, 1865-01-13
FRIDAY. JANUARY Is. 1865.
THE CANAL AND RIVER,


%[4s
In matter of this Importance It is obyiou
! that your city should avail itself Of tho cou
bintd wisdcm OF its best citizens, and notwitf
standing the necessity for prompt actor
nothing Should be done without due dclibe,
alton, for this Is question which must atfec
the we'll being Of your city for all time i
come. Not being citizen Of Chicago, II ma
Seem like presumption in me to be continual
presenting my opinions upon this subject
but if they are of no practical value, I trns
that they will do no harm. III don't happe,
to be citizen myself, have many old an
valuable friends who arc, and I heartily CON
miserate their suferings, but at the sam
time, hope their sufTelings will not ceas
until they hare produced some efficient ac
tim.
The true condition Of tue river yas we1
described, | think, in an article BY e. c
H." published by you short time since. q,
does mol N the least exaggerate, and doubt
"To raint the fly aud add perfume to the violet
We're wastefu1 and ridiculous cxccss''
But &C. ". G." pounces upon the articls
because 1t does not suggest q remedy. Is ii
not highly proper that the dangerous condi
stood before It is determined to pay the doc
tor large bill to effect cmc2
am glad to see that there Is now q dlspo.
eiti6n manifested to effect a radicnl cura u
OF the evils under which yuu arc suffering,
whatever temporary. remedies may be up:
never ior a moment doubted that the only
mode Of cleansing the Chicago River, that
Gun prove entirely satisfactory for all time to
come, will he to drain through the Canal
This will prove constant and uniform cur.
rent Of water from Lake Michigan through
the river aud prevent any Of its contaminated
wnte1s rs; from ron srtaching the Lake. But what
In letter to you Of The 10th ult., publish
ed in the DAILY TRIBUNE, Of the 2lst, ex
pressed the opinion that tho "dccp cut" or
the original plan Of the canal, could be com
p1eted, in ordinary times, for &, OK, GOO, and
it has generally been supposed that thi:
would afford ample drainage. Upon thi;
point, however, as well as the cost there will
doubtless, be difference Of opinion, and the
public will care more for the data which !
Ehall present than any individual conclusion:
which may have formed from them.
The whole amount OF excavation to CON.
plete the Summit division If the canal upon
the original or :. deep cut" plan, as calculated
from actual levels, but including u supposed
quantity deposited since thcse levels were
taken. is Us follows:
l. From Chicago river to summit, earth
exc, s0O, ,0UOc. yards.
2. Summit to rock sections below the srg.,
{canal stcts. It to II inclusive, earth exc,
1,17,oV C. yafas: NM
COO c. yards.
3. Srss- tc Lockport Or running out to luke
level, RICK exc, 26I 400 c. yards.
The character Of the excavation is well Dc.
flued, except the middle portion from section
II 10 81 " here it changes SO frequently and
is so variable that it cannot be given with
aN(R1}c. Yards is earth. Int IL 1nust hc 1,ntfs.
stood that it Is u ,sry lard earth. largely
Intcrn;iy,d With handlers or r-rayrl Va
1link The most OF If can be excayafed with
owcr;ul steam drefires and with s,,ch mn.
Films none Of thr cYcayation between Chi
cu..v river and Summit would be at Iii dill.
cuIt, There Is nr0hahly some on 0) r. yarls
fntWecr SL,nmft and So {secs' II tn a.,
WEicl, is enbrd;ed rock. or a material as hard
TO cxcayete rs rock. and some of It Drobahly
tso,-e ''' t0~'@' 1&3~> - f'000''
Tbr o;;1 4O0 r. Yards +o he excarated hr.
tween 1he sag and LocsDort is upon the r1,.
ccmplc cd rt;ck scctiou, where the charactrr
OF the lock is we'll understood.
llr excavation Of The quantities named.
T6uid make the sectional area of bic caual al
low water in Lake Michigan, 2S8 feet in e.rth
excavation. where the bottum is 81 feet and
the slones ! to 1 and :s24 fcet In rock eycaTa.
tion vii, re the sioIes are to below 1op-
water line, and n 10 above. the surface be-
iue co tett throuebout. md the miuimun
depth 6 feet. The dccliyity intended to be
piyen. was 10 100 of n foot ner mile. but nrac-
ticaliy II wilI tc found little less. Th{s u
trem: Low stare Of thr lake. however. seldom
occurs. It Lueinr bcen thus low only tar[c
fi5,.Gs III 70 ttars, and Ille dtpSa Of water In
the canui ut Chicago river would generally
cSces.d stsxn, and would sometimes IL more
than ssiae feet. --.,
dhs dee'isity n the t3nm would be TRUE
less than IN the Illinois Eiytr irou1 L1sai:e to
its mouth; ; but tue current, being unobstruct-
cd, would he considerably greater thaa In the
river al q lo" stage:
It may Ge pr'1'ef 10 remark thaL II lae sum
nit should he CUT oo%n 50 - 10 entct drain
age, II "ou!a f'Fopaoly u 1onno eAl'-dieht 70
cnange iae slopss ~ sne eaI.n eSsasa1'on s1s
the worA woulu pe ,e ogns ;,d1 manly " steam an
dreogcs), making lne ooto" "1aef anu LIE
slopes less.
FROM the foregoing 19ets 3out WISE men ~
may determine tGc Probable cost Of doing the
work and the sufi'ctency OF tae drainage. 1t
il, at any rate, Very clear that al The work
done in this direction would accomplish
double purl'osx- It would effect 9 drainage
nnd furnish an abundant supply Of water tor
the Canal, dispensing with the necessity Of
the pumping works md the Calumet feeder.
One objtcti''n waicA may be urged AGAINST
the plau Vi cutting uoHn Lie Caua! summit
to open d Drainage this Why, Is the time which
would b. required to execute The work With
ont iu:cIlta ing materially with the nay1ga-
ti'n. think that It could be done In three
years, aud possibly less. II any plan can be
devised to give you relief tor three years,
which y i'll not involve . large expenditure
by the city that would be rendered useless
after the completion OF the deep cut, " 1t
would unquestionably go far towards securing
the adoption Of this plan. l am unable to
devise any method Of temporary relief except
the uBe OF the hydraulic works at Bridgeport.
If II were certnin that these "Works''
would be US essential to the navigation Of
the canal in the future as in the past" it
would hardly be expected that the Canal
Trustees wonld consent to their heIno usrd
tn anv cent extent for any other Dnrpose
fhan t},af. for sxh,cI, they were constructcd.
But If the work upon the "deep cut'' we're
in progress, with d probability Of It's compile
ton within reasonable time, The case would
be uatcrial]y different
But to operate these "works" up to their
full capacity, would be very expensive, as 1t
would he found 10 operate any aoo,ks erected
csprcially to cleanse the river By flushing,
which would be at all adequate 10 the pur-
1use. TO give certain facts in relation to
i,umpipr water for the canal the past season,
ISL afford some data for calculating the cost,
THE following is an extrect from SIR. Guth-
"During thc season We have run on ninety
and M 1sa s1 1eyniutions. raising al each reyo,
lution 1000 cubic feet Of water, mixing The
tota1 ,,,rnber nf cuhic feet raised 7,S {l34 :,