r
 
 A DISCUSSION 
 
 DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY 
 
 OF CHICAGO. 
 
 BY D. W. JACKSON 
 
 . -;.- 
 
 . , 
 . . . > 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 
 RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 1892.
 
 DEACCESSIONED BY 
 
 CHFCAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 PRINTED COLLECTIONS 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY RAND, MCNALLY & Co. 
 
 v : t ". :. : : : -\ 

 
 Introductory. 
 
 The writer confesses to having been one of those who voted 
 for the adoption of the Drainage Act. He understood that it 
 was approved by the Citizens' Association, who claimed to have 
 investigated the subject something must be done the method 
 formulated by the Drainage Act was declared to be the best, 
 and, indeed, the only attainable solution of the drainage question, 
 and there seemed virtually no alternative. Vague suspicions 
 arose in the minds of many, after the adoption of the act, and 
 the election of drainage trustees, that the proceeding was ill- 
 advised, and it was hoped that the Supreme Court would declare 
 the act invalid. In this, they were disappointed. 
 
 The attention of the writer was first drawn to the matter, by 
 the suggestion as to the vast amount of damages which the city 
 would have to pay annually, for flooding the bottom lands of the 
 Illinois River Valley. It requires no very great experience as a 
 lawyer to understand the danger, not only of having to pay large 
 amounts for damages actually sustained, but of a larger amount, 
 which would be recovered on trumped-up claims, but which local 
 juries would most assuredly find against the city, and it was this 
 apprehension, that led to this investigation. If the city could 
 have settled the entire matter, once for all, by building the chan- 
 nel at an expenditure of the fifteen million of dollars ($15,000,- 
 ooo) provided for in the Drainage Act, while there would have 
 been the conviction that there might be a cheaper way, it is 
 hardly probable that this attempt to investigate the subject 
 would have been made. Without any previous study of the 
 drainage question, or of the various methods by which sewage 
 may be disposed of, and with only the vague reports made by 
 the engineers as a basis, the outlook for a comprehensive survey 
 of the matter was rather formidable, but no one else seemed 
 disposed to do it, and as it was something which ought to be 
 done, the following attempt "was^made with what success the 
 reader must judge. The work; was entered upon without any 
 prepossession for or against any man, and if any disapprobation 
 appears in these pages toward any person or persons, such dis- 
 approbation arose from the facts. It is not permissible to com- 
 pare the men, who by their scheming, their suppression of the
 
 4 AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 
 
 truth, or their incapacity, are responsible for the passage of the 
 Drainage Act, with the county boodlers who were sent to the 
 penitentiary, but, so far as the taxpayers are concerned, the 
 pilferings of the boodlers are, to the extravagancies of the Drain- 
 age Act, but as the shadow to the substance. 
 
 In discussing the subject of the disposition of sewage, 
 extracts have been made from a work entitled " The Cleaning 
 and Sewerage of Cities," by Prof. R. Baumeister of the 
 Technical Institute at Carlsruhe, Germany, translated by J. M. 
 Goodell, associate editor of the Engineering News, and published 
 in 1891, and it may be said to summarize the latest conclusions 
 upon the subject. The writer has had occasion to make some 
 strictures upon the Herring report (which bears, however, inter- 
 nal evidence of having been chiefly the composition of L. E. 
 Cooley), but Mr. Herring is undoubtedly competent to pronounce 
 upon the character of Baumeister's work, to which he has writ- 
 ten an introduction, in which he says, " The author, whose name 
 is already familiar to a number of American engineers, is well 
 versed in the subject, though not a practicing engineer. His 
 impartiality, characteristic fairness, and judicial temper have 
 fitted him to present the subject matter, concerning which all 
 controversy has not yet ceased, in a more balanced and scientific 
 form than I have seen in any other book." To this it may be 
 added that to be a " professor " in a German Institute presup- 
 poses a degree of learning, capacity and thoroughness, not 
 always associated with the title in this country; and further, that 
 as teacher and writer, he is neither exploiting a theory, nor 
 " working a policy." 
 
 Extracts from the report of Capt. W. L. Marshall of the 
 United States Engineer Corps located at Chicago and from 
 other authorities, will be made, and to determine the weight to be 
 given to any man's opinions, it is necessary to know something as 
 to who and what he is. 
 
 Capt. Marshall graduated from the United States Military 
 Academy at West Point, the most thorough engineering school 
 in the United States, in 1868. In the years 1870-71, he was 
 assistant professor at West Point; from 1872 to 1876 he was in 
 charge of the Government explorations and surveys in Colorado. 
 He discovered the celebrated pass which was named after him, 
 and is now known as Marshall Pass. From 1876 to 1881 he was 
 assistant engineer of the Government canals upon the Tennessee
 
 AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 5 
 
 and Coosa rivers, in Alabama. From 1881 to 1884 he was in 
 charge of the Government levee construction and river improve- 
 ments of the third district, upon the lower Mississippi. From 
 1884 to the present time he has been in charge of the Govern- 
 ment works upon the Fox, Wisconsin, Illinois and Chicago rivers, 
 the Hennepin canal, and the harbor of Chicago. From $500,000 
 to $2,250,000 annually, have for several years past been ex- 
 pended by the Government under his direction. It will thus be 
 seen that he has steadily advanced in his career, and it may be 
 assumed that his opinions are as valuable as any that can be ob- 
 tained upon engineering matters within his cognizance. 
 
 W. Santo Crimp from whose work upon " Sewage Disposal 
 Works," published in London in 1890, and republished in this 
 country, extensive citations are made is a practical sanitary en- 
 gineer of recognized standing and ability in England. 
 
 Dr. C. M. Tidy, from whom a forcible utterance upon the sub- 
 ject of the self purification of rivers is quoted, is also a man of 
 large experience and authority in sanitary matters. 
 
 Mr. Charles A. Allen is the engineer of the city of Worcester, 
 Mass. He was sent to Europe by the city in 1884, and examined 
 the various systems of sewage disposal there, and the precipitat- 
 ing works at Worcester were erected under his direction. His 
 report, published in 1887, bears abundant evidence of the thorough- 
 ness and intelligence of his investigations. 
 
 In undertaking an investigation in what was, to the writer, a 
 new and untrodden field, he was necessarily dependent upon liv- 
 ing authorities for a great deal of information, and he wishes to 
 express in the most unqualified manner his obligations to Capt. 
 W. L. Marshall, S. G. Artingstall, former engineer of the 
 Drainage Board, and L. H. Clark, city engineer of Chicago, and 
 to Charles A. Allen, city engineer of Worcester, Mass., and to 
 Edgar Williams, who was employed by the Drainage Board while 
 Mr. Cooley was chief engineer, and who alone, of the assistant 
 engineers, remained faithful to his employers after the discharge 
 of Mr. Cooley. 
 
 It is not too much to say that to the assistance of these 
 gentlemen, always courteously rendered, the following discussion 
 owes very much of whatever value it may possess. 
 
 Messrs. Greeley, Carlson & Co., and many others rendered wel- 
 come aid; it was understood by all that the matter was one of 
 public interest, and they seemed anxious to further the inquiry.
 
 6 LENGTH OF TREATISE. 
 
 Some readers may find the extracts tedious. They must re- 
 member that the writer has no pretensions to speak with authority, 
 and he can only quote the words of those who are conceded to 
 have such pretensions. The dispatches from Ottawa, Peoria, and 
 elsewhere, which are copied at length, as to the effects of the 
 floods of May and June, 1892, are the testimonies of living wit- 
 nesses, and are certainly more satisfactory than the summary of 
 their contents could be. 
 
 The liability of the city of Chicago for such damages as are 
 there described, is one of the most serious objections to the Drain- 
 age Act, and those dispatches should be read carefully, even though 
 it be a "twice told tale." The accounts of floods down the river 
 will be more interesting to Chicago people, when they shall have 
 to pay the damages. 
 
 The idea that it should all be charged to the drainage works 
 seems ridiculous, but they will be a contributing factor, and it 
 will be fora jury to decide whether Chicago is liable or not. 
 
 In this connection it may be said, that while the treatise may 
 appear too lengthy, there seems no place where it could be mate- 
 rially abbreviated. One of the longest topics, that of the efforts 
 made by the old Drainage Board to carry out the law, was neces- 
 sary on account of the unjust clamor against them, and to put the 
 record of Mr. Cooley clearly before the public. 
 
 Not a little of the descriptive matter, as of Chicago River, etc., 
 is a re-statement of what is generally known, but in the first place 
 it was necessary to state these matters in order to give a com- 
 plete presentation of the subject; and 
 
 Secondly, in the rapid growth of the city there is a continual 
 influx of those to whom these matters are not familiar; and 
 
 Further, it must be remembered that it is much harder to 
 undo the wx>rk done, much harder to repeal the law, than it would 
 be to discuss the subject as an open question. 
 
 Time and again it has been said to the writer by members of 
 the Legislature from Chicago, who voted for the Drainage Act, that 
 it was the best that could be done in the Legislature. This can 
 not be true. In the first place, the men who said this wanted 
 nothing different. They were satisfied that a great water-way 
 was a glorious thing, when, in fact, they knew nothing about it, 
 and those members who were on the commission of 1887 took 
 no steps to inform themselves about anything connected with the 
 drainage of Chicago. It can not be true, because it is not the
 
 ILLINOIS WILL DO JUSTICE. 7 
 
 best thing; and it may be confidently assumed that the people of 
 the State of Illinois would have been glad to do for Chicago the 
 very best thing that could have been done. It is not true that the 
 prejudices or grasping desires of the people down the river will be 
 allowed to control the action of the State. The people of theStateof 
 Illinois recognize the fact that Chicago is not made up of million- 
 aires, and that its population of one million three hundred thou- 
 sand souls, is, in the main, a hard-working, active, energetic people; 
 and that, if Chicago has grown beyond any other city in the 
 world, it is due to the energy, comprehension, and good judgment 
 of those who conduct its great commercial and manufacturing 
 interests. 
 
 The people of Illinois are proud of Chicago proud of its 
 past, proud of its present, proud of its future, in which, at no 
 remote date, they expect to see not the second, but the first city, 
 of our great Republic. They will treat the sanitary wants of the 
 city in a broad, generous, and comprehensive manner, and if it is 
 shown that the Drainage Act threatens to impose unnecessary 
 and grievous burdens upon its people, they will rejoice in the 
 opportunity of' making the necessary changes in its provisions. 
 
 In the following pages an effort has been made to point out 
 the errors in the law as a Drainage Law, as even a law for the 
 creation of a water-way, and to outline a system which will 
 accomplish all that can be desired, at one-fourth to one-tenth the 
 expense which the present Drainage Act will require. It may 
 safely be affirmed, that the drainage question can be disposed 
 of by the city of Chicago for less than $4,000,000, and 
 within one year from the time when the necessary financial 
 legislation shall have been perfected. As matters now stand, 
 however, it is not to be expected that the people of the State 
 will take the initiative. Chicago must speak first in a matter 
 vastly more important than the holding of national conventions, 
 than presidential elections, than Columbian Expositions. It is 
 needful that the people speak out, and in no uncertain tones. 
 Let it go forth that no man can go to the Legislature who is not 
 only pledged, but who is heart and soul devoted, to the repeal 
 of the Drainage Act, and the work will be done. 
 
 If the views of the writer are correct, as expressed in the fol- 
 lowing pages, it will be done these views must stand or fall on 
 their own merits. 
 
 Chicago August, 1892.
 
 STREET 
 
 i . 37TH 
 
 138TH
 
 The Drainage and Water Supply 
 of Chicago. 
 
 Nothing need be said as to the vital importance, or of the 
 pressing necessity, that some rational system shall be devised to 
 remedy existing evils, both as to the water supply and drainage 
 of the city. There are probably those who will declare that it is 
 only necessary to carry out laws now upon the statute book, in 
 order that the city may secure these results to the fullest extent, 
 and in the best possible way, but if there are such, there are very 
 many others who believe that the Drainage Act of 1889 can not 
 be executed; that it would not answer the purpose even if 
 executed, and that its execution, even if possible, would impose 
 a grievous burden of taxation, and one wholly unnecessary. It 
 is now six years since the first attempt was made to solve the 
 question. The Common Council of the City of Chicago in 
 January, 1886, authorized the Mayor to employ competent engi- 
 neers, at the expense of thirty thousand ($30,000) dollars, to solve 
 the question. Sixty-five thousand ($65,000) dollars was spent by 
 the city, and nearly five hundred thousand ($500,000) dollars has 
 been spent by the Drainage Commissioners, and practically we are 
 no nearer a result, nor have we much more knowledge than we 
 had in 1890, when Capt. Marshall, who surveyed the route under 
 the orders of the Secretary of War, made his report. 
 
 It is proposed, in the following pages, to make a plain state- 
 ment of the situation, and offer some suggestions as to the remedy. 
 To this end, it will be well enough to first outline the various 
 factors which enter into the question. 
 
 BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY. 
 
 The lines on all sides are irregular, but it is correct enough 
 for all practical purposes, to say that the north line of the city is 
 about 7^- miles north of the court house, the south line is about 
 i6 miles from the court house, and the west line is about 7 
 
 (B)
 
 10 THE SOURCES OF WATER CONTAMINATION. 
 
 miles west of the court house, and that these boundaries comprise 
 an area of 180 square miles of territory. 
 
 The population of the city, by the census of 1890, was 
 1,099,850, and may now be estimated at 1,300,000. The bounda- 
 ries of the city and of the drainage district, as established under 
 the law, are substantially the same. 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY AND ITS CONTAMINATION. 
 
 As is well known, the water supply is taken from Lake 
 Michigan. It is inexhaustible in quantity, and of the best quality, 
 provided it is not contaminated by the sewage of the city. There 
 is a general notion that the lake is polluted by water flowing out 
 of Chicago River this is true only in time of flood; ordinarily 
 there is a slight current from the lake into the river. That the 
 causes of contamination of the lake may be understood, it is 
 necessary to explain the existing system of sewers. Briefly, it is as 
 follows: The sewage from all that portion of the city bounded 
 north by Congress Street, south by Sixty-seventh Street (about 
 the south line of Jackson Park), and west by Clark Street, is 
 discharged into the lake through trunk sewers located, one at 
 Twelfth Street, one at Twenty-second Street, one at Thirty-fifth 
 Street, and two or more in Hyde Park. The sewage from the 
 east half of the town of Lake View also empties into the lake. 
 The sewage from the remainder of the city is discharged into the 
 various branches, or into the main stem of the river. There 
 were at the close of the year 1891 over 880 miles of sewers in 
 the city, costing more than $12,000,000. 
 
 Of the population of the city, about 300,000 live in districts, 
 the sewage from which drains into the lake; about 950,000 live 
 in the districts draining into the river, and there are supposed to 
 be 50,000 living in localities having no sewer connection with 
 either lake or river. 
 
 The intakes to the tunnels are so far from the outlets of the 
 sewers emptying into the lake, that in ordinary weather their dis- 
 charge has no material effect upon the water supply of the city; 
 a portion of the output sinks to the bottom near their respective 
 outlets, and the remainder is dissolved, and the impurities con- 
 sumed by the oxygen of the pure water. 
 
 The great body of the sewage, as already stated, flows into 
 the river; the current is very slight, and there are large deposits 
 from this sewage upon the bottom of the river; dredging is con-
 
 THE SOURCES OF WATER CONTAMINATION. 11 
 
 stantly going on to keep the channel open, and scows laden with 
 the matter are towed out, and their contents dumped into the 
 lake a few miles from the mouth of the river. From the report 
 of the Commissioner of Public Works for 1891, it appears that 
 more than 240,000 cubic yards of dredged material were taken 
 from the river in 1891 by the city. The report for 1890 shows that 
 about $69,000 was expended for this purpose during that year. 
 Large sums are also expended by private parties for the same 
 purpose. It is said that other refuse is disposed of in the same 
 way. The water along the shore of the lake is also contaminated 
 by rubbish thrown into it along the banks. A violent wind 
 arises, the output of the sewers, the deposits near their openings, 
 and the filth deposited in the lake by scows, or along the shores 
 as above stated, is churned up, and the lake for miles around 
 is affected. This is the usual source of contamination to our 
 water supply. 
 
 The Des Plaines River, having its source in Wisconsin, flows 
 southerly and passes about two miles west of the upper end of 
 the south fork. At that point, its level at low water is eight feet 
 above low water level of the lake. The ground intervening 
 between the Des Plaines River and the end of the south fork is 
 low and swampy, a part of it so low as to be called Mud Lake. 
 
 Some years since, Messrs. William B. Ogden and John Went- 
 worth opened a trench through the bank of the Des Plaines, and 
 dug a ditch through the low lands to the west fork, the con- 
 sequence of which was, that the waters of the Des Plaines were 
 diverted, and carried down into Chicago River. Subsequently, 
 the city erected a dam at this point, and restored the bank to its 
 original height. There is, however, a depression in the bank at 
 this point, and when swollen by the spring floods, or very heavy 
 rains, the waters of the Des Plaines pour over this dam, and sweep 
 down through the ditch into Chicago River, washing out into the 
 lake the contents of the river and the various slips, with their 
 accumulated deposits of sludge. What the condition of the lake 
 is at such times need not be described. 
 
 A portion of this wash is probably deposited on the bottom 
 of the lake, and contributes to make the water unfit to use when 
 it is agitated by high winds. If the sewage deposits were all kept 
 from the lake, the water would at such times be roily from the 
 sand at the bottom of the lake, but that is clean and would 
 speedily settle.
 
 12 THE QUANTITY OF SEWAGE. 
 
 THE QUANTITY OF SEWAGE. 
 
 The quantity of sewage is necessarily limited to two sources, 
 viz., the water pumped, and the rainfall. In the absence of 
 measurements only a general estimate of the quantity of sewage 
 is practicable. The quantity of water pumped is susceptible of a 
 sufficiently close estimate, but the quantity which finds its way 
 into the sewers is necessarily conjectural. 
 
 The quantity of water pumped during the year 1891, was 
 more than sixty-three billions five hundred and fifty-one millions 
 of gallons. 
 
 In figures. 63,551,000,000 gal.lons. 
 
 Daily average for the city 1 74 ,000,000 " 
 
 Average per capita, daily, (popula- 
 tion 1,300,000) 134 " 
 
 This includes all the water used by the fire department, all 
 used for manufacturing and building purposes, the supply of 
 several thousand steam boilers, that used for street and lawn 
 sprinkling, as well as that for domestic consumption. 
 
 A great deal of the water used by the fire department and in 
 manufacturing finds its way eventually into the sewers, but it is 
 fair to suppose that one-tenth of the average daily supply of 
 water pumped and distributed through the mains, disappears by 
 evaporation, from use at fires, from steam boilers, street and lawn 
 sprinkling, building purposes, in domestic use, and water sup- 
 plied to territory not sewered, and which does not reach the 
 sewers. 
 
 Average daily supply (in gallons) 174,000,000 
 
 One-tenth evaporated 1 7,000,000 
 
 Average daily sewage ..15 7,000,000 gals. 
 
 With a population of 1,300,000, this would be a daily sewage 
 per capita, of about 121 gallons. 
 
 With reference to the use of water in European cities, Mr. 
 Herring, in his introduction to the work of Baumeister, writes as 
 follows: 
 
 " It is asserted that the German practice in designing water- 
 " works is to allow forty gallons per head per day. In America 
 
 NOTE. No one can form any estimate of the quantity of water pumped 
 from reading the figures. The quantity of water will be better comprehended, 
 perhaps, to say it is more than enough to fill a lake seven miles long, two miles 
 wide, and twenty feet deep.
 
 SEWAGE OF EUROPEAN CITIES. 13 
 
 " the water consumption is much greater, and also varies in 
 " different cities, reaching in some cities more than three times 
 " that amount." 
 
 Baumeister says, page 9: 
 
 " From tables prepared by Grahn and Thiem, it is certain 
 " that the consumption of water in German cities has a daily 
 " average for the year of from four to fifty-eight gallons per per- 
 "son generally from 6^ to thirty-seven gallons. The larger 
 " figures that are sometimes found, especially in America, are due 
 "to wasteful habits. In designing water-works, the present 
 " German practice is to allow forty gallons per day per person. 
 " In England, thirty-four gallons are taken as the basis, in 
 11 designing water-carriage sewage systems. 
 
 " The system used in Berlin offers special advantages for the 
 " determination of the difference in water consumption among 
 " different classes of people. The sewage pumped from a thickly 
 " populated, but poor district, averaged, according to the 1887-88 
 "report of the commission, 21-^ gallons per head per day; in 
 " districts with a larger street surface, and somewhat higher class 
 "of residents, 26^ gallons per head per day; in manufacturing 
 " districts thirty-seven gallons; in the most fashionable districts, 
 " 44^ gallons. The average of all the districts was a little over 
 "twenty-six gallons." 
 
 Baumeister gives a table at page 21, from which it appears 
 that the average daily sewage in certain European cities is as 
 follows: 
 1 6 English cities, not named, 6.36 cubic feet or about 51 gallons. 
 
 London 7.06 cubic feet or 56^ " 
 
 Berlin 3.53 " " 2 8 " 
 
 Paris 5.30 " 42^ " 
 
 The daily average in Chicago for each person, we have seen, 
 is 121 gallons. 
 
 THE RAINFALL. 
 
 The contribution from the rainfall in Chicago is a more uncer- 
 tain quantity. The average annual rainfall in Chicago for the 
 past twenty years has been about thirty-six inches. The average 
 number of rainy days annually during that period, when some- 
 thing more than a trace of moisture existed, was 130. Divided 
 by seasons, the annual average precipitation for spring and fall, 
 each, has been something over nine inches, for summer over ten 
 inches, and for winter over six inches. The quantity of rainfall
 
 14 AMOUNT OF RAINFALL SEWAGE. 
 
 that finds its way into the sewers of a given area depends largely 
 upon whether the rain is violent or slow and drizzling, upon the 
 flatness of the surface, whether the ground is already soaked, and 
 upon the proportion of water-proof surface, such as roofs, paved 
 streets, sidewalks, etc., to the open ground. 
 
 Baumeister, page 17, says: 
 
 " According to Knauff, the maximum quantity of storm water 
 " is from 50 to 70 per cent, from paved streets, and from 40 to 50 
 " per cent, from flat roofs." 
 
 This estimate is made with reference to the size of the sewers 
 necessary. From the fact that the percentage of water from 
 paved streets is given as greater than that from flat roofs, it would 
 seem that the computation is made from cities where the flow 
 from streets is more rapid, on account of being at a greater 
 declivity. 
 
 It goes without saying that the streets of Chicago are about 
 as level as can be made. Further, it is only upon occasions of 
 storms of unusual violence and duration that there will be any 
 wash from macadamized streets, and the same may be said, though 
 in a less degree, as to street wash from streets paved with blocks, 
 either of wood or stone. Any one who will take the pains to 
 observe, will see that a current along the gutters is a very unusual 
 occurrence in Chicago. November 8 and 9, 1891, were very rainy 
 days 1.6 inches of water fell, about one-half on each day but 
 the rain was steady and without violence, and there was little or 
 no current in the gutters. 
 
 The total rainfall in Chicago from Sunday evening, May i, 
 to the morning of May 5, 1892, as observed at the signal office, 
 was three inches. As is well known, the effect of those rains was 
 to cause a great rise in the rivers of Northern Illinois. Mr. Franken- 
 feld, chief of the signal station in Chicago, had been requested 
 to observe the effect of rain upon the gutters of paved streets, 
 and he says that the fall of six-tenths of an inch in an hour and 
 a half, on the evening of May ist, produced but slight effect in 
 tbe way of street wash after the streets had been soaked, of 
 course the water ran off. As has been stated, the average num- 
 ber of rainy days (including snow) per year, for the past twenty 
 years, has been 130; the average rainfall, thirty-six inches; and 
 the greatest amount, viz., ten inches, has fallen during the sum- 
 mer months, when storms are less frequent but more violent. 
 
 From the records of the signal station in Chicago, it appears
 
 AMOUNT OF RAINFALL SEWAGE. 15 
 
 that there have been twenty-eight cases of excessive rainfall in 
 Chicago within the past twenty years, occurring as follows: 
 
 January, none; February, none; March, one; April, none; 
 May, four; June, eight, July, six; August, two; September, three; 
 October, one; November, two; December, one. 
 
 This record does not include storms of long continuance 
 which were not violent, but it is the violent storms which create 
 the greater portion of the street wash. There are times when 
 there is a great deal of water from roofs and streets entering the 
 sewers, even overtaxing them, especially in the closely built busi- 
 ness portions of the city. It is doubtful whether storm water 
 has any considerable effect, as a source of pollution, upon the 
 sewage of the city. It appears from the record of the weather 
 bureau in Chicago, that the average number of days in each 
 year, for the past twenty years, when the rainfall exceeded 
 one-fourth of an inch, was forty-two. 
 
 Upon the subject of storm waters, Mr. Crimp says, " It was 
 " found from the records of rainfall that there were only from 
 "fourteen to twenty one days in each year, on the average, when 
 " the daily fall exceeded a quarter of an inch, and in this con- 
 " nection Sir J. Bazalgette, in his testimony before the Royal 
 "Commission on Metropolitan (London) sewage discharge said, 
 " if we can divert the sewage from the river in dry weather alto- 
 " gether, on all those days excepting the fourteen to twenty-one, 
 " according to the season (a very wet season has been thirty days), 
 " we shall sufficiently divert the sewage from the river to make it 
 "clear." 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE SEWAGE. 
 
 Mr. Benzette Williams, the present Chief Engineer of the 
 Drainage Commission, in a carefully prepared paper read by him 
 on May 5, 1891, before the Joint Committee of the Senate and 
 House, in opposition to amending the Drainage Act, stated that 
 " Chicago is the greatest filth-producer in the world." This is cer- 
 tainly an offensive form of statement. To have said that the out- 
 put of the stock yards was a greater source of pollution than any 
 industry carried on in any other city, would have been true and 
 unobjectionable. As put by Mr. Williams, the statement is to the 
 effect that the wash from the people of Chicago is drrtrer than 
 that of the people of any ether city. By far the greater portion 
 of the sewage of Chicago is household or domestic sewage, and
 
 It! CHARACTER OK CHICAGO SEWAGE. 
 
 it is difficult to see how ordinary domestic sewage can vary in 
 character, except in the matter in dilution. Household sewage 
 must be substantially the same in all civilized nations, except as 
 it is flushed with a greater or less quantity of water, and it can 
 not be questioned that the household sewage of Chicago is di- 
 luted with nearly three times the quantity of clear water more 
 than that of any European city. If the aggregate of the sewage 
 is so heavily charged with filth, it must be from sources other 
 than Chicago homes. 
 
 The ordinary sources of such other pollution are chemical 
 works, sugar refineries, distilleries, breweries, tanneries, shoe fac- 
 tories, printing establishments, and street wash. These are called 
 ordinary sources of pollution, because establishments much of 
 the same general character are found in all large cities, and 
 street wash is common to all, with probably a much less percent- 
 age in Chicago than elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Williams produced an array of statistics as to chemical 
 analyses of Chicago River water. It was scarcely necessary to 
 analyze the waters of Chicago River in order to establish the fact 
 that it is greatly polluted. In fact, the chemical argument had no 
 rational deduction; it was thrown in as a sort of embellishment 
 to the objector, to give him, for instance, the appearance of a 
 man of great scientific knowledge. 
 
 There is doubtless an extraordinary source of pollution to the 
 sewage of Chicago in the output of the packing houses, under 
 which is included the kindred industries of fertilizing works, glue 
 factories, etc., and the wash from the cattle pens; as also, it is said, 
 there is a liberal contribution from the gas works. 
 
 The greatest source of pollution to the sewage of Chicago is 
 undoubtedly from the stock yards. As indicating something of 
 that contribution, it may be mentioned that during the year 1891 
 there were slaughtered there, more than 2,000,000 head of cattle, 
 5,500,000 of hogs, 1,500,000 of sheep, and 200,000 calves. With 
 all the appliances for utilizing the blood, bones, etc., of this im- 
 mense number of animals, it is obvious that the contribution to 
 the sewage must be enormous. Added to this must be the wash 
 from the yards besides the number of animals killed there, one- 
 half as many more were shipped alive, and the quantity of pollu- 
 tion from this source must be very great. 
 
 Aside from the output of the stock yards and the gas works,
 
 GEN. JOriN C. SMiTH, 
 65 Siblcy S*. Chicago. 
 
 SEWAGE FROM THE STOCK YARDS. 17 
 
 the sewage of Chicago is probably less corrupt than that of any 
 European city. 
 
 I. Because it is fair to assume that in those older cities there 
 are proportionately a greater number of chemical works and other 
 industries, the wash from which affects the sewage, than in Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 II. From the greater use of water the sewage is more diluted. 
 
 III. The street wash is probably much less in quantity. 
 Whether the output from the yards is, as has been estimated, 
 
 a good third of the polluting element of the river, or, in the con- 
 dition in which it reaches the west fork of the South Branch, it 
 amounts to a good half, need not be determined. As will be seen 
 further on, the sewage from the stock yards becomes putrid be- 
 fore it reaches the pumps at Bridgeport. It is well known that 
 putrid sewage is not only more offensive, but it is less affected by 
 the purifying influences of fresh air and fresh water than is fresh 
 sewage. 
 
 As to the gas works, there is not now, and never was, any ex- 
 cuse for allowing this refuse to be turned into the river. 
 
 The disposition of the sewage from the stock yards will be 
 considered in another connection. 
 
 A few words may not be out of place here as to some of 
 the elements of sewage. 
 
 On page 2 1 of Ban meister is given a table of the analyses of the 
 sewage of Berlin and eight other German cities, of Paris, of Lon- 
 don, and of the average of sixteen other English cities. In some of 
 these cities excrementitious matter does not enter the sewage, 
 and it is with reference to this table that he says, at page 22, " The 
 " figures in the last column are of especial value, as proving the 
 " statement sometimes met with, that the actual effect of excre- 
 " ment in sewage is less than that determined on theoretical 
 " grounds. Both the English and Prussian government engi- 
 " neers have long held this view." 
 
 At page 1 1 2, he says, " The question as to whether sewage may 
 "be directly discharged into public water-courses, or must first 
 "be more or less purified, is still a matter of debate in both sci- 
 "entific and official circles. It has already been shown that the 
 " presence or absence of excrement does not materially affect 
 "the character of sewage. The actual presence of such matter 
 "does not product the effect which theory apparently points out
 
 18 EFFECT OF EXCREMENTITIOUS MATTER. 
 
 "as probable. From a chemical point of view, the elements and 
 "products of disassociation of excrement (that is, of sewage where 
 "such matter is not allowed) are identical with those of the re- 
 "maining organic substances in house and industrial sewage. 
 "Moreover, the quantity of sewage does not depend to any ex- 
 "tentupon the method in which excrement is removed. Hence, 
 " regulations concerning the disposal of sewage should perhaps 
 "apply to all classes, and be based only on the proportions of 
 "nitrogen, chlorine, and other elements present." 
 
 The River Pollution Commissioners of England say in their 
 report, after a table of the analysis of the sewage of water-closet 
 towns and midden towns (towns where excrement is gathered and 
 deposited in pits), " These analytical numbers show a remarkable 
 "similarity of composition between the sewage of midden towns 
 "and that of water-closet towns. It seems hopeless therefore 
 "to anticipate any substantial reduction of sewage pollution by 
 "dealing with solid excrementitious matter only." 
 
 It may be added that the principal discussion of this question 
 in scientific circles has been as to whether complete sewage can 
 ever be sufficiently diluted and purified so as to be available for 
 drinking purposes or, as it is called, potable water. That ques- 
 tion is not material to the present discussion. No one claims that 
 the Des Plaines, below Joliet, or the Illinois River would be avail- 
 able, or is desired, for domestic use; except for the short distance 
 between Lockport and Joliet Lake, they are sluggish streams, 
 and the water turbid and heavily charged with organic matter, 
 and would be so if no such place as Chicago existed.
 
 CHICAGO RIVER. 
 
 To understand the sewage question, some little description 
 of the river is necessary. 
 
 The main stem is about three-fourths of a mile in length, 
 extending from the lake westward to the foot of East Lake Street, 
 with an average width of about 300 feet. Thence, it branches 
 nearly at right angles north and south. The North Branch has 
 a course from the main stem generally west of due north, and is 
 navigable for about five miles. At Fullerton Avenue, which is 
 about four miles from Lake Street, the city has erected pumping 
 works, with a capacity of about 13,000 cubic feet per minute, by 
 which water is pumped from the lake through a conduit into the 
 river. Sewers on both sides discharge into this branch of the 
 river, from the fork at East Lake Street to about one mile above 
 Fullerton Avenue. 
 
 The South Branch extends from the main stem, in a general 
 course west of south, for a distance of about 4^ miles, when it 
 divides into what are generally known as the east and west 
 forks; between the forks and the main stem at Lake Street, it 
 varies in width from ninety-five feet at the Adams Street bridge, 
 to 170 feet just above Lake Street, and in depth from eleven to 
 fifteen feet. 
 
 It is navigable for the largest lake freight vessels up to the 
 fork, though the depth of water is rarely sufficient to permit them 
 to carry a load to their full capacity. It is crossed by seventeen 
 bridges for city travel, and four railroad bridges, and, with three 
 exceptions, all with stone piers in the center of the stream; it is 
 lined with docks, elevators, and other large buildings; sewers 
 open into it from both sides. There are thirteen slips extending 
 at right angles, of an average length of 1,200 feet and width of 
 100 feet, and of sufficient depth for vessels, presumably about the 
 same as that of the South Branch. 
 
 The canal pumping works are located on the west fork, about 
 300 feet beyond the point of junction with the east fork. The 
 west fork is navigable for a distance of about two miles above 
 
 (19)
 
 20 SEWAGE DISCHARGE INTO CHICAGO RIVER. 
 
 the pumping works, and, with water at a depth varying from four 
 to six feet, extends some four miles further. Sewers discharge 
 into it at various points for about three miles above the pumping 
 works; its course for about one mile from the junction is nearly 
 due west, when it bears off to the southwest. The east fork of 
 the South Branch extends from the point of junction about due 
 south one half a mile, where it divides again the east fork and 
 its branch is about one mile long. All the sewage from the stock 
 yards enters the east fork, beside that from other sewers drain- 
 ing the town of Lake. Neither branch of the river has any living 
 supply. Except in times of heavy rains, or the melting of large 
 bodies of snow in its water-shed, or the overflow of the Des Plaines 
 River, its only tributaries are the sewers emptying into it. The 
 height of the water in all the branches depends upon the level of 
 Lake Michigan. Under such circumstances, the water would 
 become extremely filthy in a very short time were it not for 
 artificial circulation; this is obtained for that portion of the North 
 Branch between Fullerton Avenue and Lake Street, by the 
 pumping works at Fullerton Avenue, the water from which 
 creates a slight current toward the main stem, and keeps that 
 portion of it below Fullerton Avenue in a tolerable condition. 
 
 The pumping works at Bridgeport throw into the canal an 
 amount of water slightly in excess of the output from the North 
 Branch and that from the sewers entering the South Branch. 
 This excess is drawn up the main stem from the lake. 
 
 The sewage from the entire river is collected in the South 
 Branch, and, as the current is very slow, probably not more than 
 one-half mile in twenty-four hours, the sewage there collected 
 becomes decomposed. Whatever current is produced up the 
 South Branch is only between the main stem and the pumping 
 works. The sewage which enters the east fork of the South 
 Branch from the stock yards and the town of Lake, and that 
 which enters the west fork above the pumping works, 
 and that which enters the North Branch above the Fullerton 
 Avenue pumping works, remains stagnant and in process of 
 decomposition, except as it is moved along by the fresh sewage 
 behind, and oozes into the artificial current made by the pumps.
 
 THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL. 21 
 
 THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL. 
 
 The work had its inception in an Act of Congress, passed in 
 1822, by which the State was authorized to survey and mark out 
 through the public lands a canal from the Illinois River to Lake 
 Michigan. 
 
 In 1823 the Legislature of the State established a commis 
 sion to make the survey. 
 
 In 1827 Congress gave a right of way 240 feet wide, and 
 284,000 acres of land to be sold and the proceeds applied to 
 the building of the canal. 
 
 In 1836 the Legislature passed an act for the prosecution of 
 the work. The canal was to be sixty feet wide at the surface, 
 thirty-six feet wide at the bottom, and six feet deep, and ninety 
 feet on each side of the canal. 
 
 The work was to be paid for from sale of the lands 
 granted by Congress. Sales of land were slow, the work 
 dragged, contractors were unpaid, and finally, in 1843, the work 
 stopped. In that year the Legislature authorized the issue of 
 canal bonds to the amount of $1,600,000, to complete the work. 
 They were to be a lien upon the canal lands and revenues, and 
 the canal property was to be placed in the hands of three trus- 
 tees, one to be appointed by the Governor of the State and two 
 to be selected by the bondholders, who were to retain control of 
 the property until the bonds were paid. This arrangement was 
 carried out, work -was recommenced in 1845, and the canal was 
 completed so as to be put in operation in 1848, and remained in 
 the hands of said trustees until 1871, when, the debt having been 
 paid, the canal was turned over to the State. 
 
 The original plan of the canal was to cut deep enough from 
 the South Branch through and past the summit, a distance 
 of 26^ miles, for a sufficient supply of water by natural 
 flow from the lake. The means to do the work were not 
 available, and the bottom of the canal, when put in operation in 
 1848, was nine feet above the level as originally established. 
 Water was supplied by pumping works at Bridgeport, and by a 
 feeder from Calumet River, across which a dam was built, and a 
 portion of its waters turned into the canal. 
 
 In 1865 the State Legislature passed an act with a preamble 
 substantially as follows:
 
 22 CHICAGO DEEPENS THE CANAL. 
 
 WHEREAS, It is understood that the city of Chicago, in order 
 to purify Chicago River by drawing water from Lake Michigan, 
 will advance sufficient money to accomplish this desirable result, 
 and whereas the original plan of the canal was to cut down the 
 summit so as to draw a supply of water from Lake Michigan, 
 which plan was abandoned in consequence of the inability of 
 the State to procure the necessary funds, and whereas the Sum- 
 mit division of the canal was so changed as to require the 
 principal supply of water to be obtained through the Calumet 
 feeder, subject to serious contingencies, and by pumping with 
 the hydraulic works at Bridgeport, 
 
 Be it Enacted, That the city of Chicago may enter into an 
 arrangement with the Board of Canal Trustees, with a view to 
 the speedy accomplishment of the work, etc., the expenditure 
 not to be more than $2,500,000. At the same session the State 
 Legislature passed an act which authorized and required the 
 Board of Public Works of the city of Chicago, with the approval 
 of the City Council, to adopt and execute a plan "for cleaning 
 "the Chicago River and its branches, and keeping the same in a 
 "pure and healthy condition." 
 
 The said Board of Public Works was authorized to contract 
 with the trustees of the Illinois & Michigan Canal for the 
 widening and deepening of said canal, so as to take the water of 
 Chicago River. The city was authorized to borrow $2,000,000 
 to do the work, and to have a lien upon the canal tolls until the 
 money was repaid. The canal trustees were authorized to make 
 a contract in conformity with the terms of the act. 
 
 The dam across the Calumet, above mentioned, caused the 
 flooding of large tracts of land in the State of Indiana, and 
 this was probably one of the serious contingencies mentioned in 
 the preamble above quoted. The Legislature in 1871 passed an 
 act requiring the removal of this dam, which was done. It was 
 expected that the enlargement of the canal would provide a 
 channel through which, by the natural flow, the waters of the 
 South Branch would be sufficiently purified, and the canal ade- 
 quately supplied with water. 
 
 In pursuance of those acts, the city raised the money, and the 
 channel of the canal was deepened eight feet, the work being 
 completed in the spring of 1871, and the expectations founded 
 upon the work were for a time realized. 
 
 The turning of the current through the South Branch into the 
 canal carried with it, however, the greater part of the sewage of 
 the city; sludge was deposited along the canal, the sides of the
 
 THE CANAL BECOMES INADEQUATE. 23 
 
 canal sloughed off into the channel, and it was thus gradually 
 contracted. 
 
 The city continued to grow with unexampled rapidity, the 
 canal commissioners made inadequate efforts-to keep the chan- 
 nel clear by dredging, the flow through the canal decreased, and 
 the South Branch, in a few years, again became offensive. 
 
 Before leaving this topic, it is but just to say that the State, 
 in view of the vast destruction of public property by the great 
 fire of October 9, 1871, promptly and generously came to the aid 
 of the city, and on the 2oth of the same month passed an act, re- 
 paying the city for its expenditure to the amount of $2,955,340. 
 
 As a matter of some interest in connection with the history of 
 the canal, it is well enough to state that the entire cost of the work, 
 including the money repaid to the city of Chicago, was $9, 5 13,021 ; 
 of this amount, $5,886,039 was realized from sales of land granted 
 by Congress, and $2,933,691 by tolls upon the canal, which for 
 several years were very large. It has not, however, paid the 
 expenses of maintenance and operation since 1879. 
 
 In view of the offensive character of the water flowing through 
 the South Branch into the canal, the Legislature in 1881 passed 
 certain joint resolutions to the effect that the Board of Canal 
 Commissioners should open certain sluice-ways from Des Plaines 
 to the canal near Summit, etc., at an expense not exceeding 
 $10,000, provided that the canal commissioners should first con- 
 fer with the Mayor, or the proper authorities of the city of Chica- 
 go, and if said city should proceed without delay to cause a flow 
 into the canal from the Chicago River sufficient to dilute and 
 purify the waters, and thus remedy the evil complained of, said 
 flow not to be more than 60,000 cubic feet per minute, including 
 the ordinary flow into the canal from the Chicago River, or so 
 much as in the judgment of said commissioners said canal could 
 carry, and if this shall be accomplished by the first day of 
 September, 1881, the commissioners should accept it in lieu of ob- 
 taining a supply of water from the other sources named. " Pro- 
 "vided further, that said commissioners are hereby directed to 
 " take care of the 60,000 cubic feet per minute above contem- 
 " plated, if so furnished by the city of Chicago." 
 
 In pursuance of those resolutions the city immediately under- 
 took the construction of the pumping works at Bridgeport. A 
 contract was made in August, 1881, to build the pumps; they were 
 completed in 1885, and have ever since been in operation. They
 
 24 BRIDGEPORT PUMPING WORKS. 
 
 cost over $280,000, and the expense of their maintenance and 
 operation for the past three years has been about $70,000 annually. 
 
 The contract of the city called for a capacity of 60,000 cubic 
 feet of water per minute; it is very doubtful whether they have 
 averaged over 35,000 cubic feet per minute for any month since 
 they were put in operation. Regarding the capacity of these 
 pumps, it is proper to say that the city contracted with one of the 
 largest and most substantial concerns in the country for their 
 erection. The contract provided that there should be a continuous 
 test of all the pumps for forty-eight hours against eight feet 
 head of water, at a speed of 100 to 125 revolutions per minute. 
 
 On a test trial in April, 1885, they were found insufficient. 
 The contractors endeavored to improve them, and in December, 
 1886, another test trial was made before a commission of which 
 Benzette Williams was chairman. Instead of a continuous test of 
 forty-eight hours of all the pumps, it was reported by Mr. 
 Williams, after a test of eight hours, of two of the pumps, with 
 the furnaces freshly cleaned before starting, that " the contract 
 was complied with in every essential respect." That the pumps 
 as constructed are not now, and never were, a compliance with 
 the contract of the city is conceded on all hands, and the matter 
 is not only of interest in itself, but as a commentary upon Mr. 
 Williams' ideas of what constitutes an essential compliance with 
 the terms of a contract. 
 
 There has been an abundance of crimination and recrimina- 
 tion on this matter of the pumping works at Bridgeport the 
 people down the river insisting that the city is derelict, and that 
 if the required amount was pumped, the water flowing through 
 the canal would not be so objectionable, while the city claims 
 that in 1889 it proposed to put in another plant, and that the 
 canal commissioners refused permission. 
 
 By the terms of the resolutions, the canal commissioners were 
 required to provide for the passage of 60,000 cubic feet of water 
 per minute. Whatever may have been the capacity of the canal 
 in 1885, there is no doubt that it could not now permit a flow,'at 
 the rate mentioned, without a greater current in the canal than is 
 permissible with its advantageous use as a means of water transit. 
 
 It is further claimed that the people down the river have been 
 active in inciting the canal commissioners to this pernicious 
 inactivity, to the end that Chicago should be forced into the 
 construction of a great water-way as a means of relief. Whether
 
 ACTION OF THE CITY. 25 
 
 this latter claim is well founded or not, it is very certain that if 
 the quantity of water required by the resolutions of the Legisla- 
 ture was pumped by the city, and disposed of by the canal 
 commissioners, and the stock yards, gas works, and other large 
 sources of pollution were required to dispose of their sewage in 
 some other way, the water of the canal would be unobjectionable. 
 
 THE ACTION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO. 
 
 It is apparent from the foregoing recital that the city has 
 promptly endeavored to carry out the views of the Legislature. 
 The deepening of the canal by the city relieved the State of the 
 expense of maintaining pumping works at Bridgeport, and of the 
 Calumet feeder, and disposed of any questions which might arise, 
 if the dam was kept up. It is apparent, from the preamble to the 
 Act of 1865, that the Legislature understood that the State was 
 to be the gainer by the deepening of the canal. It was to have 
 been expected that the flow from the South Branch would occa- 
 sion more or less deposits in the canal, and it was clearly the 
 duty of the canal commissioners to have kept the channel clear. 
 They had the means to do it. The canal was out of debt, and 
 the receipts from tolls alone, during the nine years 1871-79, 
 exceeded the expenses by $330,429, and there were, in addition 
 to this, the receipts from rent of water power and sales of land. 
 
 It was the first duty of the canal commissioners to have kept 
 up the plant; they did nothing of the kind, and the result was, 
 that by 1881 the flow from Chicago River was so obstructed that 
 its condition was as bad as it was before the canal was deepened. 
 
 As has been seen, the Legislature required the commissioners 
 to put the canal in a condition to dispose of 60,000 cubic feet of 
 water per minute, but whatever measures they took to that end 
 were feeble and inefficient. The reports of the commissioners 
 bewail the deposits from Chicago sewage in the bed of the canal, 
 while at the same time they report the receipt of thousands of 
 dollars annually as rents for the water power furnished by the 
 water pumped into the canal by the city of Chicago, and despite, 
 too, the fact that without the water flowing in the canal, by 
 reason of the deepening of it by the city, and by pumping, the 
 canal would not have been navigable. 
 
 That the pumps at Bridgeport are not in compliance with the
 
 26 AGITATION OF THE DRAINAGE QUESTION. 
 
 resolutions of the Legislature in 1881 was, at the outset, no fault 
 of the city, and that no steps were taken to remedy the defect, 
 other than the proposal of the city in 1889 to erect another 
 pumping plant, which was vetoed by the canal commissioners, is 
 due to the fact that from the rapid growth of the city it became 
 obvious that measures of a more comprehensive character must 
 be taken. The erection of a new plant would have given relief, 
 and the city would cheerfully have submitted to the expense and 
 undertaken the work, even as a temporary expedient, had it been 
 permitted so to do. 
 
 The subject of the drainage of Chicago was actively discussed 
 by the press and in the City Council, and finally in January, 1886, 
 action was taken which resulted in the employment of Mr. Her- 
 ring. Private citizens of Chicago took up the matter, and 
 expended large sums of money, on their own account, for the 
 purpose of obtaining information upon the subject of the drain- 
 age of the city, but both the city and private citizens placed the 
 matter in the hands of those who were either captivated with the 
 idea of a great water-way from Chicago to the Mississippi River, 
 or were exploiting a "policy," and the interests of drainage 
 were subordinated to these ends. 
 
 That a stupendous error was committed in the selection of 
 the men to investigate the matter will probably become apparent 
 as we proceed, but the point now insisted upon is, that ample 
 means were provided, and diligent efforts were made, and in the 
 best of faith, to the end that a system of drainage should be 
 devised which would be adequate to the present and future 
 needs of the city for a long period, and do away with complaints 
 from people down the river; that those measures wer^ ill- 
 directed, that irritating delay has been occasioned, that hundreds 
 of thousands of dollars have been expended uselessly, will appear 
 hereafter, but this was the fault of individuals, and not the fault 
 either of the city or of its people, except in so far as they are 
 responsible for the acts of the man who happened to be mayor of 
 the city. 
 
 THE HERRING REPORT. 
 
 As the Herring report is yet referred to by the advocates of 
 a great water-way, and was the basis for the present Drainage Act, 
 it is worth while to give it some attention.
 
 THE HERRING REPORT. 27 
 
 The City Council, on the ayth of January, 1886, adopted cer- 
 tain resolutions with a preamble, by which the Mayor (Harrison) 
 was authorized to appoint a commission, to consist of one engi- 
 neer and one or two consulting engineers, to devise a system of 
 drainage and of water supply for the city. 
 
 The character of the investigation to be made by the com- 
 mission was fixed in the following language: 
 
 " The duty of the Drainage and Water-supply Commission shall 
 " be to consider all plans relative to drainage and water supply 
 " which may be brought to its attention; 
 
 " To make such examinations and investigations and surveys 
 " as may be deemed necessary. 
 
 " To collect all information bearing on this problem. 
 
 " To consider all recent developments in the matter of sewage 
 " disposal, and their application to our present and future needs. 
 
 " To consider and meet the necessity of increasing our water 
 " supply, and of protecting the same from contamination. 
 
 " To remedy our present inadequate methods of drainage and 
 " sewage disposal. 
 
 " To consider the relations of any system proposed, to adjacent 
 " districts, and whether there may not be a union between the 
 " city and its suburbs to solve the great problem. 
 
 " To determine the great question as to the interest which the 
 " State and the United States may have in the disposal of sewage 
 " by way of the Illinois River, and 
 
 " To devise plans to meet any objections thereto, if such a 
 " system shall be thought best, and in general 
 
 " To consider and report upon any and all things which relate 
 " to the matter of water supply and drainage of the city of Chi- 
 " cago." 
 
 The commission were to report on the whole matter, fully, 
 with plans and diagrams complete, with estimates of the first cost, 
 and cost of maintenance, not later than January, 1887 (when the 
 Legislature would be in session). 
 
 Ten thousand dollars a year was allowed as salary to the chief 
 engineer, and consulting engineers were to be employed all the 
 expenses not to exceed $30,000. 
 
 Mr. Herring was employed, and entered upon duty March 28th ; 
 Mr. Benzette Williams as consulting engineer on September xyth, 
 and Mr. Artingstall, December zist, 1886 the latter was then city 
 engineer, and his connection with the matter was only nominal.
 
 28 THE HERRING REPORT. 
 
 Mr. L. E. Cooley was the principal assistant, beside whom 
 there were four other engineers, among whom was Mr. Ossian 
 Guthrie. 
 
 In January, 1887, Mr. Herring made a preliminary report, 
 which was submitted to the Council by Mayor Harrison with a 
 message, in which he said that he had been in constant consulta- 
 tion with the chief of the commission during the progress of the 
 investigations, and he then proceeded to laud the glories of a 
 ship canal in the most extravagant fashion. 
 
 With a mayor holding such opinions for an employer, Ben- 
 zette Williams for counselor, and L. E. Cooley and Ossian 
 Guthrie for assistants, what could have been expected? Why, 
 that there would be a water-way report, or that Mr. Her- 
 ring would resign. He did not resign. The report proper 
 consists of thirty-four pages in large type, and padded with open 
 spaces; the entire matter is less than three columns of an ordi- 
 nary newspaper. Three pages are devoted to a settlement of 
 the questions involved, which he gravely sums up on page 
 14 as follows: "The problem therefore demands the attain- 
 " ment of two ends the protection of the water supply and the 
 "removal of the river nuisance; " and further, on the same page, 
 he says, "Among the possible methods of getting rid of the 
 "Chicago sewage, there are but three that have been deemed 
 "worthy of an extended consideration, namely a discharge into 
 "Lake Michigan, a disposal upon land, and a discharge into the 
 " Des Plaines River." 
 
 As a summary of the methods of disposing of the sewage, 
 it is noticeable that he omits any mention whatever of disposing 
 of it by precipitation, either wholly or in part. He omits any 
 mention of what the present canal can do without objection, and 
 he gaily skips forty miles, to the Des Plaines at Joliet. 
 
 Two and a half pages are devoted to our present sewer sys- 
 tem, four pages are devoted to speculations upon the population, 
 present and future, of Chicago, and about three and a half pages 
 are consumed in discussing the question as to disposing of the 
 sewage on land, but he finally concludes that this would cost too 
 much, and is therefore impracticable. He makes no mention of 
 the fatal obstacle of the climate, which would have enabled him 
 to dispose of the question in half a page. 
 
 And now we come to the water-way part of the report. This
 
 WORTHLESSNESS OF THE HERRING REPORT. 29 
 
 occupies pages 28 to 37, and is a jumble of all sorts of odds and 
 ends, but there is nowhere a clear, definite plan outlined. 
 
 He would have the waters of both branches of the Calumet 
 turned into Wolf Lake- What the waters of the Calumet have 
 to do with draining Chicago River is not explained; he had 
 already declared that the questions involved were to keep the 
 water supply pure, and abate the river nuisance. 
 
 He would have a channel from the Des Plaines to the lake, 
 somewhere north of the city, to carry off the flood waters of the 
 Des Plaines, so that they would not come down through the 
 Ogden ditch into the river. 
 
 He assures us that he has gauged the Des Plaines, the Calu- 
 met, the North Branch, and the rainfall; surveyed the water 
 sheds; examined the river channels, arid reconnoitered all the 
 country around the Des Plaines, the North Branch, the Calumet 
 River, and Salt Creek, and, after all this, "the information upon 
 "which definitely to decide this question will be given in our 
 "final report." 
 
 In the name of the Prophet figs! 
 
 At page 31 he says, "For the purpose of estimating 
 "the cost of the water channel, we have assumed 3,600 feet for 
 " the cross section, and a velocity of the water three feet per 
 "second, or two miles per hour." (By cross section is meant the 
 area of the width multiplied by the depth. A channel 200 feet 
 wide and 18 feet deep, filled with water, would have a cross 
 section of 3,600 feet.) 
 
 Upon the vital question of cost, he says, on page 34, ' A 
 "channel from the south fork to Joliet, of the capacity here- 
 "tofore given, will cost between $17,000,000 and $21,000,000." 
 
 There is not a syllable as to the supply of water for this canal. 
 No mention is made as to how much water the South Branch can 
 supply. 
 
 There is no mention as to what was to be done with the water 
 at Joliet. 
 
 Not a figure is given as to the number of yards of earth and 
 rock excavation. 
 
 Not a word as to the millions of dollars which the right of 
 way would cost. 
 
 Nothing is said as to the effect of the volume of water upon 
 the hundreds of thousands of acres of bottom lands of the Illi- 
 nois River Valley, which would be flooded. Lake Michigan is
 
 30 FATAL OMISSIONS OF THE HERRING REPORT. 
 
 seventy-six feet above the level of the Des Plaines at Joliet Lake, 
 and that fall is mostly between Lockport and Joliet Lake (a 
 broadening of the Des Plaines three miles below Joliet), and he 
 says not a word as to whether 600,000 cubic feet of water per 
 minute are to be turned, a roaring torrent, down that incline, or 
 are to be let down with locks; and if with locks, not a word as 
 to that large item of expense. 
 
 Nothing is said about the millions of dollars that it would 
 cost to supply the water for such a canal. 
 
 He finds it practicable to build a water-way to Joliet, because 
 there is the low ground along the Ogden ditch, and a " depres- 
 sion " at the Sag; but he has not a word about the millions of 
 cubic yards of rock cut between Willow Springs and Joliet. 
 
 That such things as bridges over a water-way 200 feet 
 wide would be required, and would have to be paid for by 
 those who made them necessary, does not seem to have been 
 thought of. 
 
 It is a grave matter to charge that these omissions were 
 intentional, but how any engineer of moderate capacity could 
 overlook all these elements is inconceivable. By the resolutions 
 of the City Council of Chicago, the sum of $30,000 was appro- 
 priated for the survey, and a full report was to be made, includ- 
 ing the plans, route, cost, etc. The writer has been informed, 
 upon the most undoubted authority, that it was openly avowed 
 by some of the men conducting the investigation, that the city 
 of Chicago was paying the bills, and that when the $30,000 was 
 gone there would be more from the same source. 
 
 Mr. Cooley, who was Mr. Herring's chief assistant engineer, 
 and who is now a drainage commissioner, is authority for the 
 statement that the Herring Commission cost $65,000. The city 
 was evidently a good cow to milk. 
 
 The whole energy of the movement was to commit the city 
 of Chicago to a visionary scheme of a water-way, to which 
 drainage was an incident, and it looks as though the cost of the 
 undertaking was intentionally and studiously concealed. 
 
 It is sheer nonsense to say, in excuse, that this was merely a 
 preliminary report. Mr. Herring knew that a full report, with 
 plans and estimates, was to be forthcoming by January, 1887. 
 He had five engineers associated with him, and could have had 
 more if necessary. Salt Creek and Calumet River were unim- 
 portant features in his work. He is proposing a grand scheme,
 
 WORKING A "POLICY." 31 
 
 and yet in nine months time he can give but a meager, and that 
 erroneous, outline. 
 
 In the spring of 1891, the writer met Mr. Herring in the office 
 of Mr. Benzette Williams, in Chicago. The subject of a water- 
 way, as provided for by the present Drainage Act, was under dis- 
 cussion, and the writer complained that so little was made known 
 as to the cost of the work, before people voted on the adoption 
 of the law. Mr. Williams replied, " Perhaps that was not policy." 
 "Not policy!" Not policy for whom? Not policy for the tax- 
 payers of Chicago to know what they were voting for, or not 
 policy for water-way enthusiasts, who would have the city of 
 Chicago committed to an undertaking of which it knew neither 
 the nature or extent? 
 
 No further report was ever made by that commission. It 
 lingered along until April or May, 1887, the members drawing 
 their pay regularly, until discharged at that time. The Herring 
 report is a thing of the past. It has been succeeded by others, 
 and is only now made the subject of observation because it is a 
 part of the history of Chicago drainage; because if it had been 
 what it ought to have been, the Drainage Act of 1889 would 
 never have been adopted, and because it is still quoted in oppo- 
 sition to attempts to amend that act.
 
 THE COMMISSION OF 1887. 
 
 At the session of the Legislature in 1887, two or more bills 
 were introduced. One, known as the Hurd-Winston bill, in the 
 line of a water-way, was pushed forward, and was thought likely 
 to pass, but the rivermen secured an amendment which led to 
 its abandonment. 
 
 No legislation, or at least none of any value, was obtained, 
 but finally, on motion of Mr. Riley, a member from Joliet, a reso- 
 lution was adopted that a commission be appointed, consisting 
 of four members of the Legislature and the Mayor of Chicago, 
 "to examine and report to the next session of the Legislature, 
 "upon the subject of the drainage of Chicago and its suburbs." 
 The reader will please note the words, it was the drainage of 
 Chicago they were to investigate and report upon. 
 
 Here again, the water-way crowd made their mark. The 
 commission as appointed, consisted of Riley of Joliet, Bell of 
 Peoria, and Eckhart and McMillan of Chicago all of them in 
 favor of a great water-way. Mr. Roche was mayor, and he too 
 was a water-way man. The commission made no report of any 
 description to the Legislature upon the subject committed to 
 them, but presented the Drainage Act, substantially as it was 
 passed, and now stands on our statute books. 
 
 In response to an inquiry by the writer as to whether the 
 commission made any examination of the subject of drainage, 
 one of the Chicago members, after a pause, replied, that they 
 " attended a meeting at Peoria." 
 
 This was held on the nth and 1 2th of October, 1887, and 
 was a meeting of people from four or five States, in favor of 
 water-ways "and an appropriation." It was controlled by the 
 people of the Illinois River Valley, and was unanimous that every 
 exertion must be put forth to secure a great water-way between 
 Chicago and the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The members of the commission also thought it desirable to 
 call a meeting of people, from towns down the river, to discuss 
 the provisions of a bill to be introduced into the Legislature at 
 
 (32)
 
 RIVER VALLEY PEOPLE AT THE CITY HALL. 33 
 
 the coming session, and accordingly such a meeting was held at 
 the Council Chamber in the City Hall of Chicago on December 
 4, 1888. 
 
 Mr. E. Sanford, a lawyer at Morris, was one of those present, 
 and took part in the discussion, and afterward, in the spring of 
 1891, was selected by the city of Morris to resist the proposed 
 amendments to the Drainage Act, and prepared a pamphlet for 
 that purpose, from which is quoted, as to the proceedings of the 
 meeting at the city hall. 
 
 He says that Mayor Roche presided, and stated that " the 
 " primary object of this bill will be to construct a water-way 
 " down to the Mississippi, and the citizens of Chicago want the 
 " sewage question disposed of at the same time." Mr. Sanford 
 says further, that Mayor Roche, in answer to the inquiry, " Is 
 "not the real question of this conference, Chicago sewage?" 
 replied, that " this committee was appointed to consider the 
 " water-way, and then to see if it was advisable to use it for 
 "sewage." 
 
 The language of the resolution by which the commission was 
 created, as it is found in the session laws of 1887, has been quoted 
 above. To re-read the published proceedings of that meeting, 
 in the light of what has since transpired, it would seem that the 
 so-called commission, having prepared the present Drainage Act, 
 it was deemed a stroke of policy to have a meeting in Chicago, 
 where the people from down the river should air their obstreper- 
 ousness, as a means of cutting off any opposition to the bill in 
 Chicago. 
 
 The fact was, that neither the commission created by the 
 Legislature, nor the city itself, under the leadership of Mayor 
 Roche, took any steps to acquire any more definite information, 
 either as to the drainage of Chicago, or as to the cost and practi- 
 cability of this water-way scheme, than was known in January, 
 1887. 
 
 Incapable of examining the matter, or indifferent to the 
 momentous questions committed to them, and possessed of 
 vapory notions as to the value of a great water channel between 
 Chicago and the Mississippi River, and withal, terrorized by the 
 bluster of the river people, they not only advocated the con- 
 struction of a work of which they had but a feeble conception, 
 but submitted to have it loaded with requirements the most 
 illogical and unfair. 
 
 3
 
 34 THE PRESENT DRAINAGE ACT. 
 
 Attention will now be called to some of the provisions of the 
 Drainage Act. 
 
 THE DRAINAGE ACT OF 1889. 
 
 It is understood that the present law, substantially in the form 
 in which it appears on our statute book, was prepared by and 
 under the direction of Riley of Joliet, Harvey B. Hurd, a lawyer 
 of Evanston, L. E. Cooley of Evanston, and Benzette Williams 
 of Western Springs, a hamlet on Salt Creek in the western part 
 of Cook County four gentlemen, neither of whom reside in 
 Chicago, nor within the drainage district, and three of whom, 
 viz., Messrs. Riley, Cooley, and Williams, are not taxpayers in 
 the drainage district. Probably the then mayor (Roche) and 
 other advocates of a water-way were advised with, but it does not 
 appear that any men having regard to the sanitary interests of 
 Chicago or the welfare of the taxpayers, as matters first to be 
 considered, had anything to do with framing the law. The act 
 was passed solely as a measure for the construction of a water- 
 way, and if Chicago was to get any benefit from it as a means 
 for disposing of its sewage, that was only incidental. 
 
 The act was to be submitted to the people for adoption. It 
 was approved by the then mayor (Mr. Roche), who was said to 
 have some knowledge of engineering; by the Citizens' Associa- 
 tion, which was composed of public-spirited men who claimed to 
 have given attention to the matter, and were supposed to be 
 acting intelligently, and it was enthusiastically supported by the 
 daily press of Chicago, with possibly one exception; it was 
 declared to be the only solution of the drainage question, and 
 that, as such, it was full and complete. Its practical operation 
 was not understood, and it was adopted with a comparatively 
 small dissenting vote. It was tested by legal proceedings, and 
 the case carried to the Supreme Court of the State, but it was 
 held valid, and proceedings were taken to carry out its pro- 
 visions. The law has been published repeatedly, and can be 
 found among the session laws of 1889, but attention will be 
 directed to some of its more important provisions. 
 
 NINE DRAINAGE TRUSTEES. 
 
 SECTION 3. This section provides for nine trustees to consti- 
 tute the Drainage Board. The act was passed before the towns
 
 THE DRAINAGE BOARD SHOULD BE ABOLISHED. 35 
 
 of Hyde Park and Lake and the city of Lake View were annexed 
 to Chicago. It was expected that they, and, if Kurd and Cooley 
 could manage it, Evanston, also, would become part of the 
 drainage district, and they could not at that time properly be' 
 subjected to the control of the city of Chicago, which was prin- 
 cipally interested in the matter, as a means of drainage. The 
 device of nine trustees for the entire district was therefore 
 adopted. Since the passage of the act, nearly all the territory 
 affected by its provisions, and all the territory identified with the 
 city of Chicago in the matter of drainage, has been annexed to 
 the city, and there is now no reason why the city should not 
 direct and control its drainage affairs as well as any other. 
 
 It is true that small portions of the towns of Lyons and 
 Cicero are within the limits of the drainage district as at present 
 established, and are not within the city limits, but these excep- 
 tions could be easily disposed of. 
 
 THE DRAINAGE BOARD SHOULD BE ABOLISHED. 
 
 In the first place, it is without a head. By Section 4 they are 
 authorized to elect a president, but he has not, by the law, any 
 executive powers conferred upon him he is simply the presiding 
 officer at meetings of the board. As to his powers, they are the 
 same as those of the other members no more, no less. Nothing 
 can be done without the authority of a majority of the board. 
 The natural outcome of such a condition of things is, that there 
 is no individual responsibility; cabals are formed to get control 
 of a majority; movements are planned, and carried through 
 without discussion, by the strength of a majority vote. It has 
 been publicly stated, and the charge published, that the minority 
 have not, in all cases, had free access to the documents belonging 
 to the board. 
 
 Second. It is a secret institution. Here is a corporation 
 having the power to tax the people of Chicago $1,000,000 annu- 
 ally, and issue bonds to the amount of $15,000,000, and engage 
 in an undertaking involving the expenditure of an amount of 
 money of which they can not, or will not, give an estimate, and 
 to subject the city to millions of dollars of liabilities annually, 
 and there are no public discussions as to plans and projects. 
 
 Third. It is an extravagant board. On the igth of Decem- 
 ber, 1891, the clerk and acting secretary of the board certified
 
 36 THE CANAL NOT TO BE USED. 
 
 that its expenses, up to December 8th previous, had been $334,- 
 659.77, and since that time, to and including August i, 1892, they 
 have expended $153,567.51, making a total of $488,227.28. 
 
 This money is paid by the same people who paid $65,000 for 
 the Herring Commission, and makes an aggregate of over $550,- 
 ooo, and about all that has been realized from this outlay, is some 
 incomplete engineering. Whatever may be said of the City 
 Council of Chicago, its proceedings are open, and all important 
 measures are discussed; its members are keenly alive to the 
 necessity of economy and prudence. The Drainage Board should 
 be abolished, and whatever powers are necessary be conferred 
 on the city government; it may be that an amendment to the 
 Constitution would be necessary, but our recent experience with 
 the $5,000,000 World's Fair fund indicates that this is no mate- 
 rial obstacle. 
 
 THE CANAL MUST NOT BE USED. 
 
 SECTION 17. This section provides that no portion of the 
 canal outside of Cook County shall be used. Why this provision 
 was inserted must be left to conjecture. Here is a strip of 
 land extending from Chicago River to Joliet, 240 feet wide, 
 with a canal already dug, sixty feet wide, and yet only the portion 
 within the limits of Cook County can be used. This canal is 
 public property belongs to the State and, practically, as we 
 have seen, did not cost the State anything; it will be of no pos- 
 sible use after the proposed water-way is built. It is not to be 
 supposed that the city will continue the use of the pumps at 
 Bridgeport after the proposed canal is built, and without an arti- 
 ficial supply it would not have two feet of water in it. It does 
 not pay expenses now, with water furnished by the city; the 
 State will never supply it, and it will be so much waste land. 
 Why then should it not be used for the proposed water-way? And 
 why limit its use to that portion within the limits of Cook 
 County? If any part of it could be used, what reason was there 
 for making a distinction between that in Cook County and that 
 beyond its limits? The people of Joliet and down the river 
 were professing only an interest in a sufficient flow of water 
 from Lake Michigan to do away with the objections to the sew- 
 age of Chicago, and, as it was immaterial through what channel 
 the water flowed, this provision could not have been material to 
 them.
 
 BIASED JURIES IN DAMAGE SUITS. 37 
 
 In the light of $65,000 spent for engineering by the city for 
 the Herring Commission, of which Cooley and Benzette Williams 
 were the principal members, and of t*he fact that in all, some- 
 thing over $550,000 has been expended, and, of this large sum, 
 all which has not been expended for engineering has simply 
 been as an adjunct to it, this restriction would seem to have 
 been inserted for the purpose of necessitating a vast amount of 
 so-called engineering work. That it was a pretty successful 
 piece of engineering of itself is apparent, when we find that 
 Cooley was immediately elected chief engineer, at a salary of 
 $6,000 per annum; that Benzette Williams is now chief engineer 
 at a salary of $9,000 per annum; that Cooley is now a drainage 
 commissioner at a salary of $3,000 per annum, and that the 
 Drainage Commission, on the iyth of February, 1892, provided 
 for an unlimited number of assistants at from $2,400 to $3,600 
 per year. 
 
 SUITS TO BE BROUGHT IN PREJUDICED LOCALITIES. 
 
 SECTION 19. This section provides that the drainage district 
 shall be liable for all damages occasioned b.y flooding, and suit 
 may be brought in the county where the property is situated. 
 As to the bringing of suits where the property is located, in 
 theory this would seem fair enough, but the practical result will 
 be, that all questions as to damages for flowing, and the amount 
 of such damage, will be submitted to juries naturally biased in 
 favor of their neighbors, and with no particular friendship for 
 the great city of Chicago. That these feelings will have a pow- 
 erful influence upon their verdicts, no one familiar with jury 
 trials can for a moment doubt. The great additional flow of 
 water proposed by the Drainage Act is to be emptied into the 
 Des Plaines at Joliet. About ten miles below Joliet, the Des 
 Plaines and Kankakee rivers unite, forming the Illinois River, 
 which extends in a southwesterly direction to the Mississippi 
 River, a distance of about 265 miles. The current is very slug- 
 gish, and for a great portion of its course it is bordered with low 
 bottom lands. 
 
 The effect of 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute added 
 to its contents must be very great, and it is easy enough to 
 foresee that in cases of damage for overflowing, witnesses and 
 juries would be swift to attribute all possible damage to the 
 water from the drainage district.
 
 38 UNNECESSARY DILUTION OF THE SEWAGE. 
 
 UNNECESSARY AMOUNT OF WATER REQUIRED. 
 
 SECTIONS 20 and 23. As these sections both relate to the quan- 
 tity of water to flow through the channel, they may be considered 
 together, so far as that question is concerned. The channel when 
 first opened must be large enough to produce a flow of 300,000 
 cubic feet of water per minute.* This is at the rate of 200 cubic 
 feet per minute for each 1,000 of 1,500,000 people, and when 
 the population of the city exceeds that number the canal must 
 be enlarged so as to keep up that proportion. That is, when 
 the city reaches a population of 2,000,000, provision must be 
 made for a flow of 400,000 cubic feet of water per minute. This 
 is at the rate of 2,304 gallons of water every twenty-four hours 
 for every man, woman, and child in the drainage district. U'e 
 have seen that the sewage supply daily of each man, woman, and 
 child is 121 gallons, so that the requirement of the law is, that 
 for every gallon of sewage there shall be more than nineteen 
 gallons of fresh water added. To take a practical view of the 
 matter at a closer range, and a view which very many will under- 
 stand from experience, let us take the case of a family of five, 
 composed of a man, wife, two children, and one servant, and 
 instead of a water supply by turning a faucet, let it be supposed 
 that it is brought from a well and cistern. 
 
 A liberal estimate of the daily slop would be: 
 
 i pail chamber. 
 
 6 " kitchen. 
 
 3 " face and hand washing. 
 
 3 " daily, or 21 per week, for bathing. 
 
 5 " daily, or 35 per week, for clothes washing. 
 
 18 pails, of 2^ gallons each, make a daily average of 45 gallons. 
 
 The daily consumption of water per capita, in Chicago, is 
 shown to be 121 gallons, or, for a family of five, 605 gallons, 
 which is about thirteen times the quantity of actual sewage as 
 estimated above; and the requirement of the law is that this 
 daily sewage of 605 gallons must be increased nineteen times, 
 before it can be allowed to start on a journey of forty miles to 
 Joliet. 
 
 The principal discussions of the dilution of the sewage have 
 been by European writers, and are based upon the use of from 
 
 * A cubic foot of water is about eight gallons.
 
 USE OF THE WATER-WAY FOR SEWAGE NOT SECURE. 39 
 
 one-fourth to one-third the water used in Chicago. If any one 
 will reflect a moment, it will be apparent that, taking an average 
 family of five, and allowing the household wash and waste from 
 that family to be diluted so that the flow into the sewage is over 
 600 gallons daily, it is simply preposterous to say that it must 
 have nineteen times that amount of water added to it in order 
 that it shall be inoffensive at a distance of forty miles. 
 
 The practical result of that requirement is, that taking the 
 actual daily sewage of a family of five, with water drawn from 
 well and cistern, as averaging forty-five gallons daily, for the 
 entire family, this forty-five gallons must be increased to 
 11,520 gallons, or water enough to fill an ordinary freight car to 
 the top, before it can be allowed to enter the great water-way. 
 
 The great quantity of fresh water required by the Drainage 
 Act was an arbitrary requirement, not sanctioned by any con- 
 currence of respectable authority, is palpably unnecessary, and 
 was done in the interest of a great water-way rather than in 
 that of the sewage question. 
 
 SEWAGE MAY NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE CANAL. 
 
 SECTION 22. This section provides that this act shall not be 
 construed as a contract on the part of the State with any sani- 
 tary district formed under its provisions, and new requirements 
 may be imposed, or the act repealed altogether. This provision 
 was doubtless inserted by the river valley people, in view of the 
 fact that they have been consulting lawyers as to enjoining the 
 city from pumping, or allowing, a flow of water into the present 
 canal, and the lawyers find themselves confronted with certain 
 obligations on the part of the State, arising out of the legislation 
 of 1865 and 1881, above mentioned. To cut off all questions of 
 that kind, it is provided, in substance, that the city may go on and 
 build a great water-way, and take its chances as to being allowed 
 to use it as a means of disposing of its sewage. If the declara- 
 tion of John A. Roche, at the meeting at the city hall in Decem- 
 ber, 1887, above referred to, is correctly stated by Mr. Sanford, 
 and if that statement ha& any binding force by reason of the 
 fact that he was not only mayor of Chicago but a member of the 
 commission of 1887, it would seem as though the city would 
 have small reason to complain if its sewage was excluded from 
 the canal.
 
 40 AMOUNT OF UNNECESSARY ROCK-CUT. 
 
 THE USELESS ROCK-CUT. 
 
 SECTION 23 again. It is further provided in this section, that 
 while in no case shall the channel be less than fourteen feet deep, 
 when through rock-cut it shall be of the depth of eighteen feet, 
 and 160 feet wide. Before that clause in the law was inserted, and 
 before its adoption by the people, the length of the rock-cut- 
 ting should have been made known. The Herring report was 
 silent on the subject, and, in fact, the length of the jock-cut has 
 never been stated in any of the reports of the various engineers 
 of the Drainage Commission. Various routes for the canal have 
 been advised by the different engineers of the Drainage Board, 
 except Mr. Cooley, who, while engineer, never advised anything, 
 but remained "at large"; the length of the rock-cutting may 
 vary some few hundred feet, depending on the route adopted, 
 but it is about i6 miles. 
 
 This additional depth of the rock-cut will require the excava- 
 tion of over 2,000,000 cubic yards of stone, or stone enough to 
 fill a strip of Lake Michigan the whole length of the Lake Front 
 from Park Row to Randolph Street, and twice as wide as the 
 present Lake Front grounds a strip 6,000 feet long, 800 feet 
 wide, and 1 1|- feet deep. This enormous quantity of stone is to 
 be excavated, not for a channel for 300,000 cubic feet of water 
 per minute, but for a channel of 600,000 cubic feet of water per 
 minute, which is to be flowing through it in the hopeless future, 
 when the United States Government will pay for the damages of 
 flooding additional hundreds of thousands of acres of lands on 
 the Illinois River Valley, caused by pouring that quantity of 
 water into the Illinois River. It is no part of the drainage sys- 
 tem; it is that much more than is necessary for a flow of 300,000 
 cubic feet per minute, and belongs to the nebulous idea of a 
 great water-way. It is a burden imposed upon Chicago by the 
 exactions of the people of the valley, conjointly with the folly 
 and incapacity of those who undertook to represent the city, if 
 indeed baser motives of personal " policy " had no part in the 
 matter. 
 
 The pretense under which this provision was made, for a 
 rock-cut so much deeper than the other part of the canal, was 
 that in case the General Government should embark in the 
 enterprise above indicated, then the water being in the canal 
 rock excavations to enlarge it could not then be made, and there- 
 fore that the rock -cut must be made in the first instance.
 
 PREJUDICED COMMISSIONERS. 41 
 
 This claim is shown to be without foundation. Mr. Arting- 
 stall, a former engineer of the Drainage Commission, has 
 reported that the rock can be excavated cheaper under water 
 than above. It is true that Mr. Cooley says that he disagrees 
 with Mr. Artingstall, but the latter has a reputation for ability, 
 sobriety of judgment, and perfect plain dealing, and under those 
 circumstances it is needless to discuss the relative value of their 
 opinions. 
 
 Whether the rock can be excavated after the water is let into 
 the canal cheaper than before that is to say, whether wet-cut is 
 cheaper than dry-cut is immaterial; it is enough to know that 
 the question of the relative cost is a matter of controversy. 
 There can not be, under such circumstances, a very great differ- 
 ence, and the excavation by wet-cut is admitted to be entirely 
 practicable. 
 
 To go ahead and expend at least $3,000,000 upon the utterly 
 improbable contingency of its becoming available by the action 
 of the National Government, is a proceeding destitute of the 
 semblance of propriety. 
 
 Mr. Cooley does not agree with Mr. Artingstall he favors 
 the large cut. He will doubtless be found on the side of the 
 greatest possible expenditure, so long as he has any connection 
 with the Drainage Commission. 
 
 COMMISSIONERS TO BE UNFAIRLY SELECTED. 
 
 SECTION 27. This section provides that before water shall be 
 let in the canal, three commissioners, one each from in or near 
 Joliet, La Salle, and Peoria, shall pass on the work, and they 
 must report that it has been done in conformity with their views 
 of the law, before water is allowed to enter the channel. That 
 this is unfair is obvious at a glance. The city may expend 
 $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 to carry out the law, and then men 
 must be selected from localities which have been most violent in 
 their denunciations of Chicago, to pass upon the work. 
 
 The law is plain enough in its requirements, and it is an 
 unheard of procedure that the only men who are to pass upon its 
 fulfillment, are really parties to the case. The provisions of the 
 law should have been exactly the reverse. It should have pro- 
 vided for the appointment of men from congressional districts, 
 no part of which consisted of territory bordering on either the 
 Kankakee, Des Plaines, or Illinois rivers. The reasonable pro-
 
 42 INCONGRUITY OF THE LAW. 
 
 vision would have been, to have had the matter determined by 
 engineers from outside the State, appointed by the Governor, but 
 it certainly should not be done by men whose stock of political 
 capital, in their several localties, consists in their abuse of 
 Chicago. 
 
 As a specimen of law-drafting for a water-way, the act has a 
 strange incongruity. Section 23 provides that any channel 
 taking the waters of Lake Michigan into the Des Plaines or 
 Illinois rivers, shall be large enough to maintain a continuous 
 flow of at least 300,000 cubic feet a minute, with a current not 
 more than three miles an hour. It is further provided that if 
 the channel is made in the Des Plaines River, it shall be opened 
 down a slope between Lockport and Joliet to the upper basin, 
 wide and deep enough to carry off the water coming down from 
 above. 
 
 Now, there is a slope from Lockport to the upper basin of 
 twenty-eight feet. The distance is 4^ miles. A continuous flow 
 down such a slope will be at the rate of six to eight miles an hour 
 or more, which is, of course, too rapid for navigation. It thus 
 appears that by the law a channel 160 feet wide and eighteen feet 
 deep is to be excavated through solid rock a distance of some 
 sixteen miles, and to terminate in a rapid chute of 4^ miles in 
 length, down a steep declivity. There is no provision whatever 
 for connecting this channel with the water of the Des Plaines or 
 Illinois rivers for the purposes of navigation. 
 
 Much has been said and written about the great water power 
 which the people of Chicago were to provide for Joliet. As to 
 the value of water power, it is a noticeable fact that the present 
 water power at Joliet has never been entirely made use of; and 
 further, there is a superb water power at Momence which has not 
 been used for years. But it is not probable that any attempt will 
 be made to create a water power at either Lockport or Joliet. 
 
 It can only be developed by the construction of an aqueduct 
 from a point in "Section 14" down to the upper basin. The 
 recent bids show that the cost would approximate $6,000,000. 
 The Drainage Board are not authorized to go into speculative 
 schemes; they are given the authority to control any water power 
 which may be developed as an incident to drainage work, but 
 the creation of independent work for that purpose is not author- 
 ized by the law. 
 
 Beside these specific objections to the law, there is the general
 
 NOT A LAW FOR DRAINAGE. 43 
 
 objection that a law professedly enacted for the purpose of pro- 
 viding means to dispose of Chicago sewage is in fact a law for 
 the building of a great water-way, and nothing else. 
 
 The drainage commissioners having inquired of their attorneys 
 whether they might not provide temporary relief to the city of 
 Chicago by increasing the flow through the canal to 80,000 cubic 
 feet per minute, said attorneys, on the gth of March, 1892, reported 
 that they could not; closing their opinion in these words: " We 
 "find no warrant in the law for your affording relief to the city 
 " of Chicago except through a channel which shall conform to 
 "the requirements of the act creating the district, as set forth in 
 "Section 23 of said act." 
 
 Attention has thus been called to some of the more objection- 
 able features of the act, and in this connection it might appear 
 that the next topic in order would be the effort at the last session 
 of the Legislature to amend it; but before this, in view of the 
 unjust and untrue statements that the old Drainage Board had 
 not attempted to execute the law, it is proper to review the 
 efforts made to carry out the law as it now stands, and, in so 
 doing, to call attention to the conduct of one man, who is now 
 exercising very great influence in the present Drainage Board.
 
 EFFORTS TO CARRY OUT THE LAW. 
 
 The necessity of doing something to obviate existing evils 
 from Chicago sewage was imperative. Some, if not all, the 
 Drainage Commission were enthusiastically in favor of a great 
 water-way; the people had decided that it should be built, and, 
 as soon as elected, they set about it. The old Drainage Board 
 has been the subject of a good deal of flippant criticism on 
 account of its alleged slowness of action. The most serious 
 charge that can be brought against them in that behalf is their 
 retention of Cooley until December, 1891; why they did not 
 forthwith discharge him on the 2yth of August, 1890, upon the 
 reading of his reply to the letter of President Murry Nelson, is 
 inconceivable. It was due to Mr. Nelson that this should have 
 been done then and there. President Nelson wrote him August 
 i zth, suggesting that he discontinue the setting water gauges in 
 the Des Plaines River and elsewhere, as a useless expense. Mr. 
 Cooley replied on the i8th, saying, in substance, that he should 
 do no such thing, and that if the board should insist upon it, he 
 wanted a " commission of experts." 
 
 The first meeting of the drainage commissioners was held 
 Jamiary 18, 1890, when a temporary organization was effected. 
 February i, a permanent organization was effected, rules and an 
 order of business adopted, and permanent officers elected, among 
 whom was L. E. Cooley, to be Chief Engineer. 
 
 February 6th. "Resolved, That the Chief Engineer is hereby 
 "directed to collect and secure for the board all obtainable data 
 "and engineering information concerning the works necessary 
 "to accomplish the purpose of the creation of the sanitary 
 " district." 
 
 February 8th. An ordinance for the issuing of $1,000,000 
 in bonds was passed. (NOTE. Wherever quotations are made, 
 they are taken from the official printed proceedings of the board.) 
 
 February 8th. Chief Engineer Cooiey being called upon, 
 "stated that all the work preliminary to the actual work of con- 
 "struction would require till the spring of 1892." 
 
 (44)
 
 MR. COOLEY ''CONTINUES AT LARGE." 45 
 
 February isth. "On motion, Chief Engineer Cooley was 
 "permitted to have embodied in the minutes his posi- 
 tion with regard to the time of construction." "The re- 
 "port of officers being called for, Chief Engineer Cooley 
 ''speaks in reference to a question as to what steps should be 
 "taken to secure the co-operation of Congress. Mr. Cooley 
 "states he had matter to present on the subject, which, however, 
 'it may not be 'policy' to disclose at present." 
 
 "Motion is made to go into executive session, and carried." 
 
 The minutes are silent as to the deep disclosures of Mr. Cooley 
 on that memorable occasion. On the same day, however, the 
 board adopted a resolution in part as follows: 
 
 " That the Chief Engineer be hereby directed to secure and 
 "have in readiness to proceed to work, at or before May i, 1890, 
 " a sufficient staff and force to do all the necessary engineering work 
 "to enable the board to commence the work contemplated by 
 " law, at the earliest possible time thereafter. Chief Engineer 
 "Cooley being called upon, explains that while others were nu- 
 " meroiis, specialists for his work were few; that time is required 
 "in which to secure them, as well as the necessary special instru- 
 " ments needed. Mr. Cooley then continues at large." 
 
 The published proceedings of the board, as will be seen, show 
 that he has been ."at large " ever since. It is rather a remark- 
 able circumstance, that thus early in the action of the board an 
 employe should have been allowed to usurp any such position 
 in the board as is indicated by the above quotations from 
 their proceedings. What business had an employe to insist that 
 his position as to the time of construction, should be incorpo- 
 rated in the proceedings of the board? 
 
 March ist. "The Chief Engineer is instructed to report to 
 "this board in accordance with the resolution of February 6th, 
 "to collect and collate data, etc." 
 
 In the meanwhile, a case was pending in the Supreme Court 
 of the State to determine the legality of the Drainage Act, and 
 nothing further appears to have been done until June i4th, when 
 a meeting was held at which President Nelson spoke as follows: 
 "Gentlemen, we now have the decision of the Court. There is 
 "nothing in the way to prevent our going ahead as rapidly as 
 "possible. You all have the same idea, no doubt. I have but a 
 "single request to make, and that is that you be as concise and
 
 46 MR. COOLEY IS URGED TO GREATER ACTIVITY. 
 
 " rapid as may be, that we may get rid of the accumulation of 
 "studies we have been pursuing for the last six months and get 
 "direct to work." 
 
 On the same day, " Chief Engineer Cooley being called upon 
 "for report, asks for a week's time granted." 
 
 June i8th. "The Chief Engineer is hereby authorized and 
 " directed to make all necessary investigations, borings, exami- 
 " nations, and surveys between the Chicago River and its south 
 " branches and forks, and the summit, or thereabouts, to enable 
 " the Board of Trustees to locate any one of not less than four 
 " (4) routes for the purpose of constructing such channel as will 
 " be according to law, and also for supply channels therefor; and 
 "from that point to Lake Joliet; to make like investigations of 
 "the Des Plaines Valley for like purposes, and further examina- 
 "tion to enable him to inform the board of the relation of the 
 "channel and works, aforesaid, to the sanitary district, and to 
 " all the territory to be affected beneficially or otherwise by the 
 "construction and operation of said channels and works." 
 
 July 26th. " President Nelson expressed some apprehension 
 " at the delay in the Engineering Department, and suggested 
 " that a committee should be appointed to aid him." 
 
 " Mr. Prendergast thereupon moves, and Mr. Wenter seconds, 
 " the following resolution, and the same is adopted, Mr. Alt- 
 " peter voting in the negative: That a committee of three (3) 
 " on Engineering Department be appointed by the President, 
 " which shall see to the execution of the orders of the board, 
 " concerning the engineers' work of the district." 
 
 " President Nelson appointed as the committee, Messrs. 
 " Hotz, Wenter, and Prendergast." 
 
 September gth is the following: 
 
 " WHEREAS, The Engineer was requested to state in open 
 "meeting, on July i, 1890, whether he had sufficient means of 
 " all kinds, by reason of the action of the board up to and on 
 "that date, for furnishing means to carry out the resolution of 
 " June 18, 1890, and further, to state at what time he would be 
 " able to file such a report as would enable the board to locate a 
 " route as far as Summit, conforming to the resolution of June 
 " 18, 1890, and to file a petition to condemn the lands necessary 
 " for such a route; and,
 
 MR. COOLEY DIRECTED TO FILE A REPORT. 47 
 
 "WHEREAS, The Engineer then and there stated that he had 
 "all means necessary for that purpose, and that such report 
 " would be ready for the board's action within one hundred days 
 " from the ist day of July; therefore, be it 
 
 ^Resolved, That the Engineer be directed to file such report 
 "within thirty days from this day." 
 
 "The roll being called on the passage of the resolution, 
 " Messrs. Hotz, Prendergast, Willing, and President Nelson (4) 
 " voted aye; Messrs. Gilmore, King, and Wenter (3) voting no, 
 " Mr. Altpeter not voting, and Mr. Russell being absent from the 
 "room. President Nelson declared the motion passed." 
 
 September roth. "Resolved, That the Committee on Engi- 
 " neering be instructed to confer with the Chief Engineer, to 
 " examine the work of the Engineering Department to date, 
 "and report to this board at the earliest practicable time, with 
 "such recommendations as they may deem best." 
 
 October i5th. "The Chief Engineer submitted the follow- 
 "ing letter, which was read: 
 
 "ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, 
 " SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO, 
 " RIALTO BUILDING, CHICAGO, October 15, 1890. 
 
 " To the Board of Trustees, Sanitary District of Chicago. 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: I am unable to file the report called for by 
 " resolution of September pth, at this time. I had intended to 
 " lay before you at this meeting a communication in relation to 
 " this report. I have been unable to prepare this, as my time 
 "has been too fully occupied by the Committee on Engineering. 
 " I can lay this matter before the board by Friday, if the board 
 " desires, or at the next regular meeting of the board. 
 " Very respectfully, 
 
 " L. E. COOLEY, 
 " Chief Engineer." 
 
 November yth. " The Committee on Engineering Depart- 
 "ment presented the following report, viz: 
 
 " REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENGINEERING. 
 
 " The Committee on Engineering begs leave to report that, 
 " pursuant to directions of the board heretofore given, the com- 
 " mittee has investigated the progress of the work of the Engi-
 
 48 ENGINEERING COMMITTEE ON MR. COOLEY. 
 
 " neering Department, and, without at this time going into details, 
 "states the result of its investigation to be: 
 
 " First. That the Engineer acknowledges that he informed 
 "the board, on or prior to July i, 1890, that a report would 
 "be filed, within 100 days from that time, sufficiently com- 
 "plete to enable the board to locate the route of the main 
 " channel between the Chicago River and the summit, and that 
 'on September i3th a statement confirmatory of the above was 
 " made to the committee by the Engineer, he then promising to 
 "file such a report by October isth. No such report has been 
 " filed, and none is ready to be filed, and the nearest thing to 
 " fulfillment of that promise that the committee can discover is, 
 ' that the Engineer now promises to report perhaps by Christ- 
 " mas, and perhaps not for a considerable time thereafter; but 
 " even as to this report, he states that it will not be sufficiently 
 "complete to enable the location of the route of the main channel 
 "at the place indicated; hence, such a report as is now promised 
 " would be valueless. 
 
 " Second. The expenditures of the department are nearly 
 "double what the Engineer informed the board they would be, 
 " at the time the final ordinances were being prepared for the 
 'raising of the funds. 
 
 " Third. At all times, and especially since the decision of 
 "the Supreme Court affirming the validity of the act under 
 " which the board is organized, it has been the desire and judg- 
 " ment of the board, as the Engineer knew at all times, that the 
 "channel between the Chicago River and Summit should be 
 " located at the earliest practical moment. Not the least reason 
 "for this judgment is the fact that the land in that vicinity is 
 " rapidly increasing in price. 
 
 " Fourth. It seems to the committee that there has been too 
 "great scattering of forces generally, and too little concentra- 
 " tion of forces on this portion of the work. 
 
 " As the result of its investigations, the committee believes 
 "that up to date the work of the department has not been 
 "sufficiently energetic and practical. In view of the fact that 
 " the Engineer is now continually calling for increase of force, and 
 " other expenditures largely in excess of that formerly indicated 
 "by him as the proper and sufficient amount, and as the com- 
 " mittee has found an insufficiency of practical results yet 
 "obtained, and as the Engineer claims that notwithstanding the
 
 THE BOARD IN TROUBLE ABOUT ITS PROPERTY. 49 
 
 " findings of the committee, he has pushed the work with proper 
 " speed and economy, the committee recommends the employ- 
 " ment of a consulting engineer, and further that the statements 
 " of the Engineer, which are in type-writing, be referred to the 
 " attorney, with the request for an opinion as to the limitations 
 "of the power of the board. CHRISTOPH HOTZ, 
 
 .: "Chairman. 
 
 "CHICAGO, November 7, 1890." 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Willing, seconded by Mr. Gilmore, the 
 " report was received and adopted, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, 
 " Hotz, Prendergast, Willing, and President Nelson (6) voting 
 "aye; Mr. Wenter voting no." 
 
 November ipth. "Messrs. Willing and Prendergast each 
 " questioned Chief Engineer Cooley as to whether the data and 
 " memoranda in the possession of himself and employes in the 
 " Engineering Department, collected, collated, and obtained 
 " during working hours, and at the expense of the sanitary 
 " district, was to be considered as personal or private prop- 
 " erty, or property of the sanitary district, to which Chief 
 " Engineer Cooley replied that it was the property of the sani- 
 " tary district. 
 
 "Mr. Prendergast presented the following, viz.: 
 
 "Resolved, That the Engineering Department, and all officers, 
 " members, and employes thereof, be directed to preserve and 
 " file with that department all data and memoranda now or 
 " hereafter in their possession, and to destroy nothing of that 
 "kind." 
 
 November 26th. ''Resolved, That the Chief Engineer be, and 
 " he is hereby directed, to suspend immediately all field or other 
 "work upon the Upper Des Plaines River, except gauges, and 
 " all work outside of the district and below Joliet, and to make 
 "additional surveys and borings between Chicago and Summit, 
 11 if such additional investigations shall be necessary, and to 
 " make compilations from such field notes and other data as are 
 " now in his control, or the control of the employes of the board, 
 " or which shall be obtained in accordance with this resolution, 
 " so as to enable the board to locate any one of not less than 
 " four (4) routes for the main channel between Chicago and 
 " Summit, and that he make report thereon to this board, with 
 " all convenient speed. 
 
 4
 
 50 MR. COOLEY MUST DELIVER PAPERS. 
 
 "On the roll-call, Messrs. 'Gilmore, Hotz, Prendergast, and 
 " Willing (4) voted aye, and Messrs. Altpeter, Russell, and Wenter 
 " (3) voted no, whereupon the resolution was passed. 
 
 " A roll-call on the following was then taken: 
 
 " Resolved, further, That the Chief Engineer be, and he is 
 " hereby directed to abstain from obtaining information concern- 
 " ing land values and facts of record in the Recorder's office, 
 "relating to the territory between Chicago and Summit, until 
 " the further order of this board. These resolutions not to apply 
 " to the investigation of the South Branch heretofore specially 
 " ordered. 
 
 " On the roll-call, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, Hotz, Prender- 
 "gast, and Willing (5) voted aye, and Messrs. Russell and 
 ' Wenter (2) voted no, whereupon the resolution was passed." 
 
 December loth. " Mr. Willing presented the following reso- 
 " lution, viz.: 
 
 " Resolved, That the Chief Engineer be, and he hereby is 
 "instructed and directed to deliver forthwith to the clerk the 
 "documents, notes, and materials, and all copies thereof, relating 
 " to the report of the Committee on Federal Relations. 
 
 " Mr. Willing moved, and Mr. Hotz seconded, the passage of 
 " the said resolution, and the same was adopted. 
 
 " On the roll-call, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, Hotz, Willing, 
 " and President Prendergast (5) voting aye, Mr. Wenter (i) voting 
 " no, and Mr. Russell (i) not voting. 
 
 "Mr. Willing offered the following resolution, viz.: 
 
 " Resolve j, That Chief Engineer Cooley be instructed to 
 "deliver into the vaults of this board to-morrow, Thursday 
 " morning, December 1 1, 1890, the report on Federal Relations, in 
 " its present condition, and all copies thereof in his possession, 
 "or under his control. 
 
 " Mr. Willing moved the adoption of the said resolution, sec- 
 " ended by Mr. Gilmore, and the same was passed. 
 
 " On the roll-call, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, Hotz, Russell, 
 " Willing, and President Prendergast (6) voted aye, Mr. Wenter 
 " (i) voted no. 
 
 "Resolved, That Gen. John Newton be, and he is hereby 
 " made consulting engineer upon a compensation to be fixed by 
 "the Finance Committee, after consultation with Gen. Newton, 
 "and subject to the approval of the board. 
 
 "On the roll-call, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, Hotz, Russell,
 
 DILATOR1NESS OF MR. COOLEY. 51 
 
 " Wenter, Willing, and President Prendergast (7) voted aye, 
 " noes none; whereupon it was declared unanimously passed. 
 
 " In response to an inquiry by President Prendergast, Chief 
 " Engineer Cooley said that his report, as also a copy thereof, on 
 " the subject matter relating to ' federal relations,' was at his 
 " private residence; that Mr. Rooney, one of his subordinates, 
 " had another copy in his possession, and that those two were the 
 " only copies in existence. 
 
 " Mr. Hotz presented the following resolution, and moved its 
 " adoption, seconded by Mr. Willing: 
 
 " Resolved, That the employment and tenure of office of L. 
 " E. Cooley, Esq., as Chief Engineer of the Sanitary District of 
 " Chicago, be, and the same is, hereby terminated. 
 
 " On the roll-call, Messrs. Altpeter, Gilmore, Hotz, Willing, 
 " and President Prendergast (5) voted aye, and Messrs. Rus- 
 " sell and Wenter (2) voted no, whereupon the said resolution 
 " was duly passed." 
 
 The foregoing extracts from the printed proceedings of the 
 Drainage Commission show their earnestness and activity to 
 carry out the law. It thus appears that the board were earnestly, 
 nay, even impatiently, pushing forward the engineering work; 
 two engineers of large experience and high standing have stated 
 to the writer that one well-equipped engineering party could 
 have made a thorough preliminary survey of the route, from Chi- 
 cago to Joliet, in thirty days. The Herring Commission had from 
 April ist to January, and Mr. Cooley, with all that Herring had 
 done at his disposal, had from July ist until December. The 
 fact was, that Cooley frittered away time and money in useless de- 
 tails; the work to be done was to dig a ditch from Chicago to 
 Joliet, and his paramount duty was to locate one or more routes, 
 and give their cost. Instead of that, he was dawdling around the 
 country with "a reconnaissance of the Illinois Valley," "a com- 
 prehensive investigation of the water-sheds of the Des Plaines 
 and Chicago rivers," "with the distribution of population," with 
 "hydraulic investigations," with "a topographical reconnaissance 
 of the country north and west of the drainage district," etc. See 
 his statement in the drainage proceedings, pages 43 and 44. 
 
 As appears by the proceedings of February 8, 1890, above 
 quoted, Mr. Cooley was then laying out the ground for a life 
 interest in his employment. He had been chief assistant to 
 Mr. Herring, and knew what had been done by that commission,
 
 52 WORTHLESSNESS OF COOLEY. 
 
 and yet he stated that it would require two years of engineering 
 before a spadeful of earth could be turned. 
 
 It would seem, further, from the proceedings of the board, 
 that they entertained apprehensions that' the subordinates con- 
 sidered their books of field notes as private property. That 
 those subordinates were devoted to Cooley, rather than to their 
 employer, was shown by the fact that, when Cooley was dis- 
 missed, they, with one or two exceptions, either left or were dis- 
 missed for insubordination. 
 
 After his discharge from the office of chief engineer, Mr. 
 Cooley published a large double-column pamphlet, of some 125 
 pages, with the title "The Lake and Gulf Water-way as Related 
 to the Chicago Sanitary Problem." 
 
 How much of it related to the Chicago sanitary problem, and 
 of what value his services were, as the Chief Engineer of the drain- 
 age district, in locating a route, and to what extent he devoted 
 himself to that work, and how far he chose to obey the instruc- 
 tions of the board, as contained in the resolutions of February 
 6th, March ist, June i8th, and September pth, may be judged 
 from the following extracts from the preface to that pamphlet: 
 
 "This report was practically completed ten months ago, but 
 " as the policy herein outlined was not in harmony with that of 
 " the majority of the Board of Trustees of the sanitary district 
 " it has not been published. * * * * It is now placed before the 
 " public in very nearly its original form. * * * * Readers who 
 " look for a discussion of the sanitary problem of Chicago will be 
 " disappointed. The available data had been practically ex- 
 " hausted by the labors of the Drainage and Water-supply Com- 
 " mission of 1886 and 1887 (the Herring Commission), and of the 
 " State Board of Health." 
 
 The value of the Herring report has been considered, and 
 what the State Board of Health had to do with locating the 
 route for a canal from Chicago to Joliet, is something that no 
 one but Mr. Cooley can understand. 
 
 On December 17, 1890, Mr. Worthen was made Chief Engi- 
 neer, and on January i3th Messrs. Worthen and Newton made 
 a report as to the cost of a canal from Chicago to Joliet, to be 
 built in accordance with the Drainage Act, as being $22, 700,000. 
 
 In a further report, made February 2ist, they declared that 
 the present canal must be widened and deepened, and estimated 
 the expense of that work at $3,200,000.
 
 COOLEY, WILLIAMS, AND KURD OPPOSE AMENDMENT. 53 
 
 It was broadly stated in the first report that provision must 
 be made for an additional supply of water, but they made no sug- 
 gestion as to what additional supply was necessary, nor how it 
 was to be procured, and the probable cost, nor any estimate of 
 the cost of right of way. 
 
 With an estimate of $26,000,000 for labor and material to 
 construct the work, and the obvious necessity for several millions 
 of dollars more for right of way, and for an additional supply of 
 water, and for bridges, etc., staring them in the face, the com- 
 missioners sought relief by having the act amended, so as not to 
 require the unnecessary rock-cut and the superfluous quantity of 
 water. 
 
 THE EFFORT TO AMEND THE ACT. 
 
 On the 7th of March, 1891, the board adopted a minute, 
 addressed to the citizens of the drainage district, in which was 
 set forth, in substance, their inability to construct the canal as 
 required by law with the means provided, and the necessity of 
 its amendment in the two particulars of the useless rock- 
 cut and the unnecessary quantity of water required; and on 
 March 21, 1891, a resolution was adopted that the act ought to 
 be amended in those respects, and also in the provision limiting 
 the use of the Illinois & Michigan Canal to that portion 
 within Cook County. 
 
 In pursuance of that resolution, a member of the Drainage 
 Board went to Springfield, in the spring of 1891, to present and 
 urge the proposed amendments before the Legislature, which 
 was then in session. Benzette Williams saw in this move some- 
 thing which threatened his " policy"; L. E. Cooley of Evanston 
 likewise saw something which threatened the possibility of a 
 future fat salary for little work, and they hastened to Springfield 
 to oppose the amendment. Harvey B. Hurd of Evanston was 
 also on hand in opposition to the proposed amendment. This 
 is no place to indulge in personalities, but the wonderful devo- 
 tion of Mr. Hurd to the sanitary interests of Chicago, and his 
 eagerness in behalf of this idiotic drainage scheme, require 
 explanation. It has been charged against him that his interest 
 is purely personal; that he is interested in a tract of swamp 
 lands on the Des Plaines River, north of Chicago, which he ex- 
 pects will be drained, if the water-way scheme goes through. 
 Whether the charge be true or not, he does not live in Chicago.
 
 54 EFFORT TO AMEND FAILS. 
 
 He has not established any particular reputation as a public- 
 spirited citizen, and to those who know his record as revisor of 
 the statutes of Illinois, who remember what was said of him 
 when he was candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, and, 
 later, his record as County Commissioner of Cook County, his 
 opinion will have no special weight. He should have no voice in 
 the settlement of the question. 
 
 The river valley people were frantic in their denunciation 
 of the proposed changes. The Chicago members of the Legis- 
 lature were divided; some were indifferent, some incapable of un- 
 derstanding the necessity of the case, some were either out-and- 
 out water-way men, or were under the control of men who were, 
 and some were either personally or politically hostile to the rep- 
 resentative of the Drainage Board, and so the effort to amend 
 proved abortive. The city of Chicago and the Drainage Board 
 were represented by a public officer; he was one of the men to 
 whom had been confided the work of executing the law. After 
 a careful study, aided by the best engineering ability in the 
 country (Messrs. Worthen and Newton), they had found the 
 execution of the law impracticable, and sought to have it amended. 
 Mr. Benzette Williams of Salt Creek, and Messrs. Hurd and 
 Cooley of Evanston, joined the valley people in resisting the 
 amendment. Cooley is now commissioner, and Williams Chief 
 Engineer. 
 
 CHANGES IN THE BOARD. 
 
 As originally constituted, the board consisted of six members 
 elected upon a citizens' ticket and three members elected on the 
 Democratic ticket; of these, three of the men elected on the citi- 
 zens' ticket, viz., Messrs. Nelson, Hotz, and Willing, and one upon 
 the Democratic ticket, Mr. John A. King, have resigned. Some, 
 and probably all of them, did this because they were convinced 
 of the impracticability of the law, and further that they would 
 not be parties to the imposition of such a ruinous and wholly 
 unnecessary burden of taxation upon the people of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Murry Nelson is an old and highly respected citizen of 
 Chicago, and well known as a man of great public spirit. Mr. 
 Willing is a retired merchant; he was for many years an active 
 member of the great mercantile firm of Marshall Field & Co. 
 Mr. Hotz is a prominent German, and is the managing partner 
 of the great wagon manufacturing firm of Scheuttler & Hotz.
 
 CHANGES IN THE BOARD. 55 
 
 John A. King is president of one of the National Banks of Chi- 
 cago. All of them are men of large means. 
 
 On the 2 ist of April, 1891, the resignations of Messrs. Worthen 
 as Chief, and of Gen. Newton as Consulting Engineer, were 
 accepted by the board. These two men were of national repu- 
 tation; they had been in office only about three months; their 
 salaries were each $10,000 per annum; it is fair to infer that they 
 accepted the positions with the expectation of retaining them, and, 
 in the absence of any other reason given, it is reasonable to con- 
 clude that they resigned because they looked upon the drainage 
 scheme as a huge fraud, and would not be identified with 
 it. There is now one vacancy and three new members, viz., 
 Eckhart, who was a member of the Legislature that passed the 
 act, and a member of the Legislative Commission of 1887, before 
 referred to, and who is, or at least has been, a pronounced advocate 
 of a great water-way; then there is the Cooley aforesaid, and 
 a Mr. Boldenwick from Lake View, who is said to be a mild type 
 of water-way enthusiast and an industrious politician. Mr. 
 Wenter has been made president of the board. 
 
 One of their first acts was to oust Mr. Artingstall from the 
 position of Chief Engineer, and install Mr. Benzette Williams, of 
 Bridgeport pumps, etc., memory, in his place. To the extent of 
 having secured a salary of $9,000 per annum, he is reaping the 
 benefit of his "policy." They have undone all that their pre- 
 decessors did, and have been making furious efforts to show how 
 quickly they are going to build a canal; in addition to a route 
 laid out by Messrs. Worthen and Newton, and another by Mr. 
 Artingstall, they had some five other routes planned by Mr. 
 Williams, and Cooley had a project for still another. Mr. Williams 
 and his old-time associate Cooley have been at outs as to the 
 route, and the former wanted a commission of a board of "experts" 
 to decide the matter. These Chief Engineers are strong on the 
 "expert" question. This "expert" business is a good deal like the 
 making of silver shrines for Diana of the Ephesians, of some two 
 thousand years ago; it " brings no small gain unto the craftsmen." 
 
 It may be claimed that the conduct of the Drainage Board in 
 letting contracts and in purchasing real estate, are evidences of 
 their present disposition to push the work forward to a speedy 
 completion. Some of the members of the board may have that 
 idea, but so far as Mr. Cooley is concerned the only way to judge 
 of him for the future, is by the past.
 
 56 CHARACTER OF PRESENT BOARD. 
 
 The history of the Engineering Department gives good foun- 
 dation for the belief that the present hurried movement is made 
 for the purpose of fastening the " policy " of building this big 
 ditch upon the public, and as a measure of resistance to any 
 attempt to repeal the law. 
 
 When these ends are secured, it will probably be found that 
 drainage work will go slow enough to afford life-long employ- 
 ment to some of the men now engaged in it, and in the meantime 
 the people of Chicago will get along as best they can, for a decent 
 water supply. 
 
 The records of some of these men have been given. It is 
 enough to say of Mr. Wenter that he voted against the resolu- 
 tion of September 9, 1890, calling upon Cooley for a report; he 
 voted against the report of the Engineering Cormiittee of Novem- 
 ber 7, 1890; he voted against the resolution of November 26, 1890, 
 directing the Engineer to confine his work to the route between 
 Chicago and Joliet; he voted against the resolution of December 
 10, 1890, calling upon the Engineer to turn over certain papers to 
 the Engineering Committee, and voted against the dismissal of 
 Cooley on the same day. 
 
 On July 22, 1891, the old Drainage Board adopted a route 
 for the canal between Bridgeport and Summit, in pursuance of 
 the recommendations of Chief Engineer Artingstall. Mr. Wenter 
 was a member of the Committee on Engineering, and signed the 
 report approving the route, and he also voted for the route, yet 
 upon a resolution that the Chief Engineer employ the necessary 
 assistance for locating it, Mr. Wenter voted no. What the 
 future will disclose as to the character of the present board, of 
 which Mr. Wenter is president, remains to be seen.
 
 THE COST OF THE PROPOSED WATER 
 CHANNEL. 
 
 Something like a half million of dollars has been expended, 
 and yet we have no definite statement of the work to be done, 
 nor estimate of its cost. 
 
 Many people have an idea that when a channel is completed, 
 through which 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute may course 
 from the Chicago River to the upper basin, the work will be 
 done; members of the Drainage Commission are rubbing their 
 hands in gleeful fatuity over the opportunity of letting con- 
 tracts to the amount of $10,700,000 for excavations to be made 
 between Willow Springs and Lockport, as a huge stride toward 
 the creation of a great water-way. 
 
 No one ever doubted that $10,700,000 in money would dig 
 out a good deal of earth and stone, but a great many have 
 believed, and do still believe, that this is but an inconsiderable 
 part of the expenditure involved in the completed work. 
 
 It is worth while, then, to review these contracts, and note 
 what will be accomplished by their fulfillment, and what will still 
 remain to be done. On the i7th February, 1892, the Engineer 
 of the Drainage Board reported that Route 3, from Willow 
 Springs to the upper basin, would require 4,613 acres of land, 
 and that the cost of the excavation would be $10,777,320. This 
 route was adopted by the board March 2, 1892. On June 8, 
 bids for this work were opened, and the lowest bid was $17,105,- 
 935.83. The Engineer's estimate was too small by the sum of 
 $6,328,615.83. Or, his estimate covered about 60 per cent, of 
 the lowest bid that could be obtained. Commentary upon such an 
 estimate is superfluous. 
 
 It would seem that some such outcome was expected, for two 
 other propositions were put forward; by the first, the board was 
 to keep the channel dry and remove all the stone and dirt. It 
 would seem as though this plan was devised so that a low bid 
 might be secured, and that, as in the past, their extravagant bills 
 had been paid every month without observation, so, monthly 
 bills for keeping the channel dry, and removing the earth and 
 
 (57)
 
 58 SCHEMES TO SECURE LOW BIDS. 
 
 rock excavated, would also pass without criticism. The bids for 
 the work under this scheme were $10,111,731.87. 
 
 The commissioners had still another project, and that was to 
 stop the work at Section 14, near Lockport; the distance from 
 Willow Springs to the upper basin was i8f miles, and this prop- 
 osition was to dig this ditch from Willow Springs, and stop about 
 4^ miles short of the upper basin, they "reserving the right to 
 " make all river, canal, and railway changes independent of the 
 "main work." 
 
 The lowest bids for this work amount to $10,696,754.98. 
 
 The Drainage Board concluded that they did not have 
 $17,000,000 handy, and so they abandoned any idea of a 
 contract for the work from Willow Springs to the upper basin. 
 
 A sort of partnership between the Drainage Commission and 
 the contractors, by which the latter were to loosen the dirt 
 and rock, and the former carry it off, was objected to by some of 
 the working majority of the board, and that had to be aban- 
 doned; the only alternative was to fall back on the short job. 
 
 On the 1 8th of Pune, the joint committees of the board 
 (which constitute a majority of the board) reported in favor of 
 undertaking the work on the short job upon the basis of bids 
 amounting to $10,696,754.98. 
 
 The grand project of a magnificent water-way from Chicago 
 to the Mississippi dwindled, first, to a useless water power at 
 Joliet, and, in their report of June i8th, above referred to, it 
 slumps to the proportions of " a tail-race," and the expenditure of 
 thirty-odd millions of dollars this side of Lockport is to be 
 made in order to create a feeder for it. 
 
 In the report of June i8th, above referred to, the committee 
 say as much, and that must be taken as their final word, until 
 they speak again. 
 
 A rock-cut channel, fourteen miles long, 160 feet wide,- and 
 eighteen feet deep is to be cut and a channel costing $10,000,000 
 from Bridgeport to Willow Springs, and $6,000,000 or $8,000,000 
 more are to be expended for the enlargement of Chicago River, 
 and all to terminate in a tail-race. 
 
 Slight as are the claims to respect of water-way enthusiasts, 
 a proposition to expend this amount of money for such a pur- 
 pose can scarcely be credited to them; but their plans for a 
 water-way have broken down, and they must do something; that 
 something, as they say in their report, is to wait until they can
 
 COST OF WORK. 59 
 
 get more money, or until the Federal Government takes hold of 
 the matter. 
 
 As above stated, the lowest bids amounted to $10,696,754.98. 
 
 The joint committee further say, " there must be added, the 
 "cost of right of way, structures (such as bridges, dams, etc.), 
 " and work not submitted to bids. 
 
 " That the cost of right of way may be assumed for present 
 purposes to be $800,000." 
 
 The engineer reported on the iyth of February, 1892, that 
 the structures, etc., requisite on Route 3 would cost $677,000. 
 
 Making an aggregate of $12,173,754.98 
 
 To this should be added 2^ per cent, for con- 
 tingencies, and a like amount for engineering 608,687.74 
 
 $12,782,442.72 
 To this must be added the cost of the sluice-way, 
 
 which the joint committee report at. 1,500,000.00 
 
 This makes an aggregate for the expense of the 
 water channel from Willow Springs to the 
 upper basin of $14,282,442.72 
 
 And beside all this, there is "the work not submitted to bids." 
 
 In this presentation of the case, it must be remembered that 
 the only solid ground we have, is that of the bids; for the cost of 
 the tail-race, of bridges, moving of railroad tracks, and of the 
 right of way, we have to depend upon the report of the Drain- 
 age Commission and its Chief Engineer. 
 
 If his estimate of the cost of excavating Route No. 3 is 
 a fair sample of his work, then large additions to his figures 
 must be made. Of " the work not submitted to bids," the public 
 are not advised. It is evidently another case for secret session. 
 
 We now come to the cost of the water channel from Chicago 
 River to Willow Springs. On the 7th of June, 1892, the Engineer 
 made a report upon six different routes for a channel with a 
 capacity of 300,000 cubic feet per minute. The lowest of these 
 estimates was upon the line of the present canal, with a narrow 
 right of way, and was $5,899,963, and contemplated railroad 
 changes of some six different railroads, with eleven tracks and 
 a switching yard, etc.; and he says in his report that his estimate 
 gives " no idea of the relative injury to railroad property as not 
 "being susceptible of estimate."
 
 60 ADDITIONAL WORKS NECESSARY. 
 
 The addition of any specific amount to this estimate would 
 seem to be unwarrantable, unless the data upon which it is made 
 were given; but in view of such of his estimates as we have been 
 able to compare with the actual figures, and in view of some 
 further opportunities which will be mentioned hereafter, it would 
 seem that an addition of 33 to 40 per cent, should be made to 
 any estimate proffered by Mr. Williams. He proposes radical 
 interference with six different railroad systems, and to such an 
 extent that he can give no idea of the injuries, " as not being 
 " susceptible of estimate." 
 
 Without wasting time in commenting upon such a confession 
 of impotence, is it not the more prudent course to treat his esti- 
 mate of $6,000,000 as being a scanty 60 per cent, of the actual 
 cost, and set down the real figure, as being $10,000,000, making 
 the total for the channel from Chicago River to Lockpprt, and 
 thence by sluice-way (or, as the Engineer not improperly desig- 
 nates it in this connection, "tail-race ") to the upper basin, the 
 sum of $24,282,442. 
 
 In addition to the main channel and sluice-way, there are 
 various subsidiary works which will be necessary, as: 
 
 1. The entire rebuilding of the walls and dams of the upper 
 and lower basins, and extensive protecting walls along the Des 
 Plaines River in Joliet. 
 
 2. The construction of a tunnel from the lake to the east 
 branch of the south fork, to create a current which will carry off 
 the sewage of the stock yards. 
 
 3. An intercepting sewer along the lake to take up the sew- 
 age now emptying into Lake Michigan. 
 
 4. The 'enlargement of Chicago River. 
 
 5. To these items of expense must be added the liability 
 for damages for flooding lands, and the destruction of property 
 in the Illinois River Valley. 
 
 Of these items in their order: 
 
 First. The upper basin at Joliet is 4,000 feet long, 300 feet 
 wide, and from six inches to sixteen feet deep. 
 
 The lower basin is about 2,600 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 
 about of the same depth as the upper basin. They are faced 
 with an indifferent stone wall, which, while fairly adequate for 
 present use, would not answer with an additional flow of 300,000 
 cubic feet per minute. 
 
 These basins are kept well filled by the 35,000 cubic feet per
 
 LARGE OUTLAY AT JOLIET. 61 
 
 minute now pumped at Bridgeport, and would have to be raised 
 much higher for the proposed additional quantity of water. To 
 do this, the present walls must be torn out and new walls con- 
 structed. 
 
 The tops of the present walls lining the basins are about on 
 a level with the land adjoining, and the increase in height would 
 have to be high and strong enough to contain the waters from 
 the proposed channel, with the flood-waters of the Des Plaines 
 added. It will be remembered that serious damage was done 
 in Joliet during May and June, 1892, by the flood-waters of the 
 Des Plaines. 
 
 The following dispatches are taken from the Chicago 
 Daily News of May 5, 1892, as to the effects of the flood in 
 May: 
 
 " JOLIET, May 5th. The rain last night was the heaviest that 
 " ever fell in this district. The Des Plaines River and the 
 " canal have overflowed their banks, and the citizens living 
 "within a half mile of the river have been notified to move out. 
 "No business is being done, and all are helping to save life and 
 " property. 
 
 " At Hydes' mill, one mile north of Joliet, on the river bank, 
 " is the most dangerous place. The lock at this place may be 
 " taken out at any moment. If such should happen, the entire busi- 
 "ness part of Joliet would be under water, and buildings in the 
 " valley would be swept away. At the Jefferson Street bridge, in 
 "the heart of the city, the water is overflowing the river banks, 
 " and the basements of stores, as well as dwelling-houses along 
 "the river, are full of water." 
 
 As to the June flood at Joliet, the following is taken from the 
 Chicago Herald of June 24, 1892: 
 
 " JOLIET, ILL., June 23d. The Du Page and Des Plaines 
 " rivers have risen and the water is backing into the mills, fac- 
 " lories, streets, and farm lands." 
 
 If to the volume of water mentioned in these dispatches 
 there be added 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute from the 
 drainage channel, it can not be otherwise than that very great 
 additional damage would ensue. For all this, the drainage district 
 will be liable, hence the necessity of extensive and elaborate pro- 
 tecting walls of masonry. 
 
 Messrs. Worthen and Newton reported that this additional 
 quantity of water would flood out the dams at the lower ends of
 
 62 CONDUIT FROM THE LAKE. 
 
 the two basins; that is, that the water would make a continuous 
 course over these dams with little or no appearance of a fall. 
 They suggested that the water should be taken in an iron cylinder, 
 thirty-six feet in diameter, from the upper basin down past Joliet to 
 empty into the Des Plaines. This would be a work of very con- 
 siderable magnitude, and would not have been suggested by them 
 unless the necessity was urgent. 
 
 There are no figures at hand upon which to base an estimate 
 of the cost of the necessary work upon the basins, and to protect 
 Joliet, but it would seem as though to erect several miles of 
 heavy stone wall that $2,500,000 was not unreasonable. 
 
 Second. The connection of the east branch of the south 
 fork with the main channel. 
 
 In his report of June 7, 1 892, the Chief Engineer estimates the 
 cost of a conduit from the lake, and a system of intersecting sewers 
 which would collect all the sewage of the city south of Thirty- 
 ninth Street, including everything from the stock yards and 
 slaughter houses, and convey the same to the east fork, with 
 pumping works to raise the water flowing through the conduit, 
 so that there would be a gravity flow to the main channel, as being 
 $346,280, and costing annually to operate $12,000. This estimate 
 is based upon the capacity and cost of a sewer 6,200 feet long 
 and twelve feet in diameter, as costing $40 per running foot, or 
 $248,000, and he proposed a conduit of that size to carry all the 
 sewage of the South Side south of Thirty-ninth Street, and all 
 the sewage of the stock yards, and the subsoil water which it 
 would gather in its course, and provide for a change of water of 
 the entire east fork of the South Branch once in twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 These figures are simply preposterous. This is not a case 
 where the estimate is even 60 per cent, of the actual cost. Mr. 
 Williams gives the distance from the lake to the east branch of 
 the south fork as 6,200 feet. 
 
 What he meant by a conduit of that length it is difficult to 
 imagine. The distance from the lake to the east end of the 
 east branch of the south fork is 14,650 feet. The conduit 
 must extend several hundred feet into the lake, so that it is safe 
 to say the conduit will have to be 15,000 feet in length. 
 
 The Fullerton Avenue conduit is twelve feet in diameter and 
 11,898 feet in length from the lake shaft to the North Branch of 
 the river. The distance from the lake shore to Fullerton Avenue
 
 WORTHLESS ESTIMATES OF MR. WILLIAMS. 63 
 
 works is 11,195 ^ eet - The west 4,270 feet of that conduit is an 
 open trench, which is much less expensive than tunneling. 
 
 The actual cost of the Fullerton Avenue conduit, engines, 
 and machinery was $566,515.13, and this was with the open 
 trench, above mentioned, for nearly half its length. What Mr. 
 Williams meant then, in estimating the cost of the conduit from 
 the lake to the east fork, twelve feet in diameter with the neces- 
 sary engines and pumps, at $297,000, is absolutely inconceivable. 
 
 Taking into account the additional length of the conduit, and 
 the fact that it must be all tunnel work, it is certainly safe to 
 estimate the cost of a tunnel twelve feet in diameter, from the 
 lake to the east fork, at one-third more than the cost of the 
 Fullerton Avenue conduit, which would be $755,353.50, or 2^ 
 times more than the estimate of Mr. Williams. 
 
 He estimated the annual cost of pumping 18,000 cubic feet 
 of water per minute at $12,000. 
 
 The Fullerton Avenue pumps have a capacity of 13,000 cubic 
 feet per minute of the same kind of work. 
 
 The expenses of those works for the past three years were as 
 follows: 
 
 1889 (which included $6,000 for repairs) $21,107.14 
 
 1890 15,620.63 
 
 1891 (about) 15,000.00 
 
 Does Mr. Williams propose to revolutionize pumping works 
 in Chicago or has he made a willful underestimate? Substan- 
 tially, he proposes to do one-half more work for one-fourth less 
 money than Chicago is now doing. 
 
 Third. An intercepting sewer along the lake from Twelfth 
 Street to Thirty-ninth Street, of sufficient size to take up the out- 
 put of these three main sewers, can probably be built for 
 $120,000, which should be added to the cost of the conduit as 
 above given. 
 
 THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE CHICAGO RIVER. 
 
 Fourth. The question as to how 300,000 cubic feet of water 
 per minute is to be supplied to the channel is of the first impor- 
 tance. Of what use is this expensive channel without water? 
 
 The only existing source of supply is by the way of the South 
 Branch. From Lake Street bridge to the fork at Ashland Avenue 
 is about 4^ miles. At the Adams and Jackson street bridges
 
 64 
 
 WATER WANTED FOR A WATER-WAY. 
 
 the river is ninety-five feet wide, and at twelve different and other 
 places, between Jackson Street and the fork at Bridgeport, the 
 width of the river varies from 115 to 140 feet, with an average 
 width, at these twelve places, of 127^ feet. 
 
 The South Branch is crossed by seventeen city bridges and 
 four railroad bridges, all except three having stone piers in the 
 center of the stream. The quantity of water flowing up the 
 South Branch necessarily depends on the rapidity of the cur- 
 rent and the width and depth of the stream. In May, 1891, 
 Capt. Marshall found the depth to vary from io|- to 14 feet. 
 He also made at that time an estimate, in cubic feet per min- 
 ute, of the quantity of water which could flow up the South 
 Branch at one mile per hour. His estimates were at fourteen 
 given points, as stated below, and were figured both upon the 
 depth of the water at that time and upon a uniform depth 
 of eighteen feet, as follows: 
 
 POINT OF MEASUREMENT. 
 
 Number of cubic 
 feet with pres- 
 ent depth of 
 channel. 
 
 Number of cubic 
 feet with chan- 
 nel eighteen ft. 
 deep. 
 
 Lake Street .. 
 
 191,198 
 
 I3 2 ,3S 2 
 I 59,59 
 114,611 
 
 131,789 
 
 148,579 
 169,162 
 
 130,830 
 
 133,874 
 186,560 
 
 139,348 
 
 i39,3 4 
 114,400 
 
 135,749 
 128,990 
 
 242,986 
 202,752 
 183,744 
 I39,39 2 
 164,736 
 206,712 
 
 217,325 
 183,744 
 180,259 
 219,226 
 199,901 
 207,979 
 173,606 
 
 I75, 32 
 182,160 
 
 Randolph Street 
 
 Madison Street. 
 
 Adams Street 
 
 Jackson Street 
 
 Van Buren Street .. 
 
 Harrison Street _. 
 
 Polk Street .. 
 
 Wisconsin Central Railway . 
 
 Twelfth Street. 
 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Ry.. _ 
 Eighteenth Street 
 
 Fort Wayne Railway. 
 
 Twenty-second Street . 
 
 Halsted Street 
 
 
 This estimate does not take into account the piling around 
 the bridge piers for protection, nor yet the more variable factor 
 of vessels along the docks. The average width of vessels en- 
 gaged in navigation from Chicago to the lower lakes is now 
 thirty-eight feet. The new vessels being built are from forty to 
 forty-two feet wide; their bottoms are flat, so that when loaded they
 
 CHICAGO RIVER TOO NARROW. 65 
 
 operate as an obstruction to the channel thirty-eight to forty-two 
 feet wide. As a matter of fact, there are many places in the 
 river where two of these boats opposite each other leave but 
 little more than room for a tug to pass along. 
 
 By reference to the above table, it will be seen that at the 
 depth of water existing at the time of Capt. Marshall's meas- 
 urement, out of fourteen points given, there are only three which, 
 at the rate of one mile per hour, or eighty-eight feet per minute, 
 will allow the flow of more than one-half the quantity of water 
 required, even when unobstructed by vessels. 
 
 Something can be done by way of deepening the channel, but 
 docks, bridge piers, and buildings along the banks of the river 
 have been constructed with reference to its present depth, and 
 it is the prevalent opinion, both among practical men and engi- 
 neers, that it would endanger their foundations to deepen the 
 channel to a greater depth than eighteen feet. 
 
 Taking the most liberal estimate of the present capacity of 
 the South Branch, if 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute is to 
 flow toward the proposed channel, provision should be made for 
 an additional supply of one-half that amount. 
 
 Mr. Williams, as Chief Engineer of the drainage district, is 
 finally brought to face this question. On the iyth of February, 
 1892, he was directed to make estimates of three routes from the 
 river to the summit, each estimate to include bridges, right of 
 way, railway damages, and all other work. 
 
 On June 7, 1892, he made his report, and flounders around, 
 twice in the Ogden ditch, once in the canal, once in the south 
 fork, once in both the south fork and Ogden ditch, and once 
 in both the south fork and the canal. Instead of confining 
 himself to his duties as Engineer, and complying with the reso- 
 lutions of the board to lay out the routes and give the estimates 
 as directed, he usurps the functions of the board, and proceeds 
 to discuss what ought to be done not in a logical order; your 
 genuine water-way crank has very little idea of logic. His true 
 intellectual method is to continue " at large," and have a 
 " policy." 
 
 One of the peculiar propositions of his report is, that it is no 
 concern of the Drainage Board whether Chicago River continues 
 navigable or not; they might co-operate to that end, but only as 
 a matter of majestic condescension; he finds movable b'idges an 
 incubus, and that it is within the scope of his duties as Engineer 
 
 5
 
 66 MR. WILLIAMS ON RIVER NAVIGATION. 
 
 to discuss the questions submitted to him by the board, "with 
 " reference to the broadest sanitary, commercial, and political 
 " interests of this community and of the country at large." 
 
 Let one imagine for a moment the City Engineer of Chicago 
 reporting to the Council, or the engineer of one of our great 
 railroads indulging in such flatulence in a report to the Board of 
 Directors! Entertaining such a conception of his duties as 
 engineer, nothing definite could be expected. 
 
 Instead of ascertaining from intelligent sources the extreme 
 velocity of current permissible in the river, and then stating 
 the size of the channel necessary, the amount of land to be taken 
 and its value, the cost of excavation, and the damages which 
 would accrue by reason of the destruction of buildings, the 
 rebuilding of docks, and the reconstruction of bridges, he 
 measures the current of the floods down Chicago River in 
 May, 1892, and concludes that "to preserve safe and easy 
 "navigation of the Chicago River the velocity should not exceed 
 "a mile and a half an hour." This conclusion is based, he says, 
 upon the flood-tides of February, 1887, and May, 1892, and from 
 "other information." What were the sources of his "other 
 information,'' whether evolved from his "inner consciousness" 
 or obtained from bridge tenders, does not appear. 
 
 The fact is, Mr. Williams was afraid to face the difficulty. 
 He knew, what every one else knows, that to make the necessary 
 changes in Chicago River would cost several millions of dollars, 
 and his "policy" was to avoid giving an estimate which would 
 startle the people of Chicago; his "policy" was to get the city 
 irretrievably committed, and then, if there was too much current, 
 the city would be compelled to protect its commercial interests 
 by widening the river at its own expense; and so he increases the 
 capacity of the channel one-half with a stroke of his pen, by com- 
 puting upon the basis of a current of a mile and a half an hour. 
 With very little inquiry Mr. Williams could have ascertained that 
 one mile per hour, or eighty-eight feet per minute, was the 
 extreme limit of a current for the channel; dividing his 300,000 
 cubic feet of water by eighty-eight, he would have found that 
 he must have a channel with a cross section of 3,409 feet; divid- 
 ing this number by eighteen as the extreme limit of depth, he 
 would have found that 189 feet was its necessary width. 
 
 That he did not do this, is simply of a piece with the men of
 
 CAPT. DUNHAM ON RIVER NAVIGATION. 67 
 
 his kidney, in their concealment of the difficulties, and the giv- 
 ing of inadequate estimates of the cost of their colossal humbug. 
 
 The determination of the size of the channel was simple 
 enough, and it would seem as though honest engineering would 
 have presented the real facts, instead of bobbing sinkers, at 
 intervals of five years, in the viscous waters of Chicago River. 
 
 Having accomplished the achievement above mentioned, of 
 enlarging the capacity of the river, he then indulges in some 
 cheese-paring prattle about minor changes, into which it is not 
 necessary to follow him. 
 
 Upon the question of the current permissible in Chicago 
 River, Mr. J. S. Dunham, president of the Dunham Towing 
 & Wrecking Co., writes as follows: 
 
 "CHICAGO, June 9, 1892. 
 " To - , Esq. 
 
 " DEAR SIR: Yours of the gth inst., making inquiries as to 
 "my knowledge and opinion of navigation in the South Branch 
 " of Chicago River, was duly received, and in reply will answer 
 "your questions as follows: 
 
 "ist. Are you familiar with navigation in the South 
 " Branch? 
 
 "ANSWER. Yes. 
 
 " zd. If so, how long have you been connected with such 
 " navigation, in what capacity, and in general what are your 
 "means of knowledge about such navigation? 
 
 "ANSWER. Have been a tug-boat owner in this harbor for 
 "the past thirty years. 
 
 "3d. What, in your judgment, is the extreme limit of speed 
 "per hour at which a current up the South Branch can be 
 "allowed consistent with its available use by the class of vessels 
 "now entering Chicago harbor? 
 
 "ANSWER. Three-quarters of a mile per hour. 
 "4th. Would a current at the rate of i miles per hour be 
 " objectionable, and if so, why? 
 
 " ANSWER. Yes, for the reason that we could not manage a 
 "modern vessel with any degree of safety to the vessel. 
 
 ."Yours respectfully, 
 
 " J. S. DUNHAM, 
 "President D. T. & W. Co."
 
 68 LAKE LINE AGENTS ON RIVER NAVIGATION. 
 
 No one will claim a more extended experience, or greater 
 practical knowledge of the navigation of the Chicago River, than 
 is possessed by Capt. Dunham, and, as has been seen, he places 
 the extreme limit at three-fourths of a mile per hour, or just one- 
 half that of the engineer of the Drainage Board. 
 
 In view of the importance of the question as to whether a 
 current of i miles an hour in Chicago River was permissible, 
 the various representatives of the lines of lake steamers held a 
 meeting in Chicago on the i5th day of May, 1892, to consider 
 the matter, and the following was published in the Chicago 
 dailies of May i6th as the report of that meeting: 
 
 ONE MILE AN HOUR THE LIMIT LAKE LINE AGENTS CONSIDER 
 NAVIGATION ON THE CHICAGO RIVER. 
 
 " Lake Line Agents' Association fixed a limit of one mile an 
 " hour as the greatest speed of the Chicago River current con- 
 sistent with safe navigation. Mr. Artingstall gave the result 
 "of observations taken at Van Buren Street in the great freshet 
 "of May. The first day of the flood, 408,000 cubic feet a min- 
 " ute passed that point, at an average velocity of 43^ miles an 
 "hour. The day of the heaviest flow, 468,000 cubic feet a minute 
 " passed at 5^ miles an hour. 
 
 " From his observations, and the knowledge that the river 
 " would be narrowed, at all times, by large boats lying at the 
 "docks, and the permanent obstructions in the nature of bridge 
 "abutments and approaches, Mr. Artingstall said that he did not 
 " think it would be ever possible to secure a flow of 300,000 
 "cubic feet of water a minute through the Chicago River, at 
 " i miles an hour, as now proposed by the Drainage Board. 
 " He did not think the river could be widened sufficiently to 
 "affect the flow materially, nor was it possible to deepen the 
 "channel to any degree. 
 
 " Capt. J. S. Dunham believed that the maximum current 
 "should not be more than three-quarters of a mile an hour. His 
 "experience in the freshet had shown him that a greater velocity 
 "than this would make the movement of vessels through the 
 "crooked South Branch dangerous. 
 
 "A resolution was finally adopted fixing the limit." 
 
 Capt. Marshall also writes as follows concerning the necessary 
 enlargement of the South Branch, and of the current which is
 
 CAPT. MARSHALL ON RIVER NAVIGATION. 69 
 
 permissible therein, consistent with its safe navigation, and of 
 the changes which would be required: 
 
 " I should say that any appreciable current is more or less 
 " dangerous, and will affect more or less the rates of marine 
 " insurance on vessels and cargoes navigating Chicago River 
 "In my opinion a current from one to i feet per second, 
 " or from two-thirds of a mile to one mile per hour, will mark 
 " the extreme safe or permissible current, and that even this 
 " moderate current will diminish the number and tonnage of 
 " vessels navigating Chicago River. The actual current in the 
 " river, due to the presence of the vessels themselves, will be 
 " greater than the above, at the location of the vessel. 
 
 " The mean or average capacity (now) for discharge through 
 "bridge-draws on the South Branch is 138,220 cubic feet per 
 " minute. The average capacity of the river between the bridges 
 "is 188,408 cubic feet per minute; the least capacity of any 
 " open river section is between Mason's and Allen's slips, and is 
 "110,880 cubic feet per minute; the least capacity at bridge 
 "spans is at Deering Street bridge, through which can be dis- 
 charged, now, only 96,553 cubic feet per minute. All of the 
 " estimates herein made, are upon the basis of a current with a 
 " velocity of one mile per hour. When the river is in its usual 
 " condition, crowded with boats tied to the banks, or in motion 
 " against the current, with their submerged hulls obstructing the 
 " flow of water, the actual mean capacity is probably not greater 
 " than 60 per cent, of the above. 
 
 "The maximum flowing capacity of the South Branch that 
 " can be obtained at any bridge, by dredging out the span 
 "channels to a mean depth of eighteen feet, without changing 
 "the bridges, is 243,000 cubic feet per minute; to obtain an 
 " equal discharge through the other bridge spans, all these other 
 " bridges must be reconstructed, the open channel widened to 
 " 160 feet, and dredged out to a depth of eighteen feet. 
 
 " Two hundred thousand cubic feet per minute is the maxi- 
 "mum capacity, in my opinion, that can be obtained in the South 
 "Branch without costly modifications in that stream." 
 
 These are the figures for an open channel, unobstructed by 
 vessels. It is apparent, then, that 160 feet in width and eighteen 
 feet in depth is the narrowest limit permissible for such a flow 
 of water. One hundred and sixty feet is the width fixed by the
 
 70 RADICAL CHANGES IN THE RIVER NECESSARY. 
 
 law for the* rock-cut and the earth channel from Bridgeport to 
 Lockport, with an allowable current of three miles per hour, and 
 comparatively free from obstruction by vessels. 
 
 The bridge above referred to by Capt. Marshall, is the one at 
 Lake Street. It is obvious from the statement of Mr. Arting- 
 stall before the meeting of the agents of the different vessel 
 lines, and of Capt. Marshall, as above, that a channel of sufficient 
 size to convey 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute, at a cur- 
 rent not exceeding one mile per hour, up the South Branch, can 
 only be secured at the expense of radical changes. 
 
 Those changes will involve the taking of a strip of land of 
 varying width, in some cases over fifty feet wide, all the way 
 from Washington Street up to the pumping-works; also the 
 destruction of more or less buildings, some of which, as eleva- 
 tors and warehouses, are very expensive. It will also involve 
 the reconstruction of the docks on one or other side of the 
 river the entire distance of 4^ miles. Every bridge above Lake 
 Street will have to be built new, with one or both new abutments, 
 and in most cases new center piers. In many cases there will be 
 large damages growing out. of the change of the level of the 
 street in making the requisite approaches. There will also be 
 the cost of excavating the land taken, and dredging of the river 
 to the requisite depth of eighteen feet. 
 
 Mr. Williams, the Engineer of the board, was directed, in 
 February last, to make an estimate of the cost of a sufficient 
 channel to supply the water for the canal which the Drainage 
 Board proposed to build. After some 3^ months he made a 
 report in which he coolly ignores the directions of the board. 
 
 Any proper estimate of the cost of such a channel can only 
 be made after a careful survey of the entire route. This has not 
 been done, and under such circumstances no satisfactory estimate 
 can be made. It is easy enough to see that the cost will run freely 
 into the millions probably from five to eight millions of dollars. 
 
 It was in view of such an outlook, and having some regard 
 for decency in the matter of public expenditures, that Mr. 
 Artingstall said that he did not think it possible to enlarge the 
 South Branch sufficiently to furnish the amount of water required 
 by the Drainage Act.
 
 SUMMING UP THE COST. 71 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Such recapitulation as can be made then is as follows: 
 Bids for work from Willow Springs to within 4^ 
 
 miles of upper basin $10,696,754.98 
 
 Estimate for sluice-way $1,500,000.00 
 
 For structures.. 677,000.00 
 
 For right of way 800,000.00 
 
 Five per cent, for contingencies and 
 
 engineering 608,687.70 
 
 $3,585,687.70 
 Add for underestimate, and " for 
 
 work not submitted to bids". . 1,195,229.23 
 
 4,780,916.93 
 
 Total of cost of work from Willow Springs to 
 
 upper basin $15,477,671.91 
 
 Engineer's estimate for cost of work 
 from Chicago River to Willow 
 Springs by the canal, and not 
 including injuries to railroad 
 property $5,899,963.00 
 
 Add 40 per cent, for underestimate, 
 
 and covering railroad damages 2,359,985.20 
 
 Total for channel from river to Willow Springs. 8,259,948.20 
 
 Probable cost of enlarging Chicago River 6,500,000.00 
 
 Engineer's estimate of conduit from 
 Lake Michigan to east fork, 
 6,200 feet in length, and engines, 
 
 pumps, etc $298,000.00 
 
 Add, for underestimate in length, 
 and probable cost as compared 
 with the Fullerton Avenue 
 Works, as heretofore shown 457,353-5 
 
 Total cost of conduit 755,353-5 
 
 Probable cost of intersecting sewer from Twelfth 
 
 Street to Thirty-ninth Street 120,000.00 
 
 Probable cost of intersecting sewer south of 
 
 Thirty-ninth Street 100,000.00 
 
 Probable cost of rebuilding the walls of the upper 
 
 and lower basins and dams, and protecting 
 
 walls for Joliet 2,500,000.00 
 
 The people of Chicago have thus presented to 
 them, as what will probably be an underesti- 
 mate of the cost of the proposed works, the 
 sum of $33>7 I2 >973- 61
 
 72 DAMAGES FOR FLOODING LANDS. 
 
 As to the annual damages for flooding down the Illinois 
 .River, hereinafter discussed, while the sum total will be very 
 large, there are no sufficient data for anything other than a con- 
 jectural estimate. It is probable that in some years the 
 waters would remain within the banks, notwithstanding the 
 proposed addition to their volume. If, however, we suppose 
 that there will be an annual average of 150,000 acres of land over- 
 flowed by reason of the waters from the drainage channel, and 
 that the annual value of such lands is taken at the moderate sum 
 of $12.50 per acre, we have an annual tax of $1,875,000 for that 
 item alone. Added to this is the liability for damages for the 
 destruction of bridges, factories, warehouses, dwellings, etc., as 
 mentioned in the dispatches hereafter quoted. 
 
 LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. 
 
 Fifth. We have now to consider the very important question 
 of the liability of the city for damages occasioned by flooding 
 lands, the destruction of buildings, the drowning of cattle, and 
 possibly for the destruction of human life by floods down the 
 Illinois Valley. As has been stated, suits can be brought in any 
 county bordering on, or traversed by, the Illinois or Des Plaines 
 rivers, in which are the lands affected by flooding. The fall in the 
 Illinois River does not exceed i| inches to the mile. It is a 
 sluggish stream, with low banks, and bordered by extensive 
 stretches of bottom lands. The character of the river and of 
 the lands adjoining, is thus described by Capt. Marshall in 
 his report: 
 
 " The Lower Illinois partakes more of the nature of an estu- 
 " ary than of a river. Its banks reach only to mid-stage, but 
 "are not annually overflowed. Its slope is only 0.15 foot per 
 " mile. 
 
 "The bottom lands which are overflowed at stages above 
 "average high water, vary in width from a few hundreds of feet 
 " to five miles, generally densely covered with timber, and cut 
 "up by numerous sloughs, lagoons, and ponds. A large area, 
 " however, of the higher part of the bottoms is cultivated, when- 
 " ever not submerged before seeding time, and this cultivated 
 " area is annually increasing." 
 
 As to the volume of water of the Illinois River, and the prac- 
 ticability of deepening its channel, he says: " As already stated,
 
 CAPT. MARSHALL ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER. 73 
 
 " the extreme flood discharge of the Illinois River at Marseilles, 
 " 111., is about 70,000 cubic feet per second. Below that point it 
 " receives many large tributaries, and drains a much larger area 
 " than above it. The Fox River, the two Vermillions, Big 
 "Bureau Creek, Sangamon River, Spoon River, Crooked Creek, 
 " the Macoupin River, and many others, probably swell its ex- 
 "treme flood discharge at its mouth to from 120,000 to 150,000 
 " cubic feet per second. 
 
 " It may then be said that the channel of the Lower Illinois, 
 " without overflow, will not discharge one-third of its natural 
 " drainage at floods. The impracticability of preventing over- 
 " flow, then, by such methods as enlarging the channel of the 
 " Lower Illinois by the removal of the dams therein and dredg- 
 " ing, is apparent, when it involves the increase to three times its 
 " present capacity, of a channel more than fourteen feet in depth 
 " below the crest of the banks, and varying in width (not includ- 
 " ing Lake Peoria) from 600 feet to 1,400 feet, and 225 miles in 
 " length, from La Salle to the Mississippi River." 
 
 The estimate of Capt. Marshall, quoted hereafter (p.86), that 
 from 100,000 to 300,000 acres of land were subject to inunda- 
 tion, was intended by him to be very conservative; but he has 
 stated privately that in his judgment there were 400,000 acres 
 of land in the Illinois Valley liable to be overflowed. As already 
 stated, Capt. Marshall has charge of the Government works 
 on the Illinois River, which include the dams and locks at 
 Henry, Copperas Creek, La Grange, and Kamphouse, and his 
 opportunities for forming a correct judgment are, probably, bet- 
 ter than those of any other man living. It is true that these bot- 
 tom lands are overflowed at times by the waters of the streams 
 tributary to the Illinois River, but this is occasional, while the 
 proposed canal is for a permanent and steady contribution to 
 the volume of water. It is therefore obvious that at flood sea- 
 sons the water will reach the flood stage sooner, will rise to a 
 higher point, and will remain longer than if no such addition is 
 made. No one can tell the effect of such an addition; computa- 
 tions are idle. There are twenty-four counties in which suits 
 may be brought, claims for damages will be submitted to local 
 juries, the plaintiff's attorney will recover his fees for services, 
 from the Drainage Board, the "oldest inhabitant " and ancient 
 fishermen will be standing witnesses to prove that the water
 
 74 FLOOD OF MAY, 1892. 
 
 never rose so high, or remained so long, and it will be for the jury 
 to say whether the plaintiff has been injured by flooding caused 
 by the Drainage Board, and if so, how much. 
 
 Capt. Marshall states that these lands are being improved. 
 This has been done notwithstanding the risk of overflow, and of 
 damages without compensation, as chances would be taken for 
 an occasional crop; but with the certainty that damages could 
 be recovered from the great city of Chicago in case of overflow, 
 their improvement will be much more rapid. 
 
 During the months of May and June, 1892, there were heavy 
 rains in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, raising the Kankakee, 
 the Des Plaines, and the other tributaries of the Illinois to a 
 great, but not unprecedented, height; of course the effect upon 
 the Illinois River was very great. 
 
 The following dispatches from some of the localities on the 
 river are taken from Chicago papers: 
 
 [From the Chicago Tribune of May 5th.] 
 
 " OTTAWA, May 4th. The most disastrous work of the flood 
 " in this vicinity occurred in the town of Marseilles. The Illinois 
 " River rose to a point eighteen feet over low-water mark, and 
 " by the pressure of the angry waters two of the immense gates 
 " of the water-power were swept away, and all the factories, 
 " including the Clark paper mill, were compelled to suspend 
 " operations. At Ottawa, the Fox and Illinois rivers overflowed 
 " their banks, * * * * people living on the bottoms were com- 
 " pelled to leave their homes, and thousands of dollars worth of 
 " property was destroyed." 
 
 [From the Tribune of May 7, 1892.] 
 
 " PEORIA, May yth. The La Marsh drainage district, in the 
 " lower end of this county across from Pekin, is now a watery 
 " waste. The picture is one of desolation and destruction, and 
 "the work of two years has been swept away; household 
 " goods of every kind are floating about the river and the inun- 
 " dated district. There was a large amount of live-stock of all 
 " descriptions in the district, and the loss from this source will 
 " be very great. It is impossible at this hour to form any esti- 
 " mate of the loss, but it will be very great."
 
 HOUSES CARRIED AWAY. 75 
 
 [From the Tribune of May 9, 1892.] 
 
 " PEORIA, May 8th. The river at this point is four miles 
 " wide. Any number of small houses have been carried away or 
 "submerged; and where thousands of acres of fine wheat were 
 " growing a few days ago, there is nothing now but an angry 
 " flood. The crops are totally ruined, and the land, which has 
 "been farmed continually since 1844, will be so cut up as to 
 " be practically valueless. 
 
 "The loss in some places alone will reach hundreds of thou- 
 " sands of dollars; the waves are rolling high and the greatest 
 " danger is to be feared." 
 
 [From the Chicago Herald of May 4, 1892.] 
 
 " MARSEILLES, ILL., May 3d. From appearances a miracle 
 " only can save Marseilles from threatened inundation. The 
 "almost unceasing rainstorms that have raged up and down the 
 " Illinois, Fox, and Kankakee valleys, since Sunday night, have 
 " precipitated upon this large area thousands upon thousands of 
 " tons of water in excess of any heretofore encountered flood. 
 " The rivers have been rapidly rising since yesterday, and the 
 " Illinois, from far above Marseilles to the navigable waters 
 "below La Salle, is nearly a mile wide, and deep enough in the 
 " channel to float the largest lake vessels. The waters have 
 "already risen some eighteen feet above low-water mark, and in 
 " this city the situation is desperate. 
 
 " A \c:~. levee on the north side of the river and also above 
 " the dam has for years kept back the waters of the spring floods. 
 " To-day the new flood-gates of the water-power system went 
 "out, and water began flowing over the levee. Nearly five 
 " hundred men employed in the factories below, which would 
 " receive the heaviest part of the flood were the levee to break, 
 " were put to work upon the embankment with shovels and teams, 
 " and succeeded in fighting back the waters until to-night by 
 " driving piles and placing two feet of earth upon the top. But at 
 " 9 o'clock this evening, though the men are still at work, the 
 "waters are slowly gaining upon them, and are already creeping 
 " over the eastern end of the levee, which may break at any 
 " moment. Should the levee break, some fifty families, who have 
 "already moved to the high lands beyond the canal, would be
 
 76 FIVE CITIES IN DARKNESS. 
 
 " rendered destitute, and all the district between the canal and 
 " the river would be buried under fifteen feet of water. 
 
 " The breaking of the levee may mean the sweeping away of 
 " nearly every manufacturing institution in the city, including 
 " the Illinois Valley paper mill, the largest in the world; the Mar- 
 " seilles Manufacturing Company's works, the John F. Clark 
 " mills, the Dawell flouring mills, and many new industries, in 
 " which millions are invested. 
 
 " Besides the damage done here, mites upon miles of valuable 
 "crops put in upon the Illinois bottoms for twenty miles on 
 " either side of Ottawa are under water, involving a loss of 
 " $50,000 to farmers. The Kickapoo and other bridges have 
 " gone out, and Allen Park, Ottawa, and all of the lower islands 
 " are flooded. At 10 o'clock to-night the waters are still rising, 
 "and the Pioneer Fireproof Construction Company's works in 
 " Ottawa, the Utica road, and a portion of Utica are under water." 
 
 [From the Chicago Herald of May 7, 1892.] 
 
 " OTTAWA, ILL., May 6th. Seas of water are over and in the 
 "five unfortunate Illinois cities Ottawa, Marseilles, Peru, La 
 " Salle, and Utica. The Illinois has risen steadily through the 
 "day. To-night the cities are in total darkness, the result of the 
 " flooding of the electric light and gas plants. Boats are used 
 " for communication, and their twinkling lights, glistening over 
 " the unbroken expanse of water, add to the appearance of ruin 
 " which is all around them. 
 
 " To-day the list of unfortunates by flood was added to by 
 " the numbers of people driven from houses which escaped yes- 
 " terday, but were invaded to-day. Despite all efforts the manu- 
 " facturing district was totally covered by water this afternoon. 
 " As the water rose, building after building would close down, and 
 " the employes leave to await the subsiding of the flood. It will be 
 " two or three days before the more fortunate of the flooded fac- 
 " tories can be entered at all, and it will take as much longer to 
 " remove the accumulations of mud and debris which came with 
 "the inundation. Ottawa will be helpless for a week at least. 
 
 "Marseilles, La Salle, and Peru are in an even more desperate 
 "condition. At Marseilles the river, steadily rising, is more and 
 " more dreaded, as the levees weaken. There is little hope they 
 " will stand much longer, and every one in the district threatened,
 
 BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY. 77 
 
 "has removed all property to high ground. At La Salle, the 
 "situation is even more desperate than it was last night, the 
 ''water having advanced from two to three feet all around the 
 "city, and the manufactories, the water works, street railway 
 "and electric light plants still being underwater. The same 
 "condition is present at Peru, and in both cities all business is 
 "practically suspended. At Utica the waters have encroached 
 "still farther upon the lower end of the village from the river, 
 "and the outlets east and west are blocked by water. Ottawa, 
 " Marseilles, La Salle, and Peru are without electric light and 
 "gas, and to-night are in total darkness. The waters still cover 
 " Ottawa's parks, and her street railway is useless. 
 
 " LACON, ILL., May 6th. The Illinois river at this point is 
 "higher at present than it has been for a quarter of a century. 
 "The long-continued rains have swept out nearly all the small 
 "bridges in the country. Travel between Lacon and Sparland 
 ''' is suspended, except by small boats, the bridge across the 
 "Illinois being covered with water and liable to be carried away. 
 "The tracks of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad are 
 "badly damaged between Peoria and Bureau, and all the trains 
 "stopped. The bottom lands are all under water, and no corn 
 "will be raised on thousands of acres. 
 
 " HENNEPIN, ILL., May 6th. The heaviest rains for the same 
 " length of time, ever known, commenced Sunday evening. 
 "Three and one-half inches of water fell Sunday night, if 
 "inches Monday night, 2- inches Wednesday night, a total in 
 "the three nights of 7! inches. The Illinois River is the highest 
 "it has been since 1849, rising at the rate of two inches an hour. 
 " Bottom lands are all submerged, and great damage has been 
 "done to bridges and fences. No mail has arrived for two 
 "days." 
 
 [From the Herald of May 9, 1892.] 
 
 " PEORIA, ILL., May yth. At least 150 families of five hundred 
 "souls on the river banks in this city, between here and Pekin, 
 "and in the La Marsh drainage district, have been driven from 
 "their homes by the rapidly rising waters. It is the most severe 
 "flood which has occurred in this section of the country in many 
 " a year, and it will not be until after the waters have receded 
 "that anything like an accurate estimate of the loss can be made;
 
 78 A SHEET OF WATER SEVEN MILES WIDE. 
 
 "and even then it will be very indefinite in its character. All 
 " night long the water poured through the break in the dyke of 
 "the La Marsh drainage district, and by daylight there was at 
 " least fifteen feet of water inside. It came through in a raging 
 " torrent. 
 
 " Water is now running into the barns of the transfer com- 
 " pany at the foot of Harrison Street. The electric light com- 
 " pany is threatened, and is building a bank to keep the water 
 " out. The Treusdale Manufacturing Company is doing a similar 
 " thing at its planing mill at the foot of Eaton Street. The 
 " Hanna wagon works, in the extreme upper end of the city, 
 "were forced to shut down on account of the high water. The 
 " cattle pens at nearly all of the distilleries are now within reach 
 " of the river, and the water is running into one or two of them. 
 " A rise of a foot or two would necessitate the removal of hun- 
 " dreds of head, entailing a heavy loss. 
 
 " BEARDSTOWN, ILL., May yth. The Illinois River is rising 
 " very rapidly at this point. The recent heavy rains have 
 " flooded the entire region, and rivers, creeks, and other tribu- 
 " taries are pouring in immense volumes of water, which are 
 "flooding the Illinois bottoms. The water is now fourteen feet 
 " above low-water mark, and is destined to go much higher. 
 " The whole country, from this city to the bluffs in Schuyler 
 " County, a distance of four miles, is one vast sheet of water, 
 " while below, at some points, it spreads over a territory from 
 " four to seven miles. The river has not been as high for many 
 " years. Thousands of acres of valuable land are submerged 
 " under four feet of water. Farmers who live in the bottoms 
 " have transferred their stock and movable property to the high 
 "lands, and from their places of safety sorrowfully look down 
 "upon their inundated farms. Fortunately, the rise was antici- 
 " pated, and no loss of life has occurred, but the damages done 
 " to the farmers will be stupendous. It is probable that no 
 " crops will be planted on the now submerged lands. In that 
 " event, thousands of acres of fertile land will remain idle during 
 " this year. 
 
 " HAVANA, ILL., May yth. The Illinois River at this point is 
 " from bluff to bluff, four miles wide, and is rising at the rate of 
 " one inch an hour, the highest water known since 1849."
 
 ILLINOIS VALLEY A SCENE OF DESOLATION. 79 
 
 [From the Inter Ocean of May 21, 1892.] 
 
 " ALARM IN PEORIA. 
 
 " PEORIA, ILL., May zoth. Special Telegram. In the last 
 " four hours the Illinois River has risen four inches, and there is 
 "considerable alarm to-night lest the bridges, which have been 
 " subjected to such severe strains in the last two weeks, may go 
 " out. 
 
 " All the bridges between this city and East Peoria were swept 
 "out this evening. The entire Illinois Valley is a scene of deso- 
 " lation. Farms that are usually being worked at this time of 
 " the year are now under several feet of water. The farmers 
 " have abandoned the hope of being able to get a crop of corn 
 " in this year, as the season will be too late. It will take three 
 " or four weeks of the most favorable weather to get the water 
 " off the farms, and the ground will be too wet to work. 
 
 " The big ice-houses in this city are surrounded by water, 
 " and it was discovered to-night that the ice had been melted by 
 " the warm currents and washed away. This represents a loss of 
 " several thousands of dollars." 
 
 The foregoing are samples of the dispatches from the river 
 towns. The actual damage was very great in the aggregate. 
 Every town on the river, and probably every farm, suffered more 
 or less. There has been no attempt to ascertain the total 
 amount, as there was no reason for so doing; but when the 
 waters of Lake Michigan are poured down at the rate of 300,000 
 cubic feet per minute, there will then be abundant reason for col- 
 lecting the amount, and the taxpayers of Chicago will have full 
 opportunity to know what it will be. 
 
 If, in addition to damages for flooding lands, a flood should 
 sweep through some of the river towns, actually accomplishing 
 the great damage which was in May only threatened, and sweep 
 away homes, warehouses, factories, bridges, etc., and destroy 
 more or less lives, then Chicago would realize in the highest 
 degree the blessings of a " tail-race." 
 
 These are neither remote nor improbable consequences. They 
 are the natural and certain results, sooner or later, of carrying 
 out the present drainage scheme, and they are certainly 
 appalling.
 
 80 THE VALUE OF A WATER-WAV. 
 
 THE VALUE OF A WATER-WAY. 
 
 Some general notions as to the value of artificial water-ways are 
 very prevalent, but a little examination will show that, except as a 
 means of transit for a large existing commerce through a short 
 channel, from one large body of water to another, s*uch as the 
 Suez, the Welland, the Sault Ste. Marie, and the Caledonian 
 canals, and possibly a canal across the isthmus between North 
 and South America, artificial water-ways have generally either 
 been abandoned, or maintained at an expense beyond their 
 income, by a tax of some sort upon the general public, or from 
 resources other than tolls. 
 
 In the State of Indiana, the canals have long since been 
 abandoned, and the tow-paths converted into lines of railroad 
 track. In Ohio they have canals from Cleveland to Ports- 
 mouth on the Ohio River, and from Toledo to Cincinnati, and 
 two short lines, aggregating in all 600 miles of canal, and cost- 
 ing $15,000,000. For the three years ending January i, 1892, 
 their aggregate receipts from tolls, sales of water-power, and all 
 other sources were $325,000; their aggregate expenses during 
 the same period were $500,000. The receipts of all the canals 
 have fallen from $800,000 in the year 1851 to $108,000 in 1891. 
 Their continuance in use, however, is of a very uncertain 
 tenure. 
 
 Even the New York & Erie Canal, so long the pride of the 
 State of New York, seems destined to succumb to the inevitable. 
 Traffic on the canal has for years felt the effect of railroad com- 
 petition, and concessions have been made from time to time in 
 order that it should continue in use, until finally the entire ex- 
 pense of maintaining it is borne by the State, and transportation 
 is made free of tolls, and yet its use as a means of transporta- 
 tion has become unprofitable. 
 
 The following is taken from a Chicago paper of August 2, 
 1892: 
 
 "BUFFALO, N. Y., August ist. The statement of the exports 
 " by canal from this port, from the opening of navigation to 
 " date, is little short of startling, and corroborates the state- 
 " ment that canal-boats are being tied up, and their owners seek- 
 " ing other employment. Of the total receipts of grain in the 
 "above period, which were 72,570,000 bushels, the largest on
 
 WATER-WAYS AS REGULATORS OF RATES. 81 
 
 "record, only 10,242,000 bushels were shipped by canal, the rail- 
 " roads getting all of the flour shipments, and 34,089,000 bush- 
 " of grain, or, estimating flour as wheat, 54,000,000 bushels of 
 " the total. The movement by canal is the smallest on record 
 " for the same time, and only half the amount shipped in 1890 to 
 " August ist. The railroads have been carrying grain to New York 
 " at 2\ cents a bushel, and this rate the canal-boat men can not 
 "compete with under the present conditions." 
 
 The future of that great line of water communication is a 
 question of considerable interest, but this is neither the time nor 
 the place for any extended discussion. Its continuance in use 
 is doubtless a matter of State pride, and if the results of closing it 
 should be such as some people prophesy, it would have not only 
 an important bearing upon the future of the city of New York as 
 one of the great grain markets of the world, but be of great im- 
 portance as affecting the cost of transporting Western crops 
 to the seaboard. 
 
 It is insisted, and with some apparent reason, that any sort of 
 a canal or water-way operates as a restriction upon excessive 
 charges for transportation by railroads, and that the effect is the 
 same, whether a pound of freight is carried by water or not. 
 
 A careful study of the history of freight rates, and an analysis 
 of the conditions under which rates by rail are affected by water 
 communication, will probably show that this claim is not as well 
 founded as many believe. 
 
 Take the case of the canal to Joliet; it is probably a fact 
 that the rates by rail between Chicago and Joliet are higher in 
 winter than they are in summer. To see what this proves, let us 
 go back a little. Down to 1879, the receipts from tolls upon the 
 canal were largely in excess of the expenses of operating it; prior 
 to that time, railroads had been reducing rates, and the canal was 
 compelled to meet them, until, in 1879, rates came down to a 
 point where the canal could not secure freight by underbidding. 
 The canal commissioners have made rates for that purpose ever 
 since, but they could neither secure business nor tolls sufficient 
 to pay expenses. The plain English of the matter is, that they 
 are now, and for thirteen years have been, using the property of 
 the State to make low rates between Chicago and Joliet; or, to 
 put the matter in still plainer terms, they are bushwhacking the 
 railroads with the property and money of the State.
 
 82 REASONS FOR LOW RATES BY RAIL. 
 
 Now the question fairly is, What would have been the rates 
 by canal, if there had been no railroad? It is not to the point 
 to say that if the railroads could carry freight in summer at 
 one figure, that figure ought to be enough for winter carriage. 
 The reason why railroads make this cut in summer may appear 
 further on, but the fact of such cut in summer does not estab- 
 lish, and has no tendency to establish, the fact that the winter 
 rates are unreasonable. 
 
 It is also insisted that the railroads are carrying grain from 
 Buffalo to New York at a loss, in order to do away with the New 
 York & Erie Canal, and, that this being accomplished, rates 
 by rail will be put up to a ruinous figure, and that therefore the 
 canal should be maintained even at public expense. 
 
 It is not worth while for one not in the counsels of railway 
 managers, to undertake to speculate upon their motives, but 
 there are some things which are obvious upon a moment's 
 reflection. 
 
 For instance, a railroad must maintain its equipment of roll- 
 ing-stock and its force of employes. Railroading, like manufact- 
 uring under similar circumstances, must sometimes be done even 
 at a loss, rather than have the equipment degenerate for want of 
 use, and the working force scattered for want of employment. 
 It requires no effort of the imagination to suppose that railroads 
 under such circumstances carry freight, not only without a mar- 
 gin of profit, but at an actual loss; in short, railway managers 
 may well say, " Here is the work to be done, we have the means 
 " to do it, and we are going to do it at a rate that will secure it." 
 Another consideration affecting the rates of freight by rail, is 
 the fact that very often empty cars are wanted at the other end 
 of the road. It costs but little more to send full cars than it 
 does to send them empty, and so a rate will be made, which, 
 while it is transportation at a loss, this loss is not so great as it 
 would be were the cars sent forward empty. 
 
 So far as the transportation of grain to the seaboard is con- 
 cerned, there are too many rival lines, competition is so active, 
 and the interests of the great lines of railway terminating in 
 New York City are so vital, to preserve that city as the great 
 seaboard market for grain, as against Portland, Boston, Phila- 
 delphia, Baltimore, and Richmond, and as against direct ship- 
 ments to Europe by the way of the St Lawrence, or by the 
 Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, that the probability of
 
 RAILROADS HAVE CAUSED LOW RATES. 83 
 
 extortionate rates by rail from Lake Erie ports to New York 
 City is very remote. 
 
 So far as freights are concerned, the competition is so fierce 
 that the most solemn agreements on the part of railway man- 
 agers to maintain rates are. constantly broken, even when aided 
 by the rigorous provisions of the interstate railroad law. 
 
 Jay Gould has a lot of barges tied up and rotting along the 
 Mississippi River. He did ship some grain by those barges to 
 New Orleans. He is supposed to be addicted to ways that are 
 profitable, and if there was a profit in sending grain down the 
 river, it is more than probable that he would know it, and 
 attempt to realize it. 
 
 There are people unkind enough to say that he built those 
 barges as a stock-jobbing operation, and that they were intended 
 more to affect Wall Street, than as a means of transportation. 
 Those who are in the secret of his wizard-like performances 
 can say whether this is correct or not. 
 
 To sum the matter up, it may be said, with perfect accuracy, 
 that the transportation of freight by rail has revolutionized the 
 commercial systems of the world. The lines of freight cars 
 which one sees snaking in every direction across our broad con- 
 tinent, are exponents of a power which has contributed, more 
 than any other single agency, to the development of the age 
 in which we live. 
 
 To say that rates of freight are in general controlled by 
 water competition, is to say that the greater is controlled by the 
 less. 
 
 There are those who will say that this is manifestly so as to 
 the great grain shipments from Chicago, and other lake ports, to 
 Buffalo. Here, too, a little examination will show that this 
 claim needs limitations. Old-fashioned vessels were fully loaded 
 when 40,000 to 60,000 bushels of grain were stored in their holds; 
 now, the great lake liners carry from 90,000 to 125,000 bushels 
 of grain. The. old-fashioned hull was pear-shaped, while now, 
 the sides of new vessels are perpendicular, or bulge outward be- 
 low the water line, and their bottoms are square to the sides; 
 and, even as thus constructed, the new boats being built, as 
 before stated, are of an increased width. In short, every effort 
 is made to secure extension and economy of space, in order that 
 they may secure freight. It is only as they carry these huge 
 masses, that they can compete with shipments by rail. Deep-
 
 84 EFFECT OF WATER-WAY ON CHICAGO. 
 
 water navigation upon natural water routes will probably be able 
 to hold its own against railroad competition, on account of the 
 immense cargoes which can be carried by a single vessel, but be- 
 yond this, for equal distances, water transportation will get only 
 the leavings. 
 
 To compare any system of water freighting across the State 
 of Illinois, or up and down the Mississippi, with those great trans- 
 ports upon the lakes, comes pretty near being ridiculous. 
 
 The eighteen-foot channel proposed by the water-way crowd is 
 utterly impracticable, either across the State of Illinois, or up and 
 down the Mississippi River; but if it were otherwise, if such a chan- 
 nel could be built and maintained, and vessels of sixteen to eight- 
 een foot draught could pass Chicago, cross the State of Illinois, 
 and thence up and down the Mississippi River, it would be well 
 for some of these gentlemen who claim to have broad and com- 
 prehensive views, to explain what would be the effect upon 
 Chicago as a grain market. It produces a " goneness " of feel- 
 ing, to think that there are in Chicago, men supposed to be 
 intelligent, who advocate the expenditure of millions of dollars 
 by the city of Chicago for the construction of such a work. 
 
 Finally, upon the subject of water-way competition, it must 
 be remembered that boats must be kept in readiness to do the 
 business, and it is absurd to suppose that people are going to 
 keep up boats ready for work but lying in idleness, simply as a 
 check upon railroads. 
 
 The fact is, that the basis of all business is profit, and 
 unprofitable water-ways must go into the limbo of other anti- 
 quated productions. 
 
 It almost seems idle to discuss the question of a great water- 
 way in connection with the channel now undertaken by the 
 Drainage Board. As we have seen, this channel terminates in a 
 sluice-way 4^ miles long, having a current six to eight miles an 
 hour. Practically speaking, it may be said that by propositions 
 two and three it has been demonstrated that it will cost $6,000,000 
 to carry a navigable channel from Lockport down to the upper 
 basin, and this without including the necessary expense of 
 immense locks. 
 
 The value of a great water-way between Chicago and Joliet 
 depends upon the improvement by the General Government of 
 the Illinois River upon a scale commensurate with the work this 
 side of Joliet.
 
 CAPT. MARSHALL ON DEEP WATER-WAYS. 85 
 
 The report of Capt. Marshall above referred to may be 
 said to have put a final quietus upon any such project, so far as 
 the United States Government is concerned. Upon the subject 
 of the cost of a water-way, Capt. Marshall says: "Noestimate 
 " has yet been made of the cost of securing a depth of ten feet 
 "of water to St. Louis; $17,000,000 is estimated to get eight 
 " feet from St. Louis to Cairo; what it will cost to get and main- 
 " tain the additional two feet in that region of moving sands, no 
 " one knows. 
 
 " No estimates have been made to carry ten feet to the mouth 
 "of the Missouri, nor to the mouth of the Illinois, nor fourteen 
 " feet, up the Illinois to La Salle, but for fourteen feet from La 
 " Salle to Lake Michigan, an estimate is herewith, of more than 
 " forty-eight millions. 
 
 "The definite estimates then so far submitted, foot up nearly 
 " one hundred millions, and leave us with eight feet draft below 
 "St. Louis, and not exceeding five feet above, to La Salle." 
 
 Capt. Marshall gives a table of the number and capacity of 
 the steamers navigating the Mississippi River and its tributaries, 
 and their draft and carrying capacity in 1890. There were only 
 fourteen steamers drawing nine feet of water, and with a carrying 
 capacity of 16,600 tons. There were 712 steamers drawing less 
 than eight feet of water with a carrying capacity of 160,000 tons. 
 
 He further says that the largest Mississippi River steamer 
 that reaches the mouth of the Illinois draws about seven feet of 
 water, when loaded to its fullest capacity. Continuing, Capt. 
 Marshall says: " No greater depth of channel than nine feet at 
 " extreme low water in Lake Michigan, across the Chicago 
 " Divide, seems necessary for navigation by the largest Missis- 
 " sippi River craft, which can neither reach it, nor use it. 
 
 " Beyond the Chicago Divide (that is, west of the summit) 
 " there is no apparent necessity at present, nor likely to exist in 
 " the near future, either national or local, for any channel of 
 " greater capacity than eight feet in depth between the Missis- 
 "sippi River and the Great Lakes." 
 
 Upon the question of the propriety of the United States 
 Government undertaking the work of deepening the channel of 
 the Illinois River, and of assuming to pay the damages caused 
 by turning a large quantity of water from Lake Michigan into it, 
 Capt. Marshall says in his report: 
 
 ' This artificial discharge is not necessary for navigation
 
 86 CAPT. MARSHALL ON FLOODING LANDS. 
 
 "'anywhere along the line, and can not be said to benefit naviga- 
 " tion anywhere to such an extent as to justify the United States 
 " Government assuming responsibility for flowage damage caused 
 " by it. 
 
 " The discharge is proposed to be constant, whereas if it 
 " were produced by the United States for the benefit of naviga- 
 " tion it would be introduced into the Illinois only at low stages, 
 "when it would be beneficial to navigation, and harmless to 
 " property. 
 
 " Now, at any little summer freshet, producing a discharge 
 " exceeding 8,000 cubic feet per second at La Salle, damage 
 " by overflow would begin at that point, the artificial discharge 
 " being 10,000 cubic feet per second, and with greater natural 
 " discharge, become' more and more widespread, as we progress 
 " down stream, at times when such overflows would not otherwise 
 " occur. Upon all rises of the river producing anywhere near 
 " bank-full stages, this artificial discharge would cause flowage 
 " damages that would not otherwise occur. The lands would 
 " become submerged at high water earlier, and the water remain 
 " upon them longer, than it otherwise would. From 100,000 to 
 " 300,000 acres of land in the Illinois River Valley will be subject 
 "to such conditions. 
 
 " That feature, therefore, in the Chicago drainage and water- 
 " way laws, that requires a constant discharge of from 306,000 
 "to 600,000 cubic feet per minute, seems, in view of past expe- 
 " rience, decidedly objectionable, if the water is to be introduced 
 "through any canal either owned or used by the United States 
 " for public purposes, if, by such ownership or use the United 
 " States can be made responsible for damages due to such con- 
 stant discharge." 
 
 Mr. Cooley has indexed his pamphlet, above referred to, in 
 some dozen to twenty different places, upon what he terms the 
 blunders, errors, misstatements, and omissions of Capt. Mar- 
 shall. The latter still lives, however, and continues in charge of 
 the Government work, and, upon occasion, can doubtless obtain 
 the highest indorsement from capable judges as to his engineer- 
 ing capacity. The reader has had some means of judging as to 
 whether Mr. Cooley is entitled to a like certificate. 
 
 This report of Capt. Marshall was made in 1890, and yet, 
 in 1891, we find Cooley, Williams, and Hurd before the Legisla- 
 ture, resisting the application of the Drainage Commissioners in
 
 DISTANCES BY RIVER AND BY RAIL. 87 
 
 their effort to modify the requirements of an eighteen-foot rock- 
 cut channel, and we have Mr. Cooley's pamphlet, published in 
 1891, in advocacy of a great water-way. Possessed with this 
 idea, they undoubtedly look forward to a time when it will pre- 
 vail, and steps be taken to carry it into effect. No legislation in 
 that direction has been taken, nor is any likely to be. The River 
 and Harbor Committee of the House of Representatives is com- 
 posed of men, many of whom have served upon it for years, and 
 are thoroughly familiar with all questions affecting the Missis- 
 sippi and its tributaries, nor is it likely that this committee will, 
 through any political upheaval, be deprived of men of that char- 
 acter. They know that on the Lower Mississippi, during the 
 palmiest days of river navigation, no boats were ever built draw- 
 ing over nine feet of water, and that for the Upper Mississippi 
 that is, between St. Louis and St. Paul boats were not built for 
 a draft of more than six feet when loaded, and that the channel 
 of the Mississippi River is constantly changing; that sand-bars 
 are forming and disappearing, and that the attempt to maintain 
 a channel in the river, of greater depth than will suffice for such 
 boats, could only be successful at an expense far beyond what 
 would be warranted, and wholly unnecessary. 
 
 A further consideration as to the uselessness of a great water- 
 way between Chicago and the Mississippi River is the fact that the 
 great grain shipments from the West reach the river by rail, and 
 it is simple nonsense to suppose that bulk will be broken at river 
 points, on freight between points west of the river and Chicago, or 
 that any saving could be made in expense by the use of water 
 transportation. The distances from points on the Mississippi 
 River, at railroad crossings, to Chicago by rail and water, are as 
 follows: 
 To Chicago from By River Miles. By Rail- Miles. 
 
 La Crosse 853 .276 
 
 Dubuque 720 .184 
 
 Clinton 652 -.138 
 
 Savannah _ 675. .138 
 
 Davenport 613 183 
 
 Burlington 529 206 
 
 Fort Madison. 505 237 
 
 Louisiana 393 274 
 
 No man having the least practical knowledge of transporta- 
 tion, but will recognize in the extra handling of freight, 
 insurance by river, the delay of several days in transportation,
 
 88 RIVER TRANSPORTATION ON THE DECLINE. 
 
 the loss of interest while property is in transit, the inconven- 
 ience of being deprived of the use of capital by the delay in 
 reaching the market, and the possible loss from a falling market 
 while the grain is going by water, elements more than sufficient 
 to cut off any competition between rail and water, on freight 
 between points west of the river and Chicago, going in either 
 direction. The great item of freight on the Lower Mississippi 
 is cotton, and that will go to New Orleans for an Eastern or 
 foreign market. 
 
 It is notorious that transportation on our Western rivers has 
 been for the past twenty years rapidly on the decline; this has 
 been apparent to the most casual observer; but that the matter 
 should not be one of general impression, circular letters were 
 sent in May, 1891, to many of the most important river towns 
 upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, containing this inquiry: 
 
 " What relation does the traffic (passenger and freight) by 
 "steamer, now bear to the same traffic, twenty years ago." 
 
 Some eleven replies were received, in substance as follows: 
 
 From Leavenworth, Kan. Little or no traffic by steamer. 
 Business increased 50 to 75 per cent. 
 
 (Signed) H. M. MOORE, 
 
 Secretary Board of Trade. 
 
 From Cairo, 111. About half the up-river business. General 
 merchandise business increased five to one. 
 
 (Signed) E. W. HALIDAY. 
 
 From La Crosse, Wis. The various packet lines have all 
 disappeared, excepting the Diamond Joe Line, and that company 
 has only recently made the upper river a regular route. 
 (Signed) R. CALVERT, 
 
 Secretary Board of Trade. 
 
 From Dubuque, Iowa. Not more than one third the freight 
 by steamer now that there was twenty years ago. General 
 business ten times as much. 
 
 (Signed) E. B. FARLEY, 
 
 Secretary Board of Trade. 
 
 From MacGregor, Iowa. River traffic one-sixth of what it 
 was then. General business about the same. 
 (Unsigned) 
 
 From Winona, Minn. Freight by river one now to fifty 
 twenty years ago, except logs. General business four times 
 greater now than then. 
 
 (Signed) D. SINCLAIR, 
 
 Editor Daily Republican.
 
 BOATS BUILT IN PAST TWENTY- FIVE YEARS. 89 
 
 From Savannah, 111. Freight by river no comparison; way 
 behind. General business has increased in the same ratio. 
 (Unsigned) 
 
 From Wheeling, W. Va. River traffic fallen off 25 per cent. 
 General business ten times greater. 
 
 (Signed) H. QUARRFER, 
 
 President Board of Trade. 
 
 From Alton, 111. About one-fourth the number of steam- 
 boats on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers that there was twenty 
 years ago, and they carry about one-fourth the freight that was 
 then carried. General business more than doubled. 
 
 (Signed) R. T. SARGENT, 
 
 Steamboat Agent. 
 
 From Hannibal, Mo. Freight traffic by river one-half what 
 it was twenty years ago. Business has increased 50 per cent. 
 (Unsigned) 
 
 From St. Joseph, Mo. Traffic by steamer i per cent, of what 
 it was twenty years ago. General business four times as large. 
 (Signed) F. T. SCHRADER, 
 
 Secretary Board of Trade. 
 
 The decadence of traffic upon our Western rivers is further 
 witnessed by the report of the United States Commissioner of 
 Navigation, for 1890,33 to the annual average amount of tonnage 
 of water craft built for navigation on our Western rivers. 
 
 To condense the matter, this average is given in groups of 
 five years from 1865 to 1890, as follows: 
 
 Years. Tons. 
 
 1865-1870 Annual Average 5 I )9i 
 
 1870-1875 " 55,717 
 
 1875-1880 42,552 
 
 1880-1885 " " 38,580 
 
 1885-1890 11,355 
 
 There are about 17,000 miles of navigable waters of the 
 Mississippi and its tributaries, and notwithstanding the immense 
 growth and development of the country from the close of the 
 war in 1865 down to 1890, especially of that portion west of the 
 Mississippi, both north and south, it appears that the annual 
 tonnage built for the five years ending with 1889 is scarcely one- 
 fifth of what it was twenty years previous. These river craft are 
 flat-bottomed, lightly built, and short-lived, and yet the require- 
 ments of river navigation have not been such as to maintain the 
 actual tonnage. Year by year it has steadily declined.
 
 90 STATE INTERFERENCE IN TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 It is in the face of such facts and figures that the city of 
 Chicago is called upon to expend thirty to forty millions of 
 dollars in the flatulent scheme of a ship canal from Bridgeport 
 to Joliet. It would seem as though among the noisy advocates 
 of this expensive work there should be found some one able and 
 willing to give a calm and rational estimate of its value to the 
 interests of commerce. 
 
 Cheap rates for the transportation of freight are very 
 desirable, and may be secured by a State having sufficient 
 resources, in various ways; it may build lines of railway or canal, 
 and operate them without reference to the income to be derived 
 therefrom; it may subsidize existing lines, or maintain them at 
 public expense; all this is simple enough, but there is, or there 
 ought to be, some underlying principle. 
 
 The only principle which can justify taxation of the public 
 for such a purpose is, that it is for the general welfare; hence 
 the questions to be considered in proposing any interference on 
 the part of the State are, Who are to be benefited, whether 
 the benefits are general, arid whether they bear any proportion 
 to the proposed expenditure. 
 
 These questions can not be answered by vague declamation 
 or dogmatic assertions. If there is any substantial basis for the 
 use of public money for the purpose of cheapening transporta- 
 tion, the advocates of such use should find some facts and 
 figures in its support; and these facts and figures are not to 
 be found in what the New York & Erie Canal accomplished fifty 
 years ago, nor in what Manchester, England, is trying to do to- 
 day, but in the needs of the day and hour, here where the scheme 
 is to be worked out. 
 
 A somewhat laborious search through that mass of specula- 
 tion and conjecture compounded by Mr. Cooley, and issued 
 forth under the pretentious but obscure title of, " The Lake and 
 Gulf Water-way as Related to the Chicago Sanitary Problem," 
 does not disclose any facts, figures, or theory upon which such a 
 channel could be considered of value. This composition, or 
 mosaic of fragments, must be a "preliminary report" it begins 
 nowhere, rambles at will in a jerky, disjointed fashion, and con- 
 cludes nothing. It is an amplified specimen of what may be 
 expected when a man "continues at large." 
 
 Mr. Cooley says, speaking of a depth of ten feet of water in 
 the Mississippi, between the mouths of the Illinois and Missouri
 
 WATER-WAY ELOQUENCE. 91 
 
 rivers, " No one will contend that this depth can not be had 
 "over this twenty-four miles, if there is any wise purpose to be 
 "subserved, as there would be." "As there would be." This is 
 taken from an article written by Mr. Cooley and published in 
 the Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1890, in advocacy of a ten-foot 
 channel in the Mississippi, between the mouth of the Illinois 
 River and St. Louis. " If there is any wise purpose to be sub- 
 " served, as there would be! " Perhaps the fact that Mr. Cooley 
 has declared the creation of such a channel "a wise purpose " 
 establishes that fact. There are certainly no other reasons for 
 believing it anything else than an act of supreme folly. 
 
 It may be said on behalf of Mr. Cooley, that he is an engi- 
 neer; that he is a man of vast ideas; that he does not pretend to 
 take cognizance of the sober realities of this work-a-day world, 
 but dwells in the vast empyrean of sublimated ether, where his 
 spirit roams at will, uncontrolled by the sordid elements of prac- 
 tical life this may be so; if we take what he has written upon 
 the subject of a water-way, as indicative of the sobriety of his 
 judgment, this explanation would seem to be correct. 
 
 There is yet another apostle of the great water-way. Listen 
 to Carter Harrison as he expounded the glories of a great water- 
 way to the Common Council of the city of Chicago, in January, 
 1887: 
 
 "To-day there are distant rumblings of possible war between 
 "this country and England, and mighty interests are alarmed by 
 " the exposures made by scientific men of the ease with which 
 "this and other lake cities may be blown into atoms by British 
 "gun-boats, before this country can be ready for war. If this 
 " canal, necessary for Chicago drainage, were now finished, gun- 
 " boats could be rapidly built which could lock up in the Welland 
 "Canal England's navy, whereas, to build now a single gun-boat 
 "capable of reaching Lake Erie would be a declaration of war. 
 
 "Government should build this canal, and should commence 
 "it at once, and through its building unload itself of the idle 
 "hundred millions in its vaults, which should be giving work and 
 "bread to industrious laborers; and by the aid of such canal 
 "placing itself in a position which would not bring a blush of 
 " shame to the American cheek, by a repetition of the Mason and 
 "Slidell fiasco. 
 
 "If Government will not build it, then Illinois, with its proud 
 "position of third State in the Union, owing not a dollar of debt,
 
 92 BRITISH NAVY TO BE PUT UNDER LOCK AND KEY. 
 
 "should do the work. If the State, blind to its interests, refuses, 
 "then Chicago should not supinely call upon national or State 
 " Herculi for help, but should put its own shoulder to the wheel; 
 " should demand of the State the privilege and power to do the 
 "thing, and should build the mighty work. It should do that 
 " itself which is necessary for its health and comfort, even if by 
 "so doing it frees the nation from periodic scares by enabling it 
 " to build gun-boats which would hold the keys to the Welland 
 " Canal. It should finish the work itself, even though by so doing 
 " it would give the Northwest a river capable of floating great 
 "steamers between the lakes and the Mississippi, carrying on a 
 " mighty trade, and worth more to the people in governing rail- 
 *'road traffic, and lessening extortions, than a dozen interstate 
 "commerce bills." 
 
 And it is by such rodomontade as this, and purblind blinking 
 at the commercial value of a great water-way down along the 
 Illinois bottoms, that Chicago is to be led into the expenditure 
 of $30,000,000 or $40,000,000. 
 
 Undoubtedly this volume of water would dilute the sewage, 
 and if it were necessary to build the channel for that purpose, we 
 should have to submit; but it is not necessary; and further, as has 
 been shown, the scheme was put through for the establishment 
 of a great water-way, to which the sewage question was only 
 incidental.
 
 THE ENGINEERING PROBLEM. 
 
 The writer makes no pretensions to a knowledge of engineer- 
 ing, but it would seem as though all questions of a general char- 
 acter, involved in the creation of a canal from Bridgeport to the 
 upper basin, ought to be understood by any man of practical 
 common sense. 
 
 The Des Plaines River, flowing southerly, at a point about a 
 half mile north of Summit a station on the Alton Railroad, 8f 
 miles from Bridgeport turns rather sharply to the southwest, and 
 flows in that general direction through a narrow valley, from 
 one-fourth of a mile to a mile in width, to Joliet, a distance from 
 that point of about twenty-five miles. The present canal and the 
 Alton and Santa F6 railroads traverse the valley. The country 
 between Chicago and Summit is level, but from Summit to Joliet 
 are ranges of hills on both sides, and any canal from Summit to 
 Joliet must go down the valley.* 
 
 The low-water mark of Lake Michigan is called Chicago 
 datum, and is the level from which calculations of height or 
 depression are made. Chicago datum is not an extreme low- 
 water level. The lake stood at about datum for thirty days 
 during 1889, and for half the year was only six inches above. 
 
 At the summit, the low-water level of Des Plaines is eight 
 feet above datum, and, with a slight fall, continues above datum 
 until Romeo is reached, twenty-five miles from Bridgeport, where 
 the surface of low water in the Des Plaines is about level with 
 datum. At Lockport there is a rapid fall of twenty feet, and 
 between Lockport and Joliet there is a fall of about twenty-two 
 feet, making the aggregate fall in the Des Plaines, from the 
 
 * The various points on the route to which references are sometimes made, 
 and their distances from point to point, are about as follows: Bridgeport to Sum- 
 mit, 8f miles; thence to Willow Springs, 4* miles; thence to Sag, 4^ miles; 
 thence to Lament, si miles; thence to Romeo, 4$ miles; thence to the locks at 
 Lockport, 3i miles; thence to head of Upper Pool, 3! miles; thence to the 
 natural level of the Des Plaines at Joliet, ii miles.
 
 94 SIMPLICITY OF THE WORK. 
 
 summit to the natural bed at Joliet, about fifty feet, and from 
 Chicago datum forty-two feet. 
 
 The Des Plaines Valley is about one-half mile wide at the 
 summit, one-fourth at Willow Springs, and over a mile wide at 
 Romeo and Lockport. The surface of the valley is comparatively 
 level between the hills on either side, and has a slope from 
 Summit to Lockport, substantially corresponding to the level of 
 the Des Plaines River; the so-called "Sag" cuts no material 
 figure in the valley. 
 
 The bed of the Des Plaines River varies in width. It is about 
 200 feet wide at Summit, and from 400 to 600 feet wide between 
 Willow Springs and Lament. 
 
 This, then, was the engineering feat to be accomplished. 
 Starting at Bridgeport, fourteen feet below datum, to dig a ditch 
 to the upper basin, through a fairly level valley, for a distance 
 of about thirty miles at a descending grade of five or six inches 
 to the mile, and an increase of four feet in depth through the 
 rock-cut. 
 
 About a half million dollars has been expended on that im- 
 mense problem at least the half million has been expended, and 
 the figures of engineers and some office furniture is all there is to 
 show for it. 
 
 It is a significant commentary upon that engineering work, 
 that Congress passed an act in August, 1888, for the survey of 
 a water-way from Chicago to the Mississippi River. The survey 
 was commenced by Capt. Marshall in May, 1889. He surveyed a 
 route from Calumet to the sag, from Bridgeport to the sag, from 
 the sag to Joliet, and from Joliet to La Salle; made extensive 
 borings and a complete profile map of the entire route from Lake 
 Michigan to La Salle, and detailed estimates of the cost, and 
 made his report to the Secretary of War on February 28, 1890, 
 and all at an expense of about twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 Great are the ways of great water-way men! 
 
 RETROSPECT. 
 
 Looking back over the history of the efforts which have been 
 made by the people of Chicago to provide adequate means of drain- 
 age, the records of the men who have had to do with the matter, 
 and the results which have been obtained, and anticipating those 
 which are likely to follow if the present drainage scheme is carried
 
 PEOPLE WANTED DRAINAGE, NOT A WATER-WAV. 95 
 
 out, the man must be of an exceedingly optimistic temperament 
 who can look with tranquility upon the past, or augur favorable 
 results for the future. 
 
 Whether the Drainage Act was a wise enactment, or whether 
 any of the men who were instrumental in procuring it, or have 
 been connected with its execution, are deserving of censure, are 
 questions which every reader must decide for himself, on the facts. 
 
 It has been reviewed as a Drainage Act, but, as is apparent, 
 the effort of its contrivers was, to secure a great water-way. 
 
 Whatever may be, or may have been, the views of some wild 
 theorists about a water-way, the fact is indisputable that the vast 
 majority of the people of Chicago voted for the Drainage Act 
 solely with reference to drainage. They were told by the Press, 
 and by enthusiastic visionaries, that we should have a great 
 water-way for the navigation of vessels of thirteen to seventeen 
 feet draught from the Mississippi River to Chicago, and the 
 commerce of the city doubled or trebled; that future generations 
 would look at the vast work with admiration and awe; miles and 
 miles of valuable docks were to line its banks, a great water- 
 power was to be created, and numberless factories be moved by 
 its surplus waters; vast quantities of valuable stone were to be 
 excavated, which could be used in building; millions of cubic 
 yards of earth were to be thrown up, which could be utilized in 
 filling up the Lake Front, and, lastly, and not the weakest voiced 
 among them, came the anglo-phobist, who averred that whereas, 
 by treaty with England, the United States could now only main- 
 tain one war-vessel on our lakes, if this great water-way should 
 be created, we could have down somewhere in the interior of the 
 State a navy yard, with a fleet of Wasp and Hornet gun-boats 
 ready to sweep the lakes of every " blarsted Britisher" that 
 dared to show his head, and home rule for Ireland was to feel 
 the effect. 
 
 All the talk about a navy to be held in readiness somewhere 
 down in Peoria or Tazewell counties is sheer nonsense, and be- 
 longs to the brass-band order of oratory. The treaty can be 
 abrogated by either party on six months' notice; it is no part of 
 the obligations of the people of Chicago to provide means offen- 
 sive or defensive against Great Britain, that is for the General 
 Government. 
 
 But, supposing that all the foregoing attractions of a ship 
 canal could be realized, the fact remains, that drainage was what
 
 96 OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. 
 
 the people wanted. Remove the necessity for drainage, and the 
 brilliant advantages of a water-way to the Mississippi would have 
 been utterly disregarded, and the project overwhelmed with 
 defeat; outside of a few vaporing enthusiasts, and those who 
 are indifferent to the burdens of taxation because they pay no 
 taxes, or who see in public expenditures only opportunities to 
 secure high salaries or political influence, the measure would 
 have had few advocates and a trifling vote. People voted for 
 the Drainage Act because they wanted drainage, and were told by 
 those in whom they reposed confidence that this was the only 
 way it could be obtained. No attempt was made to present the 
 enormous, if not insurmountable, difficulties involved in carrying 
 out the scheme, nor the great expenditure necessary to overcome 
 them; nor was any honest and intelligent attempt made to devise 
 the most practicable means of disposing of the drainage question. 
 
 THE FUTURE. 
 
 Turning from the disagreeable and thankless task of criticism 
 of the Drainage Act, which was rendered necessary by the fact 
 of its existence upon our statute books, it is with a sense of relief 
 that attention is turned to a theory of construction, and to a dis- 
 cussion of the drainage question of Chicago on practical lines. 
 An effort has been made to show that the Drainage Act is based 
 upon absurd ideas, and that its execution will be attended with 
 an extravagant expenditure in the present, and entail upon the 
 city of Chicago continuing liabilities to an enormous amount for 
 all future time. 
 
 There is such a thing as the confiscation of private rights 
 under the forms of taxation, and the undertaking of extravagant 
 and chimerical public works is one method of such confiscation; 
 no majority, however great, can be a justification for the taking 
 of a man's money or property, and wasting it in foolish enter- 
 prises. 
 
 It is not unlikely that the present Drainage Board will expend 
 very considerable sums of money, and impose upon the city of 
 Chicago serious liabilities, before a period can be put to their 
 reckless transactions ; still, relief can be obtained at the session 
 of the Legislature in 1893, and it is believed that a sober investi- 
 gation of the drainage question will demonstrate the necessity 
 of the abolition of the Drainage Board, and a reconstruction of
 
 ANOTHER PRELIMINARY REPORT. 97 
 
 the methods of relief, upon more prudent lines, even at the sac- 
 rifice of all the money expended, and a settlement of all the 
 liabilities created by it. It is proposed then: First, to eliminate 
 from the question all immaterial matters and settle upon the 
 real difficulty; and, second, to discuss the methods of the purifi- 
 cation of sewage first, by irrigation ; second, by percipita- 
 tion; third, the self-purification of flowing water; fourth, attempt 
 to solve the drainage question by the use of one or other, or 
 a combination of systems, in a manner which will avoid con- 
 tamination of the water supply of Chicago, and do away with 
 grounds for complaint down the river. 
 
 FIRST, THE ELIMINATION OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 In a vague sort of a way, the question of public health is 
 mixed up with the sewage question, without distinctly indicating 
 how it is affected by the presence of sewage in neighboring 
 waters. For instance, there is published by the Illinois State 
 Board of Health a pamphlet of something over 100 pages with 
 the ponderous title, "Preliminary Report of the Illinois State 
 " Board of Health, Water Supplies of Illinois, and the Pollution 
 "of its Streams, by John H. Rauch, M. D., Secretary, with Two 
 "Appendices: I. Chemical Investigations of the Water Supplies 
 "of Illinois. By Prof. J. H. Long. II. The Illinois River Basin 
 " in its Relation to Sanitary Engineering. By L. E. Cooley, C. E." 
 
 In a general way it may be stated, that about half of this 
 publication is taken up with the report by Prof. Long of the 
 analyses of over 750 samples of water taken from the Illinois 
 & Michigan Canal and from various rivers, creeks, ponds, 
 wells, and springs in Illinois, made by the direction of the State 
 Board of Health; the remainder of the pamphlet consists of the 
 several lucubrations of Dr. Rauch and L. E. Cooley, and seems 
 to be in the main (so far as it has any intelligible point) an 
 attempt to prove that the doctor was right in a controversy with 
 some other doctor, about the self-purifying qualities of water, 
 and that the sanitary condition of the people of the State of Illi- 
 nois would be vastly improved by a great water-way from Lake 
 Michigan to the Mississippi River. 
 
 This preliminary report was a final one; it never had a sequel; 
 outside of its contribution to the general stock of knowledge on 
 the self-purifying qualities of water, a topic not however ger- 
 mane to the question of the health of the people of the State of 
 7
 
 98 ANALYSIS OF POLLUTED WATER, USELESS. 
 
 Illinois, it has no practical bearing on questions properly within 
 the scope of the board. The forty-eight printed pages of analyses 
 of the contents of 750 two-gallon jugs of water, made by Prof. 
 Long "under the direction of the Illinois State Board of 
 "Health," have no apparent value, except as above noted. 
 
 On the iyth September, 1890, Mr. Cooley announced to the 
 Board of Trustees that he proposed to spend five or six thou- 
 sand dollars for the analysis of the water of the South Branch; 
 no useful purpose could be subserved by such a proceeding; 
 everybody knows the water is vile nobody proposes to use it 
 for domestic purposes. His project was simply on a par with 
 his water gauges, reconnaissances of water sheds, speculations 
 upon population, and kindred maunderings, and the analyses of 
 Prof. Long for the State Board of Health have no more 
 practical value. 
 
 The greater portion of the London water supply is drawn 
 from the River Thames. The sewage of the city discharges into 
 that river, the flux and reflux of the tide extends to Teddington 
 lock, about twenty miles above London, carrying backward and 
 forward the sewage discharge of the city; hence the necessity of 
 taking water above flood tide, and the water supply is taken at 
 Hampton. 
 
 The Thames above Hampton drains 3,676 square miles of 
 territory, with a population of 900,000, and though only portions 
 of this area and of these inhabitants contributed to the con- 
 tamination of the river, there was still enough to demand serious 
 attention. The matter of the water supply of London was of 
 the utmost importance, and in 1866 a royal commission was 
 appointed, consisting of the Duke of Richmond, Sir John 
 Thwaites, Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works; 
 Colonel Harness, Chairman Board of the Royal Engineers; Sir 
 Benjamin Philips, alderman of the city of London; Mr. T. E. 
 Harrison, vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 
 and Mr. Prestwich, an eminent geologist, to consider the subject. 
 They devoted 2^ years to the investigation. The most eminent 
 chemists and medical men of London, among whom were Dr. 
 Lyon Playfair, Mr. Simon, Dr. Farr, Dr. Parkes, Dr. Letheby, 
 Prof. Wanklyn, Dr. Frankland, Dr. Odling, Sir Benjamin 
 Brodie, Dr. Miller, and Dr. Angus Smith, testified before them. 
 They made their report in 1869, and upon the question of the
 
 ENGLISH SCIENTISTS ON CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 99 
 
 value of chemical analysis of water for drinking purposes, the 
 commission say: 
 
 "The question now naturally arises, Can we not by careful 
 " analysis of the Thames water discover what quantity of organic 
 "matters it contains; what is the nature and character of such 
 " matters, and how far they are deleterious or otherwise? We 
 " have endeavored to arrive at a solution of this question, but 
 " unfortunately without much success. The inquiry seems beset 
 " with difficulty; the organic matter is present in only very small 
 " quantities, and in shapes and conditions which are very difficult 
 " to identify and to reduce to actual measure. The treatment 
 " of them is still a problem in chemical science, only now begin- 
 ning to be effectually studied, and the most eminent chemists 
 " are yet by no means agreed either as to the process most 
 " proper to be followed in the analysis, or as to the value and 
 " bearing of the results obtained. 
 
 " It does not follow that all organic matter in water is prej- 
 " udicial * * * almost all our drinks other than water owe their 
 "distinctive qualities to the varieties of their organic contents, 
 " and hence it is clear that the presence of organic matter, per se, 
 " is not necessarily prejudicial." 
 
 Dr. Frankland, the chemist of the Registrar General of Lon- 
 don, and one of the most earnest sticklers for purity, said: 
 
 " It can not be too widely known that chemical analysis is 
 " utterly powerless to detect any matter positively injurious to 
 " health in any of the forms of animal refuse which go to con- 
 " laminate water. 
 
 " It is for the physiologist, not the chemist, to say what in-- 
 " fluence the admission of excrementitious matters into drinking 
 " water has upon the health of the community. If his verdict 
 " is that they have none, then water analysis for sanitary purposes 
 " becomes useless." 
 
 Be it understood that this inquiry was as to water for 
 domestic use, by the people of London, and the report demon- 
 strates the absurdity of the chemical investigations proposed by 
 Mr. Cooley, and those actually made by the State Board of 
 Health. 
 
 The entire scope of these professedly scientific investigations 
 by Mr. Cooley and the State Board of Health was, like the foggy 
 developments of the engineering question, simply an attempt 
 to mystify common people as to the nature of the work. It was
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 SOCIETY 
 
 100 EFFECT OF POLLUTED WATER ON HEALTH. 
 
 done to create the impression that there was something wonder- 
 fully profound in the matter of digging a ditch to carry off foul 
 water. 
 
 Now the plain proposition is insisted upon, that the presence 
 of sewage in any body of water having a current, or subject to 
 agitation, has no effect upon the general health, unless such 
 water is used for domestic purposes. The general range of dis- 
 cussion in Europe, and probably outside of the ranks of water- 
 way cranks, in this country, has been confined to the question as 
 to the use for domestic purposes of water which has been pol- 
 luted by sewage. 
 
 There is no city in the State of Illinois where the water supply 
 is affected by sewage except Chicago, and the paternal guardian- 
 ship of the State Board of Health is by no means essential to 
 the welfare of that city. It is perhaps unjust to the State Board 
 of Health to suggest that its interference in the matter extended 
 beyond the action of its secretary, Doctor Rauch, who seems to 
 have been a co-laborer with Mr. Cooley in his ship-canal 
 vagaries. He rushed his report into print in April, 1889, at the 
 time when the Drainage Act was pending in the Legislature; he 
 states that the report was put through the Press without taking 
 time to correct typographical errors. It is difficult to conceive, 
 from the contents of the report, what reason there was for such 
 hot haste, unless it was to aid in the passage of that act. He 
 has since, like the Captain of the Pinafore (involuntarily how- 
 ever), been permitted to "seek seclusion." 
 
 Upon the question as to the effect of sewage discharge upon 
 general health, it is sufficient to say that the entire sewage of the 
 city of London empties into the Thames, and is washed back 
 and forth as the tide ebbs and flows, and in that connection the 
 following extract is made from Santo Crimp on " Sewage Dis- 
 posal Works," page 25: " One of the conclusions and recom- 
 " mendations of the Royal Commissioners on Metropolitan 
 "(London) Sewage Discharge, 1884, is as follows: That it does 
 "not appear that hitherto, the sewage discharge has had any 
 "seriously prejudicial effect on the general healthiness of the 
 "neighboring districts. But that there is evidence of certain 
 " evil effects' of a minor kind on the health of persons employed 
 " upon the river (Thames), and that there may be reasonable 
 " anxiety on the subject for the future." 
 
 The above may be taken as completely disposing of any pre-
 
 THE INTERESTS OF RIVER VALLEY PEOPLE. 101 
 
 tense that the health of the people of the State of Illinois, out- 
 side of Chicago, is in any way affected by its sewage. As to 
 the health of the people of Chicago, there is no evidence that 
 people living near the river, or working upon it, are unfavorably 
 affected in health by the presence of sewage in the river. The 
 Chicago sewage question resolves itself into: First, the contami- 
 nation of the water supply of Chicago; and second, the unpleas- 
 antness of odors arising from it. 
 
 It is true that the Legislature of Illinois, in a " Whereas," 
 once declared that millions of fish were poisoned in the Illinois 
 River by the sewage of Chicago. This is palpably ridiculous. 
 Since that time, four dams have been erected in the river, but 
 there are other considerations which make it unnecessary to 
 occupy time with the fish question. The matter of the water 
 supply has already been alluded to and will be discussed further 
 on. The question of noxious odors, then, is the only one affect- 
 ing people down the river, and in this connection it is amusing 
 to observe that notwithstanding the ravings of the people of 
 Joliet about the bad smells which they occasionally inhale from 
 the river as it pours over the dam, the highest priced property 
 in Joliet is very near the dam. 
 
 There is no doubt, however, but that the odors from the river 
 are at times very offensive, and it is conceded that the people 
 there were justified in making complaint; but so far as they are 
 concerned, the question must be strictly limited to that evil. It 
 is no concern of the people down the river what the people of 
 Chicago drink, nor where they get it. Their only concern is, 
 that the nuisance of foul odors shall be abated. They have no 
 right to direct as to how it shall be done, and least of all have 
 they any right to demand that thirty to forty millions of dollars 
 shall be expended by the city of Chicago to create a tail-race, 
 a water-power, or a huge canal, if the end can be accomplished 
 some other way at less than one-fifth the expense, and this leads 
 to the question of the disposition which may be made of sewage.
 
 THE DISPOSITION OF SEWAGE. 
 
 It is not to be expected that any extended discussion of the 
 question of sewage disposal will be entered upon in this place, 
 but as it is a matter which has received great attention in Europe, 
 and very little in this country, and as one of the methods in gen- 
 eral use in Europe seems most available for the people of 
 Chicago, some general ideas may properly be given upon the 
 subject. 
 
 Either separately, or in some form of combination, there are 
 two methods of disposing of sewage, other than that of turning 
 it into an adjoining stream or large body of water, viz., that of 
 land irrigation and that of precipitation. 
 
 FIRST, BY IRRIGATION. 
 
 The method by irrigation consists in turning the sewage 
 loose upon a tract of land, where by systems of surface drains it 
 is spread over the surface, and by underdrainage the water, after 
 being leached, is carried off. This method is in use in various 
 places in Europe, some of which, with the population in 1884, 
 and number of acres used at that time, are given in the following 
 table, which is made up from the report of Mr. Allen already 
 referred to: 
 
 Places. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Number of Acres. 
 
 Croyden, Eng 
 Doncaster, Eng... 
 Wigan, Eng. 
 
 6o,OOO 
 30,000 
 ?o,ooo 
 
 540 
 
 35 
 260 
 
 Paris 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1,482 for ^ of the sewage 
 
 Berlin . 
 
 Sewage of 900,000 
 
 7,500 in use in 1884 
 
 Dantzig 
 
 100,000 
 
 395 in use in 1884 
 
 
 
 
 In Berlin the sewage is pumped to a height of sixty-five feet, 
 and in Dantzig twenty-three feet, for delivery on the land. 
 
 (102)
 
 EFFECT OF COLD WEATHER AT PULLMAN. 103 
 
 These lands are farmed, and something is realized in rents, but 
 the details are immaterial, as the system is impracticable in 
 Chicago for three reasons: First, no land is available; second, 
 the quantity of sewage is three or four times as great per capita 
 here, and third, our winters are often too cold. Mr. Allen 
 visited the works at Pullman, and says of those works, of which, 
 by the way, Mr. Benzette Williams was chief engineer: 
 
 " The sewage farm at Pullman has frequently been cited as 
 " being a place where successful purification of sewage (by land 
 "treatment) is accomplished in the winter, in a climate similar to 
 " that of New England. In order to fully satisfy myself as to the 
 " fact, I visited Pullman in January of the present year, accom- 
 panied by Gen. R. H. Chamberlain, superintendent of sewers of 
 "this city, and this is what we found: The farm has an area 
 " of about one hundred and forty acres, nearly all of which is 
 " devoted to irrigation; there are ten acres however set apart for a 
 " filtration area, this being thoroughly underdrained, the drains 
 " being about twelve feet apart. Upon the day of our visit it 
 "was quite warm; the thermometer registered 40 Fahr. We 
 " found that the sewage was all being discharged upon the filtra- 
 "tion area, the first section of which was covered with sludge to 
 " a depth of about a foot. The sewage was running over this, 
 " to the second section, which was partially covered with ice, and 
 "then over the remaining area, which was entirely covered with 
 "ice, and was finally discharged into the effluent trench, without 
 "having been filtered in the least. 
 
 " The entire area was completely covered with sewage, and 
 "there was evidently no filtration taking place, as about the same 
 " quantity passed off at the lower end of the beds as was dis- 
 " charged upon the upper end." 
 
 Mr. Allen considered the subject carefully, and concluded 
 that the winters of New England, though not so cold as at Pull- 
 man, were too cold for the method by irrigation. 
 
 SECOND, BY PRECIPITATION. 
 
 In the method by precipitation, the sewage flows into im- 
 mense tanks built of masonry, after being mixed with milk of 
 lime (that is, slaked lime dissolved in water until it has the consist- 
 ency of milk), or other cheap chemical, causing the solids to 
 settle, and the water flows off very well cleared. There are two
 
 104 
 
 PRECIPITATION OF SEWAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 methods in use; one, to let the contents of the tanks stand a 
 short time for settling, and the other what is called the continuous 
 process, where the sewage keeps up a, very slow movement. In 
 the city of Worcester, after having tried the still-water method, 
 they are using the continuous process with satisfactory results. 
 
 The deposit, or sludge, has some value as a fertilizer in 
 some localities. Under date of January 20, 1892, the city engi- 
 neer of Worcester writes: "We have about concluded to burn 
 " the sludge, in fact have already begun to do so in a limited 
 " way, and have found it perfectly feasible. I believe this is the 
 " most desirable thing to do." 
 
 Under date of June 18, 1892, he writes: "We have disposed 
 " of all the sludge that we had on hand this spring to the farmers 
 " in the immediate vicinity, who have taken it and used it as a 
 " fertilizer. We are in hopes it will prove of sufficient value, so 
 " they will wish to continue it. We have therefore discontinued 
 " burning." 
 
 Whether the immense amount of filth which, according to 
 Mr. Williams, is to be found in Chicago sewage would render 
 the sludge more valuable, is a matter of detail not essential to 
 the present discussion. 
 
 The system of sewage disposal by precipitation is in use quite 
 extensively in England. Three of the largest places where it is 
 in operation, with their population in 1883, number of gallons 
 of sewage treated daily, original cost of works, and annual cost 
 of maintenance, are given below from Mr. Allen's report: 
 
 PLACE. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Gallons of 
 Sewage Daily. 
 
 Cost of 
 Works. 
 
 Expenses. 
 Yearly. 
 
 Bradford 
 
 200,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 $300,000 
 
 $20,000 
 
 Leeds 
 
 IA-Z.OOO 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 ?oo,ooo 
 
 21.000 
 
 Birmingham 
 
 420.000 
 
 I 3. OOO OOO 
 
 4. 10 ooo 
 
 66 ooo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 At the Leeds works the sewage has to be pumped eighteen 
 feet to reach the tanks. 
 
 The quantity of lime used varies somewhat, but no estimate 
 places it at more than one ton for each million gallons of sewage. 
 The cost of precipitation in England is estimated as being about 
 25 cents per capita per annum. The tank capacity should be 
 about equal to one-half the quantity of daily sewage. 
 
 In the Birmingham works, there are three large tanks 330 x 
 90 feet, and sixteen smaller, 150x50 feet. Leeds works have
 
 REPORT OF MR. ALLEN. 105 
 
 twelve tanks, 100x60 feet. The Bradford works were originally 
 constructed for another process, but they now use milk of lime; 
 there are thirty-four tanks, 30x22 feet, and thirty-four, 22x14 
 feet, besides a reservoir, and some sludge tanks. 
 
 The tanks are generally filled to a depth of six feet. As will 
 be seen by the above table, the daily sewage per capita of the 
 three English cities mentioned is for Bradford, about forty gal- 
 lons; Leeds, about thirty, and Birmingham the same. The 
 sewage per capita daily in Chicago is estimated at 120 gallons. 
 This variance, however, does not affect the principle, it is only 
 in its application more tank capacity per capita being necessary. 
 
 As regards the results of the process Mr. Allen says: 
 
 Of Bradford. "The effluent was very clear but was of a 
 ' light amber color, entirely free from odor. The color being 
 " due, as was claimed by the superintendent, to the presence in 
 "the sewage of large quantities of refuse from manufactories." 
 
 Of Leeds. " The effluent as observed by me was very clear 
 " and without color, although I was told that at times it was 
 " somewhat discolored, owing to the large quantities of dye 
 " stuff and refuse from manufactories." 
 
 The effluent from the Birmingham works was taken to a 
 sewage farm below, of several hundred acres, where it was used 
 for purposes of irrigation. The tanks are cleaned every three to 
 six days in the still-water process. 
 
 The entire report of Mr. Allen, from which the foregoing 
 extracts are taken, is extremely interesting, and, as showing how 
 business is done in Worcester, Mass., it may be stated that the 
 city of Worcester, situated on the Blackstone River, with a 
 population, in 1883, of about 70,000, had a large number of fac- 
 tories, the refuse from which, with the city sewage, emptied into 
 the Blackstone River. Great quantities of chemicals entered 
 into the sewage, and people below were greatly annoyed by it. 
 Litigation ensued, the State Legislature took the matter up, and 
 in 1883 the City Council appropriated $700 to defray Mr. 
 Allen's expenses to Europe to investigate the question of sewage 
 disposal. He visited England, France, and Germany, and made 
 a careful examination of the different methods in use for the 
 treatment and purification of sewage at the places above men- 
 tioned, and others, and visited the sewage farm at Pullman as 
 above stated.
 
 106 PRECIPITATION WORKS AT WORCESTER. 
 
 Mr. Allen reported the result of his investigation, and gave 
 a clear and concise statement of the different methods of sewage 
 disposal in Europe, cost of plants, and the results obtained. 
 
 Had Mr. Allen filled his report with far-away gibberish about 
 hydrographic surveys, analyses of foreign sewage, reconnaissances 
 of water sheds, disquisitions upon detritus, speculations upon 
 population, asked for $2,000 or $3,000 to pay for an analysis of 
 the waters of Blackstone River and Milbrook Creek, and called 
 it a "preliminary report," it would have been a fair sample of 
 documents familiar to readers of water-way literature in Chicago. 
 
 His report was a practical, sensible document, in which he 
 recommended the erection of works for the purification of the 
 sewage of Worcester by precipitation, and gave an estimate of 
 the cost, which was not exceeded. 
 
 The outcome of all which was, such works were erected at an 
 expense of about fifty-six thousand dollars, and have been in 
 successful operation since some time in 1890. The works cover 
 ten acres of ground. There are six tanks, each 100 feet long, 
 66f feet wide, and 7 feet deep. 
 
 In his report for the year ending November, 1890, he says: 
 
 "As a practical illustration of what is accomplished, samples 
 "of the sewage, and of the effluent taken at the same time, have 
 "been saved. Sewage five months old is the color of ink, and 
 "the odor from it is so foul that it is sickening, while the effluent 
 "of the same age is clear, colorless, and entirely without odor. 
 "I am perfectly satisfied that no decomposition takes place in 
 "the effluent, and that, so far as the Blackstone River is con- 
 "cerned, it is as unobjectionable as spring water could be. I do 
 "not claim that drinking water is manufactured at the disposal 
 "works. What I believe is, that the method of treatment is 
 "such, that when the whole sewage of the city is dealt with at 
 "the works, the Blackstone River will be entirely relieved of any 
 "further pollution from the city of Worcester. 
 
 " As to the cost of treatment, I think it will be more satisfac- 
 " tory to wait until after the works have been run another year 
 "before going into details. It is constantly being reduced, and 
 "at the present time it is well within the estimate made by me 
 "several years ago, namely, $22,500 per year." 
 
 Upon the opposite page is a copy of a photograph of the 
 works at Worcester, Mass.

 
 CONSTRUCTION OF PRECIPITATING WORKS. 107 
 
 In private letters he writes as follows: 
 
 "January 20, 1892. I am satisfied that with 3,000,000 gallons 
 "of sewage per day, the size of the tanks at Worcester are just 
 "right, as we have obtained most excellent results, and I can see 
 "no reason why this same ratio would not hold good for 5,000,- 
 "ooo cubic feet of sewage. But for eight months past we have 
 " run the sewage through all the tanks, thus treating it by the 
 "continuous process, and have been able to get good results in 
 "treating 4,500,000 gallons per day, and fair results in 6,000,000 
 "gallons per day. This method is much less expensive than the 
 "intermittent (or still water) application, owing to the greater 
 "ease with which the sewage is handled. 
 
 " We ran our works all last winter without trouble from frost, 
 "although we had days when the mercury was below zero." 
 
 "June n, 1892. We are just at the point where we propose 
 "to enlarge our works, and. while the results obtained so far, 
 "have been beyond our expectations, we expect to produce still 
 " further and better results after the works are enlarged. The 
 "estimated population for 1891 was 86,000; the sewage costs us 
 "now for treatment about 40 cents per capita per annum; we 
 "are using about 2^ tons of lime to four million gallons of 
 "sewage." 
 
 "June 18, 1892. In case this large amount of sewage 
 "(10,000,000 cubic feet daily) were treated, it (that is, the quan- 
 tity of land necessary) would depend entirely upon whether 
 " the sludge were to be pressed and the water extracted before 
 " its disposal upon the land, or whether sludge pits were to be 
 "prepared into which the sludge would be pumped and allowed 
 "to dry by natural means. In the latter case the amount of 
 "land would be of course very much greater than in the former. 
 
 " We propose to enlarge our works so that we will treat at 
 "least 15,000,000 gallons per day, and in order to handle the 
 "sludge properly, we shall have to acquire more land. I shall 
 "recommend the purchase of at least thirty acres in addition to 
 " the ten acres that we now own. I think that 10,000,000 cubic feet 
 "of sewage would require, in order to work economically and to 
 "good advantage, something like 300 acres; but, as above stated, 
 "it all depends upon how the sludge is to be handled; if it were 
 "to be pressed, it is possible that it would be taken away by 
 " farmers for fertilizing purposes. In that case, the land re-
 
 108 RESULTS OF PRECIPITATION. 
 
 "quired would be only a few acres more than is necessary for 
 "the precipitation plant itself." 
 
 In this connection it may be stated that the cost in England 
 of pressing the sludge into cakes is about 25 cents per ton, and 
 the product has about the same fertilizing value as barn manure. 
 
 Upon the general subject of the disposal of sewage, the 
 following extracts are taken from Santo Crimp: 
 
 " One of the ' conclusions ' of the committee appointed by 
 "the Societies of Arts in 1876 to inquire into various subjects 
 "connected with the health of towns was as follows: 
 
 " With regard to the various processes based upon subsidence, 
 "precipitation, or filtration, it is evident that by some of them a 
 " sufficiently purified effluent can be produced for discharge, 
 " without injurious result, into water-courses and rivers of suffi- 
 " cient magnitude for its considerable dilution, and that for 
 " many towns where land is not readily obtained at a moderate 
 " price, these particular processes afford the most suitable 
 " means of disposing of the water-carried sewage." 
 
 The report of the Royal Commission on Metropolitan Sewage 
 Discharge, 1884, contains the following most suggestive 
 sentences: 
 
 " In the first place, no one denies that by any chemical pre- 
 " cipitation, the suspended matters may be almost entirely 
 "removed; or, in other words, the sewage may be practically 
 " clarified. It is proved that with well devised, not too deep, 
 l< and abundant tanks, so as to allow of complete subsidence 
 *' (which may be well effected in a few hours), a clarified sewage 
 " may be prepared by precipitation, which will contain less than 
 " two or three grains of suspended solid matters per gallon. 
 " And as it is also admitted that the suspended matters are the 
 " worst causes of pollution and nuisance, it follows that the clari- 
 " fication must effect a great improvement." 
 
 The following, taken from Santo Crimp, is a more detailed 
 description of the works at Bradford, and the results: 
 
 " BRADFORD PRECIPITATION. 
 
 "POPULATION, ETC. The town of Bradford has a population 
 "of 200,000 inhabitants (1885); the whole of the effluent is dis- 
 " charged into a small stream called the Beck of Bradford, a 
 " tributary of the River Aire.
 
 WORKS AT BRADFORD. 109 
 
 " VOLUME OF THE SEWAGE. 
 
 "The daily sewage flow is about 8,450,000 gallons, the whole 
 " of which is conveyed to the sewage purification works, which 
 "the engineer for the works, Mr. Alsing, calculates to be capable 
 "of treating a daily flow of 12,000,000 gallons. 
 
 NATURE OF THE SEWAGE. In addition to the sewage from 
 "4,000 water-closets, the waste from a large number of manufac- 
 " tories is allowed to enter the sewers. The greater part of this 
 "waste comes from dye works, wool-combing works, tanneries, 
 "and breweries. The manufacturers are not compelled to purify 
 "their waste waters in any way, which therefore contain, on being 
 "discharged into the sewer, all the noxious matters which are 
 " not considered worth extracting. 
 
 "In consequence of the chemicals employed by the manufact- 
 "urers, the discharges of refuse are of varying kinds, which 
 " make the sewage all the more difficult to treat. Its composition 
 "varies much from one day to another, and also at different 
 "hours of the day; it is very foul and of offensive smell, and 
 "carries in suspension a large amount of organic and silicious 
 " matters and a pretty large proportion of salts of lime. 
 
 "QUANTITY OF LIME EMPLOYED FOR THE PURIFICATION. 
 
 " The quantity of lime employed for the purification of the sew- 
 " age varies according to its strength; it is much weaker than 
 '' usual at night and on Sunday, and it is also much less in strength 
 "during wet weather. According to Mr. Alsing, the proportion 
 "recommended at Leeds is one ton per 1,000,000 gallons. This 
 "proportion is reduced on Sundays to 10 cwt. ; it is also reduced 
 "every night up to midnight, after which lime is not employed. 
 "In the accounts of the town of Bradford for the year 1883, the 
 "cost of lime for the year is stated to have been ^995 75. lod. 
 "(about $4,818), at the price of 95. rod. (about $2.38) per ton; 
 "this represents a total of 1,990 tons of lime used during the 
 "year. The annual volume of water treated is about 8,450,000 
 " gallons per day. The average proportion of lime used is, there- 
 " fore, a trifle less than 13 cwt. per 1,000,000 gallons. 
 
 "Two rows of tanks, independent of one another, are placed 
 "along the whole length of the front of the buildings at the 
 " works. The precipitating tanks, where the water is allowed to
 
 110 WORKS AT BRADFORD. 
 
 "rest during the time necessary to allow the suspended matters 
 "to precipitate, are at a higher level. 
 
 " Below these are the filtering tanks in equal numbers, in 
 " which the effluent water from the tanks flows through a filter- 
 "ing medium, and there deposits the lighter matters, which are 
 " still held in suspension. The sewage, instead of flowing through 
 "all the tanks in succession, with a continuous movement as at 
 " Leeds, flows into one precipitating tank, and, after sufficient 
 " rest, passes from there into the adjacent filtering tank. 
 
 'The precipitating tanks are thirty-four in number, twenty- 
 " eight feet in length, twenty-two feet in width, and six feet in 
 "depth. Each of these is capable of holding 18,000 gallons, and 
 "is filled sixteen times in the twenty-four hours. The duration 
 "of the complete operation, comprising the filling of the tanks, 
 "the precipitation of suspended matters, the drawing off of the 
 " clarified water, and the removal of the sludge is, therefore, i 
 "hours on the average. At this rate the thirty four tanks 
 ' ; are capable of purifying 10,000,000 gallons per day. In order 
 "to reach the quantity of 12,000,000 gallons per day, which Mr. 
 " Alsing informed us was the maximum quantity that the tanks 
 "are capable of treating per day, the duration of the complete 
 'operation is reduced to i hours. The filling of a tank, when 
 " the sewage is flowing at the rate of 8,450,000 gallons per 
 " day (or 908 gallons per second), occupies about three minutes; 
 " the sewage is allowed to rest for from thirty to forty minutes, 
 " the remainder of the time suffices for drawing off the effluent 
 " and the removal of the sludge. 
 
 " After the precipitation of the solids produced by the milk 
 "of lime, the clarified water is drawn off, and passes through the 
 "filtering tanks. 
 
 "FILTERING TANKS. 
 
 "The sewage, in great part clarified, on leaving the precipi- 
 tating tanks passes into an equal number of filtering tanks, 
 ' which are placed at a lower level. The difference in the two 
 "levels causes a fall, in which the water is agitated and mixed 
 " witli the atmospheric air. 
 
 "The filtering tanks are twenty-two feet in length, twelve 
 " feet in width, and three feet in depth, and are formed of coke 
 " breeze, which is placed on the bottom to a depth of from i 
 " to i-j*g- feet, through which the effluent filters downward.
 
 WORKS AT BRADFORD. Ill 
 
 " The filters are renewed four times a year, while the coke 
 " breeze, after having been used as a filtering material, is exposed 
 'to the air for the purpose of drying and oxidizing it, and 
 " is then employed, mixed with coal, as fuel for the boilers at the 
 " works, in the proportion of two parts of coke breeze to one 
 "part of coal. 
 
 " NATURE OF THE EFFLUENT. 
 
 "The effluent flowing from the works is nearly colorless and 
 ' without odor. It has no other smell than that which is given 
 " to it by the excess of lime which it contains. 
 
 " DISPOSAL OF THE SLUDGE. 
 
 "Returning to the tanks, where the matters in solution are 
 " precipitated by means of lime, the sludge is cleared away, by 
 " means of bottom sluices, into an aqueduct which carries it to 
 44 tanks, from whence it is raised by means of centrifugal pumps 
 "to a height of twenty-nine feet; it then flows by gravitation 
 " through long wooden troughs to large reservoirs in the ground 
 " at the side of the works; here it remains until, by means of 
 " drainage and evaporation, it has arrived at such a consistency 
 " as will allow of its being loaded into carts and taken away. It 
 " then contains about 50 per cent, of water, whereas, on leaving 
 " the tanks, it contained at least 80 per cent. The liquid from 
 " the reservoirs is drawn off by means of carriers, and conveyed 
 "back to the precipitating tanks. 
 
 " The engineer, Mr. Alsing, calculates the quantity of sludge 
 " annually produced at 6,000 tons. The town of Bradford has 
 " concluded an agreement with a contractor who receives the 
 " sludge, gratuitously. He then carts it away and sells it to 
 " farmers. 
 
 "GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORKS. 
 
 " The works and appendages occupy an area of about ten 
 "acres, which is appropriated as follows: 
 
 Square Yards. 
 
 " Building 2,674 
 
 "Tanks in masonry 6,926 
 
 "Sludge reservoirs 9,658 
 
 "Outhouses, roads, yards, storehouses, ^..29,232 
 
 " Total 48,490
 
 112 WATER SELF-PURIFYING. 
 
 " The building consists of but one story, and is divided into 
 "six parts, which are appropriated as follows: 
 
 " i. Slacking and sifting the lime. 
 
 " 2. Making the milk of lime. 
 
 "3. Sludge pumps. 
 
 "4. Engine-house. 
 
 " 5. Boiler-house. 
 
 " 6. Stores. 
 
 " There is no disagreeable odor arising from the work, even 
 "in the hot season; this excellent result must, in great part, be 
 "attributed to the fact that the precipitated solids are not 
 " allowed to stop in the tanks, and do not remain in contact with 
 " the effluent. 
 
 " The works are situated at Manninghan, one of the most 
 "beautiful suburbs of Bradford, and do not appear to have 
 "given rise to any complaints from persons living in the 
 "neighborhood." 
 
 A description of the system of sewage disposal by precipi- 
 tation has thus been given at considerable length, because it is 
 believed to be the system most applicable to the city of Chicago, 
 and one which, applied to the most noxious portion of its sewage, 
 will practically dispose of the sewage question altogether. 
 
 THIRD, THE SELF-PURIFICATION OF WATER. 
 
 Very many even well-informed people have an idea that nox- 
 ious matters once mixed in water remain there until they sink to 
 the bottom or are removed by mechanical means, the idea being 
 that matter, though subdivided or dissolved into particles so 
 minute as to become imperceptible, still remains. There are, too, 
 many well-informed people who do not know that there is a very 
 . considerable mixture of atmospheric air in water; this is the case, 
 however. The quantity varies, but in some rare cases it is said 
 to exist to the extent of 20 per cent, of the volume of water. 
 Oxygen is one of the constituent elements of both air and water, 
 and in.this connection, it may be said to act as a fire or consuming 
 element in the destruction of matter; it operates to consume 
 physical impurities. To what extent this operation proceeds 
 depends upon the relative quantities of water, and of the air 
 and matter mixed with it. If the water is stagnant, or has only 
 a sluggish motion, and is considerably polluted, this operation of
 
 REPORT OF LONDON COMMISSION. 113 
 
 burning does not take place to any considerable extent; if, on the 
 contrary, the water is not greatly polluted, is in rapid motion, 
 rippling over stones and falling over obstructions, it becomes 
 more impregnated with air, impurities are consumed, and it be- 
 comes clear. This is one of the causes of the purity and 
 brilliancy of mountain streams. Every one has noticed the 
 difference in the appearance of water in a sluggish stream as 
 compared with that in one flowing swiftly. 
 
 This action of the oxygen of the atmosphere is well under- 
 stood and admitted, the only difference of opinion being as to 
 the extent and vigor of the purifying process. Upon this sub- 
 ject citations will be made from works believed to be of the 
 highest authority. 
 
 In the report above mentioned, of the commissioners upon the 
 water supply of London headed by the Duke of Richmond, 
 upon the contamination of the Thames above Hampton, by its 
 drainage of 3,676 square miles of area, inhabited by 900,000 
 people, there is the following: 
 
 " Some of the noxious matter is removed by fish and other 
 "animal life, and a further quantity is absorbed by the growth 
 "of aquatic vegetation; but in addition to these abstractions, 
 " important changes are effected by chemical action. The or- 
 "ganic compounds dissolved in the water appear to be of very 
 " instable constitution, and to be very easily decomposed; the 
 "great agent in this decomposition being oxygen, and the proc- 
 " ess being considerably hastened by the motion of the water. 
 " Now as such waters always contain naturally much air dissolved 
 "in them, the decomposing agent is ready at hand to exert its 
 "influence the moment the matter is received into the water; in 
 "addition to which, the motion causes a further action by the 
 "exposure to the atmosphere; and when (as in the Thames) the 
 "water falls frequently over weirs, passes through locks, etc., 
 "causing further agitation and aeration, the process must go on 
 "more speedily and more effectually. The effect of the oxygen 
 " on these organic matters when complete, is to break them up, 
 "to destroy all their peculiar organic constitution, and to re- 
 " arrange their elements into permanent inorganic forms, innocu- 
 "ous and free from any deleterious quality." 
 
 Baumeister says, "This term, (self-purification of rivers) is 
 "employed to denote the purification which many rivers undergo, 
 "owing to the combination of the oxygen in the water, with the 
 
 8
 
 114 BAUMEISTER ON THE SELF-PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 
 
 "organic matter, to form non-organic substances. The neces- 
 "sary mingling of air with the water, increases with the velocity 
 "of the river. All devices like weirs are of aid in purifying 
 " rivers. The oxidation is more rapid with high, than with low 
 "temperatures, but the liability of putrefaction taking place is 
 "also greater. The oxidation is also much more rapid with fresh 
 "sewage than with that which has begun to putrefy. 
 
 "Observations on the self-purification of rivers have shown 
 "very divergent results. While English rivers appear to be 
 "almost universally lacking in this power, American and German 
 "streams in many cases, especially with dissolved matter, have 
 "shown very gratifying characteristics, even as regards the nature 
 "of the micro-organisms. The Pegnitz, for example, which 
 " receives all the sewage of Nuremberg, is contaminated for a 
 "short distance only. In Breslau, while the entire sewage was 
 " discharged into the Oder, there was a sudden increase in 
 "ammonia, organic matter, and bacteria just below the outlet of 
 "the trunk sewer; these things become gradually less further 
 " down the river, and at a distance of twenty miles from the city 
 " the water was as pure, chemically and microscopically, as before 
 " it received the sewage. 
 
 "Where the self-purification is to be assumed as quite ener- 
 "getic, as at Neisse, Munich, and Cologne, the residents further 
 "down the rivers will be troubled in no appreciable degree." 
 
 The following table gives so far as obtainable, the population 
 of the towns above mentioned, the names of the rivers into 
 which their sewage empties, the volume of water, and the 
 velocity of the current: 
 
 
 
 
 Volume of 
 
 
 Name of City. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Name of 
 River. 
 
 Water. 
 Cubic feet per 
 
 Velocity of Current 
 per hour. 
 
 
 
 
 minute. 
 
 
 Nuremberg 
 
 110,000 
 
 Pegnitz 
 
 ip'oSo 
 
 
 Breslau ... 
 
 300,000 
 
 Oder 
 
 42,360 
 
 i miles per hov.r 
 
 Munich 
 
 260,000 
 
 Iser 
 
 85,400 
 
 2^ miles per hour 
 
 Neisse 
 
 13,000 
 
 Bielarm 
 
 4,260 
 
 2\ miles per hour 
 
 Cologne 
 
 j about 
 ( 150,000 
 
 Rhine 
 
 
 
 Continuing, Baumeister says: 
 
 "In place of purification, it is possible to use dilution as a 
 " means of obviating river pollution. Bremen offers an example
 
 DR. TIDY ON THE SELF-PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 115 
 
 "of a city employing this method; here the sewage from one 
 " part of the place, the Alstadt, mingles with a small stream, the 
 " Wumme, and is then emptied into the Weser. The Wumme 
 "becomes very foul, being only a small stream, and it is now cus- 
 " ternary to pump water from the Weser into the city moats 
 "as reservoirs, whence a proper volume may be admitted to the 
 "already partly diluted effluent, to raise the final ratio of water 
 "and sewage to 5 to i. In this way the total discharge is 
 " increased sufficiently to reduce greatly the danger of deposits 
 "and odors, and the foul water is more certainly removed." 
 
 Capt. Douglas Gallon is a sanitary engineer of high standing 
 in England. In Van Norstrand's Engineering Magazine, 1885, 
 Volume 32, is an article from his peri in which he writes as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 " Dr. Tidy recently remarked upon certain experiments, ' I 
 'am certain that given a dilution of one-seventh sewage and 
 " six-sevenths fresh water fully aerated with a flow of two miles 
 " per hour, not a trace of noxious matter would be found at a 
 " distance of five miles.' " 
 
 As before stated, Dr. Tidy is a man of undoubted authority 
 upon sanitary questions, and his being quoted by Capt. Gallon, 
 adds additional weighl to his utlerance. 
 
 In Ihe minules of the proceedings of the Instilule of Civil 
 Engineers (England) for 1889-90, Vol. 102, p. 367, appears Ihe 
 following: " Dr. Dornblulh, of Roslock, having urged lhat Ihe 
 "discharge of Ihe sewage of Guslrow (populalion 11,000) into 
 " the River Nebel, a tribulary of Ihe Warnow, from which Ihe 
 "water supply of Rostock is derived, would so pollute the 
 "slream as lo render it unsuilable as a source of domeslic 
 " water supply, arguments based on the self-purifying powers 
 "of rivers were urged to prove those fears groundless. In order 
 "to have the purifying power of the River Nebel tested, Prof. 
 "Uffelman of the Rostock Hygienic Institute, has undertaken a 
 "series of analyses of the river above and below the town. The 
 " water is being examined by chemical, microscopic and bacterio- 
 " logical tests; it is fifty miles from Gustrow to Rostock; the 
 " analyses have not been compleled, bul a manifesi improvement, 
 " due to the self-purifying powers of the river is perceptible." 
 
 The analyses of the undoubtedly vile waters of the Illinois and 
 Michigan Canal at Bridgeporl, Lockporl and Joliet, are to the 
 same effect. The current from Bridgeport lo Lockporl does nol
 
 116 DR. RAUCH ON THE SELF-PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 
 
 exceed one mile per hour. Dr. Rauch says : " In other words, 
 "over one-half of the sewage pollution disappears before reach- 
 " ing Lockport, twenty-nine miles below Bridgeport, and nearly 
 "one-third of the remainder is lost in the next four miles; the 
 " increased rate of purification in this distance being due to the 
 " mechanical agitation of the water by falls, wheels, lockage, etc., 
 " and the greater extent of surface exposed to aeration by the 
 " union of the canal and the Des Plaines River. 
 
 "It is stated that an average of about 45,000 cubic feet per 
 " minute, was being pumped from the river into the canal during 
 "this period. Whatever the quantity, it is obvious that if the 
 "volume of dilution had been increased by 20 per cent., the con- 
 " tents of the canal would have been entirely inoffensive to the 
 " senses on reaching Joliet."
 
 VALUEOFTHE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN 
 CANAL AS A MEANS OF COMMERCE. 
 
 It is not improbable that the bare mention of a doubt as to 
 whether the Illinois and Michigan Canal any longer subserves 
 any useful purpose as a means of commerce, will be received 
 with surprise, and in some quarters, with derision and wrath. 
 Nevertheless, this is a practical age there is nothing especially 
 sentimental about the matter, and it may be well enough to 
 examine the facts. 
 
 The first striking fact which we encounter is, that the canal 
 does not pay expenses. 
 
 Second. That it has not paid its expenses since the year 1879. 
 
 Third. That for the twelve years from and including 1880, 
 down to and including 1891, the aggregate expenses of operating 
 the canal have exceeded the receipts from tolls by $263,829.57. 
 
 Fourth. That since 1885 the canal has been supplied with 
 water at the expense of the city of Chicago; that for the three 
 years ending December i, 1891, the receipts of the canal from 
 tolls were $169,874.57, and that the expenses of the canal, out- 
 side of the pumping of water, have exceeded the receipts from 
 tolls, in the sum of $63,322.80. 
 
 It further appears from the reports of the commissioners of 
 Public Works of Chicago, that for those three years it has cost 
 the city of Chicago for the maintenance and operating of the 
 pumping works at Bridgeport over $70,000 annually, or in exact 
 figures, $224,494.37. If then we add the deficit from tolls for 
 the past three years, to- the cost of keeping the canal supplied 
 with water during that period of time, we have an actual differ- 
 ence between the receipts from tolls, and the expense of main- 
 taining the canal of $287,817.17. 
 
 Now it is all very true that the foregoing figures 'do not 
 represent the actual state of the account of the canal commis- 
 sioners with the State of Illinois. It is true that the canal com- 
 missioners have received large sums of money from other sources. 
 
 (117)
 
 118 CHICAGO IS IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 They have received large amounts from leases of water power, 
 from sales of property, from leases of land, from ice leases, and 
 from miscellaneous sources, and have thus been able to get along 
 without using the appropriations that have been made at nearly 
 every session of the Legislature of late years, to sustain the 
 canal. 
 
 It may, and doubtless will be said, that the city of Chicago 
 was very glad to do the pumping for nothing, and should be very 
 thankful that it was permitted to dispose of its sewage in that 
 way. That would all be very true, if the city of Chicago was a 
 part of the dominions of Great Britain, or was even part of 
 another State. There is a method of speech somewhat prevalent 
 in Illinois, to the effect that the people of the State stand in 
 antagonism to Chicago. This is a form of speech which does 
 not prevail in other States, or in other countries, toward or about 
 their greatest city. State and national pride elsewhere, is 
 gratified at the development of great cities, but there are not a 
 few men in the State of Illinois, whose political capital seems to 
 consist in malicious disparagement of Chicago; this is by no 
 means general, but it has its effect, even upon those who would 
 not be willing to acknowledge it. Of course there is no room in 
 Chicago for such a feeling toward any portion of the State. She 
 rejoices in being the chief city of a grand commonwealth, and 
 in the prosperity of every part of it, and so, as to the use of the 
 canal, she feels that as composing one-third of the entire popula- 
 tion of the State, and as having infinitely greater interests in the 
 canal, than all other portions of the State combined, that she has 
 rights in it. She feels that she is not dealing with strangers, but 
 is at home and among her own people. She recognizes the rule 
 of morals and of law, "to so use your own as not to injure 
 another," and the recital which has been given of her effort to 
 avoid creating a nuisance with the sewage, shows that she has 
 earnestly striven to meet the exigencies which her unparalleled 
 growth has thrust upon her. No, Chicago eats no humble pie 
 for the use of the canal, and no patriotic or fair-minded man 
 would suggest that she should. And so, the question as to the 
 best, and so far as the people of the entire State are concerned, 
 the most available use to which the canal can be put, is one to 
 be considered upon all sides, and certainly the question as to 
 whether it pays its expenses, or whether it should be supported 
 by the resources of the State, is not the least significant. This
 
 THE CANAL IS SUPPORTED BY THE STATE. 119 
 
 question will most certainly arise when the expense of keeping 
 it supplied with water, becomes a part of the cost of operating 
 it. In case the city of Chicago should find other means for the 
 disposal of its sewage, water must be furnished at the expense 
 of the people of the State, or the canal be abandoned. 
 
 Examining in detail the resources of the canal commis- 
 sioners, it must be admitted that the money received from 
 leases of water power, ought to have been turned over to the 
 city of Chicago. That is the doctrine of the Drainage Act, and 
 is so obviously just, that argument is unnecessary. The State, 
 in having water supplied for the purpose of navigation, certainly 
 received a full equivalent for the use of the canal as a drainage 
 channel. Revenues from the use of the water pumped by the 
 city of Chicago should have been turned over to the city it is not 
 too late yet for the State to do an act of simple justice in that 
 matter. The money received from leases and sales of land, and 
 from sales of clay, etc., was received for the lease or sale of prop- 
 erty belonging to the State of Illinois, and the use of it was 
 the use of the resources of the State of Illinois to carry on the 
 canal, and though not the same in form, it was the same in sub- 
 stance, as if the money had been taken from the State Treasury 
 for that purpose. 
 
 Of course there is room for the contention as to the purposes 
 for which the Government granted those lands. As we have seen 
 in the brief history given of the canal, when the State repaid the 
 city the expense of deepening the canal, it paid out something 
 over $700,000 more than up to that time had been, or has since 
 been, the net receipts from tolls and sales of canal lands, so that 
 properly speaking, those lands, and the rents of them, should be 
 applied to reimburse the State. 
 
 Withdrawing from the canal commissioners the receipts from 
 the sale of the surplus water power, and from the rents, and 
 sales of land and property, would add to the annual deficit of 
 the canal commissioners, some $18,000 a year, and the expense 
 of supplying the canal with water would be thirty to forty thou- 
 sand dollars more. 
 
 Thus we have a plant of several millions of dollars in value, 
 operated at an annual loss of a good many thousands of dollars, 
 and it is certainly a fair question to ask, whether this shall be 
 continued? 
 
 An examination of the different articles of freight carried, and
 
 120 DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE EASILY UNDERSTOOD. 
 
 a comparison of the prices paid the producers of the grain 
 shipped by the canal, with the prices paid to the producers of 
 grain shipped the same distance by other means, will show that 
 the former is no more than the latter; and even if there were a 
 difference, it would be difficult for anyone to give a satisfactory 
 reason why the people of the State at large should be taxed to 
 pay for such an advantage. 
 
 If then the canal is of no value as a means of commerce, and 
 is of great value for other purposes, and if used in some other 
 way may be of great benefit to a far greater number of people 
 than are benefited by its present use, is it not a proper question 
 to ask, whether such present use shall be continued? 
 
 METHODS FOR THE DISPOSITION OF CHICAGO 
 
 SEWAGE. 
 
 The only pretense of an effort ever made to devise .a system 
 for the disposition of Chicago sewage, and to preserve the water 
 supply free from contamination, is that contained in the Herring 
 report, which, as we have seen, was substantially some loose 
 generalities upon the method by irrigation, and some equally 
 vague suggestions as to the necessity of a great water-way. 
 
 Everyone knows that it is possible to dilute the sewage of 
 Chicago with water from Lake Michigan to such an extent that 
 the sewage would become imperceptible. Without any knowl- 
 edge or means of information readily accessible as to the 
 quantity of water actually necessary for the proper dilution of 
 the sewage, and attention having been so uniformly directed 
 toward a great water-way, most people have come to look upon 
 this scheme as affording the only solution of the difficulty. 
 
 The advocates of a great water-way have thus had this ad- 
 vantage; their scheme involved no study or labor to understand 
 it, and it was accepted without further examination. As we have 
 seen, no adequate presentation of its cost was made, and the 
 extent of the liabilities which would follow its execution was left 
 entirely in the background; with a better understanding of these 
 matters, it is probable that people will be willing to bestow a 
 more critical examination upon other methods which may be 
 suggested, to accomplish the necessary result. 
 
 The disposition of the sewage of Chicago, like most other 
 undertakings, will appear simpler, and more easy of accomplish-
 
 DILUTION AND SELF-PURIFICATION OF CHICAGO SEWAGE. 121 
 
 ment, as it is better understood, and it remains now to apply, 
 either separately or in combination, the theories of sewage puri- 
 fication which have been heretofore presented, and see if there is 
 not a rational means of getting rid of Chicago sewage at a rea- 
 sonable expense. 
 
 DISPOSAL OF CHICAGO SEWAGE BY DILUTION AND SELF-PURIFI- 
 CATION. 
 
 Attention has been called to the self-purifying qualities of 
 flowing water, and there can be no doubt that this is an active 
 and inherent means of purification, the only question being, 
 whether this agency is potent enough to dispose of the vast mass 
 of impurity contained in the sewage of Chicago, in such a man- 
 ner as that it shall not be offensive. The first point to be noted 
 is, that there is no complaint, nor apparently any grounds for 
 complaint, until we reach Joliet, a distance of about forty miles. 
 It is not pretended that offensive odors arise from it there at all 
 times; in fact, it may be said that they are noticeable but a small 
 part of the time. It would be more satisfactory if there were 
 definite means of knowledge as to why the water is offensive 
 part of the time, while at others it is not. As the character of 
 the water of the South Branch, at the canal pumping works, is 
 about the same, except during flood seasons, when the contents 
 of the river are washed out into the lake and the pumps are idle, 
 it is probable that the annoyance of the odors at Joliet is great- 
 est during dry, hot weather, when the polluting matter in the 
 sewage decomposes more rapidly, and occasions offensive odors 
 as the waters pour over the dams. 
 
 Referring to what has already been said, it is obvious that if 
 a current of 2$ miles per hour can be established between Bridge- 
 port and Joliet, and a permanent flow of lake water of considera- 
 ble quantity be established, the water would reach Joliet, not only 
 in a condition to be wholly inoffensive, but comparatively clear. 
 The reader will remember the forcible statement of Dr. Tidy, 
 quoted by Capt. Galton, to the effect that with one-seventh of 
 sewage and six-sevenths of clear water, and a current of two 
 miles per hour, not a trace of noxio'us matter would be found at 
 the distance of five miles. The researches of Baumeister and of 
 the Royal Commission on Water Supply (of London) are, as has 
 been shown, to the same general effect, as are also the statements 
 of Dr. Rauch, above quoted, where he says: "Over one-half the
 
 122 AMOUNT OF DILUTION NECESSARY. 
 
 " sewage pollution disappears before reaching Lockport, twenty- 
 "nine miles below Bridgeport, and nearly one-third of the 
 "remainder is lost in the next four miles." This loss between 
 Bridgeport and Lockport, occurs in a canal with a current of less 
 than a mile an hour. Naturally the more volatile elements of 
 pollution would disappear first, and one-third of the more 
 stubborn remainder disappears between Lockport and Joliet, a 
 distance of four miles, over one-fourth of which is occupied by 
 the still waters of the two basins. The activity and energy of 
 self-purification of Chicago sewage, even when diluted by the 
 inadequate supply furnished by the present pumping works, is 
 therefore an established fact. It will further be borne in mind 
 that the pumping works now take all the sewage with some addi- 
 tional quantity of lake water, and that any additional supply fur- 
 nished will come from the lake; and further, that under present 
 conditions, the output of the stock yards, as indeed also that of 
 the entire city, is in a state of advanced putrefaction before it 
 reaches the canal, and is much less amenable to the influence of 
 self-purification than is fresh sewage. 
 
 The average daily sewage of Chicago for the year 1891 was 
 157,000,000 gallons. The addition of 100,000 cubic feet of water 
 per minute, will reduce it to the proportions of i of sewage to 7^ 
 of clear water. If the sewage be taken while fresh, and a current 
 of 2^ miles an hour be established for forty miles, the conditions 
 essential to the complete purification of the water will have been 
 far more than complied with. It may be said that this is only a 
 temporary expedient, and that the city will soon outgrow these 
 provisions. The reply is: 
 
 ist. That the quantity of water, velocity of current, and 
 distance, are an ample guaranty that at least double trie present 
 quantity of sewage would be purified by the means suggested. 
 
 2d. That the facts and figures of Dr. Tidy and others men- 
 tioned, refer to European sewage, which is rated at from thirty 
 to forty gallons per capita daily, while the sewage of Chicago is 
 diluted to three or four times that amount, so that it may fairly 
 be concluded that the provision mentioned will be ample for the 
 city of Chicago, long after it has passed the 2,500,000 line of 
 population. 
 
 The output of sewage for 1891 was at the rate of about 14,000 
 cubic feet per minute; provision for 16,000 feet of sewage per 
 minute additional, or, including the contemplated supply of lake
 
 ROUTES FOR A CHANNEL TO JOLIET. 123 
 
 water, of 130,000 cubic feet per minute, would seem to be ample 
 for any future requirements necessary to be provided for. With 
 a flow of 2$ miles per hour this body of water will require a 
 channel with a cross section of 600 feet, or, say, a channel with a 
 flow of water sixty feet wide and ten feet deep. 
 
 There are three plans which may be suggested for conducting 
 this stream to Joliet: 
 
 ist. To utilize the entire route of the present canal from 
 Bridgeport to Lockport, sink the bed of the canal ten feet below 
 Chicago datum, and give it the requisite incline to secure a cur- 
 rent with the velocity specified above, abolishing the locks on 
 the route, and leave the current unobstructed. This plan would 
 probably meet with objection from those interested in the main- 
 tenance of the canal in its present condition, as a means of navi- 
 gation its value as such, has been sufficiently considered. 
 
 As to the cost of deepening the canal, if we assume $i 1,000,000, 
 as the cost of excavating a new channel 160 feet wide and eight- 
 een feet in depth below water level, from Willow Springs to 
 Lockport, it would seem as though one-third of that amount 
 would do the requisite work on the canal to secure the proposed 
 channel. 
 
 ad. Another location for the channel would be to utilize the 
 bed of the Des Plaines River from the summit to Lockport. 
 This could be done in two ways: convey the water by open chan- 
 nels or subterranean conduits from both branches of the south 
 fork, and pump it up into the Des Plaines, or sink the bed of 
 the Des Plaines low enough to have a gravity flow of the required 
 velocity from Bridgeport to Lockport. This latter method 
 would be more expensive than the use of the canal, as it would 
 require conduits or an open channel from the two branches of 
 the river to the summit. The water, however, from the west 
 fork could be taken at a point three or four miles above the 
 pumping works at Bridgeport. Two sewers nine feet in diame- 
 ter and about one mile and a half long, to a junction with the 
 west branch, would probably suffice for the east branch. The 
 cost of excavating the bed of the Des Plaines would be greater 
 than that of deepening the canal, as that river is eight feet above 
 datum at the summit, and the line is not so direct, but it would 
 have the advantage over the use of the canal, or of pumping the 
 water up into the present bed of the Des Plaines, in that the bed of 
 the Des Plaines being so much lower, there would be little or no
 
 124 COMBINATION OF ROUTES. 
 
 likelihood of its flood-waters rushing down the Ogden ditch and 
 sweeping the contents of the South Branch and its thirteen slips, 
 out into the lake to contaminate the water supply. 
 
 The cost of either method of using the Des Plaines is not 
 entered upon, but it is obvious that it would not exceed one- 
 fourth to one-third of the proposed water-way from Bridgeport 
 to Lockport; it would seem as though two nine-foot sewers from 
 the east fork to the west fork, and a sufficient channel excavated 
 up and beyond the present terminus of the west fork, to the 
 summit, and the channel of the Des Plaines deepened, all at an 
 expense not exceeding $5,000,000 to $6,000,000. 
 
 To this system should be added the expense of intersecting 
 the sewers along the lake front to conduct all the sewage now 
 emptied into the lake, into the east fork, but these details are of 
 minor importance when considered in comparison with the 
 expenditures which the proposed water-way would require. 
 
 This use of the Des Plaines River will render it unnecessary 
 to do further pumping into the canal. What the latter will be 
 worth when the city ceases to supply it with water, may be left 
 to conjecture. 
 
 3d. There is practicable, a combination of these two plans, 
 that is to say, the city might enlarge its plant at Bridgeport and 
 pump seventy or eighty thousand cubic feet per minute, and sub- 
 terranean conduits be extended from the east fork to the west 
 fork, the latter continued on to the summit, and some forty or 
 fifty thousand cubic feet of water per minute pumped into the 
 Des Plaines at that point. 
 
 The objection to this plan is, that the water of the South 
 Branch, as a source of supply to the canal, and kept at the slug- 
 gish motion necessary to a canal, will not become purified as it 
 would with a more rapid current, and is likely to leave open a 
 chance for complaint by the people of Joliet. Whether they 
 would find sufficient advantage in the continued existence of the 
 canal, to compensate them for any unpleasantness arising from 
 its polluted water, is a matter upon which they will perhaps have 
 an opportunity to express an opinion. 
 
 DISPOSAL OF CHICAGO SEWAGE BY PRECIPITATION. 
 
 While it seems to be established that the presence of excre- 
 mentitious matter in sewage does not affect the general character
 
 DISPOSAL BY PRECIPITATION. 125 
 
 of the sewage of a city, there can be no doubt that, quantity 
 considered, it is one of the most potent elements of pollution. 
 
 The first ward of Chicago comprises all that portion of the 
 south side of the city lying north of Twelfth Street, and in 1890 
 contained a population of 24,000. In addition to its resident 
 population, the great hotels, restaurants, office buildings of the 
 city, and various minor industries are located in that ward. 
 Three sewers empty into the main stem of the river, and there 
 is a sewer emptying into the South Branch at nearly every street 
 running toward the river, from Lake Street up to FJalsted Street 
 bridge, a distance of about three miles. It may be fairly esti- 
 mated that including the traveling public stopping at the hotels, 
 the first ward has a population during the day of 400,000 people, 
 and the excrementitious matter of that population, contributing 
 to the sewage of the first ward, with the other sources of pollution, 
 may be said to constitute a volume of polluting matter in excess 
 of that of any six residence wards in the city. 
 
 It must not be understood, however, that the volume of 
 sewage from the first ward is increased in any proportion to the 
 number of people to be found there during the day. Ten gal- 
 lons per capita daily, would probably cover the average amount 
 of sewage of the transitory population. The character of the 
 sewage from the stock yards has already been sufficiently 
 described. 
 
 If, then, a system of sewers be constructed by which the sew- 
 age of the South Side, and of the stock yards can be collected 
 and disposed of without entering the river or canal, it is obvious 
 that the sewage question of Chicago will be disposed of for an 
 indefinite time to come. 
 
 Such a system is entirely practicable. An intersecting sewer 
 starting from the corner of Michigan Avenue and South Water 
 Street, and thence west to the river at the foot of Market Street, 
 and thence along Market Street and up the river as near its 
 bank as practicable to Halsted Street, taking up the contents of 
 all the sewers in its course; extending thence along Halsted 
 Street due south to Fortieth Street, taking up at this point the 
 entire sewage discharge of the stock yards, thence east to the 
 Fort Wayne tracks, thence along said tracks to their crossing of 
 Stony Island Avenue, with another trunk sewer commencing at 
 Twelfth Street, and thence south to Madison Park Station, and 
 thence down along Stony Island Avenue, taking up the outputs
 
 126 SYSTEM OF INTERSECTING SEWERS. 
 
 of the various sewers now emptying into Lake Michigan, would 
 accomplish the desired result. At Stony Island Avenue, the two 
 systems would join and be extended south to some of the sandy 
 lands lying east of Lake Calumet, where precipitating works 
 might be erected, from whence the effluent could flow into the 
 Calumet River. 
 
 The district of territory drained by this system comprises the 
 first, second, third, fourth, fifth and all that portion of the sixth 
 ward lying east of Halsted Street, all of the thirty-second ward, 
 and the north half of the thirty-fourth ward a district of terri- 
 tory which contained in 1890 about 200,000 people. 
 
 Such a system of sewers constructed with reference to the 
 wants of a population of 500,000, can probably be built for 
 $2,500,000. That portion of the system for taking up the sew- 
 age now emptying into the lake, or some equivalent for it, must 
 be constructed in any event. 
 
 The quantity of land necessary would depend upon whether 
 the sludge was pressed, or was dried out sufficiently in sludge 
 beds. In the former case forty acres of land would be sufficient. 
 By the latter method, probably some 300 acres would be necessary. 
 Land in that neighborhood is said to have a value of from $1,500 
 to $2,000 per acre. 
 
 Tank capacity could be added as occasion required, but 
 undertaking, in the first instance, to make provision for the dis- 
 position of the sewage of a population of 300,000 at the 
 estimated rate of 120 gallons of sewage per capita daily, we 
 have 36,000,000 gallons of sewage. The works at Worcester, 
 Mass., cost about $56,000 and are adequate to the treatment of 
 4,000,000 gallons of sewage daily. Roughly estimating the cost 
 of the works to be built at nine times the cost of those at Wor- 
 cester, we may place their cost at $500,000. 
 
 The necessary incline of the proposed system of sewers, if 
 continuous from the corner of Michigan Avenue and South 
 Water Street, will bring the discharge outlet some thirty to 
 thirty-five feet below datum, and the sewage will have to be 
 raised at least ten feet above that level. It is probable that it 
 would be found advantageous to erect a small pumping-station 
 at the corner of Halsted and Fortieth streets, to raise the sewage 
 at that point to a higher level, in which event the discharge out- 
 let of the system would not be more than twenty to twenty-five
 
 COST OF SEWERS AND PRECIPITATING WORKS. 127 
 
 feet below datum. The expense of the two pumping plants is 
 estimated as not exceeding $300,000. 
 
 Recapitulating, we have then for cost of the entire works: 
 
 Sewers $2,500,000 
 
 Forty acres of land at $1,750 per acre 70,000 
 
 Construction of precipitating works 500,000 
 
 Engines, pumps, etc 300,000 
 
 Total $3,370,000 
 
 The expense of operating the precipitating plant is found to 
 be about 40 cents per capita per annum at Worcester, and the 
 expense would probably not be greater for the treatment of 
 Chicago sewage, which for a population of 300,000 would make 
 the 
 
 Annual expense $i 20,000 
 
 The annual expense of pumping the sew- 
 age to the level of the precipitation 
 tanks may be put at. 50,000 
 
 Making the annual expenses $170,000 
 
 There can be no possible question as to the adaptation of the 
 system of sewage disposal by precipitation to the necessities of 
 the South Town and of the stock yards, and that with its adop- 
 tion, in connection with the operation of the canal pumping 
 works as now existing at Bridgeport, all ground for complaint at 
 Joliet, or elsewhere down the river, would be obviated for an 
 indefinite period in the future, if not for all time. 
 
 If, however, there should be reason for complaint at some 
 remote period in the future, a remedy could be immediately 
 found at a moderate expense, by either of the methods mentioned 
 under the title of Dilution and Self-purification, or a portion of 
 the sewage of the west side of the city be taken to the Des 
 Plaines and purified at that point by precipitation. 
 
 It has been repeatedly urged that the polluting element of 
 Chicago sewage, arising from the stock yards, packing houses, etc., 
 should be cared for by those making it, as it is caused by purely 
 private enterprises. There is certainly force in the suggestion, 
 but after all, Chicago owes its growth and development to pri- 
 vate enterprises, and if the principle is a correct one, there seems 
 no reason why it should not be applied to every manufacturing 
 establishment in the city. It is apparent that the principle is not 
 one of universal application to its fullest extent, but it may be
 
 128 THE FLOOD WATERS OF THE DES PLA1NES. 
 
 urged with reason, that the stock yards and the industries located 
 there, should contribute more than their quota, as raised by tax- 
 ation, to do away with the evil. Some years ago, the people 
 interested there, signified their willingness to contribute liberally 
 to aid in carrying out a satisfactory system; it is not probable 
 that there has been any change in their views on that subject; 
 at any rate, the justice of such action on their part is so obvious, 
 that their co-operation, both as to the construction of the plant 
 and in the cost of its maintenance, may be reasonably expected. 
 
 The adoption of any system other than that of deepening the 
 Des Plaines from the summit to Lockport, leaves the water sup- 
 ply of the city subject to contamination whenever the Des 
 Plaines pours over the dam and down through the Ogden ditch. 
 The scheme of the great water-way does not obviate this diffi- 
 culty. It may be said, however, that with the removal of the 
 sewage of the South Town and of the stock yards, that the 
 waters of the South Branch would be comparatively clear. 
 
 Recent experiences of the freshets of May and June, 1892, 
 indicate strongly enough, however, that even under such improved 
 conditions, the water supply of Chicago will be unfit to drink, 
 whenever the surface waters of the territory drained by the Des 
 Plaines River, carry the contents of the Chicago River out into 
 the lake. To what extent this might be obviated by the con- 
 struction of such works along the bank of the Des Plaines oppo- 
 site the south end of the Ogden ditch as would prevent, or at 
 least hinder such overflow, is worth serious consideration. 
 
 It is within the observation of every one, however, that our 
 water supply becomes polluted by the agitation of the waters of 
 the lake when there is no discharge from the Chicago River. The 
 causes of .such contamination have heretofore been indicated, a 
 very material one being the dumping of scows, loaded with sludge 
 taken from the bottom of the river, into the lake. 
 
 There is an ordinance prohibiting such work within what is 
 supposed to be a safe distance from any of the intakes of the 
 water supply, but when it is understood that this dredging work 
 is done by private contract; that the city supervision over the 
 dumping of sewage has not been very stringent; that the cost of 
 towing mud-laden scows is very considerable, the probabilities 
 in favor of a violation of the ordinance are not very remote. 
 The present arrangement is unsatisfactory, because, first, it is 
 doubtful whether a city ordinance would be operative on the
 
 CHOICE OF METHODS. 129 
 
 lake; second, whether the dumping ground is far enough away, 
 and third, the penalty should be greater than the city can inflict. 
 
 The possibility that the water supply of Chicago may be con- 
 taminated through such means, ought not to exist. The contents 
 of those scows, if taken to the lake at all, should be taken far 
 enough away to remove all possibility of affecting the water 
 supply of Chicago. 
 
 It is not necessary that any opinion should be expressed as 
 to which of the foregoing methods for the disposition of Chicago 
 sewage should be adopted. The method by use of the canal is 
 the cheapest; that by deepening the bed of the Des Plaines is 
 the most effective, while that by precipitation is the most inde- 
 pendent. The last method requires an annual expenditure, but 
 is, perhaps, on the whole as desirable as either of the plans that 
 have been suggested. Now that the idea has been suggested of 
 the city of Chicago paying for property destroyed by floods in 
 the Illinois River Valley; it will not be readily given up by the peo- 
 ple down there, and the same reasons which have been urged 
 against creating a flow of 300,000 cubic feet per minute operate, 
 though of course in a much less degree, against the creation of 
 an additional flow of 100,000 cubic feet a minute, and is a cogent 
 reason why the system of sewage disposal by precipitation above 
 suggested, is the most desirable. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The subject of the drainage and water supply of Chicago 
 has been reviewed at very considerable, and what to many will 
 even appear unnecessary length. It must be borne in mind, 
 however, that as the matter now stands, the people of the State 
 of Illinois must understand i't. Those among them who will 
 consider these questions, and be called upon to act, are not so 
 engrossed in politics, market reports, base-ball and horse-racing 
 news, or domestic scandals, as not to be anxious to examine 
 carefully everything which will throw light on this grave subject, 
 and they are neither unwilling to make the necessary effort, nor 
 incapable of so doing. It is hoped that it has been presented 
 with sufficient clearness to be understood by any man of ordinary 
 understanding. 
 
 It has been shown that it is entirely practicable to do away 
 with the sewage nuisance, both as to the water supply and
 
 130 CONCLUSION. 
 
 to the people down the river, at what is, relatively speaking, 
 a trifling expense. If the matter had been approached intelli- 
 gently in 1887 the correction of existing evils would have 
 been long since accomplished. The matter was placed in the 
 hands of charlatans, empirics, and self-seekers, and we find 
 ourselves at the end of 5^ years, and after the expendi- 
 ture of $500,000, vastly worse off than when we started. We 
 find ourselves hampered by the provisions of an atrocious law, 
 and threatened not only with the burden of taxation arising 
 from the useless expenditure of thirty to forty millions of dol- 
 lars, but with annual liabilities for damages which no man can 
 estimate, and for law-suits without number. 
 
 The outlook is not pleasant, but it is not desperate. The 
 presentation of this matter to the people of the State of Illinois 
 in its true light will insure relief. They are too intelligent and 
 too just to insist that Chicago shall carry out the provisions of 
 the Drainage Act; it is only necessary that the people of 
 Chicago shall take a decided stand in the matter. 
 
 Years ago, when Tweed was stealing millions of dollars annu- 
 ally from New York City, the New York Times came into 
 possession of the accounts, and published them. While the pub- 
 lication was going on, some of Tweed's guilty associates rushed 
 to him in consternation, and asked what should be done. Tweed 
 treated the matter lightly, declared that nothing would come of 
 it, and said: "The people of New York will never pay any 
 " attention to it, as long as they've got a dollar." They did 
 pay attention to it. Tweed died in the penitentiary, some of his 
 associates went with him to prison, others fled into exile. 
 
 Shall Tweed's estimate of the people of New York prove true 
 when applied to the people of Chicago?
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 AIR IN WATER 112 
 
 Report of London Commission on effect of 113 
 
 ALLEN, CHARLES A., city engineer of Worcester, Mass., is 
 
 sent to Europe 105 
 
 Report of, on irrigation works at Pullman, 111 103 
 
 Report of, on foreign sewage disposal works 104 
 
 Report of, on results at Worcester, Mass 106 
 
 Letters of, on disposal of sludge 104 
 
 Letters of, on construction of works 107 
 
 ANALYSIS of polluted water useless 98 
 
 English scientists on 99 
 
 Of waters of Illinois for State Board of Health 97 
 
 ATTORNEYS' FEES to be paid by Drainage Board 73 
 
 BAUMEISTER, work of, praised by Herring 4 
 
 On quantity of sewage in cities 13 
 
 On quantity of rainfall entering sewers 14 
 
 On elements of sewage . 17 
 
 On self-purification of rivers 113 
 
 BAZALGETTE, SIR J., on effect of storm water 15 
 
 BERLIN, amount of sewage from different districts in 13 
 
 Irrigation works of. 102 
 
 BIRMINGHAM, precipitating works at 104 
 
 BRADFORD, ENGLAND, precipitating works at 104,108 
 
 CANALS, in Ohio and Indiana^ 80 
 
 CANAL, New York and Erie, unprofitable 80 
 
 CANAL, Illinois and Michigan, history of 21 
 
 Deepened by city of Chicago.. 22 
 
 Pumping works for at Bridgeport 23 
 
 Neglect to keep the channel clear 25 
 
 Not to be used outside of Cook County 36 
 
 As a regulator of rates 81 
 
 Financial history of, for eleven years 117 
 
 Use of by Chicago for drainage purposes 118 
 
 Is maintained by the State 119 
 
 (131)
 
 132 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 CHICAGO CITY, map of 8 
 
 Boundaries of . . 9 
 
 Sewage system of . . 10 
 
 Water supply, quantity of.. 12 
 
 Sewage, quantity of 12 
 
 Rainfall, amount of in 13 
 
 Sewage of, character of. . . 15 
 
 Canal deepened by 22 
 
 Pumping works at Bridgeport built by. 23 
 
 Efforts of to dispose of sewage 25 
 
 Distances from by rail and river 87 
 
 CHICAGO RIVER, description of 19 
 
 Only source of supply to water-way 63 
 
 Capacity of 64 
 
 Engineer Williams on current in 66 
 
 Capt. Dunham on current in 67 
 
 Lake line agents on current in 68 
 
 Artingstall on capacity of 68 
 
 Capt. Marshall on current in 69 
 
 Radical changes in to supply water-way 70 
 
 CHICAGO SEWAGE, quantity of 12 
 
 Character of 15 
 
 Elimination of question as to .... 97 
 
 Methods for disposal of 120 
 
 COOLEY, L. E., assistant engineer to Herring. 28 
 
 On cost of Herring's commission. . . . 30 
 
 February i, 1890, elected chief engineer of Drainage 
 
 Board ... 44 
 
 February 6, 1890, directed to collect information 44 
 
 February 8, 1890, states that two years will be neces- 
 sary for engineering work before actual work 
 
 can begin 44 
 
 February 15, 1890, desires this position embodied in 
 
 the minutes of the Board 45 
 
 February 15, 1890, is directed to procure staff for work 45 
 February 15, 1890, states difficulties and "continues 
 
 at large" _ 45 
 
 March i, 1890, is instructed to report . 45 
 
 March i, 1890, asks for time.. 46 
 
 June 18, 1890, is directed to make certain surveys 46 
 
 July 26, 1890, committee appointed to supervise 46
 
 INDEX. 133 
 
 Page 
 
 COOLEY, L. E., September 9, 1890, is directed to report in 
 
 thirty days _ 46, 47 
 
 October 15, 1890, singular letter from 47 
 
 November 7, 1890, report of committee censuring his 
 
 delay --47~49 
 
 November 26, 1890, directed to confine his work 49, 50 
 
 November 26, 1890, directed to surrender papers 50 
 
 November 26, 1 890, is discharged 51 
 
 Fritters away time in useless detail 51 
 
 Has a " policy " not in harmony with the trustees 52 
 
 Opposes amendment of Drainage Act.. 53 
 
 Proposed to spend $5,000 or $6,000 for analysis of 
 
 water of the South Branch 98 
 
 CRIMP, extracts from work of 100, 108 
 
 DATUM, Chicago, what is 93 
 
 DES PLAINES RIVER, effect of overflow of on Chicago River n 
 
 Effect of overflow of at Joliet 6 1 
 
 Description of from Summit to Joliet 93 
 
 DRAINAGE wanted, not a water-way, by the people 95 
 
 The real question involved in 97 
 
 DRAINAGE ACT, authors of 34 
 
 Various provisions examined 34 to 43 
 
 A law for a water-way only 43 
 
 Effort to amend 53 
 
 Reasons of failure to amend 54 
 
 DRAINAGE BOARD. 
 
 Members of have no personal responsibility. 35 
 
 A secret body 35 
 
 An extravagant body 35 
 
 Expenditures of to August 1,1892 35 
 
 Should be abolished 35 
 
 Not to use the canal outside of Cook County.. 36 
 
 May be harassed with suits in unfriendly localities. . 37 
 
 Efforts to carry out the law 44 to 50 
 
 Cooley constantly urged to greater activity by. .44 to 50 
 Appoints a committee to see that the engineer obeys 
 
 the orders of the Board 46 
 
 Directs the engineer to confine his labors. 49, 50 
 
 Directs engineer to deliver up documents 50 
 
 Apprehensions of as to property .49, 52 
 
 Changes in membership of 54, 55
 
 134 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 DRAINAGE BOARD. 
 
 Reasons for present hurried movement of .55, 56 
 
 Deceptive propositions of for drainage work 57 
 
 Must pay plaintiffs' attorney fees 73 
 
 DUNHAM, CAPT., on river navigation 67 
 
 ENGINEERING PROBLEM, simplicity of .93 
 
 Great amount expended on by Drainage Board 94 
 
 Amount expended on by Capt. Marshall 94 
 
 Befogged intentionally 29, 51, 99 
 
 Williams has six routes for channel . 65 
 
 FLOODS in Illinois River Valley 74 
 
 FULLERTON AVENUE CONDUIT, length and cost of 62 
 
 HEALTH OF PUBLIC. 
 
 Not affected by sewage in neighboring rivers 100 
 
 HERRING, RUDOLPH. 
 
 Employment of by city on the drainage question 27 
 
 Directions to as to scope of investigations 27 
 
 Employer and assistants water-way men 28 
 
 His report a water-way report 28 to 30 
 
 Report of worthless as a discussion of the drainage 
 
 question .28 to 30 
 
 HURD, HARVEY B., residence at Evanston 34 
 
 Opposes amendment of the Drainage Act 53 
 
 ILLINOIS RIVER, description of by Capt. Marshall 72 
 
 Length and width of 37, 73 
 
 Tributaries of 73 
 
 Quantity of land overflowed by . 1 - - 73, 86 
 
 Accounts of damage by floods of ..74 to 79 
 
 INDIANA, damage to lands in by dam in Calumet River 22 
 
 IRRIGATION, disposal of sewage by works of, where 102 
 
 Effects of cold weather on works at Pullman, 111. . . 103 
 
 JOLIET, necessity of protecting walls at 60 to 62 
 
 JURIES, in damage cases.. 37 
 
 LAKES, transportation on, size of vessels, etc . . 83 
 
 LAKE LINE AGENTS, on navigation of Chicago River 68 
 
 LAKE MICHIGAN, contamination of .. 10 
 
 LAKE VESSELS, capacity of 83 
 
 LEEDS, precipitating works at 104 
 
 LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION OF 1887 32 
 
 Scope of the commission, make no report 32 
 
 Do not examine questions committed to them .. 32
 
 INDEX. 135 
 
 Page 
 
 LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION OF 1887, attend meeting at Peoria, 32 
 
 Meeting at City Hall and character of 33 
 
 LEGISLATURE, Act of 1865 22 
 
 Joint resolutions of 23 
 
 LIME, quantity of necessary for precipitation of sewage. 107, 109 
 
 LONDON, sewage of empties into the Thames 98 
 
 Water supply of 98 
 
 Commission to examine water supply of 98 
 
 MARSHALL, C APT. W. L., career of. 4 
 
 On allowable current in Chicago River 69 
 
 Description of Illinois River by 72 
 
 Upon flooding Illinois River bottom lands 86 
 
 Reports against action by the United States 85 
 
 Time and cost of survey of water-way by 94 
 
 MISSISSIPPI RIVER, character of boats on 85, 87 
 
 Decline of traffic on, as shown by letters 88 
 
 Report of United States Commissioner of Navigation 
 
 showing decline in boat building 89 
 
 NEW YORK AND ERIE CANAL, decline of traffic on 80 
 
 PRECIPITATION OF SEWAGE 103 
 
 Works for in England 104 
 
 Results from in England 105 to 112 
 
 Works for at Worcester, Mass 106 
 
 Cost per capita per annum in England 104 
 
 Cost per capita per annum in Worcester 107 
 
 Societies of Arts upon 108 
 
 Report of Royal Commission on 108 
 
 PULLMAN, irrigation works at in cold weather. 103 
 
 RAILROADS, transportation by 81 
 
 RAINFALL, quantity of in Chicago 13 
 
 Effect of on sewers 14 
 
 ROCK-CUT, useless requirement of in the Drainage Act 40 
 
 SELF-PURIFICATION OF WATER 112 
 
 London Commission on.. 113 
 
 Baumeister on 114 
 
 Dr. Tidy on 115 
 
 Dr. Rauch on 115 
 
 Of the River Nebel 115 
 
 Retarded by putrefaction of sewage 114 
 
 SEWAGE, quantity of Chicago 12 
 
 In European cities 13
 
 136 INDEX. 
 
 Pago 
 
 SEWAGE, effect of storm water on 13 
 
 Character of Chicago 15 
 
 From the stock yards, nature of 16 
 
 Effect of excrementitious matter on 17 
 
 Of Chicago collected in South Branch 20 
 
 Putrefaction of 20 
 
 Effect of putrefaction of 114 
 
 Disposal of by irrigation . . 102 
 
 Disposal of by precipitation 103 
 
 Disposal of by water-way requires no study . ... 120 
 
 Dilution and self-purification of 121 
 
 Precipitation of Chicago sewage 124 
 
 System of intersecting sewers for 125 
 
 SEWAGE OF CHICAGO, quantity of 12 
 
 Quantity per capita daily 12 
 
 Character of 15 
 
 Effect of on public health 97 
 
 Methods of disposing of 120 
 
 SEWERS, system of in Chicago 10 
 
 Size of in Europe 13 
 
 Intersecting system proposed. . 125 
 
 SLUDGE, dumped into Lake Michigan 11,128 
 
 Wash of into the lake IT 
 
 Deposit of in the canal 22 
 
 Value of as a fertilizer 104, 1 1 1 
 
 STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, preliminary report of 97 
 
 Useless analysis of polluted waters by 98,99 
 
 STEAMBOATS ON THE MISSISSIPPI, character of 85, 87, 89 
 
 Decline in traffic by . 88 
 
 Decline in building of 89 
 
 Capacity of lake 83 
 
 STOCKYARDS, sewage from 16 
 
 Contribution by to abate nuisance... 128 
 
 SUITS, where may be brought.. 37> 73 
 
 Character of juries to try 37 
 
 Attorneys fees recovered from Drainage Board 73 
 
 THAMES RIVER, district drained by 98 
 
 Commission to examine waters of 98 
 
 Analysis of waters of valueless 99 
 
 Sewage discharge into no effect upon health 100 
 
 TRANSPORTATION, State aid for, when justifiable 90
 
 INDEX. 137 
 
 Page 
 
 WATER-POWER FROM WATER-WAY, useless 42 
 
 Drainage Board can not build works for 42 
 
 WATER SUPPLY OF CHICAGO 12 
 
 Contamination of 10, 128 
 
 WATER-WAYS, artificial, in general, value of 80 
 
 As regulators of rates 81 
 
 WATER-WAYS, DEEP WATER NATURAL _ 83 
 
 WATER-WAY, under the Drainage Act, canal not to be used 
 
 for 36 
 
 Unnecessary size of 38 
 
 Sewage may not be allowed in.. 39 
 
 Useless rock-cut for 40 
 
 Prejudiced commissioners to decide upon 41 
 
 Ends in a tail-race 42,58 
 
 Willow Springs to Section 14, cost of 57 
 
 Work on not all submitted to bids 59 
 
 Underestimate of cost of by engineers 57 
 
 specifications for bids, character of 57 
 
 Subsidiary works, list of.. 60 
 
 Summary of cost of 71 
 
 Capt. Marshall on cost of . 85 
 
 Surveyed by Capt. Marshall 94 
 
 Capt. Marshall on flooding to be caused by 7 2, 86 
 
 Effect of on Chicago as a grain market 84 
 
 Engineering problem of 93, 94 
 
 WENTER, drainage commissioner, member of committee on 
 
 engineering 46 
 
 September 9, 1890, votes against resolution that engi- 
 neer file report in thirty days 47 
 
 November 7, 1890, votes against adoption of report 
 
 on Cooley 49 
 
 November 26, 1890, votes against order for engineer 
 
 to confine his work 49, 50 
 
 December 10, 1890, votes against order for engineer 
 
 to surrender documents 50 
 
 July 22, 1891, votes against employment of men to 
 
 locate route 56 
 
 WILLIAMS, BENZETTE, on Chicago sewage 15 
 
 Report of on Bridgeport pumps 24 
 
 Appointed consulting engineer on Herring commis- 
 sion 27
 
 138 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 WILLIAMS, BENZETTE, has a " policy" 31 
 
 Opposes amendment of Drainage Act 53 
 
 Resides on Salt Creek 34 
 
 Appointed chief engineer 55 
 
 Inadequate estimates of 57> 62 
 
 Has six routes for channel 65 
 
 On navigation of Chicago River 66 
 
 WORCESTER, MASS., precipitating works at 106 
 
 WORTHEN, made chief engineer 52 
 
 Reports of 52 
 
 Recommends thirty-six foot iron cylinder at Joliet.. 62
 
 TJ> 
 526 
 c 
 3*33