The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-01-15
WHO POLLUTEs THE ILLINOIS RIVER

The cry OF Indignation that has gone 81
along the banks of the Illinois river from Jol
let to Peoria on account Of the pollution of it
waters by Chicago sewage, has brought The
denlzens of that mediterranean city to a reali
zation that patience on the part of the sufferers
has ceased to be Il virtue and that something
must be done to abate the nuisance. What
Chicago Tribune says the cure will not be eff
ieCted by closing the canal against the waters
of the Chicago river for the Illinois is polluted
by the sewage Of other cities as well as Chica
60 naming Joliet, Morris, Ottawa, La Sale
Peru, Lacon, sc. The Governor thinks the
proper remedy is to dilute the Chicago river
water in the canal with those ofthe Desplaines
river and thus lessen the stink; and Mr. Engi.
ncer Jenne, Senator Mum and other wise
heads apparently concur in that view, and are
moving for connecting the Desplaines with
the canal and re.openlng the Calumet feeder
Now any plan that involves the idea OF din.
tt0A is arrant nonsense. All the deletcrious
matter i'll the Chicago river, in winter or sum-
mer floats in the surface foot Of its water, and
all the water, winter or summer, that passes
from the Chicago river into the canal includes
that surface foot. Any diution of the water of
the canal by the Desplaines river or the Calu.
met feeder, without excluding that surface foot
from the Chicago river, would therefore be la
Dor in vain. There is no remedy for the Ill.,
nois river pollutlon-and any man with three
grams Of common sense knows it-except the
total exclusion OF the waters of the Chicago
river from the canal in winter and time or
money spent Oh any other remedy Is foolish
waste. And all the remedy for which there is
the slightest necessity need refer only to the
winter season, when the river and canal are
covered with ice There is no poison in the
sewage of the Chicago river-wlnter or sum
mer, no matter what its quantity or quality
that does not pass off In the form of gas soon
after It's deposition in the river In summer
time all the gas has escaped before the waters
of the river passing into the canal get five
miles beyond Bridgeport, and in winter before
they get to LOckport, If the canal is free Office;
but whether the gasses in question pass off
within an hour or n week after the Chicago
sewage is borne into the canal is of no conse-
quence, for passing into the air and mlngllng
with its oxygen, those gases at once become
harmless and afford no ground for complaint.
But when the canal and river are frozen over
it Is different. The sewage is carried into the
canal and thence through the gates at Lock.
port into the river with all its noxious gasses
confined under the ice and mixing with and
poisoning the water, and to such an extent
that 1t kills the fish in the stream and spreads
dlpthcra and typhus in its whole dreadful
wake. This must be stopped, and it is the
height of foolishness to contend that it can be
done by any amount of "diIuuon applied to
the Chicago river water IN the canal. There
is no remedy but total exclusion in winter,
and sooner or later that must be applied--or
there Will be war!