The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-24
Chicago's Great ORA mage Canal


the water of Lake Michigan into it on
| the first day of December next. 1t Is
| probably the most important engineering
work now building anywhere on the
American continent, and the whole under
| taking, including the necessary leglsia-
| ton, the financiering. and the actual ex-
| cavation, has occupied ten years. The
| law creating the sanitary district of Chi
cago, providing for the election of COM
| mission, and giving to the commission the
power Of taxation, was passed IN Janu-
! airy, 1890, and ground was first broken on
| September 3, 1892 Since then the work
| has progressed steadily. There has been
| trouble with the finances, owing TO the
| underestimate of cost originally made,
| but the successive legislatures of the
state have stood by the great enterprise
| Loyalty, and have given the commission
ers power TO get, by loans and taxation,
ali the money they have needed, so that
there has never been a stoppage in the
| work for want of funds. The original
| bond issue was only s12,S00,0o0, but there
has been about SIS, 600 collected in
| taxes, and the total expenditures 10 date
have been about s2SO00,000. and about 81
| 100000 more must be expended to complete
| the work.
In fact, the canal has already cost
| twice as much as the original estimates
| contemplated, and this, too, in spite OF
the low cost per cubic yard of the exca-
walton resulting from the employment OF
| machinery especially invented for the
work. The increased cost is largely &C
| counted for by the much greater amount
| of rock excavation than was originally
| contemplated, and the cost OF diverting
the Des PLANES river and making new
= h1F1 mol fO,. = will a n
keep it's floods out of the canal The
Des PLANES is a prairie stream, draining
a wide expanse of nearly fat country. 1t
| has great fluctuations, so that at some
| seasons its whole discharge would pass
! through a six-inch pipe, while at others
| 1t reaches 10000 cubic feet per minute.
| This river heads in Chicago only few
miles from the lake and flows into the
| Illinois. Not only was ii necessary to cut
| for it new channel parallel to the canal,
| but huge dixie had to be built to conflne
| 1t to this new channel, and also back
| channel provided to conduct a portion OF
| its flood waters north into Lake Michi-
| gan, for the reason that they could not
safely be carried through the city of Joliet
which lies at the lower end of the ca
| nal
There was originally no thought of nav
| igation through the drainage canal It's
primary purpose was to purify the waters
| of the Chicago river. and of Lake Mich
| igan in front Of the city, so that they
would no longer be contaminated by the
| sewage of the city. This seemed to be
the only possible solution of the iimpor-
tant problem of how to get pure drinking
water for two millions of people. AS the
| city grew, the little sluggish river which
| forms it harbor became more and more
| loaded with fifth, until 1t is now a stag
nant and offensive pool, repulsive to the
| eye and horrible to the nose. 1t slowly
| discharges its thick flood into Lake Mich
| igan, and winds and littoral currents car
| ry the contamination up and down the
| shore for a distance of fully ten miles in
! each direction. For a time remedy was
+ sought by carrying the intake tunnels of
| the waterworks farther and farther out
| into the lake, until the cribs are now
about three miles from land. This evil,
was not surmounted by any measure.
| however, and the analysis still find germs
| Of typhoid and many other diseases in
| the water drawn from the three supply
! cribs
About fifteen years ago Chicago people
began to recognize that some more eff
fective means must be found to furnish
with water fit to drink. No source of sup
! ply other than the lake could be found,
for there are no large streams in the vi
entity, and a few miles back from the
| lake shore the drainage of the country
all flows towards the Mississippi. The
water of the lake must, therefore, be
made drinkable at any cost, and the only
way to accomplish this was to keep the
! sewage out of it by making it flow south
| into the Illinois river. Surveys showed
this to be entirely feasible. Some of the
| towns along the Illinois objected to have
! the great Chicago open sewer pass under
| their noses but the influence of Chicago
| in the legislature was so paramount that
| their feeble protests were scarcely heard.
! The Sanitary District of Chicago was Gre
ated by law, including all the territory of
| the city lying north of Eighty-seventh
street, and forty-three square miles Of
! Cook county, lying outside of the city,
the election by ballot of nine trustees was
provided for, and these trustees were au-
thorized to borrow money up to $4,000, 900,
and to levy taxes each year to the extent
| of ~ per cent on the total valuation of
property in the district. The work was
| begun in 1892, with good deal of popular
enthusiasm, and during the seven years
| that have since passed, the people of Chi
cago have never faltered In their support
of the enterprise.
The canal Is about thirty-five miles long
| and the excavation of It's main channel
! involved the removal Of 25,26l.S15 cubic
| yards Of glacial drift and 12,OJS,sS4 cubic
| yards of solid rock. In addition 10 this
! the Des PLANES river diversion involved
| the excavation Of 1.S06.074 cubic yards Of
/ rock. The grand total of excavation is
| 4O.333.542 cubic yards. The serious engi-
neering difficulties have been to take care
! of the water Of the Des PLANES, so that
! it may not destroy the canal in food times
! and to provide a way of letting the Ca
nal waters down about forty feet 70 the
| level of the Illinois river in the city Of
Joliet There was long and bitter
fight between the commission and the city
! government Of Joliet over this question
| The commission wanted to adopt plan
| which would preserve all of the water
/ power but this involved a dam that would
/ cover the ends of a number Of streets.
! The drainage canal scheme was from the
/ first very unpopular in Joliet, and people
/ placed enormous prices upon such lands
as were needed for the work. Finally the
whole controversy was taken into the
courts.
! There are a number OF open questions
! in connection with the drainage canal.
which viii be settled by time and expert
! ence alone. It IS agreed on all hands
/ that II will speedily accomplish It's chief
| purpose Of converting the noisome Chi
! cago river into pure stream. and that
/ il will so purify the water OF the lake
along the entire thirty miles q city lake
/ frontage that It viii be wholesome for
/ drinking. But what is It going TO 10 70
I .Le NfCrfp--S TtFs question used -
/ trouble the jewellers IN the towns along
the lake few years ago There was q
| newspaper sensation about the lowering