The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-08
OPPOSITION.
A Sterling Man against the
Hennepin Canal.
Objections Raised against the
Improvement. :

| The following letter from Sterling shows
that there is one man in this city who is
opposed to the construction of the. Henne-
pin Canal. His reasons, if so dignified a
term can be applied as found in the annex
ed epistle which was first published in the
| Springfield, Mass, Republican:
| STERLING, H., March "a 19S2.-70 the
| Editor Of tie Springfield lNass.) Republican:
| Permit me in behalf of many citizens of
Rock River Valley to thank you for the
light you are throwing on the dark ways Of
those who are urging Government appro-
priation for the proposed Hennepin Canal.
| The extract from your paper which is pub
lished in The Chicago Tribune of this morn
| ing is nail driven in a sure place. That
your vigorous blows have touched some
tender spots is evident by the efforts of the
editors of The Tribune to cover up their
wounds by resorting to the fools argument
of calling hard names.
THEY CHARGE YOU
with ignorance and malice and are them
selves surcharged with folly and deceit. In
one breath they say 1.-The completion of the
Hennepin Canal cannot possibly assist in
carrying off the sewage of Chicago" and
! in the next that ''an adequate ship-canal
| connecting the great lakes and the Missis-
| sippi would be of vast commercial import
| ance," and that the Illinois & Michigan
| Canal and the Illinois River furnish an
| opportunity to provide that great highway
at comparatively small cost" IF the last
| statement is true what is the need of the
| Hennepin Canal, and why do they wax SO
angry when any one objects to the passage
I,s1I I,zE Co.
| is, this Hennepin Canal scheme is one of
the tails to Chicago's kite They propose
| to get in this entering wedge of an appro-
priation of S1,000,0O0 to begin this side
cut by working up boom for National
highway to cheaper transportation. Their
ultimate object is the deepening and en-
larging of the Illinois s. Michigan Ca
nal, to give them9elves a much-needed
sewage outlet. They know that
COL. MAcoMB,
the United States Engineer who had charge
of the surveys, was right when he said in
his report of Jan. %, 1875, that ''the Hen
nepin canal, without the improvement of
the upper Illinois river, and the enlarge
ment of the eastern portion of the Illinois
& Michigan canal, would be useless as an
outlet for the freight of the upper Missis-
/ ~ advocate the enlargement of the pres
ent canal, knowing that such a scheme
would be too transparent as a local enter
! prise seeking National aid, and so they
| try to hide their ultimate design by talking
| largely of cheap freigh.s and National
waterways in the hope of committing the
Government to the undertaking which will
end in carrying out of the grand scheme
| for their own benefit. 1t thus means not
only 81, 100000 for the first appropriation.
but the final result will be the expenditure
of more than $4,000, 900, and possibly
| 800 600, 600.
THE BILL
now under discussion talks of com
mercial canal, but the friends of the
scheme mean eventually ship canal, and
sometimes forget themselves and admit it,
as the Tribune does in its senseless
attack on you to-day Do you
know Just how much is really in
volved in this wholesale scheme of robberys
The engineers estimate for a ship-canal
from Hennepin to Rock Island is $12, 479,-
$685. The estimate for the enlargement of
the Illinois & Michigan Canal. together
with the construction of commercial
canal from Hennepin to Rock Island is
SEQ. 421, $40. This would give for ship
canal the whole way the snug little sum of
$29, 001 7S9. The records of the War De
partment will show that works of public
Improvement done under the management
of army officers often cost nearly double
the original estimate, especially if paid
for in installments by partial appropria-
tons made from year to year. The canal
around the Des Moines rapids of the Mis-
sissippi River was estimated at So, GOO, 000
but the Government paid about So, 000, 900
for it before it was completed.
THE PROPOSED CANAL
is, as you say wholly within the state
of Illinois, and therefore a strictly
local measure. The whole of
the state is not in favor of it, however,
even if it were proven to be what it is not,
a national enterprise. The building of the
canal over hill which is 207 feet higher
than the Illinois River and ninety-two feet
higher than the Mississippi River requires
the construction of feeder thirty eight
miles long to tap Rock River at Dixon to
furnish water to supply The canal on the
summit for use both ways. A ship canal,
if built, would take from Rock River in low
water over eighty five per cent. of the total
flowage. This would destroy all water
power below that point and thus do an in
calculable injury to the manufacturing in
duSlfleS which are Delnp developed on THIS
river, which furnishes all the really valua
Bile water power in the state. The cities
of Sterling and Rock Island, with popu-
latien of 5000, have been built up by
manufacturing enterprises which employ
an aggregate capital of about $4,000, 900
and annually ship manufactured products
worth Sc, 100000 The building of this
Hennepin Canal would be utter destruction.
We do not think the apparent advantages
of this scheme can justify our humiliation.
can give you many more facts and
figures showing the true inwardness of
this scheme if necessary.
ID. j. JENNIE,
Editor of the Sterling Gazette.