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* . The Lakes and Gulf Waterway
MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR DENEEN
AND REPORT BY
\ternallmprovement Commission
Of Illinois
SPRING FIELD, ILL. +.
PHILLIPS BROS., STATE PRINTERS.
1907.


;
... 3
** from the carrying out of a broad waterway policy by the nation.
sy_s From the time of the discovery of the Chicago portage by Joliet and
&
*...
rS
*.*.*
\
ſºº
MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR.
STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
SPRINGFIELD, April IO, Igo7.
I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Internal Im-
provement Commission of Illinois, appointed by me under authority.
i. s. s. conferred by the Forty-fourth General Assembly through “An Act to
A. S. provide for the appointment of an internal improvement commission,”
• S approved May 16, 1905, in force July 1, 1905. -
s. 2 In pursuance of the authority conferred by the Act, I appointed as
*) members of the commission, Mr. Isham Randolph of Chicago, Mr. H.
... W. Johnson of Ottawa, and Mr. H. M. Schmoldt of Beardstown, and
the commission selected Mr. Lyman E. Cooley of Chicago as secretary.
& The commission has examined the route between Chicago and St.
Louis, has made a full research into its history and development and
. º presents at length in its report the scope of the enterprise and what it is
* ... feasible to accomplish.
" The report deals broadly with the possibilities of the further develop-
ºf 3 ment of this route and sets forth the advantageous position which Illi-
9 nois occupies in relation to the extension of this and other interior
3 * waterways of the continent and the great benefit our State would derive
*SS,
x.)
“...)
* * \
Marquette in September, 1673, and from the time of the project out-
lined by Joliet in 1674 for the building of a canal across the Chicago
portage so as to establish a water route from the Lake of Illinois to the
- Floridas, the route by way of the Chicago divide and the Desplaines
"._2
*~1.
* /*
.*.
and Illinois rivers has been regarded as the most important highway
- between the basins of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi rivers.
The project was the subject of repeated consideration during the
French and English occupation. When the Northwest Territory be-
came part of the United States by the ordinance of Virginia in 1787, it
was again the subject of survey and recommendation in the federal
Congress. When Illinois was admitted to the Union, one of the rea-
sons urged for the changing of its northern boundary line from the
parallel touching the southern end of Lake Michigan to the present
iimits, was that thus this important water route might be developed
within the confines of a single state. . - - -
Under the authority of Congress, conferred by the Acts of 1822 and
1827, the State of Illinois constructed the Illinois and Michigan canal,
and was, by those Acts, authorized to divert the water of Lake Michi-
gan through the Desplaines and Illinois rivers in aid of a water route
to connect the waters of Lake Michigan with those of the Illinois river.
II
The Illinois and Michigan canal, however, was regarded as an inade-
quate development of this water route, and as early as 1858 elaborate
investigations were made for a steamboat canal, with the result that
locks and dams were constructed by the State at Henry and Copperas
creek, and by the federal government at LaGrange and Kampsville.
In 1889, the sanitary necessities of Chicago resulted in the passage
of a bill to create sanitary districts and the State took advantage of the
opportunity to specify that the proposed sanitary channel should be so
built as to be available for use as a ship canal. The result has been the
construction of a magnificent canal across the Chicago divide, with a
capacity, when completed, of producing a deep waterway throughout
the length of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi river.
A board of engineers of the United States has estimated that such a
waterway, with a depth of I4 feet, can be constructed between the end
of the drainage canal at Lockport and the Mississippi river at St. Louis
for a total expenditure of less than $31,000,000. This estimate is based
on the production of a volume of water of 600,000 cubic feet per minute
from Lake Michigan. -
The Internal Improvement Commision has carefully reviewed this
project and finds that with a volume of 840,000 cubic feet per minute,
which the drainage canal is capable of carrying, not less than 24 feet
of water can be carried as far as the city of Peoria, and that 18 feet
or more can be carried thence to the city of St. Louis. This is in effect
an extension of lake navigation to St. Louis for the full depth which
is now available at low water in the intermediate channels at the
Detroit and St. Mary's rivers.
The maintenance of a water, route with the maximum depth of 24
feet anticipates future improvements in lake navigation, and the com-
mission recommends that the locks and permanent works shall be
located and designed for this ultimate depth of 24 feet, and that the
intermediate channels be developed progressively according to com-
mercial needs. . . .
The report of the commission further points out that with the large
flow of water proposed there can be developed between Lockport and
Utica 173,000 available horse power, worth at present market prices
$25.00 per annum per horse power. This would be a valuable source
of revenue which, through proper legislative action, could be secured
for the State instead of being diverted to the use and benefit of private
enterprises. To this end, I recommend that legislation be enacted con-
ferring upon the Canal Commissioners the powers necessary for the de-
velopment, use and distribution of this water power, and that no con-
struction of dams by private parties for the creation of water power for
their use, be permitted, without a permit, to be granted by the Governor
upon the approval and recommendation of the Canal Commissioners,
and upon terms making due provision for compensation to the State for
the use of any such water power. -
Legislation will also be necessary to provide for the enlargement of
the corporate powers of the sanitary district of Chicago, to provide for
the navigation of the channels created by said district, and to confer
upon the district the powers necessary to render available the power
III
... rising from the water passing through such channels; also to author;
ize the sanitary district and the Canal Commissioners to negotiate terms
and conditions upon which the sanitary district may, from time to time,
acquire the rights of the State in the waterway, and other property of
the Illinois, and Michigan canal, until the Illinois and Michigan canal
shall be discontinued or merged in the proposed deep waterway. . . .
I further recommend, in aid of the construction of the proposed deep
waterway, that the State so legislate that part of the revenue secured
from the sale of water power, shall be made to contribute to its con-
Struction. - - - . . . . . . . . . . . ;
The report of the commission fully sets forth the physical character
istics and possibilities of the Mississippi river between St. Louis and the
gulf, and makes suggestions as to methods which can be followed in
their development.
In this connection I may say that the commission has been instru-
mental in providing, through the River and Harbor Act, recently passed
by Congress, for a further and more exhaustive examination of the
possibilities of the Mississippi river from St. Louis to the gulf.
From all the matters presented in the report of the commission, it
appears that it is desirable that this State shall so legislate as to remove
the objections which have been urged against the construction of this
route by the United States. To this end I have delayed presenting this
report until I could bring the authorities of the Illinois and Michigan
canal, the Illinois Internal Improvement Commission and the Sanitary
District of Chicago into harmony, so as to secure through their joint
Suggestions a well-considered scheme for the development of the entire
route, and insure the coöperation of all the agencies concerned in the
production of the proposed deep waterway. A conference of these or-
ganizations has been held and the fruits of that conference will be pre-
sented to you in the form of bills designed to secure for the State the
benefits and advantages connected with the development of a deep
waterway, which are set forth in the report of the commission.
I have been deeply impressed with the idea that it is necessary that
this State define its position clearly, and that these several agencies
be brought into harmonious relations, before we can hope to enlist
the coöperation of the federal government. I, therefore, invite the earn-
est attention of the General Assembly to the entire subject matter of
this extensive and valuable report, and to the bills above referred to, in
the belief that there should be some positive and affirmative legislation
upon this subject by the present General Assembly.
The work of the commission has dealt broadly with the advantages
to our State of the extension of our internal water system, and its re-
port makes a clear and convincing presentation of those advantages.
The scheme has been worked out as fully as the appropriation made by
the last General Assembly would permit. The work of the commission,
however, is far from complete, and I believe it will be of great advant-
age to the State in this important matter if its labors are continued, in
order that a final report may be prepared on the lakes and gulf water-
way. Its continuance is necessary also in order that the commission may
investigate more fully the possibilities of the State in relation to the de-
IV
velopment of its water resources, so that our public policy in this regard
may be wisely guided in the future. The data collected and suggestions
made by the commission will furthermore be of great value as a means '
of directing public attention to the importance of the work of improving
and extending our internal water system and will furnish the basis for
an enlightened public judgment in relation to the interest of our State
in its prosecution.
I, therefore, recommend that the Illinois Internal Improvement Com-
mission be maintained and that an adequate appropriation be made by
the General Assembly to meet the expenditures necessary in the proscu-
tion of its work during the next two years.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLEs S. DENEEN,
Governor.
The Lakes and Gulf Waterway
A REPORT BY
TheInternal Improvement Commission
Of Illinois
TO THE
GOVERNOR,
Hon. Charles S. Deneen.
FEBRUARY, 1907.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
PHILLIPS BROS., STATE PRINTERS.
1907

VII
Letter of Transmittal,
CHICAGO, Feb. 27, 1907.
Hon. Charles S. Deneen, Governor, State of Illinois: -
SIR-The Forty-fourth General Assembly enacted the following
legislation:
AN ACT to provide for the appointment of an Internal Improvement Com-
nission and to make an appropriation therefor. (Approved May 16, 1905,
in force July 1, 1905.) - - - -
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented
in the General Assembly: That there be appointed by the Governor a commis-
sion to be known as the Internal Improvement Commission of Illinois, to be
composed of three persons of high practical business qualifications, two of
whom, at least, shall reside in counties contiguous to a navigable river in this
State. - - -
Sec. 2. The duties of this commission shall be to investigate the va-
rious problems associated with a projected deep waterway from Lake Michi-
gan to the Gulf of Mexico, and the reclamation of lands subject to overflow
or inundation, the construction of practical and substantial levees, the ac- .
certaining of the acreage of lands now subject to inundation from rivers,
the increase from benefits to be derived from this proposed deep waterway
and reclamation of lands subject to overflow or inundation, and such other
statistics and data as Will intelligently enable the next General Assembly to
properly formulate and devise ways and means whereby legislative enactment
may be had to carry out and put into effect the benefits to be derived by a
deep waterway from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico and reclamation
of lands subject to inundation in Illinois. The results of these investigations
and studies, together with all obtainable data and statistics, to be embodied
in a report of all its workings to the next General Assembly. Such commis-
sion shall receive no compensation for its services other than the necessary
and legitimate expenses incurred by it in the discharge of its official business.
The powers and expenses of this commission shall close at the expiration of
two years, from the time of its appointment. . .
Sec. 3. The sum of seven thousand dollars, or such part thereof as is
necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the State treasury for the expenses
of the said commission. - -
Sec. 4. The Auditor of Public Accounts is hereby authorized and di-
rected to draw his warrant for the sum herein appropriated on presentation
of proper vouchers, certified by said commission and approved by the Gover-
nor, and the Treasurer shall pay the same out of the money hereby appro-
priated. " . . . . .
On Feb. 20, 1906, your Excellency organized the Internal Improve-
ment Commission of Illinois, by appointing as commissioners, Mr.
Isham Randolph of Chicago, Mr. H. W. Johnson of Ottawa and Mr. H.
M. Schmoldt of Beardstown. At a meeting of same date Mr. Randolph
20.4599
VIII
was made chairman. At a meeting held March 6, 1906, Mr. Schmoldt
was made treasurer and Mr. Lyman E. Cooley of Chicago was ap-
pointed Secretary.
The funds available were not sufficient for original surveys in a
problem of such magnitude, and so the work of the commission re-
duced to collating and digesting the available data, with special refer-
ence to the problems which most particularly concern the State of
Illinois at this time. Fortunately, and in addition to the accumulated
stock of information, much material had been gathered in recent years
by the Sanitary District of Chicago, and the United States had just
completed an elaborate survey of the Illinois valley, together with an
extended compilation of physical data. The charts and records of the
Mississippi River Commission were available for the Mississippi river.
It was thought expedient to limit a report to the projected Lakes and
Gulf Waterway, and to discuss it broadly, leaving exhaustive consider-
ation of the subject and other problems for further legislative direction.
The commission familiarized itself with the matter in hand, and on
April 26–9 made an inspection of the Illinois river from Grafton to
LaSalle, on the Fish Commission steamer Illinois, which was made
available for the purpose by your direction. Regular monthly meetings
were held for comparison of views and discussion of the matter and
scope of a report. Finally a precise was matured and adopted
for the guidance of the secretary in drawing the report.
By your instruction, the commission has promoted the projected
waterway on all proper occasions. The secretary has conducted an
extended correspondence with waterway organizations and furnished
information to writers, some of which is yet to appear, and prepared
sundry addresses. The commission attended the Lakes and Gulf
Waterway Convention held at St. Louis Nov. 15-16, 1906, and was
represented at the Trans-Mississippi Congress at Kansas City, Nov.
20–23, and at the National Congress on Rivers and Harbors held in
Washington, Dec. 6 and 7. A special meeting was also held to discuss
waterway matters by the Western Society of Engineers, on Oct. I2,
and by the Press Club of Chicago on Oct. I5. Further inspection trips
and wider agitation were planned than the time of members and the
resources available permitted. t
The report as first considered, was to be much briefer than the one
herewith submitted, and was to be placed in your hands before the
meeting of the General Assembly. As the time approached, however,
it became evident that the main question was to be diverted by side
issues, and that immediate legislation by Congress was doubtful. It
had also developed that material modifications in the official project
should be made, and that the situation might be clarified by some antici-
patory legislation by the Forty-fifth General Assembly. So it was
thought expedient to write a fuller and more elaborate report, partly
as an educational document, and in anticipation of issues to be raised
This has required exhausting and uninterrupted labor since early in
January, and is the reason for deferring the report to this time.
IX
In this more elaborate presentation many matters of importance
have been passed by and others treated tentatively, and no sufficient
time has been given to revision so as to avoid errors and discrepancies
To make this matter complete and as concise as the subject matter per-
mits, and to add illustrations and appendices of important matters for
reference, would require the labors of a number of skilled assistants for
several months and a considerable appropriation. Such a report, if it
could be printed and widely circulated, might be useful in legislation by
the next Congress, but the preparation thereof, if it is to be undertaken,
should be entered upon without delay, and the report now submitted
treated as provisional. - *
In considering the trunk waterway, the temptation is strong to de-
velop the possibilities of the tributaries and to ascertain further what
may be feasible, in a domestic waterway system, which the topography
of this State so readily invites. The treatment proposed for the main
route will facilitate the development of laterals, as in the case of the
Kankakee and Fox. The data for such consideration is in most cases
meagre, and original examinations of a preliminary character will be
needed which will take time, and money.
What are to be the navigable streams of this State, and what policy is
to obtain in bridging the same and in making use of their waters, may be
of much importance to the future. In considering the water resources,
there are points of contact with other official bodies, as the Geological
Survey, the Fish Commission and the Board of Health.
The report herewith shows that it is practicable, by the aid of the
water which can be conveyed through the Chicago Drainage Canal and
the Illinois and Michigan Canal, to produce a depth of eighteen feet or
more between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river at St. Louis,
or to extend, in effect, lake navigation to the city of St. Louis, 367
miles from Lake Michigan. With such improvement of the Mississippi
river as heretofore projected for local commerce, such a depth can be
carried through to the Gulf of Mexico for more than half the year, and
a depth of fourteen feet for a period longer than the season of naviga-
tion in the great lakes; and further, that such channel of fourteen feet
can be kept open in the low water season by means of hydraulic dredges.
The southern route will be closed by ice for two months or less
while the eastern route to the seaboard will be closed for four months
or more, and Lake Superior is shut up for nearly five months.
The report further shows that twenty-four feet, or the depth of the
drainage canal, can be carried to the city of Peoria, and that to extend
the same to the Mississippi river is only a matter of water supply. It is
not suggested that these ultimate possibilities be immediately developed
but that they should be considered in the location and design of perma-
rent works. Five locks are proposed in place of the nine in the official
project, such locks to be 960 feet long and Io& feet wide, with a depth
of twenty-four feet on the miter sills. The modified project suggested,
with fewer and larger locks and a change in the flow line to avoid land
damages, can be carried out with a preliminary depth of fourteen feet
for the official estimate and a moderate extra allowance for the enlarged
X.
locks. Such a program will permit a progressive development of the
channel as the needs of the future require, thus enabling the route be-
tween Chicago and St. Louis to be maintained on a parity with the de-
velopment in lake navigation.
The proposed changes in plan will enable the ultimate development of
173,000 net hydraulic horse power and contribute to the reclamation of
the Illinois river bottom lands, both of which constitute resources which
the State cannot afford to lose.
The historic evolution of the Illinois waterway, the physical condi-
tions and the elements of the present project are all set forth in the re-
port submitted herewith.
Your commission feels that it has been exceedingly fortunate in
having secured as its secretary Mr. Lyman E. Cooley, C. E., because
of his intimate acquaintance with the history, both ancient and recent,
of the subjects which we had to consider, and because of his technical
knowledge of the problems involved and the large accumulation of data
acquired by him in printed and manuscript form and in his well stocked
memory. And in submitting this report your commission is pleased to
recognize its indebtedness to Mr. Cooley.
Very respectfully submitted,
THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION OF ILLINOIs.
ISHAM RANDOLPH, Chairman;
H. M. SCHMOLDT,
H. W. JoHNSON.
LYMAN E. CoOLEY, Secretary.
INDEX.
PART I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION: PAGE.
Introduction—Physical Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Early History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
History of Other Illinois Waterways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Recent History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Growth in Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
PART II. DIVISIONS OF ROUTE:
The Chicago Divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Upper Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Lower Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Tributary Division. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Middle Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Lower Mississippi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
PART III. THE DEEP WATERWAY.
The Official Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Discussion of the Official Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Modification in Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Water POWer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Land Reclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
General Remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
PART IV. RESUME AND CONCLUSIONS: -
Lake Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Mississippi Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Coöperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
THE LAKES AND GULF WATERWAY.
[Lyman E. Cooley.]
Part I. Preliminary Consideration.
sº-º-º-º-º-º-ºm-º:
I. INTRODUCTION.—PHYSICAL RELATIONS.
The Chicago divide is the site of the ancient outlet of the Great
Lakes. Three distinctive shore lines about the head of Lake Michigan
record successive stages of the receding waters as the eastern outlet
developed—the forty foot beach (above standard low water), known
as the West Ridge, from Evanston to Rose Hill; the twenty-four foot
beach, which is the site of Northwestern University and extends to the
north side of Chicago; and the fourteen foot beach, developed at Engle-
wood—and changes seem to be still in progress in the Port Huron
outlet, which indicate an ultimate level somewhat lower than the present
stage. Professor G. K. Gilbert, United States Geologist, under the
title, “Earth Movement in the Great Lakes Region,” (see Report of
U. S. Geological Survey, vol. XVIII, 1896-7) predicts that the Chicago
outlet will be restored in about twenty-five hundred years.
The Chicago Divide is about midway of the continental valley, ex-
tending 3,300 miles by the water trail from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. The virtual summit, the rock floor in the
Desplaines valley above Lemont, is at an elevation of 587 feet above
mean sea level, or less than the altitude of the Washington monument
in the District of Columbia. More than 900 miles away by the water
route the rock floor of the Niagara river, where it leaves Lake Erie, is
only thirty feet lower, or at about the level of the bottom of the Chicago
Drainage Canal. To the northeast, the outlet developed in lakes and
rock-bound declivities to the St. Lawrence estuary. From the south,
alluvial grades developed northward to Utica, leaving some eighty miles
of half completed rock-bound valley to the old shore line near Lyons,
Some ten miles of additional rock erosion above Joliet would have main-
tained the southern outlet. -
In the ice cap period, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico extended
north to the vicinity of Cairo, and glacial lobes converged on the low
lying region represented by Illinois and the adjacent margins of border-
ing states. The topographic relief was built up as far south as parallel
37% deg. (Grand Tower to Shawneetown), and the southern estuary
filled in as the delta or alluvial region of over 30,000 square miles be-
2
tween Cairo and the gulf. Water passes were carved across the north-
ern highlands and between the lake region and the Mississippi valley,
from all of which the flow gravitated toward the region of Illinois. The
Chicago outlet is the lowest, practically, at the present Michigan–Huron
level, and from 180 to 440 feet lower than all others.
The pass from the Winnipeg basin and the Canadian northwest, the
Red-Minnesota Divide, is at an elevation of 960 feet; the St. Croix pass
from the head of Lake Superior, I,020 feet; the Fox-Wisconsin at
Portage, Wisconsin, 790 feet; the Maumee-Wabash near Fort Wayne,
Indiana, at 760 feet; the Grand-Mahoning near Warren, Ohio, at 900
feet, the site of the proposed Lake Erie and Ohio River ship canal; and
there are four intermediate passes in Ohio at 910-960 feet, two of which
are utilized by state canals. The Chicago outlet by way of the Illinois
1:ver crosses the State of Illinois, and the routes from all the other
water passes come to her borders by way of the Upper Mississippi, the
Wabash and the Ohio, and ultimately converge at Cairo. The Mis-
souri river coming remotely from the Rocky Mountains; the Cumber-
land, and the Tennessee impinge on her shores. Illinois is the natural
focus of a continental waterway system, and should benefit most largely
by a general waterway policy. -
That the Illinois region is low lying is to be inferred from the fore-
going. As a matter of fact, the State of Illinois is the lowest in eleva-
tion of any of the interior states, being IOO feet lower than Indiana, 250
feet lower than Ohio, 300 feet lower than Michigan, 450 feet lower than
Wisconsin, 600 feet lower than Minnesota, 500 feet lower than Iowa
and 200 feet lower than Missouri—lower even than Kentucky, Ten-
nessee or Arkansas. . (See Report U. S. Geological Survey, Vol. XIII.
Pt. II, p. 289, 1893.) The actual average elevation of the State, as
deduced by Professor Frank Leverett (Water Resources of Illinois,
Report U. S. Geological Survey, Vol. XVII, Pt. II, 1896) is 632 feet,
or fifty-three feet above the Michigan–Huron lake. Such a condition
carries a moderate climate well north, making navigation possible in
ordinary winters up to parallel 42 deg. at Chicago and Clinton.
The State of Illinois is also remarkably uniform in elevation. Pro-
fessor Leverett's table shows that in a total area of 56,650 square miles,
only 125 miles lie above an elevation of 1,000 feet, 4,990 miles between
I,000 and 800 feet, and 1,925 miles below 400 feet; while 31,185 miles,
or 55 per cent, lie between elevations 800 and 600 feet; and 18,425
miles, or 32% per cent, between elevations 600 and 400 feet—in other
words, more than half the State lies within a range of 200 feet and seven-
eighths within a limit of 400 feet. The streams are well distributed and
the headwater summits, by which the several basins may be connected,
are generally low. The resources of the State are great and very uni-
formly spread out, and all the conditions invite a dense population.
When the need shall appear, as it has in foreign lands, no other state is
better adapted to the development of a domestic waterway system.
3
2. THE DISCOVERY.
In 1673 Joliet and Marquette, going by way of the Fox-Wisconsin
route from Green Bay, discovered the Mississippi river, and floated
down the same to the mouth of the Arkansas river. On their return
they were persuaded by the Illinois Indians to take the Illinois river,
and were the first white men to cross the Chicago Divide, in Septem-
ber, 1673.
Resting at the head of Lake Michigan from his hazardous voyage
on the Great Lakes, Joliet, under date of Aug. I, I674, first proposed
a canal across the Chicago Divide, in a letter to his friend, Father
Dablon, as follows: -
“A very important advantage, and one which some, perhaps, will find it
hard to credit, is that we could easily go to Florida, in boats, and by a very
good navigation. There would be but one canal to make—by cutting one-half
of a league of prairie—to pass from the lake of Illinois (Lake Michigan)
into the St. Louis river (Desplaines river). The route to be taken is this:
The bark should be built on Lake Erie, which is near Lake Ontario. It could
easily pass from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, from which it would enter the
lake of Illinois. At the extremity of this lake would be the cut or canal of
which I have spoken, to have a passage to the St. Louis river, which empties
into the Mississippi. The bark, having entered this river, could easily sail
to the Gulf of Mexico.”
Marquette returned to Chicago late in 1674, and wintered “two
leagues” from the lake, adjacent to the west fork of the south branch of
the Chicago river, near Robey street. On March 29, 1675, he was
driven from his cabin by flood waters, due to the spring breakup of
the Desplaines river and ice gorges. He secured his effects in trees
and took refuge on a “hillock.” On March 31 he crossed the divide
in his canoes and proceeded to the Illinois country, passing the site
of Utica on April 8. Sickness soon compelled Marquette to abandon
his mission, and he died on the east shore of Lake Michigan, near
the mouth of St. Joseph river, on his return journey. The hillock
or mound on which Marquette took refuge stood adjacent to the
west fork at Robey street, and was about 35o feet long by IOO feet
wide and sixteen feet above lake level, and was not entirely removed
until 1880.
LaSalle was fired by the exploits of Joliet and Marquette. He had
already explored down the Ohio river as far as Louisville, and planned
an extended scheme of exploration and commercial venture. In 1679
he built the Griffin on the shores of the Niagara river, and with her
made the trip to Green Bay, the first vessel to sail the upper lakes.
He selected the mouth of the St. Joe river apparently as a suitable
harbor and there established Fort Miami. He proceeded up the St.
Joseph river and crossed over to the Kankakee marshes near South
Bend, Indiana, and thence down the Kankakee river and the Illinois
to the Illinois villages, where he arrived Jan. 1, 1680. He established
-
Fort Creve Coeur, on the east side of Lake Peoria and northeast from
the present city of Peoria, and started to build a suitable vessel with
which to descend the Illinois and Mississippi. His resources and
organization were inadequate, and, after despatching Father Hennepin
4
to explore the Upper Mississippi, on March 2, he set out on his return
to Fort Miami, going by way of the Desplaines river to Joliet, thence
overland to Lake Michigan, near the mouth of the Calumet.
LaSalle made a new start in 1681 and his party rendezvoused at
“Checaugou” on Jan. 4, 1682, and proceeded over the ice on sleighs to
Lake Peoria, where he found open water and at once launched his
boats and proceeded southward by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers,
reaching the margin of the Gulf of Mexico on April 9. He returned
to the Illinois country and established Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock,
opposite Utica, in December, 1682, and, owing to the removal of
Governor Frontenac, remained in the Illinois country until the autumn
of 1683, when he returned to France, leaving Tonti in command. Fort
St. Louis was besieged by Iroquois Indians for six days in March,
I684.
LaSalle fitted out a new expedition to reach the interior by way of
the Mississippi river from the Gulf of Mexico. He missed the mouth
of the river and landed at Matagorda Bay, Texas, Jan. I2, I687. After
establishing a fort and making local explorations, he set out overland
for the Mississippi river on his way to Canada, but was assassinated
by members of his party near Trinity river, Texas, March 19, 1687.
On Feb. 13, 1686, Tonti left Fort St. Louis in search of LaSalle, and
on his return built a fort near the mouth of the Arkansas river, where
fugitives from LaSalle's party arrived on Sept. I4, 1687. They reached
Fort St. Louis and remained there during the winter and returned to
France by way of the Chicago portage in 1688. -
A fort was built by Durantaye at “Checaugou” in 1685, but the
exact site and its name are unknown.
The French established a chain of forts from the lakes to the gulf,
and protected from their hereditary enemies, east and west, the Illinois
Indians increased greatly in numbers and prospered. In 1769 Pon-
tiac, the great Indian leader, was assassinated by an Illinois Indian
at Cahokia, opposite St. Louis, an act which was approved by the
Illinois tribes. The northern Indians, in revenge, practically exter-
minated the Illinois tribes, the war culminating in the massacre at
Starved Rock in 1770. - - . .
The actual “divide,” or water parting, at the time of the discovery
and up to 1852, was within the present limits of the city of Chicago,
near Kedzie avenue. The original land surveys of 1821 show an ex-
tended marsh, fed through a slough from the Desplaines river at the
range line north of Summit. The two arms of this marsh overflowed
in high water near Kedzie avenue, into the West Fork near the Bride-
well and into the South Fork near Brighton and west from the stock
yards. From the junction of these two forks, the South branch and
the main river out to the lake sand bar, had a natural depth of over
twelve feet and a capacity several times that of the North Branch,
though the territory normally drained was comparatively limited. The
inference is plain, that the South Branch, with its two forks, was the
proper outlet for the flood waters of the Desplaines river and was
maintained thereby.
5 \ -
Topographical surveys identify an old river bed in the Mud Lake
region, and along the present line of the Ogden-Wentworth ditch,
which was probably at one time the bed of the Desplaines river when
it flowed to Lake Michigan, much like the Calumet within the his–
toric period. What occasioned the diversion down the present course
Of the Desplaines river is a matter of speculation—it may have been
due to silt deposits initiated by a beaver dam near Kedzie avenue.
The present course bears every evidence of being very recent—the silt
deposits over the rock are very limited and the river bed occupies
a mere surface depression, with little or no rock erosion.
The original portage was then from the West Fork near the Bride-
well to Mud Lake, beyond Kedzie avenue; thence navigation was
continued by a slough to the Desplaines river and through the “twelve
mile level” to the rock above Lemont, a water stretch of some
eighteen miles, and having a low water level only eight feet above
low lake level and less than four feet above high lake. Such conditions
naturally made the Chicago divide the most famous portage between
the lakes and the Mississippi river. -
From the end of the “twelve mile level” to Lake Joliet was seven-
teen miles—a mere surface stream over the rock bed—with a steep
declivity over the lower half of the distance descending to a level 76.5
feet below Lake Michigan. Eight out of thirteen miles between the
head of Lake Joliet and the head of the Illinois river at the junction
with the Kankakee, is occupied by two deep pools, Lake Joliet and
Lake DuPage, with intermediate declivities of seventeen feet. The
flow from the Kankakee river itself was originally well maintained
from the great marsh expanses at head waters.
Under date of April 4, 1819, Messrs. R. Graham and Joseph Phil-
lips report from Kankakee as follows:
“The route by Chicago as followed by the French since the discovery of the
Illinois, presents at one season of the year an uninterrupted boat communi-
cation of six to eight tons burden between the Mississippi and the Michigan
lake; at another SeaSOn a portage of tWO miles; at another, a portage of
Seven miles from the bend of the Plein (DeSplaines) to the arm of the Lake.
And at another, a portage of fifty miles from the mouth of the Plein to
the lake, over which there is a well beaten wagon road. Boats and their loads
are hauled by oxen and vehicles kept for that purpose by the French settlers
at Chicago.” - - - . . . . .'; ;
In 1849 the divide was overflowed at the spring breakup, much as
in 1675, when Marquette was driven from his cabin, with ice gorges
and great destruction of shipping and bridges in the Chicago river.
The southern arm of Mud Lake was intercepted by the Illinois and
Michigan canal (opened in 1848) and drained to the South Fork by
the State ditch at Brighton. In 1852 the Cook County Drainage Com-
missioners cut a ditch four feet wide and three feet deep into Mud
Lake from the West Fork, and this had enlarged to great proportions
by 1856. The same commission also cut a similar ditch from Mud Lake
to the Desplaines river, but this silted up. In 1871 private parties
opened up what has since been known as the Ogden-Wentworth Ditch,
put this brought so much silt to the Chicago river and to the canal, then
just deepened, that it was regarded as a nuisance. A dam was built
6
at the range line near Summit in 1874, its height being fixed by agree-
ment, at the level of the divide that had formed at the margin of the
Desplaines river, or at II.73 feet above Chicago datum (low water
of 1847) and 3.7 feet above the summer level of the “twelve mile level”
and the rock floor at Lemont, thirteen miles below.
Below the mouth of the Kankakee river the voyageur had ample
water in the open season to the Indian town located on the water line
uplift at Utica, where there are copious springs from the overlying St.
Peter's Sandstone. Opposite was Fort St. Louis, later Starved Rock, at
the immediate head of the alluvial valley and the head of the present
pool created by the dam at Henry. The fall at low water was about
fifty-three feet in forty-two miles, largely concentrated in rock-bound
declivities—four feet in one mile below the Kankakee; eighteen feet in
two miles below Kickapoo reef, opposite Marseilles, and ten feet in
two and a half miles above Fort St. Louis, and a deep pool covered
more than twelve miles above Kickapoo reef. -
From Fort St. Louis (Utica) was an easy current to the Mississippi,
a descent at low water of only twenty-eight feet in 229 miles. This
gentle declivity expressed the great volume of the old outlet, and a
remnant of the ancient stream bed survives in Lake Peoria, much con-
tracted in historic times. The detritus from tributaries has determined
the course and shaped the bed of the modern stream, shrinking it to
the requirements of the present drainage basin, an adjustment in
grades and prism that will take a geologic age to complete. In the
Report of 1867 upon the Survey and Project “for a system of Navi-
gation * * * * * * * adapted to military, naval and commercial
purposes,” General James H. Wilson describes the bottom lands as
follows:
“Intersected by lagoons and swamps, covered with a dense growth of
willow, these bottoms seem impenetrable. Such is the desolate appearance
of the silent swamps and lagoons, that Captain. Howard Stansbury, in a report
of a survey made in 1838, expresses the opinion that they must “ever remain
uninhabited.’ This may be true, until a denser population gives a Sufficient
value to the land to justify a reclamation by levees. Already cultivation has
begun to encroach on the bottoms.”
Stansbury saw the situation substantially as it was seen by the
discoverers, and little change had occurred in Wilson's day.
3. EARLY HISTORY.
The Ordinance of Virginia (July 13, 1787) accepting the cession
of the Northwest territory (northwest of Ohio river) provided as fol-
lows: ) -
“The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence,
and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and
forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens
of the United States, and those of any Other State that may be admitted into
the Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.”
The Indian Treaty of Aug. 3, 1795, cedes territory as follows:
“One piece of land six miles square at mouth of Chicago river * * * * *
where a fort formerly stood; one piece twelve miles square at or near the
mouth of the Illinois; one piece Six miles Square at the Old Peorian fort and
village, near south end of the Illinois lake (Lake Peoria) on the said
Illinois river.” -
7
In his celebrated report on Means of Internal Communication, in
1808, Albert Gallatin gave a prominent place to the project for a ship
canal across the Chicago portage. -
In 1811 the Illinois waterway was reported to Congress in a bill
along with the proposed Erie and other canals.
From 1808 to 1825 the “proposed ship canal” was repeatedly advo-
cated by Clinton and Morris as an extension of the Erie canal to the
Mississippi river. - .
President Madison, in his message to Congress in 1814, invites atten-
tion to the importance of a ship canal between Lake Michigan and the
Illinois river. - - -
On Aug. 24, 1816, a treaty was made with the Ottawa, Chippewa and
Pottawatomie Indians, by which they relinquished all territorial claims
south of the parallel touching the south end of Lake Michigan, and
ceded the territory within ten miles of the water route, or what is known
as the Indian boundary line extending from the Fox river to Lake
Michigan on the north, and from Lake Michigan to the Kankakee river
on the South. . -- -
In 1816 Major Long, who had been sent to rebuild Fort Dearborn,
reported to George Graham, Secretary of War, on “The Practicability
of a Ship Canal.” He examined the Illinois, Kankakee and Desplaines
rivers, and among other things says:
“The water course which is already open between the river Des Plaines
and the Chicago river, needs but little more excavation to render it sufficiently
Capacious for all the purposes of a canal.” ..
At the instance of Judge Nathaniel Pope, territorial delegate to
Congress, the bill for the admission of Illinois as a State in 1818 fixed
the northern boundary at parallel 42 deg. 30 min., in place of the terri-
torial boundary established by the Ordinance of Virginia at the parallel
touching the south end of Lake Michigan, in order that the new State
might have a port on Lake Michigan, and that the construction of the
waterway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river should not
be prejudiced. -
The land surveys of 1821 meandered the Desplaines river up to the
highway in the village of Lyons, or to the seven mile portage road from
the Chicago river. - -
In 1822 the United States granted a right of way through the public
lands, and in 1827 made a grant of land—alternate sections five miles.
on either side and amounting to 284,OOO acres—in aid of a waterway
from Lake Michigan to the navigable waters of the Illinois river. Sup-
plemental legislation was passed in 1833, 1842 and 1854. The State of
Illinois took action in 1823, authorized canal construction in 1829 and
began work in 1836. The State submitted plans in 1825, a survey was
made by the United States in 1830, and further surveys by the State
in 1833. - - -
The work was prosecuted under financial vicissitudes, and finally
opened in 1848, with the plan modified to a summit level eight feet
above Lake Michigan (low water of 1847, Chicago datum) with a
feeder through Sag valley from the Calumet river, supplemented by
lift wheels at Bridgeport, when the water supply was deficient. These
wheels were operated at times to cleanse the Chicago river, and in
8
1866-7I the city of Chicago cut down the summit level according to
the original plans, and the waters of Lake Michigan flowed by gravity
to the Mississippi. The expenditure for this work was refunded by
the State after the great fire of October, 1871. In 1881 the Legislature,
by joint resolution, required the city of Chicago to erect and maintain
pumping works at the canal entrance at Bridgeport, to increase the flow
for sanitary reasons, and these were put in operation in 1884 and have
since continued. - -
The canal was 97.24 miles, descending to I46.6 feet below lake level
at LaSalle (1ow water in the Illinois), six feet deep, sixty feet wide at
surface and thirty-six feet at bottom in earth, and forty-eight. feet wide
in rock, with locks IIO feet long, eighteen feet wide and six feet deep
on miter sills. 5 -
There were differences of opinion as to the treatment and scope of
the enterprise. The canalization of the river below Joliet, in lieu of
the canal, was strongly advocated. As late as 1838 General Dearborn
wrote from Chicago that the canal is to be “of such enlarged dimensions
as to permit the passage of large vessels, being ten feet deep,” or all
that could then be carried by lake across the St. Clair flats. Clinton is.
stated to have visited Chicago in the interests of the “ship canal” in
1826 (unverified statement of the late ex-Senator Doolittle) and to
have made a speech in Steuben county after his return to New York in
which he said: “I stood on the banks of a little reedy stream called the
Checaugou river, where in forty years will be a great city, not less than
2OO,OOO inhabitants.” Notwithstanding its limited capacity, the canal
served its day so well that in 1885 Canal Commissioner Brainerd esti-
mated that it had saved the people of the State within reach of its ser,
vice not less than $180,000,000.OO in freight charges.
The canal failed to develop its full utility, as long continued low water
periods in the lower Illinois river gave bar depths as little as one and a
half to four feet. The United States did a limited amount of dredging
in 1852 (under Joe Johnson, later famous in the Confederate army)
and the good effects were apparent fifteen years later. In 1858 John B.
Preston projected a steamboat waterway—same dimensions recom-
mended by General Wilson in 1867—and this, in conjunction with an
enlarged Erie canal, was urged in Congress in 1862 as a war measure.
In 1866 Congress ordered surveys and a project “for a system of navi-
gation, by way of the Illinois river, between the Mississippi and Lake
Michigan, adapted to military, naval and commercial purposes.” Gen-
eral James H. Wilson made a preliminary report in 1867, and in con-
junction with William Gooding, engineer of the Illinois and Michigan
canal, a final report in 1868. The project recommended was a canal,
160 feet wide and six feet deep (eight feet at mean level) across the
Chicago divide to Lockport, with a grade of one-tenth foot per mile;
the same dimensions continued to Lake Joliet; the improvement of the
river by dams and locks to Utica, with a depth of seven feet, and also
the improvement of the lower river by locks and dams to the same
depths—all locks to be 350 feet long and seventy-five feet wide, with
seven feet depth on the miter sills. • {
- , , , , . .
9
It was considered that an addition of 4,555 second-feet to the ex-
treme low water volume (633 second-feet at LaSalle) would produce
the required depth between Utica and the mouth of the river “by the aid
of one, or at the most, two dams, together with a small amount of
dredging.” The plan (which seems to have been that of Preston) was
considered as beyond “any reasonable cost.” This conclusion was based
on an ill-considered design for the supply channel across the Chicago
divide. Assistants Robert E. McGrath and Colonel H. A. Ulffers vig-
orously protested against the lock and dam project for the lower Illinois,
and up to 1880 all appropriations by the United States were expended
in dredging, except $62,359.80 applied to the foundation of the Cop-
peras Creek lock.
The State of Illinois undertook the improvement from the surplus
canal earnings, and in 1871 opened the lock and dam at Henry, and in
1877, the lock and dam at Copperas creek. *
In special reports, 1878-80, Captain G. J. Lydecker considers locks
and dams somewhat cheaper than open channel improvement, and the
United States opened the work at LaGrange in 1889, at Kampsville in
1893. He estimated it to be feasible to obtain six feet in an open chan-
nel, with the low water volume below Copperas creek, measured in
1879, at I,566 second-feet (261 furnished from Lake Michigan by the
canal). - .
In 1874, Mr. F. C. Doran, under Colonel J. N. Macomb, made a sur-
vey from Chicago to Hennepin, as part of the northern transportation
route from the Upper Mississippi to Lake Michigan. His project did
not differ materially from that of General Wilson's except that the
summit cut across the Chicago divide was to be eight feet deep on a
grade of O.28 feet per mile, with a capacity of I24,000 feet per minute.
In 1883 Mr. G. Y. Wisner, under Major W. H. H. Benyaurd, made
a survey between Joliet and LaSalle, and the Wilson project was sub-
stantially adhered to.
The canal was examined in 1882, with a view to a slight enlargement
as an extension of the proposed Hennepin canal to Lake Michigan. By
Act approved April 28, 1882, and ratified by popular vote on November
5, the same year, the State of Illinois ceded to the United States the
Illinois and Michigan canal, on condition that it should be enlarged and
forever maintained. The board of engineers in 1886 decided that the
improvement of the river between Joliet and Hennepin was to be pre-
ferred, and this cession expired by limitation on November 5, 1887.
Meantime the State of Illinois, by Act approved May 31, 1887, ceded to
the United States the State works at Henry and Copperas creek, in
order to meet the objection that there would still remain a section of the
through waterway under the control of the State of Illinois, in case the
United States accepted the cession of the Illinois and Michigan canal.
This Act was repealed by an Act of the General Assembly approved
June 4, 1889, in force July 1, 1889.
4. HISTORY OF OTHER ILLINOIS WATERWAYS.
Following the Act of Congress of 1822, the State of Illinois, by Act
of January 14, 1823, provided for the appointment of a canal commis-
sion, and, among other things, instructed it “to invite the attention of
IO
the governors of the states of Ohio and Indiana, and through them
the legislatures of their respective states, to the importance of improv-
ing and connecting the navigation of the Wabash and Maumee rivers
by canal communication.” - º
On February 27, 1837, the State of Illinois passed an “Act to estab:
lish and maintain a general system of internal improvements.” This
Act appropriated $100,000.OO for the Great Wabash; $100,000.OO for
the Illinois river; $100,000.oo for the Rock river; $50,000.OO for the
Kankakee river; and $50,000.OO for the Little Wabash. It also appro-
priated several million dollars for railways. Further appropriations
were made in 1839. These acts failed to accomplish any substantial re-
Sults, owing in part to the financial stringency of 1837, and were re-
pealed in February, 1840, leaving the State several million dollars in
debt. -
In 1847 the State incorporated the Kankakee and Iroquois Naviga.
tion and Manufacturing Company, the name of which was changed
iater to the Kankakee Company. This company extended navigation
up the Kankakee river by means of locks and dams to the foot of the
rapids at Altorf, twenty-one miles from the junction of the Illinois and
Michigan canal, near Dresden, utilizing as part of its system the canal
feeder for something more than four miles, and the pool created by the
State dam. It made surveys and a project with a view of extending
the work to Momence, 47.5 miles from the canal and IOS feet above the
same. The Kankakee Company forfeited control of its navigation
works in 1882, by reason of non-fulfillment of its charter requirements,
and the works have since fallen into disuse and the State has abandoned
the Kankakee feeder at Dresden. A survey of the river was made by
James Worrall in 1866-7 from Momence to the mouth, as part of Gen-
eral Wilson's investigation of the water route between Lake Michigan
and the Mississippi river. Mr. Worrall refers to the feasibility of an
improvement of the river and of an extension through the Kankakee
Country to a junction with the Wabash and Erie canal, thus forming a
through route to Lake Erie. The river was further examined and re-
ported upon by the United States. (See Report Chief Engineer, U.S
A., 1879, 80, 84 and 85.) All the reports concur in the feasibility of
improving this stream by a system of locks and dams.
In 1866–7 Mr. James Worrell, under General Jas. H. Wilson, made
a survey of the Rock river from the Mississippi river at Rock Island to
Lake Winebago, Wisconsin, a distance of 285 miles. He found the
route to be entirely practicable, and made a project for its development
with locks 200 by 30 by 7 feet, at an estimated cost of $14,000,000.o.o.
The Illinois and Mississippi. (Hennepin) canal extends from the
big bend of the Illinois near Hennepin, in the valley of Bureau Creek
and Green river and in the Rock river, to the Mississippi river, a dis-
tance of seventy-five miles, with a feeder to the Rock river at Sterling
29 miles long. The canal is 80 feet wide on the surface and 7 feet deep,
with locks 17O by 35 feet, and will be available for boats 140 feet long,
drawing 6 feet of water and carrying 600 net tons of freight. The rise
from the Illinois river to the Summit level is 196 feet by 21 locks, and
the descent to the Mississippi river is 93 feet by Io locks; total rise and
II
fall of 289 feet and 31 locks. The Rock river portion was opened to
traffic in 1895, but the work as a whole is not yet completed. The first
surveys for this canal were made by J. O. Hudnutt, civil engineer, for
certain parties, in 1866, and was located from the Illinois river opposite
Hennepin, to Watertown on the Mississippi, with a feeder from Dixon
on the Rock river. Mr. Hudnutt proposed a prism 60 feet wide and 6
feet deep, with locks 150 by 21 feet. The route was again surveyed in
1870 by G. P. Low, under Colonel J. M. Macomb, as part of the north-
ern transportation route to the seaboard, and the project called for a
canal prism 160 feet wide and 7 feet deep, with locks 350 by 75 feet.
Hudnutt's route was substantially followed. The project was recast in
1874 as a “commercial canal” with locks 17O by 30 feet. The route was
surveyed by Hiero B. Herr, under Major W. H. H. Benyaurd in 1882,
following what is known as the Marais d’Osier route to Albany on the
Mississippi river, below Clinton, and supplemental surveys were made
in 1885. A board of engineers considered the matter in 1886, and a re-
vised project was submitted in 1888-90, and appropriation was made
therefor September 19, 1890. Various changes in plan and location
were made, however, in 1891, 1892, and 1896.
In 1868 the State of Illinois appropriated $35,000.OO to complete the
lock and dam at New Haven, on the Little Wabash river, which had
been begun by private parties. This dam was two miles above the
mouth and extended twenty-six miles from the mouth to Carmi. This
work was completed in 1869 and was in use for about one year, when
the gates failed to operate, and in 1886 the State appropriated money
for removal of the works, and part of the dam was taken out in 1887.
The river was examined by the United States in 1893, and considered
worthy of improvement up to Carmi.
The Sangamon river was examined under Major W. H. H. Benyaurd
in 1882-3 as far as Petersburg, 66% miles from the mouth, with a rise
of 68 feet. The stream at low water was found to be navigable for
small boats if the channel were properly cleared and the bridges
changed. This river was declared to be a navigable stream by Act of
the General Assembly of Illinois in 1845 and again in 1882.
The Kaskaskia river has a length of 250 miles and drains an area of
about 5,000 square miles. It has been examined 43 miles from the
mouth, up to New Athens, where bridges obstruct the further ascent of
boats. Appropriations have been made by the United States for re-
moving obstructions. The river was the subject of report in 1888, 1891
and subsequent years. (See Report Chief Engineer, U. S. A.) In
1881, the Mississippi cut into the bed of the Kaskaskia seven miles
above its mouth, and the effect has been to raise the low water stage six
or seven feet, thus greatly increasing the depth in the lower reach of
the river: . . . . ... - • * ,
No examination of the Fox river has been found, although the capa-
bilities of this stream should have attracted attention. No reports have
been found upon other streams within the State of Illinois. The Mis-
sissippi river on the west, the Ohio river on the south, the Wabash river
on the east and the lake harbors of the Illinois shore have been the sub-
ject of federal examination and appropriations from an early day.
I2
5. RECENT HISTORY.
The deepening of the summit level of the Illinois and Michigan canal,
in 1866-7I, failed to give Chicago more than temporary sanitary relief,
and in 1881 the General Assembly required the expedient of pumping
works, as already noted. In his annual report for the year ending De-
cember 31, 1878, Mr. E. S. Chesbrough, who had been city engineer
since 1854, referring to the pollution of the lake from the river, ex-
pressed himself as follows: “And yet for this there is no present
remedy, and none apparently within the power and resources of the
city in the early future.” - - -
The growth of the city had exceeded all expectations, and a great
variety of suggestions were made. The urgency of a solution was em.
phasized by the great down-pour of August 2, 1885, the local flood,
reinforced by the Desplaines overflow, sweeping the filth of the city out
into the lake and around the water intake two miles from shore. Pollu-
tion from this cause had been frequent, but not before so pronounced
and startling. .
Mr. Ossian Guthrie, Frank W. Reilly, M. D., Assistant Secretary
State Board of Health, and Lyman E. Cooley, C. E., examined the
situation on behalf of the Citizens’ Association, and the report as drawn
by the latter was adopted on August 27, 1885, and published by the
entire press of Chicago. The solution proposed was a ship canal, ample
in capacity to dilute the sewage beyond offense and to carry the flood
waters, after diverting the upper Desplaines river to the lake north of
the city. Incidentally, the canal would form part of a waterway to the
Mississippi and produce a large water power. The matter was vigor-
ously promoted and resulted in the appointment of the Drainage and
Water Supply Commission (authorized by the City Council January 27,
1886, amended February 23), consisting of Rudolph Hering, Benezette
Williams and Samuel G. Artingstall. This commission made a prelim-
inary report January 30, 1887, but no final report was submitted, owing
to the disbandment of the commission November 5, 1887, before all the
data were worked up. Some $65,000.OO had been expended and
$2O,OOO.OO was estimated as necessary to complete the work.
Two solutions were fully developed and disposed of as unsatisfactory
and impracticable on account of cost, viz., sewage disposal in the
lake, and the shifting of the water supply north; and sewage disposal
on lands, situated mostly in Indiana. The plan recommended though
not fully worked out, was: The diversion of the flood waters of the
upper Desplaines valley north of the city; the canal from the Chicago
river to Lockport, with a capacity of 600,000 cubic feet of water per
minute, and a branch canal from the Calumet river through the Sag,
with a capacity of 60,000 cubic feet per minute. Much of the material
gathered found its way into special publications which are later re-
ferred to. -- .
Two bills were introduced in the General Assembly of Illinois in
1887, and one of these with amendments was favorably reported by
the joint committee. It failed to pass, and on May 26-31, a joint
resolution provided for a committee of five to consider “the subject
I3
of the drainage of Chicago and its suburbs,” and to report to the next
General Assembly. The committee consisted of the Mayor of Chicago
as chairman, Hon. John A. Roach, two Senators, B. A. Eckhart of
Chicago and Andrew J. Bell of Peoria, and two Representatives,
Thomas C. McMillan of Chicago and Thomas H. Riley of Joliet. John
P. Wilson was employed as counsel and Lyman E. Cooley as engineer.
The report was submitted to the General Assembly, February 1, 1889,
in the form of a bill, and, as amended was passed as the “Act to
create Sanitary Districts and to remove obstructions in the Desplaines
and Illinois rivers.” Approved May 28, 1889, in force July 1, 1889.
A petition for the organization of the Sanitary District of Chicago
was filed with the county judge on August 15, 1889, and the commission
provided for in section I of the Act, fixed the boundaries of the dis-
trict on October 14, 1889, said boundaries covering the then city of
Chicago and five adjacent municipalities, and other outlying territory,
an area of about 185 square miles. -
The district was adopted by popular vote (70,000 to 200) at the gen-
eral election of November 5, 1889, and trustees were elected at the
special election of December 12. The board organized January 12,
1890, and the Supreme Court affirmed the validity of the Act on June
I2, I890. * - - - - -
The essence of the sanitary requirements is expressed in the follow-
ing excerpts from the law : - -
Section 20 states: “Any channel or outlet * * * * * shall be of suf-
ficient size and capacity to produce a continuous flow of water of at least
200 cubic feet per minute for each 1,000 of the population of the district
drained thereby, and the same shall be kept and maintained of such size and
in such condition that the water thereof will be neither offensive or injurious
to the health of the people in this State.” Section 23 states: “Such channel
shall be made and kept of such size and in Such condition as will produce and
maintain at all times a continuous flow of not less than 20,000 cubic feet of
water per minute for each 100,000 of the population of such district.”
Section 23 States further: “Such channel shall be constructed of Sufficient
size and capacity to produce and maintain at all times a continuous flow of
not less than 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute * * * * * and if
any portion of any such channel shall be cut through a territory with a
rock stratum * * * * * such portion of said channel shall have double
the flowing capacity above provided for.” -
The waterway provisions are expressed in the following excerpts:
Section 23 provides in rock for “a width of not less than 160 feet at
bottom * * * * * a depth of not less than 18 feet of water,” and “if at
any time the General Government shall improve the DeSplaines and Illi-
nois rivers, so that the same shall be capable of receiving a flow of 600,000
cubic feet per minute or more from said, channel, and shall provide for the
payment of all damages which any extra flow above 300,000 cubic feet of
Water per minute from such channel may cause to private property SO as to
save harmless said district from all liability therefor, then such Sanitary
District shall, within one year thereafter, enlarge the channel leading into
said Desplaines and Illinois rivers from said district, to a sufficient size
and capacity to produce and maintain a continuous flow throughout the
Same of not less than 600,000 cubic feet of Water per minute, with a current
of not more than three miles per hour, and such channel shall be constructed
On Such grade as to be capable of producing a depth of water not less than
18 feet throughout said channel, and shall have a width of not less than
160 feet at bottom.”
I4
Section 24 is as follows: “When such channel shall be completed and the
water turned therein to the amount of three hundred thousand cubic feet of
water per minute, the same is hereby declared a navigable stream, and when-
ever the General Government shall improve the Desplaines and Illinois rivers
for navigation, to connect with this channel, said General Government shall
have full control over the same for navigation purposes, but not to interfere
with its control for sanitary or drainage purposes.”
Section 27 States: “If any such channel receives its Supply Of Water
from any river or channel connecting with Lake Michigan, it shall be con-
strued as receiving its supply of Water from Lake Michigan.”
Work on the main channel or “outlet” was inaugurated at the Cook
and Will county line on September 3, 1892. Under date of May 8,
1899, the Secretary of War and the Chief Engineer, U. S. A., granted
a permit to divert the waters of the Chicago river into the main channel,
subject to the requirements of navigation in said river, acting under
general authority of section Io, River and Harbor Act, approved March
3, 1899. On May 9, 1899, the Governor appointed the special com-
mission required by section 27 of the Sanitary District Act, and on Jan-
uary 17, 1900, the commission reported that “the work is substantially
completed and meets the requirements of the law “ * * * * and
we recommend the granting of the final permit,” which was at once
issued, and the bear-trap dam was lowered and the flow started at
II:I5 a. m. The special commission filed an elaborate report June 14,
I90O. - - * -
The main channel (at date of opening) extended from the junction
with the West Fork at Robey street, 28.03 miles to the controlling
works near Lockport. The earth section extends from Robey street
I3.Io miles to Willow Springs, with bottom width of 202 feet and sur-
face width (for 24 feet of water) of 300 feet, the grade at Robey
street being 24.48 feet below Chicago datum, and the declivity I-40,000.
The earth section was completed from Willow Springs to Summit 5.8
miles, this being territory with a “rocky stratum,” but a width of 92
feet remains to be excavated to complete the channel for the 7.80 miles
between Summit and Robey street. The rock section extends from
Willow Springs 14.93 miles to the controlling works near Lockport,
with a bottom width of 160 feet and top width of 162 feet between the
rock and masonry sides, the declivity being I-20,000 and the grade at
the controlling works 30.1 feet below Chicago datum. All the bridges
are swing or bascule bridges and have been built for the completed
channel, and the right of way is provided and the work laid out there-
for.
The Desplaines river opposite the main channel was relocated for
thirteen miles and restrained by embankment for twenty miles, be-
tween Summit and Lockport. Work was done to facilitate the passage
of the water over the eight miles between the controlling works and
the head of Lake Joliet. Work was also done in the Chicago river to
facilitate the passage of the preliminary volume of 300,000 cubic feet
of water per minute. Work was begun, by arrangement between the
district and the city, on conduits for circulating the waters of the South
Fork and the North Branch.
I5
A preliminary determination of the capacity of the completed chan-
nel was made by the expert commission in 190I, (See page 7250, June
I9, of Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Sanitary District of
Chicago; report submitted April 23, 1901), as follows:
At low water in lake, with channel so fed as to give a depth of 24.4 feet
at Willow Springs—836,280 feet per minute. - .
At mean lake level, taken at 1.6 feet above low water—911,160 feet per
minute. ,
At high lake level, taken at 3.2 feet above low water—989,280 feet per
minute.
The Sanitary District Act (Section 23) also provides:
“The District constructing a channel carrying water from Lake Michigan,
of any amount authorized by this Act, may correct, modify and remove
obstructions in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers wherever it shall be neces-
Sary so to do, to prevent overflow or damage along said river, and shall
remove the dams at Henry and Copperas creek in the Illinois river before any
Water shall be turned into said channel.”
The Board of Canal Commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal are also to remove the dams if at any time they find sufficient
water to give six feet at low water on the miter sill of the lower lock at
LaSalle. The Supreme Court in 1900 held that the authority to re-
move was not mandatory but permissive.
A contemperaneous Act, “An Act in reference to the improvement
of the Illinois and Desplaines rivers, etc.,” approved1 June 4, 1889,
in force July 1, 1889, also provided for the removal of the dams by the
canal commissioners under certain conditions, and changed the Act
of cession of 1887, to the General Government. sº
Section 4 reads as follows: “The State of Illinois bases this Act of cession
upon the condition that the plan of improving the Illinois river below La
Salle by slack water maintained by dams and locks, be changed to a plan of
improvement by means of an open channel in conjunction with a water sup-
ply from Lake Michigan.” . .
The General Assembly of 1889, in addition to its sanitary and water-
way legislation and in interpretation thereof, passed a joint resolution.
The first resolution reads as follows: -
“That it is the policy of the State of Illinois to procure the construction
of a WaterWay of the greatest practical depth and usefulness for navigation
from Lake Michigan via the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi
river, and to encourage the construction of feeders thereto of like proportions
and usefulness.” - -
In the second resolution the United States is requested to change
its plan of improvement from locks and dams to that of an open
channel, “in such manner as to develop progressively all the depth
feasible by the aid of a large water supply from Lake Michigan at
Chicago.” .
In the third resolution, the United States is requested to aid in the
construction of a channel 22 feet deep between Lake Michigan and
Lake Joliet, and to project a channel 14 feet deep thence to LaSalle,
“all to be designed in such manner as to permit future development to
greater capacity.” *
In the joint resolution of May 27, 1897, the foregoing propositions
are more elaborately and emphatically stated.
I6
The General Assembly, On June 14, 1895, by practically a unani-
mous vote, passed a broad and far-reaching measure, entitled: “An
Act to promote the construction of waterways,” but this was vetoed
by Governor Altgeld, June 26, 1895.
The issues as developed at that time were threshed out at the Illi-
nois River Improvement Convention, Peoria, October II-I2, 1887.
“The Lakes and Gulf Waterway,” published by the Citizens' Associa-
tion of Chicago, January, 1888, was prepared by the authority of the ex-
ecutive committee. In response, Congress, by Act approved August
II, I888, authorized a survey for a channel “not less than 160 feet
wide, and not less than 14 feet deep,” from LaSalle to Lake Michigan.
The official report of Captain W. L. Marshall, the officer in charge,
was submitted February 28, 1890. It was not responsive to the spirit
of the Act, and breathed an adverse spirit. It was reviewed at length
by the chief engineer of the Sanitary district in “The Lakes and Gulf
Waterway as related to the Chicago Sanitary Problem,” August, 1890,
published by subscription May 1, 1891. In successive annual reports,
up to 1899, Captain Marshall makes adverse comment upon the Illi-
nois program. The River and Harbor Act, approved June 3, 1896,
provides for a further examination of “the Upper Illinois river and
the lower Desplaines river,” and a report is submitted by Captain
Marshall on January 27, 1897.
In 1895 the engineering department of the Sanitary District of Chi-
cago completed studies of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers, and pro-
jected a waterway from the end of the sanitary canal at Lockport
to the Mississippi river. The depth of the sanitary canal was to be
carried to Lake Joliet, and I6 feet thence to Utica, with the locks so
treated as to admit of a future channel of 24 feet, thence I4 feet in an
open river to Grafton. The estimated cost was $25,000,000. Five locks
were provided between Lockport and Utica, in place of sixteen in the
Marshall project and nine in the project recently submitted.
“The Deep Waterways Convention” was held at Peoria October
IO-II, 1899. In response to the sentiment developed, the River and
Harbor Act, approved June 6, 1900, instructed the board of engineers
which had been appointed under the Act of March 3, 1899, to make
surveys and estimates for seven and eight feet, to also report upon the
feasibility of depths up to 14 feet. This board (Col. J. W. Barlow,
chairman) reported November 17–18, 1900, that a navigable depth of
I4 feet was feasible. The issues involved were heard by the River and
Harbor Committee on December II, 1900, and the Act, approved June
I.3, 1902, (the bill for 1901 failed of passage) appropriated $2OO,OOO
for final surveys with project and estimates, for a navigable depth of
I4 feet between the end of the sanitary canal at Lockport and the
city of St. Louis, a board of engineers, to be appointed, and the Mis-
sissippi River Commission, to make the examination and report. The
report (Col. O. H. Ernst, chairman) was submitted August 26, 1905,
(H. R. 263, 59th Cong., Ist Ses.)
On September 5, 1888, and subsequent dates, a series of papers were
read before the Western Society of Engineers on “The Levels of
I7
the Lakes as Affected by the Proposed Lakes and Gulf Waterway,”
published in the Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies,
March, 1889, and reprinted by the Citizens' Association of Chicago.
At the request of the secretary of the American Society of Civil En-
gineers, who had been asked by the chief engineer of the Montreal
Harbor Commission of Canada, to suggest the subject, the Chief En-
gineer U. S. A., ordered observations of the outflow of the Niagara
river, in November, 1891, and these were continued in 1892. In
November, 1894, L. E. Cooley, trustee of the Sanitary District, sub-
mitted to the attorney of the Lake Carriers’ Association a “Brief on
Lake Level Effects on Account of the Sanitary Canal of Chicago.” On
petition of commercial bodies about the Great Lakes, in which the
Chicago Board of Trade joined, the Secretary of War, on . . . . . . . . . . .
1895, constituted a board of officers, U. S. A., (General O. M. Poe,
chairman) to consider the effect of the proposed diversion of waters
at Chicago. The report was submitted . . . . . . . . . . . , . I895.
The U. S. Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways made observa-
tions on the outflow of the Niagara river in 1897-8, and the U. S. Lake
Survey has since made observations on the outflow of the St. Clair
r1 Ver.
By Act of June 13, 1902, the International Waterways Commission
was authorized, (General O. H. Ernst, chairman, American Section)
and this body has taken the question of the diversion of waters under
advisement.
The State Board of Health gave special attention to the sanitary
problems of Chicago from and after 1881, and published important
conclusions regarding purification of Sewage in running streams in
1886. In 1887-9 elaborate chemical studies were made of the stream
between Lake Michigan at Chicago and the Mississippi river at St.
Louis, and a special report was issued, “Water Supplies of Illinois,”
April 3, 1889. The State board continued its work and published
a further compilation in IQ03.
In 1899 and in 1900, before and after the opening of the sanitary
canal, elaborate biological examinations were made under the direc-
tion of the Health Commissioner of Chicago, by the coöperation of
the Health Department of Chicago, the Chicago University and the
University of Illinois. The report is dated December 1, 1902, (Sani-
tary District, December, 1902) and is entitled, “Streams Examination
(Chemic and Biologic) between Lake Michigan at Chicago and the
Mississippi river at St. Louis.”
On January 17, 1900, the original bill of complaint was filed in the
United States Supreme Court in the case of “State of Missouri against
State of Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago,” to restrain the
discharge of the sewage of Chicago through an artificial channel into
the Desplaines river in the State of Illinois. The demurrer of de-
fendant was overruled and leave granted to answer complaint. Several
years were taken and a large expense incurred in preparing the case,
and the complaint was finally dismissed on February 19, 1906.
—2 L G
I8
The court in its opinion, among other things, says:
“Some stress was laid on the proposition that Chicago is not in the natural
watershed of the Mississippi, because of a rise of a few feet between the
Desplaines and the Chicago rivers. We perceive no reason for a distinction
on this ground. The natural features relied upon are of the smallest. And if
under any circumstances they could affect the case, it is enough to say, that
Illinois brought Chicago into the Mississippi watershed, in pursuance not only
of its own statutes, but also of the Acts of Congress of March 30, 1822,
c. 14, 3 St. 659, and March 2, 1827, c. 51, 4 St. 234, the validity of which is not
disputed. Wisconsin vs. Duluth, 96 U. S., 379. Of course these Acts do not
grant the right to discharge sewage, but the case stands no differently in point
of law from a suit because of the discharge from Peoria, into the Illinois, or
from any other or all the other cities on the banks of—that stream.”
And the Court might have added: “The development of the canal
at Chicago simply expresses the larger demands and the greater re-
sources of the present time.”
The lakes and gulf waterway has been the subject of popular con-
sideration at many conventions.
The Illinois River Convention, Peoria, Ill., October 11-12, 1887, and October
10-11, 1899.
Western Waterways Convention, Memphis, October 20-21, 1887; Vicksburg
October 22-23, 1895; Memphis, November 14-15, 1900.
International Deep Waterways Association, Toronto, Ontario, September
17-20, 1894; Cleveland, Ohio, September 24-26, 1895.
Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress, Houston, Texas, April 17–20, 1900;
Cripple Creek, Colorado, July 17–20, 1901; St. Paul, Minnesota, August 19-21,
1902; Kansas City, Mo., November 20-23, 1906.
National Farmers’ Congress, Chicago, November 11-12, 1887.
Lakes and Gulf Waterway Convention, St. Louis, Mo., November 15-16, 1906.
In addition to the titles mentioned in the text, the following are re-
ferred to :
Testimony before the Joint Committee of the General Assembly, April
1887, printed by the Citizens’ Association of Chicago.
“The Hennepin Canal,” Chicago Morning News, April 7, 1886, Chicago Tri-
bune, December 11, 1886.
“Future of Chicago,” Chicago Morning News, January 1, 1887.
“The Waterway Between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River by Way
of the Illinois River,” read before the Engineers’ Club of St. Louis, May 30,
1888, by Robert E. McNath, reprinted from Journal of Association of Engi-
neering Societies by Citizens’ Association of Chicago.
“Vision of Empire,” Chicago Morning News, February 18, 1889.
“The Sanitary and Ship Canal of Chicago; Solution of the Sanitary Prob-
lem,” read before the national conference of state boards of health, at Chicago,
June 10, 1896, printed in proceedings.
Report of the “Pure Water Commission,” (intercepting sewer system) Feb-
ruary 8, 1897. Proceedings of city council March 1, 1897. *
6. GROWTH IN IDEAS.
A canal at Chicago was obvious to the first white man that crossed
the Chicago Divide. The early promotion was for a “ship canal,”
something larger than a horse-boat canal. This meant a depth of 9 to
Io feet, or that of the original St. Lawrence and Welland canals. The
depths naturally available in the intermediate channels of the Great
Lakes and the St. Lawrence, did not exceed IO feet, and all the original
ideas were based on this limit. -
I9
When Mr. Charles T. Harvey (still living) projected the first canal
at Sault Ste Marie (built 1852-5) with locks 350 by 70 feet and a
depth of I2 feet, thus anticipating some future development, the project
was the subject of protest by the then largest vessel owner of the Great
Lakes, Mr. E. B. Ward of Detroit.
When the Canadian authorities projected the enlarged Welland and
St. Lawrence canals in 1871, they found but one commercial body about
the Great Lakes to suggest lock dimensions as large as those adopted,
or 270 by 45 by 12 feet. In 1875, the projected depth was increased to
14 feet.
When General O. M. Poe projected 24 feet for the last lock built at
Sault Ste Marie and opened in 1895, he found no marine interests that
desired more than 18 feet, and had to content himself with 21 feet. -
It was not until 1858 that I2 feet was available in the intermediate
channels of the Great Lakes, and 13 feet was not available until 1871
In 1874-83 the channels were deepened to 16 feet, and to 20 feet by
I895. -
In the St. Lawrence below Montreal, I 5 feet was available by 1852,
20 feet in 1869, 22 feet in 1878, 25 feet in 1882, and 27% feet by 1890,
and greater depths are now being developed. The Welland Canal was
opened for 12 feet in 1883, and 14 feet in 1888.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal had been opened but ten years when
John B. Preston made his project (1858) for a steamboat canal seven
feet deep, with a water supply from Lake Michigan for the improve-
ment of the alluvial river below Utica. After another ten years this
project, minus the water supply, took root in the official mind, and only
since 1900 has the idea of deep water, not less than 14 feet, to be ob-
tained by the aid of a water supply from Lake Michiban, been tolerated,
although the General Assembly of Illinois declared this to be the policy
of the State in 1889. That Chicago and Illinois should attempt some-
thing that looks to the future—that will not be obsolete before it can be
completed—is made the subject of prejudice. The authorities seem to
be more concerned in framing an indictment than in finding remedies
which will conserve other vested interests, and permit the development
of a waterway project, continental in scope and the greatest of a cen-
tury. The issue is a waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf, as great as
the physical conditions will permit, not limited in its future develop-
ment by the works which it may now be expedient to construct, and
this may be had without damage to any vested interests. Against this
proposition is conservatism, and the prejudice of centralized authority
which objects to the projects of states and localities, even though they
be acting within their sovereign rights. The history of the Illinois
waterway is a history of bold and far-reaching ideas and official blight
2O
Part II. Divisions of Route.
7, THE CHICAGO DIVIDE.
The Chicago Divide as herein used, covers the old outlet from the
head of the pool known as Lake Joliet and immediately below the city
of Joliet, to the present shore line of Lake Michigan, a distance of 39
miles by the route of the Sanitary Canal, prolonged to the lake shore,
and some four miles further by the branch valley of the Sag, turning
the south end of the Blue Island ridge. -
The site of Chicago is the floor of an old bay, extending in ten miles
to Summit. Rock domes come to the surface at Fullerton avenue on
the north, Western avenue on the west, and Archer Road on the
south; and within these limits are deep alluvial clays that furnish
uncertain sites for tall buildings, but these thin out over the compact
drift clays toward Summit. All the varying material of an ancient
stream-bed overlies the uneven rock surface of the Desplaines valley
for the eleven miles between Summit and Sag, and for the two miles
further to the rock floor above Lemont. Half of the sixteen miles over
the rock bed to Lake Joliet has a slope of one or two feet per mile, and
the lower half, eight to ten feet per mile to the pool level 76.5 feet
below Lake Michigan. At the head of this declivity are the pot-holes
of the ancient rapids, and at the foot is the pool dug twenty-five feet
or more deep in the Cincinnati lime-stone, overlying the more resisting
Niagara lime-stone, the mother rock of the Chicago Divide.
The old shore line of the Calumet region lies at Riverdale, six miles
from the present lake shore; thence is nineteen miles of old stream-bed
through the Sag valley, similar to the Desplaines valley below Sum-
mit. The northern drainage of the Valparaiso moraine, from opposite
Michigan City, gathers behind the old 40-foot beach ridge, flowing
westerly and turning at Blue Island to cross the old shore at Riverdale.
The Calumet formerly continued east of the State line, but in historic
times it broke across into the outlet of Lake Calumet and developed
its present course to the lake. The Calumet region in Illinois and
Indiana is generally low-lying, and the southward shore-drift accumu-
lated in broad ridges of beach material. The modern lake is repeating
the past, and winds drive the finer sands away in dunes, especially
around the easterly head of the lake.
2I
The Chicago basin proper, east of Summit and north of 87th street,
including the shore drainage to the north limit of Lake Forest, has
an area of 329 square miles (includes original Sanitary District, except
west of Summit, and the north shore annex).
The Desplaines river basin north of Summit has an area of 634
square miles, and 776 square miles to the head of Lake Joliet, omitting
the drainage of Hickory Creek. \
The Calumet basin south of 87th street, including the Sag, and the
shore drainage to twelve miles east of the State line, has an area of 825
square miles, 473 of which lies in the State of Indiana.
The total of these several basins is 1930 square miles. If these
streams should all yield flood waters in proportion to that from the
f)esplaines river, and were all gathered in one outlet at Lake Joliet, the
aggregate flood would be 28,400 second-feet on the basis of the great
flood of 1881 at Riverside, assuming normal basin ratios.
Such considerations have led to the proposed diversion of the upland
waters of the Desplaines and Calumet, in all the projects for the drain-
age of Chicago and its environs. Thus a separate course was laid out
and constructed for the Desplaines river, opposite the Sanitary Canal
Between Summit and Lockport. - -
The Sanitary District of Chicago, as originally organized has an
area of 185 Square miles and a population of I,687,972, by the federal
census of IQOO. - -
The Act of the General Assembly, approved May 14, 1903, in force
July 1, 1903, annexed the North Shore, in Cook county, with an area
of 78.6 square miles and a population of 40,280 in 1900; also the
Calumet region with an area of 94.5 Square miles and a population of
97,324 in 1900. The present district has therefore an area of 358. I
Square miles, and a population of I,825,576 by the census of 1900.
The Expert Commission of Igoſ proposed also to annex an area of
16.6 square miles adjacent to the lake shore in Lake county, Illinois,
and extending to the north limits of Lake Forest, all of which can be
drained into the channels of the Sanitary District. This territory had a
population of 7,190 in 1900. Further north and along the shore to the
Wisconsin line, is an additional population of I2,600, which cannot be
made tributary. The total north of the present district in Illinois is
19,790. East of the State line in Indiana, on an area of 47.5 square
miles, is a population of 21,034 in IOOO. The total population of the
Illinois and Indiana front, outside of the present Sanitary District, is
therefore 40,824, and the grand total is I,866,400.
The main channel of the Sanitary District, as it existed at the time
that it was opened, January 17, 1900, is described under Topic 5. There
is at present under construction an extension of the channel for 41
miles from the controlling works to the upper limits of Joliet, and the
Chicago river is in process of widening to a uniform width of 200
feet and a central depth of 26 feet, with bascule bridges throughout,
and the tunnels beneath the river are being lowered. Work has also
been done in the pool of Dam No. I at Joliet, and on the conduits and
pumping works leading to the South Fork at 39th street, and to the
22
North Branch on Lawrence avenue. The average yearly flow through
the main channel, in feet per minute, has been as follows:
1900, 188,136. Average of 49 weeks.
1901, 242,323. Average of 52 weeks.
1902, 257,006. Average of 52 weeks.
1903, 299,299. Average of 53 weeks.
1904, 290,000. Approximate.
The following table gives the characteristic reaches from Lake Mich-
igan at the mouth of the Chicago river, to Brandons bridge at the head
of Lake Joliet: .
* Distance— Width. Of *
Locality. miles. Channel—feet. RemarkS.
Lake Michigan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Head of pier. . . . . . . . . . .
South Fork Junction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.37 200 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Robey St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 6,02 200 Canal entrance........
Summit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.82 110 Bottom width in earth
Willow Springs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19, 12 202 Bottom width in earth.
Sag Junction... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.20 160 Rock Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Controlling Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.05 160 Rock Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Water Power Station. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.05 160 Least width. . . . . . . . . . .
Dam No. 1, Joliet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.70 • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Head Lake, Joliet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brandons bridge . . . . .
The quantities handled in excavating the main channel, the river
diversion, and the Chicago river, are as follows:
Rock, in place, clubic yards . . . . . • e º is a s is s e s a e s e º e s e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,388,118
Earth, Cubic yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,962,772
Masonry, Cubic yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... is ſº e º ſº ſº tº 632,244
The total expenditures of the Sanitary District for all purposes, to
December 31, 1906, are $52,698,024.98.
8. THE UPPER, ILLINOIs.
The Upper Illinois division covers 56.2 miles from the head of
Lake Joliet at Brandons bridge, on the Desplaines river, to the head
of the Henry pool at Utica bridge, though geographically, the Illinois
river is formed by the union of the Desplaines and Kankakee rivers,
thirteen miles below Brandons bridge. .
The valley of erosion headed for Lake Michigan, is a case of arrested
development, with declivities adjusted to the resisting rock stratifica-
tion. Through the valley bottom, the modern stream has defined its
course, and a normal stream-bed has developed with true flood plains,
though unfilled remnants. Of an older, and greater stream-bed still
exists, showing progressive shrinkage in the survey period. These old
pools still aggregate a length of 22 miles, and still carry a good depth
of water—Lake Joliet, at 76.5 feet below Chicago datum, (low water
of 1847 in Lake Michigan), Lake DuPage at 90.2 feet, and Marseilles.
pool, originally above the Kickapoo, reef, but now controlled by the
dam, at IOI.4 feet. All elevations refer to the low water of 1883.
Between the lakes, Joliet and DuPage, are sharp pitches, Treat's
Island, and the dump at the DuPage river mouth, and again over Cin-
23
cinnati limestone, below Lake DuPage and opposite the mouth of the
Kankakee. The Marseilles dam is 25.8 miles below the mouth of the
Kankakee, and 38.8 miles below Brandons bridge. It is at the head
of a descent, in the coal measures, dropping some 28 feet in six miles,
and at Ottawa, at the mouth of the Fox, the level is I32.2 feet below
Chicago datum. From Marseilles to Utica bridge is 17.4 miles, the
bed below the rapids in St. Peters standstone, with a fall of about
half a foot per mile to the lower end of Buffalo Rock; thence some
I2 feet in four miles, to Starved Rock, the declivity terminating on the
water-line out-crop O.3 miles above Utica bridge. The original low
water elevation (187I) at this point, was approximately, I47 feet be-
low Chicago datum; but the pool level produced by the dam at Henry,
is I42.2 feet below Chicago datum, (low water of 1883) with a decliv-
ity of some o6 feet in the following two and a half miles, the channel
at the head of the pool having greatly silted in recent times.
From the head of Lake Joliet to the head of the pool at Starved
Rock, also the head of the alluvial valley of the lower Illinois, is
then 55.9 miles, with an original fall of 70.5 feet, and a present fall
of 4.8 feet less. The river throughout this distance has an average
width of about 600 feet, generally subdivided by islands below Ottawa,
and the bank heights vary from 8 to 23 feet. These banks are over-
flowed, more or less, in two years out of three. -
A flood record was kept at Morris by Mr. L. W. Claypool for the
56 years, 1834 to 1890. This shows twenty years in which the river
was not out of banks, and fifty-three floods in the other 36 years. Of
these, seventeen exceeded 17 feet above low water, nineteen ranged
from 14 to 17 feet, and seventeen ranged from IO to 14 feet. The time
out of banks averaged nine days for the flood years. --
Mr. Claypool's estimate of the overflowed lands above Marseilles
dam, in LaSalle and Grundy counties, is still the mose satisfactory, and
these lands cover 75 per cent of the values between Joliet and Utica.
The estimate is as follows: * * * * * - -
Under 10 feet ................. • * * * * * * * '• • • • - - - - - - - - - - - ... 905 acres 11%
From 10 to 14-15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • * * * * * * * * * * . . . . . ... • * * * * * * * 4,050 acres 52%
14-15 to 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • - - - - - - - . ... . . . 2,085 acres 27%
18 to 20 feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 acres 10%
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,779 acres 100%
(20 to 23 feet 390 acres.)
On a comparable basis, the total overflowed lands in Will county,
were estimated at 1,000 acres, 250 of which are marginal lands of lit-
tle value, and the remainder chiefly in Treat's Island, and the bottoms
of DuPage river and Jackson Creek. . . -
The lands between Marsailles and Utica, for the equivalent stage of
20 feet at Morris, have been estimated at 3,050 acres, about two-thirds
of the area being in the four miles below. Buffalo Rock, and more
affected by back water from the lower river than by head water.
floods. These lands are largely infertile. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The value of all these lands was carefully estimated in 1890, as fol-,
lows: 11,829 acres, $618,240.OO. " . . . . . . . . . .”
24
... Mr. Claypool's plane of reference happens to be an even hundred
feet below Chicago datum, by the last survey, and O.3 feet above the
low water of 1883 at Morris bridge (built in 1856) and o.66 feet above
the low water of 1887, and less than a foot above the lowest known
water. The highest known flood at Morris was 23 feet, and was
observed by William Marquis, in March, 1830. The Claypool record
begins with Mr. Claypool's arrival in Morris in March, 1834. In the
thirty-four years, (1834-67), thirteen floods occurred exceeding 17
feet, and seven of these ranged between 19.5 and 20.5 feet. The four
notable floods in the twenty-two following years, (1868–89) all ranged
between 17 and 18 feet, the excessive height of 1883 being due to the
breaking of the ice gorge and the great dam at Wilmington, and the
loosing of the waters stored in the 12-mile pool above. The two most
notable floods since 1890 are, 1892 at 20.6 feet, and 1904 at 19.2 feet.
Of the fifty-three floods, from 1834 to 1890, thirty-eight have oc-
curred in the three months, February, March and April, the majority
being identified with the spring break-up. The Kankakee usually breaks
up and runs out before the ice moves at Morris and at other points in
the Upper Illinois, thus producing ice gorges and abnormal stages of
water. Such action has been less frequent since the shores and islands
were cleared of their timber. .
The ice flood of February, 1887, was one of the four notable floods
in the 1868–89 period, and its volume was carefully estimated from
the heights on dams, as follows: - - .
- , a Second-feet.
Joliet, DeSplaines river . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , º e º e º 'º e º 'º º ºs º e º º 5,575
Wilmington, Kankakee river . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , , s • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 25,225
Marseilles, Illinois river . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,000
Dayton, Fox river . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,680
Ottawa (sum of the above) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... • - - - - - - * * * * * B8,680
LaSalle, estimated . . . . . . . . . . . . . , º g º º ve tº dº º º . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 60,000
The greatest flood at Joliet in thirty-three years prior to 1890, was
estimated at 6,550 feet. The greatest flood at Wilmington, in the nine-
teen years prior to 1890, (ice gorge flood of 1883 excepted) was
estimated at 35,600 second feet. The flood of 1887 was considered
extraordinary for the Fox. - r - -
Full measurements made at Morris after 1890, indicate that the
ice flood of 1887 was abnormally high by about two feet, or that the
estimated volumes from the dams were short by 15 to 20 per cent,
which is not probable. * - - -
The flood of 20.6 feet at Morris, in May, 1892, is probably the
greatest in the historic period, that of March, 1830, being no doubt
abnormal from ice effects. This flood was measured by Charles L.
Harrison, Assistant Engineer Sanitary District of Chicago, on May
6, and the volume found at 73,730 second feet. All the available data.
were reduced for the Sanitary District by James A. Seddon, in 1901,
and the equivalents for Morris deduced as follows: (Claypool datum).
70,000 second feet...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.30 feet in height
65,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • • - - - - - - . . . . . . 19.47 feet in height
60,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.60 feet in height
55,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.68 feet in height
50,000 Second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - 16.70 feet in height
45,000 Second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.65 feet in height
40,000 Second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.52 feet in height
35,000 Second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.29 feet in height
30,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.94 feet in height
25,000 second feet. . . . . . . • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * e s s a e e 10.43 feet in height
20,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.79 feet in height
15,000 second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.92 feet in height
10,000 Second feet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.79 feet in height
The basin areas of the Upper Illinois are as follows:
Distance from
Brandon’s Bridge.
DeSplaines R., 1392 sq. mi. . . . . . . . . . . . - º -
Kankakee R., 5148 sq. mi. . . . . . . . . . . . . {&#40 sq. mi. 13 mi.
Morris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7300 sq. mi. 22.7 mi.
Marseilles . . . . . • * * * * * 'e e s e o e < * * * * * * * * 7500 sq. mi. 38.8 mi.
Ottawa (Fox R.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10230 sq. mi. - 46.2 mi.
Utica Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10365 sq. mi. 56.2 mi.
The extreme flood expectation in the Morris-Marseilles reach, is
70,000 second feet, taking the basin as normal. The flood of 1892
seems to have reached the limit for streams in this region of the coun-
try. -
The natural low water volume of the Illinois at Morris is nominal,
not exceeding 250 to 350 second feet in 1887, practically at extreme low
water, after allowing for canal water from Lake Michigan. A meas-
urement of 456 second feet was made on the Kankakee river near
its mouth, in September, 1867. Extreme low water at Wilmington for
twelve years, 1871-83, was estimated at 420 second feet. The Des-
plaines river practically goes dry above Joliet. The Mazon was dry
in 1867. The Fox measured 526 second feet in September, 1867. The
canal authorities have measured a low water of 633 feet at La Salle.
Assuming an ordinary low water volume of 1,000 second feet, the
effect of introducing Io,000 second feet from Lake Michigan, at Mor-
ris, will be to raise the water 5.2 feet above the Claypool plane, and for
I4,000 feet to 6.9 feet.
Extreme floods may be assigned to two causes; heavy winter snow
on a frozen ground surface, produces a great break-up rise, followed
by extreme low water, as in 1867 and 1887. Again, long continued
rains fill the ground and marshes to overflowing and the excess runs
away in a great flood, as in the several great floods of May and June.
In long continued dry periods the storage of marshes and ponds is
exhausted, and as the sub-soil is generally impermeable, extreme low
water follows. In ordinary years, the floods are moderate and the
1ow water volume well sustained.
It is evident that any improvement for navigation should modify the
regimen of the stream as greatly as possible, rather than as little as
possible, as in all official projects. In adapting the Mohawk river
(N. Y.) to a deep-water navigation, the Board of Engineers on Deep
Waterways, (1897-1900) projected a depth of 30 feet, even for a nav-
igable limit of 21 feet, in order to bring flood velocity and slope with-
in moderate limits. In like manner, the capacity of the prism in the
Upper Illinois is conditioned by flood volumes, without regard to the
26
depth required for navigation. A project developed on such principles,
not only provides a deep water channel, but substantially does away
with overflows, and makes possible water-power development.
9. THE LOWER ILLINOIS.
The Lower Illinois river is 227.5 miles in length from the Utica
bridge to the mouth, not greatly exceeding the length of the valley.
The width is generally 600 to 700 feet, expanding in the lower third
of the course to a width of over 1,000 feet as the mouth is approached.
The bank height ranges from 8 to I5 feet and averages about II.5
feet, or about half the height of the greatest floods, like those of
1844 and 1858, which covered from 600 to 700 square miles of bot-
toms. The original low water declivity was normally 27 to 28 feet,
and in notable floods, 28 to 30 feet (below LaSalle), varying greatly
with the relative stages in the Illinois and in the Mississippi.
The Wilson report of 1867 says: “With a sluggish current
* * * * * * * the river wanders through a valley of swampy land,
varying in width from one and a half to six miles,” and again, “The
straight reaches are almost invariably deep with a muddy bottom, the
shallows occur at elbows, at confluent channels, and at the mouth of
creeks.” The report of 1868 states: “The depths are reduced almost
every season, upon the shoals in the bed of the stream, until they do
not exceed an average of 20 inches, thus in fact suspending navigation
for periods ranging from sixty to ninety days.” The report of 1890
states that the bottom lands are “cut up by numerous sloughs, lagoons
and ponds;” and again, “At about the 9-foot stage * * * * * *
the basins and lagoons begin to fill, at IO to II feet the lowest areas,
worthless for cultivation, begin to be submerged, and at about the 12-
foot stage overflow begins to become widespread. At about the 16-
foot stage probably eight-tenths of all lands submerged at extreme
floods are covered with water.” ~,
Every evidence shows that the low grade of the Lower Illinois
is inherited from the mighty stream of the past, and that the ancient
stream-bed is under transformation to the requirements of the present
local drainage, a process involving geologic time. The detritus from
tributaries has crowded the modern stream toward the opposite bluff,
narrowed its width and steepened the slope, and has caused ridges
of higher lands across the bottoms, leaving remnants of the old stream-
bed in intermediate reaches and lagoons and ponds in the inter-spacial
areas. The contributions have been insufficient to build the bottoms
to much more than half the height of the flood plain for normal alluvial
rivers, and the bank-full capacity is but a minor fraction, one-third to
one-fourth the volume, of notable floods. A study of the evolution
of the stream makes clear its singular character among western rivers.
27
Drainage Divisions—Lower Illinois River. \
AREA SQ. MILES.
* * * e Per Length
Division. Drainage. Cent, Of division—
*s g Miles
Partial. Total.
|Upper Illinois . . . . . . . . . Above Utica. . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 365 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- |Vermilion river........ 1, 317 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
Other drainage........ 165 11,847 42.4 (6.5)
TJpper Division. . . . . . . . Bureau Creek.......... 480 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . .
Rickapoo Creek........ 310 ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mackinaw river........ 1, 217 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other drainage........ 1,730 3,737 13.4 103.4
Middle Division . . . . . . . Spoon river . . . . . . . . . . . 1,870 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sangamon river... . . . . . 5, 670 |. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Crooked Creek . . . . . . . . 1,885 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Otner drainage.... . . . . 320 9,245 33.1 36.0
Lower Division ... . . . . . Indian creek. . . . . . * * * e 290 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
McCeeS river . . . . . . . . . . 472 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mauvais Terres. . . . . . . 275 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Apple Creek. . . . . . . . . . . 525 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Macoupin Creek. . . . . . . t 985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other drainage... . . . . . 538 3,085 11.1 81.6
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,914 100 227.5
The accompanying table shows that 42.4 per cent of the basin lies
above LaSalle-Peru and virtually pertains to the upper river. The
upper division of the lower river, above Havana and nearly half the
total length, receives the drainage from only 13.4 per cent of the
basin, the most considerable tributary being the Mackinaw. The middle
division receives 33.1 per cent of the drainage in a length of 36 miles—
the Spoon, the Sangamon and Crooked Creek—or nearly 60 per cent
of the area below LaSalle-Peru. The lower division receives but
II.I per cent of the drainage, in more than one-third the length of the
river, and the largest tributary, Macoupin Creek, drains less than one
thousand miles. - - -
Detritus from the upper basin has made bottoms and defined the
stream-bed, but has not been sufficient to obliterate the remnant of the
old stream-bed, Lake Peoria. Local drainage from Peoria to Pekin
has given a narrow stream-bed, and bottoms unusually well built up.
The central basin has filled in very extensive bottom lands opposite and
below the large tributaries, while in the lower division extensive bayou
and lagoon development is left between the several minor tributaries.
These conditions affect the low water distribution and the flood
regimen. The upper basin and the central basin are frequently not in
the same storm track. A headwater flood fills the bottoms from above
and lessens in height down-stream, while a central basin flood has
been known to run up stream over the dam at Copperas Creek. Flood
Conditions are also greatly influenced by the stage of water in the
28
Mississippi, at Grafton, coincidence in time of high water being the
exception rather than the rule. Floods have been recorded in the
Mississippi river at Grafton higher in elevation than the original low
water plane at Utica.
Physical Elements—Lower Illinois River.
E | .5 BELOW
3. 3 : CHICAGO DATUM. BANK
§ #3 HEIGHT-
§ | . § |Low watRR LE FEET.
LOCALITY. | : 3 §§ Remarks.
- sº ty
E | : : 2. t; F.
F: * -- §: So ; :
§ | . G. = E | : 3
... et tº Oſ) ... cº-
. : # §. : : 3 A.V. Range
Utica bridge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0| 0.0| 147.0| 142.6 120.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Illinois and Michigan Canal ... 6.5 536|| 147.8 143.4| 122.3 10.4 8–13|LaSalle-Peru . . . . . . cº-
Hennepin Canal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.4| 696, 149.2 143.6| 124.7| 11.0 8–15||Above Hennepin....
Henry dam... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.5| 754, 150.3| 143.7| 126.0 9.4 9–11|Crest of dam, 143.9 .
(Opened Oct., 1871)........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147.8l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Below dam. . . . . . . . . .
Chillicothe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.9 738|| 150.8. 147.9| 126.7| 11.4 7–15|Railway bridge . . . . .
Peoria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fe is a s a s p & 67.3 1,698. 151.2| 148.2 128.1| 7.1 4–12|Wagon & Ry. bridge
Pekin..... . . . . . . . . . . . • * * * * * * * * * * 76.6 604. 152 4|| 148.2| 131.8 11.0 4–15|Railway bridge . . . . .
Copperas Creek dam. . . . . . . . . . . 92.8 653. 154.2 148.3| 133.6 13.7| 12–15|Crest of dam, 148.0..
(Completed Oct., 1877) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.8l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Below dam. . . . . . . . . .
Havana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109.9 603 155.1| 153.1| 135.4 10.0 7-12|Bridge... . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sangamon river...... . . . . . . . . . . 129.8| 636. 158.4| 153.6| 138.3| 11.0 9-12|Two miles above . . .
Beardstown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.3| 679. 160.0| 153.8 139.9| 11.5; 10–13|Wagon bridge. . . . . . .
LaGrange dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.1 732; 161.8| 154.0|| 141.4| 11.4 8–15|Crest of dam, 154.4..
(Opened Oct., 1889). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.0l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Below dam. . . . . . . . . .
Wabash Ry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168.1| 783| 165.4 162.8 144.3 11.5 7–15|Valley City. . . . . . . . . .
Alton Ry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186.6 835. 167.4| 162.8| 148.0 11.8 8–15|Pearl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
P:Campsville dam. ... . . . . . . . . . . . 198.1 910| 171.0|| 163.1| 149.6; 11.8 8–15|Crest of dam. 163.2..
(Opened Sept., 1893). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Below dam . . . . . . . . . .
Hardin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 208.4 979| 172.4] 172.8 150.5 13.5 9.16|... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227.5| 1,040 174.1| 175.0. 151.8 11.5 9–15|Illinois river . . . . . . . .
Grafton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229.6 . . . . . . . 174.4| 175.3| 152.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mississippi river....
Natural low water—Henry pool, 1871; Copperas creek pool, 1873; below Copperas creek, 1879.
Low water with dams-Henry pool, 1879; Henry to mouth, 1894.
Average widths prior to erection of dams—Surveys of 1867 and 1879; also bank high.
Distance and elevations by latest surveys (1902-5).
The water area of the river on the recent maps average one-fifth (1,056 feet) miles in width.
The accompanying table gives the length of characteristic reaches,
low water widths and the bank height prior to the erection of the dams,
and the low water elevation before and after the building of the dams
and the high water elevation of IQO4. The channel depth and cross-
sections are omitted, as the normal low water plane of reference has
been changed by the pool level formed by the dams.
An inspection of the channel profiles of the recent surveys in con-
nection with the old low water, shows marked changes in the bed of
the Henry and Copperas Creek pools, the bars in some cases having
risen above the low water plane prior to the erection of the dams. This
would indicate that the tributaries have filled in their beds across the
bottoms and are now dumping their loads in the river bed, and similar
results are to be expected in due season in the LaGrange and Kamps-
ville pools. In other words, the effect of the slack water improvements,
so-called, is to raise the horizon of the river bed and eventually the
river itself with respect to the bottom lands.
29
The Illinois River Bottoms.
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LaSalle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 606.8 201.0| 807.8 4,910.8 5, 718.6 1, 195
Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.7 652.5 1,231.5' 1,884.0 8,071.9 9,955.9 833
Putnam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.1| 2, 214.0 5,776.0|| 7,990.0 10,519.1 18, 509.1 1,499
Marshall... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.5: 1,444.8 1,585.4| 3,030.2 10,080.3| 13, 110.5 9,063
Woodford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.8| 2,969.6 744.5| 3, 714.1 ,224.1. 11,938.2 1,834
Peoria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.2 5,105.9 855.3| 5,961.2| 13,282.4| 19, 243.6 4, 264
Tazewell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............ 96.4 2, 120.4 4,054.0 6, 174.4] 17,761.8 23,936.2 7,957
Fulton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 120.9| 1,372.5| 8,221.9| 9, 594.4| 32,618.2| 42, 212.6 7, 340
Mason ... . . . . . . . . . ........ '• - - - - - ... • * * * * * * * 131.6 1,026.2. 6,390.7| 7, 416.9| 22,048.9| 29, 465.8 4, 974
Schuyler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e. s is e º e 145.7| 1,065.9| 1,924.7| 2,990.6] 17,615.3| 20,605.9 3,633
3.SS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154.8 1, 156.6 6, 487.1 7,643.7| 29, 931.3 37, 575.0. 11,363
Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157.5 550.2 937.0| 1,487.2 6 , 182.8 2
Morgan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.6 320.2| 548.0 868.2| 3,949.6 4,817.8 13,214
Scott. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181.6 1,081.6 3, 341.5| 4, 423.1 28, 413.3| 32,836.4| 12,204
Pike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.9| 1,901.9| 1.369.6 3, 271, 5 14, 140.4 17,411.9 4, 592
Greene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210.9| 1,964.8 3,879.4| 5,844.2| 34,845.4 40,689.6 5,224
Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227.7 952.5| 1,120.8 2,073.3| 10,760.0| 12,833.3 1,695
Calhoun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227.7 2,305.0. 736,1] 3,041. 10,785.1 13,826.2 3, 187
Total—acres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . … * * * * I ſº t e º e & 28,811.4|49,404.5||78,215.9| 285,653.5| 363,869.4| 95.465
Total—Square miles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.02 77.19 122.21 446.33, 568.54. 149.16

NOTE-The area of the islands is included in the column ‘‘Land under High Water of 1904,”
and Contains 4, 134.9 acres. .. -
The accompanying table has been carefully worked up from the
detailed charts of the recent survey. The total area under the high
water of Igo4 is 568.54 Square miles (363,869 acres), of which 446.33
Square miles (285,654 acres) is land lying above the present low water
as formed by the dams. The water area is 122.21 square miles (78,216
acres), of which 60 per cent lie outside the main river bed. The flood
of I904 was perhaps the most uniform in character throughout the
Lower Illinois, except that the Mississippi was at relatively lower
. and it was only exceeded as a whole by the floods of 1844 and
I858. -
The approximate area of land between the flood line of 1904 and a
level I5 feet above, is I49.2 square miles (95,465 acres). Perhaps
two-thirds of this was reached by the flood of 1844. The limits are
in most cases the foot of bluff slopes, giving a total area of valley of
7I7 square miles. - -
About 28 per cent of the overflow area (1904) lies opposite the
Henry and Copperas Creek pools (93 miles) and is dominated by the
Upper Illinois, about 36 per cent opposite the LaGrange pool (59
miles) and dominated by the Central basin, and 36 per cent below La-
Grange dam (76 miles) and dominated by the Central basin, and per-
haps still more by back water from the Mississippi. The reservoir
effects of the bottoms diminish flood heights down-stream until they
reach the minimum between Havana and Beardstown and opposite
the great Sangamon bottoms, thence flood range increases in the ap-
proach to the Mississippi. -
3O
The water areas outside the river bed are greater than they would
be at normal low water in the absence of the dams, so the estimate
is a fair measure of the lands subject to reclamation provided the
low water plane shall not be raised an equivalent amount after the re-
moval of the dams. - -
The two greatest floods of record (1844 and 1858 not available) at
LaSalle-Peru, were identical in height, I892 and Igo4, and in relation
to the known volume of 1892 at Morris, the volume is estimated at
93,600 second-feet. The ordinary extreme occurring once or twice in a
decade may be taken at 60,000 to 67,000 second-feet. The normal
equivalent for the mouth should be 166,000 second-feet or about 75
per cent more than at LaSalle-Peru.
As a matter of fact, except when the Illinois is high in relation to
the Mississippi, as in 1904, the flood volume at the mouth for a general
flood is less rather than greater than at LaSalle-Peru. The measured
flood of 1904 at Pearl reached a limit of II7,000 second-feet and was
estimated at II5,OOO for Beardstown, IOO,OOO for Havana and 90,000
for Peoria, the estimates to be taken with caution. A consideration of
the storage effects of the bottoms, the prolongation of the rise and the
capacity of the river channel, justifies such a condition of fact.
For every day the river is out of banks at Morris (above Io feet)
it will be out of banks (above 12 feet) for 6 to 8 days from Peru to
Copperas Creek and 20 per cent longer at LaGrange, the period increas-
ing down-stream under the effects of the Mississippi.
The bank-full capacity of the river (12 feet above normal low water)
under conditions of steady flow, may be taken at about 20,000 second-
feet down to Copperas Creek, increasing to 30,000 feet at LaGrange
and to 40,000 feet at Kampsville. Such capacities in comparison
with the proper flood volume indicates extreme overflow and greatly
prolonged durations. By reason of the slight declivity and the lack of
coincidence in the flood periods in the Upper basin, the Central basin
and in the Mississippi, the working out of the normal relation of
volume to stage is most difficult.
The flood of 1892 is the greatest in volume known for the Upper
Illinois. Its height at LaSalle-Peru was identical with that of 1904,
dropping gradually to about two feet below opposite the broad bottoms
of the LaGrange pool between Havana and Beardstown, thence rising
above IQO4 about 50 miles above the mouth under the influence of the
Mississippi. The high water of 1883 rose to extraordinary heights
from ice gorges in the Upper Illinois, but was about a foot lower than
1904 from Peru to Hennepin, and two feet from Henry to Peoria, rising
to two feet above opposite the Central basin—Sangamon river to
Beardstown—thence dropping to a foot below at the mouth. The
great flood of I844 was six feet above 1904 in the Peoria-Pekin reach,
dropping to a limit of 2 to 2.5 feet above, opposite the great bottoms
between Havana and Beardstown, thence gradually rising to 8.6 feet
above at the mouth. The flood of 1883 shows the effect of conditions
from the Central basin, and 1844 the effect of the wide bottoms and of
the Mississippi. - 4.
3I
The large water areas in the Illinois bottoms feed the low stages of
the river and greatly reduce the period of low water. In a period of
II years, the river at Copperas Creek was less than two feet above low
water for an average of 42 days, and at LaGrange for 62 days, and
these points may be taken as a measure of the upper and lower halves
of the river. When the water areas are drained out, a low water period
ensues, but not in every year. LaSalle had a measured discharge of
633 second-feet prior to 1867, and lower estimates for Henry and
Copperas Creek have been made for later dates. Measurements in the
lower division, in 1879 and 1887, gave from 1,500 to 1,700 second-feet,
part of which was canal water from Lake Michigan. A standard of
600 second-feet for the upper division and of 1,200 feet for the lower
division may be taken for the minimum natural flow.
No sufficient study has been made of the average run-off for the
Illinois basin. Judging by the Upper Mississippi on the west and the
lakes basin on the east, it may be taken at three-fourths second-feet
per square mile, or about half the bank-full capacity for the several
divisions of the stream. The minimum flow is only 6 per cent of this
average, which is certainly very remarkable. This indicates that the
basin has a tight or impermeable sub-soil, and that the waters reach
the drainage lines substantially by surface flow. When the surface soil
is dried out and ponds and marshes exhausted, extreme low water
OCC111’S.
Doubts might be raised as to the ability of the Lower Illinois, with
its peculiar regimen, to maintain indefinitely the integrity of its channel
under the increasing loads of detritus due to the cultivation of lands
and reclamation of marshes. Whatever opinion may be in this regard,
there can be no doubt as to the injurious tendencies of the four dams,
the two State dams at Henry and Copperas Creek, and the two United
States dams at LaGrange and Kampsville. The two State works have
been in operation for over thirty years, and the channel capacity in
the pools is certainly diminishing, results that will show up in the
other two pools in due season. An open river with an augmented flow
within the banks will certainly reverse present tendencies in a desirable
direction.
The Illinois river drains a basin rich in surface soils and luxuriant
with verdure in the growing season. Its waters are naturally highly
charged with organic matter, well fertilized in fact, and thus are nur-
tured the many forms of life which constitute fish-food. The Illinois
river was in nature well stocked with fish, but in the long and hard
winters the organic matters exhausted the oxygen beneath the ice
Cover, and the fish asphyxiated. In low water periods the river was
ill suited to receive any considerable addition to its organic load. The
waters of Lake Michigan are charged to the limit with oxygen, and
can therefore receive a much larger load of organic matter than river
waters from fertile basins. If the dilution is sufficient to maintain a
surplus of oxygen at the outset the increment of flow has become
purer, chemically and biologically, by the time it reaches the Lower
Illinois, than any of its natural tributaries. The augmented volume at
* water and under the ice, is a radical change in condition for the
etter.
32
The fish crop of the Lower Illinois river has more than doubled
since 1889, and now amounts to over 22,OOO,OOC pounds, with a value
of more than three-quarters of a million dollars on the banks (doubled
to consumers). This amounts to $10.00 per acre for all the lands
under water in the valley, and is 80 per cent of the value per acre of
farm crops in Illinois. This crop will no doubt increase further with
improved water conditions. It may not be too much to say that the
most economic example of sewage disposal in the world is that by
means of the Sanitary and Ship Canal of Chicago, augmenting the
water volume and fertilizing the fish reserves of the Illinois valley.
Aside from their value for reclamation and cultivation, the bottom
lands of the Illinois have an intrinsic value as a forest reserve, the
low land timber being in demand for many uses. The reclamation of
many areas has been undertaken by levees along river front and up
tributaries to the bluffs, and by keeping down the interior water during
high stages by means of pumping works. Every year shows an in-
creased use of the bottom lands, and the opinion of Captain Howard
Stansbury in 1838 may be embalmed as a literary curiosity along with
Proctor Knott's speech on Duluth. & #
Io. THE TRIBUTARY DIVISION.
Within this division the great tributaries unite—the Missouri, the
upper Mississippi and the Illinois—to form the Middle Mississippi.
The Missouri coming remotely from the Rocky Mountains, has a basin
area of 530,810 square miles. The portion east of the semi-arid region
has about the same area as the Upper Mississippi, including the Illinois,
but not over 20 per cent of this portion is equal in water yield. The
Upper Mississippi has an area of I43,660 square miles, and the Illinois
27,910, a total of 171,570 square miles at the junction with the Mis-
souri. The Middle Mississippi drains 18,OIo square miles, and the
total above Cairo is 720,390 square miles. - .
The Missouri, like all streams from semi-arid regions, is subject at
rare intervals to extrarodinary floods, double in volume those from the
Upper Mississippi, but its low water volume is less, and may be taken
at 26,OOO second-feet as compared to 30,000 second-feet from the
Upper Mississippi, including the Illinois. The total is 56,000 second-
feet, which is taken as standard low water at St. Louis, and is equiva-
lent to four feet on the gauge. Extreme low waters of 40,000 second-
feet, and even 35,000, have occurred at St. Louis, but these minimums
are abnormal and usually the result of ice effects. The recent report
takes the low water volume of the Upper Mississippi at 25,000 second-
feet, and the same for the Missouri, a total of 50,000 feet. -
The distance from Grafton, 2.1 miles below the mouth of the Illinois
river, to the Eads Bridge at St. Louis, may be taken at forty miles, and
the declivity at very low water at twenty-four feet.
33
The distance and falls are distributed as follows:

}
Locality. - Piº IIl Fall in feet.
Grafton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
Alton (dam below railway bridge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 15.
Missouri river (mouth of). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Merchants’ bridge. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
St. Louis (Eads bridge). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i
2
Beginning three miles below Alton, the slope is pronounced for three
miles; and again, in the seven miles above the Merchants Bridge, ex-
ceeding a foot per mile. The river is fixed and deep opposite St. Louis,
and the pool level of the recent report is taken at 199 feet below Chicago
datum. The river in the vicinity of the mouth of the Missouri is
unstable, and its regimen very complex, but it need not be discussed at
this time, in view of the proposed canal some eighteen miles long from
below the Alton railway bridge to St. Louis harbor at a point O.85
miles above the Merchants Bridge.
The Grafton-Alton reach, I5.5 miles long, averages 3,500 feet in
width, with a bank height of 16.5 feet, and five feet above this level
overflow becomes widespread. The river averages thirty-seven days
out of bank. The high water of 1903 at Grafton was 27.6 feet above
low water as used in the report, or 4.5 feet above that of IQO4 (height
rapidly diminished up the Illinois) and was measured at 365,573 sec-
ond-feet. This does not represent the extreme volume from the Upper
Mississippi, but the height reached was extraordinary and due in part
to the great high water in the Missouri. The height given for Alton
was 33.I feet, and above the Merchants bridge at 41.0 feet. It will be
noted that the absolute elevation of the flood at St. Louis was seven-
teen feet above low water at the mouth of the Illinois, and within eleven
feet of the original low water plane at Utica.
The natural bar depths at low water were 'about thirty inches, and
the adopted project for the Upper Mississippi contemplates a minimum
of six feet. The proposed dam at Alton makes much greater depth
practicable.
The volume equivalent to one foot on the gauge at and near low
water for Grafton is 8,213 second-feet, and at St. Louis Io,000 second-
feet. An increment of I4,000 second-feet at low water is equivalent to
a stage of I.7 feet at Grafton and 1.4 feet at St. Louis.
The Upper Mississippi hugs the bluff line to Alton, and the con-
tribution of detritus from the Illinois has been insufficient to swerve
it from its course. The Missouri runs near the southern bluff, touch-
ing it occasionally. Between the two rivers, from St. Charles to Alton,
is a very extensive bottom, built up largely by deposits from the Mis-
souri, and these are the richest farming lands in Missouri.
II. THE MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI.
The Middle Mississippi extends from the Eads bridge at St. Louis
186 miles to Cairo Point, where it joins with the Ohio (205,750 square
—3 L G
34
miles) to form the Lower Mississippi. The total descent at low water
is Io'7.7 feet, an average of O.58 feet per mile. The valley is of mod-
erate width, bold and deeply cut, and practically terminates at Cape
Girardeau, fifty-one miles by river above Cairo, and the true head of
the alluvial valley or delta region. Seven miles befow Cape Girardeau
the river passes for seven miles through a rock gorge or canon between
Grays Point and Commerce, a rock-bound river bed, similar to the
pass at the Des Moines Rapids and above Rock Island, on the Upper
Mississippi, and all rock disappears at thirty-seven miles above Cairo.
The most considerable tributaries are the Kaskaskia and the Big
Muddy, both from Illinois, but the drainage is small; the river, in
fact, being an intermediate link between the northern basin of the
Missouri and Upper Mississippi and that of the Ohio. The river bed
is unstable and inherits its character from the Missouri. The slope
is high and unevenly distributed and rock intrudes into the channel in
localities. The following table exhibits distances and grades:
St. Louis to Cairo–Distances and Elevations.

º Distance— Below Chicago Above & *** * * *
LOCality. miles. datum. Sea level. Remarks.
Eads bridge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0 195.9 383.0 |4 feet on gauge. . . . . . . .
Meramec river. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.0 *205.0 373.9 |Approximate... . . . . . . . .
Rush Tower... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.0 212.8 366.1 |... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
White Sand depot ... . . . . . . . . 54.0 222.8 356.1 ! ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chester. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * 75.0 236 7 || 342.2 ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Grand Tower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.5 *255.0 323.9 |Approximate. . . . . . . . . .
Bainbridge Landing.... . . . . 124.0 263.8 315.1 ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Grays Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142.0 272.8 306.1 ! ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Commerce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149.0 $278.0 300.9 |Approximate. . . . . ‘. . . . .
Cairo Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186.0 303.6 275.3 |Ohio river. . . . . . . . . . . . .
*Reduced from charts of Mississippi River Commission. Stage is equivalent to 4 feet on
St. Louis gauge, and Corresponds to 56,000 Second-feet.
The normal flood volume is taken at 550,000 second-feet, but at
long intervals floods of 750,000 to 1,000,000 feet occur. Standard low
water is taken at 56,ooo second-feet and at four feet on the St. Louis
gauge, which fairly indicates the regimen down to Grays Point, thence
to Cairo the river is dominated by back water from the Lower Missis-
Sippi.
The natural low water depth on bars may be as little as four feet,
and even less in localities. A project for regularization had been
adopted on the basis of eight feet minimum depth, and work had ex-
tended from St. Louis to the vicinity of St. Genevieve, but appropria-
tions have been discontinued. -
The minimum depths do not represent the available boating condi-
tions, but rather the season when traffic is discontinued except by the
smaller craft. A consideration of the available stages is therefore
important. .
Mr. John A. Ockerson, member of the Mississippi River Commis-
sion, and a Comissioner of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, pre-
pared a chart in the interest of direct shipment of foreign exhibits to
St. Louis, showing the navigable condition of the Mississippi river for
the four months, March, April, May and June, for the period of twelve
35
years, 1892-1903, inclusive, during which occurred the extraordinary
drought period that culminated in 1895. This chart recognizes the
well known phenomena of bar rise in broad reaches, which varies in
different years through a range of 5.5 feet. The highest bar level is
taken for each four months period, which errs toward conservatism, as
bar levels change from time to time. -
As July is equally favorable with June and August with March,
these two months are added to complete the regular high water season.
Navigable Depth of Less than Twelve Feet, 1892-1903—Twelve Years.
Number Of Average
Month. dayS. per year.
March ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 15
April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 12
May. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 9.5
June. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 7.0
July. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 7.0 eSt.
August. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 15.0, est.
Yearly average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 65.5
Period of more than 12 feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.5 days
Estimate by inspection for remainder of year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.5 days
Probable average time of 12 feet of water. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.0 days
Under date of Nov. 8, 1904, Mr. Ockerson says: “From St. Louis
to Cairo depths of from eight to ten feet may be counted on for at
least half of the year on the average. These latter conditions grow
naturally better as the improvement work progresses.” - -
The standard steamboat and barge, formerly in the St. Louis trade,
carried from nine to eleven feet, and the two great steamboats, the
Jim Howard and the Grand Republic, carried twelve to fourteen feet.
Such depth continued long enough to be commercially availed of.
Any improvement of the stream presumes fixed banks and a uni-
form width or “regularization,” and the adopted project was to pro-
duce eight feet at standard low water. When the stream dissipates in
broad reaches the phenomena of bar rise and variable channels are
pronounced. The chief purpose of regularization is to restrict these
variations within moderate limits and below a definite horizon. Under
such conditions the inferences from the stages of water are important.
The following table gives the duration of stages of three, four and five
feet above standard low water: - - -
36
Duration of Stages of Water at St. Louis; Days—1876–89.
(Above standard low water, or four feet on gauge.)
3 feet. 4 feet. 5 feet.
January. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22.5 20.5 15.5
February. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.3 20.2 17.4
March. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 29.9 28.6 26.8
April... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.0 30.0 30.0
May.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.0 31.0 30.5
June. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.0 30.0 30.0
July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.0 31.0 30.5
August. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.1 26.1 23.5
September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.8 19.2 14.8
October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.7 - 17.2 13.4
November . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.6 17.7 14.2
December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 10.5 8.4
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 W 282 255
Variation . . . . . . . . . … 206 to 365 180 to 356 156 to 348
Continuous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 174 . 170
Average. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar. 2–Aug. 29 Mar. 3-Aug. 26 Mar. 5–Aug. 23
The five-foot stage was continuous throughout the twenty years for
the four months of April, May, June and July, except in 1871 and
1889, and was short nine years each in March and August and con-
tinued for five years in September. The four-foot stage was short
seven years each in March and August and continued for eight years in
September. The three-foot stage was short five years each in March
and August and continued for eleven years in September.
If the bar horizon is restricted to a depth of eight feet below stand-
ard low water, then eleven feet will prevail for 304 days of the average
year; twelve feet for 282 days and thirteen feet for 255 days.
Whatever may be the effect of regularization, it is a condition pre-
cedent to any treatment, and it cannot develop its full utility until the
high water areas are so built up as to make high and low water follow
substantially the same track. It is now recognized that the results of
such treatment are limited without producing material changes in
slope and a lowering of the low water plane. The depth obtainable by
regularization may be increased in three ways: -
(I) By subdividing the pools by means of ground sills, thus divid-
ing bar slopes and reducing the bar horizon.
(2) By taking out the excess of slope by an occasional lock and
dam, leaving only such fall as is required for an economical channel.
(3) By increasing the low water volume, and this method will be
considered further.
We may add 50% to the standard low water volume of the Middle
Mississippi, 25% or I4,OOO second-feet through the works already pro-
vided at Chicago and a second I4,000 feet by means of reservoirs at
headwaters. The equivalent for one foot at and near low water is
IO,OOO second-feet, and the effect of 28,000 second-feet will be 2.8
feet if it represents solely increase in stage. With eight feet by regu-
larization, this means Io.8 feet minimum, 13.8 feet for 304 days, 14.8
for 282 days and 15.8 for 255 days.
37
The probable effect will be to lower the bar horizon rather than
raise the stage, and this will be proportionate to the added volume, or
50% (four feet) to the eight feet obtained by regularization. This
means I2 feet minimum, I5 feet for 3O4 days, I6 feet for 282 days and
I7 feet for 255 days. The effect of 25%, or the 14,000 second-feet
from Chicago, will be two feet of added depth, or Io feet minimum, I3
feet for 3O4 days, I4 feet for 282 days and I5 feet for 255 days. -
It is a truism that the more uniform the volume the more regular is
the channel. Streams that have great variation in volume have a small
low water flow in a great stream bed fashioned for high water condi-
tions. Normal flood is ten times normal low water in the Middle Mis-
sissippi. Adding 50% to low water reduces this ratio to 7 1-3, which
in itself is a great betterment in conditions.
I2. THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.
The Lower Mississippi extends through an alluvial plain of over
30,000 square miles, with an occasional bluff contact on the east, from
the junction with the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. Its length is 1,072
miles, or 764 miles to Red river, which is virtually at the head of deep
water. The declivity from standard low water at Cairo is 275.3 feet,
and this may be taken to Red river, below which the low water slope
is nominal. The normal width is about 3,300 feet above Red river.
except where the river is spread out, but it narrows and deepens on
the low grades below Red river. - - :
The basin at Cairo is 926,140 square miles. It adds the Arkansas,
2OO,82O square miles; and the Red, 99,200 square miles; and the local
drainage is 33,220 Square miles, a total of 333,240 Square miles, a part
of which is from the semi-arid region. The grand total is 1,259,380
square miles. - - -
The normal flood volume at Cairo is I, IOO,Ooo second-feet, but this
may occasionally reach 2,000,000 feet. Owing to wide overflows into
the St. Francis and the Yazoo and the Tensas basins, these floods were
retarded and prolonged and reduced in volume, and reduced also by
outlets below Red river, so that the volume passing New Orleans (Ioz.
miles from the gulf) in extreme flood was greatly reduced below that
at Cairo. The policy of reclamation now under way restrains flood
waters to the river channel and is a material change in natural con-
ditions. . . .
The river course exceeds the direct distance by over 60%, or there
is a great development in loops and bends, especially between Memphis
and Red river, where the development is about 90%. The aggregate
length of the cut-offs in this portion of the river have been about one-
third during the historic period, and this appears to have been recov-
ered, or the shortening was but temporary. - -
The standard low water volume for the river from Cairo to the
Arkansas is taken at I21,OOO second-feet, and from Arkansas river to
Red river at I32,000 second-feet. The equivalent of one foot on the
gauge at and near low water varies from 18,000 to 20,000 second-feet.
Defore works were undertaken forty-three localities were recog-
nized below Cairo where depths were liable to be less than ten feet,
not in every year nor all in any one year. Of these, twenty-two places
38
were liable to depths less than seven feet; and of these again, thirteen
to depths less than five feet. The project for a minimum of ten feet
proceeded on the theory that these localities could be corrected without
disturbing the general regimen of the river, in view of the fact that the
irregularities of profile were only at low water, while the high water
line was normal, so the dynamic situation at high water need not be
disturbed. Some reaches were attempted with beneficial results, but
the works have not continued. - .
Meantime large apporpriations have been made in coöperation with
the states for the development of a levee system which will confine all
the water to the river channel. The dynamic effect is yet to be valued,
but whatever it may be, the reclamation of the lands is to be conceded
and the improvement is subject thereto as a condition precedent. The
reclamation has proceeded so far that the levee advocates are coming
to recognize the necessity of holding the eroding banks as a question
of levee maintenance, and the policy of fixation of river course will be
the necessary sequel. *. -
As to the available depths in the natural river, Mr. Ockerson may
be again quoted: “For an average of seven or more months of each
year a depth of at least twelve feet can be relied upon from Cairo down.
During the balance of the season dredges will maintain depths of eight
feet or more.” -
Hydraulic dredges for making low water channels across the bars
have come into practice within the last twelve years, and experience
has fully demonstrated their efficacy. It is found that these cuts often
lead the high water course and produce changes that persist and are
permanently beneficial, so that they become useful as an auxiliary in a
permanent improvement while serving their primary purpose for
channel maintenance.
The following table gives the duration of stages above standard low
water : -

Item. 5 feet. 8 feet. 10 feet.
Total days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 243 218
Days continuous.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 215 180
Dates between (continuous) ....... , sº e º sº e º e s a... Dec. 13 to Sept. 6 Jan. 5 to Aug. 7 Jan. 20 to July 18
Assuming that special treatment at localities restricts the bar horizon
at or below a depth of ten feet at standard low water, then the follow-
ing depths will be available: Fifteen feet for a total of 283 days, 18
feet for 243 days and 20 feet for 218 days. - -
The increment of 28,000 second-feet (23%) from the lakes and from
the Upper Mississippi will give an additional depth of 1.5 to 2.3 feet,
according as the effect is due to stage or lowering of the bar horizon.
One-half of these results will be due to an increment of 14,000 second-
fect from the lakes.
From the foregoing it is safe to say that with an increment to low
water and the aid of hydraulic dredging a navigable depth of fourteen
feet can be maintained throughout the average year, and that greater
39
depths will be available for a part of each season. It is safe to say
further that with the correction of the worst localities, these greater
depths will give a navigable season longer than now exists in the
great lakes. • -
I3. RESUME.
The following table gives elevations and distances, Lake Michigan
to the Gulf of Mexico:
ELEVATION.—FEET,
9 * * g Distance— ——
Division. - LOCality. & -
miles. Below Chicago Above
datum. Sea level.
The Chicago Divide,
(41.3 miles).... . . . . . . . . . . Lake Michigan........ 0.0 0.0 578.91
- End of Canal... . . . . . . . 36.05 || 1 6.6 - 572.3
Lake Joliet... . . . . . . . . . 41.3 76.5 502.4
The Upper Illinois, -
(56.2 miles)... . . . . . . . . . . . Ottawa....... . . . . . . . . . . 86.4 132.2 446.7
Utica Bridge.......... 97.5 147.0 431.9
The Lower Illinois, '. *.
(227.5 miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peoria ................ 164.8 151.2 427.7
|Beardstown........... - 238.5 160.0 418.9
Grafton ... . . . . . . . . . . . . 327.0 - 175.0 403.9
The Tributary Division, g
(42.1 miles).............. Alton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.5 189.5 389.4
- St. Louis.............. 367.0 195.9 383.0
The Middle Mississippi, g -
(186 miles)................ Grays Point.... . . . . . 509.0 272.8 306.1
" . Cairo Point..... . . . . . . . 553.0 #03.6 275.3
The Ulower Mississippi,
(1072 miles)............... Memphis.............. 783.0 l... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Arkansas river........ 995.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘g v # * *
Red river.............. 1,217.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Orleans. . . . . . . . . . 1,518.0 |... . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * s = w "
Gulf of Mexico........ 1,625.0 578.91 0.0

Distance shortened by Canal—Alton to St. Louis-2.5 miles.
With the Middle Mississippi regularized and an increment of I4,000
second-feet to the low water volume, it will be feasible to carry a depth
of fourteen feet from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico for a period
longer than the period of navigation about the great lakes, and
hydraulic dredging can maintain the depths for the remainder of the
year. By increasing the water supply and by correcting the worst
localities on the Lower Mississippi, the fourteen-foot period, without
dredging, can be materially prolonged and eighteen feet made avail-
able for more than half the year. It is sufficient at this time to indicate
the possibilitics, without entering into an exhaustive discussion of the
Middle and Lower Mississippi, in order that the waterway between
Lake Michigan and the Middle Mississippi river may be projected on
a proper basis for future development.
The route from Chicago to St. Louis may be made of any desired
capacity, being solely a matter of water supply and the resources that
shall be made available. +. - -
4O
Part III. The Deep Waterway.
(Chicago-St. Louis.)
I4. THE OFFICIAL PROJECT.
The River and Harbor Act, approved June 13, 1902, appropriated
the sum of $200,000.OO “for making such surveys, examinations and
investigations as may be required to determine the feasibility of and
prepare and report plans and estimate of cost of a navigable waterway
fourteen feet in depth from Lockport, Ill., * * * * * * to
St. Louis, Mo.,” the Mississippi River Commission to direct the ex-
penditure of $25,000.OO and report upon the division from the mouth
of the Illinois river to St. Louis, and a board of three army engineers
to direct the expenditure of the balance and report upon the division
from Lockport to the mouth of the Illinois. The report of the Mis-
sissippi River Commission was submitted Feb. 28, 1905, and of the
Board of Engineers, Aug. 25, 1905, Colonel O. H. Ernst (now
Brigadier General retired) chairman in each case. -
An elaborate survey, covering the bottom lands within the bluffs,
was made of the Lower Illinois river. Former surveys were built upon
for the Upper Illinois and Desplaines rivers. The charts of the
Mississippi River Commission were availed of below the Illinois and
only special examinations, were made. A line of triangulation and
precise levels were carried throughout and many flow measurements
were made. The borings were very complete. All accessible gauge
records, flood heights and flow measurements were completed and con-
stitute a valuable compendium for reference. -
... The project is for a depth of fourteen feet, with a flow of Io,OOO
second-feet from Lake Michigan. The estimate is: - -
Lockport to mouth of the Illinois. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $23,543,582 00
Mouth of Illinois to St. Louis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • - - - -, - . . . . . . . . 6,553,880 00
... Lockport to St. Louis ................................. $30,097,462 00
* The locks estimated are 600 feet long by eighty feet wide (641 feet
long between hollow quoins). Locks for a depth of twenty feet be.
tween Lockport and Utica are estimated at $1,376,000.00 additional.
The following table gives the elements of the project for the Des.
plaines and Upper Illinois between the end of the Sanitary and Ship
Canal at Lockport and the Lower Illinois river at Utica.
4I
Alements of the Project—Lockport to Utica.
SURFACE OF WATER
OF PROJECT
BELOW. CEIICAGO DATUM.
| LOCATION. DISTANCE
- MILEs. Num-
River. Canal. ber.
Drainage Canal control-
ing works (f). . . . . . . . . . . te
Beginning of project..... 2.09 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . &% 1
Dam No. 1, Joliet........| i.63"|...... ... ... 42 jj | | 3 ||
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #52.00 | . . . . . . . .
Head Lake Joliet......... 7.79 |.............. #% 3
Foot of Treats Island.... " 13.39 |...... . . . . § 4 || |
12 Miles below Kankakeel’’’’’ 3i 49 |...... ... ... §2.jó | 5 ' ||
river ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• * * * : * * * * * * * * * * * * : * * - - - - - 93.00 | . . . . . . . .
22.36 92.7 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27.21 93.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
33.48 94.8 |. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
38.52 95.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- 41.40 95.7 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | * * * * * * * *
Marseilles... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96.00 6
Middle Of Bell’s Island. .. 48.78 |.............. ſº § 7
Head of Bull's Island....| 52.öð |...... ... ... #; Šà ||
Lover's Leap.............I 63.63 | . . . . . . . . . . . . 12366 || 10a ||
Utica. . . . . . . . . . . . . sº s = e º e s - - 63.53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.00 | . . . . . . . .
a *. * * * * : * * * * * * * * * *
Locks—
ELEVATION.
º: º
lter . iter -
Sill. ši | Lift.
17 56 39
* * * * * 56 || '66' ' ' ' ' ' 10
* * * * * 66 || 36 ' ' ' '30
* - - - - §6 | 36 |’ ‘’’ 10
e tº - - - §6'7| 107 || 11
’’ ‘’iió • * | * * * * * ióð Gard
110 129 1
135 |' ' ' ' ' iš tº e i - - - - - 8
137’’ ‘’’ ‘’’ 150 13
The width of the canal is 160 feet on the bottom.
The width of the channel is 200 feet on the bottom, with side slopes of 3 to 1.
º
The size of the locks are 600 feet long by 80 feet wide.
#The zero of distance is 34.05 miles from Lake Michigan at mouth of Chicago river.
The following table gives the elements of the project for the Lower
Illinois and between Grafton and St. Louis.
A column is added to
show the proposed surface of the water in the fourteen-foot channel
above original low water: - -
Blements of the Project–Utica to St. Louis.

LOW WATER SURFACE
OF PROJECT.
REMARKS.
DISTANCE
LOCATION. -
- MILES. lºgº sº d
g (Below C. D.). Low Water.
Utica... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.53 135.8 11.00
Peru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.42 137.8 10.10
€n Ty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97.31 141.1 9.35
Santa Fé Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . 111.02 142.3 8.43
Spring Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.39 142.6 8.33
|Beoria. . . . . . . . '• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * , 132.25 143.0 8.42
Pekin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140,96 144.2 8.28
Head of Senate Island...... 157.73 146.6 7.66
Liverpool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.60 147.5 7.20
Havana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.05 149.4 5.80
Foot of Grand Island . . . . . . 186.36 151.5 5.83
Beardstown ................ 203.35 154.5 5.40
Meredosia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.19 158.4 4.40
Head of Big Blue Island... 234.01 160: 3 4.30
Pearl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.03 163.3 4.04
Rampsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261.81 167.0 4.02
Grafton ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • * 293.09 168.3 5.82
Alton dam... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308.59 169.0 14.50
*St. Louis. . . . . . . '• * * * * * * * * * * 326.59 169.0 30.00 Canal ends
Merchants’ Pridge . . . . . . . . . 327. 44 199.0 0.00
* * * * * * * * * * * * * > * > . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * , , , , . . . .
* * * * * *, * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * - - - . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * , , , , , , , , , .
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * = . . . . . . .
The width of the channel is 200 feet on the bottom, with side slopes of 3 to 1. Canal is 160
feet wide on the bottom, with Side slopes of 2 to 1.
Zero of distance is 34.05 from Lake Michigan at mouth of Chicago river.
*30 foot lift lock, the elevation of upper miter sill being 183, and the lower miter sill being
213 below Chicago datum.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > . . . . . . . . .
42
The following table exhibits quantities and cost for characteristic
reaches between Lockport and St. Louis:
Estimate of cost of Fourteen-foot Waterway from Lockport to St. Louis.

Prioe
Total CoSt.
Division. ItemS. Quantities. Per Unit. CoSt.
Lockport to dam No. 1, sº
Joliet, 2.6 miles............ Excavation, rock, cu-
- bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 186,230 $3 00|$ 558,690
Lock No. 1, 39-foot -
lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 185, 958
Rebuilding bridges,
1 railway, 2 highway|.......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154,931
Contingencies, 10%... .............. . . . . . . . . . . . 89, 958 -
- * $2,089, 537 . .
Canal dam No. 1, Joliet to
head of Lake Joliet, 31
miles. . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * * * * * * * Excavation, rock, cu-
- bic yards.... . . . . . . . . 240, 118 1 00 $ 240 118
Excavation, earth, cu-
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . 248, 160 25 71,040
Excavation, widening
river, rock, Cubic
yards........ . . . . . . . . 124,811 1 00| 124,811
Excavation, widening
river, earth, cubic -
yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152,995 25 38,249
Embankment f O r
canal, cubic yards.. 221,508 25 55,377
Locks No. 2, 10 ft. lift;
No. 3, 20 ft. lift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 156,069
Rebuilding bridges, 1
railway, 5 highway. .............. . . . . . . . . . . 642, 532
Right of way, widen-
ing river. . . . . . . . . . . . [.............. . . . . . . . . . . 424,897
Right of way, Canal
a CI'êS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 150 00 13, 350
Concrete betw'n river
and river, cubic
yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50, 220 6 00| 301,320
Contingencies, 10%...l.............. [.......... 306, 776
—— 3,374,539
Head of Lake Jolied to foot
of Treat's Island, 6.2
miles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, rock, Cu- -
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 15,911 3 00 $ 47, 773
Excavation, earth, Cu- -
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 1,138,972 25, 284,743
Lock No. 4, 10-foot
lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481, 179
Dam No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............l.......... 62, 963
Bridges. 1 highway... [.............. [.......... 70,060
Land to be Overflowed].............. [.......... 3,880
Contingencies, 10%...l........................ 98,048
* ——| 1,078, 526
Foot of Treat's Island to
Big Dresden Island, 7.5 -
miles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, rock, cu-
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 101,292 3 00, $303,876
Excavation, earth, cu-
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 616, 524 25 154, 131
Lock No. 5, 11-foot
lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482,624
Dam No. 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . [.............. [.......... 117, 790
Bridges, 1 highway... [.............. [.......... 66,992
Land to be Overflowed
*CTeS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 100 00 38, 200
Contingencies, 10%... [........................ 116, 361
*-* *-* 1,279,974
Big Dresden Island to Mar-
seilles, 24.3 miles. . . . . . . . . . Excavation, rock, cu-
bic yards............ 195,971 3 00 $587,913
Excavation, earth, cu-
bic yards . . . . . . . . . . . 3,031, 413 25 757,853
lºridges, 2 railway, 2
bighway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ 268,945
Land to be Overflowed
*CTBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75,900
Contingencies, 10%...] .............. [.......... 169,061

1,859, 672
43
Estimate of Cost, Etc.—Continued.

Price
Division. ItemS. Quantities. per unit. CoSt. |Total Cost.
Marseilles to the middle of
Bell’s Island, 3.0 miles.... |Excavation, rock, cu-
bic yards............ 1, 176,316 $ 1 00|$1,176, 316
Excavation, earth, Cu-
bic yards............ 452,837 25, 113, 209
E m b a n km ent, S for
Canal, Cubic yards... 123,910 25 30,978
Locks, No. 6, guard,
and No. 7, 19ſt. lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992, 131
Dam No. 4. . . . . . . • * * * * - I - - - - - - - - - - - - - , , . . . . . . . . . . 74,717
Bridges, 1 highway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52, 640
Right of way, acres.... 233 150 00 34, 950
Contingencies, 10%.... [.............. [.......... 247, 494 -
Middle of Bell’s Island to $2,722, 435
head of Bull’s Island, 3.2
miles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, rock, cu-
bic yards...... .e. e. e. e. e. e. 117,317 300 $351,951
‘Land to be Overflowed |
Th;CreS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 100 00 21,700
Contingencies, 10%... [.............. . . . . . . . . . . 37, 365
Head of Bull’s Island to *ºamm-º: *411,016
Lover’s Leap, 10.0 miles...|Excavation, rock, cu-
bic yards............ 324,916 3 00. $974, 748
Excavation, earth, Cu-
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 331,255 25 82,814
Levees, cubic yards.. 70,061 25 17, 515
Locks, No. 8a, 8 foot -
lift and No. 10a, 13
foot lift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925, 157
Dams, No. 5 and No. 7al... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217,758
Bridges, 1 railway, 2 -
highway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234, 638
Land to be Overflowed
T8 CT68 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 221 100 00| 122, 100 *
Contingencies, 10%...l.............. . . . . . . . . 257, 473
LOver’s Leap to Peoria, 70.2 ——| *2,832,203
miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, earth, cu- -
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 434,206 25, $608, 551
Bridges, 2 railway.... [.............. . . . . . . . . . . . 213,940
R em O V in g dam at
80ry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,000
Contingencies, 10%.... [.............. .......... 83,649 -
Peoria, to Beardstown, 71.1 . - 920, 140
miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, earth, cu- ,- s
bic yards... . . . . . . . . . .9,929,071 25|$2,482,268
Removing dam at Cop-
perus Creek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 16,000
Contingencies, 10%... [.............. [.......... 249,827
Beardstown t O G r a ft. On , ——| $2,748,095
89.7 miles.................. Excavation, earth, cu-
bic yards. . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 172, 528 25|$3,793, 132
Removing dam at La,
Grange.......... . .# * * | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | * * * * & & & s a 9 22,000
R e m O V in g dam at
Kampsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28,000
Contingencies, 10%... [.............. [.......... . 384, 313
Grafton to St. Louis, 23.35 --- 4, 227, 445
miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excavation, earth, cu- -
bic yards............ 13,928,000 25|$3, 482,000
Paving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78. 208
Dredging, cubic yards. 10,000 50 5,000
Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | * * * * * * * * * * 604, 993
Bridges, highway and
SeWer' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75,000
Right. Of way—a CreS.. 1, 550 300 00| 465,000
Headgates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272,986
Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974, 886
Contingencies, 10%... [.............. [.......... 595, 807
6, 553,880
Grand total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30,097, 462
*The Board of Engineers adopts an alternative plan for these two reaches with a total
estimate of $2,951,217, and credits the balance of $292,002 to the Lower Illinois.
44
Referring to the dams in the Desplaines and Upper Illinois, the
Report (p. I2) says: “To keep this (the overflow) at a minimum, it
is proposed to make the dams of the movable type which shall have
no effect upon the water surface except at low and medium stages.”
The board accepts the established pool levels at and above Joliet
and avoids water power complications at this locality by a canal 3.I
miles long from dam No. I to the head of Lake Joliet, and avoids the
Marseilles water power entirely by a canal 3.0 miles long. (P. I2)
“At other places economy in excavation and avoidance of overflow
have been the guiding considerations.” (P. Io) “The entire width of
the river is closed with a continuous line of Chanoine wickets.”
In regard to the development of water power, the Report (p. 12)
says: - -
“The best development of water power would no doubt in some cases call
for a different arrangement. Fewer dams and those of greater height and of
the fixed type might, from that psºnt of view, be desirable. The plan sub-
mitted is not designed to develop water power, but there will probably be no
difficulty in modifying it so as to conform to such development, if those who
are to benefit thereby will coöperate with the government. They should pay
for the cost of the dams and the damages from flowage, which is no more
than they would be compelled to do if the government made no improvement.”
A further consideration in determining the project seems to have
been the height to which it was considered practicable to adapt the
Chanoine wicket system. --
The size of locks (600 by 80 feet) was a matter of judgment as to
the requirements of the route. As to the depth of the locks, the
Report (p. I5) says:
“The depth over the miter sills, 14 feet, is adapted to the depth of the
waterway prescribed by the law under which the board is acting. It would
not be sufficient for the greater depths which would be made practicable in
the future by an increased discharge from Lake Michigan. If such future
increase is to be permitted, and if full advantage of it is to be taken for
navigation purposes, it will be necessary to rebuild the locks, or else to give
a greater depth over the miter sills now. The latter may be done if Congress
so desires, leaving the general depth of the waterway at 14 feet, as projected.
An increase of six feet depth on the miter sills would add about $1,376,000.00
to the cost of the project.”
In regard to the Lower Illinois, the Report (p. 18) says:
“The additional flow provided by the Chicago drainage canal is now 4,200
cubic feet per second. It will allow the removal of the present locks and
dams, and it makes practicable the maintenance of an open channel consid-
erably deeper than the seven feet now provided by these structures. The in-
crease to 10,500 cubic feet per second makes practicable a still greater open
channel.”
The Report (p. II) also says:
“In a future not remote, larger volumes of water may be needed for Sanitary
purposes, and channels deeper than 14 feet will then become practicable in
the open alluvial section of the Illinois river.”
The Report refers to the incidental use for sewage purposes which
has always been made of the waterway from Lake Michigan to the
Illinois river, recognizes, the navigable quality of the Sanitary and
Ship Canal from the Chicago river to Lockport, discusses lake level
effects of about six inches, due to the abstraction of Io,000 second-feet
from Lake Michigan–Huron; cites the conditions under which the
45
United States may acquire control of the Sanitary and Ship Canal, and
calls attention to some 224 claims, amounting to $4,400,180.OO for
damages from overflow on account of the addition of 4,200 second-feet
from Lake Michigan. -
The Mississippi River Commission says: “The sure way to construct
a channel fourteen feet deep from Alton to St. Louis is to construct a
canal which shall leave the river near the former place and enter it
again near the latter.” A movable dam 2,500 feet long is to raise the
low water I4.5 feet at Alton and 6.7 feet at Grafton, making an inter-
mediate pool of I5.5 miles. For sixty-one days of the average year the
stage of water is at or above dam level and the open river will be used.
The canal is to be eighteen miles long, with a lift lock of thirty feet
about three-fourths mile above the Merchants bridge at St. Louis.
No suggestion of doubt as to the practicability of a navigable depth
of fourteen feet is conveyed by the report of the Mississippi River
Commission nor by that of the Board of Engineers. The latter states,
in fact, that the depth obtainable in the open river is a matter of water
supply from Lake Michigan.
I5. DISCUSSION OF THE OFFICIAL PROJECT.
A careful reading of the report of the Board of Engineers, which
deals with the problems of most intimate concern to the State of Illinois,
indicates that the project is intended to determine feasibility and fur-
nish an estimate of cost, but is not final; indeed, modifications are sug-
gested, as greater depths for locks and a different treatment in the
interest of water power. Some matters of State legislation are referred
to which invite possible amendments. The State is vitally interested in
the development of all its sources of wealth and a careful review of the
project is important.
The attention of the board seems not to have been called to the fact
that the actual capacity of the Sanitary Canal is some 40% greater
than the minimum of Io,000 second-feet called for by the Sanitary
District Act, and that the same is completed to the Chicago river,
except a strip of clay excavation ninety-two feet wide and 7.8 miles
long between Summit and Robey street, Chicago, although these facts
were recorded by the Expert Commission of 1901 and published in the
Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chi-
cago (June 19, 190I). Various projects have been made for feeding
this volume of water so as to give the canal a navigable depth of
twenty-four feet at low water of Lake Michigan (Chicago datum, low
water of 1847) and the use of the Illinois and Michigan canal has been
suggested, thus giving a total capacity of I5,000 second-feet, which
could be made available for a more radical treatment of the projected
waterway. As the Io,000 second-feet was ample to produce the four-
teen feet called for by the Act of Congress, the board was not called
upon to consider the larger possibilities. - - -
The projected treatment of the Desplaines and Upper Illinois seeks
to disturb flood conditions as little as possible. On the contrary, these
should be disturbed as much as possible, so as to give more moderate
velocities for navigation, with a lower flood line in the interest of land
46
reclamation and with less variation in head at dams, in order to pro-
duce more valuable water power. A channel as deep as the Sanitary
Canal and ultimately as wide as the normal river bed, especially for the
Morris reach, would meet all conditions so far as practicable.
The flow line, as projected for the Lower Illinois, is eleven feet
above original low water at Utica and passes over the tops of the
dams at Henry and Copperas Creek, being 9.4 feet at Henry, 8.4 feet
at Peoria and 7.7 feet at Copperas Creek lock. The line works out
better between Havana and the mouth, being between four and six
feet above low water. This flow line, especially for the upper half of .
the lower Illinois, may be said to ignore the value of the bottom lands
entirely, except as a fish and forest reserve, on the theory that what-
ever value for cultivation remains since locks and dams were built is
to be paid for in damages by the Sanitary District of Chicago. How-
ever, the art of hydraulic dredging has so developed as to justify a
lower flow line, much lower in the upper half of the river, and a channel
not only sufficient to care for the extra water from Lake Michigan, but
also to constitute a better drain for the valley. How far this may go
is simply a matter of resources to be applied to the work.
In order to avoid water power and other complications at Joliet and
Marseilles, the expedient of canals is resorted to at increase in cost.
These water powers should be incidental to the waterway in its best
and most logical development, and no sound objection in public policy
can be raised to the transfer of these equities to the new sites, and
more especially as electric distribution is now generally the accepted
system in utilizing water power. -
I6. MoDIFICATION IN PROJECT.
In 1895 and prior thereto studies were made in the office of the
Sanitary District for a provisional project for deep water from Lock-
port to the Mississippi river. The Sanitary Canal was to be extended
two miles (now nearly completed) and the same depth carried to Lake
Joliet in a pool through the city of Joliet, at forty feet below Chicago
datum. Two high lift locks, 750 by 90 feet, were to be provided and
the estimated cost was $8,000,000.Oo. -
A descent of 60 feet between Lake Joliet and Utica was distributed
in three dams, and a channel 300 feet wide and fourteen feet deep
below crest of dam was to be excavated through the pools at an
estimated cost of $10,000,000.00. To make the depth nineteen feet was
estimated at $17,000,000.00. By raising the levels five feet a depth of
twenty-four feet was estimated at $2,000,000.oo additional.
The flow line for the lower river at Utica was taken at 140 feet below
Chicago datum, or four feet lower than that of the recent official pro-
ject. A channel fourteen feet deep and 300 feet wide was estimated
at 66,320,000 yards, and it was assumed that the excavation could be
increased to IOO,OOO,OOO yards for the estimated cost of $7,000,000.00.
The total estimate was $25,000,000.O.O.
47
The same general treatment is now suggested.
(a) Fix the pool level at Joliet at forty feet below Chicago datum
and carry the same to head of Lake Joliet in a channel twenty-four
feet deep and 360 to 440 feet wide. Lock down thirty-five feet to the
proposed level of Lake Joliet at seventy-five feet below datum. The
pool level can be controlled by bear trap or other devices. The prism
would occupy in part the present site of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal, benched into the bluff foot on the right and formed by a heavy
wall, backed up with waste material on the left. This plan saves the
room for a lock in the heart of the city, economizes land and makes a
desirable improvement in every way for the city of Joliet, gives the
best possible development of the water power and substitutes one lock
for two. The State's equity in the water power at dam No. I can be
transferred to the new location at the head of Lake Joliet.
(b) Continue the level of Lake Joliet (-75.o) down to Big Dres-
den Island, below the junction of the Kankakee river, or even still
farther down toward Morris, as proposed in the studies of 1895. The
dam should be a fixed weir, with a long over fall. The flowage will be
considerable, but part of this can be reclaimed later. Cost is not only
saved in carrying the level below the mouth of the Kankakee, but the
improvement of the Kankakee is facilitated whenever it shall be justi-
fied as part of a waterway system. One pool and one lock and
dam of twenty feet lift are substituted for the two pools and the two
locks and dams of the official project. •
(c) Continue the Morris level at ninety-five feet below Chicago
datum to Bulls Island, or such location above Ottawa as will facili-
tate the diversion of the Fox river into the pool above the dam. This
will facilitate the future improvement of the Fox, a stream of great
merit. A considerable area of land will be flowed below Marseilles,
but the cost will be small compared to other savings. A long fixed
dam and a lock will make the drop of twenty feet above Ottawa. The
equity in the Marseilles water power can be transferred to the new
site. Two locks, a guard lock and three miles of canal and two dams
in the official project are to be replaced by one lock and dam.
(d) The Ottawa level is taken at II5 feet below Chicago datum
and contiues to Starved Rock, above Utica bridge. Some levee and
embankment work will be required below Buffalo Rock and some .
island and marginal lands will be put awash, all of moderate value.
Little rock excavation, and that above Ottawa, will be required for
fourteen feet, and the excavation in St. Peter's sandstone will be
moderate, even for a depth of twenty-four feet. A long fixed dam
and a lock will drop to the level of the head of the open river, which
is taken for an ultimate level of 146 feet below Chicago datum, or ten
: below that of the official project, giving a lockage of thirty-one
eet. - - -
From Lockport to Utica five lift locks and four pools replace the
eight lift locks, one guard lock, seven levels and two canals of the
official project. Little rock will be excavated below Lake Joliet that
cannot be removed by suitable dredges. No detailed study has been
made from the latest data, but it is believed that the modified plans
with locks to the ultimate depth of twenty-four feet and a preliminary
48
channel of fourteen feet below Joliet can be carried out for the official
estimate of $15,355,900.OO. The water power equity ought to be
sufficient to make a channel still more ample, and such as will lower
the flood line materially opposite the valuable bottom lands of the
Morris level. +. - - -
(e) The ultimate flow line for the Lower Illinois river is assumed
at I46 feet below Chicago datum at Utica, or ten feet lower than that
of the official report and one foot above original low water, and at 170
feet below Chicago datum at Grafton, or I.7 feet below that of the
official report, and five feet above the low water taken by the Missis-
sippi River Commission. The fall of the river for this flow line will
be twenty-four feet, or four feet less than the natural declivity. Suf-
ficient study has been given the matter to show that with the increased
volume of 40% to 50% (14,000 to I5,000 second-feet) above that
considered by the Board of Engineers, a depth of at least eighteen
feet can be produced in a commodious channel, and that twenty-four
feet can be carried as far as Peoria over the easy grades above that
point. This depth (eighteen feet) is as great as can now be carried
through the intermediate channels of the great lakes at standard low
water, and the lakes were lower by one foot in 1895.
It can be definitely said that if the river is given a depth of eighteen
feet below the grade line, and a channel sufficient to care for the
low water volume and the increment from Lake Michigan, it will have
greater capacity than at present at the bank full stage, or will be a
betterment and not a detriment to overflow conditions in the valley.
How far this shall be carried is a matter of resources to be applied to
the work. The estimates of the board are for the dredging of 27,-
867,060 cubic yards and the total estimate, $8,187,682.o.o. This sum
should provide a dredging fleet capable of handling ten million yards
per year and maintain and operate the same for twelve to fourteen
years, which would give an output of four to five times that estimated,
sufficient to give eighteen feet below the proposed flow line in a channel
over 200 feet wide at bottom. In fact, a preliminary estimate shows
I90,000,000 cubic yards in a channel of eighteen feet, 330 feet wide on
bottom and with side, slopes of 2% to I. *
The matter of concern at this time is to show these possibilities in
order that lock dimensions and depths shall be ample to meet future
possibilities. When dams and locks are built and the levels estab-
lished and the water supply is available, the channels can be developed
progressively. *.
It is presumed that a dredging fleet will be provided, and that it
will first develop the preliminary channel and then enlarge and deepen
the same as funds are available and the need is appreciated. -
(f) On any theory of improvement a dam is required in the
vicinity of Alton, but the change in flow line by I.7 feet at Grafton
will require a lower elevation by about two feet, or at 171 feet below
Chicago datum. The canal from Alton to St. Louis would also re-
quire to be lowered by two feet. The question is raised as to whether
the dam could not be placed two or three miles farther down stream
49
and perhaps enter the river again at a higher point, or be made shorter.
It is sufficient now, however, to know that the problem can be solved
in the way proposed. The first purpose is obviously to open up water-
way communication which already exists over this division, and there
will be ample time to ascertain any modification or alternative for this
part of the project, particularly from the dam to the harbor of St.
Louis. . |
17. THE Locks.
The nine locks between Lockport and Utica are estimated at $5,745,-
430.OO. The five locks of the modified plan with 24 feet of water on
the miter sills can be built within the estimate, taking the same unit
prices.
Larger horizontal dimensions than 600x80 feet are, however, justified
for this route. Since the report was made (August, 1905,) a lock 95
feet in width has been required in the water power project at the Des
Moines rapids of the Upper Mississippi in the interest of ship building
at Dubuque, Iowa. One of the considerations which led the board to
adopt a lock as long as 600 feet was to enable lake ship builders to
deliver the output of their yards to customers at the seaboard, but since
the report was written a ship 600 feet long has been launched for the
lake trade, and another over 600 feet long, is on the ways. Longer
ships are in use on the high seas, and no reason exists why craft of all
kinds, both long and wide, should not be built in lake yards and de-
livered by this route, except the limitations of lock dimensions. No
reason exists why these locks should not be as wide as the standard of
IIo feet for the Ohio river improvement and as long as any ship of
the future, and some experts expect this to approach 1,000 feet.
Some representations were made in this matter to the chairman of
the board, on behalf of the Illinois Valley Association, and reasons
urged for lock dimensions 24 feet deep and 960x108 feet. Among other
things already mentioned, attention was called to the fact that the
standard side-wheel boat in the Mississippi trade had a width of 85
feet over the guards, and that Hudson river and Sound steamers are
96 feet over all, and this is likely to prove a popular route for such
boats; also that the locks should be adequate to a fleet of six steel barges
rafted togéther and towed in a manner usual to western rivers; such
fleet to have a capacity of 20,000 tons of dead freight. It was sug-
gested that the locks should accommodate a fleet of such boats as would
represent the unit in a future waterway system, and that such unit
would have a capacity of 3,000 tons and upward, or in excess of the
carrying capacity of the largest railway trains. -
The Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways, in their report (1900)
on deep waterway between Lake Erie and the Hudson river, adopted
a lock dimension of 740 by 80 feet, or I40 feet longer than in the
official project of the southern route. There is no reason for such
discrimination, and there are special reasons, owing to their relations
––4 L. G. - - -
50
to river navigation and fleet towing and to ship building, why these
locks should be made both longer and wider and of the dimensions
proposed. - • - * .
The extra money for the larger locks should not be considered as
against the construction of possible barriers to future development.
It is part of the irony of fate that the conditions have outgrown, on
admitted points, the provision of the board, even before its recommen-
dations could be considered. The history of public works is largely
a history of utilities that were obsolete or outgrown before they could
be completed. Project your works on such a scale of magnitude that
no one for a century could wish them larger, was the spirit of the advise
of Senator Edmunds to the first International Deep Waterways Com-
mission. -
18. THE WATER PoweR.
Fixed dams, good heads of 20 feet or more and as little variation
from flood conditions as possible, are prime elements in a good water
power. Heads of 20 to 40 feet where practicable reduce the number
of locks and give more ample pools for navigation, and capacious
channels give less back water, thus reducing slopes and overflow of
marginal lands and moderating the velocities. The best treatment for
water power may also be the best treatment for navigation. Flowage
may be increased in the vicinity of dams and in the lower reaches of
pools, but this is more than offset by the betterments below. Happily,
between Joliet and Utica the treatment does not involve serious flowage
questions, and the constructive advantages far outweigh the value of
lands that may be taken. Modern practice locates water power dams
at the foot of rapids rather than at the head, and generally down
stream as far as possible, in order to mask the effect of floods.
When the channel has been fully developed so as to give moderate
velocities and low slopes in floods, the effective horsepower on the
turbine shaft, with 14,000 second-feet from Lake Michigan and 333
second-feet in the natural river below the Kankakee and 667 second-
feet below the Fox, will be as follows: -
Feet. • H.-P.
Joliet, two Sites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 - 86,000
Dresden Island. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 - 25,000
ttawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 26,000
Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 - 36,000
Total, Constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173,000
The above estimate takes II second-feet, falling one foot, as an effec-
tive horsepower, and assumes that I2.6 feet out of the total fall Qf 146
feet, will be consumed in slope, back water and other impediments to
flow, and that the effective head will be 133.4 feet at low water.
MEMORANDUM-The official estimate for nine locks, 600x80x20 feet, is $7,121,430.00. The
five locks, 960x108x24 feet, are estimated at $8,104,000.00. -
5 I
. The two powers at Joliet and the ope at Ottawa have practically full
value under flood conditions. The power at Dresden Island above
the E. J. & E. Ry. bridge, will be seriously handicapped in flood time
and should be located as far down stream as possible. When the
channel through the Morris pool is fully developed, this power will be
greatly improved. The Utica power will always be affected by flood
conditions in the river below. Such floods as those of 1883, 1892 and
1904 would reduce the head to between Io and 12 feet, but such floods
are exceptional. A radical improvement of the Lower Illinois should
better these conditions. At low water the head (official project with
Io,000 second-feet) will be 21 feet, but this should be increased by
river improvement to 31 feet. The river below will, however, even
on an ultimate improvement, be sensitive to storm effects in the low
water season, and a less head, say 27 feet, will be a surer measure,
ln an ultimate development an installation adapted to large variations
in head, will make this power available.
The water power should have a development value of $200.00 per
horsepower, or $34,600,000.00. Its ultimate value should be double;
or $69,200,000.00. It may represent in itself and in collateral plants
an investment of $1,000.00 per horse power as in older countries, and
it may produce taxable wealth to three or four times such amount.
Such a resource the State can riot afford to ignore. -
The water power should, however, be strictly incidental and subor-
dinate to the waterway, which is of national and even international
concern. No existing power, now or in the future, should be per-
mitted to condition in any way or interfere with the best possible
waterway development, and both Congress and the Legislature may, in
final legislation, wisely safeguard the appropriation of waters for water-
way and sanitary purposes, against “hydraulic parasites.”
In a public utility so fundamental as water power, it is a question as
to how far it should vest in private control. The sanitary district is
engaged in developing one of the Joliet water powers and the State has
an equity in the second. Perhaps the control of all may be wisely vested
in some public agency, municipal or otherwise, under proper re-
strictions. . . . -
It is proper for the water power to contribute in some degree to the
development of the waterway, by which it is created and of which it is
the direct and most immediate beneficiary. This should not take the
form of lessened cost to the United States, but rather the direction of
a more complete and radical development at the outset. -
19. LAND RECLAMATION.
The lands in the Morris reach of the Upper Illinois subject to over-
flow, aggregate 7,780 acres. When the channel opposite is fully de-
veloped, not over Io to 20% of these lands should be within flood
limits, and these should be materially bettered. Other lands along the
Upper Illinois and Desplaines rivers do not aggregate 25% of the total
value, and some of these will be benefited and others damaged. -
52
The lower Illinois valley under the high water of IQO4, aggregates
363,869 acres. Above the high water of 1904, there are probably
65,000 acres reached by such floods as those of 1844 and 1858, which
occur two or three times in a century. Of the area under the flood of
I904, the present water area, with the existing locks and dams, is
78,216 acres, of which 28,811 acres lie within the river bed and the re-
mainder in the outlying lagoons, bayous, etc. The land area proper is
258,653 acres. A further deduction for marginal lands and other low
acreas, will probably reduce the land area to about 250,000 acres sub-
ject to reclamation. No estimate has been made of the relative eleva-
tion of these lands. . - * - .
The entire area under the greatest known flood may be taken in
round numbers at 430,000 acres. Of this 65,000 may be flooded two
or three times in a century, and another 65,000 acres, once or twice in a
decade. Some 185,000 acres are subject to ordinary floods, 35,000
acres of marginal and low areas are generally under water, and
80,000 acres are permanently covered by water under existing condi-
tions. -
The I3O,OOO acres subject to rare and occasional floods are valuable
for agriculture, but any scheme of reclamation will benefit these lands.
The 185,000 acres can not develop a large value without protection
from overflow. .
The 80,000 acres of submerged lands have a high value for fish
culture, the present yield bringing $10.00 per acre to the fisherman,
while the consumer pays double. It is not too much to expect that
this crop will increase to a value of $15.00 to $2O.oo per acre in the
future, or amount to $1,2OO,OOO.OO to $1,600,000.OO annually. Any
policy of reclamation should jealously guard this source of wealth.
The 22O,OOO acres in marginal low lands and under ordinary floods,
ought to be worth $5.00 per acre per year under systematic forestry.
Low land timber reproduces rapidly and is now valuable, and will
become more valuable in the future. An annual crop of $1,100,000.Oo
from such a source is not to be deprecated. :
So the 3OO,OOO acres of water and now inferior lands may easily
yield a revenue of perhaps $2,500,000.00 per year in the future, which
is not a bad showing for property presumed to have little or no value.
From the merely waterway and sanitary standpoint, it would have
been wise to have purchased these lands outright (at a cost less than the
claims for flowage against the Sanitary District now amount to) aud to
have taken up the radical improvement of the river at leisure. A
generous depth for navigation could have been produced as proposed
by the board of engineers, and this channel could have been bettered
at convenience, and eventually the lands valuable for agriculture could
have been reclaimed and sold.
Considerable progress has already been made in reclaiming lands.
An area is enclosed by levees along the river front and up tributaries
to the bluffs, and a pumping station installed to keep down the inside
waters in times of flood. This treatment is extending to the favored
tracts, but there are large areas beyond the scope of ordinary enterprise:
53
The physical problem of reclamation is no easy one. The river bed
within the banks is of limited capacity, not more than 20% to 30% of
the probable flood volume when restricted to the course of the stream.
The bottoms are great reservoirs which prolong the duration of floods
and lessen the maximum. At Beardstown the flood levels of different
years show divergence increasing toward the mouth under the diverse
influence of the back water from the Mississippi, and this again in
some notable cases is affected by the Missouri. Under ordinary con-
ditions, the flood volume near the mouth is not over half what it would
be if restrained to the river course through the valley, but in some years,
like that of 1904, when the Mississippi was relatively lower, the volume
reached two-thirds the extreme flood expectation. Such influences
show up in an enlarged capacity of the river bed as the mouth is
approached. - * -
If the general horizon of the river bed could be lowered IO to 12
feet and the excavated material used to fill in the foreshores and raise
the banks, thus forming a regular channel, a moderate additional bank
height would be sufficient. If such plan was extended up the tribu-
taries to the bluffs, complete protection would be afforded, but the
enclosed areas would probably require pumping in wet years. Such a
plan would involve the removal of 300,000,000 to 400,000,000 cubic
yards of material, and require a long time in execution. Below Beards-
town, and increasing in degree toward the mouth, the problem is com-
plicated by back water effects from the Mississippi. -
Any radical change in flood conditions at the mouth involves a heroic
undertaking, nothing less than a change in the course of the Mississippi
and possibly of the Missouri. No justification has yet appeared of
sufficient weight to lead to official consideration, and such project would
probably be regarded as in advance of the art and without sufficient
reason. The matter has not been sufficiently studied to warrant sug-
gestions at this time. - w - • * * *
In the report of 1868, Colonel Ulffers suggested that tributaries
should be diverted and reach the river through the ponds and lagoons
in order to arrest the supply of detritus from the uplands. Such a
policy, if practicable, would be conservative, but no fear is entertained
in regard to the deterioration of the river when it has been reformed
and supplied with a generous volume of water in the dry season. These
back waters are valuable fish preserves which must not be lost sight of
in any plan for land reclamation and river improvement. The whole
subject matter is one that requires further study.
Meantime the matter reverts to what may be justified in the interests
of navigation, and without prejudice to existing interests, and to the
incidental benefits which may accrue from the manner in which the
work is prosecuted. A channel eighteen feet deep below the flow line
already suggested is justified for purposes of navigation and is within
the resources that should be applied to the work. Such a channel will
care for the increment of water from Lake Michigan and be a better-
ment to flood conditions. The material dredged from the river can and
should be so wasted as to fill in the foreshore and build up the banks,
thus forming a more regular river prism. Such a project carried out
54
with due regard to all the benefits that may be conferred, will reduce
materially the problem of land reclamation. . . . . . . .”
" If the valley belonged to one party, there could be no question about
the carrying out of some such program. But there are many owner-
ships, varying interests and diverse mentalities, and it may be necessary
to invoke the strong arm of the State to insure coöperation.
2O. GENERAL REMARKS.
In May, 1889, the General Assembly declared, among other things,
that the policy of the State of Illinois is to procure the construction
of a waterway not less than fourteen feet in depth throughout the river
from Lake Joliet to the mouth of the Illinois, designed in such manner
as to permit progressive development to a greater capacity. At that
time the data available in regard to the removal of such great vol-
umes of material in similar work were very meagre, the most pertinent
being the experience of the Canadian engineers in dredging alluvial
clays in the ship channel through Lake St. Peters in the Lower St.
Lawrence. - - •.
Eighteen years have passed and projects then regarded as visionary
by many have come to be accepted by all. The resources of engineer-
ing have multiplied. The work on the Chicago Drainage Canal halved
the cost of rock excavation and cheapened earth excavation. Steam
shovels increased from twenty-five ton shovels to seventy-five ton shov-
els; and hydraulic dredging was greatly developed, an art little known
and experimental when the Sanitary District Act was passed. Today
hydraulic dredges are built that will handle regularly 200,000 to
;300,000 yards per month and deliver the excavated material a mile
away through pipes if required, and at a fraction of former cost when
the material is suitable. - 2. , - . - ... •
Wonderful results are being obtained by hydraulic dredging in the
;St. Lawrence and elsewhere, and it is believed that no better material
for such machines was ever, laid down than that in the bed of the
Illinois river from Utica to the mouth. It is not too much to presume,
therefore, that the eighteen foot channel, with the lower flow line sug-
gested, can be carried through the Lower Illinois for the sum estimated
for this division of the route. It is a matter of the proper fleet and an
annual allowance to keep it busy.
. . It may be said also that the official estimate is sufficient for a channel
eighteen feet deep, with locks twenty-four feet deep, from Lake Joliet
toº, Utica. Perhaps the extra, allowance suggested by the board for
locks of twenty foot depth ($1,376,000.OO) would make the estimate
sufficient for the larger locks suggested. No detailed estimates have
been made for comparison, but the equities that may be made available
in water power development should be sufficient to cover any defi-
ſciency that might be involved in carrying out the more comprehensive
program herein proposed, so that no greater appropriation need be
called for from the United States. . . . . . . . . . . .
… The art of engineering is advancing So rapidly that the dreams of
yesterday are sober projects tomorrow. The resources and wealth of
55
this land are developing with like speed. Difficulties that seem in-
surmountable at a distance disappear as we approach them closely. A
solution that is desired and sought is usually found, and the spirit of
negation generally stands for mere mental limitation. That a propo-
sition should be practicable has come to be a question of the number
of people who think it worth while.
The waterway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river
becomes the most important work in the nation whenever the Con-
gress rises to the policy of a related waterway system, as distinguished
. an amicable distribution of public funds to local and detached
WOTKS.
Part IV. Resume and Conclusions.
2I. LAKE ILLINOIS.
The depths available at standard low water of the great lakes (Report
International Deep Waterways Commission, 1897) are: Sault Ste.
Marie, 17.9 feet; St. Clair fiats, 18.8 feet; Limekiln Crossing, Detroit
river, 19.3 feet. The mean stage of Lake Michigin–Huron adds I.6
feet. Lake carriers are moulded for a loaded draft of eighteen feet.
The increment of water that can be made available through existing
works at Chicago makes practicable throughout the Lower Illinois a
minimum depth of eighteen feet or more. The normal low water vol-
ume of the Illinois will increase this depth and it will also increase
with the increase of water supply due to higher lake stages, so that the
entire route of 367 miles between Lake Michigan at Chicago and the
city of St. Louis will have at all times a depth equivalent to that avail-
able for lake navigation. -
It is also practicable to extend the depth of the Chicago Sanitary
and Ship Canal, or twenty-four feet, throughout the Desplaines and
Upper Illinois and down to the city of Peoria, 170 miles from Lake
Michigan, and its extension to St. Louis is a matter of water supply
By utilizing the stages of water in the eighteen foot channel below
Peoria this depth may be carried through for four to six months of
the average year. Such a depth (twenty-four feet below standard
low water) is a proper depth for lake navigation in the future, to be
reached by lake regulation and by deeper intermediate channels.
The average duration of ice for five points—Chicago, Morris, Seneca,
Peoria and Pearl—is fifty days (Jan. 3-Feb. 22) and ranges through-
out January and February for the several localities. Such ice as would
interfere with navigation does not occur in some years and in others
the route could be kept open by means of ice breaking boats. The
Chicago Drainage Canal has not been frozen over in the eight winter
seasons since January, 1900. The fire tugs have patrolled Chicago
river for many seasons and Lake Michigan is navigated throughout
the winter. Lake Superior is closed at the Soo for an average of
I42 days, or the season of navigation scarcely exceeds seven months,
as against ten to twelve for the southern route. Lake Michigan
is shut off from Lake Erie for I2O days, and this is the best
that can be had in a waterway to the Hudson river, while by the
St. Lawrence and Montreal the period is I30 days. In other words,
57
ice will close an eastern route for four months or more, as against
two months or less for the southern route. -
The Illinois waterway between Chicago and St. Louis developed as
proposed, adds the equivalent of another lake, more resourceful than
any of the great lakes system. Its utility is enhanced rather than
impaired by the fact that its banks are within bridging distance and
the people of opposite shores may have a community of interest rather
than alien diversity. If this waterway was isolated and had only the
minor tributaries of its local basin, it would be on a par with the
other great lakes, and certainly the fact that it connects on the South
with over 15,000 miles of navigable waters can not be urged in dis-
paragement. The great lakes have no adequate connection with the
eastern seaboard, either by way of the St. Lawrence or the Hudson,
the one now under way is not commensurate, and an adequate outlet
is not even promoted, and yet this does not distract attention from the
importance of the lakes themselves, and no such argument can be
seriously advanced against the utility of this new lake, with its far
more adequate seaboard outlet. That there is now no great commerce
along the route and between the two great cities at its termini is a
chief reason for and not against this waterway. The wise promoter
projects his transportation lines into resourceful lands for the pur-
pose of developing commerce. If they are already fully developed
there is no justification. - -
The Illinois waterway joins the two metropolitan cities of the con-
tinental interior, and in the 367 miles of its length passes through the
most resourceful section of the Mississippi valley. It crosses the
middle of the great American corn belt. It passes through manufac-
turing towns—Joliet, with its steel and wire mills; Morris; Ottawa,
with its glass sands; LaSalle and Peru, with their zinc smelters;
Peoria and Pekin, with distilleries that pay one-third the internal
revenue tax of the United States; Havana; Beardstown; Grafton, with
its quarries, and Alton. The Illinois valley counties contain some of
the best coals in the State, which can be connected with the river by
short sections of railway and loaded directly into coal barges.
All these capabilities will be greatly stimulated and multiplied by
the development of 173,000 horse power in the Desplaines and Upper
Illinois valley, the creation of an industrial situation which of itself
justifies both lake and river transportation. The 350,000 acres of
alluvial lands to be bettered and reclaimed and available for high
class truck farming, and the 80,000 acres of water with a fish crop
only second to that of the Columbia, are resources not to be overlooked.
There are several tributaries that can be developed as feeders, and
there is also the Hennepin canal from the Upper Mississippi.
The Illinois waterway is along the line of primary markets—Du-
luth, Milwaukee, Chicago, Peoria, Quincy and St. Louis—the places
where commodities are actually bought, warehoused and held for fu-
ture sale and delivery, and where the holder may choose in forward-
ing by water or rail. This is the line of pooling points for the eastern
trunk lines and the division in freight classification between the east-
ern and western roads. All the east and west traffic of the United
58
States sweeps through the neck of land between Chicago and St. Louis.
From every standpoint of traffic movement, the Illinois waterway is
on the one location of advantage in the long distance hauls, to gather
traffic and profoundly affect commercial movement.
22. THE MISSISSIPPI CUTLET.
From St. Louis to Cairo is the link of 186 miles which joins the
northern river system to the southern system, and from Cairo is I,072
miles to the Gulf of Mexico, from Lake Michigan, I,625 miles. The
criterion for the route is what may be had through the Middle Missis-
sippi from St. Louis to Cairo. The natural depth available is about
I2 feet for five months of the average year. Assuming the river to be
so regularized as to give a minimum of eight feet with the natural low
water volume, and restrain the bar horizon below a fixed plane, the
Chicago increment should add about two feet. Fourteen feet would
then obtain for about nine months and eighteen feet for over six
months. A like increment from reservoirs at headwaters of the Upper
Mississippi would prolong these periods by more than a month. Such
periods can be compared favorably with the open season of the northern
lakes. During the low water season hydraulic dredges can keep open
a fourteen foot channel. During the high water depths greater than
eighteen feet will be available. All these estimates are tentative, but
there is no reason to doubt the possibility of obtaining available depths
in the Mississippi if the problem is entered upon with serious deter-
mination. - - :
It may be well to point out in this connection that a commensurate
waterway will have a greater low water depth at the northern end,
where the fluctuations are within narrow limits. A waterway with
a uniform depth under the average stage is a more rational proposition
than one carrying only such depth throughout as obtains at low water
under moderate improvement in the Middle and Lower Mississippi.
With such improvement of the Mississippi as has been indicated, the
lake marine can be employed on the high seas and in the coasting trade
for four to five winter months. If they have to pass down partly
loaded in the early winter, they can usually return with a full cargo
on the spring rises. The lake ship-builders can also deliver their output
in competition with coast yards and even undersell the foreign builders.
No one deprecates the utility of an available outlet to the sea for
the great lakes region. , North and south commerce is an incident of
climatic difference in product, when population has ceased to be migra-
tory along parallels of latitude. This will grow in importance as the
country ages, and the Lakes and Gulf Waterway will be the artery of
such a movement.
South, from St. Louis and east and west of the Mississippi river is
the great undeveloped region of the United States, with more resources
unexploited than in any other part of the domain. The timber of this
region is needed in the north. The alluvial lands below Cairo embrace
20,000,000 acres, an area four times as great as the arable land of
Egypt and under a climate as favorable. It must be protected and the
59
river fixed in its course, which also means its improvement. These are
the cotton fields of the future, and naturaly it goes to the northern
water power at the homes of the mill population of a more temperate
climate. -
All the possibilities do not have to be developed in a day. We need
to know what they now are and what they may become with the grow-
ing art of engineering and the growth in resources, in order to
properly project the permanent works, so a progressive development
may follow. -
23. CoöPERATION.
In early days the Federal Government made grants of land from the
public domain to assist states in constructing canals, and under such
grants canals were built in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
Wisconsin, and the original canal at Sault Ste Marie by the state of
Michigan. The Illinois Waterway was authorized by Congress in
1822 and 1827, and the present enterprise is simply the outgrowth of
modern conditions and an adaptation to the needs in sight—in fact,
a fuller expression of the purposes of the original promotion and the
intent of Congress. From the beginning, this waterway has been recog-
nized as of national importance, and even of international concern.
The State of Illinois, in response to the Treaty of Washington,
(May 8, 1871) by Act of the General Assembly, approved April 4,
1872, granted “the use of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and all
other canals that may be constructed by this State” to the citizens of the
Dominion of Canada, on equal terms with citizens of the United States.
It is not proposed here to discuss recent international phases of this
enterprise further than to say: The State of Illinois has acted under
proper Federal authority and within her sovereign sphere; she has the
right to invoke the spirit of comity between public utilities; aside from
its incidental use, the investment is for all the people and under Federal
control; and the damages are nominal in comparison to the benefits,
and can be readily compensated by such works as should be a part of
any scheme for deeper navigation in the Great Lakes. It is presumed
that the international consideration proceeds under a spirit of comity
and not on any basis of international law, and that no sovereign rights
are to be surrendered, certainly none in derogation of the rights of
states, that the issues reduce to a matter of remedies, and that there is
no disposition to indict the enterprise because it was not queered by
consulting everybody in advance. . As long as the enterprise continues
along lines of sound public policy, there is no reason for apprehension.
After the Civil War—1866-9—the United States made surveys of
the route, and later of the northern section as part of the northern
transportation route to the seaboard, all for the extension of steamboat
navigation of six to seven feet to Lake Michigan at Chicago. The
State constructed the locks and dams at Henry and Copperas Creek
out of surplus canal revenues. Later the United States undertook
the works at LaGrange and Kampsville (opened in 1889 and 1893),
and completed the same, notwithstanding the protest of 1889, the State
having changed its policy to a deep waterway, not less than fourteen
60
feet deep, in conjunction with a water supply from Lake Michigan.
This change in policy and the work that followed on the Chicago Divide
occasioned a hostile attitude, expressed through the local Army
Engineer at Chicago, and in recent years only (since 1898-9) has con-
sideration for the policy of the State of Illinois been shown by the
Federal authorities.
Friction and strife have also existed between the Trustees of the
Sanitary District of Chicago and the State Canal Commissioners.
Hydraulic parasites have sought to interpolate their schemes for appro-
priating the unearned increment.
All these matters have embarrassed the waterway project. It may
be that the local outlook has at times been too narrow and has resulted
in delays and wastefulness. It may be also that all the friction, strife
and controversy has been necessary and only exhibits the American
fashion of debating grave public issues, and that, after all, we are only
11ow prepared to clearly present the right thing and have it generally
accepted. Be that as it may, the question of divided jurisdiction with
diverse purposes, is one for consideration. At present the United
States has charge of the Illinois river below Copperas Creek, and ap-
proves the plans for the Chicago river improvement. The State looks
after the locks and dams at Henry and Copperas Creek and the Illinois
and Michigan Canal. An agency of the State, the Sanitary District of
Chicago, controls the Ship Canal between Chicago and Joliet, and may
enter upon the river below to remove obstructions, or do such work as
will avoid overflow consequent upon introducing water into the Des-
plaines and Illinois rivers. The works of the district, however, pass to
the control of the United States in certain events.
Many suggestions have been made in the interest of unity of purpose
and action, and a bill was introduced in the last General Assembly
(Senate 418) which undertook to define the use of water, the disposition
of the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, and create a single agency which
should combine in itself all the waterway interests of the State. The
State is the only party that can deal properly with the Federal Govern-
ment, and its waterway questions should be in charge of some proper
agency with the authority necessary to do business. The bill referred
to is only cited as one line of suggestion that has been offered. It
should be feasible to frame such legislation as will insure harmony of
purpose and action by all interests.
24. ILLINOIS.
The creative forces of the continent made the region of the Great
Lakes a part of the Mississippi Valley, and Professor G. K. Gilbert,
U. S. Geologist, fixes the time when it will return to its ancient outlet.
It lies within the art and the resources of the present day to divide the
outflow of the Great Lakes, so as to give deep water to the Gulf of
Mexico without impairing any of the possibilities for deep water to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
What is feasible from the Great Lakes to the eastern seaboard has
been the subject of elaborate technical investigation, and is well under-
6I
stood. This report indicates what may be practicable for the Southern
half of the continental route. From the standpoint of the engineer and
from that of the financier, a deep waterway from the Gulf of St. Law-
rence to the Gulf of Mexico is practicable, and the statesmanship of
two nations should be broad enough to bring it to pass.
The Illinois waterway between Chicago and St. Louis is the middle
division between the two seaports, Montreal and New Orleans. The
outlet which has been opened across the Chicago Divide from the basin
of the St. Lawrence to the basin of the Mississippi, makes it now prac-
ticable to develop the Illinois waterway on the scale of lake navigation.
Illinois is perhaps more interested than any other state in the extension
of her waterway to both the eastern and the southern seas. .
Illinois is not only in the most favored position on the great trunk
waterway, but her position in relation to the primary laterals is equally
significant. All the waters that drain the western slopes of the Alle-
ghany Mountains from Northern Alabama and Georgia to Western
New York, come to her shores through the Tennessee, the Cumberland
and the Ohio, with their many navigable tributaries. The Missouri
brings the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the great plains
from Kansas to the Canadian Northwest. From the Winnipeg basin
in the far north the water route comes southward by the Minnesota and
the Upper Mississippi. All possible water routes between the basin of
the St. Lawrence and the basin of the Mississippi trail her borders,
whether from Lake Superior or Green Bay to the Upper Mississippi,
or from Lake Erie by the Ohio or Wabash. At Cairo, Illinois stands
at the head of rich low lands, and another river system reaching to the
Gulf of Mexico. Half the waters of the United States gravitate to the
shores of Illinois, and she is the natural focus of a waterway system
continental in scope. No other state is to be more benefited by a broad
waterway policy, national and international.
Illinois within her borders has many streams as available as some
that find their way into the River and Harbor bills, and she has favor-
able topography for uniting the same into a domestic waterway system
whenever economic conditions justify. She is therefore in position to
extend the benefits of a national waterway system to all sections of her
domain. -
There is every reason for the State of Illinois to earnestly lead in
the promotion of a National waterway policy, and there is also reason
for her to set an example to sister states in a domestic waterway devel-
opment. When the United States has developed a comprehensive plan
and adopted a systematic policy, we must expect the National function
to be restricted to the broad outlines and arteries of a system, and that
local waterways and ports will be relegated to the states. When some
such program shall come to pass Illinois will receive the recognition to
which she is entitled by reason of her potential position.
Meantime it may be worth while to consider whether the State of
Illinois should not, through some appropriate agency, undertake the
development of the route through the State, receiving from the United
States such subsidy as it may choose to give. There may be hidden
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wisdom in such self-reliance as has marked the policy of the state of
New York, and it may be that the example and influence of two such
states will be sufficient to lead the Federal Government into a National
waterway policy.