Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-11-20

op AAiAoS III ACA6Iu, anu DIS COmpleleu is
available from end to end as a navi-
gable waterway, capable Of accommo-
dating vessels drawing 20 feet Of wa
ter. The cost of the canal has been
approximately $50,000,000. All the out
lay has been borne by Chicago as
municipality, but it is understood that
for commercial purposes the city is
willing to give the national govern
ment navigation control of it.
For six miles the canal follows the
Chicago river to it's head. Beyond that
point it runs for % miles through
earth and rock excavation to the Des-
PLANES river. 1t continues along the
waterway for eight miles. In order to
make the drainage canal a CONNER
cial waterway capable of floating YES
sells Of large tonnage the engineers
of the project expended $18,00O,000
more than would have been necessary
for sanitary purposes only. The canal
would have met all of the drainage
and natural watershed necessities at a
considerably less depth than the %
feet at which it was carried out The
objective of the creators of the canal
was not only to dispose of Chicago's
sewage by diverting it from Lake
Michigan, where it threatened con-
tamination of the city water supply,
but the establishment of a navigable
waterway from the lake to the Mis-
sissippi via the Illinois river.
1t is from Lake Joliet that the next
step In the great lake to Gulf high
way is expected to be taken. The ter.
ritory between Joliet and Grafton,
above st. Louis, has been closely sur
veyed and a series of pools or artificial
lakes has been mapped out to mark
the levels along what is projected as
the beginning of the great Fourteen
feet through the valley" water course.
The first level will be the section be-
tween Joliet and Utica, distance of
81 miles, with a fall of &c feet. In this
defiance it is estimated that three
pools, dams or locks will be necessary
and that 14-foot waterway easily
can be maintained with a width of
300 feet.
Between Utica and the mouth of the
Illinois river, where it empties into the
Mississippi river, at Grafton, is 227
miles. The bed of the Illinois
river along this distance is
between six hundred and nine hundred
feet wide. Along the route the federal
government has already completed
several locks and dams. To secure a
14-foot depth here hydraulic dredging
averaging seven feet will be neces-
sary. This will necessitate the exca,
walton Of 1o0,0oo,oo0 cubic yards Of
soft earth, the estimated cost of which
has been fixed by engineers at ST.
100000. /
To Control Mississippi.
Between the mouth of the Illinois,
at Grafton, and the harbor limits of
st. Louis the distance down the Mis-
sissippi river is 80 miles. In this
stretch the Mississippi falls 81 feet.
1t is the magnitude of keeping the
great Mississippi tractable and within
bounds and providing a 14-foot chan.
mel from st. Louis to the Gulf of Mex
leo that has given the greatest en-
gineers of the country pause. What
the completion of that undertaking
; will cost no one processes to know &C.
curately. Surmises vary between $780,
100000 and $400,000,000. A consider
able percentage of the former sum has
already been expended in piecemeal
improvements on the Father of Wa
tiers. Engineers admit that much of
this outlay has been practically vast
ed because the work was not carried
on along any well defined plan. It is
for the laying out of general plan
Of Mississippi valley improvement
that the business interests of the
great Central West are now bending
their energies.
After surveying the territory be-
tween Joliet and st. Louis a board
of army engineers few years ago es-
timated that the cost Of 14-foot wa
terway between those points would
cost $31, 100000. About the feasibility
of continuing that stretch at the same
depth as the Chicago drainage canal
there is no doubt The only questions
to be considered are those of dredging
and water supply.
An active brain worker requires a
great deal of a1buminOus fonds f0Oda