Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-08-05
FOOTS ALL BILLS.


Already sSOOO.O 900 of these five per
cent. bonds have been issued Accord
ing 20 law One-twentieth must be paid
of and retired each year, and so far
100000 have been retired.
Work on the canal was begun on
September 8, 1892, after nearly three
years had been wasted in Quarrelling
and wrangling.
OF this gigantic ditch, which joins
the Chicago river at ROby street, in tha
southwestern part of the city, and ends
at LOckport. short distance above
Joliet. ten miles have been cut through
solid rock. very often to depth Of
thirty-six feet; ten miles more through
bed rock. underlying tough boWlder
clay. and the remainder through river
muck and glacial drift TO minimum
depth of thirty-eight feet. The chan-
mel that has been cut through the rock
is 100 feet in width, with vertical sides,
while the portion uaversing hard
bowlder clay is 210 feet wide al the
bottom, with sides slOping out IN prism
shape. These wide portions make up
twenty miles of the length Of the canal
while the remainder eight miles, which
traverse soft earth and can easily be
drcdged out to full ship canal width al
and time necessary, are but 1lO leet
wide on the bottom, with sloping sldeS'
MANY DIFFICULTIES
have been encountered in the work,
the most pronounced being a stretch or
ten miles of solid limestone bed rock,
although by the use Of steam channel
ling machines this was cut through.
Another difficulty to be overcome was
the DesplaineS river. an eccenulc
stream which crossed the path of the
canal several times, but this was over
come by cutting a new channel LOT the
river the length of thirteen miles ana
turning the Desplaines into It. Thls
Improvement cost Sl,OOO,OOO, but II
saved a lot of trouble.
While the river diversion was belng
constructed the flood waters OF the river
we're taken care Of by a huge spillway,
builr at the head of the diversion, this
being dam of 397 feet in length and
sivreen feet high. made Of concrete,
canned with stone and flanked with
wings of stone When the Desplalnes
is high. as il truly is at the time OF tnS
spring freshets. the excess over 5OO'OVV
.cubic feet per minute finds II way over
This dam into the Ogden Ditch ana
thence through the Chicago river lh'o
Lake Michigan.
Naturally enough. this also SENDS lne
fltb of the river into the lake TO mlhSIe
with Chicago's drinking water, nut the
something had 10 be done to protect tne
drainage canal. and this appeared TO be
rba hest and easiest thing TO do. Chl-
cago did not demur at this because oil
tbe protection to the canal. and 1t trust
ed m Providence TO allow as little Oh the
river filth TO get into the drinking water
as possible.
Relow Joliet there is quite fall, ana
the general government. in order to pro-
vide p navigable channel between CHI
c9eo and the Mississippi, would be COM
Delled to build succession Of locks
mat would be somewhat expensive.
Just at present
THE SEWAGE QUESTION,
and not the problem of ship canal,
is bothering the people here 1t is 2S9
miles from LoCkpOrt, the southern emu
of the drainage canal, TO the junction
of the Illinois with the Mississippi riv-
er. and although with the completion
of the Chicago canal One-half OF the
work necessary for the creation OF ship
canal to- the Father of Waters Is done,
f. IS not anticipated that the govern
ment will be i'm a hurry to spend Sl5.-
GOO 600 or so i'm this operation. No one
anticipates the speedy realization Of the
shin canal project. Ii is true that the
Chicago members of Congress more than
q wear ago succeeded in securing a
for a $4,000 appropri-
alton TO widen and deepen the Chicago
river. but being merely recommended
ton the appropriation is not an actu-
ality.
These enthusiastic men are contem-
plating this big ditch from every pos
s;ble point of view. The advantages of
A SHIP CANAL
are set forth in glowing colors, and it is
suggested 20 the government that any
investment made 20 this end would be
a paving one through the medium OF the
tolls to De collected at both ends, to
saw nothing of the cheapening of the
fraights both east and west. The San |
i.arv district owns nearly seven thou |
sand acres of land along the line of the !
canal which within the next twenty !
years will be worth, according to the es-
innate of competent judges. more than !
the entire expenditure of the canal in |
addition to which il is expected 10 bring |
a large revenue from its dOckage priv !
ieges and the leasing of its water pow |
err. The Drainage commission obtained !
this land at a very cheap figure. I'D |
i'm addition to this the completion OF |
the canal will be the means Of reclaim !
ing many thousand acres of land that !
have been lying useless. This means
an addition of many millions of dollars |
to the taxable lands of this region.
Among other things ngineer Cooley !
estimates that il will cost $4,000. 900 10 |
deepen the Illinois river making the |
depth fourteen feet between La Sale !
and Grafton. the latter being thehead OF
for largecraft. while the coss |
90 make the same depth Of water be- |
tween La Sale and Joliet will be 81 |
l0O. 000-a total of $120000O0. This ex-
pense is TO be
BORNE BY THE GOVERNMENT.
while the Drainage Commission is per
fectly willing to spend between $4,000 |
coo and 100000 to develop the water
power between Joliet and Lockport, the
southern end of the drainage canal.
1t is estimated. also. that about three
hundred thousand acres of bottom land
could be reclaimed through these inn
thus adding some S25,OOO,-
GOO to the wealth of the State. All
these things. however. are in the flu
ure. and a matter Of years, for the gov
80 -L,-,.,, ,D,- fov-e7-icb