The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-12-05
CHlCAGO'S CANAL.
1t Is Hard to Grasp the Vastness o,
the Undertaking,

the Undertaking.
- The drainage canal which Chicago is
building between it and Lockport is near
drrful undertaking.. Work on it is iii.
vided into twcnty-nine sections. Given
under contract To twenty different and re-
sponsible firms, the work on all thes,
subdivisions is in full progress. and OF
two or three of them and that in the
most difficult Icck; parts already fill
ishpd.
The width VI the great trench at the
bottom is nowhere less than no feet on
the first niue sections from Chicago,
while on other sections it will be- !.
feet. t. be reduced again to LEO feet. a
large part of the excavation has To be
made through a solid ledge of limerick,
underlying the track of the Desplaines
River. The width of the upper edges OF
the huge ditch will vary from l62 to 3OI
feet. the former width prevailing only
on the ten solid rock sections of the eX.
cavations. where the walls are vertical
and not sloping down ms on the remain
ing nineteen subdivisions. which are ex.
cavated by digging. shoveling and dredg
ing.
The clear water depth will be twenty.
two feet. This will be uniform through
ont, even ut the lowest possible 'condi
ton of Lake Michigan. which will feed
the canal at the rate of 100000 cubic feet
Il minute aud later. when the bottom
width of the first nine sections shall have
been enlarged to 300 feet. at the rate o.
100000 cubic feet of water Il minute.
90, From the estimates recently made there
. will have been removed by 1897. when il
is expected the canal will be completed,
1000. 439 cubic yards of earth. or IN
other words. nearly two-thirds of the eX
cavation of the newly opened Baltic canal
fye-sixths of the Manchester canal. two,
tiftlls of the Suez canal and three-tenths
of the abortive Panama ditch. OF the
100000 600 cubic yards of eXcavated soil
clay. gravel. broken stone and crushed
primeval rock fully l2.WO0.0ON cubic yards
alone will belong To the latter class. max.
ing the Chicago enterprise II really uniqu.
one.
A stroll along the works Is highl.
novel. One sees big dredgcs. tanked by
flying bridges and gigantic SCOOPS. lad
ling up whole loads of dirt al one sweep
One sees leviathnns of machinery eX
pressly invented and built To dispose of
the loose. stone rubble aud blasted piece,
of rock along the SECOND half of I'll.
big Ditch" Under the name of ''can
tilcyers." they tower like "blique gallows
of antcdiluvian mon>lrosity over the land
scape. loosening. hitting and removing
tons of blasted rock with no more eXertioI
than that with which children handle
their toys.
Along with these and kindred cyrlopit
devices. there is Il whole army train -
steam, gas. water and electric motors to-
yethcr with from i.W0 to 5000 men. tan
teams. numlprless graders. carts anc
trucks. and finally an array of h~lastint
machinery. needing five tons of dynu
mite as their daily bill Of fare. During
one month recently l.1GO.6l6 cubic yards
of earth and rock were cXrayatrd and The
cost of this one months work Amounted
to $685. .O5',.
In the beginning the cost of the work
was estimated NJ between S1O.'hDJ.Un ant
SD. OOO.OOO. but ii is now estimated that
al least :iu.ON.WU will suffice 20 ON
plctc the work.