Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1894 — IROQUOIS DITCH: [ARTICLE]

IROQUOIS DITCH:

Mb. Editob : The Republican, which represents my party, exert*, ed its influence to defeat the gravel roads after it had received the ad*, vertising and is now playing the same game as to the Iroquois Ditch. I wasted enough time to read its statement of the woes to come in two weekly issues touch*, ing the health, pleasure and beauty of the lovely town on the river and the lovely river in the town because we want to drain our land. The editor may not see himself, as othe ers see him when he stands up for the ice fields, the “swimmin” hoies and the fish ponds b iwailin’ their loss to the town dudes. Why does he do so? 1 prefer to raise good cro» s on all my lands and have fat Iry land birds and beasts. He claims for the sake of the town that the rocks must be carved on the exact line of beauty with a very gentle slope or we ere warned to keep hands off. The idea of leaving any ragged edge or rough filace anywhere within the sacred imits of the town is horrible to his soul. The total cost of this work in the rough is twenty-eight thousand dollars—his share is two dollars and eighty cehts, he being one amongjtsn thousand. For his sake and the sake of those of like taste the corners of the channel must be filed down to a slope of thirty degrees or less, or the army of anglers, ice men, hunters and swimmers wiL have the whole thing stopped. The finny tr be, musk rats and minks must abide in our rich farming lands in order that these lillies of the town may march and countermarch over our fields with rod and gun on thoulder and dog at heels in search of fish, fui or fowl. We have had too much of the musk rat, the oog fish and the turtle, and do not feel like sparing even the ice pond so dear to his heart, if we can help it. He no doubt'opposed taking away the mill race because the pleas me boats and rat boats could no longer glide along its humid channel and the sewers no longer have their outlet under its stagnant water. The mill dam an 1 mill race have vanished however, and the human race of town and country are living longer and feeling better even if they have lost some sand —quicksand. We n et d deeper drainage to tile our farms. The town needs it for its basements, cellais and sewerage. When it is proposed to carry this drainage of the town lower so as to slay all the typhoid germs, he cries aloud for the sake of the town dudes to spare the homes of the bullhead <he mud turtle and ihe snake. His theory is, the deeper we go into water I ear .ng rock the dryer the channel will become. This is absurd. Why not carry the sewerage into the deeper channel where the winds cannot blow into the mouth of the sew’er and carry the stench back into your house to spread disease and djath in your family? This new channel will become a living, running, per *enial stream sufficient to bear aw y all the filth of the whole of your very nice town. The coun try people will have to pay nearly all the costs of this channel and don’t want to waste much time on these two dollar and eighty cent chaps. We want this valley to bear rich harv sts without any regard for the lazy habits of the drummers on store boxes, the delvers for fish worms or the army of the dog and shot gun. We want a prevalence of better lands, better roads, better health and better sense. The shape of tne channel car be improved in width ind slope by the beauty lovi g town dads using the extra material to make the streets j ar-sable. What us farmers want is depth and capacity to bear away the water from our bog lands. The location, depth and shape of the channel must follow the report of the viewers. Wr* can not suit the taste of every one. This project will be difficult to carry through at best. I would like o see my town friends keep us out of the muck and mud in this as they did in bur move for good roads. “St. Patrick’s day in the morning. J. W. U. March 17th, 1894, ‘Quite a number of former Democrats and Populists whose eyes have been opened to the true polities! gospel, apt ' peered as delegrtes (in the BepuoUcan Convention.)—Republicau.f JJName ’em, neighbor, name ’em, end thus verify yonr statement. Engineer Bostwick went to Indianapolis the other day and had his report on the Iroquois Ditch bound.