Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1898 — The New Kankakee Drainage Scheme. [ARTICLE]

The New Kankakee Drainage Scheme.

There is Said to be a Reet Sugar Factory Involved In the Enterprise. The incorporators of the Kankakee Reclamation Company, whose articles were recorded here Friday, are Timothy Harrison, of Chicago, representing Franklin Landers, of Indianapolis, who owns 1600 acres of interested land; George W. Cass, of the Cass and Shelby estate, with 12,000 acres; John Brown, of Crown Point, 12,000 acres, also Lee G. Howell, of Kouts, Porter county, and Chas. D. Carmon, of Forest, 111. Nelson Morris, the great Chicago packer with 25,000 is also interested but does not appear as one of the incorporators. The company proposes to begin with the Kankakee river where it crosses the Illinois line, and extend their operations up to where the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago R. R. crosses the river, between Laporte and Starke counties. It is proposed to straighten the channel by eliminating bends, to remove bars, drift and other obstructions; to properly distribute the aggregate fall by dredging, and to deposit the dredged material in embankments, where the river flows through low lying lands. It is also proposed to make two large auxiliary channels, one on each side of the river. Ono on the north side, the Brown ditch in Lake county, is to be extended through Porter county, and increased sufficiently to make it a good auxiliary channel. On the south side of the river it is proposed to extend the Hodge ditch, in Jasper county and the Morris ditch in Newton, to connect them together into one large auxiliary channel. < It is stated that back of this proposed improvement of the river, with its consequent drainage of so many thousand acres of naturally excellent land, is the establishment of an immense beet sugar factory, to be located probably at Shelby, where the Monon and the Three I. have their crossing. Mr. Harrison, the incorporator who came here to record the articles, is an expert in the beet sugar factory line. He states that lie is now working on the plans for four or five such factories, all to be located in Northern Indiana. He states further that no factory can be successful unless located on a river, and also must have competing railroad facilities.