ; and like them it may be aided directly by Congress should it pass through the public domain, by the grant of alternate sections, but no further." Congress took no action on the memorial. < % H ■< J H M o s o I— ( O M o o « o M > o s P3 o Q Q w H H it CHAPTER XVI. SHIP CANAL BEFORE CONGRESS. Encouraged by the universal sentiment in favor of a serviceable waterway between the lakes and the Mississippi, exhibited at the convention of 1847, its advocates were per- sistent in their claims. The Illinois and Michigan canal, completed in the following year, proved its usefulness com- mercially, until the diminishing depth of the Illinois river reduced the traffic between -La Salle and the Mississippi. The United States (jovernment was then urged with in- creased vigor to construct a ship canal from lake to river, with a capacity sufficient to meet the demands. Appeals in the interest of commerce fell upon deaf ears. It was not until the War of the Rebellion was in progress, and the military advantages of a canal large enough to pass gunboats and transports with supplies became apparent, that Congress consented to listen. The blockade of the Mississippi placed the North at a disadvantage in its valley operations, and there was a constant fear that Great Britain would become the ally of the South. In the latter event, it was argued, a fleet could be sent into the Great Lakes within sixty days that would place every city on their coasts at the mercy of the enemy, and open up a communication to every stronghold of the North. It was hardly expected that an enlarged canal could be constructed soon enough to be of use in the existing war, but the lesson to be learned from the possibilities was not to be overlooked. A bill was introduced in the House of Representatives early in 1862, providing for the construction of a serviceable 231 232 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAT. waterway, and was before that body nearly a year. There was no measure, even in those exciting times, that receiyed closer attention and provoked more bitter animosities than this. Days and weeks were spent in its discussion. It failed at last to pass the House by a narrow majority of ten, the vote standing 61 to 71. The defeat of the bill was brought about chiefly by the jealous opposition of Indiana and Ohio, whose representatives insisted that its military features were only a cloak, and that its real purpose was to benefit a single State at the expense of the whole country. The bill originated with the committee on military affairs. It authorized the construction of a ship canal for the passage of armed and naval vessels from the Mississippi river to Lake Michigan, and for other purposes. It was introduced by Mr. Blair of Missouri on February 20, 1862. The bill was read twice, ordered printed and recommitted to the committee on military affairs. It was reported back by this committee on June 13, with amendments which provided for the improvement of eastern canals. As amended, the bill contained the following provisions: 1. As soon as the State of Illinois shall transfer to and vest in the United States a clear and unencumbered title to the Illinois and Michigan canal, William H. Swift, one of the Canal Trustees, with an engineer in the topographical corps of the United States army, to be designated by the secretary of war, and a citizen of the State of Illinois to be •designated by the President of the United States, shall be •commissioned with authority, under the direction of the secretary of war, to enlarge the Illinois and Michigan canal, and to improve the navigation of the Illinois and Desplaines rivers in such a manner as to furnish a suitable and sufficient water communication for the gunboats and other naval and war vessels of the United States between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river. 2. The Commissioners shall forthwith make a careful SHIP CANAL BEFORE CONGKES8. 233 examination and survey of the canal and river, and deter- mine upon a suitable plan for the improvement of the canal, which shall be not less than 160 feet wide, with locks not less than 350 feet in length and 75 feet in width, and for the improvement of the Illinois river in such a manner as to insure a safe and uninterrupted water navigation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river at all times during the season of navigation of gunboats, steamboats, naval and war vessels of the United States, and all other vessels not drawing over six feet of water. 3. On approval of the plans by the President the Com- mission shall proceed with the execution of the work with such dispatch as the nature of the work and the funds ap- propriated by Congress will permit. 4. Under the direction of the secretary of the treasury the Commission shall have exclusive control of the canal and condemn all lands needed, under the laws of the State of Illinois, the work to be done by the lowest responsible bid- der at public lettings. 5. The revenues above necessary expenses shall be paid into the United States treasury, to be appropriated, first, to the payment of the interest and principal expended by the United States ; and, second, to the payment to the State of Illinois of the entire amount which was a charge upon the canal at the time of the conveyance to the United States, with interest. 6. Each of the Commissioners shall receive a salary not exceeding $6,000 per annum. 7. After reimbursement to the United States of the amount expended by them and to the State of Illinois of the canal indebtedness, it shall be the duty of the President of the United States, upon the request of the Legislature of the State of Illinois, to transfer to the State of Illinois the Illinois and Michigan canal, with a proviso to be attached that the canal shall forever after be open and free to navi- 234 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. gation by all citizens of the United States, subject only to such tolls as shall be necessary to keep the canal in suitable repair and defray the current expenses of management, and subject to the further condition that the United States shall have the right at all times to transport vessels of war, troops and public property over the canal absolutely free from any toll or other charge. 8. The Government of the United States will, as soon as the State of Illinois shall have transferred the canal, ap- ply the sum of $13,346,824 in bonds of the United States, redeemable in twenty years from date, bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent, payable semi-annually, to the con- struction of the work, the interest to be payable and the bonds redeemable out of moneys to be appropriated by Con- gress, principal and interest to be reimbursable from the tolls and revenue of the canal, and the secretary of the treasury may pledge the net tolls and revenues for the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds. 9. The bonds shall bo delivered to the Commissioners on demand, and $20,000 shall be advanced for preliminary expenses. 10. Enlargement of the locks of the Erie and Oswego canals to a capacity sufficient to pass vessels of war at least 25 feet wide and 200 feet long is authorized, the Grovern- ment of the United States to apply the sum of $3,500,000 to the work in bonds bearing 6 per cent interest and re- deemable in twenty years. 11. Bonds for the enlargement of the Illinois and Michi- gan canal and the improvement of the Desplaines and Illi- nois rivers shall be delivered upon condition that the State of Illinois shall pay the excess which the improvements cost over $13,346,824. A similar provision is made in the case of the New York canals. Mr. Blair advanced the argument that the Illinois and Michigan canal was a measure of national defense. He SHIP CANAL BEFORE CONGRESS. 235 referred to the commercial success of the Erie canal, and said he believed the enlarged Illinois and Michigan canal would pay the interest on $10,000,000 and wipe out the principal in a very few years. Mr. Arnold of Illinois asked the attention of the House "to the most important work in a national point of view ever presented to the consideration of Congress. " " It is no experiment," he said, "which Congress is asked to make. The plan is based upon no untried theory, but is embodied in a simple proposition of the State of Illinois asking the National Government to aid with her credit so far and so fast as the tolls of the canal will meet the accruing interest. ' ' The speaker read a resolution passed by the constitutional convention of the State of Illinois held at Springfield, March 17, 1862, which said : "The improvement contem- plated would not only be of great utility to the State of Illinois, but of paramount importance in time of war, either foreign or domestic, to the defense and preservation of the Union, and this State will cooperate with the General Gov- ernment in any plan for its speedy construction." Mr. Arnold also read from the report of the select com- mittee on the defense of the lakes and great rivers. ' ' The realization of the , grand idea of a ship canal from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, for military and commercial purposes, is the great work of the age. In effect commer- cially, it turns the Mississippi into Lake Michigan, and makes an outlet for the Great Lakes at New Orleans, and of the Mississippi at New York. It brings together the two great systems of water communication of ".our country, — the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, and the canals con- necting the lakes with the ocean on the East, and the Miss- issippi and Missouri with all their tributaries on the West and South. This communication, so vast, can be effected at small expense, and with no long delay. It is but carry- ing out the plan of Nature. A great river, rivalling the St. 236 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Lawrence at no distant day, was discharged from Lake Michigan by the Illinois into the Mississippi. Its banks, its currents, its islands and deposits can still be easily traced, and it only needs a deepening of the present channel for a few miles to reopen a magnificent river from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi." The report further stated that had the ship canal been opened, its cost would have been nearly saved during the previous year in the expenses of the expeditions on the Mississippi. Mr. Arnold said the only objection which had been urged against the work, was that of a supposed draft upon an already overburdened treasury. This objection, had been carefully considered by the committee, which believed that the interest on the cost of the canal would be promptly paid by the tolls, and that such tolls would provide a sink- ing fund which would at an early day discharge the princi- pal. Thus this great national work, free always for the military purposes of the Government, having paid for itself, would become free to the vast and constantly increas- ing commerce of the lakes and the Mississippi. It would save to the Northwest every year, in lessening the cost of transportation of its staples, more than its entire cost. It would, the day it was completed, add to the taxable prop- erty of the nation an amount the taxes upon which would more than pay the interest upon its cost. The Northwestern States embraced one -half the loyal people of the Union. While Congress had appropriated at the present session nearly $50,000,000 for forts, ships, etc., on the Atlantic, not $1,000,000 had been given to the Northwest. The great naval depots, shipyards, arsenals, and armories at the East, had received large appropriations, but there was no depot, armory, shipyard, nor foundry on all the northern lakes. Mr. Arnold read from a statement of the secretary of the treasury, the amounts of money expended by the Government from the adoption of the con- SHIP CANAL BEFOKE CONGRESS. 237 stitution to June 30, 1860, in each State and Territory for navy yards, custom houses, court houses and other public buildings, for the improvement of rivers and harbors, etc. Out of a total of $111,773,986, Illinois, the fourth State in the Union, had received less than $1,000,000. Mr. Arnold appealed to the justness and the fairness of the eastern States. ' ' We ask nothing for our immediate local advant- age," he said, "but when we ask aid for a work so national, so necessary to national defense and security, so beneficial to every section, I trust we shall not ask in vain. ' ' He insisted there was not a place on earth where the same amount of money would accomplish such vast commercial results. Quoting from the reports of the Erie canal, Mr. Arnold added : ' ' Looking at these and other statistics, no sensible man will doubt but this Illinois canal will in a short time pay for itself, and become, as it ought to be, free as the great waters it will unite. Thirty-six miles of cutting, already more than half done, is the only obstacle to letting a Niagara of waters from the lakes into the Mississippi, a Niag- ara of trade from the valley of the Mississippi to the Atlantic. The military necessities of the country and the wants of com- merce alike demand that this work be done. These are too strong to be resisted. He who stands in the path of these improvements, to hinder or delay them, will be swept away. ' ' Mr. Pomeroy of New York said it was never designed that the almost boundless cereal productions of the North- west shoiald be borne to market through the torrid heat of the Mexican gulf and the Middle ocean. Were that the only outlet, a hundred million bushels of growing corn would be shut out from market, and become worthless except for fuel. The course of the Great Lakes, commencing within a few miles of the head waters of the Mississippi, and stretching with their rivers easterly through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 238 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. completed the want, without which the rich granary of the Northwest would but mock the hunger of the world. It was a happy circumstance that the expenditure provided for by the bill, while furnishing the most economical means possible for defense, was also the most judicious means of development of the material resources of the country. Mr. Van Horn of New York pleaded for the freedom of the Mississippi, one great outlet for both sections of the country. To draw a line between the North and the South, the East and the West, and compel communication and inter- course to cease, would dry up the fountains of the country^ s prosperity, and turn back the overflowing tide of progress. Mr. Stevens of Pennsylvania attacked the bill by ridicule. He offered an amendment providing for an appropriation of 11,000,000 to slackwater the Susquehanna river from its mouth to its source in New York, and for constructing a ship canal from the latter point to Lake Erie at or near Buffalo. ' ' I offer that amendment, ' ' he said, ' ' for the purpose of showing that we are not selfish; that we are willing to take our full share of the many millions which these internal improvements will cost. But, Sir, to say nothing of that, I believe this the most feasible scheme that has been offered. The Susquehanna river has water in it, whereas the Illinois river has sometimes only, and I have great fear that if you open communication to it from the lake to furnish water for the river you will drain the lake and find nothing but dry land." The cost might be $200, 000,000, but that would be nothing, judging by the speeches made. He did not expect the bill would receive so many votes as there had been speeches made favoring it. But an election veas close at hand, and the measure might be useful in navigating shoals. It would take years to complete the Illinois canal, and cost millions upon millions of dollars. The bill was laid on the table in July, but was taken up again in January, 1863. From this time until its defeat it SHIP CANAL BEFORE CONGRESS. 239 was before the House almost continually. It was first amended by providing that the appropriation by the National Government should not exceed 110,000,000. William S. Holman of Indiana, who has since earned the title of " Objector," was a vigorous opponent of the bill, attacking it on technical grounds. His first point was that, because of the amendment, the bill was not the same as the one which had been pending, and, since it appropriated money, it must be first considered in the committee of the whole on the state of the Union. " My young and aspiring friend is mistaken upon both points," said Mr. Olin of New York. The speaker over- ruled the gentleman from Indiana, and the discussion was continued. But the filibustering was resumed by Mr. Holman, who was aided by Mr. Stevens of Pennsylvania, and a vote on the bill was delayed. Said Mr. Kellogg of Illinois on February 4 : " The experience of more than a week past has shown that all parliamentary power and tactics which are accessible to gentlemen upon this floor will be brought to bear to prevent a vote upon and to defeat this bill. I have no objection to a fair discussion of or action upon this bill. But when it is met at every possible step by all the machinery, large and small, by all power, official and otherwise, to defeat it, I, for one, am disposed to try the strength of the measure by putting it upon its passage. I desire that to-morrow or next day at one o'clock a vote shall be taken, and then, if it is killed, let it be killed ; if it dies for want of votes let it go down; but in God's name do not strangle it or let it go by indirection." Mr. Voorhees of Indiana opposed the bill on the ground that the canal would cost untold millions of dollars, and that it would be useless, unless the channel of the Mississippi was also deepened, to admit boats of the size of those expected to reach the mouth of the Illinois. He desired to know whether it was not a fact that the Missis- 240 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. sippi, from the Illinois to St. Louis, was navigable only for the smallest boats for the greater portion of the year, and whether the improvement of the navigation of that river was at all practicable. " I may say," he added, "so far as I have any right to speak for any portion of the Great West, that we, for the present at least, in our present condition of finance, are satisfied with the channels of communication which the Almighty has created for us. We shall be satisfied to be in possession of the channel of the Mississippi river. It is better than any of your canals. You cannot compete with what the Almighty has done in that valley. And you cannot turn back the course of trade. You can no more turn back the current of trade of that broad and fertile agricultural region against its natural tendencies to the Gulf of Mexico, thari you can turn the waters of its great river backward toward its source." He referred contemptu- ously to the proposed ditch across the State of Illinois, and declared that the bill was framed merely for the ben- efit of a local interest at the expense of the entire body politic. Mr. Holman declared that Illinois and New York would profit at the expense of their sister States and of the public credit, and that, too, on the miserable pretense of providing for the national defense. " When gentlemen propose to re- concile the Northwest to an abandonment of its great natural thoroughfare by creating these artificial channels of commu- nication, they misapprehend the spirit and temper of the entire valley of the Mississippi," he said. Mr. Porter of Indiana said the bill aimed a blow at the State which he in part represented and others of the Western States. Before the conclusion of the debate, Mr. Washburne of Illinois, one of the most vigorous of the bill's defenders, was prompted to say: " The hostility which has been developed in this hall to this great national and military project, and SHIP CANAL BEFORE CONGRESS. 241 to the interests of the great Northwest, is of the most extraordinary character that I have ever witnessed during my term of service in Congress." To aid in the defeat of the bill, resolutions were hastily passed by the State Legislatures of Ohio and Indiana con- demning it. These were promptly read in Congress. The only members from Indiana who voted for the bill, were Colfax, White and Julian. The Ohio members voting in its favor were limited to Ashley and Riddle. The Chicago Tribune's Washington correspondent telegraphed that paper on the day of the final vote : ' ' The feeling over the defeat of the bill was unusually bitter. Washburne was particularly conspicuous in declaring that Congress had voted to smother the Northwest and might as well adjourn ; that the country had received a vital stab by to-day's action." The New York Times, in reviewing the proceedings of the final day, and commending the action of the advocates of the bill, said : ' ' All efforts, however, proved unavailing against the defection of a part of New York and the hostil- ity and tactics of Pennsylvania. The disastrous change in the Ohio and Indiana votes had been skillfully effected by resolutions lately hurried through the Ohio Legislature on the exaggerated misrepresentations of Mr. F. A. Conkling, as to the fabulous cost of the proposed work, and which Mr. Olin, on the floor of the House, stigmatized as a tissue of falsehoods. The unfriendly feeling of the members rep- resenting the Ohio river districts, was stimulated by jeal- ousies of the immense and rapidly increasing commerce which Chicago would enjoy by reason of the proposed canal through Illinois, connecting Lake Michigan with the Miss- issippi. The stream of trade, the life blood of the Erie canal revenues, may soon be exposed to serious hazard as the Illinois Legislature, under this sectional rebuff, will without delay apply to Canada to construct the Ottawa ship canal, twelve feet in depth, leading directly from Lake 16 242 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Michigan to Montreal, nearly five hundred miles in dis- tance, and wholly avoiding New York and its canals. New York has little reason to thank six of her recusant members on whom directly falls the responsibility of defeating this great national measure for cheaply connecting the Missis- sippi with the Hudson. ' ' ' The bill came to a final vote and was lost on February 9, 1863. Mr. Arnold secured the privilege from the com- mittee on roads and canals to report the bill again, without the Erie and Oswego canals amendment, but nothing further was ever heard of it. On April 16, 1878, a bill for the construction of a ship canal was introduced in the House by Carter H. Harrison of Chicago, but it failed to get beyond second reading. CHAPTER XVII. DEEPENING OP THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL. During the early part of the year 1S63, while the bill providing for a ship canal in the Illinois valley was pend- ing in Congress, the people of Chicago were earnestly discussing the proposition to deepen the Illinois and Mich- igan canal. At a meeting of citizens, Colonel J. W. Foster, George F. Rumsey, Charles Walker, William McKindley, R. McChesney, William Bross and John B. Preston were appointed a committee to collect statistics to prove the importance of uniting the waters of the Missis- sippi and the Atlantic by a ship canal. William Gooding and John B. Preston were detailed to collect the facts relating to the old canal with which they were familiar. Their report was made on May 30. It was based on a new survey made under their supervision by A. J. Mathewson. The estimate of the cost of a canal not less than 160 feet wide at the top, where an artificial channel was necessary, and an improvement of the Illinois river which would admit of the passage throughout of boats drawing not less than six feet of water, was $13,446,625. The channel pro- posed was not a ship canal as the term was generally understood, since it would not be navigable for ships, but only for the largest steamboats which could ascend the Mississippi at ordinary low water to St. Louis. The locks were to be 350 feet long and 75 feet wide, large enough to pass twelve ordinary canal boats at one lockage. It was assumed that a gunboat 200 feet long, 40 feet wide, and drawing 10 feet of water, if buoyed up by barges or lighters, could pass through the channel from one end to the other without difficulty. 2i3 244 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. It was proposed to enlarge the Illinois and Michigan canal from the Chicago river to the lower dam at Joliet, a distance of 33^ miles, to a width of 160 feet at the surface, and deepen it upon the Summit to the original level adopted by the Canal Commissioners in 1836. With a little ad- ditional excavation in the bottom of the channel for the first ten miles out of Chicago, boats with six feet draft could navigate the canal at the minimum stage of water in Lake Michigan. The most expensive part of the work would be that between Chicago and Joliet. Throughout this division the new channel would follow the line of the old canal. Below Joliet the old canal, except for the five or six miles between Marseilles and Ottawa, would be abandoned, and the Des- plaines and Illinois rivers improved by locks and dams. "The first 8^ miles from Chicago river," said the engineers, ' ' the material to be excavated is a compact clay, all of which can be easily excavated by machinery. This has been estimated at 25 cents per cubic yard. "For the next lOJ miles the excavation will be of a much more difficult character, though still mostly in earth, but a considerable proportion of it cemented clay intermixed with small stone or gravel. It is believed, however, that the greater part of it may be excavated by machinery, though with less facility than the first 8J miles. On a few of the sections embodied rock was found in the old exca- vations. This part of the work is estimated at 50 cents per cubic yard including all the various kinds of material. ' ' From the Sag, where the heavy rock excavations com- mence, to Lockport, a distance of lOJ miles, the excava- tion, except a slight covering of earth about two feet in depth, consists entirely of stratified lime rock. For some eight miles of this distance the depth of rock varies from twelve to sixteen feet. ' ' All of the excavation on this part of the line was com- DEEPENING OF THE CANAL. 245 pleted on the original plan of the 'deep cut,' except about 260,000 cubic yards, so that it only requires this amount to be excavated to make a perfect drainage to the bottom of the enlarged canal, and give a fall the full depth of the «xcavation for the entire distance. Considering the charac- ter of the rock and the favorable circumstances for execut- ing the work (permitting the use of machinery propelled by steam for drilling and removing it), we have deemed 90 cents per cubic yard a liberal price, and have estimated it at that price. " We mention particularly the character of the material to be excavated on this part of the work, and the prices at which we have estimated it, because its cost will be more than half the entire improvement. But this cut through the Summit, though expensive, accomplishes a very im- portant object. It diverts the waters of Lake Michigan into the valley of the Desplaines at Lockport through a canal 160 feet wide at the surface, and not less than 7-J- feet deep in an ordinary stage of the lake. A declivity of one inch per mile at the very lowest stage of Lake Michigan has been given on this 29 miles of canal in the estimates. ' ' From Lockport, where the Lake level runs out to the lower dam on the present canal at Joliet, the distance is 4^ miles and the lockage 50 feet. "The whole amount of lockage from the point where we leave the present canal at Joliet to La Salle is 88 feet, and from thence to the mouth of the Illinois river 32 feet, making the aggregate lockage from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi 170 feet. The whole distance is 320 miles. To overcome this difference of level we have estimated in all, above La Salle, fourteen lift locks, the lifts varying irom eight to twelve feet each. But one guard lock is required. All but three of the nine locks below Joliet will be built upon short sections of canal, and entirely secure from river floods. 246 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. " Only five dams have been found necessary between Joliet and La Salle, two of them on the Desplaines river and three on the Illinois. The two on the Desplaines have been estimated entirely of stone, apd the three on the Illinois of crib work resting on timber foundations with stone abutments, being of the same character in all respects as those which were estimated for the Illinois river improve- ment below La Salle." The estimates were made on work to be constructed in the most substantial manner; nothing was added for show. The stone masonry in locks, dams and bridges was to be constructed of rock work, with a face sufficiently smooth for practical purposes only. The stone in the quarries along the line was thought to be well adapted to this kind of work, being regularly stratified, the beds parallel, and generally so smooth as to require little dressing. The following recapitulation shows the estimated cost for the channel throughout the 320 miles: Bridgeport to Lockport, Summit line 29 miles $7,209,742 00 Lockport to Dam No. 2, 50 feet lockage 4.5 " 876,323 60 Dam No. 2 to Lake Joliet, 24 feet lockage 3.5 " 500,085 30 Lake Joliet to La Salle, 64 feet lockage 59 " 2,198,932 10- La Salle to Mississippi River. 32 feet lockage. _220 " 1,644,335 00 Bridges, Culverts and Land Damages 325,000 00 Engineering and Contingencies 602,207 00 Total $13,446,625 00^ The engineers concluded their report by calling attention to some of the obvious advantages of the enlarged channel. They were as follows : 1. It would extend a navigation for first-class river steamers from the Gulf of Mexico to within one hundred miles of Lake Michigan at Chicago. 2. In connection with the Illinois and Michigan canal it would form the only cheap and direct navigable communi- cation between the Mississippi river and the great lakes. 3. It would so diminish the cost of transportation by th& DEEPENING OF THE CANjlL. 247 northern route to the seaboard and all intermediate points that the increase of business would be immense. 4. The extensive water power which would be created upon the Illinois and Michigan canal when the Summit should be cut down so as to draw a supply of water directly from Lake Michigan, would attract a large commerce from the lower Mississippi, which would otherwise never seek the northern route. 5. By the mutual interests created by the construction of the proposed improvement, the North and the South, the East and the AYest would be more firmly bound together, and there would be less danger from sectional prejudices and adverse interests. The committee on statistics in turn prepared an exhaust- ive report based on the facts collected by Messrs. Gooding and Preston. Their report was published in June, 1863. Reference was made to the bill which had failed of passage in Congress, and the fact was regretted. There followed a detailed description of the Mississippi basin and a reference to the fact that the commerce of the great lakes, the annual value of which was 1450,000,000, was more than twice that of the ocean commerce of the whole country. The com- mittee maintained that the commerce which floated upon a river like the Mississippi, which drained half a continent, or upon the great lakes, whose shore lines were longer than those of the seaboard states, or was poured through an arti- ficial channel like the New York canal, was as much national as that which belonged to the Atlantic. When it was known that eight-ninths of the cereals of the country were derived not from a single State, but from a group of States, and were moving not to a local market, but to the markets of the world, furnishing to navigating interests the outward-bound freight as well as the return cargo conferring a direct benefit on the national finances ; and when the proceeds of these products were traced through 248 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. all the ramifications of trade, it was evident that not merely the citizens of one State, but the western producer, the con- sumer at home and abroad, the navigator, the importer, the consumer of foreign fabrics, and the Government itself, all had a direct interest in the result. The proposed improvement was a measure whose benefits were not to be circumscribed by State lines, but one which connected three distinct sys- tems of navigation and rendered them available for external and internal commerce, for national unity and military defense. If it were asked why the State of Illinois did not execute the work or confide its execution to a chartered company, the committee would say that the State could not enter upon the work without changing her organic laws. While she was agreed on the policy of surrendering the route to the General irovernment to be used as a national highway, it was doubtful whether a like unanimity would prevail with regard to the State's taking such action, even if constitu- tional impediments were not in the way. The State, through her constitutional convention, had indicated her policy in no event to surrender the work to a chartered company. In conclusion, the committee stated that the enterprise was one which, in whatever light it was viewed, ought to commend itself to the favorable consideration of the country. In its lowest sense, as a mere pecuniary investment, the bonds of the United States, based on the tolls of the canal, would command the confidence of capitalists. As a commercial scheme it would enhance the value of the public lands and communicate a stimulus to agriculture which would be felt to the verge of civilization. It would cheapen the price of daily food and swell to a vast extent foreign commerce. As a national measure it would establish between the East and the West closer commercial and political afiWi- ations and forge a chain which no convulsion could sever. As a military system it would be the cheapest method of DEEPENING OF THE CANAL. 249 fortifying a line of frontier and of controlling an immense navigation. Two days after the publication of the report of the com- mittee the great ship canal convention of 1863 was held in Chicago. The earnest discussion which ensued and which had been prompted in part by the failure of the bill in Con- gress in February, 1863, resulted in a meeting of a joint committee representing the Board of Trade and the Common Council appointed to consider the urgent necessity of a western outlet for the Chicago, river. The question had now become one of sanitation rather than commerce. At this meeting resolutions were passed requesting the Com- mon Council to apply to the Legislature for authority to borrow a sum of money not to exceed $2,000,000 ; that the Common Council or the Board of Public Works be requested to ascertain by survey the practicability and the cost of draining the Chicago river by way of Mud lake to and along the Desplaines river ; that the Common Council or the Board of Public Works be requested to ascertain the cost of cutting a channel or ordinary canal from the South Branch of the Chicago river to the lake near the city limits with a sufficient capacity for cleansing the river ; that the Common Council be requested to provide for the appoint- ment of Commissioners consisting of three or more able and experienced civil engineers to consult with the city engineer and report upon the best plan for cleansing the Chicago river. These resolutions were presented to the Common Coun- cil on January 9, and adopted, and William Gooding, R. B. Mason, John VanNortwick, E. B. Talcott and E. S. Ches- brough were appointed a committee to fulfill the require- ments of the resolutions. The report of this committee, dated March 6, 1865, is given in full in Chapter VI. At a previous meeting of citizens a committee of thirty was appointed to devise measures for the permanent purifica- 250 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. tion of the Chicago river and its branches. This committee met on January 6, and appointed a sub-committee of three to urge upon the city authorities the necessity of having an im- mediate survey of the Desplaines river made from the point where the Mud lake ditch entered it, the excavation of which would create a current that would drain the South branch of the Chicago river. About the same time another faction of citizens met and endorsed a plan for draining the South branch of the river by pumping its water into a canal 100 feet wide, 15 to 25 feet deep and ten miles long, terminating at the Calumet river. They also reported a bill for an Act of the General Assembly, entitled, "An Act to Incorporate the Chicago River Commission." Resolutions were passed by the Com- mon Council on January 20, condemning the scheme pro- posed, the cost of which was estimated to be $3,000,000. Nothing further was heard of it. The agitation for an improvement of the Chicago river resulted in the Act of the State Legislature of Februarj' 16, 1865, providing for the completion of the Illinois and Mich- igan canal upon the plan adopted by the State in 1836. Contracts for the deepening of the canal across the Summit level were awarded in September, 1865. Fox, Howard & Walker were allotted sections 1 to 44 inclusive, terminating near the Sag, at 33 cents per cubic yard for earth excava- tion and $2 for rock. Sections 15 to 64 inclusive, approx- imately from the Sag to Lockport, were awarded to Sanger, Steele & Co., rock exclusively, at $1.64f per cubic yard. Both firms appear to have been unable to execute their con- tracts at the prices agreed upon, and there were repeated and prolonged delays. In the second year Fox, Howard & Walker agreed to pay |50,000, the amount of their bond, if released from their contract. Among their other difficul- ties they had encountered the cemented clay to which Engineers Gooding and Preston referred in their report to DEEPENING OF THE CANAL. 251 the committee on statistics and which defied the prevailing methods of excavation. The offer was not accepted, but the contractors finally abandoned work on sections 17 to 37. New bids were received for the work on these sections on December 3, 1886, the specifications reading "for all exca- vation except embodied rock, ' ' and ' ' for embodied rock. ' ' The new bids ranged from 50 cents to $1.50 for the work under the former classification, and from §2 to $3.50 under the latter. The bids were considered too high and none were accepted. On March 4, 1867, the contracts with Sanger, Steele & Co. were declared forfeited, and two days later the remainder of those held by Fox, Howard & Walker. For the purpose of making a test the Board of Pub- lic Works employed one of the dredging, machines belong- ing to the contractors until new bids were opened on May 1, 1867, covering the entire Summit division. The offers ranged from 23 cents to $2 for all excavation except embodied rock, and from $1.70 to $1 for embodied rock. Again no contracts were awarded, but on August 17, when bids were received a fourth time on sections 1 to 16, sections 1 to 13 were awarded to Fox, Howard & Walker at 55 cents, and sections 14 to 16 to Hirsch & Haroun at the same price. There were six subsequent lettings on the remaining sections at each of which the prices crept up to higher notches. There were several forfeitures of con- tracts, but the Board of Public Works virtually admitted that the work could not be done at the prices accepted by allowing Fox, Howard & Walker 90 cents a cubic yard during one of the intervals. When all the contracts were finally let the prices ranged from 55 cents to $1.50 for earth excavation and $1.85 to $4.50 for rock, an increase of 70 to 500 per cent in the earth prices and 12^ to 175 per cent in the rock prices. By the terms of the original contracts the work of deep- ening was to have been completed in 1868, but the Trustees 252 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of the canal consented to an extension of the time for three years. The records of the Board of Public Works are filled with urgent demands upon the contractors and threats of annulling contracts. Fox, Howard & Walker, and some of the other contractors, were ordered several times to pro- vide more and better machinery. The former were once directed to procure powerful steam dredges, one of which must be of the strongest construction. " It may be found," the order added, "that no dredge which can be built will successfully excavate the very hard material on portions of sections 40 and 41 and on some of tbe other sections between the Summit and the Sag." Money was advanced by the city to contractors for the pur- chase of machinery, chattel mortgages being received as security. The total amount expended for construction from the beginning of the canal in 1836 until the deepening was completed in 1871 was as follows : 1836 to 1842, By the State $5,139,492 03 1848 to 1848, By the Trustees 1,439,606 31 1866 to 1871, By the Oity of Chicago _ _ _ 3,800,883 71 Total __ $9,869,981 95 The following table shows the annual cost of the ordin- ary repairs, extraordinary repairs, renewals and hydraulic works, the gross expenses and the tolls of the Illinois and Michigan canal from the date of its opening in 1848 to 1892 inclusive : DEEPENING OF THE CANAL. '253 Year. Ordinary repairs. Extra- ordinary repairs, renewals and hydraulic works. Gross expenses. ToUs. 1848 1849 $36,452 43,922 38,418 . 39,447 43.816 40,383 36,587 38,316 33,101 37,256 36,115 34,026 34,308 39,238 40,034 49,394 47,535 39,355 43,716 46,163 53,984 49,514 43.098 64,555 43,785 53,525 49,139 46,241 42,418 54,965 43,836 44,076 47,604 53,597 67,309 56,515 55,731 47,659 44,101 48,509 43,605 43,907 40,258 48,501 48,476 $ 6,744 36,999 19,996 19,037 10,693 4,486 16,654 33,657 58,367 66,835 21,972 40,406 48,276 15,823 15,337 13,031 18,572 86,614 72,647 116,504 69,067 42,251 65,597 42,667 46,091 27,573 24,659 28,270 49,167 56,053 39,013 53,635 77,997 54,626 48,103 60,341 43.549 38,734 38,329 37,876 33,340 42,571 34,867 39,091 36,661 $43,197 70,922 58,415 58,475 53,508 44,870 53,242 70,873 91,458 103,082 58,088 74,432 82,583 55,061 65,362 62,715 66,107 124,869 116,363 162,656 133,053 91,765 108,695 97,222 88,876 81,098 73,798 74,511 91,585 110,018 82,839 97,701 135,601 108,223 105,412 116,756 99,280 86,393 73,430 71,385 76,845 85,478 75,135 73,592 67,137 $ 87,890 118,375 1850 125,504 1851 1863 173,300 168,577 1863 173,373 1854 198,326 1855 180,519 1866 184,310 1857 •. 1858 197,830 197,171 1859 133,140 I860 138,554 1861 218,040 1863 1863 364,657 310,386 1864 lii6,607 1865 300,810 1866 303,958 1867 1868 252,281 315,720 1869 338,759 1870 149,635 1871 1872 159,050 165,874 1873 166,641 1874 1875 144,831 107,081 1876 1877 113,293 96,913 1878 84,330 1879 89,064 1880 1881 93,396 85,130 1882 85,947 1883 1884 1885 77.975 77,102 66,800 1886 62,516 1887 58,024 1888 56,038 1889 66,305 1890 56,113 1891 1892 49,457 .54,987 CHAPTER XVIII. NATIONAL CANAL CONVENTION OF 1863. Less than a month after the defeat of the ship canal bill in Congress, a call was issued for a national convention to be held in Chicago to renew the agitation for an improved waterway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river. Although the country was occupied with a devastating war, this improvement was considered by the North of so much importance that it commanded the attention of every State not in rebellion. There were many who believed the mili- tary advantages of the enlarged channel were a sufficient reason for its construction, but these were no longer placed in the foreground. The call for the convention was sent out from Washing- ton on March 2, 1863. It said: " Regarding the enlarge- ment of the canals between the valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic as of great national, commercial and military importance, and as tending to promote the development, prosperity and unity of our whole country, we invite a meet- ing of all those interested in the subject in Chicago on the first Tuesday in June next. We especially ask the coop- eration and aid of the Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, agricultural and business associations of the country. ' ' The call was signed by most of the prominent members of Congress. Among them were Isaac N. Arnold and E. B. Washburne of Illinois, A. G. Riddle of Ohio, H. L. Dawes, Charles Sumner, Amasa Walker and Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, Samuel 254 NATIONAL CANAL CONVENTION OF 1863. 255 C. Fossenden of Maine, James K. Doolittle of Wisconsin, S. C. Pomeroy of Kansas, A. B. Olin and E. G. Spauld- ing of New York, James Harlan of Iowa, Francis P. Blair of Missouri, Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, and Edward Bates, attorney general. The convention met on June 2 and continued in session two days. The exercises were held in a tent on the lake shore, the seating capacity of which was ■4,700. Besides the State delegations there were present representatives from many business associations of the country. The Chicago Board of Trade was represented by N. K. Fairbank, S. Clary, George Armour, C. H. Walker, J. Y. Munn, Wil- liam Sturges, R. McChesney, N. K. Whitney, W. D. Houghteling, C. T. Wheeler, J. S. Rumsey, G. S. Hubbard, Charles Randolph and E. W. Densmore. Dr. Daniel Brain- ard called the convention to order, and Chauncey I. Filley, mayor of St. Louis, was made temporary chairman. Mr. Filley read some resolutions which had been adopted by the St. Louis City Council, in which that body declared that it looked with much interest and anxiety to the accom- plishment of the project proposed for the consideration of the convention. The president of the council had been in structed to appoint five members to represent the city in the convention, the mayor to act with them, and five delegates outside the council to represent the city. Dr. Brainard delivered the address of welcome. He said the occasion which had called the convention together was one of no ordinary character. It was not the call of a fam- ishing people, nor of cities threatened by hostile armies. It was the voice of men shut out from the markets of the world, oppressed by the excessive productions of their own toil, remaining wasting and worthless upon their own hands, depriving labor of half its rewards, discouraging industry and paralyzing enterprise. In their distress they called upon the National Legislature and failed to obtain the relief 256 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. which they had a right to expect. Now they appealed to the people themselves. x " Our fertile prairies," the speaker said, " lay for cen- turies untouched by the hand of agriculture, not because they were unknown, but because they were inaccessible. Their prosperity dates from the opening of the Erie canal, thirty-eight years ago. The increase of the West and its productiveness have all been the direct result and conse- quence of the construction of that and other channels of trade. To the genius of DeWitt Clinton these States owe their existence and the nation its present strength. Every city here is a monument to his honor The policy which he established has stood the test of time and secured the seal of success, but the results have so far exceeded his expectations that the channels he projected, enlarged and multiplied as they have been, are all filled to their, utmost capacity. The increase of the West may be stopped, her fertile fields deserted for the mines of Oregon, California and Colorado, her bright future darkened and her people discouraged by the refusal of the Government to open those means of communication upon which her growth and prosperity depend. Her commerce begins to feel the chain which fetters it ; her people already complain that the fruits of their labor are gathered up by others, and while carriers are enriched, consumers and producers suflfer alike and are impoverished. Under these circumstances she asks of Congress to construct from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic a channel adequate to the carrying of her staples and supplying her wants without unnecessary delay or ex- orbitant charges." This somewhat bombastic address closed with the assur- ance that the work proposed would not only join the lakes with the Mississippi river and the Atlantic, but it would form part of a great highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by means of which the wealth of Asia on the one NATIONAL CANAL CONVENTION OF 1863. 257 hand, and of Europe on the other might be grasped and made to pass through the bay of New York and the Golden Gate of San Francisco, thus encircling the whole earth, and bringing all nations to pay tribute and bow before the scepter of the country's commerce. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the United States, was chosen president of the convention. General Hiram Walbridge, vice-president at large, and Colonel J. W. Foster of Illinois, secretary. The scheme for a railroad to the Pacific, then incubating, came before the convention immediately after its organiza- tion. A delegate from Minnesota offered a resolution declaring that the construction of a northern, a central and a southern railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean was properly a subject of national cognizance, while the enlargement of canals within the limits of States between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic ocean was properly a subject of State cognizance alone. The reso- lution provoked such opposition that it was laid on the table. Among the resolutions presented was a series from the Mercantile Association of Chicago, the provisions of which were as follows : 1. To improve, under the authority of the General Government, slackwater navigation of the Illinois and Desplaines rivers by constructing locks and dams, 75 feet wide and 350 feet long, and to enlarge the present Illinois and Michigan canal to admit the passage of gunboats and the largest steamers from the Mississippi to the lakes. 2. To enlarge, under the same authority, the locks of the Erie and Oswego canals of New York to dimensions which will pass iron gunboats 25 feet wide, 200 feet long, and drawing not less than 6^ feet of water, by which twin improvement gunboats might be massed by an interior route from New Orleans to Chicago, Buffalo, Oswego, New York, 17 258 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Norfolk, Richmond and Beaufort, a distance of 4,300 miles, besides placing under the control of the naval power of the government the whole navigable system of the lakes. A canal around Niagara Falls was proposed in another resolution, but this subject was ruled out of discussion. The only fire-brand in the convention was thrown by the indignant author of the railroad resolution, who declared that Illinois, with her great wealth and resources, ought not to stand like a pitiful mendicant asking Congress to do what she could do for herself, and that New York ought not to be present supporting that " contemptible eflPort." Mr. Washburne answered that the whole country was interested in the canal question, as the attendance at the convention proved. Mr. Spaulding of Ohio declared himself for the first time in favor of a ship canal from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of the Niagara canal. After some consideration of the question of improving the Mississippi river, resolutions expressing the results of the convention's deliberations were adopted. Their sub- stance was as follows: 1. That we regard the construction and the enlargement of the canals between the valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic as of great military, national and commercial im- portance. We believe that such enlargement to the capacity of passing gunboats from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and from the Atlantic to and from the Great Lakes will furnish the cheapest and most eflScient means of protecting the northern frontier, and at the same time tend greatly to promote the rapid development and permanent union of our whole country. 2. That these works are demanded alike by military prudence, political wisdom and the necessities of commerce ; such works will be not only national but continental, and NATIONAL CANAL CONTENTION OF 1863. ^59 their early accomplishment is required by every principle of sound political economy. 3. That such national highways should, so far as prac- ticable, be free, without tolls and restrictions. The conven- tion would deprecate the placing of this grand highway in the hands of any private corporation or State. The work should be done by national credit, and as soon as its cost is reimbursed to the national treasury, it should be made free as the lakes to the commerce of the world. An executive committee, composed of one delegate from each of the States represented in the convention, was appointed to prepare a memorial to the President and Con- gress of the United States, presenting the views of the con- vention, and urging the enactment of laws necessary to carry them into full operation. There was no practical result. CHAPTER XIX. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER. A survey of the Illinois river was made under authority of the United States engineer department in 1838 by Cap- tain Howard Stansbury, but no plan for the improvement of the river was adopted by the United States until 1852. On August 30 of that year Congress appropriated |30,000 which was spent in dredging the channel. This work was done under the direction of Colonel J. E. Johnston of the topographical engineers. In the fall of 1835 Governor Ford, in the interest of the State of Illinois, had caused a survey of the river to be made with a view to its improvement. This survey was conducted by G. E. Mowry, a civil engineer in the employ- ment of the United States navy department, and the expense of it was borne by George Bancroft, secretary of the navy. Some nineteen or twenty bars were found in the whole length of the river, over which there were at the lowest stages only twelve to twenty -four inches of water. There were seventy-one shoals upon which the water averaged two to three feet in depth. In low water the channel of the river was quite narrow, in some places scarcely wide enough for two boats to pass. At its session of 1847-8 the State Legislature passed a resolution requiring the committee on canals and canal lands in relation to the improvement of the Illinois river to in- quire into the expediency of authorizing the improvement of its navigation by a law similar to the existing laws pro- viding for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal. 260 TERRITORY DRAINED BY THE ILLINOIS RIVER. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER. 261 This committee reported on January 18, 1848. The com- mittee thought excavation would not answer the purpose because the parts excavated would very soon be found in their original condition owing to the very slight current in the river and the large amount of deposit furnished by the river's tributaries. A combination of improvement by wing dams and excavation would not succeed for similar rea- sons. The only method considered practicable was by locks and dams. For this kind of improvement the river was thought to bo peculiarly fitted. Six locks and dams were recommended, the cost of which was estimated by Mr. Mowry to be $492,092.70. This expenditure, he said, would secure a depth of three feet at all seasons and places. The locks were to be 200 feet long and 50 feet wide. The State spent small sums of money from time to time in succeeding years, and on February 14, 1857, a charter was granted to the Illinois River Improvement company which proposed to do what the State was unable or unwilling to do. With a capital stock of 13,000,000 the company expected to raise sufficient money to enable it to increase the depth of water in the Illinois river by a system of locks and dams sufficiently to pass boats drawing six feet of water. The locks were to be 350 feet long and 75 feet wide. The company's revenue was to come from tolls, rents and leases of water power. Among the forty-five in- corporators were William F. Thornton, one of the canal commissioners in 1836, William B. Ogden, and John B. Preston, first general superintendent and chief engineer of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The company never ac- complished anything. The next systematic effort to improve the Illinois river was made in 1866, when under the authority of an Act passed by Congress and approved on June 23, a survey was ordered from the mouth of the river to La Salle. This work was placed under the direction of General J, H. Wil- 262 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. son. His report, dated February 15, 1867, and that of S. T. Abert, the engineer in immediate charge, contained the first definite information concerning the physical condition of the Illinois river and recommendations for its improve- ment. That of Mr. Abert is particularly valuable. Mr. Abert said of the river that it was supplied by drain- age from a prairie country exceeding in area 27,000 square miles. The gradual increase in its volume and its slow sub- sidence were attributed to the absence of mountains and hills within this area. The entire length of the river, in- cluding either tributary, the Kankakee or Desplaines, was about 330 miles. From La Salle to Grafton the length was 224 miles. The fall in the latter distance in the plane of ordinary low water was 29. 6 feet. The fall in the high water plane of 1858 was 29.2 feet. With a sluggish current the river wandered through a valley of swampy land varying in width from one and one-half to six miles. Dur- ing the period of the survey the banks were low, rising in many places to an elevation of three to eight feet above the surface of the water. Intersected by lagoons and swamps covered with a dense growth of 'willow, these bottoms seemed impenetrable. The general course of the river was noticeably direct, with sudden bends at La Salle and at Graf- ton. The straight reaches were almost invariably deep with muddy bottoms. The shallows occurred at elbows, conflu- ent channels and the mouths of creeks. These were con- trolled by the general laws applicable to such a situation. ' 'Without stating the exact circumstances affecting each, ' ' he added, " it maybe said that all shallows below elbows are made in the dead angle of the eddy and are caused by the de- flection of the current to the concave shore. The materials- swept from the low grounds at high wat«r, or brought into- the river by the rain, are deposited in the neutral axes of confluent channels or where the river loses its velocity in a broad expanse, while the sand brought down by creeks will IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS RIVEE. 263 be deposited at the point of conflict, if the streams oppose each other, or in the backward prolongation of the resultant of the two forces, if the streams approach each other in the same general direction. From the small amount of material brought down by the floods the shoals increase but slowly. The longest and deepest reaches occur between Henry and Lacon, Chill icothe and Peoria, Liverpool and Havana, Mos- cow and Browning, the depth for considerable distances varying from eighteen to thirty feet. For a distance of about fifteen miles above Peoria the river expands to about seven or eight times its ordinary width. The lower part of this fine expanse of water is known as Lake Peoria." General Wilson was at first instructed to confine his operations to a survey of the Illinois river from its mouth to La Salle. Subsequently he was directed to continue his ex- amination of the river as far toward its source as he might have reason to believe it was susceptible to improvement for purposes of commerce and navigation. The object, as stated by General A. H. Humphreys, chief of engineers, in his report to Congress, was to obtain such data as would enable the engineer department to form estimates for the improvement of the river so that the largest boats of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and steamboats drawing four feet of water, could pass through the river to the Mississippi during the season of extreme low water. General Wilson himself said in his report the supposition was that the survey had immediately in view the capacity of the Illinois river for navigation to La Salle for the largest class of steamers that the river would admit when certain obstructions should have been removed, and ultimately the determination of canal facilities with Lake Michigan, and the solution of the ques- tion of an adequate supply of water from Lake Michigan as a reservoir for the canal and river during periods of low water. The intentions of Congress were not fully known to the engineer department. 264: DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. General Wilson recommended the improvement of the Illinois river by a system of locks and dams to be placed at such points between Lockport and La Salle as might be de- termined after a full and careful survey to be the most ad- vantageous, and that navigation should be extended to the harbor of Chicago by the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan canal to adapt it to the use of the largest boats plying upon the Mississippi. This would require a depth of seven feet both in the canal and river, the locks to be 350 feet long and 75 feet wide. These dimensions were sufficient to pass the largest boat, either of a commercial or naval character, that could navigate the Mississippi during the ordinary boating season, and could be made to pass naval vessels of greater draft by using camels or barges for lifting them partially out of the water. It was not thought necessary to establish a depth suffi- cient to accommodate the largest lake boats since this would require at least fourteen feet of water. Such a depth could not be obtained either in the Illinois or the Mississippi except during freshets. Furthermore, lake boats, used for commercial purposes, would be unwieldy and unprofitable on the rivers, while the river boats could not be trusted at all upon the lakes. In other words, the produce of the West on its way to eastern markets must be transferred to a different class of vessels as soon as it reached the lakes. Hence, in determining the dimensions of the canal it would be sufficient to provide for the largest river steamboats. General Wilson was also impressed with the military ad- vantages of the canal. Six locks and dams were thought to be sufficient for the improvement of the river below La Salle, the estimated cost of which was 12,587,697. Dredging, damages to lands and similar expenses would amount to 1536,099, a total of $3,123,796. The cost of the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan canal from Bridgeport to Lockport to a width IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS KIVEK. 265 of 160 feet and a depth of seven feet he estimated to be $10,098,000. The entire cost of the improvement from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river he fixed at $21,339,- 996, or about $68,000 a mile. By an act approved March 2, 1867, Congress directed the continuation of the survey of the Illinois river. Gen- eral Wilson and William Gooding were appointed a Board of Engineers for the purpose of ' ' conducting surveys and examinations and preparing plans and estimates for a sys tern of navigation by way of the Illinois river between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan, adapted to military, naval and commercial purposes." In the report submitted by the Board it was concluded that, in constructing such a system of navigation as the in- terests of the country required, the Government must follow the general line of the Illinois and Michigan canal and the Illinois river. The plan of improvement of the Illinois river suggested, was to create slack water in it from some point near Grafton to the head of Lake Joliet, passing the rapids at Marseilles by canal. A navigable depth of seven feet could thus be secured at the lowest stage of water in the river. A corresponding increase should be made in the capacity of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The cost of the entire improvement was now estimated to be $18,217,- 242.56, less than $2,000,000 of this amount to be applied to the improvement of the river. The Board considered the question of the improvement of the river by dredging and wing dams, but concluded it was doubtful whether this plan would insure a depth of more than four feet at extreme low water in a channel 160 feet wide whatever the expenditure. To supply water from Lake Michigan suffi- cient to create a navigable channel at all seasons was con- sidered impracticable at any cost. Five locks and dams were provided to be located near Henry, Copperas Creek, 266 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. La Grange, Bedford and Six Mile Island, the total estimated cost of which was $1,770,000. Another year was spent in local surveys and examina- tions of the proposed sites for the locks and dams, and by an Act approved July 25, 1868, the sum of |85,000 was appropriated by Congress for the improvement of the river. This amount was afterward withdrawn since it would re- quire $300,000 for the construction of a single lock and dam. An appropriation of the latter sum was asked for in the following year, but the request was not granted. In the meantime the Illinois Legislature, by Acts ap- proved February 28, 1867, and February 26, 1869, had taken steps for the construction of a lock and dam between La Salle and Peoria. The lock and dam were located at Henry, thirty miles below the junction of the Illinois and Michigan canal and the Illinois river at La Salle, and the construction was carried forward on the general plans recommended by the Government engineers. The cost to the state was $400,000. The work was completed in 1871 and the lock was first put to use in January, 1872. Two years later the Canal Commissioners reported that the improvement had accomplished all that its most ardent supporters had predicted. During an unprecedented drought the lowest stage of water in the Illinois river above the dam up to the junction with the Illinois and Michigan canal at La Salle, had been sufficient for all the needs of commerce ; a greater depth of water had been maintained than existed on many of the bars in the Mississippi river between St. Louis and Cairo. The lock was 350 feet lonsr and 75 feet wide, as originally suggested. By Act approved July 1, 1873, the State Legislature appropriated the net proceeds of the Illinois and Michigan canal and the lock at Henry for the construction of a second lock and dam at Copperas Creek, sixty miles further down IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS EIVEE. 267 the river, or ninety miles from La Salle. The cost was limited to $400,000. The United States Government and the State were now working in harmony for the improvement of the river, the pittance appropriated by Congress being used to the best advantage, as then wrongly understood. The latter had appropriated $84,150 in 1869. This amount was used in dredging the bars between the dam at Henry and the site of the proposed dam at Copperas Creek, the original plan being to secure a depth of seven feet. General Wilson, in recommending this use of the funds, said : " Former dredgings on this river by the Government (in 1859) have demonstrated the fact that permanent improvements can be effected by this method." Work by the national Government was begun in 1869. In the following year General Wilson modified his .plan "better to subserve the interests of navigation," and the funds were applied to dredging an open channel 150 feet wide and four feet deep at low water, and to building catchments and wing dams where necessary. Bars which formed the greatest obstruction to navigation were dredged first. Colonel J. N. Macomb, of the corps of engineers, succeeded General Wilson in charge of the work on the Illinois river in 1870, and remained in charge until 1877. During this period operations were continued by dredging, building wing dams, etc., on the plan adopted in 1870. In the year 1873, after the lock at Copperas Creek was decided upon. Colonel Macomb consented to use so much of the $100,000 appropriated by Congress for the improve- ment of the Illinois river as might be necessary for the con- struction of the foundation of the new lock, after consulta- tion with the Canal Commissioners. About five-sixths of this part of the work was done by the General Government at a cost of $62,359.80 exclusive of engineering and miscel- 268 DEAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. laneous expenses. The contract for putting in the founda- tion was let on August 12, 1873. The lock and dam at Copperas Creek were completed and first used in October, 1877. The amount expended by the State in their construction was $347,747.51, a total cost of $410,107.31. As at Henry, this lock was 350 feet long and 76 feet wide. Either would pass a boat 300 feet long and 73 feet wide, drawing six feet of water, with a capacity of more than 2,000 tons. Twelve of the canal boats navigating the Illinois and Michigan cai^al, with a capacity of 2,100 to 2,400 tons, could pass through the locks at one lockage. It was agreed by General Wilson, representing the United States, in 1870, that the General Government would do the necessary dredging between the locks, which the State had then undertaken, or might undertake in the future, to build. The depth of water to be secured was seven feet. By partial dredging, lower dams were possible, and the overflow of low lands along the river would be reduced. After the completion of the two locks and dams at Henry and Copperas Creek, the State undertook no further work of this nature, but has continued to exercise a control over that part of the Illinois river at and above Copperas Creek lock, collecting the tolls and keeping the locks. and dams in repair. The Illinois and Michigan Canal Commis- sioners repeatedly urged the improvement of the river below Copperas Creek, and advised the construction of three more locks and dams. " By the construction of the proposed three additional locks and dams, 129 miles of waterway would be added," they urged in 1881, "which would complete a perfect water route from the lakes to the Mississippi river, thereby utilizing the present improve- ments, which, in low stages of water, do not benefit the lower part of the river country, and, in fact, leaves the IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER. 269 entire system of improvements as at present in a very incomplete state." The total cost of the three locks and dams proposed was estimated to be $1,350,000. The cost of the two locks and dams already constructed was $747,747. This amount was paid by the State. The General Government spent $550,- 450.55 to June 30, 1880, in deepening the channels between and above the locks, the aggregate length of the dredged channels being about twenty-four miles. To maintain these channels and contract the waterway about 12,000 linear feet of brush and stone wing dams were built. The further improvement of the river below Copperas Creek was undertaken by the General Government in a des- ultory way, an Act approved June 14, 1880, appropriating $100,000 to be used in continuing the slack water system to the mouth of the river. Major J. G. Lydecker, who suc- ceeded Colonel Macomb in charge of the river work in 1877, spent $5,000 in a further survey of the lower part of the river. He concluded that a low water chan- nel six feet deep and 200 feet wide could be obtained by dredging and the construction of wing dams, but the cost would be at least $1,222,500. Besides, an annual expendi- ture of $15,000 to $20,000 would be required to maintain the channel. On the other hand, the survey indicated to him that by the construction of two locks and dams only there could be secured a reliable channel of navigation hav- ing a low water depth of seven feet over the worst portions of the river. The upper one should be in the vicinity of La Grange and the other near Columbiana. The cost of these two works would not exceed $800,000. Some dredging would be required in the pools created by the dams to obvi- ate building the dams unnecessarily high. The extreme hmit of the cost of the works for a slack water system would not exceed $1,000,000. The locks contemplated were of the size of those at Henry and Copperas Creek. 2Y0 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Major Lydecker urged that the first appropriation for each lock be not less than |300,000. By the passage of the river and harbor Act of June 14, 1880, Congress appropriated $110,000 for the improve- ment of the river, requiring that $100,000 of this amount should be applied to the construction of locks and dams. The remaining $10,000 was to be used for dredging. There was also available $38,699.45, a balance from previous appropriations on hand July 1, 1880. Major Lydecker's recommendation that two locks be constructed below Cop- peras Creek, instead of three, was approved by the chief of engineers. The sites selected were at La Grange, 150 miles below La Salle, and near Kampsville, opposite Columbiana, 45 miles further down the river, or 195 miles below La Salle. The locks, corresponding in size with those already built by the State of Illinois at Henry and Copperas Creek, were designed to be 350 feet long and 75 feet wide. The lift of the Kampsville lock would be 7.2 feet, and that of the La Grange lock 7.4 feet. The walls would be about twenty-two feet high with a vertical face of cut stone. Below the Kampsville lock it was proposed to improve the river by dredging and constructing brush dams or dikes, where necessary, to contract the general width of the river, or prevent the dredged material from being carried back into the channel. Dredging preparatory to the construction of these two locks was begun in the spring of 1881. Congress appropriated $250,000 on March 3, 1881, for the continu- ance of the work. There had been expended to June 30 of that year $34,471.77, leaving a balance on hand July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, of $363,866.04. The work on the La Grange lock and dam was carried forward slowly and was completed on October 21, 1889, when the lock was ofiScially opened for business. The foundation for the Kampsville lock was completed on Novem- ber 12, 1883. As there were no funds available for the IMPKOVEMENT OF THK ILLINOIS RIVEK. 271 continuance of the work, the supplies and machinery were transfei'red to the La Grange lock. The estimated cost of the locks and dams at La Grange and Kampsville was $680,000. There had been expended to June 30, 1892, $1,066,918.19. Captain W. L. Marshall, then in charge of the work, estimated that it would cost $112,500 more to complete it. By joint resolution of the State Legislature, adopted by the Senate on May 27, 1889, and by the House on the following day, the United States was requested to stop work upon the locks and dams at La Grange and Kampsville, and apply available funds and future appro- priations to the improvement of the channel from La Salle to the mouth of the Illinois river, such improvement to be the creation of a channel not less than 160 feet wide and 22 feet deep, with a grade sufficient to create a current of three miles per hour from Lake Michigan to Lake Joliet, and to project a channel of similar capacity, and not less than fourteen feet deep from Lake Joliet to La Salle. This joint resolution was as follows: " Whereas, The present addition to the low water volume of the Illinois River through the summit level of the Illinois and Michigan canal from Lake Michigan more than doubles the volume of water used in the estimate of 1868 for the channel below Peru, and adds 50 per cent to the volume used in the estimate of 1880 for the channel below Copperas Creek, and said contribution from Lake Michigan will be increased in the immediate future, thus enabling the depth now projected for navigation below Peru to be obtained by channel improvement at moderate cost, and with decided advantage to material interests and to healthfulness along the valley ; ' ' Whereas, It is contemplated to increase the volume from Lake Michigan to 300,000 cubic feet per minute within a few years, and ultimately to add 600,000 cubic foot 272 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. or more, thus enabling a large depth for navigation to be obtained by an improved channel, and that said chuunel will be self-sustaining and self-improving, and will dis- charge flood waters more readily, thus benefitting the bordering lands, and increasing the healthfulness of the valley ; "Whereas, works now projected by the city of Chicago will form part of a waterway of large proportions from Lake Michigan via the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi river, of which the dams and locks upon the alluvial section of the Illinois river can form no part, and which, if allowed to remain, will increase, overflow, and be detrimental to the welfare of the Illinois valley and the interests of the State ; Therefore, be it " Resohjed, hy the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring herein: "1. That it is the policy of the State of Illinois to pro- cure the construction of a waterway of the greatest prac- tical depth and usefulness for navigation from Lake Mich- igan via the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi river, and to encourage the construction of feeders thereto of like proportions and usefulness. "2. That the United States is hereby requested to stop work upon the locks and dams at La Grange and at Kampsville, and apply all funds available and future appro- priations to the improvement of the channel from La Salle to the mouth with a view to such a depth as will be of present utility and in such manner as to develop progres- sively all the depth practicable by the aid of a large water supply from Lake Michigan at Chicago. "3. That the United States is requested to aid in the construction of a channel not less than 160 feet wide and 22 feet deep, with such a grade as to give a velocity of three miles per hour from Lake Michigan at Chicago to Lake Joliet, a pool of the Desplaines river immediately IMPKOVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS RIVEK. 273 below Joliet, and to project a channel of similar capacity, and not less than 14 feet deep from Lake Joliet to La Salle, all to be designed in such a manner as to permit future development to a greater capacity. ' ' By Act of June i, 1889, the works at Henry and Copperas Creek were ceded to the United States. In the event of their non-acceptance within four years after the Act became a law, and under other conditions named, the Canal Commissioners were authorized to remove the dams at those points. The Act became a law on July 1, 1889, and the removal of the dams was thus authorized to take place on or after July 1, 1893. The Act was as follows : " § 1. £e it enacted l)y the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That an Act entitled ' An Act to cede certain locks and dams in the Illinois river to the United States,' approved May 31, 1887, in force May 31, 1877, and ceding the State works at Henry and Copperas Creek, and the" pools created by said works, to the General Government upon certain conditions as to the opening of a waterway of a depth of seven feet from the Mississippi river to Lake Michigan, upon plans to be determined by United States engineers, is hereby repealed. " § 2. That the State Works at Henry and Copperas Creek, and the river now slack watered by said works, are hereby ceded to the United States on condition that the dams shall be removed whenever the depth now available for navigation can be secured and maintained by channel improvement without the aid of said dams : Provided, that said depth shall be assured upon the removal of said dams, or that such removal shall not materially impair naviga- tion. " § 3. That in the event of the non-acceptance of these works upon the conditions mentioned in section 2 within four (4) years after this Act becomes a law, the Canal Com- missioners of the State of Illinois are authorized and 18 274 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. instructed to remove the dams at Henry and Copperas Creek. " § 4. That the State of Illinois bases this act of cession upon the condition that the plan of improvinjy the Illinois river below La Salle by slack water maintained by dams and locks, be changed to a plan of improvement by means of an open channel in conjunction with a water supply from Lake Michigan." The second of the Government locks and dams, that at Kampsville, after a long cessation of the work, was com- pleted in the summer of 1893, and the first steamboat passed through the lock on August 30 of that year. The entire cost of the locks and dams at La Grange and Kamps- ville was $1,145,886. So far as the purposes of navigation have been served they appear to have been worthless ; the river is as shallow in places as it was before the alleged improvements were begun. It has been found at great cost that a few pools of water a few miles in length created by dams do not make a river 300 miles long navigable. CHAPTER XX. GOVERNMENT SURVEYS BY WILSON AND GOODING. General J. H. Wilson made an examination of the Illinois river in the early part of the year 1867 and suggested the desirability of continuing it to Lake Michigan. He even roughly estimated the cost of a channel seven feet deep from the Mississippi to the lake. The re-survey ordered by Con- gress on March 2, 1867, was to establish the cost with a greater degree of accuracy. The report of Engineers Wilson and Gooding on the now survey was made on December 17, 1867, and was transmit- ted to Congress by General A. H. Humphreys, chief of engineers, with his concurrence. The engineers stated in their report that they had been guided by the following con- siderations : The selection of the best route for the pur- poses proposed, the capacity which should be given to the improvement to adapt it most fully to the requirements, and the accomplishment of the object with the least possible cost consistent with the magnitude and permanency of the improvement. Three surveying parties were organized and placed under the immediate supervision of Civil Engineer James Wor- rall, ' ' for the purpose of making a thorough and exhaustive examination of the entire region lying between the southern and western end of Lake Michigan and La Salle on the Illinois river, and also for the purpose of conducting a low water survey of the river from La Salle to its mouth." To the first party was assigned the duty of surveying the line of the canal from Chicago to La Salle, the Des- 275 276 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. plaines and Illinois rivers, and all the alternate lines which had at any time been spoken of, including that of Mud Lake. The second was directed to survey the Calumet and Kankakee rivers and the country lying between the Kankakee river and Lake Michigan, as well as the Fox river and a section of the lower Illinois. To the third party was given the assignment of a careful hydrographic survey of the bed of the Illinois river from La Salle to Grafton, paying particular attention to the location, cause, character and extent of different sandbars and obstructions to navi- gation during low water ; also, to gauging the river and its tributaries and making examinations of the various points likely to be selected as sites for locks and dams. The engineers concluded that the location of the existing canal from Bridgeport to the valley of the Desplaines could not be advantageously or economically changed. It was the best, cheapest and most direct route, they said, that could be found. More than enough work had been done on it to counterbalance the natural but not superior advanta- ges of the slightly lower but more tortuous route by way of Mud Lake. The Calumet river and Saganaska creek route, along what was known as the Calumet feeder, would cost a great deal more than either of the others since it was longer and ended at a point where there was neither a natural nor an artificial harbor, and where it would be impossible to construct one which would answer the purposes of com- merce and the national defense. It was found to be im- practicable at any cost to use any part of the Kankakee river as a part of the system of navigation. "We have therefore to recommend," Messrs. Wilson and Gooding said, "that the improvement in question shall be made by widening and deepening the present canal from Bridgeport to the head of Lake Joliet with the exception of a section of llj miles between Summit and the Sag, where it will be cheaper to excavate an independent canal. SURVEYS BY WILSON AND GOODING. 277 From Lake Joliet to Marseilles the line should follow to the bed of the river, the necessary depth being secured by a system of locks and dams. At Marseilles it will be neces- sary to construct a piece of independent canal in order to pass the grand rapids of the Illinois, striking the river again at or above Ottawa, as may be found to be most eco- nomical. From the latter point to the mouth of the river the necessary navigation should be secured by a system of dams and locks. It is also recommended that all the canal on this line should have a width of not less than 160 feet and a navigable depth of six feet, corresponding to the lowest known level of the water in Lake Michigan, and an average depth of between seven and eight feet ; that the present Summit shall be cut down so as to secure this depth in the canal from the inexhaustible reservoir of Lake Michigan." The locks were to be 350 feet long and 75 feet wide, with a minimum draft of seven feet. The slack water of the Illinois river was expected to secure a navigable depth of seven feet at the lowest known stages. No fact was better established, the engineers said, than this : The system of navigation between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan by way of the Illinois river should be adapted to the steam- boats and barges employed in the navigation of the Missis- sippi and its principal tributaries, but not to ocean and lake vessels, except such as were required for the defense of lake commerce and lake cities. Although it had been generally conceded that the only practicable route for the proposed improvement was by way of the Illinois and Michigan canal and the rivers below, it was thought best to settle the question beyond cavil. Colonel Worrall was instructed to make a survey of the Kan- kakee river from its mouth to the east line of the State of Illinois. The conclusions reached by him were as follows : 1. There was too great an elevation (100 feet where the 278 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. line was run) between the Kankakee and Calumet rivers through which the connection could be most cheaply made, if made at all. 2. The Kankakee riyer, which was forty feet above Lake Michigan at the State line, would not afford sufficient water to supply a canal and lockage both ways for a maximum business. 3. The distance would be fifty miles greater than by the Illinois and Michigan canal if the connection were made with the lake at the mouth of the Calumet, which was the best point south of Chicago. 4. It was believed to be impossible to construct a good and safe harbor at the mouth of the Calumet, available at all times, and no other should be adopted as the terminus of a canal by this route. Another route by way of the Fox river, which formed a junction with the Illinois at Ottawa, had been suggested. Surveys were made and the conclusion reached that tolls sufficient to pay the cost of superintendence and repairs could not be collected, to say nothing of the cost of con- struction. For a canal and river improvement of the capacity de- sired no other route could be compared with that by the Illinois river and the Illinois and Michigan canal. It fol- lowed the course of what was unquestionably once the great outlet of the lakes toward the Gulf of Mexico. On all the other routes proposed there was considerable ascent from the lake to the Summit, involving additional lockage and providing a supply of water from sources much less reliable than the inexhaustible reservoir. Lake Michigan. Through the greater part of the distance from the Chi- cago river to the vicinity of Joliet the engineers were satis- fied that it would be expedient to follow the line of the exist- ing canal, enlarging and deepening it to the required capacity. The excavation for the old canal had determined SUKVKYS BY WILSON ANU GOODIKG. 279 with considerable certainty the character of most of the material to be removed. The first eight miles, except two or three feet upon the surface, consisted almost entirely of indurated clay, exceedingly hard, but which was being suc- cessfully excavated by steam dredges. A few veins of quicksand had been found on this part of the line, but it was not believed they would cause serious embarrassment in the construction of the enlarged canal. The excavation would be from thirteen to nineteen feet below the surface. Eight miles from Chicago the canal entered the valley of the Desplaines river and the excavation would be much more diflScult. Throughout the succeeding eleven and one-fourth miles the greater part of the material consisted of cemented clay and gravel, or hard clay in which boulders were thickly imbedded. Probably most of this work could be done by powerful steam dredges, but the operation would necessarily be slow and expensive. In places there were considerable quantities of rock (stratified limestone) that would vary in thickness from two to ten feet. The depth of the excava- tion would vary from seventeen to nineteen feet. At the distance of about 18^ miles from the beginning of the canal at the Chicago river there was encountered a barrier of stratified limestone which extended entirely across the valley and continued to the running out of the lake level near Lockport. This rock was covered with a slight allu- vial deposit from one to two feet in thickness. From the commencement of the rock excavation a mile below the mouth of the Calumet feeder to Summit lock No. 2, below which the canal was completed on the deep cut plan, the levels on the natural surface of the rock ranged from eleven to eighteen feet. Over this distance of 7^ miles there remained to be excavated to complete the canal on the orig- inal plan only 235,000 cubic yards of rock, 1,000,000 hav- ing been already excavated. The estimates for the Summit division comprehended a 280 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. canal the bottom of which would be six feet below the very- lowest stage of Lake Michigan. At an average low stage of the lake there would be a depth of not less than seven feet, and at the time of the survey a medium stage of eight feet. The highest stage during the previous thirty-one years would have given a depth of ten feet. It was intended to give a declivity to the bottom of the canal upon the original plan of .10 of a foot per mile, or 2. 9 feet for the whole Summit division. The new levels showed some five inches less, but the declivity was consid- ered sufficient. From Chicago to Lockport, where the first lock below the lake level was located, it was proposed that the large canal should occupy the bed of the existing canal, for the greater part of the distance. Where the line was changed it should be mainly with a view to increased facilities in construction and not because any particular advantage could be gained in the nature of the ground. There would be no advantage in a deviation through the upper half of the distance from the existing line between Lockport and Joliet. Below that point three lines were surveyed to the head of Lake Joliet. The first of these lines followed the existing canal through Joliet, and the pools formed by the two dams across the Desplaines would be occupied by the proposed improvement. These dams were built of stone upon a rock foundation, and having stood for more than twentj' years without injury might be regarded as sufficiently permanent. A short distance below the lower dam the line for the pro- posed improvement would leave the canal and be con- structed in as direct a line to the head of Lake Joliet as practicable. The second line abandoned the canal near the State Penitentiary and passed through the eastern part of the city in a depression known as the slough crossing Hickory SURVEYS BY WILSON AND GOODING. 281 creek, thence following near the foot of the bluff on the east side of the valley to the head of the lake. The third line followed the foot of the bluff on the east side of the valley, running entirely outside the limits of the city of Jolict to the head of the lake. From the head of Lake Joliet to La Salic no part of the canal could be made available if the Desplaines and the Illi- nois rivers were occupied by any portion of the improved channel, and the engineers recommended the river route for the entire distance between these points. Besides, at two or three points, as at the Kankakee bluffs near the junction of the Kankakee and Desplaines rivers, and at the Rockwell bluff, a short distance from La Salle, the canal could not be enlarged to a width of 160 feet except at very great cost and at great risk of being insecure. The construction of bridges, culverts, waste weirs, ditches, etc., and three or four expensive aqueducts, would constitute a most serious objection. The construction of vertical or slope walls through all earth work would be expensive. From Marseilles to Ottawa, where the fall in the Illinois river was very rapid, including what was formerly known as the grand rapids of the Illinois, it was thought best to construct an independent canal on lower levels than the ex- isting canal. This canal might be brought back into the river at a point two miles below Marseilles, or at the mouth of Fox river, depending in some degree upon the local manufacturing interests which should be accommodated so far as could be done without materially adding to the cost of the work or marring its efficiency for the purposes of navigation. ' ' It has been asserted, ' ' said the engineers, ' ' that it is unnecessary to provide for a navigable depth of seven feet in the Illinois river when the Mississippi river itself below the mouth of the Illinois has at times a less depth than this. We have fully considered this objection, urged mainly 282 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. against the improvement by locks and dams, and for the following reasons think it should be disregarded : "1. There is usually but a short period during the sea- son of navigation when there is not a depth of water of six or seven feet in the Mississippi river below the mouth of the Illinois, and frequently the Mississippi, being high from melting snow about its source or that of the Missouri, affords good navigation for the largest boats when the Illi- nois is scarcely navigable at all. ' ' 2. We entertain no doubt that the depth of water in the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to that of the Ohio can be materially increased during the dry season by a judicious system of improvement. The interests of com- merce and navigation now require and must necessarily compel the commencement of such an improvement before the lapse of many years. "3. It is manifestly necessary to secure a depth of at least seven feet which shall be always available if this arti- ficial navigation should ever be required for military and naval purposes, and we deem it sound policy to secure this depth of water for commercial purposes if it can be done without a disproportionate cost. It is a well kno^vn fact that vessels of every class are propelled at much greater speed and economy in deep than is possible in shallow water. " i. The depth of seven feet through 322 miles of navi- gation, traversing one of the most productive countries of the world, can be secured beyond any contingency by the plan proposed, at a cost slightly, if any, in excess of what it must cost to make an open channel navigation only four feet deep. When it is considered that it is»by no means certain that the latter is practicable at any cost, and that the former would be at least three times as valuable for all pur- poses, there remains but little room to doubt which plan should be adopted." SURVEYS BY WILSON AND GOODING. 283 This system of improvement would submerge but little, if any, valuable land, the engineers continued. The height of the bottom lands above low water in .the river, except such as were already low and marshy and inundated by a slight rise of water, was generally not less than ten to fif- teen feet, and in many places from ten to twenty feet. The maximum height to which the water at the lowest stage would be raised by the highest dam would be only six to seven feet at the dam, and this would gradually diminish from the lower to the upper end of the pool, where it would be raised only two or three feet. All such lands, therefore, as would be overflowed by the construction of the dams would be already overflowed by a slight rise of the river and could not consequently be considered very valuable. From extensive observation and inquiry the engineers were of the opinion that the influence of these dams upon the health of the country lying immediately along the river would be beneficial rather than injurious. As to the sandbars in the Illinois river, most of them were due to local causes and were undergoing but little change. Dams in the affluent streams might prevent sedi- mentary deposits from being brought in. The objections which had been urged against a slack- water improvement of the Illinois river from La Salle to its mouth had induced many of the best engineers in the country to investigate the subject and devise different plans. Those which had been most generally advocated were: 1. By dredging and wing dams. 2. By drawing a suflScient supply of water from Lake Michigan to give the requisite depth to the Illinois river. The navigation of the river. Engineers Gooding and Preston thought, might be much improved by the first method, but it was doubtful whether any amount of ex- 284 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. penditure upon this plan would give an available depth for navigation of more than four feet at extreme low water in a channel 160 feet wide. Even the increase in the supply which would be given by deepening the Illinois and Mich- igan canal on the Sammit division would not give depth enough for canal boats passing through the canal in its existing unimproved condition. The plan of supplying sufficient water from Lake Michigan to make a navigation of the Illinois river suitable for the largest class of steamboats without the intervention of dams and locks, was thought impracticable at any reasonable cost. To obtain the requisite amount of water from the lake without excavating a wider channel than recommended, the channel would have to be about thirty feet deeper opposite lock No. 1, or ten feet deeper than the bed of the Desplaines river opposite the town of Lockport. It would increase the depth of excavation for the first ten miles above that point an average of twenty-five feet. Although the average depth below the bottom upon the plan proposed would be much less through the earth exca- vation, the difficulty of executing the work would be in- creased in a much greater proportion than the depth. By diminishing the declivity, and therefore the depth, the width of the canal would be so greatly increased that there would be no great difference in the cost, which would exceed by more than 120,000,000 the cost of the improve- ment recommended. The only gain by this additional ex- penditure would be the saving at most of four or five dams and locks in the Illinois river. As the current would be considerably accelerated, the value of the improvement for navigation would be diminished rather than increased. Through a channel of the dimensions recommended, there could be drawn from Lake Michigan all the water necessary for navigation, for cleansing the Chicago river effectually, and for an immense manufacturing power. SURVEYS BY WILSON AND GOODING. 285 The Illinois river below La Salle, it was urged, should be first improved. The appropriations of lands by the United States, and the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal were based upon the supposition that the Illinois river was navigable. Such was not the fact, the engineers said. There had scarcely been a season since the canal was completed, twenty years previous, when there had not been a serious interruption to navigation, caused by low water in the river. The evil was becoming worse as the country was improved, and the usual supply of water in the summer was reduced. The improvement of the Illinois river was estimated to cost $1,953,600, and the engineers recommended an appropriation of that amount for the purpose. Colonel J. O. Hudnutt of Chicago surveyed a canal route from Eock Island to Hennepin in 1866 which has since been adopted substantially for the present so-called Hennepin canal. General Wilson and Mr. Gooding inves- tigated the route in the following year, and reported that their surveys demonstrated the entire practicability of a canal from the Illinois river at or near the mouth of the Bureau to the Mississippi at or near Rock Island. The length of the canal would be about 64 miles, and it would be supplied with water by a navigable feeder 38 miles in length from Rock river at Dixon. The cost of such a canal 60 feet wide and six feet deep, with that of the feeder, was estimated to be $4,600,000. This would secure a cheap and direct navigation to the lakes and a choice of markets to all the country drained by the upper Mississippi and its tributaries. Messrs. Wilson and Gooding estimated the total cost of the improvements from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river as follows: 286 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. From Chicago to Lockport, including what is known as the Summit division of thecanal, 29 miles $11,349,173 98 From lock No. 1 at Lockport to lock No. 8 at the head of Lake Joliet in the Desplaines river, 7 miles 3,095,546 53 Prom lock No. 8 to Marseilles, all in river except short canals at locks and dams, 40 miles .- 1, 256,806 77 From Marseilles to Ottawa, 6 miles 938, 880 75 From Ottawa to La Salle, all in river except short canal atdam, 17 miles 683.784 53 From La Salle to mouth of river, 333 miles 1,953,600 00 Total $18,317,343 56 CHAPTER XXI. GOVERNMENT SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. Congress authorized a survey for a canal from Hennepin to the Mississippi river by an Act passed August 2, 1882. Supplementary to this it also ordered a new survey of the Illinois and Michigan canal and an estimate of the cost of its enlargement to the size of the Hennepin canal. Major W. H. H. Benyaurd was the government engineer then in charge of the river and harbor work in the vicinity of Chicago. In the prosecution of these surveys Major Benyaurd or- ganized three surveying parties, one of which gave its atten- tion to the Illinois and Michigan canal. The work on the canal division was conducted by George Y. Wisner. He determined cross sections of the canal at intervals of 600 feet throughout its entire length. His estimates were for a canal 80 feet wide at the surface, 59 feet at the bottom and seven feet deep, with locks 170 feet long, 30 feet wide and seven feet deep. The sectional area was 485 square feet, or about 25 per cent greater than that of the existing canal. The lockage, which was all descending, amounted to 141.5 feet, requiring sixteen locks varying from 6.5 to 13.6 feet. The water was to be supplied by the pumps then in course of construction at Bridgeport. It was proposed not to make any change on the line of the canal, nor in the number and location of the locks and other structures. The estimated cost of the enlargement of the canal and auxiliary works was $2,298,919.15. The survey was continued the second year from dam 287 288 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. No. 1 on the Desplaines river at Joliet to a point on the Illinois river near La Salle, where the Illinois and Michigan canal enters the pool created by the lock and dam at Henry. Major Benyaurd and his assistant, Mr. Wisner, found that the two rivers had an average width of about 600 feet, with the banks from eight to twenty-three feet in height above low water. Within ordinary stages the streams flowed be- tween fixed banks. The oscillation between high and low water was about fifteen feet, although a height of twenty- three feet had been recorded, occasioned by an ice gorge. The fall in the low water surface between the points named, a distance of 64.2 miles, was 100.25 feet. This fall was not equally distributed over the entire distance, but occurred at various points, principally at the ripples separating the differ- ent pools, amounting in some places to ten feet per mile. It was evident to Major Benyaurd that the only feasible plan to render the streams navigable was to slackwater the entire distance. This could be accomplished by the con- struction of nine locks and dams. His plan also contem- plated the construction of short canals at the falls of Joliet and Marseilles. Certain low lands would necessarily be submerged, but these, he said, had little value. The river route had such an apparent advantage over the canal that it was difficult for Major Benyaurd to understand why the canal had been originally constructed rather than the river improved between Joliet and La Salle. The estimated cost of the improvement of the rivers from Joliet to La Salle, with locks having chambers 360 feet long and 76 feet wide, corresponding with those on the lower Illinois, was $3,433,- 562 ; with locks 170 feet long and 30 feet wide, the dimen- sions for those of the Hennepin canal, the cost would bo reduced to $1,975,446. On August 11, 1888, Congress appropriated $200,000 for the improvement of the Illinois river. The Act making the appropriation also contemplated a survey for a service- SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. ^89 able waterway from Lake Michigan to tlie Mississippi rivur, as shown by the following clause : " And for the purpose of securing a continuous navigable waterway between Lake Mich- igan and the Mississippi river, having capacity and facili- ties adequate for the passage of the largest Mississippi river steamboats, and of naval vessels suitable for defense in time of war, the secretary of war is authorized and directed to cause to be made the proper surveys, plans and estimates for a channel improvement and locks and dams in the bed of the Illinois and Desplaines rivers from La Salle to Lock- port, so as to provide a navigable waterway, not less than 160 feet wide, and not less than fourteen feet deep, and to have surveyed and located a channel from Lockport to Lake Michigan, at or near the city of Chicago, such channel to be suitable for the purposes aforesaid." Captain W L. Marshall, who succeeded Major Benyaurd, was then in charge of the river and harbor work in this vicinity. In a letter of instructions from General Thomas L. Casey, chief of engineers, Captain Marshall was directed, whatever line might be found most advantageous and economical to the United States, to submit plans and estimates for a route terminating within the limits of Chicago, sufficiently distinct and in detail to enable the chief of engineers to form a defi- nite and conclusive opinion as to its merits from the stand- point of the commercial and sanitary interests of Chicago. A survey party was organized and put in the field Octo- ber 1, 1S88, under the charge of Assistant Engineer L. L. Wheeler. By December 1, 1888, the field work relating to the superficial survey of the several practicable routes from Lake Michigan at or near Chicago by way of the Chicago .Divide and the Desplaines river valley as far as Joliet were practically completed. The survey made by Major Ben- .yaurd and Engineer Wisner in 1883 from Joliet to La Salle was adopted, so far as it was sufficient for the purpose, to avoid unnecessary complication of work and expense. 19 2i»0 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. la his exhaustive report Captain Marshall said there were two practicable routes across the Chicago Divide. One was by way of the Chicago river, the South branch and the Illinois and Michigan canal, or Mud Lake and the Ogden ditch, to the Desplaines river near Summit, about twelve milfes from the city hall of Chicago and about eight miles from' Bridgeport ; thence by way of the Desplaines river valley. The second route was by way of the Calumet and Little Calumet rivers to Blue Island, thence westwai'd along the old Calumet feeder route to the Desplaines river at Sag, where the two routes became common. There was a prac- ticable detour from the second route which left the old feeder line a short distance west of Blue Island and con- tinued in a more direct line south of Lane's Island, uniting again with the feeder line about five miles east of Saa: bridge. Captain Marshall did not favor a deep cut across the Chicago Divide at the expense of the United States and for the sanitary benefit in part of the city of Chicago. He sought to secure a modification of his instructions limiting the survey under his direction to a channel of smaller dimensions. He addressed a communication to General Casey, on May 1, 1889, in which he stated that local neces- sities, for sanitary reasons, demanded a large discharge from Lake Michigan into the Illinois river. Navigation interests, he said, not only did not demand an increased discharge into the Illinois river, but such discharge would result in a positive injury to navigation. A navigable channel demanded no slope to the costly cut through the Chicago Divide, but local sanitary necessities required a slope of not less than four inches to the mile and a cut deeper by about seven to eleven feet in rock and three to seven feet in earth. Ho asked the department whether it desired that the estini'^tos demanded l)v Cono-rcss should be SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. 291 rendered on the basis of the requirements of navigation, or whether the local drainage problem should also be con- sidered. Captain Marshall was asked in turn by the department for suggestions. In his reply he appeared to regret that the Act of Congress did not allow the capacity of the chan- nel to be determined by the consideration of the size and draught of Mississippi river steamboats that could reach the mouth of the Illinois river. He desired to make the esti- mates required by law for a 14-foot channel, and for an 8 -foot channel also, as required for steamers navigating the western rivers, leaving such modification of the channel as might be required by local sanitary necessities to be attended to by local authorities. General O. M. Poe, engineer of the Northwest division, endorsed the communication of Captain Marshall with this remark : "It does not appear that the project for a li-foot channel must necessarily cover the whole distance from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river, but may be limited to the portion between La Salle and Lockport. The only re- quirement imposed by the law for the remainder is that it shall provide for a channel having capacity and facilities ade- quate ' for the passage of the largest Mississippi river steamboats and of naval vessels suitable for defense in time of war.'" The communication was forwarded to General Casey who issued this order :. " Surveys, plans and estimates for a 1-i-foot channel as required by law, and for the 8-foot channel required by western river boats, should be made in the interest of navigation. Modifications required to adapt to local wants the navigable channels thus surveyed should be left to local authorities. ' ' In his suggestions Captain Marshall seems to have been guided by a predetermination that a channel for navigable purposes would never be extended to the Chicago river 292 DRAINAGE CHANNEI, AND WATERWAY. through the upper Desplaines valley. In fact, he said in his report of the surveys, in direct opposition to the views of Government engineers who had preceded him, that the terminal facilities at the mouth of the Calumet river, " the ample land-locked natural basins (needing only deepening by dredging) for the construction of a great development of wharves and docks in public waters of the United States, scarcely excelled anywhere on the Great Lakes," pointed irresistibly to the Calumet region as the proper terminus of a great waterway between the Great Lakes and the Missis- sippi river. Under the direction of Captain Marshall large sums of money have since been spent by the Government in creating a channel in the bed of the Calumet river nearly a mile in length, 250 feet wide and 16 feet deep. Acting under the orders received from his chief, Captain Marshall made surveys and estimates for two channels, one fourteen feet deep and the other eight. In his report, pre- liminary to an explanation of his plans, he analyzed the navigation of the Mississippi river and such of its tributaries as would be served by the proposed waterway. In the Des- plaines and Illinois rivers the practical depth of navigation after the construction of the smaller channel, would vary with the stage of the rivers. From Joliet to La Salle there would be a navigable channel varying in depth from eight feet, when the discharge of the river was at a minimum, to ten to sixteen feet at mid-stages. Below La Salle to the Mississippi river there would be a depth of navigation vary- ing from seven feet at extreme low water, to twelve feet at mid-stage and eighteen feet or more at floods. The mini- mum low water depths sought on the Illinois river were greater than those proposed for that portion of the ]\Iissis- sippi river with which it immediately connected. The 14:-foot channel would accommodate with increased facility all large vessels that could reach its terminus at La Salle through the channel of the Mississippi river. But SURVEYS liY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. 293 vessels on the Mississippi that could not be accommodated by the 8-foot channel at extreme low water would not be accommodated by the 14-foot channel 160 feet wide, although a channel fourteen feet in depth at extreme low water in Lake Michigan to eighteen feet at high water across the Chicago Divide, could be navigated by large boats, if there were still water or a very moderate current, with greater facility than a still water channel eight to twelve feet in depth. This was the best argument for such a channel, based upon the present or probable future navigation of the Mis- sissippi river and its tributaries. Captain Marshall said, but it was not a public necessity. No greater depth of channel than nine feet at extreme low water in Lake Michigan across the Chicago Divide seemed to him necessary for navigation by vessels similar to the largest Mississippi river craft that could neither use it nor reach it. But a channel of much greater capacity, discharging a large volume of water into the Desplaines and Illinois rivers not necessary for naviga- tion in a canalized river, as this must necessarily be, was made locally urgent by the sanitary necessities of the city of Chicago for drainage and an uncontaminated water supply. These necessities ended when the Chicago Divide was passed and the discharge turned into the channels of the rivers. Beyond the Chicago Divide there was no apparent neces- sity then nor likely to exist in the near future, either national or local, for a channel of materially greater capac- ity than the minimum estimated for between the Mississippi river and the Great Lakes, although every increase in depth and width up to a certain limit throughout the artificial channel would increase the facilities for navigation, proba- bly without affecting the character, size or draught of the boats that would use it as a through route of transporta- tion. The two routes for which estimates were made by Cap- 294 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. tain Marshall, one by way of the Chicago river and the other by way of the Calumet river and the Sag, united at the Sag bridge, about seventeen miles respectively from Bridgeport and Blue Island. From Sag to La Salle they coincided. The Chicago route followed the Chicago river from its mouth by way of the South branch to a point near Bridgeport, the West fork of the South branch and the Ogden ditch to Summit, thence parallel with the Illinois and Michigan canal on lower ground for about three miles, and entered the bed of the Desplaines river. Cutting off bends it followed the Desplaines river to the Sag bridge. This route was preferred to the line of the Illinois and Michigan canal for these reasons y It occupied lower ground, and the probablp amount of excavation was less, since the earth excavated from the old canal remained as spoil banks to be removed. The old canal was paralleled by a railroad on either side, and there was not suflScient room for the enlargement of the canal without condemning the railroad right of way and removing one or both of the tracks. The present canal was the property of the State of Illi- nois, and the conditions of transfer had not been accepted by the United States. These conditions were such that their acceptance would involve greater cost than a new right of way. The Illinois and Michigan canal was the main sewer of the city of Chicago, as well as a commercial highway, and could not well be enlarged without seriously interfering with its uses, or at increased cost of work from delays due to traffic on the canal. As a means of transportation and drainage it was of advantage in the prosecution of the work parallel with it that it should be maintained in a serviceable condition during the construction of the larger canal. The new route avoided excavation in solid rock for SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. '29'5 several miles, between Willow Springs and Lomoiit, which was found in the bed of the old canal. The proposed Sag, or Calamet river route, followed the Calumet river from Lake Michigan to One Hundred and Tenth street, thence by way of a cut-off through Lake Calumet to its southwestern shore, thence by another cut-off to the Little Calumet river, thence to Blue Island, and nearly due west along the line of the old Calumet feeder north of Lane's Island to the junction of the two. routes a* Sag bridge. The line through Calumet lake was more ex- pensive than by way of the rivers to Blue Island, but wa« preferred because it was five miles shorter, and because Lake Calumet afforded greater facilities for the construction of an " unobstructed land-locked harbor of great proportions, affording ample room for a turning basin and great devel- opment of docks and wharves suitable for an extensive commerce and easy transfer between lake and river steam- ers." The route north of Lane's Island, although about two miles longer than the direct line south of the island, was preferred because the material to the south for several miles was a soft muck, peat and vegetable matter, in which it would be extremely difficult and expensive to maintain a definite channel. The table below gives the comparative cost of the two routes from Lake Michigan to Sag bridge. Captain Marshall believed the Sag route for which he had prepared estimates was the most advantageous, but not the least expensive. The guard lock was to prevent Desplaines river flood waters from passing into Lake Michigan, carrying with them Chicago sewage. No estimate was made for damages to adjacent property due to the reconstruction of bridges in Chicago, which would be a large item, nor for the increased cost of the work over the Chicago river route due to the assumed interruption by Desplaines river floods. 296 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Comparative cost from Lake Michigan to Sag Bridge. Chicago route. • Item of cost. 14-foot project. 8-foot project. Units. Cost. Units. Cost. Right of way Bridges 34 497,800 413,000 9,989,000 1,360,000 1 *11.500 *84,000 $1,197,250 2,865,000 796,480 165,200 2,497,-250 816,000 368,130 172,500 840,000 971,781 $1,197,250 34 251,000 413,000 6,730,000 920,000 1 *11,500 *84,000 2,865,000 401,600 Rock Earth j Hard pan - _- 165,200 1,682,500 552,000 283,819 172,500 672,000 799,187 Guard-lock Docks Revetments Contingencies, 10 Total cost- > $10,689,591 $8,791,056 Sag route. Item of cost. 14-toot project. 8-foot project. Units. Cost. Units. Cost. Right of Way 27 1,264,700 13,814,000 944,000 ] I 272,150 1,055,000 2,023,520 3,453,500 566,400 357,649 $272,150 1,055,000 858,880 2,390,500- 421,800 268.309 Bridges Rock- 27 536,800 9,562,000 703,000 1 Earth Hard pan Guard-lock Docks Revetmen 772,819 Contingencies 10 per cent 526,664 Total .cost-- - $3,501,041 $5,793,303 Uniting at Sag bridge the ■ alternative routes followed the bed of the Desplaines river to a point below Loekport. The 14-foot channel was cut through solid limestone rock to SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND JtARSHALL. "297 it!< full depth from a point 13i,000 feet from Lake Michigan tea point 168,000 feet distant, partly in rock from 126,000 to 134,000, and also partly in rook from 168,000 to 184,000 feet, where the bottom of the 14 -foot channel reached the surface below Lockport. The line from Lockport to Joliet followed the west side of the Desplaines valley. Descending by four locks in the 14-foot project, and five locks in the S-foot project, the channel entered the second basin at Joliet. Waste gates were provided below Lockport to vent the waters of the Desplaines at such times as they might exceed the necessities of the canal and overtop the guard lock gates, and werc'of sufficient capacity to vent the natural high water discharge of the Desplaines. The canal below Lockport in both projects was almost entirely in embankment, or above' the natural surface, the hillsides to the west forming one embankment of the canal, and substantial masonry retaining walls, laid in cement mor- tar and backed with the stone from the excavated parts of the canal, forming the other side. This substantial construc- tion was recommended for the security of the city of Joliet, which lay below the level of the canal. From the first lock at Lockport to a point below Joliet the bottoms of the channels in both projects were made to coincide. The dif- ference in cost was due to the difl'erent heights of the lock walls, retaining walls and dams. The excavation in both projects would be the same throughout this section. At Joliet it was proposed to remove both State dams ; to lower the Avater surface of the first pool two feet for the 14- foot project, and to raise the surface of the second pool eight feet, building substantial masonry retaining walls five feet above the constant water level ; to build a new dam at the foot of this pool and place it in a movable section or sluice- way closed by a controllable gate to vent floods ; to con- struct along the retaining wall on the east side a culvert or drain to carry oflf sewage and sipe water ; to widen the lUi- 298 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. nois and Michigan canal by rock excavation to 160 ft-et ; to deepen it eight feet by i-aising the canal embankment by constructing masonry retaining walls ; to insert in this wall,, if necessary, additional sluiceways closed by cylindrical gates to supplement the discharge through the sluiceway of the dam at floods ; to build below these sluices a guard lock, and to continue the level to a point one and one-half miles below Joliet where a lock of eight feet lift would be placed again to return to existing levels in the Illinois and Michi- gan canal. The line would then abandon the existing canal and run in a direct line to Lake Joliet and thence to La Salle, occupying the Desplaines river, except at Marseilles, Avhere a short canal would be constructed around the rapids at that point. For the 8-foot project at Joliet the upper basin would be lowered eight feet, the dam at the end of the second basin raised two feet, the canal banks raised two feet and the canal widened as before. To vent flood waters the constructions would be similar to those for the 14-foot pro- ject. The level of the Illinois and Michigan canal, if it were used after the completion of the larger work, would need to be raised two feet. In the river portion of the route the required depths would be obtained by the aid of dams, so far as practicable. The dams were proposed to be as high as admissible, additional depths required to be ob- tained by excavation in the beds of the rivers. The water surfaces were common to both projects. The mechanical constructions proposed were : For the li-foot project, three guard locks, one combined lock of two lifts and fifteen lift locks from Lake Michigan to La Salle, the total lockage being 141 feet ; for the S-foot project, three guard locks and sixteen lift locks, with one sot of waste gates for each project at Lockport. There would be nine dams, one of which, at Joliet, would be provided with a controllable sluiceway, and two others, one at Sugar SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. 299' Island near Morris, and one at the foot of the slope at Utica, with navigable passes closed by wickets. These were the only locations where it would be practicable to employ movable dams, the slope of the rivers making per- manent dams necessary. The locks at all fixed dams would be carried above the high water mark and the discharge of the river forced by levees or embankments over the crests of the dams. The total estimates for the two projects from Lake Michigan to La Salle were as follows : For the 14-foot protect — Via the Chicago route. $48,283,76a Sag route 46,094,213 For the 8- foot project — Via the Chicago route _ ..- s2i«,883 153 •• Sag route 33 885,400 In discussing th§ comparative advantages of the two routes from Lake Michigan to Sag bridge. Captain Marshall said if the Chicago river could be made at reasonable ex- pense to accommodate the increased commerce that the opening of a through route of great capacity would proba- bly bring about, there would be no question of the proper terminus of the line. But the river was very crooked and obstructed by swing bridges, nearly all of them of less than eighty feet span. The main river and the South branch cut off the business center of the city from the populous North and West sides, and it required the most careful manage- ment by city officials to accommodate pedestrians, vehicles and passing vessels. This great inconvenience, notwith- standing the use of quick-turning bridges, was becoming more burdensome and annoying both to land and marine in- terests. The river could not accommodate any material increase in the number of vessels using it. Captain Mar- shall thought it only a question of time when the purposes of navigation would be met by the use of barges and tugs^ making fixed bridges across the Chicago river a possibility. 800 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. and by. tlie construction of an extensive outer harbor for lake vessels with wharves and docks along the lake front of the city, or by the utilization of the facilities of the Calumet system of lakes and rivers. In its present condition the Chicago river could not be navigated at all by large Mississippi river steamboats. Nearly all the bridges, which were the property of the city of Chicago, would need to be reconstructed, if the Chicago river route were adopted, and there would be a considerable increase in the already too great number of vessels using the river. No large Mississippi river steamboat could turn in the river. It would need to run the gauntlet of all the bridges and piers to Lake Michigan unless a turning basin were constructed. In the construction of a channel by this route the waters of the Desplaines river must be contended against, and they might greatly increase the cost. In supporting his preference for the Calumet river route Captain Marshall said the Calumet harbor was about com- pleted, and the United States had secured the riparian rights to the river front from the mouth of the river at the harbor to the forks of the Calumet, or the present outlet to Lake Calumet. This section of the river the Government was then engaged in dredging to a depth of sixteen feet and a width of 200 feet. The Grand Calumet river extended for miles nearly parallel to and a short distance from Lake Michigan from "The Forks" in the State of Illinois to its ■old mouth in the State of Indiana. With its lakes it offered •commodious basins and easy and comparatively inexpensive connections at many points between the proposed channel and Lake Michigan. The Calumet river had been recognized by appropria- tions made by Congress as one of the navigable rivers of the United States. The United States was the riparian owner a considerable distance along the river and could control th« bridjring of the stream absolutely. The development of SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHAX.L. 301 the region thus far had been such that without orcat ex- pense the terminal facilities might be made adequate for the heaviest commerce. The tendency of events was toward the development of water traffic and not toward its deca- dence, as was assumed with reference to the Chicago river. The estimated cost of the route Captain Marshall favored was less than by way of the Chicago river. The execution of the work would be easier, he said, as there were no rivers whose floods might delay it. Finally, there was no strong local necessity not associated with the interests of naviga- tion to control or interfere with the execution of the work on a strictly national basis. Concerning the practicability of the Calumet route Cap- tain Marshall said the maximum amount of flood water to be provided for at long intervals would probably not exceed 10,000 cubic feet per second under present conditions. The average spring freshets probably did not exceed 3,000 cubic feet per second. The canal with its auxiliaries at Lockport and Joliet would safely pass this amount of water. The discharge over the dams above the mouth of the Kankakee was not likely to exceed 20,000 cubic feet per second. Such discharge was contemplated in the constructions and might be passed over the dams. There was no apparent reason why the constructions proposed would not satisfac- torily meet the purposes of a navigable channel as far as the mouth of the Kankakee. Below this point the conditions radically changed. The discharge of the Illinois river, which at low water below the mouth of the Kankakee and over the Marseilles dam did not exceed 1,000 cubic feet per second, including the supply by the Illinois and Michigan canal, increased at extreme floods until it reached 63,000 cubic feet per second at Marseilles. The draining of the Kankakee marshes in Indiana by a cut through the rock barrier at Momence would not lessen the ratio of 70 to 1 between flood and low water stage, nor 302 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. would the constant discharge into the Illinois river of from 300,000 to 600,000 cubic feet per minute by the city of Chicago for drainage purposes lessen the flood discharge, which determined the practicability of the route for all stages. The dams on that portion of the route were to be built as high as the topography of the valley would warrant without extensive permanent overflow of lands, or without materially increasing damage by floods, and the required depths secured by excavation. These dams had their crests from 8.5 to 18 feet or more below the high water plane, and at extreme flood stages would exercise no appreciable in- fluence over the high water levels, slopes and velocities. The route would be navigable at all stages below a stage corresponding to a discharge of about 30,000 cubic feet per second, or under all ordinary conditions of the river, the extreme floods occurring at long intervals and being of short duration. A route navigable at all times and in all conditions of the river could be obtained in four ways through the valley of the Illinois. By canaling past the reach between Lover's Leap and the foot of Marseilles canal, a distance of fourteen miles, for five miles above Marseilles dam and for three miles below the mouth of the Kankakee, practically in the bed of the river, with embankments above high water mark ; by raising the dams, or by shortening the lengths of spill- ways until the sectional area of discharge throughout the pools was much greater than the area of discharge over the dams, converting the pools into reservoirs ; by excavating and enlarging the cross sections of the pools until the same result was obtained, and by constructing a lateral canal throughout the line. Any of the first three methods would involve a greater expense than the fourth, or a continuous canal from Joliet to La Salle. The constructions proposed were considered to be adequate to create a navigable water- way in the bed of the Illinois river below the mouth of the SURVEVS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. 303 Kankakee at all ordinary stages of the Illinois river, but daring floods the route might be found impracticable over the reaches named. Although not instructed to do so Captain Marshall pre- sented facts and discussed questions relating to the impro\e- ment of the Illinois river from La Salle to the Mississippi river. The lower IlHnois, he said, was more like an estuary than a river. Its banks reached only to mid-stage, although not annually overflowed. Its slope was only .12 of a foot per mile. The bottom lands which were overflowed at stages above average high water varied in width from a few hundreds of feet to five miles, were generally covered with dense timber and cut up by numerous sloughs, lagoons and ponds. A large area of the higher part of the bottoms was cultivated before seeding when not submerged, and this cultivated area was annually increasing. Throughout the valley of the Illinois it might be said in a general way, the engineer continued, that the bayous and lagoons began to fill at about the nine foot stage above the low water mark ; at ten to eleven feet the lowest areas, worthless for cultivation, began to be submerged, and at about the twelve foot stage the overflow of useful areas began to be widespread. At about the sixteen foot stage probably eight-tenths of all lands submerged were covered with water. At La Salle, at the time of his report (Febru- ary, 1890), low water was 4.4 feet above the original low water stage. Just below that point the overflow began to be appreciable at about the 7.7 or 8 foot stage above present low water. At Henry, Copperas Creek and La Grange the incipient overflow stage was reached at about the twelve foot stage above the low waters of 1871 and 1879. At this stage the discharge reached about 18,000 cubic feet per second at La Salle or Peru, about 30,000 cubic feet at La Grange and about 40,000 cubic feet (estimated) at Kamps- ville. The discharge producing overflow on the lower river 304 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. depended very much on the stage of the Mississippi river and the temporary slopes of the Illinois. ■ Below Marseilles, where the extreme flood discharge of the Illinois river was about 70,000 cubic feet per second, the river had many large tributaries and drained a much larger area than above it. The Fox river, the two Vermil- lions. Big Bureau creek, Sangamon river. Spoon river, Crooked creek, the Macoupin river and many others would probably swell its extreme flood discharge at its mouth to 120,000 to 150,000 cubic feet per second. The channel of the lower Illinois, without overflow, might not discharge one-third of its natural drainage ;it floods. The impractica- bility of the effort to prevent overflow by such methods as enlarging the channel of the lower Illinois by removing the dams and by dredging was, to Captain Marshall, apparent, since it required an increase to three times its capacity of a channel varying in width from COO to 1,400 feet, fourteen feet deep and 225 miles in length. Besides, as he declared, the capacity of the channel could not be increased by the scour of the current over so gentle a slope as that of the river, the current at the utmost not exceeding three feet a second. Concerning the effects of a definite increased discbarge through the Illinois river on its channel depths. Captain Marshall said it would be desirable only during the low water stages. The natural low water volume of the Illinois river was gradually diminishing. Among the causes were the clearing of wooded areas, tile drainage and ditching. The rainfall was now sent rapidly into the river during the wet season of the year. Measurements seemed to in- dicate that the natural low water discharge from surface drainage alone of the Illinois river" did not exceed 1,000 cubic feet per second within 79 miles of its mouth, after re- ceiving the waters of nearly all its principal tributaries, the discharge of the Illinois and Michigan canal being about SURVEYS BY BENYAURD AND MARSHALL. 305 700 cubic feet per second. The minimum discharge of the Illinois river after 300,000 cubic feet per minute had been added by the city of Chicago, it was assumed, would not exceed 6,000 cubic feet per second ; after the addition of 600,000 cubic feet per minute it would not exceed 11,000 cubic feet per second. A discharge of 6,000 cubic feet per second would give a depth over bars in the unimproved river without dredgiusc of at least 4.5 feet to La Grange, the depth diminishing to 3. 8 feet at Kampsville, and probably not exceeding 3 feet over the lowest bar on the river. The discharge would not do away with the necessity for locks and dams for an ample channel or for channel works or dredging for a more restricted channel. The larger dis- charge would not do away with the necessity for dredging through bars to obtain seven feet at low water from La Grange lock to the Mississippi river, a distance of 79 miles. Captain Marshall believed the dams on the Illinois river were necessary for navigation, by the aid of dredging, an average period of about two months in the year. Without the aid of dredging or channel improvements, and in the present condition of the bars on the lower Illinois river, with minimum depths of eighteen inches, the dams were necessary for longer periods. As to the influence of the dams upon flood heights and flowage of lands Captain Marshall stated that all the dams on the Illinois river were drowned out before the overflow stage was reached ; consequently, they had lit- tle or no influence in causing flowage of the bottom lands. None of them modified the currents at stages when the deterioration of rivers was usually a maximum, nor hindered in any way the scouring out of the pools above them at such stages of the river when the velocities were at a maximum and most effective. Movable dams would settle all disputes as to flowage damages at stages above low water. Captain Marshall's plea for a navigable channel by way 20 306 DEAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAV. of the Calumet river and the Sag instead of the Summit val- ley and the Chicago river is partially answered by himself. He admits that the latter would be the better route if the difficulties attending the navigation of the Chicago river were overcome, but abruptly assumes that this would be im- possible, — an unwarranted assumption. The argument alleging the inutility of a deep channel across the Chicago divide so long as the Illinois river is too shallow for the passage of large vessels, is also answered by the admission that the channel of the Illinois would be ade- quate, with a little systematic dredging, when supplied with a constant flow of water such as that proposed by the en- larged drainage channel. It has been unwarrantably assumed by all the Govern- ment engineers that a navigable channel between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river must necessarily be traversed by Mississippi river steamboats, and that vessels using the channel must necessarily navigate the Mississippi. At ordinary seasons the latter might be able to reach the Gulf of Mexico, but whether they could or not the com- merce between the Mississippi and the lake demands the en- larged waterway. Concerning a choice of routes at the Lake Michigan end for an enlarged navigable channel it is sufficient to say that it should communicate as directly as possible with the estab- lished business of the city of Chicago. To terminate the channel at the mouth of the Calumet riVer would necessi- tate an almost complete change in the location of the in- ternal commerce of Chicago. CHAPTER XXII. BRIDGEPORT PUMPING WORKS. When it was found necessary to abandon the deep cut in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal it was suggested that pumping works be erected at the head of the canal to supply it with water. The suggestion met with approval, and the pumping works were built and put in operation when the canal was opened in the spring of 1848. Although constructed for the sole purpose of supplying the canal with water to make it navigable, the city soon dis- covered that they were performing a very useful duty in cleansing the Chicago river. This led to an arrangement with the Canal Commissioners in 1865, by which the latter agreed to pump water from the river into the canal at certain times for the relief of the city from the serious annoyances of a badly contaminated river. A heavy rainfall in that year kept the river in a com- paratively clean condition. In 1886 the pumps were operated 62 days ; in 1867, 150 days ; in 1868, 73 days ; and in 1869, 100 days. The amount of water raised by them in 1869 is estimated to have been 10,000 cubic feet per minute. The increase in the demands upon the pumps was due to a diminished rainfall, a lowering of the lake level and a greater pollution of the South branch of the river. The increasing business of the packing houses at Bridgeport was mainly responsible for the pollution. In 1860, 306,428 head of cattle and hogs were slaughtered, but in 1863 the number had increased to 1,029,948. The growth of the business and the consequent defilement of the 307 308 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. river continued from year to year. Soon after the com- pletion of the deep cut in the canal in 1871, the packing- houses were removed from Bridgeport to the present location at the Stock Yards. The liquid refuse was then discharged into the South fork of the South branch, which soon became indescribably foul. This fork of the river, now a stagnant pond, the sickening contents of which overflowed into the South branch when it became full, has since re- mained the one plague spot within the city. In 1863 an epidemic of erysipelas occurred along the South branch, and was traced by physicians to the decaying animal matter in the river. This was one of the immediate causes of the appointment of the Commission in 1865 to devise a plan to cleanse the river. When the deepening of the canal was accomplished, the pumps were thought to be of no further use. The con- dition of the river was greatly improved, and the city no longer solicited their aid. After two years of idleness the pumps were sold on June 25, 1873, for §12,500. They had cost $27,805.16. The remaining hydraulic property and adjoining lots were leased at a rental of $2,500 a year. It was not many years before the citizens deplored the fate of the pumps. A constant current was not maintained through the river from the lake, owing to fluctuations in the lake level, the direction of the wind, and other causes. The action of a southwest wind on the water of the Chicago harbor at one time resulted in lowering the water in the canal at Lockport, 27 miles away, fifteen inches. The rainfall had much to do with the amount of water which flowed from the river into the canal. In 1879 the current of the river was lakeward for thirty days, and for ten days there was no perceptible current either way. In 1S73, for sixteen consecutive days, it is said that the average amount of water passing through the canal at Bridgeport was 83,000 cubic feet per minute. In 1879 the amount was estimated BRIDGEPORT PUMPING WORKS. 309 to be only 17,000 cubic feet at any time and only 10,000 cubic feet in the winter when the canal was frozen over. Dr. John H. Rauch, secretary of the State Board of Health, took up the question of the contamination of the water of the Illinois and Michigan canal in 1878 and 1879 in the interest of the people living in the valley of the Des- plaines, they having begun to make serious complaint. Under his direction daily observations were made by Samuel M. Thorp, locktender at Joliet, to determine the daily stage of water in the canal, the oflfensiveness of the odor arising from it, the general force and direction of the winds, the temperature and the degree of contamination of the water. Mr. Thorp's observations were begun on October 14, 1877, and continued to the end of November, 1878. During the winter of 1877 and 1878 an increase in the amount of sewage and the degree of the odor arising from it were observed whenever the water at the dam was low. As the amount of water increased the offense from the sew- age diminished. Daring the period of Mr. Thorp's obser- vations there were 249 days in which the water was filthy, and only 14 in which it was clear. On 117 days the odor was marked, on 116 days it was slight, and on 140 days there was no odor. On 211 days the water was low, and on 90 days it was high. These observations demonstrated to Dr. Rauch that a low stage of water was always attended by increased contamination and by an increase in the offen- sive odor and that the condition of the water was invariably improved in a marked degree even by an increase in the depth of the water by an inch or two. On September 30, 1878, following a low stage of water, the observer noted that all the fish in the river were killed, and on October 15, persons passing over the bridge were nauseated by the offensive odor. From the close of Mr. Thorp's obser- vations until February, 1879, the odor escaping from the river at Joliet was so offensive that public meetings were 310 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. held and committees appointed to visit Chicago and demand relief. Dr. Rauch reports that during the fourteen months of Mr. Thorp's observations there was almost con- tinued low water. Only once did the water rise fifteen inches above the low water mark and the average height above it did not exceed two inches. This indicated that the amount of water passing over the dam was diminishing, due to the lowering of the lake level 35 miles away. Dr. Rauch concluded that the only remedy for the offen- sive condition of the canal and the Desplaines river would be found in an increased and constant flow of water from the lake into the canal. He suggested to the State Board of Health that it recommend to the city the rebuilding of the pumping works with the least possible delay. "This will be the first time," he said, " that the board has made a recommendation to the city of Chicago in relation to its sanitary affairs. There is another view of the case to which the attention of the municipal authorities of Chicago should be called, which is that the city has no right unnecessarily to injure the material and sanitary interests of any other part of the State. The community of interests which exists between the citizens of Chicago and the inhabitants of the country lying along the canal and river, forbids the injury of either by the other. It is but just to state that the plans heretofore adopted for the sewerage and drainage of the city of Chicago have been made with a view to such change as the future might require. The deepening of the canal, which was begun in 1865, was not completed until 1871, so that the relief afforded by that measure was delayed six years from the time when its necessity was recognized. The pumping works can be rebuilt in ninety days. My reasons for recommending this course are that the works will furnish almost immediate relief without great expense and without interfering with the project for a ship canal, or with any BRIDGEPOKT PUMPING WORKS. 311 more permanent plan which may become necessary for dis- posing of Chicago sewage." The amount of water needed to cleanse the canal, Dr. Ranch said, was from 60,000 to 100,000 cubic feet per minute. William Thomas, general superintendent of the Board of Canal Commissioners, at the close of the year 1879, called the attention of the Canal Commissioners'to the con- dition of the Summit level. When the water was let into the deep cut the lake was more than three feet higher than it was in 1879. Navigation had been seriously interfered with. Either the bottom of the canal must be lowered throughout the entire length of the canal, he said, or more water must be supplied at Bridgeport. In his judgment it was a great mistake that the old hydraulic works at Bridge- port had not been pi-eserved. With those works restored the water in the canal could be kept nearly as clean as that in the lake itself, and the navigation of the Summit level restored to its normal condition at an expense not to exceed !?75 a day. He thought the city of Chicago and the Canal Board should at once take steps to accomplish this purpose. The recommendations of Dr. Rauch, fortified by the opinions of Mr. Thomas, were concurred in by the State Board of Health, and a copy of the secretary's report was transmitted to the Mayor and Common Council of the citj- of Chicago. The subject was earnestly discussed by the press, the Chicago Citizens' association and the Engineers' club. There were conferences between the State and city authorities and a convention was held at Ottawa to further the interests of a ship canal. The result was that the Common Council appropriated §100,000 on March 29, 1880, for the construction of pumping works at the head of the Illinois and Michigan canal. During the year 1880 the condition of the river con- tinued to grow worse. In June Dr. Rauch made an exam- 312 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. ination of the Chicago river and found it more foul and offensive than it had been since the deep cut was completed in 1871. In the main river the current was toward the lake indicating little change in the level of the lake. At Van Buren street the water was almost stagnant. At Eighteenth street there was no current, and there was none at Halsted street for the first time within the secretary's recollection. On July 19, 18S0, a petition from the citizens of the city of Joliet was sent to the Canal Commissioners asking the privilege of digging ditches, without cost to the board, between the canal and the Dcsplaines river with a view to the purification of the waters of the canal. The petition follows: " Gentlemen: — We, the undersigned, citizens of Joliet, Will county, and State of Illinois, would most respectfully petition your Honorable Body (for the reasons hereinafter mentioned) for the privilege of digging, constructing and making such ditches, flumes, races, and head-gates, without cost - to your Board, between the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Desplaines river, and along the line of tha same from Lockport to Bridgeport, as will allow a sufficient quantity of water to pass from said river into said canal to feed the same, or so much of it as said river may be able to furnish. " Your petitioners would most respectfully represent that for very much of the time during the last nine years, they have suffered to an extent beyond description from what they had supposed a nuisance caused by the city of Chicago cutting down the Summit Level of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and turning its sewage matter, together with all other nastiness, from thence through the Chicago river into the canal. But having recently sent a committee of our busi- ness men to confer with the Mayor of Chicago, with refer- ence to the proposed pumping works at Bridgeport, and, BRIDGEPOKT PUMPING WOEKS. 313 however strange it may appear to others, having learned from his Honor that the water in the Chicago river was pure and clean enough for bathing and toilet purposes, and what was still stranger, that the nuisance complained of was not caused by the city of Chicago, but by your Honorable Board, that committee was instructed by his Honor to stir us up, to assist him in compelling your Honorable Board to abate the nuisance. And through his Honor, our committee was further informed that on account of the FuUerton avenue conduit and its pumping properties, the city of Chicago did not need the Bridgeport pumping works nor the Illinois and Michigan Canal itself; that the water that passed into the canal from the Chicago river was for the benefit of the canal and not for the benefit of the city. "In view of all these facts (and facts they must be, or surely Mayor Harrison would not so advise us ) , we come to you and most earnestly pray your Honorable Body to not only allow us to make the openings mentioned above, but also that your Board would avail itself of its right to restore the dam at the south end of what was once known as Lane's Lake, or head of Rock Creek, four miles northwest of Blue Island, and turn its waters back into the old Calumet feeder, and through it into the Illinois and Michigan Canal. By the assistance of these two sources of supply we are ad- vised the water from the Chicago river can be entirely pre- vented from entering the canal for about eight months of the year, and in part for a longer period of the year, so that to a very great extent we shall be relieved from what is now an intolerable nuisance. Your petitioners would most respectfully urge your Honorable Body to give the subject that careful consideration which its importance de- mands, at the next monthly meeting of your Board, August 12th, next, to the end that we may get whatever relief is possible during this season. " Wo have no doubt ample means can be obtained to do 314 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. this work from parties who own lands at the Summit, that are now nearly worthless, and which by means of this drainage will become very valuable. Each sluice or race to have ample gates to be closed against floods, and for a brief time at the beginning of winter to allow the ice-fields south of Summit to fill with water. ' ' All of which is respectfully submitted. ' ' At the close of the year 1880 the Canal Commissioners reported that the sewage of the city of Chicago in passing through the canal caused such an offensive smell as to be- come an almost intolerable nuisance to the citizens of Joliet and other towns along the line of the canal. The State Legislature was now induced to use its influ- ence and power in compelling the city of Chicago to divert its sewage from the Desplaines and Illinois valleys or dilute it with a larger discharge of water from the lake. A joint resolution was introduced in the senate by Senator Munn of Will county, which made these alarming statements : The foulness of the water annually causes the death of millions of fish in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers, that float to the shores and decay. The sewage in an entirely undecomposed and putrid mass is carried by the current of the canal into the Desplaines river and thence into the Illinois river, rendering the air at all points along its passage so impure and foul as to be exceedinglj' offensive, and taking with it germs of disease of all kinds preva- lent in the city of Chicago, thus spreading them broadcast through the entire Desplaines and Illinois river valleys, causing thereby much illness as well as poisoning the blood and debilitating the systems of 200,000 people. Careful investigation leads the people to fear that an epidemic may spread over said section of the state of Illinois from the causes above stated. In addition to the above distress there has been a great loss to property, business industries and to the communities by reason of the causes herein mentioned. bkidgt:poet pumping works. 315 Prior to the deepening of the Illinois and Michigan canal the water necessary for all purposes of navigating the canal and propelling machinery was obtained from the Desplaines river and the Calumet feeder through Lane's lake. The bed of the Desplaines river at Summit and thence westward along the line of and adjacent to the canal is at a low stage of water eight above the surface level of the canal and will average a supply of water sufficient for all canal and power purposes during the seasons of navigation. The supplying of the canal from these sources will so dilute and weaken the sewage of the city of Chicago as greatly to re- lieve it of its foulness and stench, to the great delight, relief and health of the people near to and bordering upon the line of the canal, the Desplaines and Illinois rivers. Following this preamble was a resolution directing the Canal Commissioners to cause sluiceways of sufficient capac- ity, with the proper guard gates, to be opened from the Desplaines river to the canal at or near the Summit in Cook county, and at or near Lemont in Cook county, and also to construct a dam across the former Calumet feeder at such suitable point as would cause the water from Lane's Lake to flow into the canal. The commissioners were required to- commence this work immediately, the cost not to exceed 110,000. This bold attempt to coerce Chicago into disposing of its sewage by some other method than discharging it into the Illinois and Michigan canal met with determined opposition on the part of Chicago, and several provisos were added to the resolution which gave the city the benefit of an alterna- tive. The provisos authorized the Canal Commissioners to confer with the Mayor of the city of Chicago, or authorities of the city, concerning an increased flow of water into the canal. If the city should proceed without delay to cause a flow into the canal from the Chicago river sufficient to dilute and purify the waters and thus remedy the evils complained 316 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of, such flow to be not less than 60,000 cubic feet per min- ute, including the ordinary flow into the canal from the river, the work to be accomplished by the 1st day of Sep- tember, 1881, the Commissioners were directed to accept it in lieu of obtaining a supply from the other sources named. The Commissioners were required to take care of •60,000 cubic feet of water per minute, but the State was not to be committed to a system of permanent drainage of Chicago sewage through either the canal or the Desplaines -or Illinois rivers, the State reserving the right to require the city of Chicago in future years to take care of its sewage through other channels. The city was also required to maintain and manage the pumping works, subject to the direction of the canal commissioners relative to the amount of water to be received into the canal. The resolution, as amended, was adopted by the Senate on May 18, 1881, and by the House on the following day. In the meantime specifications had been framed and pro- posals asked for throughout the United States, Canada and JEngland for the construction of pumping machinery to de- liver 60,000 cubic feet of water per minute from the Chicago river into the canal. Bids were opened 6n October 18, 1880, and were found to range from $125,000 to $275,000 for the machinery alone ; the canal lock, machinery founda- tions, building, etc., would cost about $50,000 additional. As $100,000 only had been appropriated the bids were all rejected. An additional appropriation was made by the ■Common Council in March, 1881, and the contract for the construction of the pumps was awarded to N. F. Palmer & Co., of New York, on August 21, 1881. The work was to be completed July 1, 1882. It was not finished and the pumps set to work until June 3, 1884. The pumps cost ^251,177.22. The works were located on the south bank of the canal at the junction of the canal and the South fork of tho South branch of the river. The construction of a lock BRIDGEPORT PUMPING WORKS. 317 and dam to prevent the return flow of the water was included in the cost of the works. The machinery consisted of four sets of centrifujjal pumps placed in a dry well below the surface of the water in the river, and driven directly by a vertical condensing compound engine. The pump wheels were six feet in diameter, and made of cast iron. Each pump was furnished with separate supply and discharge pipes, which were three feet and four inches in diameter at the pump and increased rapidly to four feet and six inches at the outlet. Each pump was coupled direct to the engine crank shaft. There were eight horizontal return tubular boilers, each six feet and six inches in diameter and eighteen feet in length. In the test trial the pumps delivered 49,587 cubic feet of water per minute at a head of '6.489 feet, which, measured from datum, would have been 7.622 feet. This did not meet the requirements of the contract, and the pumps were prac- tically rebuilt during the next year. The blades were changed in shape, and the size of the inlet increased. A sub- sequent test showed that the pumps were able to raise the requisite amount of 60,000 cubic feet per minute eight feet high. The cost of operating the pumping works for the year 1885 was $44,644.07. The expense was reduced to 139,618.91 in 1888, but in 1891 it had increased to §72,802.42. In recent years repairs have been repeatedly necessary. At the time of the tests the lake level was at an average high stage, and the conditions were favorable to the pumps. Both river and canal were kept in a comparatively in- offensive condition for two years. In 1886 the average mean level of the lake below datum was 2.64 feet. In the following year it dropped to 1.96, and continued to fall until it reached 0.05 feet above datum in 1891. With the lowering of the lake level the pumps were required to raise 318 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the water at the head of the canal through a greater dis- tance, and the result was a less amount pumped. The required 60,000 cubic feet per minute was reduced to an average of 37,771 cubic feet during the year 1891. With little more than half the required amount of water pumped from the river, and the sewage discharge into the river greatly increased because of the rapid growth of the city, the river and the canal again became very foul and oflEensive. But the city of Chicago had complied with the require- ments of the law of 1881, and the Canal Commissioners did not make the cuttings from the Desplaines and Calumet rivers which the people of the valley demanded. Had they done so the outlet for Chicago sewage toward the interior of the State and the Mississippi river would have been cut off, and Chicago would have suffered immeasurably. The resulting contamination of the city's water supply would have depopulated the city. The following table shows the height of the water of Lake Michigan above datum from 1854 to 1891, inclusive: Table Showing Maximum, Minimum aud Mean Water in Lake Miohigan Annually from 1854 to 1891, both inclusive. 185i 1855-. 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865- - 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 3.45 3.05 4.35 4.69 4.45 3.53 4.40 3.30 3.30 2.80 3.66 2.50 2.60 2.58 2.13 3.25 2.80 1.80 0.15 0.42 0.60 1.33 1.31 1.30 1.20 0.70 —0.80 0.40 —1.08 0.00 —0.41 1.00 0.41 0.30 0.40 0.74 1.83 1.56 1.60 2 42 2! 2.98 2.54 2.56 2.50 2.10 1.57 1.30 1.07 1.49 1.01 1.13 2.09 1.77 0.81 Year. 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. Max. 2.70 2.80 3.01 4.31 3.56 3.14 2.51 2.81 3.01 3.01 3.81 3.31 3.71 4.41 3.11 3.01 2.51 2.21 1.61 Min. —0.76 —0.20 —0,34 0.34 1.04 0.51 —0.49 0.99 ■2.19 —0.99 0.99 —0.01 —0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 —0.79 0.99 —2.39 Mean. 1.40 1.67 1.45 2.56 2.31 2.00 1.06 1.16 1.26 2.00 2.10 2.24 2.48 2.64 1.96 1.30 0.77 0.63 0.05 BRIDGEPORT PUMPING WORKS. 319 The level of the water of Lake Michigan in 1891 was the lowest in the history of the city of Chicago. It was be- low datum for 130 days, and at no time during the year was it more than six inches above datum. Chicago datum was established by the Illinois and Mich- igan Canal Commissioners in 1847, and represents the level of low water in Lake Michigan in that year. It has since been used as a basis for fixing water levels in the vicinity of Chicago. CHAPTER XXIII. OGDEN-WENTWORTH CANAL. Before the deepening of the Illinois and Michigan canal in 1871 the low and swampy land lying east of Summit and north of the canal was covered with water during the greater portion of the year. This territory included several hundred acres and constituted what was known as Mud lake. It extended eastward from Summit about three miles and northward nearly to the West fork of the South branch of the Chicago river. Its surface was below the level of the water in the canal, but several feet higher than that of the Chicago river. The latter condition sug- gested to the owners of the swamp property the feasibility of reclaiming it by dredging an outlet to the Chicago river. It was also proposed to improve other low-lying lands in the vicinity in the same manner. Ditches were dug in both directions from the East fork of the South branch, some of them connecting with Mud lake. But the latter were not effective until the completion of the deep cut in the canal, because the lal^e was filled with seepage from the lake as rapidly as it was drained through the ditches. The good effects of the ditehes encouraged the owners of property lying along the banks of the Desplaines north of Summit to carry the channel of the West fork farther west- ward and at the same time deepen it for an improved navi- gation and dockage. The owners of this property were William B. Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago, and John Went worth, mayor of the city at a later date. A channel was dug which has since been known as the Ogden- Went- 320 OGDEN-WENTWOBTH CANAL. 321 worth canal, or ditch. It has played an important part in obstructing the efforts of Chicago to maintain an uncon- taminated water supply and thus acquired an unenviable notoriety. Work on this canal was begun in the year 1871. A dredge was constructed on the banks of the Desplaines river and launched about one mile north of Summit where exca- vation was commenced. Dredging was continued in an easterly direction until a connection was made with the West fork. The canal was about twenty feet wide at the top and the depth slightly below the bed of the Desplaines river. When the floods came in the spring and summer of 1872 the rush of waters from the Desplaines, now sweeping toward the Chicago river, accomplished what the projectors anticipated and their canal was greatly enlarged. Within a short time there was a very troublesome stream flowing eastward from the Summit into Lake Michigan instead of down the valley of the Desplaines. The Desplaines river was practically diverted from its old channel. The results were most unfortunate. The city had spent millions of dollars in enlarging the Illinois and Michigan canal for the purpose of discharging the Chicago river and the sewage of the city into the rivers of the valley. Now the current westward was counteracted by the new flow through a ditch which was constructed for the benefit of private interests. Relief was no sooner secured than it was taken away. During the winter and spring of 1872-3 the city authorities observed that the Chicago river was no longer cleansed by the usual flow of water into the Illinois and Michigan canal. An investigation revealed the fact that the Chicago river was remarkably low and the ice in the canal twenty-two inches thick, reducing the outward flow very greatly. Continuing the investigation the author- ities also found that the Ogden-Wentworth canal was sup- plying the West fork with about all the water that the canal 21 322 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. could carry, the canal entering the West fork near the latter' s junction with the South branch of the river. The pumps were unable to draw any water from the South branch. Without any current in its channel the river be- came increasingly foul. The attention of the Canal Commissioners was directed , to the circumstances, but they did not consider it an affair of theirs, and took no action to remedy the evil. Thej^ dis- covered in the following winter that the canal had been seriously injm-ed by the inflow from the Ogden- Went worth canal. That winter was a wet and warm one. Boats were able to navigate the Illinois and Michigan canal from Chicago to Lockport during every month of the winter. In the latter part of the season it was noticed that shoals were forming in the canal, even as far south as Lockport. The canal was closed and the water drawn off. The Commissioners were surprised to find that earth in large quantities, evidently from Riverside, Mud Lake and Cicero, had been deposited in the canal from a point about one mile east of the lock at Lockport to or near dam No. 1 at Joliet. The soil had been carried into the Ogden- Wentworth canal by the numerous ditches which had been dug for draining the country. The current in the Ogden- Wentworth canal had been strong enough to sweep it all into the Chicago river, to be drawn by the pumps into the Illinois and Michigan canal. The force of the current in the Ogden-Wentworth canal was that of a stream with a capac- ity of 15,000 to 20,000 cubic feet per minute in a channel twenty feet wide at the top, and a descent of about nine feet in its course of five miles from the Desplaines to the Chicago river. William Thomas, superintendent of the Illinois and Michigan canal, reported that it would be necessary to remove 50,000 cubic yards of material, which had been washed in from the Ogden-Wentworth canal, from the Lockport end of the Summit division of the Illinois OGDEN-WENTWOETH CANAL. 323 and Michigan canal. He declared that the entire flow of the Desplaines river had been turned from its natural course north of Summit to and through Mud Lake and the West fork of the South branch of the Chicago river into the Illinois and Michigan canal. The Board of Public Works of the city of Chicago became apprehensive of possible evils when the effects on the canal were disclosed, and recommended to the Common Council that steps be taken to avoid them. "The condition of the water in the West and South forks of the South branch admonishes, ' ' they said, ' ' that some plan must very , soon be adopted for the purification of these portions of the river." But they made no specific recommendations. In the spring of 1874 City Engineer Chesbrough suggested the construction of a dam with sluice-gates in the Ogden-Wentworth canal near the Desplaines river ' which would prevent water passing from the river into the ditch whenever it would be injurious to the city. He re- commended a compromise with the owners of the ditch by which this improvement could be effected. " Such an arrangement might be advantageous to both parties," he said. " There are times, generally of short duration, when a moderate current from the Desplaines into the South branch is decidedly beneficial, because at such times there is naturally a current into the lake, and the stronger that current within certain limits the better. Again there are times when the natural current in the South branch is so strong as to deepen the channel more or less. March 12, 1849, this current was so strong as to carry away shipping and bridges, and flood a part of the city. To be able, at such times, to control the direction which a large part of the Desplaines water would take would be of great service and might avert great disaster. Unfortunately any current in the canal sufficiently strong to produce or aid materially in producing a scouring effect in the South branch and main 324 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. river, brings from the ditch into the upper part of the South branch a'large amount of silt, which is deposited in the river, and into the mouth of the docks there, and has to be dredged out again at a very heavy expense. The problem in all its bearings is Intricate and difScult, but it is very clear that the city is now exposed to greater damage and disaster than it was before the opening of the ditch, and that to a considerable extent at least this damage might be prevented by moderately expensive works if the parties interested could agree in relation to them." The Board of Public Works understood to what an extent the ditch was an annoyance and a source of danger, . but they were opposed to any action which committed them to a recognition of the right of individuals to impede or damage a municipal waterway. They were clearly of the opinion that the city had a right to protect the usefulness' of the Illinois and Michigan canal. Nevertheless an agreement was made between the munic- ipal authorities of Chicago and the owners of the ditch that an embankment with head gates should be thrown across the bayou through which the water ran from the Desplaines river to the Ogden-Wentworth canal. The height of the embankment was to be sufficient to prevent overflow. The work was to be placed under the control of the city au- thorities. Claims for prospective damages and resulting legal com- plications delayed the construction of the embankment and dam and they were not completed until June, 1877. The dam was located on the east line of section 12, townsbip 38, range II, 1,150 feet south of the northeast corner of the section, where the line crosses an arm of the Des- plaines river with which the Ogden-Wentworth canal was connected. It was of a temporary nature, constructed of a row of sheet piling supported on the lower side with round timber piles and filled on the upper side with OGDEN-WENTWORTH CANAL. 325 earth. The top of the dam was 11.8 feet above city datum. City Engineer Chesbrough reported at the close of the year 1877 that "during the greater part of the time no water flows over its top ; hence the water from the Desplaines river is excluded from the Chicago river during the season of the year when its presence is seriously objectionable." The Illinois and Michigan canal still suffered grievously from the Ogden-Wentworth canal. In his report for the year 1877 Superintendent Thomas called attention to the " abominable outrage committed upon the public property. " He said that §75,000 would not make the State good for the damage done the canal "by this nuisance." He added: " The authorities of the city of Chicago, or some other par- ties, have constructed a dam across this ditch the past season which is two feet lower than the natural banks of the river, and there is now six inches of water flowing over it. The dam is about fifty feet long, and the water which passes over it runs rapidly down through a narrow channel, taking with it the soft vegetable mould or mud of the swamp land, and ^deposits large portions of it in the canal at Lockport, amounting to half an inch every twenty -four hours during a considerable portion of the year. In some places where I had dredged last year and left eight feet of water, we found less than four feet when we commenced dredging this season. The cost of dredging at the Lockport end of the Summit level and in the first level below has been $6,483.94, making a grand total of expense for this year chargeable to the Ogden-Wentworth ditch of 116,475.94. ' ' The deposits from this ditch do not all stop at the Lockport end of the Summit level. The next level below is so filled up that it is difficult for boats to meet and pass. In the upper part of the canal above dam No. 1 at Joliet, and in the channel of the canal in front of the Penitentiary dock, it is so filled up that loaded boats cannot land. In this part 326 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of the canal, where the water used to be eleven feet deep, it is not now over three feet, and for two miles below Joliet heavy deposits are being made." Confining the water of the Desplaines river to its channel by the dike which had been constructed across the low-lying cfround north of the Ogden-Wentworth ditch had caused it to overflow its banks below Summit and wash large quanti- ties of earth into the Illinois and Michigan canal. There were five or six breaks into the canal between Summit and Lemont. At Willow Springs and Mount Forest the breaks were said to be very serious, each being from 100 to 300 feet in width and in some places to the full depth of the canal. At Mount Forest the prism of the canal was entirely filled with sand and other material. It cost the State 19,992 to clean out the channel and repair the banks, and the opening of navigation the following spring was consid- erably delayed. The dam across the Ogden-Wentworth ditch became so dilapidated that it was rebuilt in 1885, but its height was not changed. The dam now consisted of substantial wide cribs filled with stone. Water continued to flow over its crest when the Desplaines river was high, resulting in the usual contamination of the water supply of the city and damage to the Illinois and Michigan canal. Commissioner of Public Works DeWltt C. Cregier, recommended that the dam should be raised to a height of fifteen feet and ex- tended from the elevated lands north of the banks of the Illinois and Michigan canal south, a distance of about 1,700 feet. " The structure should be broad enough at the top," he said, "to form a public highway, an improvement greatly needed in the locality, and be provided with a num- ber of sluice-gates to admit of the necessary flow of water required to keep the West branch of the river in good con- dition, and at the same time permit the full capacity of the pumping works to act upon the water and sewage in the t3 TJl &^ o M o ■A Hi 02 > < CQ Q OGDEN-WENTWOKTH CANAL. 327 South branch. ' ' He admitted that a dam of the propor- tions suggested would be costly and that it would cause con- siderable damage to adjacent lands by overflow. This would probably render its construction inexpedient. Therefore, until the Illinois and Michigan canal could be enlarged, or some better plan devised to carry off the sewage entering the river and the disposal of the filth in the South fork, there would be times when the river for brief periods would be- come foul and objectionable. Mr. Cregier's solicitation was mild as the results of the next few years proved. The city has spent an approximate average of $1,000 a year for the maintenance of the dam since the date of Mr. Cregier's recommendation and has done nothing toward an enlargement of the structure. During the year 1891, $3,424.4:2 was spent in extensive repairs. The ditch has become a constantly flowing stream, serving a useful pur- pose in draining adjacent lands, but causing the usual dam- age when the Desplaines river is at flood heights. CHAPTER XXIV. FULLERTON AVENUE CONDUIT. In the original plans of the city's sewerage system, it was foreseen that the Chicago river and its branches would sooner or later become sources of great annoyance unless artificial means were taken to maintain a circulation through it. The main river and the South branch depended to a certain extent upon the Illinois and Michigan canal. The North branch had no such auxiliary. City Engineer Chesbrough, who planned the city's sewers, hoped, as he said in his report for the year ending March 31, 1870, that by arranging the system so that but very little filth would be discharged into the North branch it might be many years before it would be necessary to construct any expensive works to purify it. But this branch of the river became foul much earlier than was expected. Up to the year 1870 less than 5 per per cent of the sewage of the city is said to have been dis- charged into the North branch, but it received the waste from distilleries and tanneries erected alona its banks. It became so offensive that the State Board of Health was called upon to enforce the State law against the maintenance of nuisances. The Board's action brought some relief, but the condition became so serious that the Board of Public Works was of the opinion in 1870 that it was not wise nor safe to postpone further " entering upon some eflScient plan for keeping clean the North branch." City Engineer Chesbrough recommended in that year that a covered canal, or conduit, he constructed along 328 FULLEKTON AVENUE CONDUIT. 329 FuUerton avenue between the North branch and the lake. A summary of his discussion of this subject is given in Chapter VI. The Board of Public Works agreed that ' ' for flushing out the river but one of the many schemes proposed seems to them to promise to be effectual and worthy of adoption, that is, the construction of a canal, open or covered, between the lake and the North branch, through which the water shall be forced by mechanical means, either into the river or into the lake, as shall at the time be necessary. ' ' In September, 1872, the artesian well scheme for flush- ing the North branch was proposed and rejected. Still another year was spent in a discussion of other possible means of purifying the increasingly offensive stream. It was finally decided to construct the conduit, and proposals were advertised for three times. The contract was ulti- mately awarded to George F. Norris & Co. , under proposals opened on March 31, ISii, at $343,284. The work was to be completed on July 1, 1875. The conduit was to be circular in shape, twelve feet in interior diameter, the invert at a grade of thirteen feet below datum, and extend from the North branch of the Chicago river along FuUerton avenue to Lake Michigan. Excavation was begun about the first of June, 1874, at Ashland and FuUerton avenues. The work was carried 1 1 ^ l: O) p isr 3 •-< d a a ■5 3- o z m g> >• o .«, f td W O -a « CJ1 g CO H^ ^rea ot enl- ace in acres i 00 1 o C30 CD draining into each branch. No. sewers CD X'- M 1— ' discharging O cn 1n5 00 05 CD into each branch. g CJl OT 05 bS Aggregate area of their 1— ' & 03 O to CO terminal £2 S ^ 8 If- en CO openings in square f^et H Izi a '^ ,-— «—<— -N a •t] xtremely fou decomposing matter, odor !^ ^- CD "5' S^ E-^-o 1 o' o CD 3 CP V CP O O Ms 2 9 o as B I, water cha ; animal and very ofEensi O 3 fl3 2 f ^B ■■ & CD 5" CD r"p o Sis ft n 1 •1 3. o d m B cT o d ;3 rged wit vegetab] ve -. rt-* 1 O a 0' ' CD tr d a, ►^ 3 3 -, — — «— r— ^^ ' ' CO ^ CD ^s p P= ffi a d o & s.% s H '^ t- CD □} e+ CD » i t0 2 •5' fid CD 2 «.§i "5' > 1ULINOI3 RIVCR O H O b !^ O HH £d f CO ►13 1.1 =-8 .8 hAroin KAMPSVILtC WABASH K.m e*M LA ORANSe CROOKED CREEK BEAROSTOWN SANGAMON RIVCR MAI COPPERAS CREEK PEORIA; CHAPTER XXVI. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. Prompted by the recommendations of the Chicago Citi- zens' association and the urgent appeals of the press, the City Council passed a resolution on January 27, 1886, au- thorizing the creation of a Drainage and Water Supply Commission. Mayor Harrison appointed Rudolph Hering as chief of the Commission. Benezette Williams and Samuel G. Artingstall were made assistants. A preliminary report was made by the Commission in January, 1887. In trans- mitting the report to the City Council Mayor Harrison recommended that a law be enacted to create the new metro- politan district suggested with power to issue bonds or levy assessments and to prosecute the work. The work of the Commission was not carried to a conclusion because the City Council was unwilling to appropriate the funds neces- sary for its expenses. The preliminary report was as fol- lows : Chicago, January, 1887. To the Honorable Mayor and City Council of the City of Chi- cago : Gentlemen: On January 27, 1886, your Honorable Body passed a resolution authorizing the creation of a Drainage and Water Supply Commission. After being amended February 23, it read as follows : "Whereas, Pure water and scientific drainage are necessi- ties of this community, and the people demand a system of water supply and drainage adequate to meet the requirements not only of the present, but of years to come, nor will any tempo- rary expedient or make-shift satisfy them ; and 345 346 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ' ' Whebeas, a thorough and permanent system of supplying pure water to our citizens and caring for the drainage of the municipality cannot be paid for out of current taxation, there- fore it is desired that a plan shall be devised- and perfected before the next meeting of the Legislature to the end that neces- sary legislation may be had. "For the purpose of carrying into effect the objects sought, there is recommended the appointment by the Mayor of a Com- mission to consist of one expert engineer, whose reputation is so high that his opinion and report will command the respect of the community, and with him one or two consulting engineers of like experience in engineering and sanitary matters. The duty of this Drainage and Water supply Commission, made up as above set forth, should be to consider all plans relating to drainage and water supply which may be brought to its atten- tion ; to make such examinations and investigations and surveys as may be deemed necessary ; to collect all information bearing on this problem ; to consider all recent developments in the matter of sewage disposal, and their application to our present and future needs ; to consider and meet the necessity of increas- ing our water supply and of protecting the same from contamina- tion ; to remedy our present inadequate methods of drainage and sewage disposal ; to consider the relations of any system proposed to adjacent districts, and whether there may not be a union between the city and its suburbs to solve the great prob- lem; to determine the great question as to the interest which the State and the United States may have in the disposal of sewage by way of the Illinois river ; to devise plans to meet any objections thereto, if such a system shall be thought best ; and, in general, to consider and report upon any and all things which relate to the matter of water supply and drainage of the city of Chicago. "The Commission should report on the whole matter com- mitted to it in the most full and comprehensive manner, with maps, plans and diagrams complete, and accompany the report with estimates of the first cost and annual requirements for the maintenance of the system proposed. ' ' The report of the Commission should be made as early as DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 34:7 practicable, and not later than the convening of the next session of the Illinois Legislature in Januarj', 1887. " In consideration of the foregoing, be it ' ' Resolved, That the Mayor be and is hereby authorized and directed to employ on behalf of the city one expert engi- neer of reputation and experience in engineering and sanitary matters, at a salary not to exceed §10,000 per annum, and also to employ such consulting engineers, not exceeding two in number, as may seem necessary, and such assistant engineers as may be required, all to be paid according to services rendered, for the purpose of carrying out the objects set forth in the pre- amble hereto. For the fees of said assistant engineers and for all expenses connected with said work there shall be allowed not to exceed the sum of $20,000. All fees, salaries and ex- penses connected with said work shall not exceed in the aggre- gate the sum of 130,000, and the same shall be paid from the water fund of the city upon vouchers audited by the Mayor and city Comptroller." In accordance with the terms expressed herein his Honor Carter H. Harrison appointed Rudolph Hering as chief engi- neer, Benezette "Williams and S. G. Artingstall as consulting engineers, who, together, should constitute a Commission. Mr. Hering entered upon duty March 28, Mr. Williams September 17, and Mr. Artingstall December 21, 1886. The investigation designated by the resolution was a for- midable one, comprising no less a task than the consideration of the entire subject of the future water supply and drainage of Chicago. It appeared doubtful from the beginning that a report such as was demanded could be furnished within the specified time, for the simple reason, if for no other, that obser- vations of the lake phenomena and of the flow of certain rivers should be extended over at least one year, covering four con- secutive seasons, in order to draw satisfactory deductions. But the large amount of work alone that was asked for made it impracticable to present a complete report in so short a time. It was expected, however, that results could be reached sufficient to indicate the character of legislation re- quired to carry out any project that might be determined upon, 348 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. and that therefore a preliminary report having this end in view could be made at the stated time, leaving to a later date the presentation of a report outlining the detailed features of the scheme recommended and embracing the minor results of the entire inquiry. The present communication is to cover the ground indicated for the preliminary report, and besides containing the conclu- sions reached regarding the main features of the proposed pro- ject, it contains also a brief review of tlie work done during the past year and of what still remains to be done. The month of April was devoted to a general examination of the subject, of the territory to be investigated, and of the various suggestions that had been made toward effecting a solu- tion of the problem. The examination disclosed the fact that the city is some- times greatly suffering from the offensive condition of parts of the Chicago rivei' and its branches, caused by the discharge of sewage into the same, and from the occasional contamination of its water supply, brought about by the discharge of the pol- luted contents of the river into the lake. It also disclosed the fact that almost every conceivable way of dealing with these questions had been suggested and in some forms applied during the past thirty years. The problem therefore demands the attainment of two ends : the protection of the water supply and the removal of the river nuisance. As the water must be taken from the lake, it is evi- dent that both its pollution and the objectionable condition of the rivers should be prevented by a better disposition of the sewage. It is therefore the latter question which constitutes the main object of this investigation. Among the possible methods of getting rid of the Chicago sewage there are but three that have been deemed worthy of an extended consideration, namely, a discharge into Lake Michi- gan, a disposal upon land, and a discharge into the Desplaines river. The preliminary work has therefore been confined to these three projects, and was classed as topographic, hydro- graphic, and miscellaneous. At the time when the present Commission began its labors DRAINAGK AND WATEK SUPPLY COMMISSION. 349 the topographical work had already received some attention. Surveys were being made of the Desplaines river from Bridge- port westward under the direction of Mr. Artingstall, city engi- neer. These surveys were continued, and have now been com- pleted as far as Joliet. They include contours of the entire valley and borings to rock between Bridgeport and Lemont. In order to understand the hydrography of the Desplaines valley above the point where the Chicago sewage could be dis- charged into it, and also to ascertain the probable magnitude and effect of floods in the river, a survey was made of its bed as far north as Northfield township. To determine the area of the basin its entire divide was located. To ascertain the prac- ticability of diverting the flood waters from the upper portion of the Desplaines and North branch watersheds directly into the lake, and thus avoiding the difiiculties which would arise from their passing through the Chicago river, all feasible lines were surveyed. Finally, a few levels were taken of the area adjoining the city wherever no connected levels existed to show the general topographical features of the territory over which the future city will spread out and from which the drainage will require artificial removal. The hydrographic work consisted in ascertaining the flow of the Desplaines river, the rainfall upon its area, its flood dis- charges, the character of its bed, and the probable effect of dis- charging the Chicago sewage into it when diluted by a large and constant stream of water from the lake. It consisted, fur- ther, in examining the nature of the currents in the lake and in studying the rise and fall of its level, and in ascertaining the amount and character both of the sewage discharged into it and of the deposits in the river and lake in front of the city, to determine the effects of the present sewage disposal. Inquiry and surveys were made to show the feasibility of purifying the Chicago sewage by filtration on land. Land damages were carefully estimated for the different schemes ; existing records were searched concerning borings and excava- tions made in and about the city, so that the practicability of certain lines of tunnels could be discovered ; the probable growth of the city and its suburbs, as well as the probable dis- 350 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. tribution of the future population, received a careful attention ; and, finally, a large number of data were compiled whicli per- tain to the existing works of water supply and sewerage in Chi- cago and the adjoining towns. In reporting the results thus far gained, we will present them in the order most convenient for discussion, but before doing so will briefly describe the present manner and effect of the sewage disposal, as shown by this investigation. PEESENT SEWAGE DISPOSAL. The sewerage works of Chicago and suburbs have been planned on what is called the combined system, in which the sewers serve for the removal both of sewage and rain water. In the town of Evanston they empty into the lake. In the town of Lake View they partly discharge into the lake and partly into the North branch. From the North and West divisions and part of the South division of Chicago the drainage enters the Chicago river and its branches, and from the remaining part of the South division it flows into the lake at three outlets, situated respectively at Twelfth, Twenty-second and Thirty- fifth streets. The sewers of Hyde Park discharge into the lake, excepting those of Pullman, where the sewage is disposed of on land. The town of Lake, including the Stock Yards district, drains into the South fork of the Chicago river. When the sewerage works of the city were designed, in 1866, by Mr. E. S. Chesbrough, it was apprehended that ulti- mately some means would have to be found to change the water in the river from time to time or to keep the sewage entirely out of it. The first step toward improving the condition of the river was taken by deepening the Illinois and Michigan canal, so as to cause a current from the lake to the Desplaines river at Lockport. The next step was the building of the Ful- lerton avenue conduit in order to produce a circulation in the North branch ; and the last step was the erection of the canal pumping works to increase the flow in the river, which had become greatly polluted. The influence of these works is confined to the main river and its North and South branches. But the South fork of the DRAINAGE AND WATEE SUPPLY COMMISSION. 351 latter, receiving a large amount of sewage from Chicago and the town of Lake, and charged with the waste from the Union Stock Yards and packing houses, has no artificial means for a circulation of its water, and as a consequence is in a condition of great filthiness. The accompanying diagram* has been prepared to show the present pollution of the Chicago river and its branches during the time when all of their water is discharged into the canal by the Bridgeport piimps. On the left are shown the main river and the North branch, one above the other, their com- bined waters forming the South branch, and reaching Bridge- port on the right, where they are lifted into the canal. At the latter point the South fork is shown as joining it. The shaded portions indicate the amount of sewage entering and passing the respective points, and the blank portions the lake water diluting it. The degree of dilution is shown by the relative areas. It diminishes in the North branch from Ful- lerton avenue to the South branch, and becomes still less toward Bridgeport, and finally receives the foul waters of the South fork. The depth and character of sewage deposits in the river and harbor, as might be expected, vary considerably. They are not great in the track of the vessels, but increase toward the docks and quieter portions of the slips, where they reach a depth of from one to four feet. "While the deposits in the channel are of a heavier kind, such as cinders, those in the docks are mostly a foul mass of decomposing organic matter. No form of life is found to exist above Clark street bridge as far north as Clybourn Place, and as far south as Ashland avenue. The effect of this condition of the river is to endanger the purity of the water supply whenever the river, with its accumulated deposits, flows into the lake, which occurs when the rain water that finds its way into the river exceeds the amount pumped into the canal. If this excess is great, as in the spring, and occasionally in the summer months, the contamination of the lake is considerable, and must con- stantly increase. ♦Omitted. 352 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. From the foregoing it is seen that the present method of disposal of the sewage from Chicago and its suburbs is partly by discharging it into Lake Michigan, but mainly, except during floods, by discharging it into the Desplaines river. FUTURE POPULATION. The first question which required an answer, and upon which many of the subsequent inquiries depended, was the population which it is economical and advisable to consider at present, and the extent of territory upon which such a popula- tion will be located. The growth of Chicago has been frequently quoted as phenomenal. Estimates made thereof for various purposes have turned out to be rather under than over the actual result. It is taken for granted that Chicago and its suburban towns will have to dispose of their sewage so that the water supply for the entire community residing near the lake from the south line of Plyde Park to the north line of Evanston will be guarded against pollution by the sewage from any one of the separate communities. For this purpose the whole populated area within the above limits is considered as forming one city with a common interest. The growth of this metropolis was obtained partly from the United States census and partly from the school census of Cook County, which give a record up to the summer of 1886. In order to forecast the probable ratio of the future increase, it was desirable to compare this growth with that of other cities. By considering the ratio of increase elsewhere, and including the natural suburbs of each city, a fair and instruc- tive basis of comparison was obtained ; and by realizing the respective natural advantages for growth in each of the com- munities, the probable ratio for Chicago was determined with a satisfactory degree of exactness. The accompanying diagram * shows the results of this com- parison. It represents by curves the population of the largest . cities in the country since 1790, not as usually quoted from the census, giving the inhabitants on certain arbitrary areas ♦Omitted. • DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 353 fixed by law, but as virtually making up the population of the respective municipalities, by including adjacent towns and natural suburbs, the only method which enables the true growth of the great cities to be recognized. For instance, the New York center naturally includes Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark, and other suburbs, and Chicago the entire territory from Hyde Park to Evanston. The diagram indicates that the character of growth of the different cities permits them to be divided into two distinct classes. Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis and Cincinnati show very much the same character of increase, and represent by comparison the more conservative communities. New York and Chicago, on the other hand, while showing a remarkable resemblance to each other, form quite a contrast to the rest of the cities, and might be called the more progressive com- munities. The diagram finally indicates the time when the Chicago curve, which was the lowest one prior to 1864, inter- sected in turn those of St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, and there is a high degree of probability of its intersecting the Philadelphia curve in or before 1891, i. e., in four years from now, after which Chicago will be the second largest center of population in America. As it is not practicable in so young a city as Chicago to forecast a definite line of growth, it is preferred to give the probable maximum and the probable minimum between which the true line will most likely be contained. The minimum line represents a growth resembling that of New York, and the maximum line assumes the ratio of increase per decade to be constant instead of gradually decreasing, as in most other cities. The result indicates that the population of Chicago and suburbs will be two and a half millions between the years 1905 and 1915, or about three times the present population in eighteen to twenty-eight year?. In providing public works for large communities it must be borne in mind that it is economical to invest only such sums as will bring a return within a certain number of years, leaving expenditures for benefits that will be realized only at a later time to a later generation. This fact, together with 23 354 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the probable growth of Chicago, shows it to be economical and judicious at present to plan works suflSciently extensive to dispose of the sewage of not less than 2,500,000 inhabitants. In addition to the population, the area that will be occupied by it has to be determined. While this is a far more difficult task, owing to the many accidental causes influencing the dis- tribution of the population, it is possible, nevertheless, to out- line the area sufficiently close for present purposes. The future metropolis, with a population three times as great, will be distributed along the lake from South Chicago to Evanston, and will reach inland to the Blue Island ridge in the south to the Desplaines river in the center, and to the higher parts of Niles township in the north. Outside of these general limits, a more or less dense population will extend for some distance along the lines of railroads. As inferred above, it is proper to consider at this time the wants of the population that will reside upon this entire territory. DISCHAEGB OF THE SEWAGE INTO LAKE MICHIGAN. To discharge the sewage from cities into comparatively large bodies of water is not only usual, but often the best method for its disposal. Dilution and dispersion thoroughly expose it to the action of the oxygen contained in both the water and the superincumbent air, and it is thereby gradually oxidized. Where the body of water is a large river with a strong current, the best conditions for such purification are found. Where it is a lake in which the circulation is slight and irregular, the efficacy of the method is less, and depends for its success on the character of the currents and the relative amount of sewage to be discharged into it. The hydrographic surveys of the lake made during the past season were therefore partly for the purpose of ascertain- ing, if possible, the laws governiijg the currents, so that we would know their effect in dispersing the sewage discharged into the lake. The trend of the shore currents was actually ascertained by daily recording the direction of spar-buoys placed at the Chicago waterworks crib, at Michigan City, and at St. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 355 Joseph. A large number of bottle floats were thrown into the lake at different points and different times for the same pur- pose. They were partly single surface floats and partly double, the lower one being placed at varying depths according to the depth of the water. More than half of them have been picked up and returned, with place and date noted. The currents were also observed by means of large can-buoys from an anchored tug-boat at different points in the lake, extending from Hyde Park to Evanston, about six miles from the shore. And two general lake trips were undertaken, one to St. Joseph and back to G-rosse Point, and another one parallel with the shore around the head of the lake. When the observations are completed and compiled in detail some valuable information will be available for the question of water supply. Light will be thrown on the movement of the water under different winds, and the sudden changes of temper- ature of the water at the crib and on the turbidness of the same. The following results have a bearing on the question of sewage disposal. Where not affected by local conditions the currents practically go with the winds in water of moderate depth and quickly respond to any change. In deep water also the surface currents run with the wind, but at the bottom and even at mid-depth the direction is usually different. The pre- vailing current along the shore of Cook County during the past summer has been observed to be toward the north, but it is pos- sible that this result may be different during the winter months. In the open lake wave action seems to be effective in preventing the permanent deposits down to a depth of about sixty feet ; inside of the breakwater sewage deposits are found on the bottom. The general deduction from these results is clear that, as no constant current exists which would carry the sewage away in one direction, it should be discharged into the lake at one end of the future city, while the water supply should be obtained as far away from it as practicable toward the other end ; a conclusion which is being acted upon in the other large lake cities. The proper place from which to bring the water would be opposite 356 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Grosse Point, and tlie sewage discharge should be east of Hyde Park. While it might be practicable to allow the sewage in its crude form to enter the lake under such conditions for many- years, the necessity would arise later for clarifying it at least partially previous to its discharge. It could not be allowed to run into the rivers as at present, but the dry weather flow and a considerable amount of storm water would have to be inter- cepted and carried to the outfall through many miles of special conduits. And this entire quantity would have to be raised by pumping in order to get sufficient head to empty into the lake, while the diluted sewage during storms, in excess of the capa- city of the intercepting sewers, would be allowed to discharge directly into the river. The water' supply would have to be brought from Grosse Point in large conduits to the several pumping stations scattered over the city and its present suburbs. The circulation of the water in the Chicago river and branches would have to be main- tained practically as it is at present, because the removal merely of the dry weather flow of sewage would not altogether prevent its pollution. DISPOSAL ON LAND. We shall not at this time enter into a general discussion of the principles underlying land purification of sewage, or make historical references showing the success or ill-success of the method as practiced elsewhere. We will simply state that with good management under ordinarily favorable conditions a dis- posal on land proves satisfactory, so far as the purification of the sewage is concerned, and that with proper conditions in the way of good markets and a favorable soil and climate, sewage farms can be operated on a large scale after the sewage is de- livered upon the same without financial loss. In speaking of a sewage farm of the magnitude required for the metropolitan area of Chicago, it is not understood as being land devoted primarily to the raising of crops, using the sewage only when and where it would most promote the growth of vegetation. The primary object would be the purification of the sewage on an area of land as small as could serve the purpose. Technically speaking, the sewage disposal would be DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 357 by means of intermittent filtration rather than irrigation. To carry out such a scheme for Chicago involves the following: (1) The acquirement of sufficient land suitable for the pur- pose. (2) A comprehensive system of intercepting and collecting sewers carrying the sewage to the farm. (3) Pumping-works of a capacity to handle all the dry- weather flow of sewage and a certain proportion of storm water. (4) A thorough underdrainage, leveling, and preparing of beds for the filtration areas. (5) A system of underground conduits and surface carriers for distributing the sewage over the ground, and a system of open ditches for removing the purified water to the nearest water courses. (6) Buildings, roads and a complete farming outfit. (7) An organization for properly distributing the sewage, for carrying on the farming operations, and for conducting the business of disposing of the crops in the best market. In making estimates for the size of intercepting sewers, con- duits, pumps and area of land required, we have used as a basis a population of 2,500,000 people, with an average dry weather sewage discharge of 150 gallons, or 20 cubic feet per head daily, and made provision for storm water equivalent to one-fifth of an inch in twenty-four hours over all portions of the district now drained, or likely to be drained, by a combined system of sewers, allowing surplus water to escape into the rivers and lakes. The dry weather flow of sewage would therefore be 50,000," 000 cubic feet per day, and the maximum flow of storm water 65,000,000 cubic per day, making a total m.aximum discharge of 115,000,000 cubic feet. From an examination of rain fall tables we conclude that the annual amount of storm water that would be carried off by such an intercepting system would range from nine to twelve inches, an average of which in round numbers may be taken at 40,000 cubic feet per acre per annum over the area drained by a combined system of sewers. It is practicable, l*Dwever, to 358 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. exclude the storm water from the sewers over a large portion of the future city by adopting the separate system of sewerage. The area north of the town of Jefferson and of the middle of Lake View may be treated to advantage in this way, and also a large portion of Hyde Park, Lake, Calumet and other adjoining towns. Assuming that the area which does not allow the storm water to be entirely excluded is 140 square miles, the average daily amount becomes 10,000,000 cubic feet, which gives, when added to the sewage, 60,000,000 cubic feet, or 24 cubic feet per head of population per day to be provided for on the farm. As the amount of land required to purify sewage can only be determined by eJcperience, and as this has been very limited in our own country, we are forced to rely mainly upon that 0^ Europe. Without going into details at present, we will simply state that a fair consensus of this experience justifies us in the conclusion that from 10,000 to 15,000 acres of land would be required to dispose of the sewage from the entire metropolitan area. The only available territory for sewage filtration in the neighborhood of Chicago consists of two sandy ridges in the town of Thornton, extending across the State line into Indiana, and in a sandy ridge crossing the town of Niles. The soil is quite favorable, but the character of the surface is such that the necessary preparation to make it suitable for filtration beds, would be comparatively expensive. An enormous cost is, how- ever, represented by the fact that the sewage would have to be collected by large intercepting sewers, lifted altogether some 90 feet and carried about 20 miles before reaching the farms. We therefore consider such a project entirely impracticable. The land treatment can only be seriously thought of in con- nection with the sewage disposal from the smaller areas men- tioned above and comprising the extreme northern and south- ern parts of the future metropolis. The drainage of parts of Evanston, Lake View and Niles might be taken to the sandy ground in the latter town, and that of the Calumet region to the sandy ridges in Thornton, should this method be found most advantageous when compared with others. -DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 359 The preliminary investigation made for this purpose con- sisted in an examination of the grounds, in the projection of a farm, and in an estimate of the cost of preparing the same and delivering the sewage to it by intercepting sewers and conduits. DISCHARGE OF THE SEWAGE INTO THE DESPLAINES EIVEE. A third solution of the drainage problem is rendered prac- ticable by the fact that the divide between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi Valley lies about ten miles west of Chicago, with so slight an elevation that it is not a difficult matter to carry the sewage from the city westward into the Desplaines river and thence into the Mississippi river. This method of disposal, as previously explained, is in fact mainly the present one, most of the sewage now being carried across the divide by the Illinois and Michigan Canal. There are two low depressions between the future metropolis and the Desplaines river — the Mud Lake valley, with the pres- ent canal, and the Sag valley, west of Lake Calumet. Neither is more than ten feet above the lake, nor do they present any ensjineerinsr difficulties for canal construction. It is therefore quite feasible to carry all the drainage from the territory ulti- mately to be occupied by the metropolis, extending from Lake Calumet to Evanston, into the Mississippi Valley through these depressions, avoiding thereby all possible lake pollution, and permitting the supj^ly of water to be drawn from any number of convenient points in front of the city. A possibility of this solution was recognized as early as 1856 by E. S. Chesbrough, and the first step toward its adop- tion was taken, as already mentioned, by turning the sewage into the Illinois and Michigan canal. Not until quite recently, however, has it become practicable to consider the construction of a special waterway for sewage removal, because when the population was smaller the expense of the undertaking was too great. The sanitary requirements demand a flow of water large enough to dilute the sewage sufficiently to make it inoffensive along the river at all times. Beyond this, any increase in the size of the channel to provide for the storm water which natur- 360 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ally enters it, should be kept at a minimum. A glance at the map and an examination of the ground show the possibility of diverting the greater part of the storm water from the metro- politan district without serious difficulty. Both branches of the Calumet river can be diverted west of the Indiana State line into Wolf lake, and thence into Lake Michigan. The Des- plaines river can have its flood waters diverted into the North branch near the north line of the town of Jefferson, and the combined waters can be led from Bowmanville directly into the lake. Salt creek, a branch of the Desplaines river, can readily be turned southwardly near Western Springs, through a water course known as Flag creek, at one time evidently its old bed, discharging into the Desplaines, opposite Sag, and thus reduc- ing the necessary storm water capacity in the new channel between Sag and Summit. In order to determine the probable quantity of flood water which can thus be excluded, it was necessary to ascertain the maximum flood discharges from all the water sheds in question. This requirement called for a gauging of Desplaines, North branch and Calumet rivers, a gauging of the rainfall, which is a measure of the stream flow, a survey of the water sheds, and an examination of the river channels. It was also necessary to make a reconnaissance of all possible lines for diverting the Desj)laines, the North branch, the Calumet rivers and Salt creek, and a, survey of those which were most important. The results indicate that each one of these diversions is both practical and economical. By adopting the " separate system " of sewerage for the territory lying north of the proposed Bow- manville channel, the surface drainage from this territory can be safely turned into the lake. A second branch of the investigation extends to the ele- ments governing the proper size for the waterway from which a large proportion of the storm water has been excluded. The area still draining into it will consist largely of paved streets and roofs, allowing of no absorption and shedding tlie water rapidly. It requires a careful consideration to determine the maximum quantity of water that may enter the proposed chan- DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 361 nel, and for which an ample allowance must be made to prevent a bac'k flow of the polluted water to the lake. The proper degree of sewage dilution in the new channel demanded a careful investigation. When sewage is mingled with a sufficiently large quantity of water it not only becomes inoffensive, but readily finds the oxygen which gradually puri- fies it. When the surface is covered with ice a greater dilution is necessary for this purpose than at other times when there is a constant replenishment of oxygen from the air. The proposed waterway should of course provide immunity from offense at all times. The information upon which definitely to decide this ques- tion will be given in the final report, as the data have not yet been all collected, owing to the necessity of making actual tests of the oxidization of the canal water under the ice, which is being done for the use of the Commission by Dr. J. H. Rauch, Secretary of the State Board of Health. The summer condi- tions are presented in his late^ report on the water supply and sewage disposal of Chicago. The result of these analyses will be compared with those of other streams that are also polluted with sewage in order to show the rate of oxidization with vary- ing degrees of dilution and aeration. For the purpose of estimating the cost of the water channel we have assumed 3,600 square feet for the cross section and a velocity of the water three feet per second or two miles per hour. This gives a discharge of 600,000 cubic feet of water per minute, or 24,000 cubic feet for each 100,000 persons, which we believe equal to the maximum requirements of a pop- ulation of 2,500,000 people. A third branch of the inquiry .covers the selection of routes for the projjosed canals. Between Chicago and Summit three lines are practicable : One following the West fork and Ogden ditch, and another extending from the southwestern end of the South fork in a westerly direction to the Ogden ditch, and thence to Summit, and a third being an enlargement of the present canal. We are of the opinion that eventually both the first and second of these lines should be adopted, but the second one should be built first 362 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. in order to secure circulation in the South fork. From Sum- mit westward the bed of the river and the present canal were thexOnly lines to be considered. The best location has not yet been finally determined. For the drainage of the Calumet region a simple inspection shows that a canal should start from the river at the southern point of Blue Island and extend almost directly westward to the Desplaines valley at Sag. A fourth branch of the inquiry relates to the study of such data as have reference to securing a piroper circulation for the waterways within the city. To throw light upon this point the variations of the lake level have been recorded since l»st spring by means of an auto- matic gauge, indicating an almost continual fluctuation, averag- ing several inches and recurring at periods of about twenty minutes. During a low pressure of the atmosphere the ampli- tude of these oscillations increases, and not unfrequently reaches several feet. The accompanying diagram* shows the level of the lake on August 16, 1886, at a time when an area of low barometer passed over it. From 6:40 a. m. to 6:55 a. m., that is, in fifteen minutes, the water fell 2 feet 10 inches. A rising level causes an inflow to the river and drives the water of the latter into the slips, where it deposits a portion of its suspended sewage matter and becomes foul. A falling level reverses the flow, and the slips empty their foul water into the river and lake. During heavy fluctuations of the latter, such as the one referred to above, it has been traced more than a mile in the direction of the crib. As the proposed canal from Bowmanville to the lake will lower the water of the North branch at this point to the lake level, provision must be made for its circulation. The size of the Fullerton avenue conduit is not sufiicient to furnish the water required for a current in both directions, nor would such an arrangement be satisfactory or economical. It will be nec- essary to establish a flow toward the South branch from the lake opposite Bowmanville in order to prevent a future lake pollution by the proposed channel. This can be accomplished ♦Omitted. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 363 by placing a lock in the North brancli at any point tliat may be found most desirable, and raising the water at the same time about one foot. If such a lock is placed at FuUerton avenue the present pumping works, with slight modifications, can be utilized. Finally, it must be mentioned that circulation can be secured in the proposed waterway of the Calumet region, into which the sewage is discharged, by a gravity flow from Lake Michi- gan into the Desplaines valley through Lake Calumet and the Sag. The detailed features of this project have not yet been wholly matured, the estimates of cost being based on a channel having a capacity of 1,000 cubic feet per second. COMPAEISON OF PEOJECTS. In the foregoing we have outlined the main features of the only three feasible methods of disposing of the metropolitan sewage, and have given the results of the investigation reached to date. A general conclusion as to the preferable method may be given at present, and also an approximate estimate of cost. But we are not able as yet to give either conclusions or detailed statements of the probable expense regarding all parts of the proposed work, and must defer them until the final report. In comparing the projects we will first mention their prob- able cost and then their relative advantages. The discharge of the sewage into the lake from a population of 2,500,000 in the manner described above, including the extra expense, otherwise not necessary, of taking the water supply at Grosse Point, would cost at least $37,000,000, with an annual expense for interest and operation of at least 82,400,000. It would require an immediate investment of about §20,000,000. To dispose of the entire metropolitan sewage by filtration on land would require an investment of about $58,000,000, with an annual expense of over 83,000,000 for interest, pump- ing and maintenance, after deducting the profit from the sale of crops. It would be necessary to invest at once about $34,000,- 000. Land disposal for the sewage from the Calumet region alone, with a future population of 300,000, would require an 364 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. investment of $4,000,000, and an annual expense of at least $250,000. Finally, the cost of the Desplaines project is approximately estimated as follows : (1) A channel from the South fork to Joliet, of the capac- ity heretofore given, will cost between $17,000,000 and $21,- 000,000. (2) A diversion of the flood waters of the Desplaines, the North branch and Salt creek will cost between $2,500,000 and $2,800,000. (3) Pumping works and locks for the North branch will cost about $150,000. (4) A separate system of sewers to collect the sewage now discharged directly into the lake and to carry it into the river will cost about $600,000. (5) A channel from Lake Calumet to Sag will cost between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000. (6) A diversion of the flood waters of the Calumet river will cost between $350,000 and $400,000. The total cost of the Desplaines drainage project would therefore be for the main district between $20,250,000 and $24,550,000; for the Calumet district, between $2,850,000 and $3,400,000. The annual cost, including interest, etc., is esti- mated at about $1,300,000 per annum. The pollution of the lake can be decreased, and the present condition of the Chicago river, and particularly of the South fork, can be improved by the immediate construction of the following works, which, with the exception of the pumping works at the South fork discharging into the Illinois and Michigan canal, are all a part of the final plan : (1) Channels diverting the flood waters of the Desplaines, North branch, and Salt creek, as described above. (2) A modification of the FuUerton avenue pumping station, and the construction of locks for the purpose of getting cir- culation in the North branch. (3) A separate system of sewers to collect the sewage now flowing into the lake from the South division and to discharge it into the South fork. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 365 (4) A waterway extending from the South fork to the Illinois and Michigan canal, with a new pumping station to promote circulation. (5) By raising the banks of the canal and by removing deposits its capacity can be increased 40 per cent at a small cost, and thus provide for a greater flow of water in the same. The cost of the works comprised under these five items is estimated to be between $5,000,000 and $5,500,000. They could be finished in three years, and would greatly lessen the liability of polluting the water supply, while the sewage would be disposed of in the best practicable manner until the final completion of the Desplaines project. It tharefore appears that this project is decidedly the least expensive one for the present as well as for the future. Besides the economical advantages of the Desplaines scheme, its superiority is still further emphasized by advantages of another kind. The proposed canal will, from its necessary dimensions and its regular discharge, produce a magnificent waterway between Chicago and the Mississippi river, suitable for the navigation of boats having as much as 2,000 tons burden. It will establish an available water power between Lockport and Marseilles fully twice as large- as that of the Mississippi river at Minneapolis, which will be of great commercial value to the State. The Calumet region will be much enhanced in value by having a direct navigable channel to the Desplaines river, and by a lowering of the flood heights of Calumet lake and river. Within the city the water of the Chicago river and its South branch will get a much better circulation if it flows by gravity than if it has to be pumped, the necessity for which would remain even if the sewage should be discharged through intercepting sewers either into the lake or upon land. Under either of the latter conditions an occasional overflow from the sewers into the river during heavy rains would be more objectionable than a constant discharge of sewage into a more rapidly flowing stream. Flood waters entering the lake by way of the Chicago river would carry into it much filthy matter, either suspended or deposited, notwithstanding the existence of intercepting sewers ; but the proposed diversion 366 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of such waters before reaching the populated districts will for all time obviate this undesirable occurrence. Lowering the level of the North branch at Bowmanville by its diversion to the lake will be equivalent to raising the low prairie extending toward Evanston and Niles, and greatly benefit parts of these towns. THE WATBE SUPPLY. In reaching the conclusion that the sewage of the city should be discharged into the Mississippi valley, the question of water supply is materially simplified, because the lake will then at all times furnish good water wherever intakes are de- sired for an extension of the works. The preliminary inquiry, made with a view to' ascertain the main features of an increased supply, comprised first a com- pilation of data concerning the existing works both in Chicago and its suburban towns, which were collected mainly through the courtesy of the respective authorities ; and, secondly, a study into the most economical method of distributing the water over the metropolitan area. The following is a brief description of the existing works : The present intake for the public water supply of Chicago is located in Lake Michigan, about two miles from shore, and the water is conducted to the city in two circular brick tunnels 5 and 7 feet in diameter. They extend parallel to each other under the bed of the lake, and 50 feet apart, to the north pumping works, where they are connected, and where the 5-foot tunnel terminates. The 7-foot tunnel is continued under the city for a distance of 20,500 feet, to supply the west works, on Ashland avenue, near Twenty-second street. The tunnels from the source to the shore are built at a depth of 80 feet below city datum, or low water in the lake, and the 7-foot tunnel is continued on the same level for a distance of about 11,500 feet, where, to avoid rock excavation, it is in- clined upward until, at the west pumping station, the top is but 21 'feet below city datum. The economical capacity of the two tunnels is between 90,000,000 and 100,000,000 gallons per day, or less than the present average daily consumption of water. Their maximum capacity is reached when delivering DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 367 about 150,000,000 gallons per day; wliich is now nearly equaled by the demand during the hours of greatest consumption, and, at the present rate of increase, it is estimated that during the summer of 1887 the maximum demand for water will be at the rate of 145,000,000 gallons per day; during 1888, 155,- 000,000 gallons per day ; during 1889, 167,000,000 gallons per day, and in 1890, 180,000,000 gallons per day. To provide against accident or obstruction from ice or other cause in the main tunnels, and to provide against an in- adequate supply in the near future, which appeared inevitable, a new tunnel is in process of construction. The intake is located 1,500 feet from the shore, and connection is made with the other tunnels of the north pumping works. The distribution of the water is effected by pumping it directly into the water mains at the north and west stations. At the north works the three tunnels are so arranged and con- structed that any one of them can be emptied when desired for repairs or cleaning, and both the pumping stations still be supplied with water from the other tunnels. The total pump- ing capacity of this station is at present 67,000,000 gallons per day, but it will be increased to 91,000,000 gallons per day as soon as the new pumps now in process of erection are in operation. The connections between the pumps, stand-pipes, and dis- tribution mains at these works have become so complex by the successive additions to the plant that an unnecessary loss of head is the consequence. As this can be remedied to some extent without great expense, we recommend that it be done at the first favorable opportunity. The station, being on the shore of the lake, is not centrally located with reference to any part of the city, which renders it necessary to use a greater length of main pipe, with a consequent loss of pressure to reach the consumers, than would otherwise be the case. The total pumping capacity of the West side station is 60,000,000 gallons per day, and the connections between the pumps, stand-pipes and mains are simple and effective, and the loss of pressure from this cause is a minimum. The location is better adapted to secure economical and satisfactory results 368 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. than that of the north works, and with reference to additional pumping stations which will later be necessary in other parts of the city, these works are well situated.. The following table, compiled from the annual reports for 1884 and 1885, gives a detailed comparison of the cost of pumping at two stations, anthracite coal being used at the North side and good bituminous coal at the West side. Cost of pumping 1,000,000 gallons one foot high. 1884 188.5 North Side. West Side. North Side West Side. $0.01488 .05313 .00064 .00323 $0.02022 .02855 .00186 .00417 $0.01560 .04590 .00057 .00133 $0.01667 Fuel-— ____- — ____- — Lubricants IMisccllanGous .02482 .00160 .00401 Total .07188 .05480 .06340 .04710 The hydraulic merits of the system are shown on the dia- gram* of water pressures from a survey made in December, 1886. The pressures have all been reduced to a common height above city datum and to a uniform height of water at the works. That diagram shows a greater loss of head in the vicinity of the North side station than at the West side. This is accounted for by the complex arrangements heretofore mentioned, and also by the relatively small area of mains, being only 16|- square feet at the North side and over 21 square feet at the West side. Nearly equal quantities of water are pumped at each of the stations during the middle of the day. The following table shows the pumping capacity of all the suburban towns having a public water supply, and the pressure ordinarily maintained at the works. With the exception of South Evanston, all take water from Lake Michigan : • Omitted. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 369 Individual pump ca- pacity. Total pumping capacity per day. Ordinary head Locality. Pumps. Capacity per day. feet. Hyde Park 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 Gallont 3,000,000 12,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 5,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 Do 18,000,000 103 to 150 Lake. Do 12,000,000 100 to 190 Lake View Do .. 10,000,000 92 Do 92 Village of Evanston 3,000,000 92 Total 11 43,000,000 At the artesian well supplying the village of South Evans- ton there is a head of about 53 feet. The pressure at different parts of the pipe system is very irregular. In Hyde Park it varies from 165 feet at the pumps to 10 or 12 feet at Forty-third street. In the town of Lake the average head at the town hall is reported about 10 feet with 188 feet at the pumps. In Evanston, South Evanston, and Lake View the difference of head in various parts of the villages is not very great. The following table gives a comparison of the consumption and cost of water in Chicago and the suburban towns : Locality. Year Average head at pumps. Average daily pumpage. Cost per million gallons, delivered. Cost of pumping i,ooo,oor gallons 1 foot high. Chicago (North Side) Chicago (West Side) 1885 1885 1886 1886 1886 1886 113 105 113 38,369,134 53,280,880 787,000 1,983,000 7,292,023 3,410,000 $7.17 4.95 17.00 11.85 8.80 8.92 $.06034 .04071 15000 Lake View Lake 05400 Hvde Park The second point of inquiry was a study into the most eco- nomical method of distributing the water over the metropolitan area. We will at present refer to it but very briefly, mention- ing only such conclusions as pertain to the immediate demands,. 24 370 DEAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. and leaving a fuller discussion of the details of this important question to the final report. The comparatively level area upon which the city is located, and the practicability of taking the water from the lake along the city front at any desired point, after the sewage has been diverted, pei-mits the most economical distribution to be ascer- tained by mathematical investigation to a much greater degree of exactness than is usually possible. It is found to be less expensive for the densely populated areas to have pumping stations about two or three miles apart, because the loss of head and cost of mains and pumping to ob- tain the least allowable pressure are thus reduced to a minimum. In planning new works this fact should be considered, and loca- tions so selected that they will be advantageous for the future as well as for the present. The localities which we believe to be most suitable for addi- tional pumping stations are : Near Twelfth street in the central part of the city, near the Union Stock- Yards, near Humboldt Park, and near Fullerton and Racine avenues. When it is considered that at the present time the pumps are delivering during the busy part of the day at the rate of 120,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, which is nearly the maximum capacity of all the machinery, and that even with this large consumption of water it is impossible in some parts of the city to obtain water in the second story of the buildings, it be- comes evident that an increased supply is imperatively required, and. being a work of years to build new tunnels, inlets, build- in_gs, and machinery, the necessity of deciding upon the loca- tion of the new works as soon as possible is readily seen. The locality which is suffering most from the want of water is the business section and the south part of the city, the lowest pressure extending from Twelfth street to the city limits. It will become necessary in the future to have two stations in this territory, one between Harrison and Twelfth streets and the other to be somewhere east of the Union Stock Yards. We are 'strongly of the opinion that of the two stations it will be ad- visable and most advantageous to build the one north of Twelfth street first, for the following reasons: DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 371 (1) It will require a shorter tunnel from the lake to the pro- posed station and less expenditure for main discharge pipes to connect with the present system than would be the case with the proposed southern station. This is equivalent to less cost and a saving of time in construction. • (2) If the southern station is built first it will require mains of larger capacity leading toward the city than will be ulti- mately necessary when the central station is built. (3) The location recommended is near the center of the greatest consumption of water, and will be a gain not only in obtaining greater pressure in the business district, but in remov- ing the cause for complaint on the South side by increasing the pressure so that the water will flow to the upper floors of the highest buildings. (4) All other parts of the city will gain by the construction in this location, as the North and West works will be relieved of the enormous drain upon them to supply water for the busi- ness part of the city. They will be better able to give a good head on the Novth and West sides, where the population is in- creasing very rapidly, and which will very soon be in the same unsatisfactory condition as now obtains in the southern end of the city, unless relief is afforded in the manner indicated. The other pumping stations will gradually become necessary as the population increases, and for a population of 2,500,000 there will be a need for a total combined capacity of 375,000,000 gallons to provide for a daily consumption of 150 gallons per head. With several intakes and tunnels the danger from stop- page of the water supply by ice or accident will be reduced to a minimum, as it is not probable that more than one of them will be so endangered at the same time. We believe that a submerged intake will afford a more re- liable and safer structure, so far as injury from passing vessels and stoppage by ice are concerned, thana structure projecting above the water. With the sewage kept out of the lake there, is no need of lo- «ating the intake farther than two miles from the shore, where water can be obtained sufficiently free from suspendedi earthy 372 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. matter, and where a depth of about thirty feet is generally- found, which is the least depth desirable for a submerged inlet. GENERAL EEMAEKS. After presenting the results thus far gained, indicating the general solution of the Chicago drainage and water supply problem, it remains to point out certain facts, which may be useful in discussing some of the legal measures required to carry out the proposed work. We desire to state that in order to reach the best results it is imperative to have all the main drainage works, such as intercepting sewers, water-ways and pumping stations, executed and maintained under a single management. It would be economical also to design and oper- ate the main works for supplying water to the entire metropol- itan area on a uniform plan and under one management, for the same reason that it is economical to keep the north and west side pumping works under one control, thus giving facilities as far as practicable for a supply proportioned to the demand, to the entire metropolitan area, including the towns not bordering on the lake. We do not wish to imply, however, that such a general authority need necessarily extend further than to the construction and maintenance of the tunnels and conduits furn- ishing water to the respective pumping works. Regarding the limits for metropolitan drainage, the investi- gation has shown, as already indicated, that topographical con- ditions clearly define two districts for the future metropolis. The main district extends from the line of Eighty-seventh street on the south to the north line of Evanston, and from the lake westward to the Desplaines river. Its sewage is collected into one channel and discharged into the Desplaines valley at Sum-> mit. The Calumet district extends over the natural drainage area of Calumet lake and river, south of Eighty-seventh street, and has its outfall channel running from Blue Island to Sag. The final report will contain several maps, showing certain features of the metropolitan area, namely, the distribution of the population in 1886, the existing works and main distribu- tion pipes for water supply, and the existing main sewerage works and five feet contour lines over nearly the entire area. DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. 373 It will also contain maps and profiles of the proposed water- ways and storm-water diversion channels mentioned in the pres- ent report, and a map showing the lines of the main collecting and intercepting sewers of the proposed drainage districts, and also the lines of new tunnels and the general distribution of the water supply. In carrying on the present investigation its various branches were placed in charge of the following gentlemen, of whose ability and industry we desire to make special mention: Mr. L. E. Cooley, principal assistant, had special charge of the hydro- graphic work ; Mr. Charles H. Swan, of the sewage disposal on land ; Mr. Francis Murphy, of the topographical work ; Mr. O. Guthrie of the river pollution, land damages, etc. ; and Mr. T. T. Johnston, of the water supply, sewerage and miscellaneous work. Respectfully submitted. Rudolph Hering, Chief Engineer. Bexezette Williams, Samuel G. Aetingstall, Consulting Engineers. CHAPTER XXVII. CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. Two bills were before tbe Illinois Legislature at its session of 1886-7 providing an adequate system of drainage for the city of Chicago. On« of these was known as the Winston bill, which proposed to raise the money necessary to construct an outlet through the Desplaines valley by special assessment on the property to be benefited. The other has been known as the Hurd bill. It proposed to create a met- ropolitan district with power to issue bonds based on taxa- tion to construct the required works. It is related in a brief entitled ' ' The Lakes and Gulf Waterway," published by the Chicago Citizens' association in 1888 and written by Lyman E. Cooley, that the joint committee of the Senate and the House to whom the bills were referred, ' ' considered the question for several months, held many public sessions and heard much testimony on all the points at issue. The river cities from Joliet to Peoria organized to guard their interests and insisted that a channel should be specified not less than 160 feet wide and not less than 22 feet deep to carry not less than 600,000 cubic feet of water per minute. The Hurd bill as amended was reported favorably. Meantime, the question developed such broad relations and presented so many points of vital interest that a general conviction prevailed that the studies should be more fully concluded before legislation was effected and the bill was not pressed to a final vote. ' ' Subsequently, the Act of June 6, 1887, was passed. This simply authorized the city of Chicago to construct a 374 Cross Sections OF THE Channel in Rock. "'7^ Cross Sections OF THE Channel in Earth, CROSS SECTIONS OF DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 375 cut-off north of the city for the diversion of the Desplaines river, or an excess above the ordinary water mark in that stream. No action has ever been taken under the authority conferred by this Act. The first official step toward the enactment of the present drainage law was taken in the passage of a joint resolution introduced in the House by Thomas H. Kiley of Will county, on May 26, 1887. This resolution provided for the appointment of a committee of five, consisting of the Mayor of Chicago, ex-officio, two members of the House to be appointed by the speaker, and two members of the Sen- ate, to be appointed by the president of the Senate, whose duty should be to examine and report to the next session of the Legislature the subject of the drainage of Chicago and its suburbs. "If such commission shall find upon investigation, ' ' said the resolution, ' ' that the most practicable solution of the problem is in the construc- tion of a waterway for the sewage from Chicago to the Des- plaines river at or near Joliet, the commission shall report what requirements should be made as to the construction of such waterway and the dilution of such sewage for the pro- tection of the health and comfort of the people along the Desplaines river at and below Joliet." The commission was required to serve without pay, its expenses to be paid by the city of Chicago. The resolution passed the House at once and the Senate on May 31. B. A. Eckhart of Chicago and Andrew J. Bell of Peoria were appointed members of the committee from the Senate, and Thomas C. MacMillan of Chicago and Thomas H. Riley of Joliet from the House. Mayor John A. Roche of Chicago was the fifth member of the committee, by virtue of his oflice. The committee held many public meetings and had many conferences with the people living in the Desplaines and Illinois river valleys during the two ensuing years. As a 376 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. resalt of this interchange of opinion, a careful study of the necessities of Chicago and the interests of the inhabitants of the valleys, and by the aid of the best legal counsel, the committee reported on February 1, 1889, an Act creating the Chicago Sanitary District. "The commission," it said, " has diligently studied the subject submitted to it in all its sanitary and commercial aspects. It has visited and sur- veyed the territory sought to be improved. Conferences have been held with representatives from all the leading cities, towns and villages affected. An earnest spirit has been manifested to aid in' the solution of this important problem. All plans proposed for meeting the demands of the river and valley communities and the pressing needs of Chicago have been carefully exalnined by this commission. The plan agreed upon by the commission, as set forth in detail in the bill which accompanies this report, is believed by the commission to be the most feasible, practicable and satisfactory method for all the varied interests involved." While the bill was pending in the Legislature and when before the committee of the whole, arguments for and against it were heard from prominent citizens of Chicago and towns in the interior of the State. A delesration of citi- zcns was sent from Joliet to Springfield to urge the passage of the bill, and resolutions advocating its passage were adopted by the business men of Marseilles and forwarded to the House. After many amendments in the nature of concessions to the valley people the bill passed the House on April 11 by a vote of 92 to 42. After further amendments it was con- curred in by the Senate on May 21 by a vote of 32 to 18. The Senate amendments were adopted by the House on May 24 by a vote of 97 to 39, and the bill received the signature of the governor on May 29. It was in force on July 1, 1889. The following is the text of the law : CHICAGO SANITARY DISTEICT CREATED. 377 186. Incobpoeating sanitary district — question, how SUBMITTED — COMMISSIONERS.] § 1. Be it enacted by the Peo^yU of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That whenever any area of contiguous territory within the limits of a single county shall contain two or more incorporated cities, towns or villages, and shall be so situated that the main- tenance of a common outlet for the drainage thereof will conduce to the preservation of the public health, the same may be incor- porated as a sanitary district under this act, in the manner following: Any 5,000 legal voters resident within the limits of such proposed sanitary district, may petition the county judge of the county in which they reside to cause the question to be submitted to the legal voters of such proposed district whether they will organize as a sanitary district under this act. Such petition shall be addressed to the county judge, and shall contain a definite description of the territory intended to be embraced in such district, and the name of such proposed sanitary district : Provided, however, that no territory shall be included in any municipal corporation formed hereunder which is not situated within the limits of a city, incorporated town or village, or within three miles thereof, and no territory shall be included within more than one sanitary district under this act. Upon the filing of such petition in the office of the county clerk of the county in which such territory is situated, it shall be the duty of the county judge to call to his assistance two judges of the Circuit Court, and such judges shall constitute a board of commissioners, which shall have power and authority to consider the boundaries of any such proposed sanitary district, whether the same shall be described in such petition or other- wise. jSTotice shall be given by such county judge of the time and place where such commissioners will meet, by a publication inserted in one or more daily papers published in such county, at least twenty days jjrior to such meeting. At such meeting the county judge shall preside, and all persons in such proposed sanitary district shall have an oj)portunity to be heard touching the location and boundary of such proposed district and make suggestions regarding the same, and such commissioners, after hearing statements, evidence and suggestions, shall fix and de- 378 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. termine the limits and boundaries of such proposed district, and for that purpose and to that extent, may alter and amend such petition. After such determination by said commissioners, or a maj ority of them, th e county j udge shall submit to the legal voters of the proposed sanitary district the question of the organiza- tion and establishment of the proposed sanitary district, as de- termined by said commissioners, at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November thence next ensuing. Notice whereof shall be given by said commissioners, at least twenty days jarior thereto, by publication in one or more daily j)apers published within such proposed sanitary district, such notice to specify briefly the purpose of such election, with a description of such proposed district. Each legal voter resi- dent within such proposed sanitary district shall have the right to cast a ballot at such election, with the words thereon, "For Sanitary District," or "Against Sanitary District." The bal- lots so cast shall be received, returned and canvassed in the same manner and by the same officers as is provided by law in the case of ballots cast for county officers. The county judge shall cause a statement of the result of such election to be spread upon the records of the County Court. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of the incorporation of the pro- posed sanitary district shall be in favor of the proposed sanitary district such proposed district shall thenceforth be deemed an organized sanitary district under this act. 187. Judicial notice of district — organizatiox — elbc- TiON— COUNTY JUDGE.] § 2. All courts in this State shall take judicial notice of the existence of all sanitary districts organized under this act. Upon the organization of any sanitary district under this act the county judge shall call an election to elect oflicers and cause notice thereof to be posted or published, and perform all other acts in reference to such election in like manner as nearly as may be as he is required to perform in ref- erence to the election of officers in newly organized cities under the provision of an act entitled "An act to provide for the incorporation of cities and villages," approved April 10, 1872. 188. Trustees — election and terms of.J § 3. In each sanitary district organized under this act, there shall be elected CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 379 nine trustees, who shall hold their offices for five years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, except the term of office of the first trustees elected, shall be until five years after the first Monday in December after their election. The election of trustees after the first, shall be on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in every fifth year. In all elections for trustees each qualified voter may vote for as many candidates as there are trustees to be elected, or he may dis- tribute his vote among not less than five-ninths of the candidates to be elected, giving to each of the candidates among whom he distributes the same, the same number of votes or fractional parts of votes. The trustees shall choose one of their number president, and such sanitary district shall from the time of the first election held by it under this act be construed in law and equity a body corporate and politic and by the name and style of the sanitary district of , and by such name and style may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real estate and personal property necessary for corpor- ate purposes, and adopt a common seal and alter the same at pleasure. 189. Tbustees constitute a boakd — duties and powers OF.] § 4. The trustees elected in pursuance of the forego- ing provisions of this act shall constitute a board of trustees for the district by which they are elected, which board of trus- tees is hereby declared to be the corporate authorities of such sanitary district, and shall exercise all the powers and manage and control all the affairs and property of such district. Said board of trustees shall have the right to elect a clerk, treasurer, chief engineer and attorney for such municipality, who shall hold their respective offices during the pleasure of the board, and who shall give such bond as may be required by said board. Said board may prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of all the officers and employes of said sanitary district : Pro- vided, however, that the salary of the president of said board of trustees shall in no case exceed the sum of four thousand dol- lars per annum ; and the salary of the other members of said board shall not exceed three thousand dollars per annum. And provided further, that the amount received by any attorney shall 380 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEEWAY. not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum. Said board of trustees shall have full power to pass all neces- sary ordinances, rules and regulations for the proper manage- ment and conduct of the business of said board .of trustees and of said corporation, and for carrying into effect the objects for which such sanitary district is formed. 190. Oedinances making appbopkiatiox — publication OF.] § 5. All ordinances making any appropriations shall, within one month after they are jjassed, be published at least once in a newspapier published in such district, or if no such newspaper of general circulation is published therein, by posting copies of the same in three j)ublic jjlaces in the district; and no such ordinance shall take effect until ten days after it is so published, and all other ordinances, orders and resolutions shall take effect from and after their jjassage unless otherwise provided therein. 191. Oebinances and eesolutions — evidence.] § 6. All ordinances, orders and resolutions, and the date of publica- tion thereof, may be proven by the certificate of the clerk, under the seal of the corporation, and when printed in book or pamjihlet form, and purporting to be published by the board of trustees, and such book or pamphlet shall be received as evi- dence of the passage and legal publication of such ordinances, orders and resolutions, as of the dates mentioned in such book, or pamphlet, in all courts and places without further proof. 192. Boaed OP TEUSTEES — POWEESOF.] | 7. The board of trustees of any sanitary district organized under this act shall have power to provide for the drainage of such district by laying out, establishing, constructing and maintaining one or more main channels, drains, ditches and outlets for carrying off and disposing of the drainage (including the sewage) of such district, together with such adjuncts and additions thereto as may be necessary or proper to cause such channels or outlets to accomplish the end for which they are designed in a satisfac- tory manner; also to make and establish docks adjacent to any navigable channel made under the provisions hereof for drainage purposes, and to lease, manage and control such docks, and also to control and dispose of any water-power which may be incident- CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 381 ally created in the construction and use of said channels or out- lets, but in no case shall said board have any power to control water after it passes beyond its channel, waterways, races or structures into a river or natural waterway or channel, or water- power or docks situated on such river or natural waterway or channel : Provided, however, nothing in this act shall be con- strued to abridge or prevent the State from hereafter requiring a portion of the funds derived from such water-power, dockage or wharfage to be paid into the State Treasury to be used for State purposes. Such channels or outlets may extend outside of the territory included within such sanitary district, and the rights and j)owers of said board of trustees over the portion of such channel or outlet lying outside of such district shall be the same as those vested in said board over that portion of such channels or outlets within the said district. 193. Mat purchase axd sell real estate, etc.] § 8. Such sanitary district may acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise any and all real and personal property, right of way and privilege, either within or without its corporate limits that may be required for its corporate purposes : Provided, all moneys for the purchase and condemnation of any property shall be paid before possession is taken, or any work done on the premises damaged by the construction of such channel or outlet, and in case of an appeal from the county court taken by either party whereby the amount of damages is not finally determined, the amount of judgment in such court shall be deposited at some bank to be designated by the judge thereof subject to the payment of such damages on orders signed by such county judge, whenever the amount of damages is finally determined ; and when not longer required for such purposes, to sell, convey, vacate and release the same, subject to the reservation contained in section 7, relating to water-powers and docks. 194. May BORROW MONET — LIMITATION.] § 9. Thccorpor. ation may borrow money for corporate purposes and may issue bonds therefor, but shall not become indebted, in any manner, or for any purpose, to an amount in the aggregate to exceed five per centum on the valuation of taxable property therein, to. be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes 382 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. previous to the incurriitg of such indebtedness : Provided, how- ever, that said five per centum shall not exceed the sum of fif- teen million dollars ($15,000,000). 195. To PROVIDE FOB DIRECT ANNUAL TAX NET EARN- INGS.] § 10. At the time or before incurring any indebted- ness, the board of trustees shall provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof as the same shall fall due, and at least within twenty years from the time of contracting the same : Provided, that the net earnings from water-power and docks may be appropriated and applied to the purpose of paying the interest or principal of such indebtedness, or both, and to the extent that they will suffice, the direct tax may be remitted. 196. Contracts — how let.] § 11. All contracts for work to be done by such municipality, the expense of which will exceed five hundred dollars, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder therefor upon not less than sixty days' pub- lic notice of the terms and conditions upon which the contract is to be let having been given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in said district, and the said board shall have the pojver and authority to reject any and all bids, and re-advertise : Provided, no person shall be employed on said work unless he be a citizen of the United States, or has in good faith declared his intentions to become such citizen. In all cases where an alien after filing his declaration of inten- tion to beoonje a citizen of the United States shall for the space of three months after he could lawfully do so, fail to take out his final papers and complete his citizenship, such failure shall be prima facie evidence that his declaration of intentions was not made in good faith. And that eight hours shall constitute a day's work. 197. Trustees may levy and collect taxes, etc.] § 12. The board of trustees may levy and collect taxes for corporate purposes upon property within the territorial limits of such sanitary district,^ the aggregate amount of which in any one year. shall, not exceed one-half of one per centum of the value of the taxable property within the corporate limits, as the same CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 383 shall be assessed and equalized for State and county taxes of the year in which the levy is made. Said board shall cause the amount required to be raised b}' taxation in each year to be certified by the county clerk, on or before the second Tuesday in August, as provided in section one hundred and twenty- two of the general revenue law. All taxes so levied and certified shall be collected and enforced in the same manner and by the same officers as State and county taxes, and shall be paid over by the officer collecting the same to the treasurer of the sanitary district, in the manner and at the time provided by the general revenue law. 198. Expenses of improvement — special assessments — GENEKAL TAX.] § 13. The board of trustees shall have power to defray the expenses of any improvement made by it in the execution of the powers hereby granted to such incorporation, by special assessment or by general taxation, or partly by special assessment and partly by general taxation, as they shall by ordinance prescribe. It shall constitute no objection to any special assessment, that the improvement for which the same is levied is partly outside the limits of such incorporation, but no special assessment shall be made upon property situated outside of such sanitary district, and in no case shall any property be assessed more than it will be benefited by the improvement for which the assessment is levied. The proceed- ings for making, levying, collecting and enforcing of any special assessment levied hereunder, shall be the same as nearly as may be as is prescribed by article nine of an act entitled: "An act to provide for the incorporation of cities and villages," approved April 10, 1872. Whenever in said act the words "city council" are used, the same shall apply to the board of trustees constituted by this act, and the words apply- ing to the city or its officers in that article shall be held to apply to the corporation hereby created and to its officers. 199. Assessment — installments — interest.] § 14. When any assessment is made under this act, the ordinance authorizing such assessment may provide that it be divided into equal annual installments, not more than twenty in num- ber, and fix the amount and tim^ of payment of each install- 384 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ment, and that the installment shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding six per cent per annum, payable annually, from the date fixed in said ordinance, and the several installments and interests thereon may be collected and enforced, as they shall become due, in the manner provided for the enforcement of assessments under said Article 9. No moi"e of any assessment need be returned or certified to the county collector than will show the amount due and unpaid at the time of such return, and no sale of any parcel of land for any installment of an assessment shall discharge the premises from any subsequent installment of the same or any other assessment. Any one or all of the installments may be paid any time after the assess- ment is confirmed, with accrued interest, if any, to the date of payment. 200. When assessments payable by installments — BONDS MAY BE ISSUED.] § 15. Where any asscssment IS made payable in installments the board of trustees may issue bonds or certificates not exceeding in amount eighty per centum of the un- paid portion of such assessment at the date of the issue thereof, payable only out of such assessment, and bearing interest at a rate not exceeding the rate of interest upon the installments of such assessments. The board of trustees shall have the right to call in and pay off said bonds or certificates as fast as there is money received into the treasury from the assessment against which the same are issued, and all moneys received upon such assessment shall be applied to the payment of said certificates or bonds until they are fully satisfied. 201. Private peopeety — how taken for impeovement.] § 16. Whenever the board of trustees of any sanitary district shall pass an ordinance for the making of any improvement which such district is authorized to make, the making of which will require that private property should be taken or damaged, such district may cause compensation therefor to be ascertained, and condemn and acquire possession thereof in the same manner as nearly as may be as is provided in an act entitled " An act to provide for the exercise of the right of eminent domain," approved April 10, 1872 : Provided, however, that proceedings to ascertain the compensation to be paid for taking or damaging CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 385 private proverty shall in all cases be instituted in the county where the property sought to be taken or damaged is situ- ated : And provided, that all damages to property whether de- termined by agreement or by final judgment of court shall be paid out of the annual district tax, prior to the payment of any other debt or obligation. 202. May acquire eight of way.] § 17. When it shall be necessary in making any improvements which any district is authorized by this act to make, to enter upon any public property or property held for public use, such district shall have the power so to do and may acquire the necessary right of way over such property held for public use in the same manner as is above provided for acquiring private property, and may enter upon, use, widen, deepen and improve any navigable or other waters, waterways, canal or lake : Provided, the public use thereof shall not be unnecessarily interrupted or interfered with, and that the same shall be restored to its former useful- ness as soon as practicable : Provided, however, that no such district shall occupy any portion of the Illinois and Michigan canal outside of the limits of the county in which such district is situated for the site of any such improvement, except to cross the same, and then only in such a way as not to impair the usefulness of said canal, or to the injury of the right of the State therein, and only under the direction and supervision of the canal commissioners : And, provided further, that no dis- trict shall be required to make any compensation for the use of so much of said canal as lies within the limits of the county in which said district is situated, except for transportation pur- poses. 203. Special assessment — damage to property, and cost or acquiring.] § 18. In making any special assessment for any improvement which requires the taking or damaging of property, the cost of acquiring the right to damage or take such property may be estimated and included in the assessment as a part of the cost of making such improvement. 204. Liability of sanitary district foe damages.] § 19. Every sanitary district shall be liable for all damages to real estate within or without such district which shall be overflowed 25 o86 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEEWAY. or otherwise damaged by reason of the construction, enlargement or use of any channel, ditch, drain, outlet or other improvement under the provisions of this Act; and actions, to recover such damages may be brought in the county where such real estate is situate, or in the county where such sanitary district is located, at the option of the party claiming to be injured. And in case judgment is rendered against such district for damage the plaintiff shall also recover his reasonable attorney's fees, to be taxed as costs of suit : Provided, however, it shall appear on the trial that the plaintiff notified the trustees of such district, in writing, at least 60 days before suit was commenced by leaving a copy of such notice with some one of the trustees of such dis- trict stating that he claims damages to the amount of dol- lars, by reason of (here insert the cause of damage) and intends to sue for the same : And, provided further, that the amount recovered shall be larger than the amount offered by said trus- tees (if anything) as a compromise for damages sustained. 205. Capacity of channel or outlet.] g 20. Any channel or outlet constructed under the provisions of this act, which shall cause the discharge of sewage into or through any river or stream of water beyond or without the limits of the dis- trict constructing the same, shall be of sufficient size and capacity to produce a continuous flow of water of at least two hundred cubic feet per minute for each one thousand of the population of the district drained thereby, and* the same shall be kept and maintained of such size and in such condition that the water thereof shall be neither offensive or injurious to the health of any of the people of this State, and before any sewage shall be discharged into such channel or outlet, all garbage, dead animals, and parts thereof, and other solids shall be taken therefrom. 206. Sanitary district — failure to comply with act — remedy — penalty.] § 21. In case any sanitary district in this State formed under the provisions of this Act shall intro- duce sewage into any river or stream of water, or natural or artificial watercourse, beyond or without the limits of such district without conforming to the provisions of this Act, or having introduced such sewage into such watercourse, shall CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 387 fail to comply with any of the provisions of this Act, an action to enforce compliance shall be brought by the Attorney Gen- eral of this State in the courts of any county wherein such watercourse is situate, or he may authorize the State Attorney of any such county to commence and prosecute such action in any -such county : Provided, that nothing in this section con- tained shall be construed to prevent the prosecution of any action or proceeding by individuals or bodies corporate or politic against such district. 207. Act — how construed.] g 22. Nothing in this Act con- tained shall be so construed as to constitute a contract or grant between the State of Illinois and any sanitary district form:ed under its provisions, or to prevent, debar or deprive the State of Illinois from, at any time in the future, altering, amending or repealing this Act, or imposing any conditions, restrictions or requirements other, different or additional to any herein contained upon any sanitary district which may be formed hereunder. 208. Channel — how to be constructed.] § 23. If any channel is constructed under the provisions hereof by means of which any of the waters of Lake Michigan shall be caused to pass into the Desplaines or Illinois river, such channel shall be constructed of sufficient size and capacity to produce and main- tain at all times a continuous flow of not less than 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute, and to be of a depth of not less than fourteen feet, and a current not exceeding three miles per hour, and if any j)ortion of any such channel shall be cut through a territory with a rocky stratum where such rocky stratum is above a grade sufficient to produce a depth of water from Lake Michigan of not less than eighteen feet, such portion of said channel shall have double the flowing capacity above provided for, and a width of not* less than one hundred and sixty feet at the bottom capable of producing a depth of not less than eighteen feet of water. If the population of the dis- trict draining into such channel shall at anytime exceed 1,500,- 000, such channel shall be made and kept of such size and in such condition that it will produce and maintain at all times a con- tinuous flow of not less than 20,000 cubic feet of water per 388 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. minute for each 100,000 of the population of such district, at a current of not more than three miles per hour, and if at any- time the General Government shall improve the Desplaines or Illinois rivers, so that the same shall be capable of receiving a flow of 600,000 cubic feet of water per minute, or more, from said channel, and shall provide for the payment of all damages which any extra flow above 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute from such channel may cause to private property so as to save harmless the said district from all liability therefrom, then such sanitary district shall, within one year thereafter, en- large the entire channel leading into said Desplaines or Illinois rivers from said district to a sufficient size and capacity to pro- duce and maintain a continuous flow throughout the same of not less than 600,000 cubic feet of water per minute, with a current of not more than three miles per hour, and such chan- nel shall be constructed upon such grade as to be capable of producing a depth of water not less than eighteen feet through- out said channel, and shall have a width of not less than one hundred and sixty feet at the bottom. In case a channel is con- structed in the Desplaines river as contemplated in this section it shall be carried down the slope between Lockport and Joliet to the pool commonly known as the upper basin of sufficient width and depth to carry off the water the channel shall bring down from above. The district constructing a channel to carry water from Lake Michigan of any amount authorized by this Act, may correct, modify and remove obstructions in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers, wherever it shall be necessary so to do to prevent overflow or damage along said rivers, and shall remove the dams at Henry and Copperas Creek in the Illinois river, before any water shall be turned into the said channel. And the canal commissioners, if they shall find at any time that an additional supply of water has been added to either of said rivers, by any drainage district or districts, to maintain a depth of not less than six feet from any dam owned by the State, to and into the first lock of the Illinois and Michigan Canal at La Salle, without the aid of any such dam, at low water, then it shall be the duty of said canal commissioners to cause such dam or dams to be removed. This Act shall not be construed to CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 389 authorize the injury or destruction of existing water power rights. 209. Channel when completed — contkol of.] § 24. When such channel shall be completed, and the water turned therein, to the amount of three hundred thousand cubic feet of water per minute, the same is hereby declared a navigable stream, and whenever the General Government shall improve the Desplaines and Illinois rivers for navigation to connect with this channel, said General Government shall have full con- trol over the same for navigation purposes, but not to interfere with its control for sanitary or drainage purposes. 210. May permit terbitokies outside to drain, etc.] § 25. Any district formed hereunder shall have the right to permit territory lying outside its limits and within the same •county to drain into and use any channel or drain made by it, upon such payments, terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon, and any district formed hereunder is hereby given full power and authority to contract for the right to use any drain or channel which may be made by any other sanitary district, upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon, and to raise the money called for by any such contract in the same way and to the same extent as such district is authorized to raise money for any other corporate purposes : Provided, that where the united flow of any sanitary districts thus co-operating shall pass into any channel constructed within the limits of the county wherein such districts are located, and which passes into the Desplaines or Illinois rivers, such united flow shall in no case and at no time be less than 20,000 cubic feet of water per minute for each one hundred thousand of the aggregate of the population of the districts co-operating : Provided, nothing in this Act shall in any wise be so construed as to diminish, impair, or remove any right or rights of any city, village, township, or corporation, body politic or individual situated on the Desplaines or Illinois rivers or their tributaries and within the valleys of the same to use the channel for drainage or other- wise not inconsistent with the rights of the district constructing the same as expressed in this act. 211. When city or village owns waterworks, etc.] § 26. Whenever in any such sanitary district there shall be a 390 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. city, incorporated town or village, which owns a system of waterworks and supplies water from a lake or other source which will be saved and preserved from sewage pollution, by the construction of the main channel, drain, ditch or outlet herein provided for, and the turning of the sewage of such city and district therein, and there shall be in such sanitary district any territory bordering on any such city, incorporated town or village within the limits of another city, incorporated town or village, which does not own any system of water- works, at the time of the creation of such sanitary district, then upon application by the corporate authorities of such latter named city, incorporated town or village the corporate authorities of such city, incorporated town or village having such system of waterworks shall furnish water at the boundary line between such municipalities by means of its waterworks to the corporate authorities asking for the same in such quan- tities as may be required to supply consumers within said territory, at no greater price or charge than it charges and collects of consumers, within its limits for water furnished through meters in like large quantities. 212. When ciianxbl coxstructed — commissioners to be APPOINTED TO INSPECT ITS woEK.J § 27. If ally channel shall be constructed under the provisions of section 23 of this Act, it shall be the duty of the trustees of such district, where such channel shall be completed, and before any water or sewage shall be admitted therein, to duly notify, in writing, the Governor of this State of such fact; and the Governor shall thereupon appoint three discreet persons as commissioners^ one of whom shall be a resident of the city of Joliet, or between said city and the city of La Salle, and one a resident of the city of La Salle, or between said city and the city of Peoria, and one a resident of the city of Peoria, or between said city and the mouth of the Illinois river, to inspect said work. The said commis- sioners shall, within ten days after such appointment, meet at the city of Chicago and shall appoint a competent civil en- gineer, and they may employ such other assistance as they may require to expeditiously perform their duties. The said com- mission shall take as their datum line for the survey the datum CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT CREATED. 3'Jl established by the Illinois and Michigan Canal Trustees in 1847, and shall make such examination and surveys of Chicago river and of the channel or channels authorized by this Act as shall enable them to ascertain whether said channel is of the character and capacity required by this act. And in case they shall find the work in all respects in accordance with the provisions of section 23 of this Act, they shall so certify to the Governor, who shall thereupon authorize the water and sewage to be let into said channel. But in case said commissioners shall find said channel is not constructed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall be their duty to file in any court of com- petent jurisdiction, on the chancery side thereof, in their name as such commissioners, a bill against said corporation, which bill shall set forth wherein said work is deficient and fails to comply with the provisions of this Act ; and said court shall thereupon issue an injunction without bond against said defend- ant, enjoining and restraining it from admitting water or sewage into said channel until the final order of the court. And in case said court upon hearing shall determine that said channel is not constructed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, said injunction shall be continued until the pro- visions of this Act shall have been fully complied with. Such commissioners and engineer shall receive for their ser- vice ten dollars per day each, and their reasonable expenses and outlays for the time by them necessarily employed in tlie dis- charge of their duties, which shall be paid to them from the State treasury ; and the said sanitary district shall reimburse the State for all expenses and disbursements on account of said commission. If any channel is constructed under the provisions of this Act whichj shall discharge the sewage of a population of more than 300,000 into or through any river beyond or without the limits of the district constructing it, the same shall be con- structed in accordance with the provisions of section 23 of this Act, and if any such channel receives its supply of water from any river or channel connecting with Lake Michigan it shall be construed as receiving its supply of waters from Lake Mich- igan. CHAPTER XXVIII. ORGANIZATION OP THE SANITARY DISTRICT. Petitions were prepared soon after the passage of the Sanitary District law, addressed to Hon. Eichard Prender- gast, County Judge of Cook County, asking him to cause to be submitted to the legal voters of the proposed Sanitary District of Chicago the question of organization. More than the requisite five thousand signatures were readily obtained. The petition was submitted on August 15, 1889. Judge Prendergast requested Judges Richard S. Tuthill and Samuel P. McConnell of the Circuit Court to sit with him as Com- missioners. The Commission met on September 18, and heard arguments for and against the proposed boundaries of the District. Several subsequent meetings were held and on October 14 the Commission fixed the boundaries as follows : ' ' Beginning at the shore of Lake Michigan at Eighty- seventh street, the same being the township line between townships thirty-seven (37) and thirty-eight (38) north, range fifteen (15) east of the principal meridian, and running thence westerly on said township line to range line be- tween ranges thirteen (13) and twelve (12); thence north on said range line to two (2) miles to the southwest cor- ner of section nineteen (19), township thirty-eight (38), range thirteen (13); thence west on south line of sec- tions twenty four (24) and twenty-three (23) to the south- west corner of said section twenty- three (23) township thirty-eight (38) north, range twelve (12) east; thence north along the west line of sections twenty-three (23), 392 %he ^anitarg District and the Chicago Divide. CHICAGO SANITARY DISTRICT AND DESPLAINES VALLEY. ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 393 fourteen (14), eleven (11) and two (2) of township thirty-eight aforesaid, range twelve (12) east to the nprthwest corner of said section two (2) ; thence east on the north line of sections two (2) and one (1), the same being the township line between townships thirty- eight (38) and thirty-nine (39) north, range twelve (12) east, to the south line of Ogden avenue ; thence in an easterly direction along said south line of Ogden avenue, the same being part of the boundary of the village of Lyons, to the range line between ranges twelve (12) and thirteen (13) east, the same being the west line of the town of Cicero ; thence north on said range line to the northwest corner of section nineteen (19), township forty (40) north, range thirteen (13) east ; thence east to southwest corner of the east half of section seventeen (17), township forty (40) north, range thirteen (13) east ; thence north through the middle of sections seventeen (17), eight (8) and five (5) of said township and range to the boundary of the tract known as Caldwell's Reserve ; thence northwesterly along said boundary line to the township line between townships forty (40) and forty-one (41) north, range thirteen (13) east ; thence easterly along said township line, the same being the northern boundary of the City of Chicago and formerly the northern boundary of the Village of Jefferson and the City of Lake View, to the shore of Lake Michigan .; thence easterly in continuation of said township line to a point three miles from the shore of Lake Michigan meas- ured at right angles to said shore ; thence southerly and parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan and three miles dis- tant therefrom to the north boundary of the State of Indi- ana ; thence west along said boundary to the northwest cor- ner of said State ; thence south along the west boundary of said State to a point due east of the point of beginning ; thence west to the point of beginning." The Commissioners having fixed the boundaries of the 394 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. proposed Chicago Sanitary District, Judge Prendergast issued an order on October 14 requiring that the question of the establishment of the district be submitted to the peo- ple at the election to be held on November 5, 1889. The vote was as follows : For, 70,958 ; against, 242. Compared with the boundaries of the City of Chicago those of the Sanitary District were as follows: On the north they were identical — along North Seventy-first street. Beginning at the northwest corner of the city limits the boundary line of the Sanitary District followed that of the city southward along an irregular line to the intersection of Irving Park boulevard and West Seventy-second street. At this point the boundaries separated, that of the district con- tinuing south along the line of West Seventy-second street to Thirty-ninth street, taking in the town of Cicero. The course was then westward two miles along Thirty-ninth street, south four miles and east again to West Seventy- second street, including Summit and the bend in the Des- plaines river where the usual spring overflows occurred. A turn again to the southward along West Seventy-second street, along which the boundary ran for two miles, brought it to Eighty-seventh street. The boundary continued east- ward along Eighty- seventh street to the lake shore. The eastern boundary of the Sanitary District was located in Lake Michigan three miles from shore, thus giving the Dis- trict control over the discharge of sewers into the lake. Considerable territory west of the city limits was in- cluded in the Sanitary District, but the so-called Calumet region in the southern part of the city was excluded. A statement made by A. V. Powell, civil engineer, before the Commission on September 24 contains the reasons, substan- tially, for its exclusion. He called atteation to the fact that the basin drained by the Calumet river had an area of 825 square miles, and that three-tifths of it was in Indiana. The rim of the basin on the south had an average elevation of ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 395 260 feet above Lake Michigan, except at the Sag. The trib- utaries of the Calumet river ran through valleys which gave a rapid discharge to the rainfall. The head of the Little Calumet river was in La Porte County, Indiana, ten miles southeast of Michigan City. The river ran in a westerly direction until it crossed the State line in Thornton township, and then northwest. The Grand Calumet received its water from a limited area adjoining the lake shore. Except in flood times in had no current. Its length was about twenty miles. The Grand Calumet and Little Calumet united near the south line of the City of Chicago to form the Calumet river which emptied into Lake Michigan at South Chicago. The land on either side of the Calumet river was low, aver- aging not more than 4J feet above the lake, and the greater part of it, some fifteen square miles, lying within the city limits, was subject to overflow in flood time. No sewers emptied into Lake Michigan south of Fifty- sixth street to the Indiana state line. The total population having sewerage facilities and discharging sewage into the Calumet river was 1,500. The only sewer emptying into the Calumet river was in Ninety-second street. Pullman had a separate system of sewerage. There were no manufactor- ies upon the line of the Calumet river that produced filth. The only filth -producing establishment within the basin was one slaughter-house at Hammond. This was twelve miles from Lake Michigan. Whenever a general system of sewerage should become necessary for this district it would l)e entirely practicable to adopt the separate system, either in conjunction with the territory adjacent to the State of Indiana, or without it, and treat the sewage by land purification. Land for this pur- pose could be secured near Hammond, and the purified water returned to the river would aid its flow. Whatever plan might be adopted, the sewage for the entire area south 396 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. of Eighty-seventh street would have to be pumped to a higher level. If the same plan were adopted as for the Chicago basin a channel must be cut through the Sag. One inch of rain- fall in the Calumet basin was the equivalent of 2,323,200 cubic feet of water per square mile. This would produce a flow for the basin of 1,331,000 cubic feet per minute, more than twice the maximum capacity of the channel provided for the Chicago basin. The reports of the United States Weather Bureau showed a yearly precipitation from 18T2 to 1889 of 36 inches. In 125 days more than one inch fell in twenty-four hours. In one instance the precipitation was 6.19 inches in twenty-four hours. The distance from the Calumet river along the line of the Stony creek feeder was seventeen miles. A profile made from the surveys of General Wilson showed that there were twelve miles of rock cutting. Hering's estimate from this profile was $13,300,000, the cost of a channel with a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet per minute. Mr. Powell believed that the cost of the Sag channel would equal that of the Chicago channel. The Sanitary District of Chicago is eighteen miles long from north to south, and about nine and one-half miles wide on a line passing through the court house in Chicago. Its extreme width is about fifteen miles. The District con- tains about 185 square miles. On December 12, 1889, following the general election at which the Sanitary District was established, a special elec tion was held for the selection of trustees. The successful candidates were John J. Altpeter, Arnold P. Gilmore, Christopher Hotz, John A. King, Murry Nelson, Richard Prendergast, W. H. Russell, Frank Wenter and H. J. Will- ing. The first meeting of the Trustees was held on January 18, 1890. At the third meeting, held on February 1, ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 397 Trustee Nelson was elected president ; Austin J. Doyle, clerk ; Byron L. Smith, treasurer ; L. E. Cooley, chief engineer ; S. S. Gregoxy, attorney, and Charles Bary, sec- retary. The salary of the president was fixed at |4,000 per annum, and that of each of the other trustees $3,000. Other salaries were as follows: Clerk, $6,000; treasurer, $5,000 ; chief engineer, $6,000 ; attorney, $5,000, and sec- retary, $1,500. The clerk was required to give bonds in the sum of $200,000; the treasurer, $500,000; chief engineer, $100,000; attorney, $100,000, and secretary, $20,000. At one of the early meetings a corporate seal was adopted, representing the State of Illinois, with Lake Michigan on the northeast, the Mississippi river on the west and the pro- posed waterway connecting these two bodies of water by way of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers. On a section of the new channel there were also shown a lake sailing vessel and a Mississippi river steamboat. The location of Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis was indicated. Steps were taken at an early date to test the validity of the law. Two suits were brought against the Trustees of the Sanitary District, one by Marshall J. Wilson, and the other in the name of the people. The first was a bill for an injunction and sought to restrain the Board of Trustees from selling bonds, an ordinance for which had been adopted. It was alleged that the Sanitary District could only be vested with power, under the Constitution of the State, to make improvements by special assessments upon the property benefited. It could not, therefore, issue bonds to be paid by general taxation. The bill was dismissed by Judge Oliver H. Horton, presiding in the Circuit Court of Cook County, before whom the hearing was had. An appeal was at once taken to the Supreme Court. An opinion afllrming the decision of the lower court was filed at Ottawa on June 12, 1889. In this opinion, delivered by 398 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Justice Scholfield, the Court said three general questions were involved in the contentions : Is it within the power of the General Assembly, under the Constitution, to authorize the formation of sanitary dis- tricts, disregarding the existence and boundaries of pre- existing municipal corporations, and invest their corporate authorities with powers of general taxation for sanitary pur- poses ? If this shall be answered in the affirmative, are the cor- porate authorities of such districts limited in the amount of indebtedness which they may incur under the Constitution, by the amounts of pre-existing indebtedness of other munic- ipal corporations covering the same, or a part of the same territory? Is the Act, under which the district whose corporate authorities are here sought to be enjoined was formed, local or special legislation within the prohibition of the Constitu- tion ? In the opinion of the Supreme Court the Constitution of the State was not to be regarded as a grant of power to the legislative department ; on the contrary, it was to be taken as a limitation upon its powers. The Constitution, in pro- viding for the organization of counties and county govern- ment, also contemplated that there would be local governments for public purposes, designated as cities, towns, villages, school districts and other municipal corpor- ations. But there was no specification of the powers that should be conferred upon either, and no prohibition of the withdrawal of powers once conferred, and thereafter con- ferring them upon another. If the Legislature might vest the power in cities, towns and villages to construct sewers, drains, etc., for sanitary purposes, and might also create a corporation within the county and invest it with like power, it followed that it might create a corporation including both city and county ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 399 and invest it with power to secure the public health by means of sewers and channels or drains. There M'ere no constitutional restrictions as to the bound- ary lines of public or municipal corporations within which new corporations might be formed, except as to counties. It was wholly unnecessary that the corporate authorities of the new corporation should be also the corporate authorities of some specific pre-existing corporation. So it would vio- late no principle of constitutional law to create a district and vest it with the powers of taxation for sanitary purposes, co-extensive with the territory to be controlled. The pro- priety of the creation of such a municipal corporation be- longed alone to the General Assembly, and not to the courts. The preservation of health was one of the paramount objects of government. It belonged to the police power, subject to the proper exercise of which either by the State Legislature, or by public corporations, to which the Legis- lature might delegate it, every citizen holds his property. The police power, so far as it related to the public health, included the makingr of sewers and drains for the removal of garbage and filth, the boring of artesian wells and the construction of aqueducts for the purpose of procuring a supply of pure, fresh water, the drain of malarious swamps and the erection of levees to prevent overflows. The Constitution of 1870 authorized the Legislature to invest cities, towns and villages with power to make local improvements by special assessment, or by special taxation of contiguous property, or otherwise, and also provided that for all other corporate purposes all municipal corpora- tions might be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes, etc. The words "municipal corporations," in this connection, were used in their ordinarily accepted and more enlarged sense of public, local corporations, exercising some governmental functions. 400 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. It was manifest that the first clause of section 9 of article 9 of the present Constitution was adopted to remove restric- tions of the power of the General Assembly held to exist under the Constitution of 1848, and to enable the General Assembly to authorize the making of local improvements by the levy of the cost on contiguous property according to its frontage. The words ' ' local improvements, ' ' in that section of the Constitution which declares that "the General Assembly may vest the corporate authorities of cities, etc., with power to make local improvements by special assessment, or by special taxation of contiguous property, or other- wise, ' ' meant improvements that could be made by special assessment. Whether an improvement was of that charac- ter that it could be made by special assessment was a ques- tion of fact, not of law. The words " special assessment" were used to express the mode of making a local improve- ment in contradistinction to that by general taxation. The words "for other corporate purposes" meant "for other corporate purposes than those of local improvement by special assessment, or by special taxation of contiguous property," because it was the manner of making local im- provements and not the fact of making them that was the subject of the first clause. The Constitution was intended to cover the entire field of taxation, — the first clause, that of making local improve- ments by a mode different from that of general taxation, in which the cost of the improvements is assessed against the property actually or presumptively benefited thereby ; and the second clause, that of general taxation, in which the rule of uniformity as to persons and property taxed shall be observed. Since the adoption of section 31 of article 4 of the Con- stitution, drainage districts, as well as cities, towns and vil- lages, could make local improvements by special assess- ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 401 ments, but not by special taxation of contiguous property. Section 22 of article 4 did not prohibit the formation and regulation of municipal corporations, other than cities, towns and villages, by special legislation. The prohibition of such legislation did not apply to drainage districts or sanitary districts. The constitutional limitation upon the extent of corpor- ate indebtedness applied to each municipal corporation singly. Where one such corporation might partially em- brace the same territory as others, it might contract corpor- ate indebtedness without regard to the indebtedness of any other corporate body embraced wholly or in part in its territory. The second suit was in the nature of a quo warranto filed by the State's Attorney of Cook County against the Trustees of the Sanitary District in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Judgment was entered by Judge Julius S. Grinnell that the information be dismissed. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, as in the other case, and an opinion was filed also on June 12 affirming the judgment of the lower court. Justice Bailey, in delivering the opinion, said the only questions pi'esented to the court were those which involved the validity of the Act under which the Sanitary District was organized. The grounds upon which the constitution- ality of the Act was assailed were summarized as follows : 1. That the title of the Act expresses and the Act em- braces more than one subject. 2. That the Act embraces various subjects which are not expressed in the title. 3. That the Act is a local or special Act. 4. That it provides for cumulative voting at the elections of the trustees of the sanitaiy districts organized under it. 5. That in pi'oviding the machinery for the organiza- tion of sanitary districts, the Act imposes upon the judge 'i02 DEAINAGE CHANNKT- AND WATERWAY. of the County Court and two judges of the Circuit Court, duties which are incompatible with their duties and func- tions as judges of those courts. 6. That the Act Is an evasion of the constitutional pro- vision which limits the indebtedness which a municipal in- corporation shall be allowed to incur in any manner and for any purpose to five per centum of the value of the taxable property therein. 7. That the municipal authorities of sanitary districts are vested with the power of general taxation, and are not limited to special assessments upon the property benefited for the payment of the drainage system which they are a,uthorized to construct. Of these propositions the third, sixth and seventh were tjonsidered sufiiciently answered in the Wilson decision. As to the title and the restrictions under it, the general- ity of an Act was not objectionable so long as it was not made to cover legislation incongruous in itself. The Legis- lature must determine for itself how' broad and comprehen- sive should be the object of a statute and how much particu- larity should be employed in the title defining it. It was purely a matter of legislative discretion whether the sub- ject expressed should be general or specific. Where an Act ■embraces two subjects, both of which are expressed in the title, the entire Act must be held void. If there is but one subject, the Act is valid, although the subject may be com- posed of many parts and all of them are enumerated in the title. So in the Act of 1889, entitled " An Act to create Sanitary Districts and to remove obstructions in the Des- plaines and Illinois rivers," the general subject expressed is the creation of sanitary districts, and the removal of ob- jitructions in the rivers named is so far germane to that sub- ject as to constitute a part of it. There is, therefore, but one subject expressed in the title. A sanitary district is a municipal corporation, organized ORGANIZATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT. 403 to secure, preserve, and promote the public health. Any subsidiary measure having a greater or less tendency to promote that object, or to advance the general scheme by which it is proposed, through the agency of such organiza- tion, to preserve and protect the public health, is germane to the general subject of the Act. All corporations in this country are the creatures of the legislative power, and it necessarily follows that the determination as to what shall be their constitution, objects and powers, is a matter wholly within the legislative discretion. Any measures authorized which are calculated to promote the object of the corpor- ation may be said to be embraced in the title. Where a sanitary district is formed to construct a system of drainage which in its results will necessarily affect certain rivers and canalways by largely increasing the volume of water therein, provisions of the Act creating the district which impose duties upon the district to take proper steps to prevent injury to others by such increased flow of water, are a necessary part of the general system of drain- age for sanitary purposes, and within the object expressed in the title of the Act. As the primary object of the law for the formation of the Sanitary District was for drainage for sanitary purposes, it was not subject to the charge of a duplicity of objects. Every intendment is in favor of the validity of the act. The corporation might utilize the privileges derived from water power and docks as a source of revenue for the purpose of paying its indebtedness, incurred in constructing a channel for drainage purposes. It was competent for the Legislature to establish, as a rule of public policy, that none but citi:^ens, or those who in good faith have taken the preliminary steps to secure naturalization, shall be employed thereon, and also to estab- lish a test by which the good faith of persons declaring their intentions to become citizens may be determined. 404 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. The proviso in the Act which required a portion of the funds derived from the water power, etc., at the will of the State, should be paid into the State treasury, was not a violation of the Constitution in compelling the people of one class of municipal corporations to pay more than their share of the burdens of the State government. The proviso did not attempt to divert any of the revenues of the District, but merely declared that the State was not concluded from requiring payment to be made to it. The provision relating to cumulative voting was not in violation of any constitutional provision relating to suffrage, since the cumulation of votes was not made necessary. An Act of the Legislature giving the Circuit or County Courts the power to appoint commissioners was a valid law. Powers and duties imposed by statute upon a circuit judge, not incompatible with his duties as a judge, might be rightfully exercised by him, as celebrating marriages and taking the acknowledgment of deeds. Every presumption was in favor of the validity of a statute, and every reasonable doubt must be resolved iu favor of its constitutionality. The courts would never declare a statute void except in a clear case. Whenever an Act of the Legislature could be so construed and applied as to avoid a conflict with the Constitution and give it the force of law, such construction should be adopted. CHAPTER XXIX. TIME AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY WASTED. In spite of the fact that the Trustees were aided by the most favorable circumstances, no progress was made for more than two years. More than half a million dollars was spent without a single valuable result. No public body was ever more happily situated than the Drainage Board. It was charged with the execution of a work upon which the welfare and little less than the very existence of the city de- pended. The demand for this work by the people was almost unanimous. The law was adequate and its consti- tutionality definitely established. Kesources were abundant. Yet time was frittered away and some of the Trustees sought to tamper with the law. Most effusive pretensions were made at the outset. Soon after the publication of the opinions of the Supreme Court, the Board of Trustees addressed a communication to the United States senators and representatives from Illinois soliciting a conference with the proper committees in Con- gress on the subject of appropriations in the river and har- bor bill. The Trustees wanted the bill to include ' ' an item or appropriation for the securing of such information by the General Government as would enable it to determine upon the feasibility and value from a national standpoint of such work as might be required to build so as to provide a water- way between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river via the Chicago, Desplaines and Illinois rivers. ' ' On June 18 the chief engineer was instructed to make such surveys and other investigations between the Chicago 405 406 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. river and its south branches and forks and Summit as would enable the Trustees to select one of not less than four routes for a channel of the dimensions required by law ; also, to make like investigations for like purposes between Summit and Lake Joliet, and make "further examination to enable him to inform the Board of the relation of the channel and works aforesaid to the Sanitary District, and to all the territory to be affected, beneficially or otherwise, by the construction and operation of said channels and works." Under these comprehensive instructions Chief Engineer Cooley laid plans of great thoroughness and proceeded to execute them. Some of the members of the Board then ob- jected to the expense and a protest was sent to Mr. Cooley on August 12 by President Nelson. Mr. Nelson did not see the importance of setting gauges for the study of the water discharge at various points in the Desplaines valley and else- where. " It is quite apparent, ' ' he said, ' ' that we differ as to the practical utility of that work, and as I am quite convinced in my own mind that it is an expense which should certainly be deferred, if not avoided entirely, I res- pectfully suggest that the expense be stopped." In his reply Mr. Cooley reminded the Board that the work was virtually required under his instructions and entered a counter protest. The episode is of interest as the first public expression of a difference which led to the resig- nation of Mr. Cooley. The scope of Chief Engineer Cooley' s plans is shown in his first report, dated September 17, 1890. He said all the field surveys and investigations contemplated between the South branch and its forks and Summit would probably be concluded during the month of October. Operations in some branches of the work were already beyond Summit. It was intended to continue the borings in the Desplaines valley during the winter. A reconnaissance of the Illinois valley was in rapid progress. Some attention would be TIMK AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY WASTED. 407 given to the tributaries of the Illinois river. All this work was regarded as of first importance in view of its probable effect in legislative issues. A comprehensive investigation of the flood conditions in the watersheds of the Desplaines and Chicago rivers had been undertaken. Gauging stations had been prepared and would be occupied as occasion de- manded. Flood marks were being looked up and properly referred. The distribution of population from the census enumeration had been undertaken, and a map was being made showing the location of all the sewers in the district. Incidentally, some attention was being given to the distri- bution of marine commerce. Hydraulic investigations in regard to the proposed channel were under way, and meas- urements were being projected to determine the capacity of the present canal and its hydraulic elements. A topograph- ical reconnaissance had been undertaken of the territory north and west of the Sanitary District ; this was nearly completed. It was intended also to cover the territory to the south and through and adjacent to the Sag and the Cal- umet region. A systematic investigation of the sewage product of the South fork had been projected. That of other sections of the harbor and the pollution of the Des- plaines and Illinois rivers would be taken up later. "A work of this magnitude," said Mr. Cooley, "de- mands the most careful and thorough work, and all work hitherto undertaken or projected is upon the most compre- hensive scale and by the most exact methods. It is pro- posed to leave nothing to guess work or assumption. The margin of certainty to be reached and the saving which may follow such a course ranges in the millions. ' ' The Board became impatient and a resolution was passed on September 9, directing the chief engineer to file within thirty days such a report as would enable the Trustees to locate a route as far as Summit. On October 15, Mr. Cooley replied that he was unable to comply with the order. 408 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. A month later the committee on engineering reported that there had been, in the opinion of the committee, a lack of concentration of forces on the route between Chicago and Summit over which the Board desired to locate the line of the channel at the earliest practicable moment. The Com- mittee recommended the appointment of a consulting engi- neer. On November 19 the chief engineer was instructed to suspend all work on the upper Desplaines river, except gauges, and all work Sutside the district and below Joliet, and to make additional sarveys and borings between Chicago and Summit, if necessary, and make such compilations as would enable the Board to locate any one of four routes for the main channel between Chicago and Summit. The magni- tude of the work would not permit the easy and off-hand solution of the problems allotted to the chief engineer which the Board seemed to expect, and the conflict between undue haste and justifiable deliberation terminated in the resigna- tion of Mr. Cooley from the position of chief engineer on December 10. General John Newton was elected consult- ing engineer on the same date and a week later William E. Worthen was chosen to succeed Mr. Cooley as chief engi- neer. At the annual election held on December 2, 1890, Richard Prendergast was elected president of the Board of Trustees. In his opening message Mr. Prendergast spoke in impres- sive terms of the magnitude of the enterprise which had been entrusted to the Board. The Board would not change in the slightest particular, he said, the dimensions or sCope of the works that the necessities of the case or the law com- manded it to carry out. "Indeed, the membership of this Board," he continued, " or the major portion of it, for whom perhaps I may more rightfully speak, were drawn to accept the duties and responsibilities of membership in this Board because they were firm believers in the utility, the grandeur and the feasibility of the whole project of establish- TIME AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY WASTED. 409 ing a commodious waterway between the waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river and the Illinois river valleys. Of that project the work committed especially to this Board forms a most important part and an indispensable link. All this is an additional advantage to the immediate purpose and scope of the works which are to be constructed for sanitary reasons only." President Prendergast insisted that the Board must in- terpret the law of the Sanitary District strictly. "The very corporate seal of the Sanitary District of Chicago, every time it is used," he said, "stamps the charge that there is an intention on the part of this Board to deviate from the law in respect to the dimensions of the channel as a false- hood." The people had agreed to tax themselves for the construction of the work voluntarily and with practical unanimity. The commercial benefits to be derived from the enlarged waterway were indicated by the President. Two months later the Board addressed a statement to the citizens of the Sanitary District urging an amendment of the law by which the cost of construction of the channel could be reduced. Engineers Newton and Worthen had submitted a preliminary report on January 10, 1891, and a more complete one on February 21. These reports indicated that the cost of construction of the smallest channel permit- ted by the law, — fourteen feet in depth through the earth and eighteen feet in the rock,— would be $22,700,000. Auxiliaries would increase the cost to $26,800,000. The statement of the Trustees declared that there was no pro- vision under the law for raising such a sum, and it was not contemplated that the work would cost so much. Requiring a cut of eighteen feet through the rock involved a cost which was wholly unnecessary. Until the General Govern- ment should take steps to create a channel in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers which would take care of the amount of 410 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. water which the larger drainage channel would supply, it was unnecessary to make so deep a cut in the rock. "The theory of the law is," said the statement, "that a flow of 300,000 cubic feet per minute is ample for all pur- poses of sanitation and dilution, and will afford a channel for navigation which will probably not be met at its south- ern terminus, at or near Joliet, by a similar channel during this generation, and possibly never, — that is, as long as the present conditions continue. Therefore, we say that a chan- nel can be constructed of ample width and depth to flow 300,000 cubic feet per minute where a saving in the rock cut alone will be from 17,000,000 to $10,000,000 and there- with a corresponding saving in the earth cut." It was insisted that this recommendation did not trench upon the policy of a commercial waterway through the Illi- nois river valley. On the contrary, its adoption would do two things : Immediately there would result a channel to Joliet much greater for the purposes of a commercial water- way than its lower connection, the Illinois river, and the construction of the smaller channel would promote the pro- ject so far as it depended upon federal legislation. The ad- dress was signed by Trustees Prendergast, Gilmore, Hotz and Willing and George W. Smith, who had succeeded Mr. Gregory as attorney of the Board. It was adopted in open Board by the four trustees named, Ti'ustee Wenter voting in the negative and Trustee Altpeter being excused from voting. The following were the alterations in the law suggested: "Amend section 17 by omitting the language limiting the use of the Illinois and Michigan canal to that part within the County of Cook. Amend section 20 by striking out ' two hundred cubic feet per minute for each one thousand of the population' and inserting ' sufficient to carry off and dilute all the sewage which shall flow or be caused to flow into the Illinois and Michigan canal or the Chicago river, and TIME AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY WASTED. 411 to provide a navigable waterway commensurate with the greatest constant capacity now or hereafter attainable in the Illinois river. The channel herein provided for to be of at least equal capacity for purposes of flowing of water with the South branch of the Chicago river.' Amend sections 23, 24 and 27 by making them correspond with section 20 as above amended." The attempt to amend the law did not meet with favor among the people and the Legislature declined to take the action as requested, notwithstanding some of the Trustees personally urged it. Time passed and still no advance was made toward the construction of the main channel. The Board was subjected to severe criticism by public and press and it was charged that preparations for the work were purposely delayed. Trustees Nelson and King tendered their resignations as members of the Board on August 26, 1891, and Trustee Willing on September 23 following. The vacancies created by these resignations were filled on November 3 by the election of William Boldenweck, Lyman E. Cooley, formerly chief engineer, and Bernard A. Eckhart. Trustee Wenter was elected president to succeed Richard Prendergast and those in favor of proceeding with the work as prescribed by law were now a majority. An effort in the line of progress was promptly followed by the resignation of Trustee Hotz, on January 16, 1892. The vacancy created by the resignation of Trustee Hotz was not filled until after the inauguration of work on the main chan- nel, the law having made no provision for a special election. Thomas Kelly was chosen to fill the vacancy at the regular election held on November 8, 1892. In their preliminary report of January 10, 1891, Engi- neers Newton and Worthen offered only two routes for comparison. The one which they recommended provided for carrying off the storm water of the upper Desplaines 412 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. without the necessity of constructing expensive cut-offs to the lake north of Chicago. The channels designed for the maximum flow of 600,000 cubic feet per minute would suffice for this purpose, and with a gate cut-off in the Ogden ditcB line somewhere in the West fork of the South branch it would prevent the high waters of the Desplaines from flowing back into the Chicago river. They estimated the total cost of a channel eighteen feet deep by way of the Ogden ditch at 125,700,000. If the excavation in earth were reduced to fourteen feet the cost would be 122,700,000. In their second report, dated February 21, 1891, the engineers presented the results of a study for the prolonga- tion of the waterway below Joliet ' ' with the conditions im- posed of avoiding flooding the upper Joliet basin and drown- ing out locks 5 and 6, and of securing at the same time more fall for the incidental water power created. ' ' Some of these results could be secured, they said, by the construc- tion of a tunnel channel under Joliet, or by laying a wrought iron pipe twenty-four feet in diameter along the banks of the river to a desirable locality below the city of Joliet. Surveys had demonstrated that either a tunnel or an iron pipe extension was entirely practicable. If the flow through the channel were 300,000 cubic feet per minute, with the net fall of some forty-six feet, the power obtained would equal 20,000 net horse power. The cost would be small in comparison with the value of the results. The engineers were still of the opinion that the drainage channel beyond the Summit should be used as the diversion of the upper Desplaines. It seemed imperative to the engineers that all the drain- age of the Stock Yards and packing houses should be kept out of the east and west arms of the South fork, otherwise the introduction into those arms of fresh water from the lake sufficient to prevent stagnation would be greater in quantity than could be removed by the Illinois and Michi- TIME AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY WASTED. 413 gan canal. It was recommended that an intercepting sewer be constructed from Halsted street along the northerly line of the packing houses of a capacity equal to the maximum flow (38 cubic feet per second) of those establishments and extended to the extremity of the west arm. At that point there should be erected a pumping station with a capacity of 700 cubic feet per second, drawing both from the west arm and the intercepting sewer, the contents to be dis- charged into a sewer or open cut leading through Thirty- ninth street to the Illinois and Michigan canal. The expense of this work should be borne by the private establishments contributing to the nuisance in the South fork and by the city. As an auxiliary to the drainage system the engineers recommended that the bottom of the canal be lowered about 5f feet as far as the first lock to aid in the transport of the sewage discharged into it by gravity. The cost would be $3,200,000. Retaining the pumps at Bridgeport and in- creasing the flow in the canal by the amount of their capac- ity with less excavation the cost would be 11,800,000. It was recommended that new pumps of larger capacity be substituted for those at the FuUerton avenue conduit and removed to Bowmanville. The reason given was that the North branch, as the area of dwellings extended northward, was progressively the receptacle of sewage, and it would be- come more and more necessary to shift the pumping and flushing station northward. The communication with the lake at Bowmanville to supply water for flushing might preferably be by a conduit rather than by a cut. A sixteen- foot conduit with suitable pumping engine would cost $970,000. The engineers stated that a revised estimate of the exca- vation of the principal drainage channel would be made as soon as all the measurements were completed. These esti- mates were never presented, as both Chief Engineer Worthen 414 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. and Consulting Engineer Newton resigned their positions on April 21. The Board adopted an ordinance on April 4 establishing a route for the main channel in accordance with the recom- mendation of Engineers Worthen and Newton, but took no steps toward its execution beyond directing Acting Chief Engineer Edgar Williams to submit working estimates of quantities and kinds of material to be excavated between the Chicago river and Summit. The Board was prolific of resolutions at this time, and passed them with little regard for engineering possibilities. On April 21, the day when the resignations of Engineers Worthen and Newton were received, it ordained " that the Sanitary District of Chicago do forthwith enter upon, use, widen, deepen and improve the Chicago river from its mouth at Lake Michigan to the South branch thereof, and also the South branch thereof, together with the South and West forks thereof, so as to make the same a proper and sufficient supply channel for the main channel heretofore surveyed from the Chicago river to Joliet." A copy of the resolution was ordered sent to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago, and the secretary of war of the United States. Samuel G. Artingstall was elected chief engineer on May 9, and on May 23 presented a report on four " feasible " routes for the main channel between Bridgeport and Summit. The first of these began in the West fork of the South branch at Western avenue, and followed the line of the Ogden ditch to Summit; estimated cost, §2,108,791. The second began at the junction of the Illinois and Michi- gan canal and the South fork of the Chicago river, and followed the line of the canal to Summit ; cost, 13,367,313. The third began at the end of the West arm of the South fork near Western avenue, and ran westward along Thirty-ninth street to the Illinois and Michigan canal and westerly along thecanalto Summit; cost, $2,689,872. The fourth followed TIME AND MONEY NEEDLESSLY AVASTED. 415 the preceding route to the canal, which it crossed, and continued in a northwesterly direction to the Ogdcn ditch, and along this ditch to Summit; cost, §2,227,392. The estimates were for channels fourteen feet deep, and with a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet a minute. On June 20 Mr. Artingstall presented a report covering the route between Summit and Lockport. In some places the route occupied the bed of the Desplaines river, although the channel would be generally artificial. It was subject to the Desplaines river floods, but these would be under control by the \ise of a movable dam at Lockport. The cost of a channel fourteen feet deep would be 114,545,465. The cost of right of way was not included in this estimate. The Board repealed the ordinance of April 4 locating the main channel between Bridgeport and Summit on August 5, and adopted another, locating the channel along the line of the third route suggested by Chief Engineer Artingstall on May 23. On September 16 the Artingstall route between Summit and Lockport was adopted. No further action was taken. To meet the expenses of the Sanitary District pending the collection of taxes, §100,000 was borrowed of the city banks. The total expenditures of the district to November 28, 1891, the end of the second fiscal year, were $669,336.30. Nothing had been accomplished. CHAPTER XXX. DEFINITE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS. Progress dates from the organization of the second Board on December 8, 1891. By the resignation of three Trustees, and the election of Messrs. Boldenweck, Cooley and Eckhart to fill the vacancies, a working majority was obtained. The wishes of the people were no longer disre- garded. Trustee Wenter was elected president of the new Board. In his inaugural message, delivered on December 12, he out- lined the new policy. The provisions of the law were well understood by the Trustees, he said, and the will of the people had been thrice expressed in public vote in terms which could not leave any doubt as to the imperative nature of their demands. The necessity for an early completion of the work entrusted to the charge of the Trustees was be- coming more pressing by the rapid growth of the city. "In view of such circumstances," said the president, " it becomes apparent that the dimensions and scope of the channel prescribed by the law cannot be safely diminished, and the Legislature wisely refused to accept a proposed amendment contemplating such a change. While the sani- tary requirements of the District make the building of this fchannel a pressing necessity for the health of our people, the future growth of Chicago depends in a large measure on the carrying out of the law enacted by the Legislature and endorsed by the citizens and taxpayers of Chicago." With the firm conviction and determination that work must be actually commenced without the least unnecessary 416 DEFINITE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS. 417 delay, the president recommended that the right of way at the lower end of the channel, which would run through rock, be secured at once. It was evident, he said, that this portion of the channel would require the longer time for construction and should be commenced first. There need be no financial embarrassments since the cash in the treasury amounted to 1728,929.11. This would be increased to more than SI, 000, 000 by tax collections before the follow- ing July. Zeal and energy on the part of the committees and harmony in the proceedings of the Board were solicited. President Wenter selected as his lieutenants the follow- ing Trustees who were made chairmen of the respective com- mittees : Engineering, Trustee Cooley ; finance. Trustee Eckhart; judiciary. Trustee Boldenweck; and federal rela- tions. Trustee Gilmore. On December 12, the date of the president's message and the selection of the committees, the engineering com- mittee was instructed to examine the work of the engineer- ing department and make such recommendations as would expedite the inauguration of work on the main channel. The committee reported on January 9, 1892, and made these recommendations : 1. Eeconsider the route from Sag to Lockport ^t once and prepare plans for protecting the route from surface water with a view to beginning work on that section at the earliest practicable date. It should be possible to adopt a new route and prepare plans for the route within sixty or ninety days. Sufficient property for right of way could be secured by that time. 2. Re-locate the route where necessary between Willow Springs and Sag with a view to beginning work the ensuing season. This might be accomplished within sixty to ninety days after the proposed plans for the work on the Sag- Lockport section had been completed. 3. Reconsider the entire question of route from Chicago 27 418 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. to Willow Springs in the light of present needs and the re- quirements of future development. Provision for actual construction on this section should be made not later than the latter part of 1893. 4. Reconsider the route and the treatment of the prob- lem below Lockport. Litigation here might occupy one year, but work need not begin until early in 1895. Mean- time the plans might be matured in harmony with some plan for navigation with federal cooperation. 6. Fix the conditions to be met in the Chicago river as soon as practicable so that all structures and modifications in dock lines might conform to a general plan. To correct some current misconceptions the committee added the following, bearing upon the drainage project as a whole : " This solution of the sanitary problem was adopted because it was much the cheapest, involved little or nothing for maintenance and operation, and had collateral advan- tages as a waterway. ' ' The capacity was fixed by two considerations : That the channel should provide the necessary dilution to maintain a sanitary condition for the probable growth of population during the time for which the bonds are issued, or until the work is paid for ; and that it should be adequate, in con- i unction with other works, to remove snow and rain water in floods and thus prevent contamination of the lake at such times. " It is not practicable on account of excessive cost to make a channel that will carry the requisite volume of water and at the same time be unnavigable. This is determined by the physical conditions. A channel flowing at a high velocity requires a high grade, thus increasing the depth of rock cut- ting at the lower end. Such a channel will be unstable in the clay. "For the required capacity a deep channel is less costly DEFINITE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS. 419 than a wide one. It is also subject to less variation in flow, by changes in ttie level of the lake, by floods and by ice, and it is more easily regulated at the lower end. on account of less fall. ' ' These are the substantial considerations which deter- mined the present general plan as outlined in the law. For- tunately all these conditions are also in the interest of navi- gation. The only incident for actual navigation is proper railway and highway crossings. ' ' This law was matured after long consideration and is explicit in its provisions. It lays down the conditions which must be met, and definitely prescribes the limitations upon capacity and size of channel. It is no part of the duty of this Board to question these provisions, and it has no option other than to carry them out in accordance with their full spirit. ' ' Chief Engineer Artingstall resigned his position on Jan- uary 16, and Benezette "Williams was elected to succeed him. The salary of the office was increased to |9,000 per annum. The chief engineer was at once instructed to submit as soon as practicable alternative plans for the loca- tion of the main channel between Sag and Lockport with estimates in sufficient detail to determine the comparative cost of the several lines. Chief Engineer WilUams submitted a report on February 17. Three distinct routes were considered from Willow Springs to Lockport and four from a point above Lemont to Lockport. At or about Lockport all four lines merged into one. A fifth line suggested merely a different method of treatment. Line No. 1 followed the location .made by Chief En- gineer Worthen to a point above Lockport where there was a deflection into a line common to all routes. This line was situated almost entirely on the north and west sides of the Desplaines river. 420 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Line No. 2 was the one suggested by Chief Engineer Artingstall, intersecting the common line at Lockport. It followed tli.e bed of the river as closely as was consistent with a satisfactory alignment. Line No. 3 was a new location throughout. So far as possible it lay on the south and east side of the Desplaines river, between the river and the Illinois and Michigan canal. It crossed the bends of the river in a few places but in such a manner that with a small amount of excavation the river channel might be so changed as to protect the new work. The line involved a new location of the Chicago, Santa Fe and California railway for a distance of 22,200 feet. Line No. 4 followed line No. 3 to a point nearly If miles above Leraont where it diverged. It crossed the Illinois and Michigan canal one-half mile below Lemont and again one mile above Lockport. This line involved the shifting of the tracks of the Chicago and, Alton railroad for a distance of 4,000 feet. Line No. 5 started at Willow Springs coincident with line No. 2 and reached dam No. 1 by making only two curves. There were many complications in its construc- tion. Mr. Williams favored line No. 3, the estimated cost of the construction of which was $11,740,678. With some modifications this line was adopted by the Drainage Board and proposals were asked for under three propositions, dif- fering chiefly in the manner of disposing of the material excavated. Proposition No. 1 provided for the removal by the Sanitary District of the material taken from the bed of the channel in certain sections to the Joliet end of the chan- nel where an embankment was to be constructed to create a reservoir for water power purposes. Proposition No. 3 provided that the contractor should haul the excavated ma- terial from the same sections to the embankment at his own expense. Proposition No. 2 provided for the deposit of the SANITARY CANAL - CHICAGO MANCHESTER NORTH SEA -PALTIC- ^ ^4^^/,^//////////.'/^^^^//^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ -^--Zff-2* M2^* NORTil SEA - AMSTERDAM - zoa.og CROSS^SECTIONS OF NOTED CHANNELS. (PLATE I.) SUEZ ■.^j^S^'^W PANAMA WELLAND 160 O .ijgsw^'.^^y^y^w ILLINOIS & MISSISSIPPI HENNEPIN - » - - 800 ERIE ILLINOIS&MICHIGAN 't- ' eoo '. CROSS SECTIONS OF NOTED CHANNELS. (PLATE IL) DEFINITE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS. 421 material along the banks of the channel at the convenience of the contractor. The work, for which tenders were invited by advertise- ment dated April 7, 1892, was estimated to consist of the excavation of about 11,500,000 cubic yards of solid rock and about 5,000,000 cubic yards of earth, and the building of about 287,241 cubic yards of dry rubble walls and 244,- 444 square yards of slope paving. The line was divided into fourteen sections, each about one mile in length. Each section was to be treated as a separate contract. Bids were opened on June 8. There were twenty-six bidders. The total of the lowest bids under proposition No. 1, was $10,111,731.87; under No. 2, 110,696,754.98, and under No. 3, $17,105,935.83. Although the bids under proposition No. 1 appeared to be the lowest they were not, since the Sanitary District would still incur the expense of hauling the spoil an average distance of ten miles to build the levee near Joliet. The Board decided to accept the low- est bids under proposition No. 2, and contracts were awarded, the first on July 13. The table below gives the price per cubic yard for earth and rock excavation respectively and the total of each contract as determined from the estimated amount of excavation: Sec. Contractor. Price in Earth. Price in Rock. Total. 1. ArthurHarlev .27 .— .831^ — - 1754,325 97 . 2. Mc Arthur Brothers .28 —- .91 .... 646,968 50 3. " " .27 86 .-.- 732,024 44 4. " " .... .27 .... .86 .... 729,841 72 5. Agnew&Co .27 -.. .73i^ ..- 522,14148 6. " " .27 .... .73i| ,...- 602,487 81 7. « " .26 -.- .731^ .... 622,791 08 8. " " .26 -.. .74^ .... 896,269 17 9. " " .26 -.. .76^'^ .... 996,574 82 10. E. D. Smith & Co - .25 .80 1,002,745 15 11. Mason, Hoge & Co .30^ — - -79^ — - 820,434 97 12. " " " ...... .30M — - -79^ -..- 812,756 82 13. " " " .27i| --.- .753^ .... 775,817 89 14. McCormick Constrct'n Co .20 .... .73 .... 788,298 64 Total, 110,696,754 98 422 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Each contractor was required to give a satisfactory bond in the sum of $100,000 covering each section, the work to be completed on or before April 30, 1896. On February 17, 1892, the chief engineer was directed to make comparative estimates on three alternate routes be- tween Ashland avenue and Willow Springs, one of the routes to follow the Illinois and Michigan canal. A report under this order was presented to the Board on June 7. It covered five routes, — Ogden Ditch line, No. 1 ; Ogden Ditch line. No. 2 ; Canal line ; South Fork and Ogden Ditch line ; South Fork and Canal line, and South Fork line. The cost of each of the Ogden Ditch routes was estimated to be $830,- 000 and that of the canal route $923,000 ; the others were considerably higher. Mr. Williams preferred the canal route for the following reasons : On a like basis as to right of way it was shown to be $1,058,901 cheaper than the next cheapest route, and by sacrificing certain prospective advantages in dftckage it could be made still cheaper. Work could be begun on it immediately. It was subject to less objection from a railroad standpoint than any other route. Should supplemental works to supply water to the main channel be carried out it was located in the best position to command the situation. The Board adopted the canal route, but afterward abandoned it because of unexpected complications with railroads and the canal commissioners. George W. Smith was elected attorney of the Board of Trustees on July 20, 1890, but surrendered the office on April 25, 1891. He was succeeded by Adams A. Goodrich on June 13, 1891, who resigned on February 24, 1892. Orrin N. Carter was elected to succeed Mr. Goodrich on the date of the latter' s resignation. Austin J. Doyle resigned the office of clerk on July 1, 1890. He was succeeded by Thomas F. Judge on July 12, 1890. DEFINITE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS. 423 Chief Engineer Williams tendered his resignation on June 7, 1893, and was succeeded by Isham Randolph on the same date. Charles Bary, secretary, resigned on December 31, 1890. The office of secretary was afterward abolished. The following statement gives the names of the Trustees and chief officers of the Sanitary District since its organi- zation and their term of office: Name. Office. Term of Office. Murry Nelson President Feb. 1, 1890 to Dec. 2,1890 Richard Prendergast " Dec. 2,1890 " Dec. 8, 1891 Frank Wenter '• Dec. 8,1891 " John J. Altpeter Trustee Dec. 12, 1889 " A.P. Gilmore " " " " Christopher Hotz " " " " Jan. 16, 1892 JohnA.King-- ■• " " " July 22, 1891 Murry Nelson " " " "Junel9,1891 Richard Prendergast " •' " " W.H.Russell Frank Wenter " " " " H.J. Willing " " " " William Boldenweck_ " Nov. 3,1891 " Lyman E. Cooley " " " Bernard A. Bckhart " " " " Thomas Kelly " Nov. 8, 1892 " Lyman E. Cooley Chief Engineer Feb. 1,1890 "Dec. 10,1890 W. E. Worthen " " Dec. 17, 1890 " April 21, 1891 S. G. ArtingBtall " " May 9, 1891 '■ Jan. 16, 1892 Benezette Williams " " Jan. 16, 1892 " June 7, 1893 Isham Randolph " " June 7,1893 " John Newton Consulting Eng. Dec. 10,1890 " i*pril21,1891 S.S.Gregory Attorney Feb. 1, 1890 " June 26, 1890 George W. Smith " July 20, 1890 " April 25, 1891 Adams A. Goodrich " Junel3,1891 " Feb.24, 1892 Orrin N. Carter " Feb. 24, 1892 " Austin J. Doyle Clerk * Feb. 1, 1890 " July 1, 1890 Thomas F. Judge " July 12, 1890 " Byron L. Smith Treasurer Feb. 1, 1890 " Jan. 23, 1892 Melville E. Stone " Jan. 23, 1892 " Charles Bary Secretary Feb. 1, 1890 " Dec. 31, 1890 William Martin, M.D Sanitary Insp'r Nov. 30, 1892 " U. W. Weston Supt. of Const. June 14, 1893 " Edward Williams Marshal July 5,1893 " The salary of chief engineer, originally 16,000, was advanced to $9,000 when Mr. Williams was elected to the office. The salary of the clerk was made $6,000 when the Board organized, but it was afterward reduced to |4,000. When Mr. Stone became treasurer he declined to receive any salary. CHAPTER XXXI. INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. Work on the main drainage channel was inaugurated by formal ceremonies on September 3, 1892. A special train running over the Santa Fe railroad carried about five hun- dred guests from Chicago to the boundary line between Cook and Will counties, thirty-one miles from Chicago and two miles west of Lemont. A platform had been erected over the center line of the channel and the first earth was lifted from the two counties. Among those present were : President Frank Wenter, and Trustees John J. Altpeter, William Boldenweck, Ly- man E. Cooley, Bernard A. Eckhart, Arnold P. Gilmore, Richard Prendergast, William H. Russell, Chief Engineer Benezette Williams, Attorney Orrin N. Carter and Clerk Thomas F. Judge, of the Drainage Board ; ex-Drainage Trustee John A. King, ex-United States Senators Charles B. Farwell and James R. Doolittle, ex-Mayors Carter H. Harrison and DeWitt C. Cregier, Commissioner of Public Works J. Frank Aldrich, ex-Chief Engineer of the Drainage Board Samuel G. Artingstall, ex-Secretary of the State Board of Health John H. Ranch, Corporation Counsel John S. Miller, Commissioner of Health John D. Ware, Senator Thomas C. MacMillan, ex-Congressman George E. Adams, Captain James S. Dunham, T. T. Johnston, Ossian Guthrie, Joseph Donnersberger, Louis Hutt, Julius Goldzier and Fernando Jones of Chicago ; Mayor P. C. Haley, J. L. O'Donnell, ex-Mayor J. D. Paige and ex-Senator Thomas H. Riley of Joliet; Congressman Thomas Henderson of 424 INAUGUKATION OF THE WORK. 425 Princeton ; George Brenning of Centralia ; H. M. Dunlap of Champaign ; E. B. Matthiessen and James T. Tranch of La Salle ; J. H. Alexander, Dr. C. H. Bacon, William Keough, J. M. Leighton, George M. Lynd, O. W. Moon and J. L. Norton of Lockport ; J. F. Sanford and Thomas Cronin of Morris ; Henry Mayo, S. C. Stough and George Brown of Ottawa ; B. L. T. Bourland, R. R. Bourland, O. J. Binley, S. A. Einney and C. P. King of Peoria; Joseph Means and Joseph Reinhardt of Peru ; ex-Congressman Ralph Plumb and John C. Ames of Streator. After an invocation by Bishop Fallows the opening ad- dress was delivered by President Wenter. At the conclusion of his address President Wenter stepped down from the platform and raised the first shovelful of earth from its native bed, using a nickel-plated shovel prepared for the occasion. The earth was deposited in a tin box held by Trustee Boldenweck and carried to the offices of the Drain- age Board where it was preserved as a memento of the cere- monies.. Trustee Cooley, at the conclusion of his address, which followed that of the President, touched an electric button which fired the first blasts of rock in the bed of the channel. One of these was from a spot five hundred feet west of the platform, and the other, the same distance east of it. Pieces of the disengaged rock were also gathered up as mementos. The addresses of the day were as follows : INVOCATION BY BISHOP SAMUEL FALLOWS. Almighty God, our Heavenly Fathee, we thank Thee for this bright and beantiful day, and for these auspicious skies which Thou has vouchsafed to us on this eventful occasion. Without Thee nothing is holy, nothing strong. We there- fore pray Thy heavenly benediction upon the great work begun here to-day, for the health of our City, and for the wel- fare of our State and Nation. We pray that wisdom and bar- 426 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAT. mony and integrity and efficiency may be given to all those having this work in charge, so that it may speedily and suc- cessfully be brought to its conclusion without accident and without delay. And the glory shall be Thine through Jesus- Christ, our Lord. Amen. address by president frank wenter. Fellow Citizens, Friends and People of this Valley : To-day, after nine months of energetic work by the present Board as organized, we are ready to order practical operations to begin, and we are here to put the shovel in the ground as a token of activity; as a sign to thousands of toilers that employ- ment can be had ; as a notice to the people of the Illinois valley that the agreement, ratified by the State, is to be carried out in good faith ; as a notice to the country at large that Chicago, through the Sanitary District, proceeds to construct a mighty channel which will rank with the most stupendous works of modern times. The beginning of this work marks a new era in the history of Chicago. When once finished Chicago will be the healthiest city on the continent, — happily situated on a chain of lakes in- exhaustible in their waters, pure and sweet. On the west, north and south for a thousand miles and more we find the most fertile soil that man ever tilled. Ask me an empire and I will name you the Mississippi valley. Which is the chief city in that valley ? Has nature not endowed her with all the advan- tages ? The waters on the west within ten miles of her main arteries find their way through the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi. What prevents the blue waters of Lake Michigan from flowing in the same direction? A little ridge called Summit forms the divide, about twelve feet above the level of the lake. This divide we propose to cut through and send the waters of Lake Michigan southward, thereby solving her sani- tary problem for all time, and insure her future growth and prosperity. (Applause.) INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 4:27 The importance of the work cannot be over-estimated, either from a sanitary or a commercial standpoint. The commercial value of the channel to be constructed is very far-reaching. While the work now planned will not complete a continuous waterway, yet it will only require another link to weld the chain complete and make Chicago the commanding city over river commerce as well as lake. The well known query, " When will the big ditch begin ?" is a thing of the past. That query was undoubtedly ringing in the ears of those Trustees that took an interest in the progress of the work, and it certainly reminded us constantly of our duties to the city of Chicago, — to begin actual construction. For the past nine months every department of the Sanitary District, from the engineering to the legal, has pushed its work with all the energy that men possess. Credit is especially due the chief engineer and the attorney of the Board. All this was made possible by the prompt and wise action of the committees on engineering, finance and judiciary, the members of which have sacrificed their personal interest in public behalf. The present Board was organized December 8, 1891. From that time to date every effort has been made to gain and , main- tain the confidence of the people. The departments were reorganized with responsible men at the head, with the under- standing that their time and services be exclusively given to the Sanitary District. (Applause.) The engineering committee has been in almost constant ses- sion in maturing plans and giving proper direction to the work. Many difiiculties presented themselves from time to time as we progressed with the work, but they were overcome, so that on March 30, 1892, the right of way ordinance and specifica- tions for contracts were adopted, and on June 8 the bids were received and opened. The Trustees were gratified to find that the prices were close to the estimates. The pessimistic predic- tions as to the cost were silenced as the bids demonstrated that the cost of the channel was entirely within the financial resources of the District. (Applause.) On June 29 contracts were awarded covering a distance of fourteen miles from Willow Springs to Lockport, for the sum 428 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. of $10,696,754.98. In the meantime the Ipgal department, aided by the finance and engineering committee, has secured through condemnation and purchase at reasonable prices, about 2,600 acres of land, or about eighty per cent of the right of way required. From Willow Springs to Summit for a distance of six miles, the Board has advertised for bids to be opened October 19. From Summit to Ashland avenue the Illinois and Michigan canal is recommended for adoption. The contracts awarded stipulate that the channel shall be ready by April 30, 1896, and every other contract to be awarded will be made to conform to that time. A great deal of criticism was heaped on the Board for build- ing the channel of the required size as prescribed by law, yet if such size was not mandatory it would be more than short- sighted to build it of less capacity than contracted for. The size of the channel is to be 160 feet wide through the rock with a depth of 18 feet, and the same width or more through the clay with a depth to carry 14 feet of water, provided the pop- ulation is not over 1,500,000; when beyond that the law re- quires g,n enlargement of the channel through the clay. The present canal as used for sanitary purposes is 60 feet wide, with a depth of from 8 to 10 feet. The carrying capacity is from 60,000 to 80.000 cubic feet a minute, or about large enough to answer the sanitary requirements of a city of 300,000 people. Assuming there was no law on the question as to the size of the channel, would it be wise, would it be prudent, would there be any foresight in constructing a channel that might possibly answer the requirements of a city of 1,500,000? What is the population of Chicago to-day? It is certainly over 1,400,000. What would any sensible man do in these prem- ises? If he has no faith in Chicago's future growth then a channel of 300,000 cubic feet will answer, but if he believes the city will have 2,000,000 in the very near futul'e ; yes, and another 1,000,000 to follow, what will he do, what shall he do, to provide for the future ? I say yes, build the large channel. We to-day, as Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago, in the presence of many of the officials of city, county, state and INAUGURATION OF THE* WOKK. 429 the United States, many of its citizens and representatives from the Illinois valley, have assembled on the line of Will and Cook counties, in the valley of the Desplaines, to oificially in- augurate this great work connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi, to create a condition that undoubtedly in ages gone by existed, to tap the great reservoirs above that will swell and stimulate the sluggish stream of the Illinois and with proper assistance make it the great waterway from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY TRUSTEE LYMAN E. COOLET. Mk. Peesident, Ladies and Gentlemen : — We stand here to-day on the rock rib of the continent, 585 feet above ocean tide, at the summit of the trough, falling southward 1,600 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, dropping northeasterly 1,800 miles into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; in the continental groove, down which through alluvial plains glide the waters of the Missis- sippi system, to meet the tropic sun, in which are gathered the Great Lakes to fall tumultuously to the rock bound winter shores. (Applause.) We stand here on the divide, between these bordering hills of the Desplaines valley, on the floor of the ancient outlet over which but yesterday, in time, flowed the waters of the lake plateau twenty and more feet in depth. Five feet above the Michigan-Huron Lake, the water would spill here in storms but for the little alluvial barrier at Summit. Nine hundred miles away, at Black Rock, the modern outlet leads to the Niagara, its floor but thirty feet lower than the rock on which we stand. We may well marvel at the narrow margin, the strange mis- change, which favored the forbidding St. Lawrence Gulf with the lake outflow, and inquire of nature why we lost our heritage, why she tilted the lake plateau, shifted the outlet and bared the floor of this old pass. We are here by right of primogeni- ture to claim all that which we should possess and have the energy and purpose to acquire. (Applause.) The lake outflow added nothing to the St. Lawrence Valley, 430 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. for the needs of commerce in that direction could have been better solved without it. Had it continued southward, the big- gest ships that float could have come through the most produc- tive core of the Mississippi Valley to within sixty miles of this spot, and by works obvious to the first generations of men, ascended the 140 feet lying below us and swept the resourceful limits of the lakes. Think of it ! The Great Lakes crowning the Mississippi Valley, the sea coast extended 2,500 miles into the continental heart, gathering the arteries of commerce from Rocky to Appalachian summits and from Gulf to frigid zones. How different would have been settlement, growth and history, what Chicago might have been from what she is. Man's creative intelligence can remedy nature's caprice, re- store the ancient outlet ; and even more, extend through the continent from fog bank to tropic breeze as though it were the sea, joining coast, lake and river systems in one whole as is not possible elsewhere on earth. Then, indeed, may we go down to the sea in ships. (Applause.) More legible than Nineven tablet and Egyptian monument is the record of what nature has wrought, eloquent hieroglyphs in moulded hill and vale and carved rock, inspiring man's con- ception and teaching work in harmony with her methods, dic- tating that policy which makes what we now achieve but a pro- gressive step to all the needs of the future, so that the dreams of to-day, however slowly, may surely crystallize in the realities of to-morrow. Northeast, twenty-seven miles, are the blue waters of Lake Michigan, and margined along its shores for twenty miles, and but eighteen miles away, is the crown of our great State, the summit city of the continental valley. In the last decade, its population doubled, and with 1,400,000 people to-day, good health and adequate facilities for commerce will make 3,000,000 in the next fifteen years. (Applause.) That fair city has attracted a virile, hustling, adult popula- tion who should show a cleaner bill of health than any other ; but unnecessary disease and sickness and death prevail, losses that to cold financial calculation mean the interest on a hundred INAUGUBATION OF THE WORK. 431 million dollars, losses that to human kind mere money cannot measure. Lead the blue waters in cleansing rivers through that city, gather them in the main outlet where we stand to-day, in vol- ume beyond offense to any citizen, and even to the fish that swim therein, — that is the mission of the Sanitary District. Nine miles to the south and west, and forty-five feet below us, is Joliet, dropping in the next four miles to eighty feet. We are across the. Chicago divide and in the beautiful valley, descending by rapids and pools sixty-five feet in fifty-five miles to Utica ; thence, through alluvial savannahs for 227 miles to the Mississippi, 170 feet below our lake and 295 miles from where we stand. Towns and cities nestling in the valley are strung like beads along the river course, and to them this great stream bears com- merce as its only token of promise, such commerce as other im- provements and projects but vex in spirit. On the one hand, we have twenty-seven miles to the waters of Lake Michigan, actuated by a sanitary purpose ; on the other, 295 miles to the Mississippi, looking to commercial ends ; and yet the commerce which the valley seeks is doubly valuable to our city, and the waters which lave Chicago perform an equal service for her towns and cities ; and in the wake of these bene- fits are water power and lands reclaimed, added resources to the wealth of the State. (Applause.) The law has wisely decreed that health and commerce shall go hand in hand, and that this channel shall be so fashioned. To-day, on the line that divides the County of Cook from the State at large, that has hitherto marked the diverse interests of metropolis and valley, and by these tokens, we betroth these separate purposes, to be hereafter as one. (Applause.) The work this day begun is to cover the Chicago divide, forty miles from Lake Michigan to Lake Joliet, with over thirty miles of channel complete for navigation. The cost will be greater than to extend fourteen feet for 280 miles farther to the Mississippi. The volume of water will give steamboat navigation in the lower river without obstructing locks and dams, in whixjh nature, 432 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. assisted by art, may develop increased depths. Permanent works are required for the gap of fifty-five miles between Joliet and Utica, but this problem is simpler than that of the Chicago Divide. The policy underlying the law is an open river below Utica, to be improved progressively in conjunction with a water sup. ply from Lake Michigan ; works above Utica so designed as to permit future increase of capacity, and such a plan for the Chi- cago Divide as will facilitate enlargement to any requirement of water supply from the lakes to the Mississippi, — the entire work to be carried out through the cooperation of City, State and Nation. The augmented volume southward will inspire the call from here to the Gulf for all the lakes can spare. The lake region and the Mississippi Valley will join in the largest useful develop- ment. And so the sanitary needs of that future, which no man can now foresee, will surely become the incident of a commer- cial purpose that enlists the nation. This is the logic of our policy. To-day we cut the Chicago Divide for an urgent sanitary need which rouses our city; and in so doing we sever the gordian knot which has fettered all pro- jects, loosen possibilities of which statesmen have dreamed for a century, and, in the manner of our doing, we set the gauge which shall govern the waterway of a continent. (Applause.) He who set his conception as the limit of human achieve- ment writes in his designs the obituary of his enterprises. This City, this State, this Nation, are but in youth, and we can only dream of what they may seek to do in manhood and maturity. We do well if we work in the line of a continuing policy and construct no barriers. From the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, Joliet the soldier. La Salle the chevalier, Hennepin the priest, followed the trail of the waters and travers'ed this portage two centuries ago (1670-80). On Sag hill, yonder by the little church where the routes from Chicago and Calumet converge in this throat, the strategic point for commerce and defense, was established the first post in this region. The logic of the waters determines a metropolis, and mantled with the spirit of these explorers we INAUGURATION OF THE AVORK. 433 to-day cut the portage and trail the lakes past cities named for them. (Applause.) The first canal project is credited to Joliet. Be that as it may, in 1808, Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury, makes official recommendation in his report on means of internal com- munication. Examinations and surveys follow, and from 1822-36 various acts of State and Federal legislation. Begin- ning in 1836, the present canal was opened in 1848, and the summit level cut down to the lake, as you now find it, in 1866-71. In 1826 Clinton came to urge this link in a navigable circuit from Xew York to New Orleans, and Dearborn wrote in 1838 of a proposed ship canal not less than ten feet deep. In 1858 John B. Preston proposed a steamboat canal six to eight feet deep and 160 feet wide, and in 1862 it was urged in Congress as a war measure. Army officers have reported the project favorably several times since and two locks and dams have been built by the State, a third by the United States and a fourth is in progress, an expenditure of about six per cent of the total estimate to Lake Michigan. This is the result of thirty-four years of agitation and official recommendation and for a project that was superannuated twenty years ago. Seven years and seven days have come and gone since this enterprise was first urged upon our people, and through many vicissitudes it has reached the present stage, accepted as the only sanitary solution, recognized as of commercial importance to the State and its chief city and as of national concern. As long as Jacob labored for Rachel have some of us labored for this day, and will yet labor for full seven years more for the further purpose that health and commerce and all affiliated benefits may associate in one great whole. (Applause. ) North to the frozen zone, east to the AUeghanies, south to the Gulf, west to the Rockies, — an imperial domain of resources in forest, field and mine, as yet but scarcely opened, — the popu- lation this may sustain, the civilization that may mature, is beyond prophetic ken. Point out the areas of richest soil, where food will be most abundant, and there ultimately will it be densest. Find the spot where the commerce of this people 28 434 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. may be most cheaply handled, to which food, raw material and power shall most readily assemble, and from which manufac- tures may be best distributed, and there will be the chief city. No accident placed the urban jsopulation of the United States on navigable waters, determined wealth along their shores and located the most valuable railway properties in com- petition therewith. Look at the position of Illinois in respect to these resources, in respect to transportation by rail and water and in respect to climate, — is she not to be the central ganglion of a marvelous growth? Look at' her chief city ; where is site more favored ? Provide for health, develop the facilities which nature invites, follow a policy as though our estates were vested in one man and that man's life prolonged through the generations, and we rise to the level of our opportunities. What we do to-day is but the beginning. An object vital in itself is to be attained as soon as practicable ; yet, in achiev- ing it, we but unfold larger purposes, j)urposes that in their consummation are but added resources, developing our estate to fuller fruitfulness by works that involve no tax for operation, maintenance and renewals, carvings on the bosom of mother earth that will persist in usefulness until nature in her cycles renews the face of continents. Machines will vanish in rust, the proudest monuments of man will sink to rubbish heaps, and his greatest works trail in curious mounds, while this goes on as nature's self, an added feature to mother earth as though it had always been. (Ap- plause.) ADDRESS BY TRUSTEE BERNARD A. ECKHART. Me. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — We are assist- ing to-day in the inauguration of a work of vital importance to the people of Chicago and the adjoining country. It is a work necessary alike to the sanitary well-being and the com- mercial interests of the one and a quarter millions of inhabitants of this city. I have heard, I am sorry to say, a few well mean- ing persons express surprise that an enterprise of such magni- INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 435 tude should be undertaken ; rather should the wonder be that we were not forced to do something of this kind years ago. No other civilized communitj' would be guilty of such prolonged and continuous contamination of its water supply. Blessed, as few cities are, with an unlimited reservoir of pure water at our very doors, we have deliberately gone on year after year pour- ing into it a stream of filth from our sewers. In many countries the pollution of the water supply is con- sidered an offense of great magnitude and those guilty of it receive severe punishment. But here in Chicago we have been too busy to give proper attention to a matter even of such grave importance as this until the consequences of further neglect began to be forced upon us in a very embarrassing and disagree- able way. However neglectful the people of the West may be while in a state of fancied security, they have fortunately a business-like manner of grappling with an evil when once fully aroused to the necessity for its extinction, and it is the exercise of this spirit which has made possible the undertaking of such a vast work as that begun here to-day. I am sure that you, Mr. President, and the other members of the Board of Trustees, will pardon me for the use of an ex- pression borrowed from so distinguished a gentleman as Mr. Cleveland. It is a condition, not a theory, which confronts us. The drainage channel of the Sanitary District of Chicago is under way. And, now, my friends of the press, to this extent, at least, is the excuse for a continuance of your kindly meant, but sometimes stinging jokes withdrawn. The preparatory work on an enterprise of this magnitude, cannot be done in a day, nor a week, nor a month. Our President has ably told you in detail of the labors of the Board of Trustees since the organization of the Sanitary District and outlined that to be done in the future. The engineering difficulties and possibili- ties of the immense work have been clearly set forth by the ex- pert chairman of the engineering committee. From the state- ments of these gentlemen you can learn all that any one could possibly desire to know regarding the size, scope, direction and use of the drainage channel and the probable length of time required for its construction. 436 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAT. What more could one want ? Ah, yes ; the cost. Well, that's what I'm here for. This part of the programme is assigned to me. The item of cost in an enterprise of this kind is a con- sideration, it is true, but it is results we are after, and we have got to have them. The expense of digging the main channel, with the acquirement of the right-of-way and the payment of railway damages, is estimated at 122,000,000. An immense sum of money, some of you will say ; another call for oppres- sive taxation and all that sort of thing. Well, let's see about that. This work is being done under a legislative enactment of 1889, which created the Sanitary District of Chicago, and gave the right, under certain proper limitations and restrictions to cut a channel through the ' ' Divide " so that the sewage of Chi- cago can be discharged into the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. This Act also provides for the issue of $15,000,000 of twenty- year bonds, and the levying of a tax of not over one-half of 1 per cent per annum on the assessable property in the district, with the .further provision that special assessments may be levied on property especially benefited by the work. Now bear in mind that this tax of one-half of 1 per cent a year is to pay all the cost of making the channel,' — salaries, office expenses, construction expenses and principal and interest of the bonds. The bonds will be issued and sold for the purpose of getting money with which to push the work to completion in four years, but the taxpayers will only pay them off at the rate of one-half of 1 per cent a year. Terrible taxation, this. Awful, isn't it? Gentlemen, how many of you know that you have been paying this Sanitary District tax for two years? Why it is only a few days ago that one of the largest taxpa^-ers in Chicago asked me when we would levy the drainage tax. (Laughter.) He had paid his own one-half of 1 per cent on a large amount of pro- perty and he didn't know it. This shows better than any argu- ment that I can make how easy it will be to pay for the work. (Applause.) Our resources for the next four years will be as follows : IXACGUKATION OF THE WORK. 437 BESOCECES : Balance on hand June 14, 1892 $1,000,000 Taxes 1891 (valuation $254,000,000), balance in process of col- lection 650,000 Taxes 1892 (valuation $260,000,000), estimated $1,300,000 Taxes 1893 (valuation 8275,000,000), estimated 1,375,000 Taxes 1894 (valuation $290,000,000), estimated 1,450,000 Taxes 1895 (valuation $305,000,000), estimated 1,525,000 Taxes 1896 (valuation $320,000,000), estimated 1,600,000 7,250,000 Special Assessments 1,000,000 Bonds, total issue 15,000,000 Total resources S24,900,000 What will we get for this expenditure? First, an unlimited supply of pure water for a city which is growing so fast that the securing of water for household use is a problem the serious features of which increase daily. Second, an outlet for the sewage of one, five, yes, ten millions or more of people at a nomi- nal cost and without danger of contagion or other objectionable phases. Third, navigable waters between the lakes and the Mississippi river, with the cooperation of the General Govern- ment, thus opening to commerce a new and cheap route be- tween Chicago and the Gulf of Mexico, via New Orleans. (Applause.) The advantages of such a waterway will not be for Chicago alone ; every part of the great State of Illinois, every section of the entire northwest will be benefited by it. So highly are waterways of this kind esteemed in other communities that hundreds of millions of dollars have been expended for the con- struction of commercial canals which were not intended for and are not used for purposes of drainage, as is the main object in the work which we have so auspiciously inaugurated to-day. The State of New York alone has spent over $80,000,000 on its commercial canal system, or nearly four times what this main channel with a double use will cost. The Nicaragua canal is estimated to cost $90,000,000, and that is for the transfer of ships only, but I believe it to be a desirable woi-k even at that immense outlay. In the far-off city of Amsterdam the sturdy Hollanders have expended about $14,500,000 in digging a canal to the sea, which is at the rate of $1,000,000 a mile. Rather expensive work that, but the thrifty Dutchman calls it a gooci 438 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. investment. Take tlie big Manchester ship canal in England. This work was begun in 1887 and six years were allowed for its completion. It is not done yet, nor anywhere near it. What do you think it will cost ? Only a mere bagatelle of $65,000,- 000. In discussing a great improvement of this kind the examples set by other cities is always instructive. Experience is a good teacher. Experience has taught the world that no community can continue to increase in population and retain a fair condi- tion of health, unless its water supply and sewerage are good. People may accustom themselves to living in rude houses, to wearing poor clothes, and to exist on scanty rations, but unless their drinking water is good they will soon sicken and die. One of the surest preventatives of plague is a pure water sup- ply, and this cannot be had so long as the sewage of a town is allowed to drain into it. (Applause.) London, founded hundreds of years ago, has a population of about four millions. Chicago, founded say sixty years ago, has over one million and a quarter inhabitants. At this rate it will be only a few years before our city is as large as the great metropolis of England. How do we stand in relation to London in the matter of drainage and water supply ? The Metropolitan Board of Lon- don was established in 1855 for the purpose of constructing a new sewerage system. It got to work in 1856 and in the thirty- two years ending in 1888 had expended $35,000,000 in main sewers alone, the small branches being paid for by the parish boards. In London water service has been for many years in the hands of private companies. It is sadly deficient, and an attempt was made by the municipal government not long ago to buy out the plants. These were antiquated and of but little real use, it being the intention of the city authorities to replace them with an improved system. Well, the private companies finally agreed to sell out, but what do you think they asked for their business ? It was the modest sum of $170,000,000.' On the advice of eminent engineers the city declined to make the purchase and arranged for the outlay of $60,000,000 in securing a supply of drinking water from the chalk strata to the amount INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 439 of foul- gallons a day for each inhabitant and an unlimited amount of river water for general use. But even under this arrangement London is badly off, as the drinking water supply is wholly inadequate and the drainage is radically imperfect. The city of Paris, with its numberless canals, aqueducts, reservoirs, filtrations and other improvements, on which over $40,000,000 has been expended since 1856, would seem to be well fixed for a city of two and a half million people. But even with this outlay, and an even greater one for sewerage, the needs of the inhabitants are not met. Within the last two weeks prominent engineers have been asked to prepare plans and estimates for cutting a canal from Paris to the sea, a distance of 111 miles. The cost of such a channel will be enormous, but it is a necessity and the Parisians will pay it cheerfully. In Manchester, England, there are only 379,800 people, but they have under discussion a project for bringing a limited supply of water from Thirlmere lake, a distance of over 100 miles, at a cost of *18, 000,000. Liverpool, England, gets a daily supply of thirteen million gallons for 613,463 people at a cost of ten million dollars. The water is conveyed a distance of sixty-eight miles by aqueducts and steel tubes, which pierce several ridges, cross a number of small streams and canals, and run under the rivers Weaver and Mersey and the Manchester ship canal. And even at this great trouble and outlay the supply is very scanty. The people of Vienna have expended $10,000,000 in getting water from the mountains, fifty-eight miles away, and their only regret is that they didn't pay more money when they were doing the work and get a larger supply. For $9,000,000 the people of Glasgow get a supply of water from Loch Katrine, about thirty-five miles away. It must be remembered, however, that none of these foreign cities is growing with the rapidity of Chicago, and it is well for them in a way that they are not. Some of their people would have to go thirsty and dirty with their present beggarly supply of water if there were any decided increase in population. The best comparison probably is with New York. There 440 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the water supply is brought from Croton lake, thirty-two and one-half miles north of the city, by an aqueduct across the Harlem river. This work cost $37,000,000, but the supply has been so short for years that its enlargement at an additional outlay of $4jOOO,000 is contemplated. The park system of Chicago is very justly a matter of great pride. There are few cities in the world with so many, so extensive and so beautiful pleasure grounds. Go where you will and you will hear flattering comments made on the parks of Chicago. Fifteen or eighteen years ago, I think it was, that this beautiful work of improvement was begun. Park after park has been opened and a connecting system of boule- vards constructed at an aggregate cost of something like $24,- 000,000, or a little more than we propose to expend in making the main drainage channel. (Applause.) This is a lot of money to be sure, but did you ever hear a sane person object to the expense of park construction and maintenance ? Did you ever know of a taxpayer who could point out where the taxes were appreciably increased by the park assessments ? No, indeed. The people of Chicago look upon the money put into these beautiful parks as an investment for the benefit of good health, and the improvement of their physi- cal and moral well being, and so it is. If it were a possible thing do you think the people would surrender their parks to- day on the repayment of the twenty -four millions of dollars they have put into them ? It would bankrupt the county of Cook to supjDort its hospitals for the insane if such a thing were even seriously considered. As it is with the parks, so it will be with this drainage channel. Ten years hence and this work will be pointed out as one of incalculable benefit to the people of Chicago and the Northwest. (Applause.) If there were a,nj legitimate way in T\hich private capital could be enlisted in this work ; if it were not against the spirit and letter of the law and contrary to the best interests of the community, ample funds would be forthcoming. But our Leg'islature has wisely made provision for its construction as a public improvement, and arranged for the payment of the expense in a manner that will not be noticed by the taxpayers. INAUGUKATION OF THE WOEK. -iil and whioh at the same time makes the Sanitary District bonds a gilt-edged investment. We have good reason to be thankful, my friends, that Chicago is so well situated. Lake Michigan will furnish pure water at small cost to millions upon millions of people. All we have to do is to keep our filthy sewage out of it, and this is what this drainage channel will do ; and, taking as a guide the cost of similar improvements in the other cities to which I have referred, we have good reason for self-congratulation. Nature has done much for us in the arrangement of a natural waterway, the only barrier in which is that glacial formation known as the Chicago divide. We have but to pierce through this barrier and we set in motion a strong and constant current flowing southward from Lake Michigan to the Gulf. In this stream will be borne away all the sewage which now contaminates onr lake, and in the mighty rush of the waters it will be inoffensive and harmless. On the bosom of this great stream will sail the merchant marine of a new world of commerce, of which Chicago will be queenly metropolis, but which will benefit and enrich every village and town by which it passes. (Applause.) Many of us will still be young men when this waterway, at whose birth we are now assisting, will be the great high- way of the nation's trade, and to this end let us all work hopefully and in unison. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY COKPOEATION COUNSEL JOHN S. MILLER. Me. President an'd Fellow Citizens : — I am instructed, Mr. President, to present to you the sincere regrets of his Honor, Mayor Washburne, that he could not be present with you and testify to his appreciation and gratification at the celebration of this event. And I extend to you my sincere sympathy that not he but I am called upon at this time to fill this place upon the programme. Mr. President, the people of Chicago favor this project. The first municipal action upon it, I believe, was taken during 442 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. the administration of a distinguished citizen who is now present, and who can testify better than I, perhaps, in regard to the municipal history of this organization. Under his successor the great work was inaugurated, and the fact that the name of Mayor Roche is attached to the bill introduced in the Legisla- ture for this work, testifies to his intelligent judgment and favorable action in pushing this enterprise. The next succes- sor in the mayoralty was not only connected in a distinguished capacity with this work, but with almost all the later public works of the city of Chicago, and you have him here before you to-day and he can testify to the favor with which the pro- ject is looked upon by the people of the city. Mr. President, the American people favor public improve- ments. No great public improvement has ever been undertaken in this country that has not received the support, the hearty financial support of the American people, prior to construction, and been pointed to with pride and satisfaction after its com- plete achievement. I was taught when I was a boy, — I am a native of the State of New York, — to look with reverence upon those men who pushed through the Erie canal. What more en- during monument can there be to a man than to be connected with such an enterprise? The people of the city of Chicago favor public improvement. The people of this grand valley, the people of this great commonwealth favor public improve- ments. No public improvement has been undertaken in the city of Chicago that has not received the solid support of its citizens, and that when adopted has not been pointed to with pride by the people of the whole country. Look at the grand water works of the city, remarkable in their time, and unique. What work has done more to build up the city and attract to us strong and energetic men? There is but one peril that threatens our water system, and that is the sewage of the city. This great city, with now a million and a half inhabitants, is brought face to face with the sewage prob- lem, and you, Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, are charged with the responsible duty of the solution of that important problem. The people of the city of Chicago, the people of this Drainage District, support this grand enter- INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 443 prise. That is evidenced by the almost unanimous vote that was cast in favor of the adoption of this law. Mr. President, you have some very distinguished men upon your programme, and I do not feel justified in taking up more of your time. I am authorized not only by the Mayor but by many of the officers of the city of Chicago, many of whom are present, to congratulate you upon this great work, and to , bid you God speed in its accomplishment. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY CONGRESSMAN THOMAS HENDERSON. Me. President and Fellow Citizens : — In one respect, and only in one, I feel that I am like General Grant. I always like to have people stick to the programme. I looked over the programme on this occasion and I did not see that I was lia- ble to be called upon for any remarks. I may tell you a lit tie story. An old man who was very hard of hearing was walking on the railroad tracks, overtaken by a train and killed. After bewailing the event for some time, his wife sorrowfully remarked, "Well, the old man ought not to have been there." So I suppose it is with me. If I did not want to make a speech I ought not be here to-day. But I am here, and I want to con- gratulate the people of the great city of Chicago, and I want to congratulate the Northwest on the commencement to-day of this grand work, which I trust will never be discontinued nor suspended until there is a commercial waterway of magnitude constructed between the Great Lakes on the north and the Gulf on the south. I am not very familiar with the sanitary part of this meas- ure ; that has been studied by the people of Chicago and by the scientific men of your city, and they have at last reached the conclusion that the effort is worth the expenditure of many millions to construct a waterway toward the Illinois river for drainage purposes for the great city of Chicago. And I can only say here to-day that I trust it will be in every particular a magnificent success, and that it may prove of great benefit to the city of Chicago, and not, as some apprehend, a detriment to the people of the Illinois valley. 44:4: DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. I am in favor of waterways. I have been identified with waterways, and I take no greater pride in anything that I have ever done than I do in my connection with the improvement of the Great Lakes and the great waterways of the United States. Why, fellow citizens, there is nothing in which the people are more deeply interested than to give every facility for cheap transportation that is possible. It is very interesting when we think of it, that before the State of Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State, that some of our people, and notably Judge Pope, who was then a delegate in Congress, representing us there, foresaw that the great city of Chicago was to be built at some day, and that a great canal connecting it with the great Mississippi Valley was to be constructed, and therefore he favored departing from the ordinance of 1787, which would have made the Northern boundary of the State of Illinois an east and west line running through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan, and insisted on its going far enough north to include the great city of Chicago, which then did not have an existence. He spoke of its commercial importance, and he spoke of its national importance in view that in some future time, when our nation might develop internally, that our connection with the commerce of the lake would be an anchor to hold us to the union of the States. And so when the War of the Rebellion finally came, Chicago, with her patriotism, turned out her regi- ments of brave and gallant men and fought for the integrity of the Union and the preservation of the nation. (Applause.) Judge Pope ought to be remembered on an occasion like this. Chicago might otherwise have been in the State of Wisconsin. (Laughter and applause.) Why I should be called uj)on to respond for the Illinois valley I hardly know. My friend, whom I see here, I think, knows very well that I was raised in the Spoon river valley and not in the Illinois river valley at all. Yet I have been close enough to it to know of some of its benefits to the people of the State of Illinois. With it the people will have cheaper transportation than they otherwise could possibly have ; and I want to see it get more and more of that as the years go by, and as it surely will if this great enterprise upon which INAUGUKATION OF THE AVOEK. 445 you have to-day actively entered is carried to completion and connection is made between the lakes and the gulf. Some of the gentlemen who preceded me talked about the benefits of water transportation and cheaper transportation and of the canals which have been constructed at great expense for that purpose. Why, fellow-citizens, the water transportation which we have in the United States is worth $200,000,000 to the people of this country annually. You take the immense com- merce of the lakes, which is being increased every year by the almost millions of tons ; if you had to transport that commerce by rail at the charges which they make for such transportation, and then compare it with what you can transport it by water navigation, it would make a difference of about one hundred and forty odd millions of dollars a year to the people of the United States. Now, I am afraid I would get interested in this subject if I should continue, and speak a good deal longer than I wanted to. (Cries, " Go on," " Go on.") Really, when I appeared in response to the call, which I had no reason to anticipate until a few moments ago, I only intended to congratulate the people of Chicago and the people of Illinois on this auspicious day and event. The people of Illinois take pride in their great State, and they ought to take pride in it. They ought to be willing to concede anything to it that should be conceded in justice to its commercial importance and value to the people of the country, for affording us such such a great market for all our surplus products, of our farms and factories. Now, I thank you for having listened to what I have said, and trust you will excuse me from making any further remarks. (Applause. ) 446 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. ADDRESS BY DR. FRANK W. REILLY. Mr. Pbesidbnt, Ladies and Gtbntlbmen: — The receipt of the invitation from the Trustees of the Chicago Sanitary- District to represent the press, and to respond for it on this occasion at once recalled to mind a passage in the address of the president of the American Public Health association at its session in the city of New Orleans. Referring to the agency of the press in sanitary matters, Dr. Billings said his examina- tion of the several large volumes of clippings on this subject which he accumulated every year reminded him of the ingenious Irishman who put his gas meter on upside down, and at the end of the month the i-egister showed the company in his debt. It is not difficult to recall sundry newspaper articles on the great waterway which could only be adjudged to have aided in achieving the present consummation in a topsy-turvey world, where meters are used upside down and register the wrong way, where the hands on the clock of progress always turn backward. But such articles have been the notable exceptions, and it is doubtful if they have retarded by a single hour the ceremonies we witness to-day. They may be dismissed from present consideration in the optimistic belief that, — as bitter tonics do in medicine, — they have subserved a useful object in strengthening and invigorating the purpose and the efforts of those who have so successfully labored for this beginning of the end. Almost without exception, every public enterprise, every public work of magnitude at all approaching that of the Chi- cago Sanitary District, is the creation and the outcome of some agency especially devised for the purpose. It is through such special agencies that railroads extend their network over the continent ; that the slender filaments of telegraph systems connect the thought ganglia of the country ; that docks and piers and lighthouses and harbors and watercourses are built or improved or created. The Chicago Sanitary District is an ex- ception to this rule. No coterie of capitalists seeking a profit- able investment ; no legislative body casting about for a subject INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 4-i7 for "An Act entitled an Act ;" no self-seeking politician. Well, if such a one ever succeeded in identifying himself with the Sanitary District he speedily found himself in uncongenial com- pany, and either by his own volition soon dropped out or was relegated to a condition of innocuous desuetude. The Sanitary District is essentially and distinctively the cre- ation of the public press of the city of Chicago and of the Illi- nois valley. The egg from which it was hatched was laid in a newspaper office a little over seven years ago. It was incubated by the newsjiapers, and the newspapers did the proper and necessary cackling at the various stages of its evolution. To the fact that for over six of these seven years I was actively connected with one of those papers, and more especially with the work of that journal in the interest of the great sanitary waterway, is probably due the honor conferred upon me to-day. That connection is suspended temporarily at least, and there- fore I may without violating the proprieties say what an active newspaper man, — one still in the harness, — would hesitate to say as to the agency of the press in making possible these cere- monies. Xo other one subject during the last seven years has been given so much space in the columns of the daily press as this enterprise. No other topic has received so much careful thought and study, nor has any been treated and advocated from more entirely disinterested motive^. It is true that nothing with which the press has dealt during that period is fraught with such transcendent material possibilities. But it is also true that those possibilities have been made possible only by the efforts and through the agency of the public press. There is in this fact the promise and the potency of the largest measure of success, — of a future development of Chicago and the Illinois valley greater even than that conceived in the imagination of that practical and most maginative of engineers, the distinguished chairman of the engineering committee of the district. Given the support of her public press on which to pose the lever of the drafting pencil, and Chicago may truth- fully exclaim : "The world is mine ! " 4:4:8 DKAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. audkess by carter h. harrison. Me. Pbesidknt, Gentlemen of the Board, and Ladies AND Gentlemen in the Audience : — This is taking an undue advantage, of me. Somebody else was invited to speak, another was asked to talk, and failing to appear, I am made to take his place without preparation. But it is said of me that I am windy. (Laughter and applause.) I will ask you to hoist your sails and I will try to fill them for two or three minutes. I wish I were some thirty years younger. I may not live to see that which has interested me ever since I came to Chicago, the opening of a mighty channel, a river, not a canal, but a river having its source in Lake Michigan and washing its way on through this beautiful valley, down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. One hundred and five years ago the ordinance of 1787 was adopted. In it were two clauses of immense moment ; one was that there should never be the home of a slave on the territory ceded by Virginia. (Applause.) That was for awhile carried out in spirit, but fugitive slaves came across the Ohio, and the laws of the United States carried them back. But at last there was the dread arbitrament of war, with cannon, mus- ketry and tramp of armed men, and then slavery was wiped out forever, and there can be no slave who will ever tread upon the prairies that surround us here. (Applause.) The other monitory clause of that ordinance was, that the rivers and carrying places between the Mississippi River and its waters, and the lakes, should be forever free from tolls, yet yonder little stinking ditch (pointing to the canal) has been exacting toll for every stone that is carried upon it, for every bushel of wheat and corn. But now, thank heaven, the ordi- nance of 1787 is going to be carried out, and the carrying places, the heritage of all, will be forever free from tolls to the American people. (Applause.) Some of the gentlemen have alluded to the portage here as being a fit one in which the great channel should be cut. Aye, gentlemen, long before man was created, before he sprang from the dust at the hands of his God, the Eternal, the Mighty Engineer, had, with a glacier, cut deep INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 449 into the solid rock along this line here, and marked where was to be made this great river. (Applause.) These engineers — Mr. Cooley may flatter himself (laughter) — Mr. Williams may take pride in it, but a higher engineer than they, requiring no compass, no chain, no level, ploughed into the rocks, car- ried boulders along in the arms of the mighty ice, and marked the way from Lake Michigan to Joliet, over which the channel of this river shall be dug. This idea took so strong possession of me that, when I had the honor of being a member of Con- gress, I determined, if only the people would stick by me and keep me there (laughter and applause), that I would fight it out on that line "if it took me all summer " and build this canal. I introduced an Act in Congress. It was very near pass- ing the House, but for the death of one great, grand, big man from Texas, brave old Schleicher, it would have been recom- mended by the Committee on Commerce, and would have been passed. I then, as Mayor of Chicago, told the people of that city : " Tou have been asking the General Government to dig this canal. Do yourselves what Hercules did, put your own shoulder to the wheel and lift the cart out, and then maybe the government will push it through. " My name will nt)t go down connected with this thing. Many a man, — Judge Pope and others, — who dreamed of this so long ago will never be heard of in it. Frank Wenter's name will go down. (Laughter and applause.) Ah, gentlemen, don't take this as flattery, the name of Frank Wenter and this Board will go down the stream of ages as the builders and starters of this mighty enterprise. (Great applause. ) I wanted to be a Drainage Commissioner. (Laughter.) I tried hard to get it. (Applause.) If I had been I would have fought like the devil to be President of the Board (laughter and applause), so that I could have used that shovel to-day instead of Frank, but Frank got there and I did not, and he has used the shovel and wielded it well. (Laughter and applause. ) But, however, I am only glad that the Drainage Canal is being built. The time for discussion is passed. I want a ship canal that will marry the 12,000 miles of navigable waters of the Mississippi river, with the 5,000 miles of shore line of the 29 450 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Great Lakes. (Applause.) The canal for commercial purposes is absolutely essential to this great State and to the Nation. (Ap- plause.) Mr.Eckhart has told you of canals in other lands. Here in America it was thought that canals were no longer necessary, — that railroads were doing everything. Aye, the railroads were doing everything, and they were charging you and me "every- thing" for what they did. Canals alone can regulate the prices of transportation. Go along the line of that little canal over there, and every bushel of wheat or corn carried to Chicago pays a freight of one, two or three cents less per bushel because that little canal competes with the Santa Fe, the Rock Island and the Alton railroads. The canal makes freight rates cheap. In England even great railroads dig canals along their lines. The Great Western, running from London to Liverpool, has a canal of its own so as to carry heavy freight, giving the railroad the lighter ones, and thus makes traffic cheaper. In France, to Paris, from every direction, converge canals, and but for that the French people would not be the prosperous people that they are to-day. Germany owns her railroads to a great extent, or owns a large amount of stock in them, yet Germany makes navigable every river in her domain, so that they compete with the railroads, thereby helping the people. The people here are the masters, — and if Mr. Hender- son were not here and a member of Congress, I would say that the railroads are to a great extent the masters of the people's servants, the legislators. (Laughter and applause.) But we are the people and the masters. Let us build canals. We pay $100,000,000,— more than |ilOO,000,000,— a year to fellows that went to fight but who never smelt powder. I have got through now. I am not a candidate for office, and, therefore, I am not afraid of the old soldier vote. (Laughter and applause.) If the Government, when that |il00,000,000 was lying idle in its treasury, had used it rightly they would have improved this canal here ; they would have dug the Erie canal and married Long Island Sound with Lake Erie. They would have dug a canal across the Chesapeake peninsula, and ultimately they would have dug the mighty ditch that is to transfer the ship of INAUGURATION' OF THE WORK. 451 the eastern market to the western market through the Nicar- agua. (Applause. ) I believe in waterways. I am glad that the people were scared in Chicago, that they got frightened about the cholera, or some other epidemic, and have put their shoulder to the wheel. The United States Government, I hope, will step in. Tom Henderson, it looks as if you will live a hundred years and always be in Congress. (Laughter and applause.) Make it your business, Tom, from this time out to fight that the United States Government will take up the labor that the City of Chicago has commenced at a cost of twenty millions of dollars, and make a canal from Lake Michigan to the Missis- sippi. If such a canal had existed when our late unpleasant- ness broke out, the United States would not have bluffed and blustered as she did in the Mason and Slidell affair and then back down like a whipped coward. (Applause.) Make us a canal so that we shall not care for the Welland. Suppose we got into a fight to-morrow with England. She would pour into our lake her gunboats and corvettes, and Marshall Field would tremble in his boots, — other rich men would tremble, — and would be ready to pay out one or two of his millions to keep the British guns from battering down Chicago. (Laughter and applause.) "What if we got into a war with England? The lake cities would be battered down unless we were forehanded and took possession of Canada, — and I believe we would do just that. Just as soon as we get into a quarrel with England, be- fore the ' ' damned lie" is passed, when it means fight, let us take Canada and have it all right. But if we were to get into war with England now, tribute would be demanded of every one of the cities that border upon the lakes ; and we would be helpless. But here is a canal that when finished will enable us to put gun- boats on the Illinois river, and as soon as the tocsin sounds we will blow the English corvettes out of water, and then have easy and plain sailing. (Laughter and applause.) My friends, I am glad to meet you ; I am proud to be here ; and I hope when the time shall come, not long years hence, when the history of this mighty undertaking shall be read, that my children's children and great-grandchildren afterwards fol- 452 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. lowing, will say that their grandfather or great-grandfather looked on while Frank Wenter was digging that hole. (Laugh- ter and applause.) ADDRESS BY EX-SENATOR JAMES K. DOOLITTLE. Mb. Pkbsident, Gentlemen and Fellow Citizens : — I rejoice to be present on this occasion and see the inauguration of this great work. It is a joy to me to see it begun, and it will be a joy unspeakable if I live to see it end, as I hope to do. It is a great work for Chicago, because it will secure pure drinking water. It will secure perfect drainage. It will secure its commercial supremacy. It will make Chicago the head of river navigation, as she now is the head of lake navigation. It will make her the queen of the rivers as well as the queen of the lakes. It will do very much to secure Chicago in case of war with Great Britain. God grant no war with Great Britain will ever come again, but we must not forget that from ancient times the Briton has always been aggressive and warlike. I rejoice because it is a great work for the State of Illinois as well as the city of Chicago. By pouring a stream twenty feet deep and three hundred feet wide through the counties of Will, Grundy and La Salle, it will create at least six water powers greater than the water power of Lowell, Massachusetts. , It will build up in the heart of Illinois great manufacturing cities. It will add to the natural forces of Illinois what would be equiva- lent to a force of 100,000 horses and a million of men. It will add vastly to the wealth, population and resources of this great State. I rejoice also because it is a great national work, a great work for the United States, for when this flood of water shall pass down over the Divide near this point until it meets the Illinois river at La Salle, the Government of the United States will undoubtedly join hands with Chicago and with the State of Illinois to build the locks and dams which will secure this great navigable waterway. Fellow citizens, I shall not detain you except to say that in my opinion not only the city of Chicago, but the State of Illi- IXAUCxURATION OF THE WORK. 453 nois aud the United States of America ouglit to join Chicago and help bear this great expenditure. If the city of Chicago and the Drainage District shall pay one-half of the fifty millions which it will probably cost before it is completed as a great waterway, the State of Illinois could afford to pay one-quarter and the Government of the United States pay the other quarter to secure its complete achievement. I had occasion to say as early as 1886, that, as to the Lower Mississippi, this great work now begun by Chicago will do more for the navigation of the Lower Mississippi than any other thing that has ever yet been conceived. A volume of water fifteen feet deep and two hun- dred feet in width spread upon three thousand feet of surface will increase the depth at least a foot, so that at low stage of water at St. Louis it will be increased by one foot at least, and at Memphis by at least six inches. I therefore conclude as I began, sir, by saying that I rejoice to be here, and I pray God that I may live, — though I am past seventy years of age, — to see this work completed and this great waterway established between the lakes and rivers. I say it with just as much earnestness as if all my interests were iden- tified with Chicago. I still live in Wisconsin. I live in the State to which Chicago belongs according to the ordinance of 1787. (Laughter and applause.) I sometimes give an excuse to those gentlemen who ask me, " Why is it you practice law in Chicago, and yet live in Wisconsin ? " I tell them that by the ordinance of 1787 Chicago belongs to Wisconsin, and I have a right to be there. But, independent of all that, my interests are of a national character. Living as I do in Wisconsin, I still wish to see this great waterway, for it will be in the end to the commerce of the United States of more importance than the Suez canal, and of equal importance to the Nicaragua canal which is to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (Applause.) I thank you for the honor of your attention. 454 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATEKWAY. ADDRESS BY EX- CONGRESSMAN RALPH PLUMB. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I do not see that there is anything for me to say. I have listened with great interest to every word that has been uttered since these exer- cises commenced, and I cannot recall a single word or sentence but what has been most fitly spoken. And, now, so near at the close, there is but one idea I have to supplement what has been already said. We have been told during these speeches much about great waterways, and that they ought to be built by the United States. I want to say that the United States of America is abundantly able to build all the waterways that it needs; and this is the single point that I would urge. This is like a great farm ; this country which spreads from ocean to ocean, from the lakes to the Gulf, is like one great farm fenced ofE into fields that we call our States ; and it is, after all, one great farm. There is not an impediment to commerce from State to State throughout the whole domain. The Government should be like a good farmer who looks out over his farm and does all that is necessary to be done for the best development of his possessions. If there are any farmers here present with 320 or 640 acres, — you know how to look to see whether it can be ben- efited by a drain there, or a ditch here, by tilling this field and sowing that, and whatever you do you do because you are able to do it, and you are wise enough to do it. Uncle Sam is rich enough to do it. Did you ever think of the riches of this great Nation? We do not reflect upon it as we ought. We have 65,000,000 of people. How many of them are producers of wealth? Think of it, how many of the 65,000,000? I dare say that there are 25,000,000 of the 65,000,000 that in one way or another are producing wealth, — the man who shovels, the man who plows, the man who builds. The man who sells goods, — he does the least of it. The banker helps ; everyone almost is employed in adding to the wealth of this great nation. We have that wealth gathered ; we are not throwing it away as they are in other countries. Look at the great countries of Europe where they have their standing armies, and the hun- INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 4:55 dreds of millions necessary to support these armies in idleness or worse than idleness, leeches upon those who do labor. But there is nothing of that kind here. We are paying oflE old sol- diers, and doing it gratefully for what they have done for the country. Our standing army is only 25,000 men, and we are gaining in wealth so fast that each year Congress should be called upon to make appropriations to build canals here and there, and it will not impoverish us at all. We shall not know that we pay the taxes, but we shall know that each year we are growing richer and richer, and I have sometimes been afraid that we should all catch the spirit of money-getting. We have all been in the habit of thinking that if we could save a little on our taxes we could make money by it, but we must remem- ber this great adage of the Bible, ' ' That they who withhold more than is meet, it tendeth to poverty." We must not do that. We must enter upon this great work and fui'nish gladly the money, not only to build this canal between the lake and river, but to make a great harbor at Chicago and to connect us with the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and other work all through our great land. They should all be carried forward by us, and until they are, we have not done everything that is necessary to do for the growth and prosperity of the American people. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY SENATOR THOMAS C. MACMILLAN. Me. Pkesidext, Ladies and Gentlemen : — After having heard so many and such a variety of speeches it is too late for me to say any thing to-day that will be new on this important subject. I simply desire to state that it was my good fortune, together with Mr. Eckhart, who is now a Trustee, and with ex- Mayor Roche, of Chicago, Representative Riley, of Joliet, and the late Senator Bell, of Peoria, to act as a commission by ap- pointment of the General Assembly, to prepare the bill which is now known as the Sanitary District Act. We simply did our duty in the General Assembly, representing the people of the city of Chicago, and of the Illinois valley. We claim no credit for doing our duty. We are glad to do that, and we are 456 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. glad to-day that the Drainage Trustees are doing their duty. We are glad to be here and see they are doing it, and we hope this great enterprise will be completed, not only in our day, but in the day of such men as ex-Mayor Harrison, of Chicago, who years ago did so much to bring this great enterprise about. I thank you, Mr. President and gentlemen, for calling upon me, and I hope we may all meet here some day when there will be great vessels floating up and down this valley, and probably at another time we may have a better time. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY MAYOR P. C. HALEY. Mr. Pkesident, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I had supposed you had listened to speeches enough and did not expect to be called upon on this occasion, but being called I deem it my duty to respond. We have, as said by Mr. Eckhart, a "condition confronting us, not a theory." We have had that condition present for a great number of years, and it has steadily been growing worse. It reached that point where the people, not only in Joliet, but along the entire valley, insisted and de- manded that something should be done. The people of Joliet have united with the people of Chicago, hand in hand, with their friend, to secure such legislation as would relieve the citi- zens of Chicago as well as the people of Joliet and the people of the valley. Our citizens and committees representing them have cooperated with like committees from Chicago,- in fram- ing the present Act under which the work which was so auspic- iously begun to-day is expected to be consummated. All the people of the valley and all the people of Joliet are satisfied when the Board of Trustees honestly and in good faith live up to the letter and spirit of the law. (Applause.) We expect and we believe that if a channel of the size and capacity which that law requires the Trustees to make, is made, and the volume of water turned into it which the law requires, and the sewage diluted before it is turned into the channel as the law requires, that it will not only answer the purpose of Chi- cago, but that it will also give Joliet that relief which we be- INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 457 lieve we are fairly and justly entitled to. We have noticed with pleasure for the last few months an honest effort on the part of the Trustees to carry out this Act in every particular. We are pleased with their methods, we are pleased with the ex- pedition with which they have carried on their work, and sin, cerely trust that the work so well begun to-day, will not be dis- continued until the channel is made such as the law requires, and then that the State and National Governments will take it up and make it the great waterway which has been so eloquently pointed out here to-day by the various speakers who have pre- ceded me. I thank you for your attention. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY FERNANDO JONES. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I do not know why I am called upon except it may be that I was here early, and present at the formal inauguration of the digging of the original Illinois and Michigan Canal. Perhaps I may as well say, I was born about the time the Erie Canal was completed. I remember the final ceremony of the Erie Canal, by the pouring of a barrel of water from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean. On the 4th of July, 1836, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was formally begun by digging and wheeling out a lot of sod. On that occasion there was some prophecy. Dr. Egan made a speech, after having read the Declaration of Independence, and Judge Theophilus W. Smith, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, — by the way he has a grandson here, who is a son of ex-Mayor Plumb, — he said: "Fellow citizens, while neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, yet I feel the spirit of prophecy in me this day; Fellow citizens, in ten years from this time you will see a city on the borders of Lake Michigan containing ten thousand people. Yes, fellow citizens, in twenty years you will see twenty thousand, and in fifty years, you will see a city of fifty thousand people. " An Irishman present, who was afterwards sheriff, called out 458 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. to him, and said: "Aye, aye, Judge, now, we won't be here, so we can't see how big a lie you are telling," but that didn't stop the Judge. He said: " Yes, fellow citizens, in one hundred years from this time you will see a city of one hundred thous- and people!" But that was too much for the boys. They gathr ered and took him off the barrel he was standing on and gave him a little something to drink, and scattered water in his face. After a while some one asked him " How do you feel. Judge?" He said he felt better. "Arrah," said the leader to the Judge, "if we had not stopped you, you would have made it a million." (Laughter. ) Now, I am on reminiscences ; I suppose that is the occasion of my being called. I remember when that original canal was es- tablished ; it was to be a ship canal, an immense affair, and the first lawyer of Chicago, Reuben E. Hickox, had said we were not able to build a ship canal, that we "ought to build a shallow canal," and they gave him the name of " Old Shallow-Cut." I have a picture of the old gentleman attempting to pump water up from Lake Michigan into a shallow canal among the frogs, but all this opposition to the old lawyer Hickox didn't count, because on the 10th day of May, 1848, if my memory serves me, we had an opening of a canal under the auspices of the Canal Trustees. Foreign bondholders had furnished some more money to build the canal on the shallow-cut principle, and " Old Shallow-cut Hickox" was present on the occasion when they opened the shallow-cut canal, and he was vindicated. It looked then as if he were right, but in the progress of events it is found that these old fogies were wrong. We may not have been able, we were not able to build a deep cut then, but we are able to build a deep cut now (cries " Yes, and we will do it"), and it will be a great advantage to every interest. INAUGURATION OF THE WORK. 459 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED. Whereas, The law under which the Sanitary District was or- ganized was matured by a Commission of five appointed by joint resolution of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly of Illinois in 1887, said Commission being instructed to examine the subject matter and report a bill to the Thirty-sixth General assembly; Whereas, Said Conimission consisted of the Hon. John A. Roche, president ; Senator B. A. Eckhart of Chicago, Senator A. J. Bell of Peoria, the Hon. Thomas C. MacMillan of Chicago, and the Hon. Thomas H. Riley of Joliet, and their labors were performed without compensation and at much personal sacrifice, and in a manner eminently satisfactory to the people of Chi- cago and of the Illinois valley ; Whereas, The Sanitary District is equally indebted to many disinterested and patriotic men, who have labored in the cause from its inception, and who have promoted the interests of this work, whose names cannot be recapitulated at this time ; there- fore, be it Itesolved, 1. That this Board and the people recognize fully the great labors performed, and the causes that have contributed to the consummation of this most important enterprise. 2. That the Board cause to be prepared an official history, which shall set forth the leading events of interest in connec- tion with the inception and promotion of this work. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. Lake Michigan discovered by Nicolet, Desplaines Valley discovered by Joliet and Marquette, Joliet suggests Waterway, Washington favors canals. First Official suggestion of Illinois canal, Worthington proposes Government aid of canals, Gallatin's report on roads and canals. Porter urges Illinois canal, Indians cede site of Chicago, Indians cede Desplaines and Illinois Valleys, Storrow urges Waterway, Long shows importance of Waterway, Darby argues for Waterway, Illinois becomes a State, Calhoun's Report on canals, First Act by Congress aiding Illinois canal, First canal legislation by State, First surveys for canal. 1634 August, 1673 1674 July 19, 1787 August 3, 1795 March 2, 1807 April 6, 1808 February 10, 1810 August 24, 1816 August 24, 1816 December 1, 1817 May 12, 1818 1818 1818 January 14, 1819 March 30, 1822 February 14, 1823 1824 Illinois and Michigan Canal association, incorporated, January 17, 1825 Congress grants alternate sections for canal, Hoffman urges Illinois canal, Chicago Council orders public well, Chicago Hydraulic Company incorporated, Illinois and Michigan canal begun, First survey of Illinois river. Canal in hands of trustees, Chicago datum established, Chicago river and harbor convention, Bridgeport pumping works constructed, Illinois and Michigan canal completed, Chicago City Hydraulic company incorporated, Board of Sewerage Commissioners created, E. S. Chesbrough elected chief engineer sewerage system, Chicago's sewerage system planned, Canal in Sixteenth street proposed. Work on Chicago sewers begun, 461 March 2, 1827 January' 10, 1834 November 10, 1834 January 18, 1836 July 4, 1836 1838 1845 1847 July 5, 1847 1848 April 23, 1848 February 15, 1851 February 4, 1855 1855 1855 1855 1856 462 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Water supply tunnel suggested, Board of Public Works organized, Congress defeats ship canal bill. Report of committee on statistics. National canal convention, First water supply tunnel begun, Plan for cleansing Chicago river reported. Canal through Thirty -ninth street proposed. Canal through Fullerton avenue proposed, First water supply tunnel completed, Surveys by General Wilson, Surveys by Wilson and Gooding, Ogden-Wentworth canal constructed, Canal restored to State, Canal deepened, Lock at Henry completed, Bridgeport pumps sold, Second water supply tunnel constructed, Dam in Ogden-Wentworth canal constructed, Lock at Copperas Creek completed, Fullerton avenue conduit completed. Surveys by Benyaurd and Wisner, Bridgeport pumps rebuilt. Drainage and Water Supply Commission created, Winston bill before Legislature, Hurd bill before Legislature, Report of Hering commission. Legislative Drainage Commission appointed, Shore inlet tunnel built. Surveys by Marshall, Sanitary District law enacted, Henry and Copperas Creek works ceded to United Supreme Court aflBrms validity of law, Chicago Sanitary District defined. La Grange lock and dam completed, Chicago Sanitary District established. First Trustees elected, First meeting of Trustees, Murry Nelson elected president, Lyman E. Cooley elected chief engineer, Austin J. Doyle elected clerk, S. S. Gregory elected attorney, - Byron L. Smith elected treasurer, Charles Bary elected secretary. Attorney Gregory resigns, 1859 May 6, 1861 February 9, 1863 June, 1863 June 2, 1863 March 17, 1864 - March 6, 1865 March 6, 1865 - March 6, 1865 December 6, 1§66 1866 1867 1871 May 1, 1871 July 15, 1871 January, 1872 June 25, 1873 1874 June, 1877 October, 1877 January 9, 1880 1882 July 3, 1884 January 27, 1886 1887 1887 January, 1887 May, 1887 1887 1889 May, 1889 States, June 4, 1889 June 12, 1889 October 14, 1889 October 21, 1889 November 5, 1889 December 12, 1889 - January 18, 1890 February 1, 1890 February 1, 1890 February 1, 1890 February 1, 1890 February 1, 1890 February 1, 1890 - June 26, 1890 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 463 Clerk Doyle resigns, Thomas F. Judge elected clerk, George W. Smith elected attorney, Richard Prenderg'ast elected president, John Xewton elected consulting engineer. Chief Engineer Cooley resigns, William E. Worthen elected chief engineer, Secretary Bary resigns, Xewton and Worthen's first report, Newton and Worthen's second report. Amendment of law proposed, Engineers Newton and Worthen resign, Attorney Smith resigns, Samuel G. Artingstall elected chief engineer, Artingstall's first report, Adams A. Goodrich elected attorney, Artingstall's second report. Trustees Nelson and King resign, Artingstall route adopted. Trustee Willing resigns, William Boldenweck elected Trustee, Lyman E. Cooley elected Trustee, Bernard A. Eckhart elected Trustee, Trustee Wenter elected president. President Wenter outlines policy of Trustees, Trustee Boldenweck chairman judiciary committee. Trustee Cooley chairman engineering committee, Trustee Eckhart chairman finance committee, Trustee Gilmore, chairman federal relations com- mittee, Office of secretary abolished, Trustee Hotz resigns, Chief Engineer Artingstall resigns, Benezette Williams elected chief engineer. Treasurer Smith resigns, Melville E. Stone elected treasurer, Williams' first report on routes, Attorney Goodrich resigns, Orrin N. Carter elected attorney. Route from Willow Springs to Lockport adopted. Route from Bridgeport to Willow Springs reported, First Bids opened. First contracts awarded. Inauguration of work. Four mile tunnel opened, July 1, 1890 July 12, 1890 July 20, 1890 December 2, 1890 December 10, 1890 December 10, 1890 December 17, 1890 December 31, 1890 January 10, 1891 February 21, 1891 March 21, 1891 April 21, 1891 April 25, 1891 May 9, 1891 May 23, 1891 June 13, 1891 June 20, 1891 August 26, 1891 September 16, 1891 September 23, 1891 November 3, 1891 November 3, 1891 November 3, 1891 December 8, 1891 December 8, 1891 December 8, 1891 December 8, 1891 December 8, 1891 December 8, 1891 January 12, 1892 January 16, 1892 January 16, 1892 January 16, 1892 January 23, 1892 - January 23, 1892 February 17, 1892 February 24, 1892 February 24, 1892 March 26, 1892 June 7, 1892 June 8, 1892 July 13, 1892 September 3, 1892 November, 1892 464 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATBRWAT. Thomas Kelly elected Trustee, William Martin elected sanitary inspector, President Wenter re-elected, Trustee Boldenweck, chairman federal relations committee, Trustee Gilmore, chairman committee on health and public order. Trustee Kelly, chairman judiciary committee. Trustee Russell, chairman committee on rules. Chief Engineer Williams resigns, Isham Randolph elected chief engineer, Edward Williams elected marshal, Kampsville lock and dam completed, Desplaines river diverted to new channel. President Wenter elected president third time. November 8, 1892 November 30, 1892 December 6, 1892 December 14, 1892 December 14, 1892 December 14, 1892 December 14, 1892 June 7, 1893 June 7, 1893 July 5, 1893 August 30, 1893 November, 1893 December 5, 1893 BIBLIOGRAPHY. Address Delivered before the Missouri Historical Society. John Gil- mary Shea. New York : 1878. American State Papers. Washington : 1832. Annals of Congress. Washington. Chicago Antiquities. Henry H. Hurlbut. Chicago : 1881. Circulars of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Lockport, Boston and New York : 1848 to 1871. Congressional Record. Washington. Continental Monthly. New York : 1863. Debates of Congress. Washington. De Bow's Review. New Orleans : 1846. Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley. John Gilmary Shea. Rfidfleld, N. Y.: 1852. Discovery of the Northwest and History of Chicago. Rutus Blanchard. Wheaton : 1881. Discussion of the Drainage and Water Supply of Chicago. D. W. Jackson. Chicago: 1892. Drainage Law of 1889. Henry G. Miller. Chicago : 1893. Early History of Illinois. Sidney Breese. Chicago : 1884. Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough. Benezette Williams. Chicago: 1886. Engineering. London : 1893. Expedition to St. Peter's River. William H. Keating. London : 1825. Fergus' Historical Series, Nos. 18 and 19. Chicago : 1882. Geological Survey of Illinois. A. H. Worthen. Springfield : 1873. History of Chicago. A. T. Andreas. Chicago : 1884. History of Chicago. William Bross. Chicago : 1876. History of Illinois. Alexander Davison and Bernard Stuve. Spring- field : 1877. History of Illinois. Henry Brown. New York : 1844. History of Illinois. Ninian W. Edwards. Springfield : 1870. Indian Treaties. Washington : 1826. Lake Michigan Glacier and Glacial Channels across the Chicago Divide. Ossian Guthrie. Chicago : 1890. Lakes and Gulf Waterway. Lyman E. Cooley. Chicago : 1889. Lakes and Gulf Waterway as Related to the Chicago Sanitary Problem. Lyman E. Cooley. Chicago : 1891. 30 465 466 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. La Salle and the Discovery of the Northwest. Francis Parkman. Bos- ton : 1891. Levels of the Lakes as Affected by the Proposed Lakes and Gulf Waterway. George Y. Wisner, L. E. Cooley and others. Chicago: 1889. Magazine of American History. New York and Chicago : 1878. Narrative and Critical Historj- of America. Justin Winsor. Boston and New York : 1884. Niles' Register. Baltimore : 1814 and 1825. Notes on the Northwest. William J. A. Bradford. New York and London: 1846, Pioneer Heroes of the New World. Henry Howard Brownell. Cincin- nati: 1860. Pioneer History of Illinois. John Reynolds. Chicago: 1887. Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chi- cago. Chicago: 1891, 1892, and 1893. Proceedings of the Illinois State Legislature. Springfield: 1823 to 1889. Reports of the Board of Public Works of Chicago. Chicago: 1861 to 1876. Reports of the Chicago Citizens' Association. Chicago: 1880, 1885 and 1887. Reports of the Department of Public Works of Chicago. Chicago: 1877 to 1892. Reports of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners of Chicago. Chicago: 1855 to 1860. Reports of the Canal Commissioners of the State of Illinois. Spring- field: 1872 to 1892. Reports of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army. Washington: 1838 to 1892. Reports of the Connecticut State Board of Health. New Haven: 1892. Reports of the Illinois State Board of Health. Springfield: 1878 to 1892. Reports of the Massachusetts State Board of Health. Boston: 1892. Sewage Utilization. Ulick Ralph Burke. London and New York: 1872. The Bacteria. Antoine Magnin. Translated by George M. Sternberg. Boston: 1880. Treatment and Utilization of Sewage. W. H. Corfield. London and New York: 1871. Treatment of Sewage. C. Meymott Tidy. New York: 1887. Utilization of Town Sewage. Robert Scott Burn. London: 1865. Water Analysis. J. Alfred Wanklyn. London: 1879. Wau-Bun: The "Early Day" in the Northwest. Mrs. John H. Kinzie. New York and Cincinnati : 1856. Works of John C. Calhoun. New York : 1888. INDEX. Abert, S. T., describes Illinois river, 262 Act, creating sewerage commission, 50; providing for deepening Illinois and Michigan canal, 72, 73; first, by Con- gress relating to Illinois canal, 141; not an aid to State, 142 ; of 1836 au- thorizing Illinois and Michigan canal, 157, 158 Adams, George E., 424 ; John Quincy, 143 Adeney, \V. E., on purification of sew- age, 40, 41 Agnew & Co., awarded contracts, 421 Akamsea, 102 .Udrich, J. Frank, 424 Alexander, J. H., 425; Samuel, lo4, 175, 178 Aliens, restrictions against employment of, 382 Allen, C. A., 43, U; Rev. William, 221 Altpeter, John J., chosen Trustee, 397 ; term of office, 423 Am,endments to Sanitary District law proposed, 410 American Public Health association, 446 Ames, John C, 425 Ammonia, free and albuminoid, 17 Amsterdam, amount spent by, for canal, 437 Ancient outlet to the Mississippi, 94, 95 Apsley, 98 Aqueducts of ancient cities, 12 Archer, William B., 186, 193 Area of Chicago city limits, 61 Arkansas river, 101 Armour, George, 255 Arnold, Isaac N., 217, 218, 242; urges ship canal in Congress, 235-237 : signs call for national canal convention, 254 Artesian wells, discussed by Chesbrough, 86-90 ;, for flushing North branch re- jected, 329 Artingstall, Samuel G., states effects operating FuUerton avenue pumps, 334; member Drainage and Water Supply Commission, 347 ; Desplaines river surveyed under direction of, 349; elected chief engineer Sanitary District, 414; reports on routes be- tween Bridgeport and Summit, 414 ; reports on route between Summit and Lockport, 415 ; resigns position chief engineer, 419; term of office, 423 467 Ashley, Congressman, 241 Athens, source of water supply of, 12 Augsaugenashkee swamp and lake, 159, 160, 179, 181, 194 Bacon, C. H., 425 Bacteria, classification of, 16; cause of decomposition, 37, computation of, 39 Bacteriologist, function of, in water an- alysis, 17 Bailey, Justice, delivers opinion Supreme Court affirming validity Sanitary District law, 402 Bailey-Denton, J., applies system of in- termittant filtration, 45 Baltimore, commerce of, 218 Bancroft, George, bears expense survey Illinois river, 260 Bannister, H M., on geology of Cook county, 95, 96 Barbour, James, 132 Barker, George P., 221 Barrett, George, 164. Bary, Charles, elected secretary Sanitary District, 398; term of office. 423 Basin, at forks Chicago river, 195 Bates, Edward, 220, 255 Baude, Louis de, 99 Bazalgette, on London sewerage, 53 Bebb, Governor, 221 Beggiatoia in river Isar, 47 Belfield and Haines, bacteriological ex- aminations by, of water and ice, 24, 25 Bell, Andrew J., member legislative drainage commission, 375 Benton, Thomas, on canal from Lake Michigan to Mississippi, 222 Benyaurd, W. H. H., estimates cost en- largement Illinois and Michigan canal, 287; estimates cost improve- ment Desplaines and Illinois rivers Joliet to La Salle, 288 Bids, between WUlow Springs and Lock- port received, 421 Billings, Dr., 446 Big Bureau creek, 304 Big Run, 191 Binley, O J., 425 Blair, Congressman, introduces bill for ship canal, 232 ; Francis P., 255 468 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Blue Island, 169, 290 Blue Island ridge, future limit of city, 354 Board of Public Works, two additional members of, on cleansing Chicago river, 72; fears effects Ogden ditch, 323 : favors conduit in Fullerton ave- nue, 329 Board of Trustees, Chicago Sanitary District. (See "Trustees Chicago Sanitary District.") Boldenweck, William, elected Trustee, 411; chairman committee on judi- ciary, 417; term of office, 423; assists in raising first shovelful of earth, 425 BondSj Issued by State for canal, 195 ; paid, 209; law concerning, when is- sued by sanitary districts, 382, 384 ; of Sanitary District, gilt-edged invest- ment, 441 Boone, Levi D., 217 Boston, source of water supply, 10 ; canal stock payable in, 157 ; commerce of, 218 ; character of increase of popula- tion of, 353 Bourland, B. L. T., 425; R. R., 425 Bowmanville, conduit nearj preferable to open cut, 413 ; proposition to divert North branch near, 341, 343 Bradley, Frank H., on geology of Will county, 96 ; David M., 217 ; David, 340 Brainard, Dr. Daniel, 255 Brenning, G-eorge, 425 Brewer's Ford, 191 Bridgeport, 171 Bridgeport pumps, operated to purify river, 67, 85 ; use of, suggested, 196 ; important adjunct to canal, 203 ; de- scription and cost of, 204 ; origin of, 307 ; sold, 308 ; Rauch suggests re- building of, 310 ; Common Council or- ders new, 311; description of, 317; discussed by Citizens' association committee, 341 Bridges, over Illinois and Michigan canal, 195 ; over Chicago river, 342 Broad irrigation, 42, 43 Bronson, Alvin, 219 Brooklyn, 353 Bross, Governor William, on Chicago's first water supply, 29 ; on impurity of water supply, 32 ; member committee on statistics, 243 Brown, Edwin Lee, 340 ; Erastus, 153, 175 ; George, 425 Browning, town of, 263 BucMin, James M., employed to survey Illinois and Michigan canal, 178 ; de- scribes country along route of canal, 179, 180 ; estimates cost of canal, 180 ; finds obstacles to plans, 181; report of, in 1833, 182, 183; thinks railroad preferable to canal, 183 Bureau river, 165 Buffalo, 119 Burlingame, Anson, 219 Calamic river. 156 ; feeder, 156, 180 Calhoun, John C, on fund for internal improvements. 131, 132; plan of. for opening canals, 135, 136; suggests canal from Illinois river to Lake Michigan 136; in Memphis conven- tion, 228 Calumet Lake, Pullman sewage turned into, 44 Calumet feeder, construction of ordered, 198 ; expected be source of revenue, 208 ; discharged toward Chicago, 70, 86 Calumet harbor, improvements by Gen- eral Government, 300 Calumet region, drainage of, 358, 362, 363 ; excluded from Sanitary District, 395 Calumet river, 159, 181, 188 ; feeder dam across, to be removed, 169 1 canal through the Sag to connect with, 194, 195 ; report of Worrall on survey of, 277, 278 ; improvements of, by General Government, 300 ; might be diverted, 360; extent of sewage discharging into, 395 Calumet river route for main channel, survey of, by Marshall, 294r-296 ; Mar- shall's preference for, 300 Calumet Valley, second outlet of Lake Michigan, 95, 96 Canal, across Illinois, political hobby, 143 ; Act passed by Congress to open, through public lands, 141; cost of, along Fullerton avenue, 83; first step toward _ construction of, between Lake Michigan and Illinois river, 136 ; lands, first sales of, 177 ; proposed on Sixteenth street, 56, 63 ; proposed on Douglas and Fullerton avenues, 77 Canal commissioners, Act abolishing of- fice of, 156, 183: appointment of , as- sumed by Legislature, 193 ; petition to, from Joliet citizens, 312 Canalport, 192 Canals, between river and lake discussed by Chesbrough, 86-89 : Congress has power to aid, 133 J^uut by railroads, 450 ; in England, France and Germa- ny, 450 Canada, 168, 451 Casey, General Thomas L., instructions to Marshall, 289, 292 Carter, Orrin N., elected attorney Sani- tary District, 422 ; term of ofiice, 423 Cass, General Lewis, 223 Cemented clay found in Desplaines val ley, 279 Checagou, 104. 114, 115, 116 Chemical treatment of sewage, 45 Chesbrough, E. S., on increase of filth in lake, 31, 32 ; appointed chief engineer, 49 ; reports to sewerage commission, 52 ; plans of, for sewerage system, 53- 57 ; visits European cities, 57, 58 ; fore- sight of, 58, 59 ; report of, on means to purify Chicago river, 64, 65; ap- pointed city engineer, 69 : proposes to pump water into river mrough cov- ered canal, 70; member commission on deepening the canal, 72, 249 ; recom- INDEX. 469 mends dam across Ogden ditch, 323 ; | report of, on effects of dam, 325 ; rec- onunends conduit in Fullerton ave- nue, 328; apprehensions of, when sewerage system planned, 350 ; recog- nized Desplalnes river method of sewage disposal, 359 Chicago, easy access of, to water, 9 ; loca- tion of, 13 ; water supply of, compared with that of Hartford, 22 ; first water supply of, 26 ; geology of site and vi- cinity of, 26; first water works of, 28, 29; Grovernor Bross on water sup- ply of, 29; first complaints of impur- ity of water supply of, 32; water supply tunnel for, 32-35; its pro- posed method of sewage disposal best, 48; origin of sewerage system, of, 49 ; scourged by epidemics, 49 ; area of limits of, 61 ; sizes of sewers of, 62 ; authorized spend $2,500,000 deepening Illinois and Michigan canal, 73; pop- ulation of, in 1836 121 ; map of, in 1812, 137 ; Act to organize, into drain- age district, 172 ; may construct dam across Mud lake valley, 173 ; future of, as seen in 1829,177 j owes existence to lUinois and Michigan canal, 201 : meeting at, preliminary to river and harbor convention, 217; population of, in 1847, 218 ; sewage of, a nuisance, 314; extent of sewerage of, in 1880, 333, 334; future population of, 352; character of increase of population of , 353 ; extent of future metropolis, 354 ; park system of, 440 Chicago Board of Trade, appoints com- mittee on deepening canal, 72 ; meet- ing of committee of, to consider western outlet for Chicago river, 249 ; representatives of, at National canal contention, 255 Chicago Citizens' association, discusses Bridgeport pumping works, 311; work of, 336-344 Chicago City Hydraulic company, 30 Chicago creek, 177 Chicago datum, 319 Chicago Divide, 117, 290, 429, 431, 432 Chicago drainage and waterway laws, first official step toward, 375 Chicago Hydraulic company, 28 Chicago river, remnant of prehistoric outlet, 13; causes of pollution of, 66 ; condition of, in early days, 92, 93; called Portage river by Marquette, 104 ; title of , originally given to Illinois river, 104 ; origin of, 106. 108 ; condi- tion of, in 1880, 3^ ; city suffers from, 348 ; extent of pollution of, 351 ; Drain- age Trustees resolve take possession of, 414 Chicago river commission, 250 Chicago route for Main channel, survey of, by MarshaU, 294-296 Chicago Sanitary District. (See " San- itary District.") Chicago sewage, possible methods dis- posal of, 348 Chicago water supply, description works of, 366-368 ; cost pumping, 368 Chief enginer, report of, on routes be- tween Willow Springs and Lockport, 419; report of, on routes between Ashland avenue and "Willow Springs, 422; salary of, increased, 423 Chillicothe, 263 Chippewa Indians, 120 Chlorine in water, 17 Chouteau, Colonel Auguste, 136 Cicero, town of, in proposed sanitary district, 339 Cincinnati, 218, 353 City Council, appoints committee on deepening canal, 72 ; authorizes Drainage and Water Supply Com- mission, 345 Clark, Governor William, 136 Clarke, W. H., wrote sketch of sewerage system, 50, 51 Clary, S.. 255 Clay, Henry, 143, 223 Cleaver, Charles, on condition of Chica- go river, 93 Clerk, salary of, reduced, 423 Clinton, DeWitt, 256, 433 Cohn, M., description of bacteria, 38, 39 Colbert, name given to Mississippi river, 105 Coles, ex-Governor, president canal board, 185 ; delegated negotiate loan. 185 Colfax, Schuyler, 219, 241, 255 Columbiana, 269 Commission, to consider deepening Illi- nois and Michigan Canal, 72 ; report of, 74-84 Commissioners to examine drainage channel, 390 Committee on statistics, to collect facts concerning ship canal, 243 : report of, 257 Common Council, committee of, consid- ers western outlet for Chicago river, 249 Conduit, in Fullerton avenue suggested by Chesbrough, 86, 88 ; proposed, in Sixteenth street, 70, 71 ; in Thirty- ninth street discussed by Citizens' association committee, 342 Conkling, Congressman F. A., 241 Connecticut State Board of Health, 18 Constantinople, source of water supply, 11 Contracts, for deepening canal, 84, 86, 250-252; for work between Willow Springs and Lockport, 421 Congress, votes possesses power aid roads and canals, 133 ; passes act aid- ing Illincus canal, 141 ; grants alter- nate sections of land, 150, 151 ; par- ' simonious treatment of canal pro- ject, 151; urged make reasonable grant of land, 176 : makes appropria- tion dredge Illinois river, 208 Cook coimty, geology of, 95. 96 470 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Cook, Daniel P., congresEman from Illi- nois, 1:^9 ; reported survey of Canal, 139 ; introduces resolution concerning canal, 140; appeals to Congress, 142: addresses of, to people of State of Illinois, 144, 145, 176 ; redoubles eii'orts in Congress, 145 Cooley, Lyman E., reports on drainage and water supply, 340; principal as- sistant Drainage and Water Supply Commission, 873 ; author " Lakes and Gulf Waterway," 374; elected chief engineer Sanitary District, ■ 398 ; in- structed survey four routes, 405, 406 ; thoroughness of plans of, objected to, 406 ; resignation of, 408 ; elected Trustee, 411: chairman engineering committee, 417 ; term of office, 423 ; flres first blast of rock, 425 ; address of, at inaugural ceremonies, 429-434 Copperas creek. Act authorizing lock and dam at, 168, 169 ; Act to remove dam at, 173; lock and dam at, 266, 268, 273 ; incipient overflow stage at, 303 ; dam at, to be removed, 388 Corfield, on precipitation processes for purification of sewage, 46 Corning, Erastus, 219 Corwin, Thomas, speech before river and harbor convention, 221 Couch, Ira, 217 Cowles, Alfred, 217 Cregier, DeWitt C. recommends dam across Ogden ditch be raised, 326 ; at inaugural ceremonies, 424 Crouin, Thomas, 425 Crooked creek, 304 Currents in Lake Michigan, 354, 355 Curtiss, Thomas B., 224 Cut-off for Desplaines authorized, 172, 375 Dablon, Father, letter to, from Mar- quette, 103, 104; reports what Joliet said. 111, 112 Damages, sanitary districts liable for. 385, 386 Dams, at Joliet, proposition to remove, 297 ; at Henry and Copperas creek to be removed, 388 Darby, William, tour through West, 118, Datum, Chicago, when established, 319 Davis, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, 197 ' Dawes, H. L., 254 Dearborn, 433 Dearborn, Fort, 118, 192 Decomposition, cause of, 37 Deed of trust to Trustees of Illinois and Michigan canal, 163 Delafontaine, M., 340 Densmore, E. W., 255 De Plein, original form of Desplaines, Desplaines river, water of, examined in 1885 and 1886, 19 ; proposition to turn into Chicago river to purify it, 80 : sur- veyed for new channel, from Bridge- port to Lockport, 80, 81 ; alluvial de- posits in valley of, indicate early out- let of Lake Michigan, 96; remnant of ancient stream, 97 _; description of, 97 ; discovered by Joliet and Marquette, 98 ; origin of name,104 ; Act to improve, 173 ; examination of, by Taloott, 186, 187 ; hydrographic work on, 349 ; pro- posed diversion into North branch, 360 ; cut-off for diversion of, author- ized, 375 ; obstructions in, may be re- moved, 388; Newton and Worthen would divert into main channel, 412 Dibdiuj W. J., experiments of, on purifi- cation of sewage, 46 Discharge of sewage into the sea, 42 Disposal of sewage, on land impractic- able. 356-359; into Desplaines river feasible, 359 Distilleries on North branch, 79 Distribution of population in Sanitary District, 60, 61 Divine river. 113 Division of Waters, 108 Dixon, town of, 166 Dominion of Canada, Act to grant use of canals to, 168 Donnersberger, Joseph, 424 Doolittle, James R., signs call for na- tional canal convention, 255 ; address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 452, 453 Douglas, Stephen A., 164 Doyle. Austin J., elected clerk of Sani- tary District, 398; resigns office ot clerk, 422 ; term of office, 423 Drainage and Water Supply Commis- sion, way for, prepared by Citi- zens' association. 336 ; authorized by City CouncO, 345; purpose of, 346; members of, 347; preliminary work Drainage Channel, basis for estimating cost of, 361 ; consideration of routes for, by Drainage Commission, 361, 362 ; capacity of, 386 ; how to be con- structed, 387; commissioners to ex- amine, 390 Drainage Commission, appointed by Leg- islature, 875; reports Act creating Chicago Sanitary District, 376 Drainage District, Act to organize city of Cliicago into, 172 Drainage of Chicago, involves entire basin of Desplaines river, 343 ; Wins- ton and Hurd bills (or,before Legisla- ture, 374 Drainage problem, demands attainment of two ends, 348 Drainage project, statement to correct misconception of, 418, 419 Duolaux, on bacteria, 39, 40 Duncan, Governor, plea for canal, 183-185 Dunham, James S., 424 Dunlap, H. M., 425 INDEX. 471 Dunn, Charles, 176, 178, 181 Du Page river, 96 Dupre, E. D., on purification of sewage, 46 Eckhart, Bernard A., member legislative drainage commission, 375; elected Trustee, 411 ; chairman finance com- mittee, 417 ; term of office, 423 ; ad- dress by, at inaugural ceremonies, 434-441 Edwards, Governor Niniau, secures in- formation of country from Mackinaw to St. Louis, 104 ; negotiated treaty with Indians, 136; letter to Henry Clay, 143 Egan, Dr. W. B., address by, at beginning or lUinois and Michigan canal, 192, 457; aids river and harbor conven- tion, 217 Eight hour day, law concerning, in sani- tary districts, 382 Eisenlohr, Dr., experiments on purifica- tion of sewage at Munich, 47 Engineering committee outlines policy of Drainage Board, 417-419 Engineering, London, reports of, on purification of sewage, 40, 41 Engineering policy announced by Drain- age Board, 417-419 England, canals in, built by railroads, 450 Enquirer, of St. Louis, on navigation in valleys of Desplaines and Illinois, 120, 121 Erie canal, 442. 457 Estimates of excavation in main chan- nel, 421 Eustis, William T., 219 Evanston, future limit of city, ^4 (Cur- rents in lake extend from, to Hyde Park, 355 ; drainage of parts of, 358 Fairbank, N. K., 255 Fallows, Bishop, invocation by, at in- augural ceremonies, 425 Farwell, Charles B., 424 Felch, Governor Alpheus, 223 Fergus' Historical Series, 93 Fessenden, Samuel C, 254 Field, David Dudley, 219, 225 Field, MarshaU, 451 Filley, Chauncey I., 255 Fish in Desplaines and Illinois rivers de- stroyed, 170 ,FitzSimons & Connell, awarded contract for constructing Fullerton avenue conduit, 329 Flag creek, 360 Flood discharges from Desplaines river, 342 Florida, 111 Floyd, John, discusses grant to canal, 140 Flushing tank for sewers, 59 Ford, Governor, appoints commissioners , to secure loan. 197 ; causes survey of . Illinois river, 260 Fort Dearborn, 118, 192 Foster, Colonel J. W., 243, 257 Fox river, 118, 177, 278, 304 Fox river feeder, survey for, 188 ; imprac- ticable to Summit, 196 Fox, Howard & Walker, awarded con- tracts for deepening canal, 84, 85, 250, 251, 252 France, canals in, 450 Frankland, Dr., on intermittent filtra- tion, 45 French, Governor, shared optimism con- cerning canal, 206 French traders penetrated Desplaines vaUey before Joliet and Marquette, 98 Frontenac, Count de, 99, 106, 112 Fronteuac, Lake, 106 Fry, Jacob, 197 Fullerton avenue conduit, suggested by Chesbrough, 86, 88 ; contracts for, let, 329; description of, 330-332; effect of, on North branch, 332 ; receives atten- tion of Citizens' association commit- tee, 341 ; proposition extend further into lake ; 341 Future population of Chicago, 352 Gallatin. Albert, instructed prepare plan for internal improvements, 124; re- port of, 124, 125 ; referred to natural waterway conminnication between Lake Michigan and Mississippi, 124, 125 ; estimates cost improving com- munication. 125 ; reports finances of country not permit appropriations in aid of canals, 130, 131 ; first official recommendation by, 433 General Government, improvements of Calumet river and harbor by, 300 Geological society of Chicago, 97 Geology of Cook County, 95, 96 Germany, canals in, 450 Gilmore, Arnold P., elected Trustee, 397; signs statement urging amendment of law, 410; chairman committee on federal relations, 417 ; term of office, 423 Gindele, John G , member Board of Pub- lic Works, 72 Glasgow, source of water supply, 11, 12 ; water supply of, 439 Glessner, J. J., 340 General Fry, first boat to pass through part of Illinois and Michigan canal, 201 General Thornton, first boat to pass through Illinois and Michigan canal from La Salle to Chicago, 201 Goldzier, Julius. 424 Gooding, William, member Board of Public Works, 72; member commis- sion on deepening canal, 72, 249; member Board to approve plans Dli- 472 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. nois River Improvement company, 164 ; chief engineer lUinois and Mich- igan canal, 186 : estimates cost* of canal, 189 ; describes country through which canal to pass, 19J, 191; de- scribes canal and cutting, 190, 191; optimism of, 193, 194; gives reasons for change to shallow cut, 398, 199; gives reasons for delay in construc- tion of canal, 199, 200 : removed from office, 200; to collect facts for com- mittee on statistics, 243; report of, 243-247 ; member committee on west- ern outlet for Chicago river, 249 ; sur- vey of Illinois river with Wilson, 265 Goodrich, Adams A., elected attorney Sanitary District, 422 ; resignation of, 422 ; term of office, 423 Goodrich, Grant, 217, 218 Grafton, 262 Graham and Phillips, appointed run line from Lake Michigan to Missis- sippi, 222 Grand river (Mississippi), 99 Gratiot, General, 176 Great Britain, 452 Great lakes, once an arm of the sea, 94 Greeley, Horace, delegate to river and harbor convention, 219 ; answers Da- vid Dudley Field, 225 Green Bay, 101, 102 Gregory, S S., elected attorney Sanitary District. 398 ; term of office, 423 Grinnel, Joseph, 224 Grinnell, Judge Julius S., 402 Grosse point, 355, 356 Gulf of Mexico, 95 Gulf of St. Lawrence, 455 Guthrie Ossian, glacial theory of, 96. 97; reports on drainage and water sup- ply, 340; assists Drainage Commis- sion, 373 Haines and Belfield, bacteriological ex- aminations of water and ice by, 24, 25 Haley, P. C, address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 456, 457 Hamilton, Edward, 32 Hamlin, Hannibal, 257 Hammond, 396 Harlan, James, 255 Harlev, Alfred, awarded contract, 421 Harrison, Carter H., introduces bill in Congress for ship canal, 242 ; appoints Dramage and Water Supply Commis- sion, 345 ; recommends creation met- ropolitan district, 345 ; address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 448H152 Hartford, water supply of, compared with that of Chicago, 23 Havana, 2B3 Hazen, Allen, describes visit to PuUman sewage farm, 44 Henderson, Thomas, address by, at in- augural ceremonies, 443-445 Hennepin, 432 Hennepin canal, Congress authorizes survey for, 287 Henry, 168, 173, 263, 266 ; lock and dam at, ceded to IJnited States, 273 ; incipient overflow stage at, 303 ; dam at, to be removed, 388 Hering, Rudolph, appointed chief of Drainage and Water Supply Com- mission, 345 ; preliminary report of, 345 Hickox, Reuben E., proposed shallow cut canal, 458 Hirsch and Haroun, awarded contracts for deepening canal, 351 History, official, ordered, 459 Hoboken, 353 Hoffman, C. F., urged construction of canal, 121, 122 Hollanders, amount spent by, for canal, 437 Holmes, John, resolution of, in Congress concerning canal, 138, 139 Horton, Judge Oliver H., dismisses bill for injunction agaiust Trustees, 398 Hotz, Christopher, elected Trustee, 397 ; signs statement urging amendment of law, 410 ; resigns, 411 ; term of office, 423 Houghteling, W D., 255 Howard, Dr., 176 Hoyne, Thomas, 217 Hubbard, Gurdon S., 186, 192, 193, 217, 255 Hudnutt, Colonel J O., surveys canal route from Rook Island to Hennepin, 285 Hudson river, 119 Humphreys, General A H., instructs Wilson, 263; concurs with Wilson and Gooding, 275 Hunt, Washington, 224 Hurd, H. B., member Citizen's associa- tion committee on drainage, 343 Hurd bill, passage recommended, 344; before Legislature, 374 Huron lake, 94, 98, 106, 109, 111, 115 Hutt, Louis, 424 Hyde Park, sewers of, discharge into lake, 350: currents in lake extend from, to Evanston, 355 Hydrant water, character of, in 1885 and 1886, 19 Ice, bacteria in, 25 ■ Illinois, population doubled between 1835 and 1840, 152, 201 ; gained Chica-, go and canal, 139 ; became State, 139 Illinois and Michigan canal, steps taken to deepen, 71, 72 ; estimated cost deep- ening, 78 ; contracts let, 84, 86 ; bonds issued, 85 : deepening completed and effect on South branch, 90 ; cost of deepening, 91 ; Government aid of, 135 ; first bill in Congress concerning, 146 ; memorial to Congress concern- ing, 147; national legislation in aid INDEX. 473 of, 151 { abandoned in 1833, 153 ; orig- inal dimensions, 155, 158 ; Act of 1836 for construction of, 157 ; Governor authorized borrow ^00,000 in aid of, 159, 185 ; branch through Sag author- ized, 160; loan of $1,600,000 authorized and Board of Trustees constituted, 161 ; Act ceding to United States, 171, 172 ; five routes for, surveyed, 175 ; survey by Dunn and Bucklin, 178; first proposals advertised for, 188; Gooding's estimate of cost. 188 ; first contracts let, 190, 192 ; work on, formally begun,192 ; causes of delay in construction, 193 ; water power on,194 ; bridges over, 195 ; expenses of, first five years, 196 ; shallow cut adopted, 196 ; feeder to, from Fox river impractica- ble, 196 ; Governor authorized nego- tiate loan of $1,600,000, 196 ; reasons for charge to shallow cut, 198 ; Good- ing's explanation of delay in con- struction, 199; first boat passes through, 201 ; cost of, to 1848, 201 ; dis- tances on, established, 202; naviga- tion of, impeded by scarcity of water, 203 ; importance of, 205 ; tolls reduced, 207 ; loan of $1,600,000 paid, 209 ; cost of, receipts, etc., to 1^4, 210; reverts to State, 210 ; phenomenal success of, 212; Trustees relinquish control of, 213 ; proposed to enlarge, 244 ; cost to 1871,252; repairs, expenses and tolls to 1892, 253; soil carried into, from Ogden ditch, 322, 325; may not be used by sanitary district outside of county, 385 ; Newton and Worthen would lower bottom of, 413 Illinois and Michigan Canal association, 175, 176 Illinois river, water of, examined, 19; formed by Desplaines and Kankakee, 97; called the Divine by Joliet, 101 ; on Marquette's map, 106 ; Act to improve, 173; joint resolution con- cerning dams and waterway of, 173: low water in, reduces business or canal, 208, 211, 213; slack water im- provement of, recommended, 211 ; surveys of, 260; description of, 262; report of Wilson on improvement of, 263, 264; report on, by Wilson and Gooding, 265 ; appropriations by ("^on- gress for improvement of, 266, 267, 269, 270, 288; improvement of, by State, 260, 261, 266, 267, 268, 271; co- operation of State and General Gov- ernment in improvement of. 267 ; Wilson modifies plan to improve, 267 ; improvement of, below Copperas creek, 269; General Government re- quested deepen channel of, 271-273; mistake in improvement of. 274; im- provement of, discussed by Marshall, 303 ; obstructions in, may be removed, 388 Illinois river Improvement company, 163, 164, 165, 261 Illinois State Board of Health, deter- mines rate of purification in canal, 47 ; abates nuisances on North branch, 328 ; urges rebuilding Bridge- port pumping works, 311 Illinois State Legislature, causes survey of canal route, 139; asks land for canal, 141 ; asks Congress for author- ity construct canal, 141 ; memorial of, to Congress, 147-150 ; waterway legis- lation bv; 153-173; takes steps im- prove Illmois river, 260; requests General Government deepen Illinois river, 271-273; joint resolution in, by Senator Munn concerning pumps, 314 Illinois valley, disposal of sewage by way of, 343 Immigration receives impetus, €51 Inauguration of work on main channel, 424 Indiana, 159 Indiana Legislature attacks ship canal bill, 241 Indians, cede territory at mouth Chica- go river, 116, 117 ; cede strip twenty miles wide, 136, 138 Ingersoll, Joseph R., 221 Injunction suit against Trustees, 398 Intercepting sewer, recommended by Newton and Worthen, 413 Intercepting sewers, advantages of, 76, 77 f discussed by Chesbrough, 86, 87 ; recommended by Citizens associa- tion committee, 337 Intermittent filtration, 44, 45 Internal improvements, Congress and, 123-134 ; Washington on, 133, lU ; pro- mote immigration, 138 ; schemes for, injure State's credit, 195 Invocation by Bishop Fallows, 425 Isar, sewage of Munich in, 47 Islinois, lake of, 115 Jayne, Gershon, 176, 181 Jefferson, Thomas, favored internal im- provements, 125 Jersey City, 353 Johnston, Colonel J. E., in charge dredg- ing Illinois river, 260 Johnston, T. T., assists Drainage Com- mission, 373; at inaugural ceremon- ies, 424 Joint resolution, of 1881, 169-171; relat- ing to Illinois river dams and water- way, 173 Joliet, citizens of, petition canal com- missioners for privilege dig ditches, 312 ; delegation from, urges passage Sanitary District law, 376 Joliet and Marquette discover Des- plaines valley, 98 Joliet, Louis, went to Sanlt Ste. Marie in 1669 ; met LaSalle on return through Canada, 99; not received full credit for discoveries, 99 ; sketch of life of, 100, 101 ; account of journey with Marquette down Mississippi and up Illinois and Desplaines, 101, 102 ; loss of records, 102 ; map by, 106 ; foresaw advantages of waterway, 111 ; purpose of expedition. 111 ; made first suggestion of waterway. Ill ; verbal account of journey to Dablon, 111 ; suggestions of. discussed by La Salle, 113-116 474 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Joliet, Mont, named by Joliet, 101 Jones, Fernando, address by, at inaug- ural ceremonies, 457, 458 Judd, Norman B., 217 Judge, Thomas F., elected Clerk Sani- tary District, 422; term of office of, 423 Julian, Congressman, 241 Kampsville, discharge of Illinois river at, 3^ Kampsville lock and dam, located, 270; completion and cost of, 274 Kankakee feeder, 198 Kankakee river, alluvial deposits in val- ley of, 96 ; report of Worrall on sur- vey of, 277, 278 ; discharge of, 301 Kaskaskia, 176, 177 Keating, William H., describes vicinity of Chicago and ancient outlet of Lake Michigan, 106-109 Kedzie avenue, 106 Keith, Governor, memorial of, to British Board of Trade, 109 , Kellogg, Congressman, argues in favor of ship canal, 239 Kelly, Thomas, elected Trustee, 411 ; term of oflSce of, 423 Keough, William, 425 King, C. P., 425 King, John A., elected Trustee, 397 ; re- signs, 411 ; term of office of, 423 King, Thomas Butler, 219 Kinzie, John H.. 217 Lac Mitchiganong, ou dcs Illinois, 105 Lacon, 263 La Divine, name given Illinois river, 105 La Grange, discharge of Illinois river at, 303 La Grange lock and dam, located, 269 ; completed, 270 ; cost of, 274 Lake Calumet, Pullman sewage turned into, 44 Lake Frontenac, 106 Lake, large, best source of water sup- ply, 24 Lake levels. 362 Lake Michigan, location and description of, 13; map of, by Marquette, 106,; height of water in. 318; study of cur- rents, level of, sewage in, etc., 349, 354, 355 Lake of the Illinois, 102, 105, 111 Lake Peoria, 263 Lakes and Gulf Waterway, brief by Lyman E. Cooley, 374 Lake Superior, map by Marquette, 106 Lake, town of, in proposed drainage dis- trict, 339; disposal of sewage of, 350 Lane's Island, 290 La Salle, city of, 97, 98, 164, 166, 167, 173; distance from, to Grafton, 262; dis- charge of Illinois river at, 303 La Salle, Robert de, expected find Missis- sippi emptied into Gulf California, 9S ; meets Joliet, 99 ; map by unknown person after first voyage of, 106; scouted idea of serviceable waterway, 112; memoir to Frontenac, 113; an- swers Joliet, 114-116 Lathrop, Bryan, 344 Laughton's Ford, 182 Law of Sanitary District, text of, 377- 391 ; steps to test, 398 ; proposed amendments to, 410 Lawrence Experiment Station, 45 Lawrence, Abbott, 197 Leavitt, David. 197 Legislature (see "Illinois State Legis- lature ") Leighton,J. M., 425 La Petit Lac, 105,^108 Letz, Frederick, 72 Lincoln Abraham, delegate to river and harbor convention, 219 Lind, Sylvester, 49 Little VermilLion river, 155, 158 Little Wabash river, 168 Liverpool, Illinois, 263 Liverpool, England, water supply of, 439 Loch Katrine, carboniferous matter in waters of. 15; supplies water for Glasgow, 439 Lockport, hydraulic basin at, 193 Locks and dams on Illinois river, at Henry and Copperas creek, 168, 169, 273; estimate of cost of , by Wilson, 264 ; canal commissioners advise con- struction of three morej 268 ; two below Copperas creek decided upon, 270: at La Grange and Kampsville, 274 London, source of water supply of, 10; disposal of sewage of, 42, 46 ; cost of water supply and sewerage of, 438 Long, Major Stephen H., explorations by, 108, 136 Long, Professor John H., examines water from Lake Michigan, 19; ex- amines water from canal, 47 Long Island Sound, 450 Loomis, H. G., 31 Loring, Henry, Jr., 219 L'Outrelaise, name given Illinois river, 105, 111 Louisiana, 115 Lover's Leap, 302 Lowell, 452 Lower Mississippi, 453 Lydecker, Major J. G., succeeds Macomb in charge work on Illinois river, 269 Lynd, George M., 42o MacMillan, Thomas C, member legisla- tive drainage commission, 375; ad- dress by, at inaugural ceremonies, 455, 456 INDEX. 475 Madison, President, on roads and canals, 131 Macomb, Colonel J. N., succeeds Wilson, 267 Macoupin river, 304 Madison, President, < 131 Magnin, on bacteria, 38, 39 Mahl, Dr., investigates water in river, 68 Main channel, route for, adopted by first Board, 414 ; engineering commit- tee recommend change in route for, 417, 418; reports on routes for, by Williams, 419, 422; contracts for work on, awarded, 421 ; estimates of exca- vation in, 421; canal route for, adopted, 422 ; work on, inaugurated, 424 Manchester canal, cost of, 438 Manchester, water supply of, 11, 439 Manierre, George, 218 Maps, early, of Chicago and vicinity, 106 Mariner. Dr., examines water of river, 68 Marquette and Joliet, discover Des- plaines valley, 98 Marquette, fixes Joliet's place in history 100 ; met Joliet at Mackinaw, 101 : fragments from journal of, 102-104: map of, 106, 107 Marseilles, 188, 281, 288, 301, 302 ; extreme flood discharge of river at, 304 ; busi- ness men of, urge passage Sanitary District law. 376 Marshall, Captain W. L., estimates cost completing locks and dams at La Grange and Kampsville, 271 ; instruc- tions to, from Casey, 289; does not favor deep cut across Chicago Di- vide. 290 ; suggests estimates for two channels, 291 ; outlines Chicago route, 294 ; outlines Sag route, 295 ; gives comparative cost both routes, 296 ; descrilses channel below Lockport, 297-299 ; estimates costlarge and small channels Lake Michigan to La Salle, 299; discusses comparative advant- ages Chicago and Sag routes, 299-301 ; states advantages Calumet river, 300; discusses improvement Illinois river below La Salle, 303 Martin, Dr. A. S., on Chicago's early water supply, 27, 28 Martin, William, term of office of, 423 Mason, Hoge & Co., awarded contracts, 42i Mason, R. B., 72, 249 Massachusetts State Board of Health on water supplies, 18 Mathewson, A. J., survey of canal by, 243; surveys by, 336; describes New river, 339 Matthiessen, E. B., 42o Maumee river, 119, 154 Mayo, Henry, 425 McAlpine, J., on site water works, 31 McArthur Brothers, awarded contracts, 421 McChesney, R., 243, 255 Mc Cormick Construction company, awarded contracts, 421 McDonald, Charles A., 340 McKindley, William, 243 Means, Joseph, 425 Mechanics Institute, 196 Memphis convention, reference to, by Corwin, 221 ; proceedings of, 227-230 Mercantile Association of Chicago, 237 Methods of treating sewage, 4147 Metropolitan Board of Public Works, 438 Metropolitan district, cost disposal sew- age in, 363, 364 ; uniform plan for dis- tribution water in, 372 ; limits of, 372 ; biU to create, 374 Miami, Fort, 109, 110 Michigan, Lake (see " Lake Michigan") Micro-organisms, 37, 40 Miller, John S., address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 441443 Millewackie river, 118 Miltimore, Ira, 1% Miner, Charles, 146, 147 Momence, 301 Monroe, President, objects use public moneys on canals, 132 Mont Joliet, 101 Moon, O. W., 425 Morgan, George C, 3:33 Morrill, Justin S., 'Ihi Morris, 299 Morrow, ex-Governor, 221 Moscow, 263 Mount Forest, 326 Mowry, G. R., surveys Illinois river, 260 Mud lake, traversed by Joliet and Mar- quette, 102; description and early history of, 105, 106, 118 ; Chicago may construct dam across, 173 Munich, purification of sewage of, 47 Munn, J. y., 255 Munn, Senator, joint resolution by, con- cerning pumps, 314 Murphy, Francis, assists Drainage Com- mission 373 National Bank, proceeds of, for internal improvements, 131, 132 Navigable channel, across North side, 88 ; along Thirty-ninth street, 342 Neill, Edward D., 100 Newberry, Walter L., 217 Newark, 353 New France, 115 Nelson, Murry, member committee on drainage. 343; elected Trustee, 397; elected president Trustees, 398; ob- jects to Cooley's plans, 406; resigna- tion of, 411 ; term of office of, 423 ■ New Orleans, 143, 218 New river, 339 476 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Newton, John, elected consulting engi- neer, 408; preliminary report of, 411; second report of, 412 ; resignation of, 414 ; term of office of, 423 New York, source of water supply of, 9, 10 ; canal bonds payable at, 157 ; Trustees may be elected in, 163 : meet- ing in, in interest river and harbor ^improvements, 217 ; commerce of, 218 ; population center of, 353 ; character of increase of population of, 353; water supply of, 439 New York, State of, amount spent by, on canal system, 437 New York Times on defeat ship canal bill, 241 Nicaragua canal, 437 Nicolet, Jean, discovered Lake Michi- gan, 98, 99 Niles' Register, 135 Nicholson, John, 125 NUes township, future limit of city, 354 ; drainage of, 358 Norris & Co., awarded FuUerton avenue contract, 329 North branch, best way to purify, 82 plans for cleansing, 86 ; condition of, 92 ; artesian wells for flushing, sue gested, 92 ; fouled by distilleries, 328 artesian well scheme rt^jected, 329 proposition to divert, 341. 343, 360 ; re- ceives attention Citizens' association committee, 341 ; lock in, proposed, 363 Norton, J. L., 425 Oakley, Charles, member commission secure canal loan, 197: criticises Gooding, 200 ; on future of canal, 205 Obstructions in Desplaines and Illinois rivers. Act to remove, 173 O'DonneU, J. L., 424 Official history ordered, 459 Ogden, William B., promotes river and harbor convention, 217 ; incorporator Illinois River Improvement com- pany, 164, 261 ; sewerage commission- er, 49 Ogden ditch (see " Ogden-Wentworth canal") Ogden-Wentworth canal, practicable route by way of, 290: origin of, 320; diverts Desplaines river, 321 ; injures Illinois and Michigan canal, 322; Chesbrough suggests dam in, 323; dam in, constructed, 324; dam re- built, 326 ; permanent closing of, sug- gested, 342 '' Ohio Legislature attacks ship canal biU, 241 Olin, Congressman, 239, 241, 255 Ontario, Lake, HI Ordinance of 1787, 448, 45;! Organic matter in water, 16 Ottawa, land in. reserve'd from sale, 156; independent canal near, 281 ; conven- tion at, in interest ship canal, 311 Ottawa Indians, 120 Ouisconsin river, lis Packing houses removed from Bridge- port, 308 Paige, J. D., 424 Paris, source of water supply of , 10 ; cost of water supply of, 439 Park system of Chicago, 440 Parry, W. Kayo, 40 Pathogenic bacteria, 16, 17 Paul, Colonel Rene, 175 Peck, Philip F. W., 217 Pennsylvania, 147 Peoria, 170, 263 Peru, discharge of Illinois river at, 303 Pettenkofer, says sewage decomposed in running streams, 46, 47 ; experiments on Munich sewage, 47 Philadelphia, source of water supply of, 10 ; canal bonds payable in, 157 ; com- merce of, 218; character of increase of population of, 353 PleifBer, Dr., experiments on Munich sewage, 47 Plein (Desplaines) river, 119, 120 Plumb, Ralijh, address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 454, 455 Poe, General O. M., endorses plan of Mar- shall, 291 Point, the, junction of branches Chicago river, 186, 190 Police power of canal trustees, 165 Policy of Drainage Board, 417-419 Polk, President, vetoes river and harbor bill, 215 Pomeroy, Congressman, favors ship canal, 237, 238 ; promotes canal con- vention, 255 Pope, John, author bill aid canals, 126 ; author amendment fixing northern boundary Illinois, 139, 444, 449 Population, distribution of, in Sanitary District, 60, 61; future, of Chicago, 352 Portage, the, 102, 103, 106, 108, 110, 114 Portage lake, 177, 186, 187 Portage river, 103 Porter, Congressman,of Indiana, opposes bill for ship canal, 240 Porter, Eleazar, 219 Porter, Peter B., favors roads and canals, 126, 130; reports bill in Congress, ISiO Post, Colonel Justus, 175 Pottawatomie Indians, 120 Powell, A. v., gives reasons for exclu- sion Calumet region, 395 Prendergast, Richard, elected Trustee, 397 ; elected president Trustees, 408 ; first message of, 408 ; signs statement urging amendment law, 410; term of office of, 423 Preston, John B., incorporator Illinois River Improvement company, 164, 261; recommends improvement lUi- noisriver, 212; member committee on statistics, 243 ; proposed ship canal. INDEX. 477 Private property, how obtained for sani- tary districts, 384 Proposals, for deepening canal, 84, 86; for work between Willow Springs and Lockport, 421 Public well ordered by Chicago Conncil, 28 Pullman, disposal of sewage of, 43, 44, 350 Pullman sewage farm, 43, 44 Pumping station, recommended by New- ton and Worthen, 413 Pumping stations, additional for Chi- cago, suggested, 370, 371 Pumping works (see "Bridgeport Pump- ing Works") Purification of water in canal, 48 Quin-que-que, 105 Quo warranto proceedings against Trus- tees to test law, 402 Railroad preferred to canal, 181-183 Randolph, Charles, 255 Randolph, Isham, elected chief engineer. 423 ; term of office of, 423 Ranch, Dr. John H., on Chicago and Desplaines rivers and Ogden ditch, 20 ; on discharge of sewage into lake and water supply, 23, 24 ; on relations between polluted water and cholera, 30 ; studies effects Chicago sewage on Desplaines river, 310; recommends rebuilding Bridgeport pumps, 310; examines water of Chicago river, 311 ; tests oxidation of canal water, 361 Reed, S. B.,336 Regula, the, 339 Reilly, Dr. F.W., report on drainage and water supply, 3& ; address by, at in- augural ceremonies, 446-447 Reinhardt, Joseph, 425 Reservoirs, for Chicago's water supply, 31 ; suggested for flushing river, 81, 82 ; discussed by Chesbrough, 86-89 Resolutions, adopted by Chicago river and harbor convention, 224 ; adopted by Memphis convention, 229 ; adopted by national canal convention, 258, 259; adopted at inaugural ceremon- ies, 459 Resources of Sanitary Districts, 437 Riddle, Congressman, 241, 254 Right of way, how acquired by sanitary districts, 385 Riley. Thomas H., noember legislative drainage commission, 375 Rinney, S. A., 425 River a la Roche, 118 River and harbor bill vetoed by Presi- dent Polk, 215 River of St. Louis, name given Illinois river, 105 Roberts, Edward, 176, 181 Roche, Mayor John A., member legisla- tive drainage commission, 375 ; ex- Mayor, 442, 455 Roche-Winston bill, passage recommend- ed, 344 Rock river, 166 Rockwell bluff, 281 Rome, source of water supply of, 12 Romeo, 97 Rose, Orrin J., 72 Route for main channel, Artingstall's re- port on, 414, 415 ; adopted, 414, 415 ; changed, 415 ; reconsideration recom- mended, 417, 418 ; Williams' report on, 419 ; to follow canal, 422 Rumsey, Geerge F., 243; J. S., 255 Russell, W. H., elected Trustee, 397 ; term of office of, 423 Rutherford, William, 340 Ryan, Michael, 197 Ryerson, Martin A., 343 Sag, abbreviated from Ausaganashkee, 179 ; value of reclaimed lands at, 194 Sag hiU, first post at, 432 Saganskee swamp ; 160, 191, 194 Salaries of Trustees and offi.cers, 398 Salt creek, 360 Samos, tunnel for water supply of, 12 Sanford, J. F., 425 Sangamon river, 304 Sanger, Steele & Co., awarded contracts for deepening canal, 84, 250, 251 Sanitary District of Chicago, distribu- tion of population in, 60j 61 ; Act cre- ating, reported by legislative com- mission, 376 ; text of law of, 377-391 ; petitions for organization of, 393; boundaries of, 393, 394; boundaries of, compared with those of Chicago, 395 ; vote on establisment of, 395 ; Cal- umet region excluded from, 395 : ex- tent of, 397 ; first election of, for Trus- tees, 397 ; first meeting of Trustees, of, 398 ; steps to test law of, 398 ; seal of, adopted, 398 ; bonds of, gilt-edged investment, 441 ; origin of idea of, 447 Sanitary districts. Act to create, 173; how organized, 377, 388 ; elections in, 378; duties and powers of Trustees of, 379-381 ; contracts for work in, 382 ; taxes and special assesrnents for, 382- 383 ; liability of, for damages, 385, 386 ; capacity of channel to be constructed by, 386 ; penalty for violation of law by, 387 ; dimensions and character of channel constructed by, 387, 388 ; con- trol of channel when completed by, 389; outside territories may drain into channel of, 389 ; channel to be inspected when completed by, 390 Sanitary News, the, 27 Saprophytic bacteria, 16 Scammon, J. Young, 218 Schaffner, Alderman, suggests artesian wells lor fiushing North branch, 92 Sfholfield, delivers opinion Supreme Court in suit test law, 399 478 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Scrip, issued by canal commissioners, 195 Sewage, discharged into lake, 14 ; meth- ods ot treating, 41-47; disposal of London, 42 ; of Pullman, turned into Lake Calumet, 44 ; canal commission- ers report intolerable nuisance, 314; movements of, in lake, 354; dry weather flow of, in Chicago, 357; total flow of, in Chicago, with storm water, 357 ; proper dilution of, 361 Sewage disposal, by discharge into sea, 42 ; by irrigation, 42-44 ; by intermit- tent filtration, 44, 45 ; by chemical treatment, 45 ; by Desplaines and Illi- nois rivers, 343, 359 ; possible methods of, for Chicago, 348 ; study of, by fil- tration, 349 ; on land impracticable, 356-359 Sewage farming at Pullman, 43, 44 Sewage of metropolitan district, 363, 364 Sewerage commissioners appointed, 49 Sewerage of Chicago, original plans of, 52; plans for, discussed by Ches- brough, 53-56 ; modification of Ches- brough's plans for, 59, 60 ; extent of, 333, 334; description of, 350 Sewers, Chicago's first, 14; plans for flusning, 56; dividing lines of, 56, 57: sanitary effects of, 61 ; extent and dimensions of Chicago's, 62; dis- cussed by Citizens' association com- mittee, 342 Shallow cut canal proposed, 458 Sherman, A. S., 30; John B., 336; Mayor F.C., 72; Robert D., 217 Shorey, Daniel L., 343 Ship canalj between North branch and lake discussed by Chesbrough, 88- urged for military advantages, 231 bill for, defeated by Congress, 232 feeling over defeat of, 241, 242; ob- jected to by Citizens' association committee, 338 Skinner, Mark, 217 Slaughter houses on South branch, 68 Sloo, Thomas, Jr., 154, 175 Smart, on water tests, 15 Smith, Byron L., elected treasurer Sani- tary District, 398 ; term of ofiice of, 423 Smith, E. D., awarded contracts, 421 Smith, Geo. W., elected attorney Sani- tary District, 410, 422; signs state- ment urging amendment of law, 410 ; resignation of, 422 ; term of ofiEice of, 422 Smith, Judge Theophilus W., 153, 175, 192, 193, 457 South branch, discussed by Citizens' as- sociation committee, 341 South Chicago, 354 South fork, west arm of, discussed by Citizens' association committee, 342 Spaulding, B. G., 255, 258 Special assessments for benefit sanitary districts, 383, 384 ^ Spencer, John C, 219 Spoon river, 304 Springfield, 176 Spring waters not free from impurities, 24 Stansbury, Captain Howard, surveys Illinois river, 260 Steele, George, 164 Sterling, 166 Stevens, Congressman, argues against ship canal, 238 Stewart, Andrew, 221 St. Joseph, 355 St. Lawrence river, 168, 185 St. Louis, 118, 119, 218, 353 St. Louis Republican suggests national convention, 216 Stone, MelviUe E., term of office of, 423 Stony creek feeder, 397 Stock yards and South fork, drainage from, 412 Storm water flow of Chicago, 357; of metropolitan district might be di- verted, 360 Storrow, Samuel A., tour through West and comments of, on waterway, 117, 118 Stough, S. C, 425 Sturges, William, 255 Sturgis, Waiiam, 197 Suburban towns, water supply pumping capacity of, 369 Sugar Island, 298 SuUivan, John C, 222 Summit, 102 Sumner, Charles, 254 Superior, Lake, map of, by Marquette, 106 Supreme Court affirms Sanitary District law, 399, 401 Swan, Charles H., .373 Swift, WiUiam H., 164, 197, 232 Talcott, E. B., member commission on deepening canal, 72, 249 ; makes sur- vey Summit division canal, 186, 187 ; succeeds Gooding as chief engineer, 201 Talon, 99 Taxation in sanitary districts, rate of, 382 Thomas, B. W., 340 Thomas, Jesse B., introduces bill in Con- gress open canal through Illinois, 141 ; favors river and harbor conven- tion, 217 Thomas, WUliam, 311, 322, 325 Thornton, 358 Thornton, William F., incorporator Illi- nois River Improvement company, 164, 261 ; canal commissioner, 186 Thorp, Samuel M., 309 Tonty, M. de, 114 INDEX. 479 Trustees Dlinois and Michigan canal, grant permission deepen canal, S4 ; increase pumping to improve river, 85; Board of, constituted, 161, 162, 196 ; Act closing trust, 167 ; relinquish control of canal, U13; statement of account of, 213 Trustees Chicago Sanitary District, du- ties and powers of, 379, 380 ; sucessf ul candidates at first election, 396 ; first meeting of, 397 ; seal adopted by, 398 ; suits against, to test law, 39"^ ; first Board of, makes no progress, 405, 415 ; urge amendment of law, 4(39; first Board of, adopts route a^d resolves to take possession of Chicago river. 414, 415 ; total expenditures by first Board of, 415 ; second Board of, awards contracts, 421 ; adopt canal route, 422 ; list of, 423 ; divert Des- plaines river*, 108 Towpath along Chicago river, 204 Tranch, James T., 425 Tunnel channel recommended by Newton and Worthen, 412 Turner,JohnB., 30 United States requested deepen Illinois river, 272 Van Buren, Martin, 223 "Van Horn, Congressman, argues against ship canal, 238 Van Nortwick, John, 72, 249 Vegetable forms in water supplies, 18 Vermillion river, 304 Versailles, source of water supply of, 11 Vienna, source of water supply of, 11, 439 Voorheis, Congressman, opposes bill for ship canal, 239 Wabash river, 154 Walbridge, General Hiram, 257 Walker, Amasa, 254; Charles, 243; C. H., 254 Wanklyn, 22, 23 Washburne, E. B., 240, 241, 254, 258 ; Mayor Hempstead, 441 Washington on internal improvements, 133, 134 Ward, T. W., 197 Ware, Dr. John D., 424 Water carta in early Chicago, 27, 28 Water of Lake Michigan, condition of, 19 \Vater mains in Chicago, original, 28 Water, when suitable for use, 9; no standard test of organic purity, 15 Water shed between St. Lawrence and Mississippi basins, 13 Water supply, when should be rejected, 17 ; pumping capacity ofj in suburban towns, 369 : in metropolitan district, 372 Water supply of Chicai?o, reservoirs for, 31 ; present system of, 35, 36 ; when first contaminated by sewage, 65, 66; description of works of, 366, 368 ; cost of pumping, 368 ; additional pumping stations for, proposed, 370, 371 Waterway, joint resolution relating to, 173: estimate of cost of, by Wilson and Gooding. 286; policy of State concerning, 272 ; surveys and discus- sions of, by Marshall, 289-306 ; proper size of, 360 Waterways within city, study bf circula- tion of, 362 Water power, on canal, 167, 194; pro- vision for, by Newton and Worthen, 412 Water works of Chicago, 28, 29, 30, 31 Webster, Daniel, 223 Weed, Thurlow, delegate to river and harbor convention, 219 ; reports Cor- win's speech. 221 ; opinion of future of Chicago, 227 Well, public, ordered by Chicago Coun- cil, 28 Welland canal, 168. 451 Wenter, Frank, elected Trustee, 397 ; op- poses amendment of law, 410; elected president Trustees, 411, 416; states policy of Board, 416 ; selects lieuten- ants, 418 ; term of office of, 423 ; raises first shovelful of earth, 425 ; address by, at inaugural ceremonies, 426-429 Wentworth, John, 217, 218 West, Emanuel J.. 153, 175 West, the, taxed for benefit of East, 123 ; United States slow to recognize im- portance of, 174 Western interests, protest against neg- lect of, 216 West Indies, 143 Western Springs, 360 Weston, U. W., term of office of, 423 Wheeler, C. T., 255 ; L. L., 289 White, Andrew, 219 ; Congressman, 241 Whitney, N. K., 255 WiU county, 96, 452 Williams, Benezette, Memoir of Ches- brough by, 58, 59 ; member Drainage and Water Supply Commission, 347 ; elected chief engineer, 419 ; reports on routes, 419, 422 ; resigns, 423 ; term of office of, 423 Willams, Edgar, acting chief engineer, 414 Williams, Edward, Marshal, term of office of, 423 Willing, H. J., elected Trustee, 397 ; signs statement urging amendment of law, 410 ; resignation of, 411 ; term of office of, 423 Williston, Dr., 18,19 Willow Springs. 326 480 DRAINAGE CHANNEL AND WATERWAY. Wilson, General J. H., directs survey lUi- nois river, 261 ; report and recommen- dations of, 263, 264 ; survey of Illinois river witn Gooding, 265; modifies plan to improve Illinois river, 267 Wilson and Gooding, report of, on im- provement Illinois river transmitted to Congress, 275; recommend old canal for enlarged channel, 278 Wilson, Henry, 254 Wilson, Marshall J., suit brought in name of, to test law, 398 Wilson, Thomas, 131 Winston biU before legislature, 374 Wisconsin, 453 Wisner, George Y., surveys canal, 287 Wolf lake, 360 Wood, Bradford R., 224 Worthen, William E., elected chief engi- neer, 408 ; preliminary report of, 411 ; second report of, 412 ; resignation of, 413; term of office of, 423 Worthen, A. H., on creation of early out- let of Lake Michigan, 96 Worthington, Thomas, first to suggest internal improvements by Congress, 124, 174 Worrall, James, conducts stirvey be- tween Lake Michigan and LaSalle, 275: report of, on survey of Kankakee and Calumet rivers, 277, 278 Wright, Amasa, 219 ; Silas, 223 Missing Page -5),V-'