The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-22
WBOARD MILLS,
And the Injury They Do i'm POlluting
the Streams of the State.

To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal
The destruction of the fish in our streams
is not the greatest or the most far-reaching
calamity which is involved in the existence
of strawboard mills in Indiana. The pollu-
ton of the water supply of our rivers and
streams, by which they are rendered unfit
not only for domestic animals but for all
domestic uses will work incalculabe and
amending damage and inconvenience 1t
was brought out in the evidence when suit
was instituted before Judge Stevenson in
Howard county, in which the strawboard
company, of kokomO, was prosecuted for
maintaining nuisance, that the water in
Wildcat creek was rendered unfit for stock
that animals had died from the effects of
drinking it; that in the bayOus and slack
water points along the creek where the
sediment from the Strawboard mill had set
tied TO the bottom and was undergoing fer
mentation and decomposition in the hot sun
of dog days, that the water when disturbed
was of inky blacknesS and gave out
stencil that rendered life burden to the
inhabitants of the valley, and that families
living a mile or more north of the creek
were compelled, when the wind was frVm
the SOUTH to close their doors and windows
on account of the unsutferable stencil from
the rotten deposit which in many places
formed a funguSlike mass of corruption
more than foot in depth. Professor
Hurtys evidence established the fact that
one of the results of this decomposition was
the generation of noXiouS gas which
united readily with the oxygen of the water
by which the water became deoxygenized
and would not support fish life, hence their
death in great numbers. Substantial farm
ers living along Wildcat creek testified that
the value of their farms had fallen off from
$40 TO $l5 per acre since the straWboard
mill had been in operation.
Those of my readers living on the banks
of White river below NobleSville. as well as
many citizens of Indianapolis, have not
only had a smell but a taste of the flavor of
strawboard cocktail from the NOblesVille
laboratory, which is just at this time not
enjoying out undergoing an enforced rest
from the soporific influence of an injunction
from the United States. Circuit Court at
the suit of the Indianapolis Water Company.
With 1he polluted water and poisoned air
two of the most indispensable and important
life involved, and the State Board of
Health will soon be confronted with the
strawboard question. The American Straw
board Company is a gigantic monopoly with
millions of capital and enormous profits and
Will fight every inch of ground which threat
ems their existence. The managers are or
seem to be ready and willing to adopt any
suggestion to remedy the evil. and at An
derson Mr.. Sweeney, commissioner of fish
cries, has made temporary compromise,
the company agreeing to construct filters.
No man knows better than Mr.. Williams
the manager at Anderson. that no system of
hltering can be made effective for the rea-
son that if the pores of filter are close
enough to catch and retain the fine particles
OF straw which escape the screen at the
mill they soon accumulate in such quantities
as to clog the pores and choke the filtration;
the filter becomes reservoir from which
the water cannot escape, and it only be-
comes settling pond from which the de-
posite has no escape. While Mr.. Williams
was superintendent of the mill at Kokomo
ne constructed a filter. under my instruc-
tions (as fish commissioner. which proved
a dead failure for the reasons l have men
toned. A settling pond is simply reservoir
OF corruption in which larger amount of
the material, subject to fermentation and
decomposition. is accumulated. and in which
these processes are not interferred with
or in any way INTERRUPTED nv fTeshets or
currents. nOiSnnOnS ic
thoroughly and completely consummated
than in a running stream. In case of the
overflow or a break in the banks ready
made article of pollution of superior
strength and .pungency is turned into the
stream, and that 1t must overflow is too
plain to question.
In the trial at Koxomo 1 endeavored to
inform myself as to cause and effects. as ii
was the first case of wholesale fish poison-
ing in the State. and occurred the first sum
mer of the existence of the strawboard mill
on Wildcat Since that occasion have been
terests involved and have given a great deal
of though and study towards practical
remedy but am compelled to give it up;
there does not seem to be any.
The American Strawboard Company is one
of the wealthiest corporations in the coun-
try, and it is no idle boast that they are
not afraid of any state court. With their
enormous profits and great wealth they ex-
pect, with plenty of money and lawyers who
know how to use it, TO go on pOllutng the
water and poisoning the air and killing the
fish as long as it paws and snap their fingers
at any effort on the part of the State or
its citizens to stop them. But they met
their match and faced the music when the
Indianapolis Water Company brought suit
in the United States Circuit Court Of In
diana for polluting the water in White river
by their mill at NcblesviIle: and here lies
the only safeguard and remedy which we
possess against this arrogant monopoly in
struggle which will result in the sur
vival OF. the fittest--a struggle in which 1t
is hoped that Gods precious gift Of pure
the cupidity of the American Strawboard
Company. w. r. DENNIS
Richmond, Ind, Sept. 81