The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-10-24
TO PURGE The RIVER
Secretary Harper, Of State Board
of Health, Coming to Keno
sha This Week
WILL CLEAN UP THE ALLEN JOB
State Official Declares That Tannery
Company Must Make Plans To Put
in Sewer at Once-City To
Back the Board

DR.. c. A. Harper and the m embers
of the State Board of Health are COM
ing to Kenosha during the present
week to clean up the old problem of
the kenosha river. DR.. Harper when
interviewed in Madison on Sunday
afternoon by preventative of this
paper said: "We are coming to Ke-
nosha this week to clean up that
Allen tannery job and we expect to do
it right this time. / have taken up
the matter with the mayor Of your
city and he has given me every as
surance that the proposition of the
State Board in regard 10 the river
will be carried out to the letter and
we are coming down there to clean
the thing up once and for all. made
an inspection of the premises several
years ago and [ am convinced that
the only way to bring any relief for
the pollution of the river is for the
tannery company to build d direct
sewer leading to the lake which will
be large enough to carry off all of the
refuse from the plant. We will have
to make some examina alton as to
where this sewer can be placed in or
der not to interfere with the Kenosha
water supply. You know the water
supply of Kenosha is none too good
and it is only a question of time when
the city will have to find some way to
get new supply, either by extend
ing the intake out into the lake or by
building new intake. Up at Super
Tor we met the same trouble as we did
at Kenosha, but there was not near
as much sewage in Lake Superior as
in Lake Michigan, but the city of
Superior had SO much typhoid that
we found it absolutely necessary to
order changes for the water supply of
that city.
'Kenosha has been very fortunate
in the matter of disease. l have com
municated with DR.. Spalding in re-
gard to the river work and the entire
State Board expects to spend greater
portion of the day In Kenosha. We
are pretty well advised of the condi-
ton and it will be up to the city to
act. If the proprietors of the tan
merry fail to follow out the demands
made by the State BoardsI shall direct
the officials of the city of Kenosha to
take the matter right into the Courts
and I am pretty sure that there will
be no danger sustaining any action
we may take in the Courts. It is not
the province of the Estate Board of
Health to fight this matter in the
Courts should such anSaction be nee
essary, but of the local officials. The
State Board is acting in an advisory
manner but personally will stand be-
hind the movement and.the people of
Kenosha can feel assured that will
leave no stone unturned to force the
local officials to act in the matter.
Mayor German and DR.. Spalding have
both advised me that the city is
ready to act and if such is the fact the
city of Kenosha should have her river
cleaned up within the next year"
DR.. Harper showed no signs of luke
warmness in regard to the work in Ke-
nosha and it is pretty certain that
when the State Board reaches Ke-
nosha probably on Wednesday he will
have something to say to the city Of
hcials as we'll as to the Allen COM
pany. The doctor admits that the
building of such a sewer as he has
will cost a large sum of
money, but he insists that this is the
proper way to insure the purity of the
water in the river. He is also of the
opinion that the sewer properly
much of the stencil from the tannery.
The only other remedy that the State
Board has considered is the possible
building of flushing tunnel in the
river and this would be even more ex-
pensive than the construction of a
trunk sewer which would carry the
refuse from the tannery far into the |
lake. DR.. Harper insisted that in the |
of such a sewer he would in
SYST that it be built in such a way that |
it would carry the sewage so far into
the lake that it would not interfere |
with the water supply of either Ke-
nosha or any other Wisconsin city. |
He thought possible that the proper
of the refuse from the
.annery would in measure bring
purer water to the Kenosha mains.