The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-09
AN INTERESTING REPORT
ON THE PROPOSED BUILDING or Jt t.gas58N 8hA.
 AN AR1IFICIAL LAKE,
Committee Has ExhaustiveIy Looked Into the Mattcr-Recom m m endattons Made With the Reasons Therefor.

The report of the committee of the
 East Rock Lake Commission on the ' matter of establishing an artificial lake along Mill river at the base of East ! Rock which was submitted to the csm- < mission Thursday night is as follows: Tothe Special Commission of the Court of Common Council, in the matter Z of a proposed lake at the base of
 ,l East Rock:
 < The undersigned, appointed at your < last meeting to confer with the State { Board of Health. to ascertain whether { the water which flows into Mill river S from the harbor is so polluted as to be unsuitable for use in the proposed lake, respectfully report as follows:
 Your Committeee. in pursuance of ' their appointment, addressed a com
 munication to the State Board of Health a copy of which is hereto ap-
 pendFd, and in due course of time re- #scetved a reply from them, which. with sthe report of Prof Herbert E. Smith, is 6Is0 anpended hereto.
 18S H win be seen by these replies that v while the State Board of Health and x Prof Smith do not explicitly condemn ] V tide water lake as unsanitary, they X 10 not recommend it as free from i. Heanitary objections even under present CQnd itions, and their report suggests S the probability that as the amount of < GeWage matter discharged into the har- s9borA Increases with the future growth &s Of the city, those objections are likely S Ito become serious. It will also be mo- 'Sticed the opinion of the Board was pre- X Dared before Prof. Smith had rendered \ hfs report Had this not been the case, x tt is possible that the opinion of the Board would have been somewhat < Qualiffed. Under these cireumstances yphr Committee have felt justified in
 1xtending the scope of the inquiry re- E 8eFred to them for solution. and have :, f1vestigated the question whether fresh water lake could not be main- 1tRfned in place of creating tide water
 Ike, which has been heretofore assum- < 6d toybe the only practicable plan. In
 pyrsuafice of this investigation your
 00nrnittee have collected, to the best of
 ItlieiT ability such data as bear on this
 Qle&tipn, and submit them herewith. Y sA& preliminary to these data it will SSbe we'll to state the different phases in sAWlifch the project of lake at the foot
 s6f East Rock has been heretofore con- ssid&red.
 1t has been often proposed to con
 Htrtct the desired lake simply by erect
 ifg q dam at Willow street, high enough to flood the meadows through
 1tlie How of the stream to suitable addf}th, say one or two feet. Such a < 3yeme however, is entirely impractic-
 631e, as was shown in a report made to |tl{& Chamber. of Commerce in 1896 by a
 80inmittee of that body. The lake, as
 fI3nt report showed, ought to be for nan itaTy reasons not less than four or SfiVus feet in depth, and the raising of 5filx water to such a height above the I1i4HGduWs would bring it above the level 50f fkl1A aurrounding springs and gravel i6&HS and would result in heavy loss Idfs &bakage, which together with the 'i416 bY eyapora tion in the dry months .dz3he year would, as suggested by that G66ifiiittee, be greater than the supply ThRf cuuld be depended upon from the How of waste water over Whitney dam. xbBrt from these objections 1t might
 6es added that raising the level of Mill l ITiVer. even two feet above the surface ld3f the meadows, would cause stoppage |St sthe water wheels at Whitney dam, s3YYu compel the purchase of that water at d cost too heavy to be con Sidgred.
 aA shallow lake, as pointed out by the | state Board of Health. would also be | Hlih5ect to become speedily choked with | EK2hs and weeds, and would be serious {{elSf fioy, "a 1,I 1ofaadfnCr for Isosquitos and from a sanitary point of |
 nhe Chamber os Commerce Commit
 tH8 referred to therefore recommended | f{Iat the proposed lake be created as sASfNVe Recommend that dam be con- 6tfUGted across the river on the North &fIYsi line of Willow street. The top of tl3S dam to be two and half feet be- l6W mean high water of the harbor 4liin will keep the bed and slopes of the lake covered: will change the water every tide and will permit small boats to come into the lake from the harbor nt high tide. The river to be dredged tp "a width varying at different points from 100 to 300 feet, and to depth of about seven feet below mean high wa fsr' or four and half feet below the tun Of the dam. The excavated mate Hal to be used in raising the level of the meadows to an average of about ffiree feet above mean high water. The Eff fif{Euration of the surface is such IsY6t three very pretty islands could be lnrmed without increasing the expense, 8hich could be planted with trees and 
 sYptir Committee are convinced that the plan above recommended for creat- |nk The lake by excavation is the only plan. With regard to the sueEestion that it should depend for its jjudppiy upon tide water, various objec- i0ns to this plan occurred to your 1omnittee, and thes2 objections led us .o 'inuuire whether the lake could not Se Constructed and maintained as 3 'resh water lake. This question ap- oears not to have been gone into by the Chamber of Commerce Committee Their report indicates that the impos- ,ibilitys of maintaining a fresh water axe was assumed from a general i'm 5ression to that effect without examin- Man of the subject. Your Committee therefore entered upon a new neio ol nouiry when they proposed to investi- rate the following question, viz; Can a fresh water lake of 30 acres ln ras and five feet in depth, created by 1