The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-25

enough to float the biggest of vessels
 that sail or steam over the great lakes, i It combines the functions of a ship ca l nal with a drainage duct.
 The problem which confronted the city ever since the municipality passed
 it's half million in population was the
 disposal of sewage. Chicago is built
 upon ledge of the earth. but ten feet
 above the level of Lake Michigan. The
 Chicago river and its two branches
 were originally sluggish lagoons, wind ing in and about sand dunes, They were dredged and widened by early set-
 tiers, and were extended as the city
 grew to accommodate the growth of the
 increasing commerce of the lakes. Af-
 ter a heavy rain the current of the
 river was outward; at other times fluc-
 tuating with the rise and fall of the
 lake. Chicago's water supply was and
 is drawn from the lake. As the popu- lation increased the flow of the sewage
 into the river and its branches contin-
 ued.
 The law creating the district requires that for one part of sewage six parts Of lake water must be sent through the
 canal, The minimum flow is fixed. at
 three hundred thousand cubic feet per minute. That is upon the estimate that Chicago now contains sixteen hundred thousand .ipeopley When this figure is exceeded by one hundred thousand, the flow must be increased twenty thousand cubic feet every minute. When the sys- tenn of intercepting sewers and con- duits, now in progress, is finished, turn ing the sewage into the river, which now flows directly into the lake, the population draining into the channel will reach, if not exceed, nineteen hun dred thousand souls, which will in- crease the flow of water-that Is if the. law is obeyed-about sixty thousand feet every sixty seconds. The d'llution of the sewage by the current that will flow in from Lake Michigan Is expected to make the water of the Chicago river as clear as that of the Hudson at AL bany, and to reduplicate on the wharfs of the river the thongs of anglers that crowd into all the open space on the banks of the seine near Paris.
 The sanitary district was incorporated in 1889; the first board of trustees and directors was elected in December, and in the following month there was or ganization. The first spade of dirt was turned at Jolie, September ', 1892. The right of way has cost $3, 163 635, and the construction to date is $22,000000. The other expenses such as interest, sala- ries, losses, etc, make grand total of $31, ,602,000 By the time all the work is done the estimated cost is$33, 100000. Of the amount already expended 17,600,000 was secured by taxation, and $14,0O0O00 from the sale of bonds
 When the channel was originally planned a depth of fourteen feet was deemed sufficient But the trustees looking forward to ultimate connection with the Gulf of Mexico, decided to make the depth eight feet more, thus securing twentytwo feet, and forming the first link In the proposed outlet to all the seas. It would cost the govern ment less than twenty-five million dol lars to complete the enterprise, and thereby make way for deep draught vessels from Liverpool to Chicago.
 The immediate effect of the ship ca nal is to extend the wharfage front of | the city fifty-six miles, giving to Chi- rago five times the mileage now pos sessed by New York city.-James s. Evans in Golfers Weekly.