The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-12-18
THE CHICAGO RIVER NUISANCE.

tcnSivc etliuvlum arising IRON chicago sew
age in summer time Is perceived and In fac
no deleterlous infection Of the water takei
place.
But in winter 1t is different The Chicago
river is covered by a thick coating of ice; Sc
Is the canal and so are the Desplaincs and
Illinois rivers. The Chicago sewage passing
into the river Is therefore carried in al unde
cayed state, with all its noxious gases, into
the canal, and being partially decayed by the
time it reaches Lockport the gases find their
first vent in passing there through the lock OF
the escape Of all the gases before the diluted
sewage is again carried under the Ice and finds
a second vent in passing over the dam at ollet
sending up another fearful stink. But still un
exhausted, it again passes under the Ice and
they have another dose of the stink as 1t passes
over the dam at Marseillcs, and again rs it
passes the open rapids at Ottawa, and any
where along the river, away down to Peoria
and even to Its mouth, the Chicago stink
steams up from every alrhole IN the ice.
Such being the facts, the remedy for the Chi.
cago stink anywhere this side Of Bridgeport
seems to be simple and obvious. Close the
locks with the close Of navigation at Bridge.
port, and allow no water from the Chicago
river to pass into the canal during the winter,
and there can no stink from that river by any
possibility get this way.
But we are at once met with the objection
that such closing of the canal would cut off
the important water power at Lockport.
To avoid that contingency, let the Jenne plan
be adopted of supplying the canal with water
during the winter from the Desplaines river
and the Calumet feeder. The cost would be
tlfing and from the letter of Mr. Jenne pub
lished in the Joliet papers we infer that the
people of Joliet propose to bear the ex-
pense themselves At any rate, with a hint
from the Legislature, the canal board, in their
interview with Joliet committee the other
day. intimated that they would not be averse
to making the Improvement at the expense of
the canal revenues.
But while this plan will relieve Lockport,
Joliet and the whole river region from the
Chicago stink, it brings no relief to Chicago,
cry the denIzens of that afflicted village. While
the offensive gases from her sewage are I'M
prlsoned under the ice in winter the city needs
no relief. In spring, when the ice has melted,
put the hy.wheels of Fullerton avenue to work
and open the gates and start the pumps at
Bridgeport, and in few days Chicago river
can be purified.
"But" howl the Lockrort and Joliot PEG.
pie, "what kind of relief is that? You shut
up the Chicago stink during winter only to
thrust upon us a greater flood of it in spring
and summer" Nonsense. With the rivers
and canal open and their waters basking in
the sunshine, no noxious or offensive gases
from Chicago sewage will ever infect the at
mosphere beyond a few miles south OF Bridge.
port. There is no poison in Chicago sewage
except what in warm weather, rises rapidly
to the surface and passes off in the form of gas.
The rest sinks to the bottom and becomes COM
mon earth or mud, and very little if any of 1t
ever passes the gates at Bridgeport.
There is great delusion on this subject
The sewage of Chicago is drop in the buck.
ct compared to the sewage cast into the river
Thames in England. Above London it re-
ceves the sewage of the great cities of Oxford
Reading, Windsor, &C.. and at London the Of
!al of three millions Of people. Yet at Its or
binary stage the waters OF the Thames above
London are as clear and pelucid as our Fox
river, and five miles below London the waters
of the river show as little faint of London sew
age as they 90 five miles above.
1t is delusion, again, hat the gases arising
from city sewage are necessarily poisonous to
any dangerous extent. They can become so
only IN dead water where the decaying matter
emitting them is allowed to accumulate in
great masses and to send up an overwhelming
stencil. But rs long as the water of Chicago
river is changed once In "a hours no danger
to that city will ever arise from her sewage.
AT present, and for five years to come, il is said
that the pumps at Bridgeport and the Fuller.
ton avenue conduit can change the water of
Chicago river once in "a hours. After the five
years are up there is no remedy for Chicago
save the proposed ship canal and towards the
construction OF that Chicago must bend all
her energies As her only hope.