Chicago City (part 37 of 57)

The present officers and directors of the North Chicago Street railroad company are as follows : Charles T. Yerkes, president ; W. F. Furbeck, first vice-president; John M. Roach, second vice-president ; J. William Helm, secretary and treasurer ; Frederick L. Threedy, general manager; directors : C. T. Yerkes, W. F. Furbeck, F. II. Winston, Charles Henrotin, J. W. Helm.

Its line, constructed on the trolley plan, extends from Graceland and Evanston avenue to Emerson street in Evanston, a distance of seven and one-half miles. It was finished and put in operation June 11, 1893. It is intended to extend the line one and onehalf miles south, to connect with the cable system. The bonded debt is $650,000 at six per cent.

The officers are: Delancey H. Louderback, president; J. L. Cochran, vice-president; Howard Aleel, secretary and treasurer, and C. R. Frederick, superintendent.

The people of the north division of the city are to have their elevated railroad, as North side we^ as those of the south and west Elevated. 8ides. For this purpose the Northwestern Elevated railroad company was organized, with a capital stock of $15,000,000, October 25, 1892; and a city ordinance was passed in January, 1894, authorizing the construction of the road. The route extends .from the west side of Wabash avenue, between Madison and Monroe streets, along alleys, over a purchased right of way, to the centre of the block between Fifth avenue and La Salle street and thence north, through alleys, to the Chicago river, which it is intended to cross between Wells and Clark streets - the exact location of the bridge being now in controversy. On the north side the line will extend north between La Salle and Wells streets, diverging west to a point between Franklin and Market, thence north to North avenue. This is as far as the main line has been marked out. The road will be eventually extended to Evanston, with branches to other points, and is intended to be completed as far as Wilson avenue and put in operation within two years.

Plans for the building of the road have been submitted to and approved by the Commissioner of Public Works, from which it appears that the structure is to be lighter than that of the "Alley L" and more sightly. The columns are to be placed forty-four feet seven inches apart lengthwise and twelve feet crosswise. They are to be of steel bridgework construction, and will sustain 'a double track.

Besides these lines the people from the near stations and towns on the north are brought to the city by the suburban trains <JT the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, and those of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.

originally limited, by the provisions of its charter, to twenty-five years, but on February 6, 1865, the legislature passed, over the executive veto, an act amending the charters of all the Chicago city railway companies, by extending the period of their duration to ninety-nine years. The original incorporators were Edward P. Ward, William K. McAllister, Samuel B. Walker, James L. Wilson. Charles B. Brown and Nathaniel P. Wilder.

Apparently no effort was put forward to exercise any of the rights conferred until 1863, when the entire capital stock was purchased by J. Russell Jones, John C. Haines, Jerome Beecher, W. H. Bradley, Parnell Munson and William H. Ovington, of Chicago, and E. B. Washburne, Nathan Corwith and Benjamin Campbell, of Galena. J. Russell Jones was elected president and superintendent of the new company, and William H. Ovington secretary and treasurer.

ferred upon the Chicago City railway company by the act of February 14, 1859, as may by contract between the said railway corporations be agreed upon." Pursuant to this clause, on August 1, 1863, the Chicago City railway executed a deed, transferring all its property and franchises in the west division to the new company. The consideration was $200,000 cash, and the instrument was pictorially embellished by the affixing thereto of $580 in United States internal revenue stamps.

The work of extension was vigorously pressed. A line along Blue Island avenue, as far as Twelfth street, was opened on December 22, 1863;the Milwaukee avenue branch in June, 1864, and those running on Clinton and Jefferson streets in the following October. New lines were built from time to time, and some twenty miles of track were in operation in 1871.

The losses of the company in the fire of that year were comparatively small. Their general offices (then located on State street) were burned, and a few miles of track east of the river had to be relaid. These items, with a brief interruption of business, made up the total damage, which scarcely, if at all, exceeded $20,000. Even this small loss was soon recovered through an accession of traffic, the travel between the south and west divisions for months after the holocaust being (for that period of the city's history) phenomenal. To accommodate it the west and south lines jointly built and operated a road between Twenty-second street and Union Park, one fare being charged for each passenger, which soon found its capacity severely taxed and for several months proved a great convenience.

After 1871 the west division grew rapidly, and better transportation facilities were not only demanded, but also bid fair to prove profitable. Existing lines were accordingly extended and new ones constructed until, in 188C, the company operated seventy-five miles of track. The number of horses med was 3,733, and of cars 655, which traveled daily a total of 22,500 miles. Some 2,200 men were employed, a little more than onehalf of whom were conductors and drivers. This was the company's condition, when, one year later, the property passed under new control.

The West Chicago Street railroad company was organized by C. T. Yerkes, in 1887, and West Side acc[uirc(l control of all the street Lines. railway lines in the west division by the purchase of a majority of the capital stock of the Chicago West Division railway company and the leasing of that company's lines for ninety-nine years. By the terms of this agreement the lessee guaranteed the payment of interest at four and one half per cent, on the bonded debt of the lessor (which now amounts to $4,040,000), stipulating that it should remain a lien on the leased property, and agreed also to pay an annual rental of thirty-five dollars on each of the 12,500 shares of the lessor's stock. As the lessor company owned 7,000 shares of the capital stock of the Chicago Passenger railway company, the lines and franchises of that company also passed into the hands of the lessee.

It having been decided by the new (lessee) company to adopt the cable system for the main lines, an arrangement was made with the city to use the Washington street tunnel to cross over to the south side for the Madison street and Milwaukee avenue lines, in consideration, for the use of which the company was to build a new viaduct at Adams street, a new double steam-bridge at the same point, and to move the Madison street bridge to Washington street, placing it upon a new pier and abutments. The tunnel had been permitted to fall into an almost useless condition, and to make it tit for use required the outlay of about $200,000. The loop on this line passes over Washington street, Fifth avenue to Madison, to State and Washington streets. The Madison street-cars run to Fortieth street.

of the city, also reaches the business centre through the Washington street tunnel, the loop crossing from Washington, via Fifth avenue, Madison and La Salle streets, to Randolph,Pifth avenue and Washington.

For the accommodation of the Blue Island avenue and Halsted street lines a new tunnel under the Chicago river was constructed near Van Buren street. The construction of this tunnel, the longest in the world of the same width, required four years, and has necessitated the expenditure of $1,500,000, including the cost of right of way, legal expenses, etc. The length of the new tunnel and its approaches is 1,513.9 ft. The arch is fifteen feet, nine inches in height above the level of the car tracks, and has a span of thirty feet. The steepest incline is a ten per cent, grade for 500 ft., and at the foot of this grade there is a second one of 1.81 per cent, for 100 ft., where the lowest point of the tunnel is reached. The ascent is then made by three grades.

The tunnel is lighted by arc lamps, driven by three sixty kilowatt Waddell-Entz dynamos, directly connected to three McEwen high speed, simple engines of 100 horsepower capacity, each running at 275 revolutions per minute. The capacity of these dynamos is much in excess of the present demand; and a number of incandescent lamps, for use in neighboring buildings,will probably be run in connection with the plant.

Prior to 1892 the company had three power-houses; that for running the loops through the Washington street tunnel being located at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets; that for the Madison street line at Rockwell and Madison streets, and for the Milwaukee avenue line at Milwaukee avenue and Cleaver street.

To furnish the necessary power for the line through the new tunnel the two power-houses, known respectively as the Blue Island powerstation and the Van Buren street powerhouse, have been lately constructed, the one at the corner of Blue Island avenue and

Twelfth street, and the other at the corner of Jefferson and Van Buren streets, the following description of which is taken from the Street Railway Review:

" The Blue Island station, now operative, drives 60,600 feet of cable, operating the two systems of cars known as the Blue Island avenue and the South Halsted street lines.

" To the exterior view, the power-house is a handsome structure of pressed brick, trimmed with Bedford stone, fronting 120 feet on Twelfth street and 183 feet on Blue Island avenue. The power-house proper, that portion used in the power-production, is 116 by 100 feet. The rest of the building, at the street intersection, is carried to the height of six stories and sublet as offices.

"The stack is 150 feet high, carrying the gases well ab^ve the offices. An abundance of light and air is provided the power-plant by means of a system of ventilators and skylights. The roof is of double iron, the peak being sixty feet above the floor level.

"The boiler-room is well arranged with a view to economy and convenience, the batteries being placed on a level with the driving machinery. They are eight in number, of the tubular type, made by John Mohr & Sons, of Chicago, for the Pennsylvania Iron Works. Each boiler is of 225-horse-power, making the total capacity of the plant 1,800 horse-power, at 150 pounds steam pressure. The furnaces are now fired with oil. They are equipped, however, with the Gulickson grate, so that coal may be used should necessity arise.

'' Automatic, pressure-regulating valves are provided for each boiler, and the piping is so arranged that the boilers can be used together or separately. The main header is sixty feet long and thirty inches in diameter.

Usiversity 6F Ilumis

boilers. There are also, by way of reserve, two Monitor injectors, which can supply the entire battery when necessary. It will be noticed that every precaution for continuity of power is provided.

" The engines are of the E. P. Allis type, two in number, of 1,000 horse-power each. The cylinders measure forty by seventy-two inches, and the fly wheels weigh 100,000 pounds each. They make fifty revolutions per minute and are twenty-four feet in diameter. These wheels are of very handsome design, built up in eight sections and magnificently proportioned.

" The line shaft is eighteen inches in diameter, running the entire length of the engine room and coupled to both engines at right angles by means of steel cross-key plate couplings. Four sets of drums are driven from the shaft three of which are thirteen feet four inches in diameter, the fourth being sixteen feet in diameter. The former weigh sixteen tons each, and the latter tips the scales at twenty tons. They are all equipped with the famous Walker differential rim. One hundred and fifteen tons of steel cut gears are used to transmit the power from the line to the drum shaft.

"The building and sheave pits are lighted from the company's own electric plant - a twenty-five arc light kilowatts machine, from which are also taken one hundred and fifty incandescent lights."

During the erection of this power-house, almost endless difficulty was experienced in finding bottom for the foundation, as the chosen site had once been a marsh. At a distance of forty feet below the level, however, a hard stratum was found. This made it necessary to excavate 100 by 52 by 40 feet, which excavation was filled with concrete, upon which foundation and walls were erected.

Without doubt, the West Chicago Street railroad company has performed as difficult engineering feats in combating sinking clay and sand as any other power-plant builders ever experienced in blasting rock or dredging chasms.

The Van Buren street power-station fronts 175 feet on Jefferson street and fifty feet on Van Bureii. From it is driven the rope for the loop, which is 13,000 feet long. This station also has a pressed brick front, trimmed with Bedford granite. It somewhat resembles a church in appearance and the architect has shown great taste in the design. The machinery of this station is bedded on brick. The stack is 150 feet high, and the fuel used is oil.

The distinguishing feature of the Van Buren street plant is the rope drive, which is one of the largest in the country, being seventy-five feet from centre to centre. The engines are from the Allis works, the cylinders measuring thirty-eight by sixty inches, and being two in number. They are of 1,300 horse power each, and have twenty-foot fly wheels of 100,000 pounds avoirdupois. The plant is so arranged that there is a thirty-two foot rope wheel, the shaft of which connects with the drum shafts, driving both drums.

For the franchise granted on Taylor street the company moved the Adams street bridge to Taylor street and placed it upon a new pier and abutments. The company also, by previous agreement with the city, is required to pave sixteen feet in width of the street upon which double tracks run, and eight feet in width on streets on which only a single track is laid.

The company has no electric lines, but has been granted the right by the city (April 30, 1894) to substitute electricity for horse power on all its lines not now cabled, which will be done as fast as the change can conveniently be made.

Chicago Passenger was from the intersection of Railway. Western avenue and Harrison street to Michigan avenue, the eastern loop running from Franklin and Adams streets to Michigan avenue and Washington street, and back to Franklin and Adams. The council granted the right of passage over both the Harrison and Adams street bridges. The work of construction was pressed forward rapidly, and early in 1885 the line was in operation. A f»w years later it was leased to the West Chicago Street Railway company, and became a part of the general system of that corporation, of which it has proved a valuable constituent. Prior to the transfer of proprietorship, the running of cars over the loop, as originally planned, had been abaudonded, but the charter proved to be of no little value, as was ultimately demonstrated when the West Division and Chicago City companies reached a compromise through the interchangeable surrender of certain rights on Michigan avenue adjacent streets, to the satisfaction of the contracting parties, no less than to the advantage of the patrons of both roads.

The capital stock of the West Chicago Street railroad company is $13,189,000; bonded debt, first mortgage, five per cent., $4,100,000; debenture bonds, $2,000,000. The stock of the West Division railway company is $1,250,000; first mortgage bonds, four and one-half per cent., $4,040,000. The stock of the City Passenger railway company is $1,000,000; first mortgage bonds, 6 per cent., $1,COO,000.

The officers of the West Chicago Street railroad company - the lessee road - are as follows: Charles T. Yerkes, president; John B. Parsons, vice-president and general manager; George A. Yuille, secretary and treasurer; S. S. Owsley, assistant secretary and treasurer; directors: C, T. Yerkes, John B. Parsons, Wm. L. Elkins, S. W. Rawson, Jesse Spalding, W. F. Furbeck, George A. Yuille. John B. Parsons is president of the Chicago West Division railway company, and also of the Chicago City Passenger railway company.

The Lake Street railroad company was incorporated in 1890 with a capital of Lake street L. $10,000,000, and bonds issued amounting to $6,500,000. The road, built by a construction company, was completed from Canal street over Lake street to Union Park in the spring of 1891, when the work was delayed until the road passed into the hands of a new company, under the supervision of which the construction company was enabled to complete the line to Forty-second street and across the river to Market, thence to Madison street and Fifth avenue, its present terminal, by November, 1893, at which time it began operations. Jt has since been completed to Fifty-second street, and in March the gross earnings were

$45,500 against $28,500 expenses, and in April the gross earnings were $46,541, and the expenses $39,340, leaving as yet not much margin for dividends on stock.

The company is authorized to construct branch lines to Cicero and to Humboldt Park, and arrangements are being made for these extensions, the right of way having been acquired as far north as Division street at a cost of $250,000.

The officers of the road are as follows: John A. Roche, president; Hiram P.Thompson, vice-president; John H. Witbeck, treasurer; Daniel W. Campbell, secretary. The above officers, with Gilbert B. Shaw, William Ziegler, Samuel Baker, Charles H. Deere and Clarence A. Knight, constitute the board of directors.

The West Side Construction company, the corporation which is building the Metropolitan elevated road, made a report showing the condition of affairs May 1. The construction company contracted to build twelve and one-fourth miles of road, about two miles of which were to be four tracks and the remainder double track, the whole mileage to be about 17.96 miles of double track. The report showed that the company had received, up to May 1, $7,843,975. The expenditures were as follows:

The main line runs from Fifth avenue on the south side, between Jackson and Van Buren streets, to a point near Halsted street, crossing the south branch of the Chicago river on two double track' rolling lift steel bridges, having no central pier. From Halsted street the line runs south to the middle of the block between Van Buren and Congress streets, thence west to Sacramento avenue, thence south to a point between Harrison and Flournoy streets, thence west to West Forty-eighth street, the present western limits of the city, being a distance of about five one half miles.

There will be a north branch starting from Wood street, running thence north to Milwaukee avenue, and thence parallel with that thoroughfare to the city limits. At a point near North avenue another branch will run west to Humboldt Park. Another branch, commencing near Page street, is to run south to between Eighteenth and Twenty-first streets, and thence west to Douglas Park.

Some surplus land was acquired, so that large houses on the right of way, of too great value to be destroyed, might be moved to and anchored upon same. This has already improved their value, and the surplus land, with the houses thereon, are now estimated to be worth about $500,000.

All the land for the right of way has been acquired from Franklin street to West Fortyeighth, a distance of 5.83 miles. Also all the other land, excepting 175 feet for the Logan square line from Paulina street north to Wood, a distance of a little over two miles. Land for a total of eleven miles of double track has been acquired, all of which has been paid for, except about $700,000 due on account of mortgages and other incumbrances.

The structure is entirely erected from Jefferson street to West Forty-eighth. No structure is yet erected on the Logan Square line, but steel enough is already delivered along the line to build it as far north as Robey street, and its erection will be soon commenced, as the foundations are now being put in rapidly.

Contracts have been let for both the foundations and superstructure of the bridges, to be finished, ready for use, by August 15, 1894, and co-incidentally the entire main line and the Garfield Park line from Franklin street west to Forty-eighth street, and the Logan Square line from the main line junction at Paulina street north to Robey street (over ten miles double-track road) will be completed and ready for operation. One hundred passenger cars are now being built by the Pullman Palace Car company, under a contract requiring them to be delivered by August 1.

Under a subscription dated June 7, 1892, the West Side Construction company sold $10,000,000 of the Metropolitan company's first mortgage five per cent, bonds at ninety per cent, of par, the proceeds of which, it was then expected, would be sufficient to build and proportionately equip the ten and onefourth miles above referred to. These expectations, it is now found, will be fully realized, for from the final installment of twenty per cent, on the bond subscription (made payable June 15th, 1894), with what funds are now in the treasury of the company, ample funds will be in hand to complete that part of the contract.

Regarding the adoption of electricity for motive power, the report of the company says: "The extra expenditure required to complete the electric outfit is estimated by electric engineering experts to be about $400,- 000 greater than it would be for locomotive engines, but the saving in operating expenses, these experts estimate, will amount to about $250,000 per annum on the entire road. The principal saving will be in the difference between the cost of hard and soft coal."

The company has already received from the M.W. S. E. R. R. Co., 65,427 full paid shares of the railroad company's capital stock. Of these shares, 25,000 will be delivered to bond subscribers, when the final call on the $10- 000,000 bond subscription (due June loth) is paid, which will leave 40,427 shares in the' treasury. Upon the completion of the ten and one-fourth miles of road, this company will be the owner of 75,000 shares of said stock, of par value of $7,500,000, besides the surplus real estate before stated.

The officers of the road are John Worthy, president, and George Higginson, Jr., secretary and treasurer; who, with Robert E. Jenkins, R. H. P. Durkee, and John H. Blade, constitute the board of directors.

west side statutes, February 15, 1889, Electric Koad. with an authorized capital stock of $1,000,000, in shares of $100 each, the usual denomination.

The eastern terminus of the line is at West Fortieth street, on West Madison street, from whence it has a double track on the latter street to the Desplaines river; also a double track on West Forty-eighth from West Madison north to West Lake street; on West Lake from West Forty-eighth street to Harlem avenue; and on Harlem avenue from West Lake street south to West Madison. There is also a double track line on Desplaines avenue from West Madison street south to West Twelfth street. From the Desplaines river the line has a single track on West Madison street west to Nineteenth avenue; also a single track on Nineteenth avenue from West Madison street north to Melrose station on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad; and on Fifth avenue from West Madison north to Maywood; making in all eleven miles of double and three miles of single track. It passes through Moreland, Linden Park, Austin, Ridgeland, Oak Park, River Forest, Harlem and Maywood.

Its officers are George Butters, president; E. A. Cummings, vice-president; H. G. Foreman, secretary; Hiram Coombs, treasurer; these, with J. J. McCarthy, constitute the board of directors.

The people in the suburban towns on the west are accommodated by a quick train service on the Chicago & Northwestern, the Wisconsin Central, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads.

The cost of the various kinds of street railroads and equipments, per mile, through - Coat out the country, as shown by the census of 1890, is as follows:

The following table, showing the relative cost of operating horse, cable, electric, steam and locomotive lines per car per mile, as compiled by T. C. Clarke, is taken from Scribner's Magazine, ix. 745:

Cost Pi

As may be seen by reference to the foregoing pages Chicago has a total street mileage of city railways amounting to 410$ single track or street miles, of which 54£ are cable, 271£ horse-cars, and 84| electric, besides fourteen miles of elevated roads - a greater number, probably, than any other city in the Union. The number in New York in 1891, as reported by Mr. Clarke, was 220 (130 street car and 90 elevated); in Boston, 245 miles, and in Philadelphia 340.

The facilities for rapid transit in the large cities in this country very far exceed those in Europe, of which, according to Mr. Clarke, Berlin has the best, although greatly insufficient for the wants of its citizens. In London this traffic is small in comparison with New York, Boston or Chicago, and does not pay interest on the investment. The total movement of passengers in Paris, a city of 2,200,000 inhabitants, during the year of the exposition (1889), was as follows:

The number of passengers carried on the city railways of Chicago in 1893 - the year of the great exposition in this city - was 287- 000,000. By adding the number carried by trunk line railroads on their suburban trains, by the Alley L road, and by steamboats, this number will be swelled to at least 350,000,000.

The Great Britain tramway car fares are limited by law to a penny or two cents per mile, and this is charged, except when they come in competition with omnibuses, which carry passengers four or five miles for a penny. In Paris the omnibuses and tramcars charge six cents for inside and three cents for outside passengers for distances under four miles. In Berlin, where the movement of the people is greater than in either of the above cities, the fares vary from two and a half cents for one mile to ten cents for six miles.* on the same line, upon some of which the passenger may travel over eleven miles for that sum. But still, as maybe seen by the financial statements of the cable lines in this city, heretofore given at large, this rate enables them not only to declare from nine to twelve per cent, dividends upon their stock, but even to lay aside a large surplus every year.

Indeed, the securities of street railways now occupy a prominent place upon the market boards of the world, and are eagerly sought after by investors. The enormous amount

AS an appropriate introduction to this chapter the following extract is taken from an article by the late Major Joseph Kirkland, the distinguished co-editor of this history, which appeared in the Chicago Tribune of July 23, 1893:

" The nineteenth century is pre-eminently the age of great engineering works and of vast enterprises, some of which have completely changed the face of Nature, have brought together countries long divided, and have revolutionized commerce by diverting the course of trade. Continents have been gridironed by railroads, thousands of bridges, viaducts, tunnels and embankments have been built, mountains have been pierced, and arms of the sea bridged by the tireless energy and intelligently directed labor of man. Nothing in the nature of engineering enterprise is too difficult for the modern civil engineer - the great leveler of the age. Ask him to perforate the Alps with a ten -mile railroad tunnel or to join the waters of the Mediterranean with those of the Eed Sea by means of a ship-canal, and he will undertake and successfully complete the work. The sole question is : 'Can the money be found?' and capital once satisfied that a paying investment exists, the money is provided and the tunnel or bridge is built or the canal dug.

-'At the present time probably the greatest interest felt in engineering projects is extended to those which seek to improve water communications by means of canals. The mighty scheme of Panama, so disastrously mismanaged and so costly to its projectors, may never be carried out over its proposed route, but that the isthmus which lies between the Atlantic and the Pacific will within but a brief space be successfully cut through from ocean to ocean all engineers believe. Great waterways, such as the Manchester and Liverpool canal, and equally gigantic works in Holland, Germany, and other European countries are being pressed to a successful conclusion; and the close of the century will mark the completion of many such works of vast utility. Chicago has at its own doors and under its own control an engineering work, the importance of which is but little understood or appreciated, even though for several years it has been discussed in the public prints and the legislature. There is a general idea that some time in the future a big canal is to be extended from the south branch of the Chicago river, near Bridgeport, to an indefinite point down Joliet way, and that by this means the superfluous sewage of the great metropolis of Illinois will be carried down to the Mississippi. People speak of it vaguely as the 'big ditch' or the 'drainage canal.' They know that a board of trustees was elected to carry out the work and that some bonds were issued to meet the expenses, and that is about all that is generally known as to the actual condition of an immense undertaking, scarcely second in importance to any engineering work the world has ever seen.

"When it is remembered, however, that it is proposed to cut through the backbone of a continent, to divert the waters which now find their way through the great lakes and over Niagara down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence to a new route via the Illinois and

Mississippi rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, the subject becomes one of which full, recent and accurate information is both desirable and essential. A great work, which will require years of time, many millions of money, and the labor of many thousands to bring to a successful end, has been fairly begun, and its actual condition, the amount of preparatory work already accomplished, and the difficulties which lie in the way require to be carefully investigated and reported upon. Chicago is vitally interested in a plan which looks toward effecting so great an improvement in her sanitary condition as will be furnished by the drainage canal, and as it will largely have to foot the bill for the iinprovement,it is well to know something about the probable cost and the way in which the work is progressing."

The natural situation of Chicago is such that the disposal of its sewage is directly connected with its water supply. None of the large cities of the world have such easy access to so vast a body of pure water, so essential to the health and comfort of its inhabitants, and perhaps no other city has committed so many mistakes of engineering in its efforts to preserve the water supply free from the contaminating effects of the city's sewage. In this, as indeed in some other respects, Chicago resembles an overgrown youth, whose body has been abnormally developed at the expense of his mind and morals.

The sewage of the city is naturally conveyed into that sluggish stream called by courtesy the Chicago river, which is subject to such conditions that its feeble current is sometimes towards the Illinois and Michigan canal, and sometimes towards Lake Michigan, and what deposits do not sink to the bottom are carried sometimes westward,and again eastward out into the lake.

At first, in the city's callow days, when water was obtained from wells, and later from the lake near the shore, the only drainage attempted was the primitive roadside ditch, along the principal streets leadnig to the river, which was sometimes protected from caving in by planking its sides. In 1850, however, when the city numbered 109,000 inhabitants, and the importance of a better system of drainage was realized, an ordinance was passed by the council providing for the grading down of Lake street from State to the river, which was subsequently done, and the street paved with plank, the object being to make it answer the double purpose of an improved street as well as a trunk drain. As a street improvement it was a success until the first rain fell which required it for a drain, when it failed of its object in both cases; the plank road floated to the surface and out of place, and the fall of water was hindered rather than helped to the river. This may be not inaptly designated as the failure of experiment number one. Then followed the plan of paving Clark street from Randolph with sand and gravel, which answered an excellent purpose until the rain came, when the wagons moving across the street carried away the adhering pavement on their wheels in less time than was required to make it.

Submerged boxes along some of the principal streets, originally constructed for the purpose of furnishing water in cases of fire, were then tried, and with somewhat better results. They carried away most of the surplus water, when the season was not too wet, and were used to a limited extent for house drainage.

For the want of proper drainage the city became very unhealthy, and was "scourged with epidemics " for five or six years. In 1854, with the cholera raging, nearly five and a half per cent, of the population died. For the six years beginning with 1849 and ending with 1854, the death rate was 84.92 per thousand. In self-defense the city was compelled to consider the construction of an adequate drainage system*.

The Drainage Channel And Waterway

commissioners, the first members of which, appointed by the city council, were William B. Ogden, Joseph D. Webster and Sylvester Lynd; Ellis S. Chesbrough, then of Boston, being appointed chief engineer. The board was authorized " to examine and consider all matters relating to the thorough, systematic and effectual drainage of the city, not only of surface water and filth, but also of the soil to a sufficient depth to secure dryness in cellars and an entire freedom from stagnant water, and in such manner as best to promote the healthfnlness of the city."

A survey established the fact, which ought to have been apparent long before, that the principal business part of the city on the south side was only three or four feet higher than the Chicago river and Lake Michigan, and that to construct a proper system of sewage the surface of the ground, or grade of the streets, must be raised from seven to ten feet.

The system of sewage, as chiefly recommended by Mr. Chesbrough and adopted by the board, involved the raising of the ground to a sufficient height for the purpose, the required surplus being mostly supplied from cellars and other excavations, and the construction of main sewers, from three to six feet in diameter, eight and one-half inches thick, built of brick, in each alternate street running to the river, into which two-foot brick sub-main sewers in the streets running at right angles were to discharge. In the south division the sewers had their principal dividing lines on Water and Washington streets, whence they discharged westwardly into the south branch between Sixteenth and Washington streets, northwardly from the latter street into the river between Market street and the lake, and eastwardly into the large mains on Michigan avenue, one of which emptied into the river and the other into the lake at the foot of Twelfth street.

Franklin streets, and one having its outlet into the north branch at Chicngo avenue. On the west side mains were to extend from Ashland avenue to the south and north branches of the river on the following streets: Division, Chicago avenue, Augusta, Indiana, Hubbard, Randolph, Monroe, Van Buren, Polk, Twelfth, Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets.

The immediate results of the new and extensive system of sewage were decidedly favorable. The streets were dryer, there was less dampness in cellars and basements, and the death rate of the city steadily declined. But, as might have been foreseen, the discharge of so much filth and refuse matter into the river very soon corrupted that stream and made its waters terribly offensive, especially in dry weather, when the current was hardly perceptible, while in wet weather the pestilential sewage was carried into Lake Michigan and contaminated the water supply then taken near the shore. How best to remedy these evils was the question which occupied the sewage commissioners and their engineer for some time. Recourse was now had to the hydraulic pumping works of the canal at Bridgeport, which had originally been constructed for the purpose of supplying the canal with water.* By extra pumping, paid for by the city, the river was kept comparatively free of the offensive sewage in dry weather, but in wet weather the pumps were utterly unable to dispose of the surplus water, which was carried out to the lake in such quantities that its contaminating effect could be plainly peceived, both in its offensive taste and smell. Additional complications were found in the increasing discharge of the sewage from the rapidly increasing slaughter and packing houses, gas works, distilleries and other industries directly into the north and south branches.

In 1861 the act creating the board of sewage commissioners was repealed and their duties, together with those of the water commissioners, were transferred to the board of

From 1861 to 1863, various improvements in the drainage plans were proposed, but the only relief was found in the use of the pumping works. The idea of a ship-canal - of a channel by which the waters of Lake Michigan might flow directly to the Illinois river, as the best means of disposal of the city's sewage, was suggested by the sewage commissioners in February, 1860; thus coming back to the original idea for constructing the canal in 1836. The great importance of such a waterway as a national improvement was suggested by the blockade of the Mississippi river during the war of the rebellion. Its military importance in case of war with Great Britain, in enabling this country to bring a fleet to protect our lake marine and coasts, was urged with so much force that a bill was introduced in Congress, in 1862, providing for the construction of such a waterway. The contest over the measure was exceedingly interesting and exciting; the bill failed, however, by the close vote of sixty-one for to seventy-one against.

While this bill was still pending in Congress, Chicago citizens began a movement in favor of deepening the old canal. Committees were appointed, statistics gathered, and reports made upon a new survey by engineer A. J. Matthewson. It was proposed to enlarge the canal from Bridgeport to Joliet, thirtythree and one-half miles, to a width of 160 feet at the surface, and deepen it at the summit to the first level adopted in 1836, the cost of which was estimated as $13,500,000.

Following this report came the call for a national canal convention to be held at Chicago, June 2, 1863. The convention, which had repesentatives from several States, was presided over by Chauncey I. Filley, of St. Louis. Resolutions were adopted favoring " the construction and enlargement of the canal between the valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic as of great military, national and commercial importance," but no practical result followed at the time.

The pressing importance to Chicago of the deepening of the canal as a sanitary measure was such that in pursuance of the recommendation of a committee of the Board of Trade and the common council, the latter body in January, 1864, appointed a committee consisting of William Gooding, R. B. Mason, John Van Nortwick, E. B. Talcott and E. S. Chesbrough, all of them engineers of standing, " to ascertain by survey the practicability and the cost of draining the Chicago river by way of Mud Lake to and along the Desplaines river."

As a result of these various movements, and upon a recommendation of the committee, the legislature passed an act approved February 16, 1865, for the deepening of the canal, by which it was provided that the city of Chicago might enter into such an arrangement with the canal trustees for that purpose on the original deep cut plan, as would most effectually secure the thorough cleansing or purification of the Chicago river, and that the amount so expended by the city should remain a vested lien upon the canal and its revenues after the payment of the canal debt, provided the cost should not exceed $2,500,000.

Contracts were made with two companies for the completion of the work by April 1, 1868; but the contractors claiming that the rates to be paid for construction were too low, the contract was again let in May, 1867, and the time for completion extended to March 31, 1871.

As has subsequently become apparent, and as, in view of the experience and ability of the engineering committee, should have been known at the time, this movement to provide sanitary drainage for the city, after all that had been written and considered on the subject, was a stupendous failure.

In the first place, as pointed out at the time by Ossian Guthrie, the old-time, practical engineer, the territory to be drained by the Chicago river and canal was about two hundred and seventy square miles, upon which 'there fell an average of about 50,000 cubic feet of water per minute throughout the year; whereas it was contemplated that the capacity of the deepened canal, when finished, should not exceed a gravity flow of 25,000 cubic feet per minute. It was like providing a quart bottle which should contain four pints of water - it could not be done.

But, secondly, the deepened canal, for a distance of twelve miles, is located immediately adjacent to the Desplaines river, the surface of which, in flood time, is from eight to sixteen feet above the canal, and whose bank is entirely composed of either glacial drift or fissured rock, through which a great aggregate quantity of water then flowed, which correspondingly diminished the sewage-carrying capacity of the canal, and which during flood time through Mud Lake overwhelmed it.

Thirdly, the depth of the canal after enlargement was about eight feet less than that of the river, and could only cleanse that portion of it which was five feet above the bottom. (See Report of Board of Public Works for 1880.)

But still further; the supposed economical plan of construction was adopted of giving the banks of the canal an impracticable slope of what is technically called one to one, which slope was rapidly changed by the frosts of a few succeeding winters to one to two. The sloughing off of the banks rapidly diminished the capacity of the canal, until, at the end of nine years, it had been reduced to 17,000 ci-bic feet per minute. Besides this, the influence of the rise and fall of Lake Michigan, which vary as much as five feet, do not seem to have been taken into the account.

The "great" work of deepening the canal was completed July 15, 1871, and the first results were quite satisfactory. The water flowing in from the river created a decided current, it is said, and "an entire change in its appearance was effected in about thirty-six hours." It is also stated that the water in the south branch was " quite clear and entirely free from noxious odors;" and the board of public works remarked in their report that "it is confidently believed that this will prove an adequate and permanent means of relief as far as the main river and the south branch are concerned." This favorable view was corroborated the following year (1872), when the chief engineer reported that "at all ordinary times now the water of Lake Michigan enters the mouth of the river and flows up it and the south branch to feed the canal, thus completely deodorizing what was so offensive and unbearable a year ago." The pumping works, which cost $54,000 were now regarded as unnecessary, and sold for $2,500.

Two natural conditions occurred to aid in. procuring these early favorable, though temporary,results; the first of which was the high stage of water in Lake Michigan, which, in 1871, was over two feet above datum and / higher than it had been for the six preceding or five following years, and the effect of which was to increase the current towards the canal to nearly double its capacity. This fact, together with the circumstance that the excessive drouth which prevailed in this vicinity during the summer and fall of the same year (1871) aided in the inauguration of the work under the -most favorable conditions possible, made it appear to be a success, when in reality the same results might have been reached under the old pumping system under like favorable conditions.

As if it had not already been an established fact that the capacity of the canal was not sufficient to discharge the accumulating water and sewage from the river, the city authorities permitted the construction of a canal generally called the " Ogden-Wentworth ditch." This was an enterprise on the part of William B. Ogden, one of the committee to recommend the deepening of the canal, and John Wentworth, a distinguished congressman and political leader, to drain the low, swampy lands owned by them near and through Mud Lake into the Chicago river. The canal was about twenty feet wide at the top, and the depth slightly below that of the Desplaines river, with which it is connected. " When the floods came in the spring and summer of 1872, the rush of water from the Desplaines, now sweeping towards the Chicago river, accomplished what the projectors anticipated, and their canal was greatly enlarged. In a short time there was a very troublesome stream flowing eastward from the summit into Lake Michigan instead of down the valley of the Desplaines. The Desplaines river was practically diverted from its old channel.'''* The effect of this " piling up of the waters" in the river was naturally to counteract the current westward, and it became apparent by the spring of 1872-3 that the river was no longer cleansed as it had been when it first began to flow into the canal. To help this hindering of the current it transpired that the soil which had been carried into the Ogden-Wentworth ditch had been swept into the river and pumped back again into the canal, so that canal superintendent William Thomas decided that 50,000 cubic yards of material which had been washed in from the " ditch" would have to be removed.

To add still further complications, the water in Lake Michigan became lower and lower each succeeding year from 1871 to 1875, and the current in the river was so feeble at times as not to be discovered, and at other times, even for thirty days continuously, flowed the wrong way, towards the lake instead of towards the canal. The condition of the water in both the north and south forks became as bad as it had ever been, and was very threateningly offensive in the river ; and so it turned out that within three years of the time of the completion of the "great work " of deepening the canal, which had been recommended by so many skillful and experienced engineers, it had proved a deplorable, unmitigated failure, and that the $8,300,000 which it cost, so far

The board of public works began to take some action to remedy existing defects and evils in 1873-4, and in the spring of 1874 engineer Chesbrough recommended that the flow of water from the Desplaines river into the "ditch" be prevented by the construction of a dam with sluice gates. Wentworth opposed it, and the city declined to act, fearing that to do so would be to concede the right of private individuals to impede a public highway. But Mr. Ogden, seeing that a great wrong had been done, gave his own land, upon which the dam might be constructed, and permission to the city to build and maintain it. This dam, which was rebuilt in 1885 at the same height, has cost the city many thousand dollars. The " ditch," indeed, has been one of the principal hindering causes of the flow of water into the canal. It is still permitted to remain, the cost of repairs and maintenance still comes out of the city treasury, and it still continues to cause damage by overflows from the Desplaines river. But it drains the private adjacent lands and has made them very valuable-

Another relief measure adopted was the construction of the Fullerton avenue conduit* or covered canal, between Lake Michigan and the north branch, by which it was proposed to cleanse that stream by "forcing the water by mechanical means either into the river or into the lake, as should at the time be necessary." The contract was let March 31, 1874, for $343,284, the work to be completed by July 1, 1875. It was not, however, completed and put in operation nntilJanuary 9, 1880. It was a brick tunnel, twelve feet in diameter and 11,898 feet in length. The bottom, from the river to Kacine avenue, was level, and thirteen feet below datum. The water was shut off from the conduit at the lake shaft by a concealed cover of boilerplate. The shaft was protected from the waves and ice by a pier of pile work. At the river end, where the machinery was placed, the conduit was divided into two semicircular channels, between which was a wrought iron chamber. Passing the chamber, the two channels were again merged into one and led into the river. The outlet was protected by a heavy masonry dock wall, in which there was a screen of iron rods to keep floating debris out of the tunnel. Water was forced through the conduit by two screws attached to the end of a horizontal shaft forty feet in length, placed in the centre line of the conduit. The shaft and screws were operated by two marine engines, which could be reversed at will and the water driven in another direction.

At first the water was drawn from the lake into the river, with favorable results. In the following year the pumping was chiefly from the river into the lake, thus transferring the polluted waters of the branch into the lake, and, as maintained by city engineer Artingstall, with good results, he contending that the experiment of pumping the water from the lake into the north branch, which was tried twice, had the effect of fouling the main stream, but in regard to this opinions differed. Such, indeed, was the opposition to pumping the water into the lake, thus endangering the water supply, that it was discontinued in 1885. While this conduit has to a large extent answered expectations, the north branch is still far from being a pure stream, owing to the increasing sewage discharge from accumulating factories.*

The slow moving west current, when there was any at all, had a stagnating effect upon the water not only in the river, but after it entered the canal. Besides its deleterious effect upon the health of the people, such an efnuvial odor proceeded from it as to attract the attention and serious complaint of the citizens living along the line of the canal, especially the residents of Joliet, at whose solicitation the late Dr. John H. Eauch, the eminent sanitary expert and secretary of the State board of health, was induced to give the subject a careful investigation. He found that the water in the canal was more or less contaminated and filthy three-fourths of the time, so much so in February, 1879, that a committee was appointed at a public meeting in Joliet to visit Chicago and insist upon the adoption of some measure of relief.

Dr. Ranch, seconded by the State board of health, recommended that the pumping works be rebuilt at Bridgeport as soon as possible, through which immediate relief might be furnished - the amount of water required to cleanse the canal being from 60,- 000 to 100,000 cubic fjeet per minute.

The doctor was backed up in his recommendation by Mr. Thomas, the canal superintendent, who, in his report for 1879, remarked, that "either the bottom of the canal must be lowered throughout its entire length, or more water must be supplied from Bridgeport."

The force of public opinion was so strongly in this direction that the city council of Chicago on March 29, 1880, appropriated $100,- 000 for the construction of new pumping works, but action was delayed, while the condition of the water in the river and canal grew worse and still more unbearable, and, indeed, became an intolerable nuisance to the citizens of Joliet and other towns along the line of the canal.

The situation became so serious and threatening that the subject was brought before the State legislature by Senator Sylvester W. Munn, of the Joliet district, who, at the session of 1881, introduced a resolution suggesting methods of purification, which was adopted. The city was required "to 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 evils complained of." In default of which action on the part of the city the canal commissioners were to resort to other measures, which were pointed out.

In the meantime the city council, in compliance with the obvious trend of public sentiment, in March, 1881, made another appropriation of $100,000 for the construction of the pumping works, the contract for which was let in the following August. Although they were to be completed by July 1, 1882, they were not ready and the pumps set to work until June 3, 1884. They cost $251,177 and require an expenditure of from $40,000 to $75,000 per year for their operation and maintenance. And so it turned out that after all these years of effort, scientific research and the expenditure of millions of dollars, the city was no further advanced in the disposal of its sewage than it was in 1861, and was compelled to return again to the old appliance of the engine and purnp.

During the pendency of investigations and reports in 1880, above referred to, the drainage question was brought before the Citizens' Association of Chicago, which thenceforth took a prominent and more or less influential part toward shaping subsequent action and legislation. It appointed a committee, consisting of John B. Sherman, George C. Morgan and S. B. Eeed to "recommend some system for the disposition of the sewage, adapted to the present and future needs of Chicago," who made a report, which was printed in December, 1880. The committee invited communications and called public meetings to stimulate as free and intelligent discussion of the subject as was possible. The plans finally presented for the solution of the problem were : First, to construct a conduit from the south branch to the lake, similar to that on Fullerton avenue, which, however, would admittedly only benefit a limited district. Second, the construction of an intercepting sewer along each side of the river bank, either into the lake or upon laud selected for the purpose. Third, to construct a canal in the rear of the city, supplemented by the Fullerton avenue conduit, and to turn all the sewers west of the river into that canal, -which would find its outlet into the Desplaines river.

None of these plans met with the approval of the committee, nor did that of the proposed "ship-canal, ".as a drain, receive its support and endorsement, "for the reason that any current which would move the water with sufficient velocity to prevent the deposit of filth would impair its usefulness for commercial purposes."

The plan which was finally recommended involved the construction of a canal or "new river," which, as described by engineer Matthewson, who drew the plans, was to start from the Mud Lake fork of the south branch of the Chicago river and run along between the canal and Desplaines river, as pointed out, to Joliet, a distance of thirtyone and one-half miles. The current in the new river would be a little over two miles per hour, the water in the Chicago river would be changed every twenty-four hours, the forks and branches of the river would purify themselves, and thus the successful drainage of Chicago would be accomplished "for all time to come."

The estimated cost of the new river was $6,850,000. The creation of a drainage district would be required, and provision might be made to raise the necessary funds through loans and assessments.

From 1882, after the new pumping works were contracted for, the agitation of the subject ceased, to a large extent, until 1885 when, the pumping scheme not giving as good results in all respects as had been anticipated, the drainage question again became a subject of hot discussion and investigation, and in the summer of that year the Citizens' Association appointed another committee " to investigate the subject of the main drainage and water supply of Chicago." The committee was composed as follows: Ossian Guthrie, L. E. Cooley, Dr. F. W. Reilly, Wm. Rutherford, Charles A. Macdonald, David Bradley, J. J. Glessner and Edwin Lee Brown, who made a report August 27th, with a supplement September 12th.

The report presents many valuable points, showing the relation of the drainage question to the water supply. The flow of sewage to the east and the danger of contaminating the lake water to a greater or less extent is clearly set forth. "If the south branch is stagnated by the Ogden- Wentworth ditch discharge," the committee remarks, " then it goes to the lake, as it does also at the time of a freshet in the north branch ; " and the committee was " strongly of the opinion that the Fullerton avenue conduit should never be operated except in a direction from the lake to the river," and that at times of flood-discharge it should be stopped.

The closing of the Ogden - Wentworth ditch was recommended, and the diversion of the water of the north branch to the lake at Bowmanville, thus largely reducing the drainage area.

The committee wisely solved the drainage problem by stating that "the proper disposal of the sewage is unquestionably down the valley of the Illinois. It must be diluted to that point, which will speedily produce complete oxidation," so that the citizens along the line of the canal will have no further cause of complaint aeainst the "insufferable nuisance" of the offensive sewage as it then existed. It was also suggested "that the proper limits of the sewage district should be north to the line of Bowmanville, south to Sixtieth street, and west to the Desplaines divide."

The report was an able one, and practically laid the foundation for the subsequent action which culminated in the passage of the drainage law and the laying out of the drainage channel now in process of construction.

In pursuance of this report and the recommendation of the Citizens' Association, the city council on January 27, 3886, authorized the creation of a drainage and water supply commission, which, appointed by Mayor Harrison, consisted of Rudolph Herring, Benezette Williams and Samuel G. Artingstall. The commission made a lengthy and exhaustive report on the subject to the council in January, 1887. It reached the same general conclusion as that embodied in the report of the committee hereinbefore considered, namely, that the sewage of the

At the meeting of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly (1887), two bills were introduced providing for Chicago drainage, one of which was known as the Winston bill, which proposed to construct an outlet through the Desplaines valley by special assessments; the other as the Hurd bill, which proposed to create a drainage district, with power to issue bonds based on taxation to construct the required works.

These bills were considered and their respective merits discussed for several months, pending which a resolution introduced by representative Riley, of Will county, passed both houses, providing for the appointment of a committee of five, consisting of the mayor of Chicago, ex-officio, two members of the senate, to be appointed by the president of that body, and two members of the house, to be appointed by the speaker, whose duty it should be to examine into, and report to the next session of the legislature the most practicable solution of the drainage problem for Chicago. The committee was required to serve without pay, its expenses to be paid by the city of Chicago. Bernard A. Eckhart, of Chicago, and Andrew J. Bell were appointed memb er of the committee from the senate, and Thomas C. MacMillan, of Chicago, and Thomas H. Riley, of Joliet, from the house. The fifth member of the committee was Mayor John A. Roche.

This committee, after a full investigation and conferences with the people along the line of the canal and at other points interested, and after a careful study of the subject, reported to the Thirty-sixth General Assembly (February 1, 1889) the act to incorporate a sanitary district, which finally became a law. It passed the house by a vote of ninety-two to forty two, and the senate by a vote of thirty-two to eighteen. It was approved May 29th, and became a law July 1, 1889. Very much of the success of this great enterprise is due to the efforts of the above-named committee.

The law provides that any five thousand voters in a proposed sanitary district may petition the county judge of the county in which they reside to submit the question to the legal voters of the district, whether they will organize as such a district under the act.

In each district nine trustees shall be elected for a term of five years, and such district shall be a body corporate and politic, with power to sue and make contracts, and to acquire and hold real estate and personal property, and adopt a seal; the board of trustees to be the corporate authority of such district; the president of the board to receive a salary of $4,000 per annum and the other members $3,000.

The board of trustees is clothed with full power to provide for the drainage of such district, and the corporation is authorized to borrow money for corporate purposes and may issue bonds therefor, but shall not become indebted to exceed five per centum on the valuation of the taxable property therein. They are authorized also to provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on the indebtedness incurred, and the principal when it falls due. The board may also levy and collect taxes for corporate purposes upon the property within the district, not exceeding one-half of one per centum of its value per year. It has power also to defray expenses of any improvement by special assessment, or by general taxation, or partly by both, as it shall by ordinance prescribe.

Other provisions relate to the obtaining the right of way, and to the manner of constructing a channel by means of which any of the waters of Lake Michigan shall be caused to pass into the Desplaines or Illinois river; directing that "such channel shall be constructed of sufficient size and capacity to produce and maintain at all times a continuous flow of not less than 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute, and to be of a depth of not less than fourteen feet, and carry a current not exceeding three miles per hour; and if any portion of any such channel shall be cut through a territory with a rocky stratum, when such rocky stratum is above grade sufficient to produce a depth of water from Lake Michigan of not less than eighteen feet, such portion of said channel shall have double the flowing capacity above provided for, and a width of not less than 160 feet at the bottom, capable of producing a depth of not less than eighteen feet of water." The channel, when completed, shall be called a navigable stream.

The requisite preliminaries having been complied with before the county court of Cook county, the boundaries of the district were fixed as follows: " Beginning at the shore of Lake Michigan at Eighty-seventh street, the same being the township line between townships 37 and 38, south range 15 east of the principal meridian, and running thence westerly on said township line to the range line between ranges 13 and 12; thence north on said range line two miles to the southwest corner of section 19, township 38, range 13; thence west on the south line of sections 24 and 23 to the southwest corner of said section 23, township 38, north range 12 east; thence north along the west line of sections 23, 14, 11 and 2 of township 38 aforesaid, range 12 east to the northwest corner of said section 2, thence east along the north line of sections 2 and 1 to the south line of Ogden avenue, thence along said south line of Ogden avenue to the range line between ranges 12 and 13 east, the same being the west line of the town of Cicero; thence north on said range line to the northwest corner of sections 19, 40, 13, east; thence east to southwest corner of the east half of section 17, town 40, range 13 east, thence north through the middle of sections 17, 8 and 5 of said township and range to the boundary of the tract known as Cald well's reserve; thence northwesterly along said boundary line to the township line between townships 40 and 41, north range 13 east, thence easterly along said township line, the same being the northern boundary of the city of Chicago, to the shore of Lake Michigan, thence easterly to a point three miles from the shore of Lake Michigan, measured at right angles, to said shore; thence southerly and parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan, and three miles distant therefrom, to the north boundary of the State of Indiana; thence west along said boundary to the northwest boundary of said State, thence south along the west boundary of said State, to a point due east of the point of beginning, thence west to the point of beginning." The district is eighteen miles long from north to south, and about nine and a half miles wide from the court-house in Chicago, its extreme width being fifteen miles, and contains about 1,853 square miles.

The question of the establishment of the district as provided by the law was submitted to a vote of the people at the November election, 1889, and was decided in favor thereof by a vote of 70,958 to 242.

On December 12, 1889, a special election was held for the selection of trustees. Three tickets were in the field, Democratic, Republican and Citizens'. The successful candidates were John A. King, Wm. H. Russell and Frank Wenter, on the Democratic ticket, and John J. Altpeter, A. P. Gilmore, Christopher Hotz, Murry Nelson, Richard Prendergast and Henry J. Willing, on the Citizens' ticket.

The board might have been organized and ready for business on the first Monday in December, but there was a controversy over the selection of the presiding officer, who was not elected until the meeting of the trustees on February 1, 1890, Murry Nelson being the choice of the majority. The other officers elected at this time were: Charles Bary, secretary; Byron L. Smith, treasurer; L. E. Cooley, chief engineer; S. S. Gregory, attorney, and Austin J. Doyle, clerk.* to the legality of the action of the board under the law, steps were soon taken to test its validity before the courts. Two suits were brought in the circuit court of Cook county, raising the question of the authority of the board to issue bonds, and exercise other powers. From a decision by Judge 0. H. Horton an appeal was taken to the supreme court, where an elaborate opinion affirming the decision of the circuit court sustaining the law was filed June 12, 1889.

It was hoped, by those who had followed the course of events and who were anxious to see the work under way, that operations would be commenced at once, the major obstacles having been apparently removed. But unforeseen difficulties arose. Some of the trustees favored the policy of awaiting congressional action. An unfortunate disagreement between the board and engineer Cooley resuled in the latter's resignation. The vacancy thus created was filled by the appointment of Gen. John Newton as consulting engineer and of William E. Worthen to succeed Mr. Cooley.

At the annual meeting of the board, December 2, 1890, Hon. Richard Prendergast was elected president; and two months thereafter, it appearing from the report of the new engineers that the cost of the proposed channel would exceed $22,000,000, a majority of the board, consisting of trustees Prendergast, Gilmore, Hotz and Willing, took a stand in favor of an amendment to the law, by which the cost of construction might be reduced, and addressed a statement to the people of the district urging its adoption. The discussion of this proposed change produced an unfortunate delay, the legislature declining to take any action under the existing circumstances.

Engineers Newton and Worthen, after making a preliminary report, tendered their resignations April 2]st. Samuel G. Artingstall was elected chief engineer May 9th, and on the 23rd presented his report on fourpossible routes for the main channel between Bridgeport and Summit; and on June 23rd

Trustees Nelson and King resigned from the board in August, and Willing in September, 1891, and the vacancies thereby caused were filled at the election of November 3, 1891, by the choice of William Boldenweck, Lyman B. Cooley, formerly chief engineer, and Bernard A. Eckhart. Mr. Weiiter was elected president of the new board, vice ex-judge Prendergast. Mr. Hotz resigned in January, 1892, and was succeeded by Thomas Kelley, November 8, 1892.

The total expenditures of the district to November 28, 1891, the end of the second fiscal year, were $669,336. Up to that time but little had been accomplished. "Progress dates" remarks Mr. Brown, in his history of the waterway, "from the organization of the second board on December 8, 1891."

The engineering committee made a favorable report in January, 1892, looking toward the active commencement of operations. Mr. Artingstall resigned his position as chief engineer January 16, 1892, and was succeeded by Benezette Williams, who, in his report, recommended three distinct routes for the main channel, the third of which, from Wil- Jow Springs to Lockport, with some modifications, was adopted by the board. The line as finally fixed upon, as far as now under contract, extends from a confluence with the west fork of the south branch of the Chicago river at Eobey street, through the Desplaines valley south and east of the river of that name, and between it and the Illinois and Michigan canal to near the vicinity of Lockport.

Contracts for the construction of the line from Willow Springs to Lockport, a distance of fourteen miles, were let July 13, 1892, the total amount of the awards footing up $10,696,754.

Five million dollars (par value) of five per cent, bonds have been issued thus far and sold at a premium. The entire cost of this great channel and waterway, including right of way and railway damages, when completed, is estimated by ex-Senator and trustee Eckhart, in his address at the inaugural ceremonies, to be $22,000,000; a large sum to be sure, but which he clearly shows can be raised without difficulty, oppression, or inconvenience to the people. In consideration of this outlay the city will receive ample remuneration in the protection of the public health, the preservation of amicable relations with its neighbors, the insuring of the purity of its water supply, and the opening of a water-way, navigable by vessels of heavy draft, which may yet prove of immense commercial advantage.

Mr. Eckhart, in showing at what small expense all these magnificent advantages are obtained, points out further that the canal system of New York has already cost that State $80,000,000; the Nicaragua canal is estimated to cost $90,000,000, and that of Amsterdam, only fourteen miles long to the sea, $14,500,000. The Manchester (England) canal, lately completed, cost $65,000,000. And again, the new sewage system of London, from 1856 to 1888, cost $35,000,000, while Paris has expended for water and drainage since the same year (1856) over $40,000,000. It cost Manchester $18,000,000 to bring a limited supply of water from Thirlmere lake, a distance of over 100 miles; and Glasgow expended $9,000.000 to procure a supply of water from Lake Katrine.

To come nearer home - the water supply of New York from Croton Lake has cost $37,- 000,000. So that the people of this mighty city have every reason to congratulate themselves that this great improvement can be made at so little comparative cost.

It was decided to begin the work of construction at the boundary line between Cook and Will counties, two miles below Lemont and thirty-one miles from Chicago, on September 3, 1892, and the event was celebrated with formal and appropriate ceremonies. A large number of invited guests was present, among whom, besides the officials of the board, were ex-senators C. B. Farwell and James R. Doolittle, congressman Thomas J.

Henderson, ex-congressmen Ralph Plumb and George E. Adams; ex-mayors Carter H. Harrison and D. C. Cregier; J. Frank Aidrich, commissioner of public works, Dr. John H. Ranch, of the State board of health, corporation counsel John S. Miller, senator Thomas C. MacMillan, Ossian Guthrie, John Moses, of the Chicago Historical Society, Major P. C. Handy, assemblyman Thomas Riley, of Joliet, J. L. Morton, of Lockport, Dr. Frank W. Reilley, of the State board of health, and Fernando Jones.

A large, attentive and representative audience was present, and the proceedings began with an invocation by Bishop Samuel Fallows. President Wenter made the opening address, after which he stepped down from the platform and proceeded to excavate and raise a shovelful of earth from its native bed, using a nickel-plated shovel prepared for the occasion. The earth was deposited in a tin box, which is preserved in the office of the board as a memento of the event.

Trustee L. E. Cooley, at the conclusion of his able address, touched an electric button, which fired the first blasts of rock in the bed of the channel. Other speeches were made by trustee Eckhart, whose address has been heretofore referred to, John S. Miller, Thomas J. Henderson, Dr. F. W Reilley, Carter H. Harrison, James R. Doolittle, Ralph Plumb, Thomas C. MacMillan, Major P. C. Handy and Fernando Jones. The inauguration of the great work was, in all respects, a gratifying success.

A more detailed description of the waterway and account of letting of the contract for construction and of the progress made up to May 2, 1894, will be found in the following extracts from the report of chief engineer Randolph:

"The main drainage channel of the sanitary district of Chicago, as far as now under contract, extends from a confluence with the west fork of the south branch of the Chicago river at Robey street, in the city of Chicago, to the near vicinity of Lockport, in Will county, Illinois. The first work put under contract extended southwesterly from the Willow Springs road, and these sections were numbered consecutively Nos. 1 to 14. Average length of sections, one mile. Easterly from Willow Springs road the sections are designated by letters from A to 0, omitting J. Thelettered sections are, except for a short distance near Summit, entirely in glacial drift, defined in the specifications thus: 'Glacial drift shall comprise the top soil, earth, muck, sand, gravel, clay, hard pan, boulders, fragmentary rock displaced from its original bed, and any other material that overlies the bed rock.'

"The sections 1 to 14 were put under contract in July, 1892; from A to F were put under contract late in 1892 and early in 1893, and G to M, inclusive, were contracted for in December, 1893. For N and 0 the bids were opened April 18, 1894.

"The Desplaines valley is traversed by the river from which it takes its name - a stream of wide fluctuations, with no constant and reliable fountain supply. During some seasons its whole discharge would pass through a six-inch pipe, and at others its volume reaches 800,000 cubic feet per minute. Then it rolls majestically along, flooding the whole valley. Such being the situation, control of this stream was a condition precedent to the successful prosecution of the work upon the main channel. This control has been secured by the outlay of nearly $1,000,000 in constructing what is known as the " river diversion channel.

"About thirteen miles of the new river channel had to be excavated, parallel with the location of the main drainage channel, and about nineteen miles of levee built to divorce the waters of the Desplaines watershed from the channel which is to receive the waters of Lake Michigan, and pass them on to the Mississippi river via the lower Desplaines and the Illinois rivers. The width of the river-diversion channel on the bot- torn is 200 feet, side slopes one and one-half to one, grade generally 12-100 per 1,000 feet. "At the head of this river-diversion it was necessary to provide a safety valve in the form of a spillway, to allow surplus water to flow toward Chicago, because arrangements have not as yet been perfected for carrying the entire flood waters of the Desplaines through Joliet.

"This spillway is a concrete dam, capped with cut stone and its wings faced with stone masonry; it is 397 feet long and its crest is 16.25 feet above Chicago datum (this datum being referred to the low water of Lake Michigan of 1847 and is 579.61 above sea level at Sandy Hook). No water flows over this spillway until the volume passing the water gauge above it reaches 300,000 cubic feet per minute.

"The cross-section of the earth sections from A to E inclusive is 202 feet on the bottom, side slopes two to one. This section extends for about 500 feet into the west end of F and then reduces 110 feet on the bottom, preserving, the same side slopes. The explanation for this change of cross-section is as follows: Throughout the rock sections and those sections in which there is a preponderance of hard material,- or where rock may appear, the section adopted is designed, according to law, for a flow of 600,000 cubic feet of water per minute, which means provision for a population of 3,000,000 people. The narrower channel provides for the flow of 300,000 cubic feet per minute, or for about the present population of Chicago. The enlargement of the narrow channel can be made by the easier methods of excavation, such as dredging, whenever the needs of the city require it. The grade throughout the lettered sections is one foot in 40,000 (.025 per 1,000 feet) and the bottom of the channel at Eobey street is 24.448 feet below datum. The numbered sections from No. 1 to No. 6, inclusive, are underlaid with solid rock. The width of the bottom, in rock, is 160 feet, and walls of masonry, laid in cement, will be built upon the rock surface to a height of fire feet above datum. Sections 7 to 14, inclusive, are in solid rock; width at bottom 160 feet, sides vertical, prism taken out in three stopes with offsets of six inches on each side for each cut, making top-width 162 feet; grade in rock one foot in 20,000 (0.05 per 1,000). The plans for treatment beyond section No. 14 involve the construction of controlling works, to be located near the end of section 15. As the name implies, these works are to control the discharge of water from the main drainage channel into the tail race, which is to deliver the outflow into the Desplaines river.

"This river below Lockport follows the trough of the valley down the steep declivity to the canal basin in Joliet. The fluctuations in Lake Michigan, by varying slope of water surface, will be felt at the controlling works, and provision must be made to meet these fluctuations within a range of five feet above datum and eight feet below, or an eztreme oscillation of thirteen feet. The fall from datum at the controlling works to the level of the upper basin will be about fortytwo feet, in a distance of about four and onethird miles. As the plans for controlling works have not been finally adopted by the board of trustees they cannot now be discussed.

"On the earth sections some novelties have been introduced. On sections L and M, cars, especially constructed, are loaded by steam shovels and drawn by steam-hoists up a steep incline to a proper height, where they run on a tipple and are automatically dumped. Each incline is equipped with two four-yard cars, which load and dump alternately. On sections I and K the contractors have erected bridges spanning the spill-bank at proper height, their supporting piers being carried on trucks which travel on tracks parallel with the channel. From the channel end of the bridge an inclined track runs down into the cut. In connection with this device two eight-yard cars are used which are successively loaded by steam-shovels, drawn up the incline on to the bridge by steam-hoists, and then automatically dumped and immediately returned to the pit. An output of 100 yards per hour can probably be maintained by this combination of devices. On section F the material is taken from the steamshovel by cars fitted with pneumatic dumping apparatus, the power for which is supplied from the locomotive. The engineer operates these dumps just as he would apply the air brakes. Sections A, B and a portion of C are located in the old qhannel of the Desplaines and are overlaid with muck to a considerable depth. This muck is being removed by hydraulic dredges. Each of these dredges now in use has a capacity of about 2,500 cubic yards in ten hours, and this output in solid matter represents about eigh per cent, of the capacity of the pumps. One great advantage of the hydraulic method of removal is that the material can be removed to any desired dumping ground within a distance of 3,000 feet without adding anything to the contract price of the excavation."

"On those sections, which are partly in earth and partly in rock, all of the usual methods of removing earth are in vogue, varied to suit peculiar conditions or to meet the ideas of the contractors doing the work. On section No. 6 a large amount of muck has to be removed, and a very ingenious contractor has improvised an hydraulic dredge at a very small cost, which is doing excellent work at a very moderate expense.

"On the rock sections the sides are cut down vertically by channeling machines, and the merits of the several makes can be well demonstrated on this work. Of course steam drills are used, and on the sections which are best planted these are worked from a central power-station by compressed air. The top lifts have been removed by the use of carts and tram-cars, the traction for which latter is usually supplied by steam hoisting engines. The lower lifts are taken out by the use of cable-ways, high power derricks and cantilever conveyers.

not very successful, but experience gained upon this work resulted in improvements from time to time, and now, by the adoption of a simple improvement devised by Mr. H 0. Locher, one of the contractors, they have been brought to a state of efficiency which makes them worthy competitors of the cantilever conveyors. The high power derricks used upon two of the sections have not come up to the expectations of the builders, and their use will probably be confined to the machines already in place. The cantilevers are probably the most perfect devices now known for hoisting and disposing of material from rock cuttings such as these. We have now eleven ef these cantilevers working upon four sections. The daily movement of solid rock upon sections Nos. 7 to 14, inclusive, is now about 10,000 cubic yards, to blast which requires nearly five tons of dynamite.

"This output will be increased about fifty per cent, within sixty days. The existing contracts call for completion of this work April 30, 1896, with extensions equal to time lost by delay on the part of the district in securing right of way. It is reasonable to anticipate that the entire work from Eobey street to Joliet will be completed by November 1, 1890. If the present rate of progress on sections Nos. 10 and 13 is sustained, which is practically assured, these sections will be completed by midsummer of 1895.

"When completed this channel will be a free water-way, navigable for any craft drawing less than twenty-two feet of water. The cutting being made by this district constitutes nearly two-thirds of the entire cost of creating a channel from Chicago to the Mississippi, which would be navigable for the largest boats which will be able to ply between St. Louis and New Orleans, after the present plans for the improvement of the Mississippi shall have been completed. The creation of such a channel seems to be inevitable; a commercial necessity, sooner or later to be recognized and undertaken by the general government, which must carry out the enterprise, if it is ever executed.

"This channel is being built under the general law for incorporating sanitary districts, enacted by the legislature of the State of Illinois in 1889. The sanitary district of Chicago comprises all of the city north of Eighty-seventh street, together with some forty-three square miles of Cook county, outside of the city limits, which will be directly benefited by the improvement. The population of the district is about one million, four hundred thousand (1,400,000), and the assessed value of real estate and other property subject to taxation is two hundred and forty-two million, four hundred and thirtyeight thousand dollars ($242,438,000).

"The trustees are elected by popular vote and form an independent organization, separate and distinct from the municipal government of Chicago. These trustees may levy and collect taxes for carrying on the work entrusted to them, to the extent of one-half of one per cent, of the value of the taxable property within the corporate limits of the district, as the same shall be assessed and equalized for State and county taxes for the year in which the levy is made, They may issue bonds to the extent of five per cent, of the value of the taxable property of the district, as determined by the last assessment for State and county taxes previous to the issue of said bonds; provided, however, that said five per cent, shall not exceed the sum of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000).

"Under this authority the district has already issued five million dollars ($5,000,- 000) five per cent, bonds, running from one year to twenty years; one-twentieth of the issue must be paid off and retired each year. These bonds have sold at a premium of about one and three-fourths per cent. The taxes afford a revenue sufficient to pay the interest on these bonds, to pay off and retire one-twentieth of the issue each year, and leave a surplus to apply upon the current obligations of the district incurred for construction."

Official changes not heretofore mentioned occurred in the board as follows: George W. Smith succeeded Mr. Gregory as attorney July 20, 1890, and surrendered the office April 25, 1891. He was succeeded by Adam T. Goodrich, June 13, 1891, who resigned February 24, 1892, his successor, the present incumbent, being Orrin N. Carter. Amos J. Doyle resigned the office of clerk July 1, 1890, and was succeeded by Thomas F. Judge. Charles Bary resigned the secretaryship December 31, 1890, and the office was abolished. Chief engineer Williams, having resigned on June 7, 1893, was succeeded by Isham Randolph.

The following is a list of the present board of trustees and officers. Trustees : John J. Altpeter, William Boldenweck, Lyman E. Cooley, Bernard A. Eckhart, A. P. Gilmore, Thomas Kelley, Richard Prendergast,William H. Russell and Frank Wenter. Officers: Frank Wenter, president; Thomas F. Judge, clerk; Melville E. Stone, treasurer, Isham Randolph, chief engineer; Orrin N. Carter, attorney*

* Authorities: Reports of the Canal Comnvssioners; of the Board of Public Works; of committees appointed by the Citizens' Association, 1880-85; History of the "Drainage Channel and Waterway," by G. P. Brown, from which many valuable statements and suggestions have been gathered.

THERE are a few people in the world who never laugh, who are unable to see a joke,and have no inclination to be entertained by any pastimes or sports, or to be diverted from the sober realities of everyday life. They are of the lean, grasping or ascetic class, whose lives are cast in the sombre mould of materialistic aspects and relations, who are "cabined, cribbed and confined" solely by the demands of either ambition, greed, intolerance, bigotry or vice.

The vast majority of mankind, however, like to be amused and entertained; to go out of themselves and enjoy the feast of good things provided for them by way of recreation and instruction. The mind, as well as the body, grows weary with constant toil and both find a pleasant relief in those diversions which please the eye, open, the mind to agreeable impressions, and satisfy the cravings of the heart.

Chicago, next to New York, has always been the most cosmopolitan city in this country, and with its large floating population has been the most noted for its liberal patronage and encouragement of all well-directed efforts to amuse and entertain the people.

For the first few years of the town's existence the people were thrown upon their own resources, finding enjoyment in home games and plays; and then came the more public dancing party, the spelling and singing school, and the lyceum. Folio wing these the showman burst upon the town with his music and recitations, his tricks of legerdemain, and feats of manual skill, and then, as soon as the place was big enough to justify it, that greatest of all shows, the circus - a happy means of amusing the people which has never died out, and whose enticements no refinement of culture or education can resist. A lady who never grew tired of the ring and the clown, once said to the author "she fairly loved the smell of the sawdust."

The distinction of giving the first public performance in Chicago where an admission fee was charged belongs to a Mr. Bowers, a prestidigitator and ventriloquist, who gave an exhibition at the "Mansion House," kept by Dexter Graves, on February 24,1834 - "admission fifty cents; performance to commence at early candle light; seats reserved for ladies; tickets are to be had at the box." The audience was small and the returns not remunerative.

Other similar entertainments followed this in 1834-5, but the red letter day for shows in Chicago occurred when the first circus appeared, September 14, 183G. It took the town by storm, the American remarking that the tent "was crowded to suffocation every afternoon and evening." It was called the "Boston Arena Company," and so great was its success that it returned later in the fall and showed to crowded houses.

Who that can go back in memory as far as the later "thirties" and the " forties" has not a vivid recollection of the circuses of the period? - the time when such a clown as "Dan Rice" was looked up toby the youth as the greatest of men, and the names of Dan Stone and Buckley, as they were read on the flaming show bills, awakened a thrill of unalloyed delight? And who cannot recall the astonishing feats, the witty sayings of the clown and his songs, which have charmingly lingered so long in the mind, such as " Old Zip Coon," " Billy Barlow " and "Sweet Kitty Clover, She Bothers Me So."

The names of some of these early circuses which visited Chicago were "Howe& Sands," " Nichols & 'Co.," " E. P. Mabie & Co.," "June & Turner," "Bulter's," "Spalding & Rogers," " Dan Stone's," and "Sands, Nathan & Co."

At first the performances were confined to those of the ring, but afterwards the menagerie was added, as an additional attraction to those good people who thought it might be wrong to patronize the circus, but entirely commendable to go and see the animals? even the ministers went! And to Van Amburgh's menagerie was accorded "a great run." P. T. Barnum, " the greatest showman on earth," made still another advance, as indicated by the designation of his aggregation as a " Museum and Menagerie;" and it was left for him to bring the circus business up to the highest and most popular standard which any public exhibition ever attained in this country. He was a man of great brain and unlimited resources, as enterprising as he was successful. He left behind him not only a great name, but millions of money as a reward for his sagacity and genius.

Before the era of improved transportation facilities the circus traveled through the country by its own conveyances, and the performers had a hard and trying life. But little time was left for rest or sleep, and from the hour of folding their tents until they were required to start for the next halting place, often twenty miles away, all was hurry and confusion.