Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-08-24
THE BIG SWINDLE.
The Kankakee Draining Co., and
the Rights of Land Owners.


The Kankakee Draining Co., and
the Rights Of Land Owners.
From the ndienapol:s Journal Correspondent
When the Legislature passed the Drain
age Law in 1869, and the Supplemental
act of 1871, it was never contemplated by
that body that it should be used as an
engine of oppression, and means where
by great corporations composed Of Wall
street capitalists would be enabled to rob
the citizens of the State out of their lands
1t was undoubtedly contemplated that
land owners in counties, townships and
local sections of wet lands would form
organizations to assess tine benefits on
their own lands, and by. united action,
would perfect q system of drainage, which
could not be done by single farm enter
prises But the intention of the law
makers is being frustrated, and under the
forms of the law, most gigantic land
scheme is put in operation, that threatens
!
County S513, ,956; in Lake county, $780,
694 in Jasper county, s619,661; in Stark
county, se64, 116; in Porter county, $780,
G,:i; in Laporte County, s1,G09,674, and
in Ct Joseph county, s62, 034-making a
grand total of s4,637,122 which by law
becomes first hen upon s24, ,672 acres OF
land situated ia said counties, equal to
! 81 AZ per acre. And all of this is pro-
posed to be done under the pietense OF
draining the land By the Kankskee Val
ley Drainage Company, an organization
under the law with corporators: Geo. ".
/ Cass, of Pittsburg, who does not own one
acre of land in these counties; Geo. VI
Mcconnell, Of Angola, Indiana, who has
no land there; w D. Wright, of Cincin
natl, who owns eighty acres, and eight
other persons, seven of whom are resi-
dents of Indiana and profess to own II
acres each, up to 900, and one 1lr. n. d
Howell, of South Charleston, Ohio, whe
says he owns $500 acres. And the entir,
land owned by these corporators lying il
these counties amounts to 5000 acres
Now the owEers of 1920 acres, not wortl
to exceed $4,000, propose to assess 81,
667. 1872 upon 81, ,872 acres Of land, owned
by citizens of Indiana, many of whom
live in counties remote from the district
and owned by non residents; and tolssu
% 10000 in bonds bearing interest at te1
per cent. due in twenty years, principa
and interest payable in .. S. gold coir
: in the City of New York, free from O. s
Government taxes, and secured by frs
lien on 624, ,872 acres of land situated i
the seven Northwestern counties of Indi
ana" quote from the prospectus of III
Company. And this $2,000,00 may b
increased to S4,637,122 if the Compan
: shall estimate the cost of the work to ths
amount; and it is no great feat to so e!
innate the cost, and indeed TO spend tha
amount of. money, when the corporation
furnish none of it, but it all comes out {
the land owners.
This is proposed to be done under IL
Kankakee Valley Draining Company,
corporation organized ''for the purpose {
= constructing a main channel for the Kai
kakee river, and opening lateral ditche
and clearing out the channels of the trib,
taries of said river, so that the gener
surface of waters of said Valley shall
n lowered, and all the surplus and accum
lating waters of said Valley will flo
:, freely in and be speedily carried throug
si said channel, and passed out of said Va
ID ley"
Mr.. Editor, l propose to show that
these eminent philanthropists(?) shou
spend two millions of dollars 'construo
J. ing main channel for the kankak
river, in and through the State of Indian
d that not one drop of the surface waters
,d said Valley shall be lowered, and speedi
: carried through said channel and tn
= their disinterested labor of love will
lavished upon an unworthy enterpri
r. and forever lost, and there will be none
ry mourn, other than the owners of the 60
572 acres of land that is so elegantly de
GRATED and embellished with $4,000
ay twenty years ten per cent. gold bono
re- prineipel and interst payable in gold"
What has caused the waters to stand
AT the Kankakee Marshes? At Momen
= in the State of Illinois, which is eig
miles from the State line, in a direct lir
=, and sixteen miles by the river, the roc
nd which is known as the Niagara formatit
hh crops out to the top of the ground, a
d. gradually dips east and west, and form.
BE great natural dam several miles in {
,pt tent At the apex of the outcroping,
erected mill dam of seven feet in hig
. which flows the water toward India
nearly to the State line This water po
md er has been improved since 1912 /
! Kankakee Valley Drainage Compa
: will have to remove this dam and wa
power, and then for several miles throu
he Illinois make rock excavation of ]
nal al less than four feet, before the pent up Y
at ter which trouble these unhappy phil
rm. thropists will flow freely in and
sne lsts speedily carried through said chann'
and This fact is established bv a GOvernm