The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-10-31
All Sewers Entering the River Must Be
Discontinued At Once and a New
Plan To Dispose of Refuse
Must Be Devised

men left they had given distinct orders
in regard to the purging of the Keno
sha river.
DR.. Harper and his assistant met
the members of the Common Council
and Mayor German and the City En-
gineer and the entire party made a
trip along the banks of the Kenosha
river after which a conference was
held with e. c. Theirs ard c.. c..
Allen as representatives. of N. K.
Aliens Sons company at the tannery
Office. This meeting was heart to
heart talk in which words were not
minced nd in which the state officials
directed the managers of the tannery
to abate the nuisance. The officials
of the city of Kenosha and of the Ke-
nosha Gas & Electric Light company
were called to the carpet and told
what was expected of them DIR.
Harper was the spokesman for the
State Board and his plain statement
of the facts left nothing to be said
but much to be done.
"There is no doubt" said DR.. Har
per, ''that conditions of the Kenosha
river constitute a nuisance, and that
the condition would be grounds for
special damages on the part of prop
erty owners having property directly
adjoining the river. There is no diff.
ference of opinion as to the question
of nuisance here. The city is doing a
part, the Tannery and the Gas Com
pany part, and I want to say now
that all are to be treated alike. All
sewers entering into the Kenosha
river, whether owned by the city, the
tannery or the gas com pany, must be
taken out. You cannot go on as you
are. 1t has been shown that dredg-
ing the river will have no effect, as
this has been tried; and the river is in
worse condition than when we ex-
amined it a year ago. There is an
item of expense confronting you. Of
course you may say you will fight the
orders of the Board IN court, but the
thing to do is for the members of the
City Council and you, gentlemen of
the Allen plant, to get together and
find some way out of this trouble.
The State Board of Health must in
sist on change of conditions here.
We are not looking for fight, but if
it becomes necessary the State Board
is ready to fight, and l have no doubt
as to the outcome of any legal con-
test The question is to carry this
stuff away, and the solution is not one
for the State Board but for a sanitary
engineer. It is well esta blisned
fact in law that to be a nuisance
thing must not necessarily affect the
health of the community, but if it is
an offense to the pleasure and hap
piness of others it may be declared
nuisance. have no doubt but that
the condition of the Kenosha river
has been more or less a menace to the
general health of the city. The laws
of the state have decided that pollu-
ton of streams is against the statutes,
and I must insist that this stream be
cleaned up on both Sides"
AT this point Mr.. Theirs referred to
the fact that there was a sewer rum
ming into the river which drains
the malt house and adjacent prop
erty and is known as the old Bailey
canal, and DIR. Harper said that this
sewer must be considered with the
same rigid rule applied to any drain
from the tannery.
Continuing, DR.. Harper said: "The
facts in this case are plain and undis-
puted and it is the solution of the
problem that confronts US. The evil
dence that the river has been made
nuisance is overwhelming and would
suggest that consulting engineers be
brought to Kenosha to consider the
matter and the remedy. What you
want is to get a collecting pipe that
will take all of these sewer products
and carry them out of the way. In
what direction or how far away it is
not the province of this Board to
state, and the details of such a plan
must be worked out by some sanitary
This concluded the conference and
ti1C AACH1 oC1 , " lhC otdtC DOdIu LETT
for Milwaukee. Both the managers
of the tannery and the City Council
seemed to be well aware of what was
demanded ard both expressed will
ingness to take up the work. 1t is
thought that meeting between the
Council and the officials of the tan
merry will be called within few days
at which time the matter will be
taken up in greater detail and at
which time the plans for the purging
!, e 4L,a ~:xvoX .,;I1 he Fo~,,r1,+oa