The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-11
Drainage Canal
Paper by Otto Eckstein
Read Before Alma Chautauqua.

Read Before Alma Chautauqua.
At this weeks meeting of the Alma
Circle IN Wichita Mr.. o. G. Eckstein reat
an article on the Chicago Drainage
Ca-al" The Circle requested by resolu
i II its publication. 1t follows:
A nations progress is measured a:
much by its internal expansion as its ter
ritorla1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT, and in large i'm
provement we have kept pace with oul
territorial development. As nation
never stands still, it must retrograde OF
expand, and as characteristic Of our ma
tional hcaracter, we take the progressive
alternative and expand. So in this de-
cade, we not the opening Of the largest
artificial waterway in the world, namely
the Chicago canal, primarily a sanitary
and secondarily a ship canal.
Prior to 1865 the sanitary conditions in
Chicago were primitive. The water was
polluted in the wells. and it was com
mon thing to see carts from Lake Michi-
gan supplying the inhabitants with water
and even then. the water was necessarily
taken from far beyond the shore.
The legislature of Illinois appointed a
commission IN the early sixties to provide
a system Of drainage, and the engineer
Of the city of Chicago, one Chesborough
THE originator of this scheme, was sent
abroad but nowhere found a system OF
Sewerage. None of the old cities OF
Europe, strange as it may appear, had
any system which we could use as pat
tern. Chicago was thus thrown upon her
own resources
In the year 1ST0, when Chicago had a
population of 2,}8OOO, the old Iilionis and
Michigan canal, which was built in 1840
was utilized. It was deeDened and the
first sewerage went down the MISSISSIPPI
pi river by the Illinois and Des PLANES
river
In 1872 the water flow stopped, the
pabural tendency of the flow being tow
ards the lake until we reach some thirty
M les west Of Chicago. Then it became
net 'essary to pump the water at the sub
urb of Bridgeport TO cause a flow of
wat, r sufficient to carry the sewerage
whici I was THAT time about 10000 cubic
feet : er minute
So U, : have a mistaken impression that
the pre- sent canal inaugurated the so
called D )Ilutfon Of the Mississippi river,
and if . 1llut ed at all, it dates from 1870,
though My ma small scale This sys-
TEN was. a ia. lure however, as It required
Constant dredging and in 1883 the ques-
ton Of q Sd ip and drainage canal was
agitated.
The legisSGn ire passed drainage act in
1889. which ar provides for the construc-
ton of cana sufficient to carry 10000
feet of water a ar minute to every 100000
inhabitants. ma sing a full capacity OF
sG0G1O feet PER 7 minute.
The object accc mDlished is the reversal
Of the eastward f. ow of the Chicago river
into Lake Michiga n, and the discharge of
the lake into the Des PLANES valley.
The Chicago rive az the paint diverted,
was foot higher than the lake, and the
shore at points alon Q the river over seven
feet and the two 60 ks Of the river came
together on the ives tern side of the great
city.
To accomplishe tn is, and utilize the
waters Of the lake. for the flow of the
Chicago river was insunic-ent-it was
nece ssary to build great canal and pro-
vide a graduated, artificial fall
The length of the canal proper outside
Of the auxiliary works is just rive nty-six
miles Including this and the distance
from the mouth of the Chicago river to
the main channel, about six miles. makes
a total Of thirty-four miles.
The average depth is thirty feet and is
built to carry twenty-five feet of water.
1t is 100 feet wide at the base, and at
some places nearly 800.
The Suez canal is only 800 feet wide at
the surface only ssventy-two feet wide
at the bottom, with a depth of twenty
six feet.
The controlling works are located at
Lockport thirty miles from Chicago, and
these control the flow of water from the
lake.
The fluctuations in Lake Michigan by
the varying height Of water surface. are
felt at the controlling works and provis-
ions have been made 20 meet these fuc-
tuations in Lake Michigan within a range
Of five feet above dasum. and eight feet
below. or an average oscillation of thir-
teen feet
The fall from there to the basin is
about forty-two feet. in a distance of
about four and one-third miles.
The controlling works comprise seven
sluice gates. anda bear-trap dam. with an
opening Of 100 feet and an oscillation of
seventeen feet vertically. being essenti-
ally two huge metal leaves hinged to-