Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1907 — FOR STRAIGHTENING THE KANKAKEE RIVER. [ARTICLE]

FOR STRAIGHTENING THE KANKAKEE RIVER.

Mr. J. A Spencer of Dwight, 111., who owns land in this county that will be affected by the proposed Horace Marble plan of dredging the Kankakee river, is among those who oppose the Marble plan of drainage, and writes The Democrat as follows in regard to said drainage: The Drainage District, instead of having the contractor furnish the dredges, should buy a dredge and keep it in service on this work, as most assuredly sand-bars will be constantly forming and will have to be removed from time to time, for if the main ditch is deep the sand will pour in from the side branches, and if not deep the land will not be drained. If this cleaning out is not done the work will prove a failure and the money invested in it is thrown away. In such an extensive job, contractors, if they furnish their own dredges, will add to the price, I believe, far more thijn the entire cost of the dredge, and then after the contract is complete, when it becomes necessary to remove these continually forming sand bars, it will be very expensive to hire a dredge every time. Better buy the dredge outright at first and have it on hand when needed to keep the channel clear.

The dredge should be operated by competent men employed by the year by a committee appointed for that purpose. Btart the dredge at the upper end, then dredge no wider than will easily allow the dredge to be moved up and down the ditch, and dig as deep as you can conveniently, continuing clear to the lower end of the drainage ditch; then take the dredge back to the upper end and make it as much deeper as you can to the next cutting, and so continue until it is as deep as desired. Especially for the first two cuttings, I would recq|nmend putting all the dirt on one side of the drain so that in case of a fiood the water in this straight drain, which will have a much greater velocity than the long crooked river bed, will pick up a great amount of sediment and thus greatly aid in excavating the ditch. As the water spreads out over the marsh it will deposit the sediment, thus improving the adjacent land. Of course all bridges will have to be built on the drawbridge plan to allow the dredge to move. For any method of work the bridges will have to be built on this plair in order to allow the dredge to run up and down to remove the sand bars.

It does not Beem practicable to try to make a contract with any party to contraot a ditch many miles in length to a certain depth, for the reason that sometimes just a few feet below the surface we find a thick strata of that makes it practioally impossible to construct, for the sand will fill in about as fast as removed. In cases where this condition is found the only practical way will be to make up by making the ditoh wider at that point and not so deep, and this would necessitate a change in the contraot. I think to get the best drainage, if not troubled with sand, the ditoh

should be deep rather than wide. If the work is done as herein suggested, as soon as the dredge has made one through cut the whole district will .begin to receive some benefit, and as tbe ditch is out deeper we will know the nature of the material we have to pass and can also better determine how large tbe ditcb should be to handle the volume of water.

J. A. SPENCER.