Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-07-21
'lSH INDUSTRY Of
OVER ILLINOIS IS.
..|[LED BY SEWAGE.
|vER FAMED FOR PRODUCTIVE
NESS PRACTICALLY RUINED
CONDEMN SECTION BETWEEN
MORRIS AND MARSElLLEs.

condemn SECTION BETWEEN
MORRIS AND MARsEILLEs.
IThe Illinois river was, until recent
L by far the richest river in the coun.
In the product Of purely fresh
Jter Fisheries, according to state.
INT made in an article on Forest
hi Stream in Illinois" written oy
phen \. Forbes. chief Of the Nat.
III History Survey Division of Hi.
i, just issued According TO the
tied States census, its yield in
hes only in 1908. was equivalent
a dollar for every two feet Of it's
18th in prices paid to fishermen, or
those paid by the consumer to
ne than two dollars for each foot. 3"
is may read strange in Ottawa,
ere the fish began to disappear
bn after the drainage canal was
med into the Illinois in 1900, but
quantities Of fish above men
ned were caught lower down the
er. That section is likely soon to
e its supply Of fish also accord
to his report, for che organic
tier of the sewage in process Of
composition which so fouls the wa
Of the river at Ottawa, especial
in midsummer, hat its natural
mt and animal life is then Virtually
noyed or displaced" is now be-
ming to. affect the lower stream.
says:
No Fish Above Peoria Lake.
A careful survey, chemical and
Illogical, made last August and Sep.
nber, showed us thai the fuuling of
waters was extending steadily
Sl stream at an average rate. dur
the last six years. Of five to ten
|es year. and that the Illinois
ar from its origin at Dresden
lights to Peoria lake, ninety-thce
es down, Is now nearly deserted
hshes, at least in summer, its dom.
mt life then being that Of a con
linated stream Peoria lake how
IF, a shallow cXpanse of the river
Pat seventeen miles long and a
e ana a half wide at its widest
t, serves at present as a kind of
heck valve against the extension
these conditions farther down The
cam, and in and below the lake
life of the river becomes nearly
'mal The sewage load OF the
'am is steadily increasing year by
r. however, and how long it may
before this frail barrier is broken
)ugh. of course, we can not say.
Increased Yield of Farms.
"a declares that this sewage
Yah destroying the fishery of the
cr hundred miles of the river,
(ms to have Increased the yield of
eighty miles next following, but
Is: Because the pollution of the
am is increasing, we have reason
ipprehend more serious economic
Sequences. The effect of reCla-I
ion of land further down stream
j llso mentioned in his report, as
bws:
BY diking and drainage operations
being robbed of the haunts of it's
or birds and principal breeding.
lnds and feeding grounds Of it's
fs, and corn will presently be
Wing every year on some 100000
$ of.,foreSt marsh and lake over
IN its waters spread a few years
in times Of flood"
hicago Must Make River Clean.
r. Forbes leaves till later discus
of the biological effects of the
hges contemplated in making the
dis again a connecting link of
sportation between the Great
rs and the Gulf, hut he does de-
emphatically that Chicago
Id find an entirely different way
lisposing of its sewage. He .
es the following prediction.
The intelligence, conscience, pub.
spirit. money ana power of the
of Chicago and of the other mu-
balities concerned are surely suf-
ut for its solution A people
h will do in spirit of boundless
sacrifice what we have done in
past two years for the welfare of
gn nations, will not balk per,
fntly at the few millions needed
AXE our waters wholesome. clean,
physically decent for the use of
people Of Illinois: and | believe
his academy may help material
hasten the day when the law of
state fOrbidding the pollution or
tment of any stream or lake in
bis by the deposit, addition. or
large therein of any foul or injur-
substance such that fish and 9TH
luatic life is destroyed may be
and wisely enforced by the
department upon which that
now rests"
rseiIes in Center of Pollution.
report quoted in his article states
in the seventeen mile section
Morris to the Marseilles dam. /,
liver reanleS lis lowest nnint of