The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-12-06
FROM CHICAGO.
II LAKE TUNNEL FoR SUPPLYING TIE
CRY WITH PURE WATER.
correspondence of the Springfield Republican.

CHICAGO, Nov. %, 1865.
This city which has a more promising
future than any other on the continent. is
built on a plain almost perfectly level,
and but a few feet above the waters of
Lake Michigan. Hence it has always
been quite II problem how to secure a
good supply Of unexceptionabIe water.
That Obtained from ordinary wells, in
former years, was never anything but the
teachings of the surface, and the supply
furnished by the noble system of water
works Mt the present has too often a re-
voting im%pregnstion Of the sewerage and
river, fed by all the customary filth OF an
American city, AMI seconded by the san
guinous and oleaginous products of innu-
merable slaughter pens, packing houses
and tallow factories. The Chicagoans.
with true western good humor, gulped
down the %noxious mixture, which, when
the south wind blew softly" was over
fragrant with the evidences Of IN o tality,
and always t%riumphantly fell back on the
declaration that there was good water in
the lake, and they would have it. SO
Tor the past eighteen months or So they
have been boring for water %perpendicu-
larly and horizontally. On the extreme
western side of the city. the two artesi AN
wells, three or four inches in diameter and
four Or five feet apart, strike the same We in
of water at II depth of 720 feet. Their
daily flow is about coo, 900 gallons Of
wonderfully pure water. The other en-
terprisc, upon the success Of which Chi
cago rests its hopes of purc water in the
future; is now in progress, and is one Of
the most brilliant and daring conceptions
in engineering ever known.
On the site of the water works, about
half a mile north of the site of the lar-
Dor On the lake shore, a shaft, consisting
Of cast iron cylinders eight feet in diam
cter firmly boltel together, has been sunk
to the depth Of cighty-six feet. From
the bottom Of this shaft, u tunnel is being
%excavated, five and n half feet in dame
ter, directly under the lake. The ma
terial is tenacious blue clay, with here
and there a small boulder. BY the cour-
tesy of Col. Gowan, the experimenting
partner of the contracting firm Dull s.
Gowan of Pittsburg), we will step an the
platform Of the hosting apparatus, and,
sustained by a single wire o p as big as
your thumb, down, down we 90 with the
sensations Of a man who is fast losing
friends and reputation. Arrived at the
bottom we are scarcely more comfort
able" as Ndr. Cough says, when crouch
ed together on a little platform Car three
feet by four, we catch II glimpse Of eyer
mule"-the diminutive quadruped that is
to draw W. through the 400 'ert of
this brick tube, that lies thirteen fathom@
below the l;cels OF the dancing schooner.
over our he ads. But we shut our eyes.
az this same mule, with ali the rugged
virtues of his race, pulls Us over lhi, liier
al 'und ,rgrCund railroad TO whore the
workmen, with pickaxe and trowrl. hr,ck
anc cem mt, are loilins night an iay
(they are both alike ,ioSn there IN fin
ishing fourteen feet every twrnt, four
hours, Of this unique III d wonicrtuI s;ruc-
turr. We pause Il moment 10 hear the
iAiSu " lISN III fppNt u. an '
think of Chicago thirty years ag,, AMI
then hurry back To fresh air, that n'vtr
seemed more grateful. Look now off On
the lake. and Just two miles from shore
in a straight line, you will see a gahled-
rooted structure that looks rs if it might
be a half sunkrn hoase. That is ''the
crib and marks the future terminus of
the tunnnl. Taking the company's tug
from CLARK street, in twenty minutes we
are out there, and find it is a pentagonal
structure of timber and iron, and could he
inclosed by the circumference of IA circle
nineiy-fve feet in diam ter. 1t was
built on shore, launched in July, towed
out To its present position and sunk in
thirty-fve feet of water. 1t contains
100000 feet of lumber, and is ballasted
with 5000 tons of stone, packed in its
compartments. Its centre, which Is hol-
low, and full Of water already, has tie
huge iron cyliader-co2nterpart of that
on shore-which is to be driven down in
tc the clay, to the level of the tunnel,
and then the excavation will be pushed
on from this end to meet that from the
shore end. The work il to be completed
in a year from January, at a cost of
S350,O00.
Tho water in the lake as far out as the
'crib'' is perfectly pure and unrivalled
in the west for all the uses of humanity.
With the completion of this bold under
~taking-in its inception and prosecution
truly wcstern-and the deepening Of the
Illinois and Michigan canal, now under
contract, Chicago will have n drainage
and a supplp Of water which, together
with her noble breezes, will make her
the healthiest city on the continent.
MAX.