The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-07-26
the CT co DRAINAGE CANAL.

During the last three years Chicago
has spent more than ten million dollars
In the construction of canal which Is
to turn portion Of the water Of the
Great Lakes along an old glacial out
let into the Mississippi valley, and car
ry the sewage with 1t SO diluted that
1t will not be meance to the health
Of the Illinois valley through which 1t
Is to flow. Ten million more dollars
will have to be spent before the canal
is in active operation; but the
work is prosecuted with such
energy that its completion Is
looked for within the next two years.
This is not to be canal is in active op-
Grafton; but the work Is prosecuted
with such energy that its completion
is looked for within the next two years.
This Is not to be canal with locks to
regulate the flow of water, but an open
channel 100 feet wide at the bottom.
and Is feet deep, with plans for deep
ening 1t still more in the future. When
first opened 1t Is to discharge 10000
cubic feet OF water per second, which
is about per cent. of the amount now
flowing through Niagara river When
the population of the city shall exceed
100000, the quantity of the discharge
is to be increased In proportion to the
excess. The amount of the original dis
charge is so great that the engineers
estimate that 1t will raise the low-wa-
ter mark of the Mississippi one foot at
st. Louis.
The accomplishing of such an enor-
nous enterprise is rendered possible
by the peculiar physical geography of
! the Great Lakes. Lakes Michigan and
Huron are practically on the same wa
ter level, about $50 feet above the sea,
while Lake Erie Is only eight feet
lower. Lake Superior Is in an indepen-
! dent basin twenty feet higher. The
basin of the lower three of these lakes
is so deicately poised that only four
| feet of rock and two of gravel at Chi
cago prevent them from spillng oven
into the Mississippi valley at high wa
| ter. The rock bottom of the Niagara
where II leaves Lake Erie, Is only
thirty feet lower than the rock shelf
which forms the barrier west of Chi
| cago. An elevation of fifty feet at
/ Buffalo, or depression of the same
amount at Chicago, would reverse the
drainage and make the four upper lakes
tributary to the Mississippi. This plan
for the disposal of Chicago's sewage
4 has been devised by the city and the
/ State without formal consultation with
/ the other parties whose interests may
be affected by it. 1t seems to be as
| sumed that, since the canal Is wholly
| within the territory of Illinois, It is
not necessary to consider the other in
| terests involved But the cities along
| the lower lakes are Just beginning to be
| aroused to a consideration of the pos
sible effect of this scheme upon the
= level of the lakes, and upon the depth
, of the water In their harbors and In
the channels which have been deepen
ed at great expense to facilitate COM
! merce to their ports. The Cleveland
! Chamber of Commerce has just petit
toned the secretary Of war to inves-
tigate the matter at once.
The total drainage area Of the four
upper lakes is 250,000 square miles,
with a rainfall of about thirty-one
inches. II we reckon that from 35 to 40
| per cent. of this Is now discharged
through Niagara river (Which is lib
eral estimate), 1t would make the
amount to be about 100000 cubic feet
per second. Major Ruffner estimated
that the diversion of 5 per cent. of
the water flowing into Lake Erie will
probably reduce it's level nine inches.
| The Chicago engineers, basing their
calculations on earlier and less per-
feet data, have been reckoning on a
lowering of the level of from three to
five inches only. But In view Of the
shallowness of all the harbors on Lake
Erie, and of the fact that the United
States has but just completed its work
of deepening the navigable channel two
feet at cost Of $1,000 900, even the les
ser estimate Is by no means an insig-
nificant item. Furthermore the engi-
neers in charge freely talk Of divert
ing Is or 20 per cent. of the water Of
the great lakes into the Illinois, SO as
to give such continuous volume to
both that stream and the Mississippi as
to make both navigable at all times to
the largest steamers. If this canal
shall be adopted by the United States
as q part of its system of internal navi-
CATION, 1t seems evident that the gen.
eral government will be called upon to
protect the other interests involved
from injury. If 1t is not adopted as a
national waterway, 1t will be an inter-
esting question whether the cost Of
repairing damages can be assessed up
on the city of Chicago, which is to re-
ceive the direct benefit from this d.
version of public waterway.
1t must be confessed that the bold
ness of the Chicago engineers, and the
promptness with which the city is pro-
ceeding to carry out their plans, are
scarcely less than sublime. In olden
times this project of Chicago might
easily have become the occasion OF a
war between the East and the West,
or between Canada and the United
States. But there will be ample time
to prepare for the remedy Of incidental
evils before the canal shall become a
fixed fact; for SO vast are the stores OF
water in the great lakes that four or
five years would eiapse before the full
effect of such diversion as is con-
templated would be felt upon the lake
level 1t ceI talnly Is remarkable that
the solution Of most difficult problem
in disposing of a city's sewage should
render financially practicable one or
the boldest schemes for the improve
ment of internal navigation which have
ever been entertained by engineers
| L.. .B,