Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1914 — DITCH CASE DECIDED. [ARTICLE]

DITCH CASE DECIDED.

Invokes Reclamation of Al>out 20,000 Acres of Land in the Bottom of Little Calumet Th e Burns ditch case was decided at Indianapolis Tuesday by the supreme court, which . affirmed the ruling of the Porter county court in favor of the ditch commissioners. The decision rendered means a big victory for the people of Lake and Porter counties. The supreme court ruling is in effect an order to the effect that the Burns ditch must be constructed. The Burns ditch project involves the reclamation of about 20,000 acres of land in the bottom of the little Calumet river, over 3,000 acres of which lie within the city limits of Gary. The plan is to excavate a ditch between the Little Calumet river near Dunne Park, six miles east of Gary and Lake Michigan. The ditch will be about eight and a half miles in length and will divert the waters of the Little Calumet river into Lake Michigan, completely draining the present valley

of the Little Calumet and converting the entire territory into high and dry lands, suitable for farming or industrial development. It will make the land which is now worthless worth from S3OO to SI,OOO per acre. The cost of the ditch is estimated at $240,000. The Lake Shore Railroad Company has always opposed the construction of the diteh because it would compel the railroad company to construct a bridge across the ditch at Dunne Park. Lake County Star.