The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-22
The Succession Of Springs" Theory
and the atmospheric Origin"
Guess are nToo Thin"

GueSSy are LOO 401ns
Nothing has yet been said or published
which SO thoroughly convinces common
sense people that impure water is the
cause of the scourge in Rock Island,
(which, we are glad to say,is now, with the
improving quality of the water, decreas-
ing,) as the letter Of DR.. Truesdale. OIL
course there are people who must oppose |
the theory that the water had anything to |
do with it, because THE ARGUS was the |
first to present the question to the public, |
but their organ puts its foot into it" badly |
in suggesting "a succession of springs
along the shore" as reason for the melt
ing of the ice earlier there than at the |
channel. Of course DR.. Truesdale didn't
leave a trap there for the atmospheric
origin" people to step into-but their
organ stepped into it as follows:
Does DR.. Truesdale remember the season when
there was not an air hole the Rock Island side
of the river? That air hole, sometimes a continu
Gus open channel sometimes not, was feature of
the river here before Rock Island had a sewer or
Moline dam. The temperature couldn't have
been elevated by sewage when there was no sew
age. better solution, would be to ascribe it
TO Its real ause, which Is succession of springs,
emerging from the bed of the river along the
shore.
Everybody knows that from the first of
December to the last Of January the river
was frozen tight to the shore aud solid to
the bottom all along the shore aud out to
the channel. and there were no air holes
during all that time. This was a very
unusual occurrence, and it was not only
true here but was true of hundreds of
miles of the river above u.s. 1t was closed
as etfectually as an iron water main, and
the sepage and sewage found its way un-
der the ice straight 10 the channel and
straight to the conduit. AS a general
Eddy, above the Davenport pumping
works, strikes with force on our shore,
above the St Louis round house point, and
causes an open space most of the winter.
But this winter ice formed to the bottom,
on the sand bar running down from the
Island between Sylvan water and the
main river, and the force of the current
was not sufficient to keep an air hole open.
Let any man go down to the river to-day,
and look at the long ridge Of ice running
from the point of the Island down
in the centre of the river and
in front OF the town, and he will
perceive the truth Of Dr.. Truesdale's ref
ereuce to two distincts currents or streams,
divided by sand bar. The ice now seen
rests on that sand bar, with a current each
side of it, and during December and Jan
uary the usual current of water was thus
INSTRUCTED The water was also damned
out from the shore by reason Of the solid
ice-soiid to the ground and out some dis
lance from the shore. Thus the sewage
and sepage all the way from the pumping
works to the Moline slaughter works, above
that city. were carried by the rapid cur
reut straight and quick to the conduit:
straight and quick as if confined IN an Iror
tube
DR.. Truesdale began to describe thi
| lDdjlcE VI SEWAGE duu SdIO hC sew
age from the Moline paper mill is perfect.
enormous; hundreds of pounds of filth,
rags being ground and washed daily, tn
filth Of which goes directly into the rive
and down stream, the Lord only know
, how far, under the protecting care Of tn
ice" And then he described how sewag
had been increased, and gave it as hi
paion shat it was ten times create
thaa 4nring any previous winter"
Now. after Intelligent people haze con
= sidered the color, the filth and the diseas
h that come from rags. and the chemical
/ FROM the rotted straw, let them conside
: that the shops and mills of Moline emplo
n more than 1000 men who daily add to tn
= sewage entering the water; and that a
4 the poisoned contents of all the sewers an
. cutters, and al the surface filth, an
slaughter house DRAWINGS OF Molin
= (which is rapidly increasirgl comes dow
= the slough. Then come down to Wagner
! brewery-a large stream continually. The
). think Of the low ground drainage in IL
4th ward. Then come down to keator
- mill. covering a large basin of low groun
a. filled with decaying matter, and overflow
II ing and sepiug into the river. The
II Hubers brewery-as bad as Wagner
j. Then the large sewer under Adams stree
: draining large, low basin, loosely fllt
for whole blocks. Then the immen
Jefferson street sewer, a constant strea
of milk warm water carrying aw;
III all the filth of the Harper Hou
OF and from many other buildin,
i i connected with it, and from Robinson
K block, Darts block, and the Union ofic
on Washington street, and along Orleal
street to the Bellows House ard all tn
region, through pipes put down |
u Mathews. Then the sewer from Bengston
o. block, Buford's block. etc, to the rive
D. Then the sewer from the Rock Islar
III House and vicinity to the river. The
u from the Pork House, st. Louis depot al
III all that region. Then the Jail, and so
y down to the pumping works-including Il
d. sepage through the shell rock from scor
10 of low lots, filled with loose materi
which is rotting and decaying all Il
u while all these are the succession
Vi springs along the shore" spoken of
the Union, the proceeds Of which a
'e enough to poison nation. DR.. Truesda
aS did not enumerate all these and mu(