The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-06-07


when the kankakee is high. river wall
Of upwards of 80 feet in height has been
lain upon the outer slope of the canal bank
for The protection of the same against abra-
slons for distance Of nearly 2! miles.
Upon the lower or western division Of the
canal, the route is still in the immediate
valley oflhe river NOW called the Illinois, ,
and on the north side of the same the
bottoms are lower than the above. and the
ireshets rise higher, consequently greater
precautions become necessary, and have
been adopted to secure the banks against
The injurious effects of inundauons.
The average height of the ireshets upon
the summit division is from 3! to 4 feet
above ordinary low water. AT the Kan
kakee ordinary floods are about l2 fee:
above low water, and the highest to "a
feet ditto. At La Sale an ordinary food
of the Illinois river is about 5 feet. and
the highest yet known is about 81 feet
above low water.
Below the Du Page sandstone occurs
and suPplants the limestone formation
At Ottawa bed of limestone is found re-
posing upon the sandstone. At the Little
Vermllion, near the termination of the ca
nal. the limestone appears again. Some
Of this limestone forms an eXceIen, mate
rial for masonry. while there is large
portion Of it which is unfit for this pur-
pose. The best yet discovered and
worked is at Juliet and the Little Vermi-
lion, particularly the latter. 1t is an en-
ceIIent building material. In both cases
it is quarried with great facility, and ii has
been extensively used in locks and other
structures upon the canal.
The entire line Of canal constitutes three
divisions the first called the Summit Dl.
vision, extends from the eastern terminus
to the head of the first lock at Lock port, a
distance including miles of Chicago
creek of 34a miles.
The middle division extends from the
first lock to the upper end of section al,
between Troy and Marsellles, and is 374
miles long.
The western division from section III
to the western terminus of the canal at
La Sale 29i miles.
The modification which it is proposed
to make in the plan of canal affects the
summit division alone, the middle and
western division will remain unchanged.
Between the 20lh and 3ith mile there
are locks of l0 feet lift each, then fol-
lows "A level (ihe Juiei) Of eleven miles,
extending to the Dn Page river; two
locks at the end of this level unite with the
Dtesden level, 8 miles in length. lock
of eight feet lift connects the Dresden with
the MarseiIes level, 81 miles in length.
The decent to the Ottawa level, 10 miles
long, is effected by two locks Of 81 feet
each. A short level of /! miles then in
lervenes, and is followed by level of s
miles in length thence Two levels of 9
miles and nile respectively the former
with | lock and the latter with locks,
connects the canal with the Illinois river
At several points on the canal extensive
basins have been constructed, and prepa-
raions have been made for supplying
water for manufacturing purposes.
The section of the canal is as follows ::
in earthwork GO feet wide at surface, 3G
feet at bottom, 6 feet dcep tow-palh 10
feet wide BERN bank 7 feet wide slopes
2 to | area Of section 2SS feet.
The section in rock 60 feet wide at sur
face, 4S feet at bottom, 6 feet deep ;
slopes below the surface of the water to
|, above the surface to 4, area of the
section 1924 feet.
The length Of the canal in full cxcava
iion is 1922 miles. in embankment 7
miles; and in excavation and embark
ment combined it is 500 miles,
a y
We now proceed to exhibit the propo-
sed modification of the original plan of
the canal, and to show the probable cost
of completing tho work, upon the suppo-
sition that this modification will be adop-
ted as a substitute for the original.
1t will have been sem in The preceding
description of the canal, that it was inen-
ded TO draw the supply of water for the
summit level from Lake Michigan; il,
will also have been seen that this summit
level of 80 miles in extent, constituted
the most difficult and expensive portion
Of the canal. In the estimate which was
made by Mr.. Gooding, the engineer, in
1890. the whole cost of the work was
stated to be Ss,G5i,O00; while $3.50
600 of this sum was for the excavation OF
the summit division alone.
Now, according to the present esli-
mates. the cost of completing tho summit