The Minneapolis journal., 1902-10-01
A LEAK IN IHELA
Captain Ewing stoutly Asserts That
the Lake Street Sewer Is Drain
ing Calhoun. AzS
He Says the Lake Is Lower Than
Ever Before and Is Still
Going Down.

did Minneapolis construct an expensive
sewer in order to drain dry it's beautiful +
Lake Calhoun? Il artistic aridity a new
fad in municipal Improvement? Are
marshes more desirable than lakes in city |
parks? H.. 49,. >srs g.. ,S"--'~ "
Or has this town followed the lead Of
st. Paul in sacrificing all to industry?
II ono pickle factory at st. Paul Is worth |
the public baths and an island park, shall I
Minneapolis drain romantic Calhoun to In
crease. the stage of water III the river be- |
low the falls? I y - IS
Fearsome questions these. which more +
than politicians must view with alarm. "
But the shock OF the discovery that Call
houn Is doomed to flush a sewer belongs
so far to three citizens only. Crowds
sailed and roWed on Lake Calhoun last
Sunday. Thousands traversed the
boulevard and admired the italian tinted |
lake In Its exquisite frame Of autumn
foliage. But only Captain Ewing, only |
Captain Sam Ewing, the Ancient Mariner
OF Calhoun. knew that these blue waters
were about to disappear. That Is, only
Captain Ewing and Park Policeman Sam |
Johnson and an unknown sewer Inspector.
They knew it but they did not tell.
Why bring tears to eyes of merry max
ers? why alarm. the Mlnikahda club, |
whose golf balls now lose themselves in
the blue wave? Why impart to dreams Of
yaohtsmen a vision of that dreadful era
when all the lake will be lee shore?
whats the use." said Captain Ewing,
"of casting gloom over the whole COM
munity7" =. !
But know she's lower" he contin-
ued, land I believe that within a year
or two Lake Calhoun will be part Of the
Gulf Of Mexico.
Two Feet of Seepaee.
ArS hor
one years ago. 1 built this DOCK" re-
ferring to Ewings Landing near the foot
OF West Thirty-seco street, built this
dock eighteen years ago, and you can see
from the looks OF those piles down there
where the water was then-yes, fully two
feet higher than 1t is now.
"Of course, that's a long time ago. But
take the record only few weeks back.
After those heavy rains towards the end
of August this year kept my eye on that
piece of iron pipe that laid down there
to haul up boats on, and I noticed that
the edge Of the water dropped back as
far as that blue rock--three and a half
inches inside Of three weeks! and no hot
weather either! Why, look at this little
pole sticking up near the end of my dock!
Well, that pole showed a fall Of more than
one foot between the stage last spring
and last fall! tell you, Calhoun's low,
lower than she ought to be. Shouldn't we
have more water now than we had last
spring, instead Of less? We've had plenty
of rain, I should say, and one of the cool
est summers 4on the books! Minnetonka's
higher. six inches higher! Why ain't
Calhoun?
And this low water interferes with
navigation. Out in the middle the water
is about 120 feet deep. But up along the
northeast shore, between my dock and
the icehouses, the lake Is now so shallow
| ha tn
board up. And there's lots Of big cab
bage-y weeds a-growing now along the
bottom that never saw before in twenty
one years. If this keeps on, We'll be
wading after frogs in a big marsh instead
Of trolling. for pike from our, splendid little
yachts. - ~"
TITS the sewer, too. that's sucking busi-
| ness right off into the ocean--the sewer
that runs along the north shore Of the
lake over there this side Of the 1cehouses,
and only about twenty feet from the lake
shore. That sewer connects with the
TWenty-s1xth street sewer and takes all
our property into the Mississippi river.
The Thirsty Sewer.
THE sewer was put down two years
ago this fall. Ever since the lake has
been gradually falling. so about two
weeks ago I talked the matter over with
Park Policeman Johnson. = He said he
noticed 1t. too. We wanted to look into
| the sewer, but we couldn't. pry the lid
off. So after a while Johnson got sewer
| Inspector to open the sewer and look in
and the inspector told Johnson that there
| was clear water, at least five inches Of
| clear water, running down that sewer,
and Johnson told me. or course the lake
\ is disappearing. There aren't any house
| connections westward to the end Of the
sewer beyond the point got Johnson to
have the Inspector look. Springs? No.,
there aren't any. It's just the lake run
ming away
But Captain George Monk, Sr., also a
navigator of fame = along the Calhoun
main, affirmed at Monks Landing that
the lake, in his opinion, is higher, six or
seven inches higher, than it was last
May. II should say that she was risen.'
l. And Carl J. NJ. Ilstrup, city engineer
Of sewers, denies that his faithful friends
are guilty Of larceny I'm certain,'' says
Mr.. Ilstrup, that none of my sewers is
stealing the lovely landscape from the
boulevard. I don't want to- encourage
marshes. I try to get rid of 'em. And
It's out Of the question that the Lake
street sewer Is drawing water from CAL
: Fhoun. t.s %@":
This is branch Of the big Twenty
sixth street sewer that runs up from the
river under the Milwaukee railway BRIDGE
out long Twenty sixth street to Portland
west along Twenty seventh street to Hen
nepin. Here the big sewer stops. .
But branch goes out west, north.
and then west around Lake Of the Isles,
and another branch runs south along Ir-
H.