Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1892 — About the Big Drainage Serene. [ARTICLE]

About the Big Drainage Serene.

Editor Rerlblioan: There is now before the people -a petition l or ' them to sign praying for the bom ralsle E' P. Hammon d to sanction tLe_j construction of a large system ol ditches effecting tue soured bt the Iroquois ami Pmkainink Rivers and thje immediate tributaries thereto of which the main outlet is toMie derived through the Iroquois" River at , ami near the town of Rensselaer. The project is in every sense a io;i;mend* at>hi one, ami wul betof inestimable vfthic ip th- <• ! iiiz. 'i;s or n-otlier't Jasjier county aud< iu fact to the entre county amLshould meet with tlie hearty approval of every, enterprising and good citizen. But the petition as presented for signers is not in my estimation a fair one. It is proposed that the people above the outlet shall ditch their own lands, and in addition thereto shall contribute a reasonable amount for the Ws comprises a difdgc oi some two miles or more in length in the lied of the river through which the peti lion prays for the construction of a ditch 6 feet in depth and fifty feet wide and makes no provision whatever for the ownership of this vast amount of excavatec} rock. Hencoherein lies the injustice whereof I speak, The Jasper County Drainage Association, an incorporate body of this county of whom a number of its members if not all are large owners of wet lands, which can never be thorougly drained, except through this proposed outlet; they are also owneis in fee simple of nearly one half of a mile of the bed of the river through which this ledge of rock runs.the remainder is owned by private individuals.. What is the value of this rock in its preent condition It certainly is not worth anything. Now let us-seeon the other hand what it is worth when excavated. Every cubic yard will sell readily for fifty cents and is.selling for that now and afterwards being crushed and put on the streets of Rensselaer for additional seventy-five cents , per cubic yard making a mathmatic Calculation we find weliave,s 8,773 cubic yards in a mile of this iljl’ch which at 50c. per cubic yard will give us the sang amount of $29,386 for a mile of this rock when excavated. The probable cost of excavating this rock will fully equal if not exceed the real vajue of the rock when taken out and herein lies the justice of the rock b. longing to the ones .who lake it out. Wo must always remember friends that the mere taking out of this rock will in no manner convey the ownership of them to us except by a direct contract which I think should be placed alongside of the ..clftton thus making’ a direct conveyance of the profiei'ty f rom the presen t owners to the would be excavators. The rock’ in..any case to be sold to Jasper county or the town of Rensselaer at a fair price, or at least these this corporations to have a iircfernea. Until these terms and conditionshfiso some manner provided for will find me for ever opposing this grand good "cause and 1 believe 1 haUT “afiTspeakc ing .the .septi meri ts of scores pf other interested men. * The Jasper Co. Lfiiid Ass’m- since the writing of the above, Eave pledgctF themselves to donate the rock they own through the bed pf the river, to the project.

WAŔEN ROBINSON.