The record-union., 1897-08-24
CHICAGO IN DANGER.
A Fate More Dreadful Than That
of Johnstown Awaits Her.


Chicago r-Ocean's Detroit spe-
clal: Two papers were read before the
members of the Scientists Convention
Thursday which may we'll carry terror
10 the inhabitants of the lake cities,
especially Detroit and Chicago. The
first was by Professor Gilbert and the
second by DR.. J. w. Spencer of Wash
ing'ton. The latter asserted that in the
course of time Detroit would be over
taken by fate that was later in store
for Chicago, and that both would be
drowned out by the encroaching wa
ters of the lakes, which have made
alarming progress in the last fifty
years.
DIR. Spencer said that in 1880 he dis
covered that the Erie basin emptied
not by the Niagara River, but by a
buried valley directly into the head of
Lake Ontario, and that the Niagara
River and falls are a really modern
feature. Tracing step by step the ge-
ographical changes, he asserted that
the shore lines had steadily risen during
the centuries, and they would yet
change the waters course from Lake
Ontario and the ST. Lawrence River
to the Mississippi by the way of Chi
cagO. He said:
In course of time Niagara will cease
to exist entirely, as all the waters in
the great lakes will be turned over
Chicago and drained into the Missis-
sippi The changes in the lake levels
are all of one sort; they all show a ris-
ing of the land at the north and north
east, as compared to the land at the
VI
the whole lake region is being tilted to-
ward the south-southwest. The rate is
such that of two points a hundred
miles apart the northern rises five
inches in century, as compared with
the southern.
This is a very low rate, and at first
blush seems unimportant but it is
really of serious import to several
places. 1t is especially important to
Chicago, because that city stands ON
a low plain near the level of Lake
Michigan, and the fitting of the land
makes the lake gradually encroach ON
the plain. The main level of the lake
rises at Chicago about ten inches in
a century. Close by Chicago there is
a low divide separating the basin OF
Lake Michigan from the valley of Hi
nois. 1t is SO low that the Chicago
drainage canal is actually being cut
through it TO carry Michigan lake wa
ter to the Illinois River
THE discharge thus obtained viii be
a mere anticipation of nature, for the
fitting of the lake basin would have
produced the same results in less than
one thousand years. 1t is estimated
that all the overflow from the upper
lake viii go to the Illinois; the Detroit
and Lake ST. Clair Rivers will carry
the waiter from Lake Erie to Lake HUI
ron instead of Huron to Erie, and the
Niagara River and falls Will run dry"
He predicted that unless the author
tiles of the Windy City and Detroit
made preparations for this change
catastrophe a thousand times more
would occur. He said that it was high
time for the city fathers of Detroit and
Chicago to begin raising the level of
their streets by dozens and hundreds
of feet. In this estimate, in which was
included a history of the formation OF
the lakes, how the gorge at Niagara
was formed and the course of the wa
ter, DR.. Spencer proved that he and
Professor Gilbert We're perfectly in har-
mony as to their prediction, and that
there would be no waterway from the
lakes to the sea in the future, which
he did not estimate by years, but
which. when accomplished, would see
the present site of Chicago hundreds of
feet under water and the tall spire of
Detroit's City Hall a playing ground
for innunerable fresh water fish.