The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-06-07
THE DAILY CAIRO BU1LETN MORNING, T. 1882

| ub"lho' '"'", "'th'"S '"' q bVuh iooi VIII
do that, And had the city's bottoms all
been filled to an equal height with the av
enues during the last flood, the sipe water
would have been almost entirely excluded
but the 10, 1874, 1903 barrels of rain water
which were in the city, as shown by the
statement in Sundays BULLETIN, obtained
from Sergeant W, II. Ray, would have
covered every foot of ground in the city to
depth of just twentyfour and fOrty-three
onehundredths inches, which, as shown by
the same statement, was the amount of
rainfall during the four months ending
March 3lst when the sewers were opened.
Filling up to anypoint less than high
sipo water mark, or to the depth of only
two feet, MS is proposed by the Grand
mother Argus correspondent would not on
| ly have the effect of raising the level of
the accumulated rain water, without afford
ing means OF drainage, but would not pre-
vent sipeage TOT any degree whatever. The
new layer Of earth which it is proposed to
spread only in the bottoms, would be satur-
ated with water as soon as the rivers rose
would then be perforated like a sieve with
crawtish holes, post holes cellars
and vaults which would per
nit the inflow of water from the
rivers with the greatest freedom. Besides
this it would not extend to the tops of the
ridges, some OF which are higher than the
avenues and where the water was seen to
boil up during the late unplcasantness in
streams SIX or eight inches in diameter.
Filling up also meets with legal difficulties
II is a question TO be settled in the courts
whether or not the city authorities could
force property owners to fill their premises.
| Some argue that water covered lots are
nuisance and the owners thereof may be
compelled to abate such nuisance by filing
| up. But 1t is a question to be decided in
a court Of law whether the lot owner Is To
blame for the shallowness of his lot. or
whether the city is to blame for the imper.
feet drainage-it is an open question wheth-
er lot owner can be compelled to abate a
nuisance which exists because OF the city q
failure to provide perfect drainage, and
whether, it is the lot owners or the city's
duty TO provide proper drainage.
As before stated, pumping alone has been
tried and has failed 1t does not seem rea
sonable at all that the largest pump in the
world would have been capable of Keeping
the city dry during the late flood. And to
procure as many pumps as would do 50 and
run them, would be such drain
upon the city treasury every year as would
soon become an unbearable burden. Fur.
thermore, by pumping the water out of the
city all the pressure counteractng that
brought to bear from the outside would be
removed, and the flow Of water into the CITY
would be constantly increased the outside
pressure would force the water through the
many natural inets more rapidly, increase
the dimensions of those inlets constantly.
and would ultimately render it necessary
to increase the number Of pumps in order TO
remove the increased quantities of water.
In the absence or any positive knowledge
OF the formation of Cairo's bottom, it is not
possible to say whether or not pudding,
If carried out as proposed, would be entire.
~ eilectua. But, as previously stated, lift
Ii true that the rivers communicate with the
basins inside Of our cvccs only by means
OF ridges OF sand which are themselves sur
rounded by stratas ofclay earth, then pud-
ding promises complete, permanent, eco
nomlcal relief For just as closing all our
present sewers would prevent the Ohio rv.
or water, when high, from coming into the
city, 80 would the Mississippi river be ex.
cluded by cutting off the sand ridges at
point just outside the levees.
Trouble that you'd be met with, would be
crawtish which would probably perforate
the underground embankment of clay; but
this could be prevented by lining the outer
side of the ditch with plank previous to fill
ing it with clay. Ifpuddlng can be made
to do what il is now claimed it can do, then
there would be an end to all accumulated
water within the city. 1t would prevent
sipcage, and also provide surface drainage
by enabling the rain water to settle in the
sand ridges from which the river water
would be excluded.
But supposing that an examination of
the ground proved that pudding could not
be made effective, then it would seem that
combination of filling, pumping and pud.
ding would certainly give the desired re-
suit Fill the basins with good earth and
prevent sipcagc there; cut Off the high
sand ridupg Inv nu1dlinO thnm iua, ,,,,,;l