The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-06-23
UHICAGO'S GREAT DITCH.
- Win Connect Lake Michigan
With the Mississippi River.
The following interesting article Is
from Chicago special correspc rdent

from a Chicago special correspo rdcnt
OF the St Louis Globe Democrat.
Al he rate o. ssDoo cubic feet minute
ChltA.re'~ drainage will - earned south ~-ri
- tht gulf That i the measure ~ Interest
vhich 81 Louis has In the big ditch being cut
. feet deep ia the limestone ridge betwf a the
basin OF Lake Michigan and the Miss s.Ppl
valley. A r0x 0: 6ol.Coo eGlle feet . .nalaats
mean gccd-lxed water course II viii
empty Chicago river ave times "a twenty-four
hour. and allow II 70 I'LL often with clean
water from the lake II Is equal % 01c-StxtE
Of the whole volume Of the Misslssippi Al -,
Ioli~ when the river l. a. l0@ stage Through
tn rock part % the biz ditch this eoo'
cume feet minute wif make a body OF water
To- feet wide and 70 feet deep the >ucx. Pana-
M aud Nicaragua canals are an smaller than
this IL appears that the ditch IT, Ike 50
maly other Chicaso projects the biggest ever
undertaken
couple Of rnilions % tr-lars have bccn
opent rwo-thirds Of the whole distance Is
rnIer contract. But for labor troubles based
on suttTathy 10 black help. and on a hope %
something better than Is cents an hour. there
would II 2 5so men delvtng IN the ditch - day.
Contracts let call for the completion n three
year. from this lime The ditch may not t~
entirely ready for the water In the spring o.
Lei l~lt not much later than that Lake Nj hi
ga ~in ~ what II once was. tributary ~ the
Gi~>i~slppi
Tae man who will be made famous. IL the
. heme fuI6Ils the expectations based upon Il.
f. l. y Cooley He l. the father OF IL With
o. experience " years on the improvement ~
she Illinois the Missouri and the Mississippi.
III Cooley came 20 Chicago In i--s aad showed
OF PAPER low this fat city q. The fOrzs OF
sluggish bayoa cosld solve the vital question
OF drainage and ~ the same act secure ship
QUILT % the gulf OF Mexico O1iv Mr. Cooley
- t~ss - p =
sive mind the commercial purpose Is the main
one. The drainage % the whole city OF Chi
case = merely an incident assured He speaks
OF the work a ship canal. not drainage
c.f-h
What will this soco cutie fee, minute
C. 70 The river Al St LouLsf Mr. Cooley was
asirct
N will add about aper cent 20 the nominal
low water fOw ne said Il was in - Louis
Ctr years under Gen. Suter when ne had charge
Of the government work on that part % the
river From my knowledge gained then. e.
ttulsf- this Lakf Michigan contribution will
raise the river about foot or foot ane 2 iaths
o. how water Al Grafton the increase vii be
IL feet BelOw Cairo the addition will te
from : 70 inches But white that much water
VII ~ added. tie good eject On navigation
vii n" greater More will pe gained ~ scoar-
m out the bottom than ~ raising the surface
A deeper channel than that rnuth additional
SteGmboatmen have long claimed that FOO,
rise out OF the Illinois river gives double that
Increase In channel depth below while a foot
yise n the Missouri will r. luce rather than in
Grease channel depth This j. terause the Hi
noi> in<rea-a T. clear wafer with great scocr-
fng power while the Missouri water i loaded
with lit which deposits Nr Cooley Sp1ile OF
thss IN support o. his theory that the - Per
cent added % the volume % water ~ -
Louis when the river l. low j. 0riy abou. half
what will ~ gAinei in channel depth
But what will be the eject high water"
vas asked
Al times OF fool = was the reply this Cow
from the lake will add about III per cent 20
the volume In the case Of high water like
thai u II. say doubt II the addition would
amount TO an inch. A. matter 0f fact how
ever. t1<- THIS view Amy addition ~ low
water will 80 improve the channel as 10 more
than compensate for the addition. This i'm
pr0vemenf Will enable the channel 20 carry the
high water on lower plane. The more nearly
high and low water planes approach the more
static the stream becomes look for less dan
ger from foods in the Mississlppi with the add
sion 81 this steady fow from the lAke~
Chicago builds the ditch from her river 10 the
Illinois at Joliet She has cStabli she Z . taxing
district including the whole OF the city -orth OF
Ninety-eiShth street and strip outside OF he
city the wcs
urlSr
taken-~ said George " Dawson. the principal
Assistant attorney. authorizes q 5 mills tax
A. present valuations this Fields a -s0.00 .
gear. As the outgo II more than this tax the
district Is authorized TO make a special is-ue OF
bonds We have sold se.v0Os Of par cent
bonds at premium. The income from the TAR
will grow valuations increase Under the
law the intcrcs; and principal are 70 te paid OF
within twenty years The total cost =
expected ~ fall within s5oo0oa There
ran he no charge for tolls on the canal
but The act providers for an income
frOr the canal ~ the construction aud rental
OF dcsk~ Dock privileges along the Chtcaza
river are very valuable They are 50 valuable
that they seldom change hands The sanitary
District. A. ], l. called elects nine commission
err Tor hvc-year terms and they are the GOV
ernlng fofy. We have already paid out f0r
right of way about ~ .ss0or. We have con
csmned 500 acres and secured a strip from
I'm ~ |, so feet vide the % miles OF the
route below summit From summit in 70 she
river the ordinance authorizes a 20 acquire a
strip so feet wide On that part OF the route
80 shan have TO deal on \ ta~is OF city lots
and the risht OF way will he more expensive
Tn land felow summit We acquired at from
- 70 81 an acre. We had 10 buy ont thrcr
lArvr Ice plants AZ % en- $1,000 and sfsDys,
Also stone company At sis5 90 That swelled
the cost OF riSat Of way considerably.
The work begins 10 make 4 good c..al o,
show soon after leaving Joliet coniinz north
by the Chicago 4 Alton. the Traveller -ers great
pyramids and ridges ~ freshly broken lime
rock This Il the spoil" The canal - let a
secilons 81 about q mile. The lower mart Il Al.
mort entirely In rock. There j. about a foo, on
enrSA and then comes Limestone. The cut Il
TO- feet wide. aui In such a place as Fftx.
pasrirks M0lnd' the lotion l. as feet helow
the surface In other sections the depth il Is
feet An average depth Of much ~ tn work
viii lc n feet The bottom Of the canal will lie
q feet below the water level OF the lake.
When finished the canal will he a thfnx OF
beauty There are only four curves in the
whole thirty miles. There-are straig ht reaches
Of eight and ten miles While the width r. 10
rect In the rock with perpendicular sides IN
the earth portions IL will be go feet wide az the
bottom. and 20 fee, wide at the surface 81 the
water. The current flowing southwark will be
mile and a quarter in the clay sections and
Two miles an hour in the rock From The edge
on 10th sides the contractors arn required 70
leave clean space OF 20 feet Brycnd sha.
they heap up the spoil mountain high Each
cousra, TOR has his own idea about the cheapest
mci'fct 70 ret the mgtsrsal ont % aha cut
and iron the dump Some run train.
Of nat cars In and out moving the track - n.
work progresses. Others have cables stretched
arrc~s their sections and raise the material IA
haarp HsYc ~rfrh ,.,s - assA IA