Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 37: Public Improvements, 1912

The most important factors in the develop¬ ment of the county, next to the steam and electric roads, are the three great bridges which span the Mississippi and have their eastern termini within its borders, these struc¬ tures linking it with the counties of St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri. They are the west¬ ern gateways of the county through which passes the commerce of a continent.

The Eads bridge was the first viaduct built to connect St. Louis with the east but its east¬ ern terminus is in St. Clair county. Next fol¬ lowed the Merchants' bridge with terminus at Venice. This was followed in 1892 by the Al¬ ton bridge connecting that city with St. Charles county and giving St. Louis an inlet to northern Madison county. The Alton bridge was built by George Morrison, of Chi¬ cago, and others who were interested in the Burlington. That road operated it for some years as a connection between its east and west shore lines and for a short route to St. Louis. Its suburban trains formerly made the run from Alton to Washington Street station, St. Louis, in thirty-five minutes. Finally the Bur¬ lington lost control of the bridge, by some "high finance" legerdemain, and it fell into the hands of the St. Louis Terminal Association, which discontinued passenger service thereon in order to concentrate it over the St. Louis

The latest bridge built having an eastern ter¬ minus in this county is the so-called McKin¬ ley bridge, owned and operated by the Illinois Traction Company, the great electric system which gridirons Illinois, of which Hon. William McKinley is the head. It was completed and opened to the public in 1911.

All these great viaducts over the Father of Waters are magnificent structures, triumphs of engineering skill and science. Over them flows a freight and passenger traffic, the im¬ mensity of which surpasses the imagination. Hundreds of trains from a source of connect¬ ing railroads pass over them daily. They are the culmination of the progress of a century in overcoming the barriers to continuous and unbroken transportation. What a contrast they offer to the little horse ferries which, less than a century ago, were the medium of transit between Madison county and her neighbors in Missouri. The aggregate cost of these struc¬ tures was many millions of dollars and the taxes they pay into the treasury form an im¬ portant part of the county revenue.

of construction. It lies in the northern part of Chouteau township save a short section in the western part of Edwardsville township. It is designed to divert the waters of Cahokia creek into the Mississippi fourteen miles north of its present outlet. Cahokia creek traverses the entire width of Madison county and In¬ dian creek joins it near Wanda. The Diver¬ sion canal runs directly west from near the junction of the two streams to the Mississippi river, thus diverting both streams from their original channels. This canal is a part of the East Side Flood Protection system, designed to protect East St. Louis, Venice, Madison, Granite City and a vast scope of country adja¬ cent from overflow by the river and back-wa¬ ter from the creek. Cahokia creek, after crossing the south line of Madison, flows di¬ rectly through East St. Louis and when the Mississippi is at flood height the back-water from Cahokia inundates the city. The plans of the Levee district embrace the entire elim¬ ination of Cahokia creek through East St. Louis, first by means of the Diversion canal and second by a back canal tapping Cahokia just below the mouth of Canteen creek, run¬ ning thence around East St. Louis and enter¬ ing the river five miles below that city. The protection system includes an embankment running south from the Diversion canal paral¬ lel with the river, to and along the East St. Louis river front to the outlet of the back canal. At the mouth of the Diversion canal the bank of the river is being faced with con¬ crete to prevent erosion. The digging of the canal has necessitated the raising of the road¬ beds and building bridges over it by the Chi¬ cago and Alton, the Big Four, the Chicago, Philadelphia & St. Louis railroads and the A. G. & St. L. Traction system. The immensity of the improvement and the vast amount of protection it will afford are now beginning to be realized. The cost is estimated at $6,500.- 000. Including the canals mentioned and sev¬ eral minor channels for surface drainage the improvement requires some thirty miles of lev¬ ees from five to twenty feet high. The entire work will require a year more for its full com¬ pletion. The work of excavation and levee building is being pushed forward with all the most improved machinery for grading and handling dirt with steam plows, steam shovels, loaders and traction engines. The Diversion canal portion will be completed this spring and divert the waters of Cahokia and Indian creeks into new channels. The canal is 24,600 feet long and 100 feet wide at the bottom. The dirt is removed by means of six large drag line excavators, handling twelve cubic yards of earth a minute. The channel varies from twelve to eighteen feet in depth. The earth is piled about fifty feet back from the canal forming a levee. Cahokia creek drains an area of 250 square miles in Madison and St. Clair counties, mainly the former, and its elimination was a problem necessary to the protection of a vast area of country. This will be success¬ fully accomplished by the building of the Di¬ version and back canals.

This great and comprehensive improve¬ ment was the outgrowth of a movement in East St. Louis immediately after the destructive flood of 1903. It was de¬ signed to avert like calamities in future. The agitation resulted in the organization of the East Side Levee Association and the appoint¬ ment of a board of engineers to report on plans for such a levee and drainage system as would prevent future damage by floods. A vast amount of preliminary work was neces¬ sary, legal difficulties to be overcome, new laws obtained from the legislature, and objec¬ tions of property owners to be met and satis¬ fied.

To meet the requirements of the law, peti¬ tions were circulated in Madison and St. Clair counties, asking for the formation of a dis¬ trict to include all of the American Bottoms.

The petitions were presented to County Judge John E. Hillskoter at Edwardsville and County Judge J. B. Hay of Belleville. For¬ mer Circuit Judge B. R. Burroughs of Ed¬ wardsville was called in as the third jurist, and the three sat as a commission to hear legal objections. Before hearing objections the three judges covered the entire territory on foot. Sessions were held at Edwardsville and Belleville, and many residents, objecting to the organization, were heard. The pro¬ posed district finally was reduced from 159 square miles to 96.32 square miles.

The next step was to submit the proposition to residents for approval by vote, and it was carried by an overwhelming majority. The next election - to select a board of trustees - was held December 16, 1908. H. D. Sexton, C. L. Gray, C. T. Jones and G. L. Tarlton of East St. Louis and T. F. Leyden of Granite City were chosen. The board's active life be¬ gan February 19, 1909. Col. J. A. Ockerson of St. Louis was employed as consulting engi¬ neer and T. N. Jacob of East St. Louis as chief engineer.

Actual work on the channel was begun June 12, 1910, by the Robinson Construction Com¬ pany of St. Louis. The vacation of several public highways and permission from the gov¬ ernment to drain into the Mississippi river were necessary for the work and caused some delay. The channel is spanned by five rail¬ road and four highway bridges.

The estimated cost of the improvement, $6,500,000, seems large, but compared with the value of property drained or protected it is small. The assessed value of property benefited is $57,600,000. This is only a third of the real value, which is $172,800,000, and constantly increasing. When completed the levees and diversion canals will have an im¬ portant bearing on the future development and history of the county.

A projected improvement of the same char¬ acter, though on a much smaller scale, is that of straightening and diverting the channel of Wood river between East Alton and the Mis¬ sissippi river. Wood river is a meandering and erratic stream draining a large area of country. In early times it was navigated by keel boats as far up as the now extinct town of Milton. In times of heavy rains or melting snows it is in the habit of leaving its channel and wandering over the country, sometimes extending a mile in width and doing great damage to adjacent property. To control this troublesome tendency a drainage district has been formed with the intent to make such changes in the channel as will keep the stream within bounds in future. This is especially important from the fact that, in addition to dwellings and farm property, railroad bridges and embankments, there are various extensive manufacturing plants adjacent which suffer loss whenever the stream leaves its banks. A drainage district has therefore been organ¬ ized, court action taken, as in case of the Di¬ version canal, and the improvement will doubtless be made. The estimated cost, ac¬ cording to present plans, is $185,000, to be raised through a series of years by taxation of the property included in the drainage district.

Another similar project is contemplated in a section of the county drained by Silver creek, but the plans are not sufficiently de¬ veloped at this writing to give particulars. Such low lands as there are in Madison county are destined soon to be brought into cultivation through scientific drainage and thus add to the material development of its agricultural resources.