June 26, 1862 – The Chicago Tribune begins yet another editorial about the Chicago
River in this way, “It is conceded by all men that something must be done
immediately to improve the sanitary condition of the Chicago River. The good name of our city, the lives of
thousands of our citizens, and, its commerce, growth and prosperity
imperatively demand immediate and energetic action . . . In its present
condition, a week of hot weather will render a block or two on each side of the
river uninhabitable. And, besides what
is to become of our vast shipping interest—the men who navigate our tugs and
attend to the bridges, and virtually are forced to live during the season amid
the intolerable pestilence-breeding stench of the river, and the crews of our
propellers, canal boats, and vessels that are obliged to live upon the river
from one to three days at a time? A week
of hot weather will drive them from the river, and no man is so stupid as not
to know that Chicago is nothing without her commerce.” The paper has solutions. Pumps at Bridgeport “can clear it out and,
aired by the process and mingled with the water of the DesPlaines it will pass
South without inconvenience or offence to any body.” But the North Branch, with virtually no
current, is a different story, and the Tribune
has a solution for that as well: “Place one or half a
dozen pumps, if necessary, driven by wind mills on the Lake shore, at or near
the north end of the old cemetery, and let the water be discharged in a ditch
running due west into the North Branch.
Let the pumps be of the largest size, and such are now used upon our
railroads.” How different North Avenue
would be today if instead of its popular beach and nautical-themed boathouse it
was the site of a half-dozen windmills, churning away in the Windy City,
pumping lake water west to the river.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment