Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-08-31
CANAL COMPLETION
Work on Hennepin Hampered
by Lack Of Funds.
THE RIGHT OF WAY PROBLEM
What HISS Been Accomplished-The Mo-
line BridEe-What IL Now Being Don, In
Farthering the Great Pr oject-The Out


line BridEe-what IL Now Being Don, In
Farthertng the Great Pr oject-The Out
look.
Capt. L L. Wheeler, OF Sterling.
engineer in cha-ee of the Hennepin
canal coDstruc ion, was in Davenport
last week. He is now at work on the
securing of right Of way for The canal
along the Rock river feeder, by
which the water supply is to be
maintained at the summit level
Just at this time rights to over 1000
acres Of land are being secured for
ilowage purposes. At the juncture
OF the feeder with the Rock river an
elevation Of the stage of the latter is
needed if the water is to enter the
feeder at level high enough to carry
it on to the canal " hich it is intended
to supply, and in order to effect this
elevation The river will have to be
damned. This will cause the over.
flowing of good deal of good land
at this point, and the eviction of the
farmers must pre- csde the construc-
ton OF the dam. Once in while q
farmer is fouud who resents the in
trusion of the engineers, and one or
two have stood the men of with a
gun, but the United States has SO far
proved big enough to back them up
in the prosecution of the work. As
a rule the exercise Of little tact is
81 flicient to induce them to meet the
engineers half way and deal with
l hkay IN n wi lu Thsa \. 20
the condemned land is not going to
be a small one. Much If it is the
finest of farming land, and worth
300 an acre. aud, beside this, the
condemnation costs are not confined
to the value Of the land taken. 1t
often happens that field is cut into
odd-shaped scraps, and farming in it
is made very unhandy, and in some
cases the canal absolutely cuts the
owner off from his land. In these
cases there is consequential damage
to the whole tract, and it is not a
small proportion of the cost of the
right Of way. The right of way for
the feeder has been secured and paid
for. The right for the upper end of
the main line of the canal is being
secured. Sixteen miles of it, tie lin
ming at the village Of Hennepin, a
miles above the mouth of the canal
just below here, has been secured az
paid for, and erhaps 20 miles. 1t is
possible that by this time "a miles
has been secured under contract.
The payment is made in 4-mile Sec
tions. There is enough land for
, right Of way now in the hands of the
government to give employee en-. tC
thousands Of laborers, if the appro
priations are only made for doing the
work.
MONEY Is Needed.
As for the money in hand now
available for work. Capt. Wheeler
told the Democrat, it is d eindling
growing smaller by degrees and
beautifully less, and it is going t.
evaporate altogether before long
unless congress pours some more in
at the buughole t. supply the steady
stream at the spigot. BY the tim'
the land now under contract is Sc
cured, expenses Of surveying anC
cost of land both being settled, ther'
will not be over $40. 600 left, not t.
take account of the salaries of tn,
engineer corps, which must be main
tanned to do the necessary larry,
amount of office work. Congress,
must soon make appropriations o
more money if the work inside tn,
office and outside of it is not to com,
to a halt.
The engineer was somewhat ap
prehensive at first that there nigh
be considerable leakage or seepage o
water from the canal through il
banks. Toward the lower end
about half way between Silver ak,
and the mouth of the canal, an i'm
mense gravel bank was cut through
1t was stacsed 20 feet high above tn
water line, and for half mile bot.
embankments were made Of that ma
terial and no other. There was fea
that the WAFER would percolat
through this gravel as it doe
through a filter. Capt. Wheeler ha,
grave fears that the government
might be forced TO buy some OF III,
neighboring farm land on Big islam
in order TO appease the claimants 70
damages on account of overflow thu
D caused. However. his fears in thi
direction were all groundless. Tn
banks have made scarcely show o
leakage, even where they were ex
pccted to show the most, aud ever
day that passes settles ,hem NOR
solidly and makes them tighter
The older the canal gets the better i
becomes. This is enc radical poin
OF difference between the wav of
canal and q railroad.
Moline Bridgp.
: The matter Of the Moline bridge i
not settled yet. but Maj Marshall i
hopeful that it will be settled, au
that it will be settled right. Tn
supreme court will adjust the ma,
ter. There are several decisions @
this court on record, Capt. Wheele
holds, that sustain the positio
claimed by the representatives, Q
the United States in this matter
that Rock river is navigabl
stream. In this view the Rock rive
bridge would be held as au obstruC