The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-12-06
cRoss SECTIONS OF FAMOUS CANALS.

per some Of the interesting things that
q told nee q few days ago by Lyman
e. Cooley of the board of trustees of the
sanitary district.
when Chicago began to grow great, !"
said Mr.. Cooley, land, you know, we
claim that it's the greatest town in the
country now, we began to be troubled
with our sewerage. We had to drain
into the lake, and as we also have TO
take our water for drinking purposes
from that inexhaustible natural reser-
voir we didn't like the situation. Now,
everybody knows that the territory on
which Chicago il built is low and fiat,
and that it is naturally drained by the
sluggish stream known as the Chicago
river. The Illinois or Desplaines river
rises to the north, not many miles from
Lake Michigan, and flows south, passing
Chicago, to the Mississippi. At one
point near the city the watershed be-
tween the two rivers is very low-so
low, in fact, that when the water is
high some of that which should pass
down the Illinois to the Mississippi over
flows the dividing line and flows into
Lake Michigan. At such times the trou-
BILE, always r~egrettable. is very. bad in
deed, and it has long been realized that
some time it must be remedied.
1.-THE way III which this remedy could
be applied has always been clear
enough. Nothing could be simpler in
theory than to cut q channel direct from
the lake to the Illinois river, deepen
the channel of the latter so that the
water would surely flow south and
then empty the sewers into the chan
mel. If Lake Michigan were ten feet
higher than it is, there is no doubt that
its outlet would be here, and that a
great river would fiow southwark
through the valley OF the Illinois TO the
Father of Waters. The difficulties i'm
the way of cutting the needed channel
were, however, very great. I'm order to
insure sufficient flow to take the sewage
away without too great contamination
of the Illinois, which would work mis-
chief to the towns ON its banks, the pro-
posed ditch would have TO be O mann
moth one that would cost an immense
amount of money. Then there had TO be
special Legislation, and it took years and
years to get that. Finally, however, aft
err long protracted effort, the proper
measure was put through the state leg
islature in 1889. This was known as
the lock and dam bill. After that the
drainage district, covering the territory
be benefited, had to be organized SO
as to levy the proper taxes. Il would
take too long to tell of all the separate
steps, but ground was finally broken on
Sept. IA, 1892, and the work has been
going ON ever since.
1.-THE total cost of the work when
completed will not be far from $685.
900, but considering the length of
line, 500 miles, and the magnitude of
the work, il will be the cheapest achieve
ment Of the sort, so far as money
cost is concerned, in the history OF
engineering. The channel must, by the
terms of the law, be of sufficient di-
mensions to carry not less than 800, 600
lcubic feet Of water q minute, with a
current not exceeding three miles an
hour. AS q matter of fact, the channel
where cut through the earth provides
for a depth of 90 feet and il 202 feet