USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. II > Part 13
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D. J. SWENIE, Fire Marshal.
THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL.
Immediately after the peace of Paris, in 1783, the Ohio river began to be utilized as a thoroughfare by which the Americans began their pioneer advances into the great west for settlements. The lakes, as a channel of communication to reach it, were not then thought of, nor could they have been traversed for this purpose if they had, for the British held possession of the whole northern frontier till 1796, as already stated in foregoing pages. These conditions gave the coun- tries along the waters of the Mississippi and its tributa- ries a great advantage over the borders of the northern lakes in the start ; and even as late as 1850 the supe- riority of the Ohio river and the Mississippi, as far northward as St. Louis, over the lakes as stimulators to the growth of cities, was demonstrated by the vig- orous growth of Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis, while Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago were far behind them, with no hope, unless it were apparently a visionary one, of ever reaching them in numbers and wealth.
That this popular decision has been overruled by a fair rivalship between the two local interests, is due first to the stimulus imparted to Chicago by the Illi- nois and Michigan canal, and, contingent upon it, the matchless railroad system which centers at the place. As early as 1822, congress, with intelligent forecast, granted to the state of Illinois the right of way across the public lands from Chicago to La Salle for the loca- tion of this canal, having the year before obtained a (163)
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
strip of land by treaty from the Indians for this pur- pose, as already told in preceding pages.
A belt of land ninety feet wide on each side of the canal for its use was at the same time donated by con- gress to the state of Illinois .. In 1827, through the efforts of Daniel P. Cook, in the house of representa- tives, and Senators Kane and Thomas, in the senate, alternate sections of land five miles wide on each side of the canal were donated to the state of Illinois by the United States, the proceeds from the sale of which were to be applied to the construction of the canal, by which the waters of Lake Michigan should be con- nected for navigable purposes with the Illinois river .*
Wm. F. Thornton, Gurdon S. Hubbard and Wm. B. Archer were appointed canal commissioners, with power to locate its route, and then proceed to the ex- ecution of the work. The first thing to be done was to survey the route; and to further this purpose, the commissioners had a meeting at Vandalia, and ap- pointed Wm. Gooding as chief engineer; but as he could not commence work at once, it was agreed that Mr. Hubbard should employ some other one to act in his place until he could assume its responsibilities. Accordingly, Mr. Hubbard returned to Chicago and engaged the services of Mr. E. B. Talcott, who, with a force of engineers under his direction, commenced the survey at once; and by May 1, 1836, Mr. Hubbard, with his assistance, was able to present complete plans for the work to Governor Duncan for approval. Two plans were presented; one for the canal as it now is, and one of less dimensions. The former was decided on, after several meetings of the full board, and to Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Talcott belongs the credit of first
*As a condition of this donation, it was stipulated that govern- ment goods or troops were forever to be transported on the canal free of toll; and a few months after it was finished troops and muni- tions for the Mexican war were transported free, agreeable to the conditions, thereby giving the work a national character.
H. M. SINGER, then Supt. of Repairs.
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
making it. The following month (June), contractors were advertised for; and the next month (July), on the 4th, the ceremony of turning the first sod was duly celebrated in the usual unctuous spirit of Chicago citizens. Work commenced immediately thereafter, and under the administration of the board was pushed as rapidly as their means from the sale of land would admit.
Up to January, 1839, there had been expended $1,400,000. The state then became embarrassed and matters grew worse until 1841, pending which time the State bank of Illinois having failed, the state itself could not pay the interest on her bonds, and repudiation seemed inevitable. As a consequence, the progress of her extended system of public works, including the canal, was suddenly arrested.
A quiescent period in Chicago's ambition succeeded this untoward event; but in the fall of 1842, the follow- ing gentlemen met in council to devise some plan by which to complete the canal and reap the expected benefits from it, which had, as yet, only been in antici- pation. Arthur Bronson, of New York; Wm. B. Og- den, Justin Butterfield and Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, constituted this council, who, it is not too much to say, had the whole northern part of the state at their backs, besides the bondholders of the state itself. At this meeting Mr. Bronson suggested a plan for completing the canal, and making it a source of revenue instead of a disgraceful wreck of fortune, as it now threatened to prove unless prompt action was taken to impart new life into it.
The proposition was to offer to the bondholders the canal and its revenues when finished, including its landed equities, as securities for additional advances to finish it. The plan was timely and simple, and only required the sanction of the state, the bondholders being willing to make the necessary advances under an assurance that they should control the proceeds of the
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
canal and its immunities till they were paid; and Mr. Butterfield drew up the necessary bill to be submitted to the legislature to bring the scheme into effect. Simple and politic as it was, it must be canvassed by public opinion before the legislature would act on it; and to bring it understandingly before it, Mr. Arnold addressed the people of Chicago, explaining its feat- ures, and Mr. Wentworth, through the columns of the Democrat, advocated its feasibility and necessity, and Michael Ryan, a state senator from La Salle county, also advocated the measure. When the bill came be- fore the legislature, Mr. Arnold was one of its mem- bers, and, as chairman of the committee on finance, had charge of the bill in the house. The influence of Thos. Ford, the governor, happily was in favor of it. If it had not been, it would not have passed, for the opposition in the southern part of the state, particu- larly along the Wabash river, was strong against it, and it was by but a slender majority that this important measure became a law, amended by some prudential modifications, among which was a provision for the ap- pointment of two trustees by the bondholders and one by the governor, whose business it was to see that all moneys received should be applied to the completion of the work and faithful execution of the trust confided to the bondholders. Capt. Wm. H. Swift, late of the United States army, and David Leavitt, president of the American Exchange bank of New York, were ap- pointed in behalf of the bondholders, and Jacob Fry in behalf of the state.
Work was now resumed on the canal, and under the able and honest administration of these trustees it was. finished April 19, 1848, and on May 1, 1871, the last dollar of the canal debt was paid, and the canal itself, with its unsold lands, together with nearly $100,000 surplus in the treasury, was given up to the state. That this successful measure rescued the state from repudiation was the opinion of the ablest financiers of
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
that period, and that it gave the city of Chicago a solid foundation on which to lay her financial dimension stone has never been questioned by any one.
But few years ago every well informed citizen of Chicago was familiar with all these events, but now a new generation has grown up, or come to the place, to whom the whole matter is only a history of the past.
The original design was to make the canal a deep cut, sufficiently below the level of Lake Michigan to enable boats to pass from it to the Mississippi river, by way of the Illinois .*
That this design was not carried out, at first, was owing to the embarrassed credit of the state, as already seen, but the grand original conception has never yet been lost sight of by the representative men of national interests; and in 1862 Mr. Arnold, who then repre- sented Chicago in congress, introduced a bill to fulfill it. His bill was substantially a proposition to the gen- eral government to aid the state of Illinois in complet- ing the work. It was referred to a committee on mili- tary affairs, of which Francis P. Blair was chairman, which reported unanimously in its favor.
The next year, on June 2, 1863, a great convention was held in Chicago, to bring this important measure, which had now assumed national proportions, promi- nently before the public. The call was signed by Ed- ward Bates, attorney general of the United States, and ninety-four members of the House of representatives. The rebellion was then raging in its, as yet, unbroken power. The Mississippi river was blockaded, and how to break through the network of rebel batteries that frowned upon its channel was an unsolved problem. In this
*With this end in view the deep cut was originally made part way through the lime rock which underlay the surface of the summit, but was abandoned as too expensive. The relinquishment of this plan made it necessary to supply the canal from the Calumet river, instead of Lake Michigan, which was done by means of a dam and feeders. During low water this stream was insufficient, and a steam pump was then resorted to, to supply water from the south branch of the Chicago river.
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
extremity it was argued that if the waters of the great lakes were connected with those of the Mississippi so as to afford a passage for gunboats such a facility for con- centrating force into the heart of the south would give the north a great advantage. That the want of this con. necting link in navigating the interior was sensibly felt at this time is evident from the large attendance at the Chicago convention, the number there from other states than Illinois being estimated at 5,000. Among them was Hannibal Hamlin, who at the afternoon session of the first day was made president of the convention, to whom Hon. Chauncey Filley, mayor of St. Louis, pres- ident pro tem., relinquished the position with which he had been honored while organizing the convention.
On taking the chair, Mr. Hamlin addressed the convention in his usual vein of wisdom, setting forth its objects and approving them. A committee was appointed, composed of men from several states, to prepare a memorial for presentation to congress, to urge upon that body the necessity of the work. This committee met in New York the following October, and prepared the memorial in accordance with their in- structions. It was presented to congress during its following session, and passed the house of represen- tatives, but was defeated in the senate. Meantime, as the city of Chicago grew, its citizens began to cast about for some better means of sewerage than their slight elevation above the lake had yet afforded. The river was an inky pool of stagnant water, with change- able hues of oily scum, floating lazily on its surface, and the stench arising from it was sometimes almost insupportable. The fishes had long since deserted it, and lest man should desert its banks something must be done to purify the stream. The only way to do this was to produce a current in it, and this current could only be made by deepening the canal so as to make a declination through the summit, and thence into the valley of the Illinois river. To this end the common
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
council of the city of Chicago, February 16, 1865, passed an act to contribute $2,500,000 for the purpose of deep- ening the canal, on condition that the amount expended should be vested in a lien upon it and its revenues, after the original canal debt should have been paid.
The work was promptly pushed through to com- pletion by the employment of a heavy force, and in July, 1871, the entire excavation was finished, and the waters of Lake Michigan found a southern outlet through the south branch of the Chicago river by re- versing its course, thence through the deepened canal into the Illinois river. The Chicago river through these artificial means became an estuary, and as the waters of the lake flowed through it, it became much improved.
Soon after the Chicago fire of 1871, the state con- vened an extra session of the legislature, and passed an act to refund the money, with interest, which the city of Chicago had expended in deepening the canal. This was done in a spirit of charity toward the city to relieve her from her then embarassed condition, when she had so many public institutions to rebuild.
The increased dimensions of the canal made it sixty feet wide at the surface, thirty-six feet wide on the bottom, and a depth sufficient to insure six feet of water in the canal at the lowest water. To secure this depth the excavation was made 615% feet below the lake level at lowest water. There is reported at the time of writing this article (April, 1880) from six to eight feet of water in the canal from Lockport to Chicago, the depth varying according to the action of the wind on Lake Michigan, although the lake is now unusually low. Heavy winds vary the height of the lake for short periods, but independent of this cause there is a vari- ation in the level of the lake of about four feet from causes not yet known. The lake level was established by the trustees of the canal in 1847, from which to establish canal levels through the summit. This point
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Table of Datum.
became the base of city levels for recording the fluctu- ations of the lake surface, and was adopted by the sewerage commissioners and the board of public works as the base or datum of city levels. It was 117.1 feet below the water table on the southwest corner of the central building of the court house, destroyed by the fire of 1871.
It was also established on the Lind block, north- west corner of Market and Randolph streets, which still stands as a monument of a turning point in the great fire, as well as an old water mark. Since the fire other marks have been established at various places.
The following table shows the elevation of Lake Michigan above or below Chicago datum from January, 1854, to February, 1880, in feet and hundredths. From the fact that this datum was established at a very low stage of the lake, almost all the records since are above city datum. Those below are distinguished by the prefix of a dash.
TABLE SHOWING MAXIMUM, MINIMUM AND MEAN WATER IN LAKE MICHIGAN ANNUALLY, FROM 1854 TO 1899, BOTH INCLUSIVE, IN FEET.
YEAR.
MAX.
MIN.
MEAN.
YEAR.
MAX.
MIN.
MEAN.
1854.
1.83
1877.
3.56
1.04
2.31
1855
3.45
0.15
1.56
1878
3.14
0.51
2.00
1856
3.56
0.42
1.60
1879
2.51
-0.49
1.06
1857
4.35
0.60
2.42
1880.
2.81
-0.99
1.16
1858
4.69
1.33
2.00
1881
3.01
-2.19
1.26
1859
4.45
1.31
2.98
1882.
3.01
-0.99
2.00
1860
3,53
1.30
2.54
1883
3.81
-0.99
2.10
1861.
4.40
1.20
2.56
1884.
3.31
-0.01
2.24
1862
3.80
0.70
2.50
1885.
3.71
-0.01
2.48
1863.
3.30
-0.80
2.10
1886
4.41
0.01
2.64
1864
2.80
-0.40
1.57
1887
3.11
0.01
1.96
1865.
3.66
-1.08|
1.30
1888
3.01
0.01
1.30
1866
2.50
0.00
1.07
1889
2.51
-0.79
0.77
1867.
2.60
- 0.41
1.49
1890.
2.21
0.99
0.63
1868.
2.58
-1.00
1.01
1891.
1.61
-2.39
0.05
1869
2.13
0.41
1.13
1892.
1.30
-3.60
-0.17
1870.
3.25
-0.30
2.09
1893.
1.00
-1.30
0.20
1871.
2.80
-0.40
1.77
1894.
1.80
-1.80
0.50
1872.
1.80
-0.74
0.81
1895
0.63
-1.24
-0.49
1873.
2.73
-0.76
1.40
1896
0.00
-- 1.70
-0.58
1874.
2.80
0.20
1.67
1897
1.60
-1.30
0.33
1875
3.01
-0.34
1.45
1898
1.09
-- 1.25
0.47
1876.
4.31
0.34 2.65
1899.
2.10
-1.50
0.53
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal.
The material for the following history of the canal has been obtained from Gurdon S. Hubbard, E. B. Tal- cott, William Thomas, superintendent of the canal, Isaac N. Arnold, H. M. Singer and F. G. Saltonstall, while these men were living, all of whom have been of- ficially associated with the canal, and are familiar with its growth from its first beginning.
CHICAGO DRAINAGE CANAL.
While it is true that the drainage of what is called the sanitary district of Chicago is an indispensable necessity to promote the health of the city, yet the ul- terior objects may be far reaching, in a financial and even a national point of view, continuing more so as the city advances in population and wealth.
The drainage canal begins where Robey street crosses the south branch of the Chicago river, its southern terminus being at Lockport, a distance of 28.05 miles, at which place the controlling works of the canal are located. Below Lockport the flow of the drainage canal unites with the waters of the Des- plaines river, down its onward course through the city of Joliet.
There were many physical conditions bearing on the construction of this canal. The Desplaines river, whose flow paralleled it in its entire length, presented almost insurmountable difficulties to overcome. In its water shed was nothing but surface drainage, without springs or any other permanent source of supply; hence, in severe droughts the river was almost lost in the sand, and only stood in shallow pools above or below sand bars, while in times of high water the lowlands along its banks were inundated. These inconstant conditions made it necessary to excavate the drainage channel independent of it, in order to do which a new river channel had to be made, thirteen miles in length, the object of this river diversion being to prevent its surplus waters from flooding the canal. It was not
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Chicago Drainage Canal.
until 1889 that by an act of the legislature of Illinois the sanitary district of Chicago was formed, and not until September 3, 1892, was the work begun to carry out the objects of this enactment. The sanitary dis- trict comprises all that part of Chicago north of Eighty- seventh street, added to which are about forty square miles west of the city limits, all of which territory is adjudged to be benefited by the improvement, and all the lands lying within this district are subject to taxa- tion to defray the expenses of the drainage canal. The limit of taxation by the first enactment was one-half of 1 per cent, but by an amendment in 1895 this power was increased to 12 per cent for a period of three years. In 1897 the legislature extended this rate of taxation for two years more, which included the year 1899. The trustees of the canal are elected by popular vote, in- dependent of the municipal government of Chicago. They may issue bonds to the extent of 5 per cent of the taxable property of the drainage district, providing such bonds do not exceed $15,000,000. The total ex- pense of the construction of the canal up to January 1, 1900, including every item, amounts to $33,525,691.20.
It has a flowing capacity of 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute, with a current in its smallest section at a rate of one and a quarter miles per hour. In its maximum section, provision is made for flow of 600,000 cubic feet per minute, this copious flow being necessary to purify the waters below by dilution. This calcula- tion has been made on a scale sufficient to fulfill the requirements of a city of 3,000,000 inhabitants.
From Robey street to Summit, 7.8 miles, the channel is 110 feet wide at the bottom and 198 feet at the water line. From Summit to Willow Springs, 5.3 miles, 202 feet wide at bottom and 290 feet at the water line. From Willow Springs to the walled and rock cross-sec- tion, 14.95 miles, to Lockport, the channel is but 160 feet wide at bottom and 162 feet at top.
174
Chicago Drainage Canal.
This immense labor and the expense attending it has been the result of Chicago ambition and energy combined, without assistance from the national govern- ment, or even from the state of Illinois, except by leg- islative enactments.
Only the first objects of the canal have thus far been accomplished, which were to dispose of the sewer- age of Chicago and purify the river ; to do which the twenty-two feet depth of the canal was necessary, being less expensive than to broaden it through the rock cut, for this purpose. If the canal is to be made available for navigation, the Desplaines river, from Lockport to its confluence with the Illinois river, and the latter stream, must be made navigable by slack water dams, or other means, to the Mississippi river.
Sixteen feet depth of water will be the limit of the requirements for navigation on these streams, that being all that the Mississippi river can afford, even after the government improvements of this river have been completed.
The whole work has, from the beginning, been under the charge of the following civil engineers :
Lyman E. Cooley, appointed February 1, 1890; resigned December 10, 1890. William E. Worthen, appointed December 17, 1890; resigned April 21, 1891. Samuel G. Artingstall, appointed May 6, 1891 ; resigned January 16, 1892. Benezette Williams, appointed Jan- uary 16, 1892 ; resigned June 7, 1893. Isham Randolph, appointed June 7, 1893, still in office September, 1900.
J.S.C.HOGAN
Groceries
POST Office
SALT
J. S. C. HOGAN'S STORE, WHERE THE FIRST CHICAGO POST OFFICE WAS KEPT. From an Original Painting Taken by FERNANDO JONES.
POST OFFICE.
THE SECOND BUILDING WHERE THE CHICAGO POST OFFICE WAS KEPT.
THE CHICAGO POSTOFFICE.
Letters were first brought to Chicago by the annual arrival of a vessel at the fort, or by some chance traveler who came to the place through the wilderness, and later by government mail carriers, who brought the mail to the fort from Detroit, Fort Wayne or St. Joseph, about once a month. These were the only ave- nues through which the outside world could be heard from till 1831, up to which time no postoffice had been established, and private persons were dependent on the courtesy of the commander of the fort for the receipt of letters. Jonathan N. Bailey, an Indian trader, was the first postmaster appointed to act here, and on March 31, 1831, opened his office* on the east bank of the Chicago river, just north of the present Lake street bridge, in a log store, where John S. C. Hogan sat at the receipt of custom. The official duties of Mr. Bailey were very light, the mail arriving at intervals of one or two weeks, and the dozen letters and as many more newspapers it contained were quickly handed out to their eager expectants, when no farther work was nec- essary till another mail came.
At the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, for some cause, possibly through fear of cholera, he moved with his family to St. Louis, and John S. C. Hogan, the proprietor of the store, who was his son-in-law, became his successor, November 2, 1832. There are yet, in 1900, a very few of the earliest settlers who retain a distinct recollection of receiving their letters in his
*See government records at Washington.
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176
Chicago Postoffice.
scanty quarters, where his attention was divided be- tween his official duties and dealing out sugar, tea or tobacco by the pound, or gaudy fabrics to the tawny customers, who were at first his main dependence for income. In 1834 he moved his store and postoffice to the corner of Franklin and South Water streets, where he held the position till March 3, 1837, subsequent to which time he went to Booneville and died in 1868. His successor was Sidney Abell. By this time the amount of postoffice business had increased to a great extent, not only as a delivery of Chicago letters, but as a distributing office to points west, and the former scanty quarters being inadequate to the wants of increasing business, the office was removed to the south side of Clark street, a little south of Water street, and a salary of $4,000 per annum was allowed him. He retained the office till 1841, when President Harri- son appointed Wm. Stuart his successor-the same who was the editor of the Chicago American. He retained the office during President Tyler's administration, sub- sequent to which time he went to Binghamton, N. Y., where he died. James K. Polk was the next president of the United States, and Hart L. Stewart was his appointee for the Chicago postoffice during his term, from 1844 to 1848. He was the first presidential ap- pointee. The postmasters preceding him were ap- pointed by the postmaster-general.
Mr. Fillmore, who took the presidential chair after the death of Mr. Taylor, appointed Geo. W. Dole as postmaster, who retained the position till the election of Franklin Pierce in 1852, who appointed Isaac Cook to the position in the spring of 1853. The location of the office had been removed to the east side of Clark street, across the alley from the Sherman house. From there it was removed across the street to the south side of the same alley, and over it was the office of the Chicago Tribune. Thence it was removed to Nos. 82 and 84 Dearborn street.
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