Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-26

stupendous figure of S34 100000. This was
borne entirely by the city of Chicago and
that part of the surrounding territory which
goes TO make up the sanitary district OF
Chicago.
Purifying Current.
Although a sewer. the drainage canal is
really more of a purifier than a corrupter
of the rivers into which it flows. When the
project first began to be talked about st.
Louis and other cities which would be
passed by the flow from the canal were
much agitated by the thought that the
rivers which they We're situated would
be polluted. The contrary has been proven
to be the fact by hundreds of tests. Not
only has the flow from the canal not m
jured their waters, but the enormous guam
tity of perfectly pure water which Is drawn
from Lake Michigan and sent through the
canal has actually served TO increase the
purity of the Mississippi. 1t is difficult tor
the mind to comprehend the vast volume
of this pure water drawn from Lake Mlchi-
gan-four and one-half million gallons per
minute. This is four times great as the
old normal flow of the Illinois river.
Another tremendous advantage which has
all eady come from the diversion of this
great amount Of water from Lake Michi-
gan is the increase in the distance of boat
and barge navigation on the rivers. Before
the canal was opened the distance winch
separated lake and river navigation for
bargeS and steamboats, was go miles, prac-
ticaiIy Now the flow of water has been so
greatly increased that by the removal Of
a few dams the distance will be reduced to
sixty-two miles. This is hard on the rail-
roads. but it Is pleasant for farmers and
manufacturers. Steamboat transportation
is, of course, much cheaper than railroad
transportation. In size this canal is greater
than any other canal in the world. 1t is
wider than any other. and in depth no
existing canal exceeds It, and the only pro-
posed canal which is planned to exceed it is
the Panama canal. No other existing arti-
fetal waterway can show depth at its
shallowest point of thirty-five feet. The
canal is not affected by tides, there are
none on the great lakes. and so this depth
is permanent. If 1t were desirable to in
crease this minimum depth it could be done
al small expense, because the only shallow
points are in the soft earth cuttings. All
the solid rock cuttings forty-fve feet
deep This makes them deeper than the
solid rock cuttings in any other canal In
the world.
Overcoming Obstacles.
Marked progress in engineering methods
has been one result of the construction Of
the great canal. In fact, without new
methods the project must have been greatly
delayed if not abandoned. 1t was found
shortly after the commencement of the
work that the estimates on the cost Of the
rock excavations had been inadequate. The
project, indeed. for a time seemed to be in
peril. In combination the contractors ar
TdHSSu 10 put the inventive minds Oh many
men upon the task. The result was what
might have been expected of Americans
VINO are determined to accomplish some
thing. Entirely new and very much cheap
er methods of solid rock excavation were
devised. Novel machinery was constructed
and the cost of solid rock excavation was
reduced for all time by 40 per cent. These
new methods have been considered in pre-
pairing the Nicaragua canal estimates and
have apparently put that project, at least
on a practical basis. The new methods of
rock excavation have at least one other
advantage besides their cheapness. Hither-
TO 1t has been impossible to produce smooth
sides in rock cuttings. The sides OF the
Chicago canal are as smooth as they would
be if they had been cut in cheese with a
sharp knife. The gigantic public work which
was done by the lake metropolis was ac-
Complished with a singular freedom from
scandal and charges of corruption. Pub
lie spirit and civic pride seemed to animate
most of the men who were concerned in it.
Even the contractors-and the American
contractor has not an angelic reputation
apparently worked with some degree of I'M
se!fshness, and the work was done well
within the appropriation which had been
made for its completion.