Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1906 — KANKAKEE RIVER MOST CROOKED. [ARTICLE]

KANKAKEE RIVER MOST CROOKED.

Swamps Will Eventually Be Drained, Say Engineers. Washington, March 22.—The Department of Agriculture has received the report of the drainage investigations made in the Kankakee river valley during the last year. Prof. W. D. Pence, of Purdue University, went over a part of the field, and C. G. Elliott, engineer in charge of drainage investigations by the department, spent considerable time on the work. The investigations were largely the work, however, of Field Agent H. H. Downey, whose home is at Anderson. The report goes into details in reviewing the early history of the Kankakee swamps, and the story of the many efforts to drain them. It does not pretend to offer a solution of the drainage problem. It does point out that progress is making in the present effort of land owners to improve the Kankakee channel. It is shown that forty-six utiles of the channel proper have been improved at a cost of >239,336. The Government engineers say that the Kankakee is undoubtedly the most crooked stream in the world. They estimate the distance by river from South Bend to Momence rock to be 240 miles, or about three tildes the straight line distance. The view is expressed by the Government engineers that the great tract of over 400,000 acres will eventually be drained and made tillable by private enterprise. It is pointed out that the territory has the best shipping facilities of any area of similar size in the world. The marsh proper is crossed by thirteen railroads.