6. Production of acres lying within drainage districts: Total acres within drainage districts_-_ 90 per cent of which is under cultivation, or... 30 per cent of cultivated acres produce wheat, or Total production of corn (value)- Total production (value) Deduct 50 per cent for rent--- Total Deduct annual maintenance_. Net receipts from lands (subject to normal conditions)---- 2, 164, 176 The total investment in the drainage and levee districts at this time amounts to $27,000,000. The average net earnings amounts to (under normal conditions) $2,164,176, which represents a return of 8 per cent on said investment. Data from Report of Rivers and Lakes Commission on Illinois River and its Bottom Lands, 1915, page 63: "When districts now projected are fully cultivated, the total yield of the leveed lands of the river should approximate over $6,000,000 per annum." Production of acres lying outside of drainage district and under cultivation : Total area of lands under cultivation and lying outside of drainage districts -Acres An average production of corn under normal conditions is 20 Deduct rent, 50 per cent....... Net receipts Capitalizing the value of the land at $50 per acre.. -- 45, 890 917, 800 $624, 460 312, 230 312, 230 2,294, 500 Favorable conditions: When in a high state of cultivation the land produces from 60 to 110 bushels of Indian corn per acre per year. This is also very fine land for the production of winter wheat, producing anywhere from 20 to 55 bushels per acre. This land in the state of nature was probably about equally divided as to timber and open land, the timber section being heavily forested. Before 1900 the lumber industry on the Illinois River was an industry of no small magnitude. Since that time practically all the forests have disappeared and there is nothing left but a few dead snags and some underbrush. At the present time there are 200,000 acres protected by levees of which amount 90 per cent is in cultivation or under the process of being brought into cultivation. There are about 46,000 acres in cultivation outside of levee districts in the valley at the present time. Below the level of the low water of 1901, which is the lowest water since the turning in of the water from Lake Michigan, there are 63,000 acres under water at that stage. There is at the present time outside of levee districts 63,000 acres. At the present time there are 45,000 acres in the valley that would be under water if the water were at the level of the low-water gauge of 1901. There are 18,000 acres in private lakes, there are 200,000 acres behind levees, there are 46,000 acres in cultivation outside of levee districts, there are 91,000 acres of wild land. Which makes a grand total of 400,000 acres. 7. The watershed of the Illinois River outside of the Sanitary District of Chicago (which watershed has been artifically brought in) is 27,914 square miles. The greater part of which lies within the State of Illinois. About 3,207 square miles is in the State of Indiana and 1,080 square miles in Wisconsin. The upper stretch of the watershed is flat and the rainfall is about 32 inches per annum. The lower stretches are lower and rough and the rainfall is about 36 inches per annum. There have been about 400 square miles brought in by reason of the building of the artificial channel of the Sanitary District of Chicago. The maximum discharge of the Illinois River previous to 1915 was about as follows: On the Sangamon, Kankakee, Des Plaines, Fox, Mackinaw, Spoon, and other principal tributaries, quite a little straightening has been done on the Kankakee of recent date and on the Sangamon some 15 years ago-part of which affects flood heights, together with the great many ditches and tiling that has been done in various parts of Illinois and Indiana; these are shown on Exhibit 2, but you will notice that not as much ditching has been done on the watershed of the Illinois as on other watersheds in Illinois. Previous to the year 1909 the Illinois River was one of the greatest fresh fish producers; it was probably the greatest, with the exception of the Columbia River. Prior to 1909 the Illinois River produced an average of 11,300,000 pounds of fresh fish annually; figure this at 10 cents per pound-deduct onehalf for labor, which would make it 5 cents per pound, which makes $565,000 worth of fish per year. At the present time and for the past several years the production has only been about 20 per cent of this amount. All of the water on the river north of Beardstown is so badly polluted that it is unfit for bathing. One doctor in one year at Havana had 100 cases of infection or so-called blood pison caused by people cutting their feet or hands when bathing. This same condition has greatly affected the summer resorts and boating, and hook and line fishing on the river, with this odor; the bathing, boating, and fishing ceased to be a pleasure. Beardstown gauge (average). [Memphis datum, elevation 0-427.25.] For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1908, to Jan. 1, 1924: For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1900, to Jan. 1, 1908: For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1889, to Jan. 1, 1900: Peoria gauge (average). [Elevation 0-435.82, Memphis datum.] For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1908, to Jan. 1, 1924: March 14.8 For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1900, to Jan. 1, 1908: For the period beginning Jan. 1, 1889, to Jan. 1, 1900: We herewith furnish a monthly average of the gauge height for the Peoria and Beardstown gauge from the year 1889-the year of the closing of LaGrange Locks to the opening of the canal in 1900, for the months of March, April, May, and June, the months for planting. The gauge at Peoria from the year 1889 to 1900 and from 1900 to 1908 and from 1908 to the present time. At Beardstown this shows an increase of 1.9 feet for the first period. From 1889 to 1923 shows an average monthly spring rise of 2.8 feet, this means the effect of something like 100,000 acres that are submerged and rendered unfit for cultivation if there were no levees to protect the same. It has saturated the timber lands until they are destroyed and by their destruction it has greatly increased the cost of maintenance on the levee districts by reason that the levees are exposed to the wind, which also greatly hampers the navigation of the river with small craft on account of their exposure and accessibility the wind has to the river and upon the crafts. It greatly hampers the mooring places of boats during a storm period while in a state of nature the timber protected the same. The flood of 1922 is in many ways different from the ordinary flood on account of its duration. The rain began to fall and the river began to rise on the 10th of March, 1922, at which time the gauge at Beardstown was 11.3, which from the number of acres submerged and the gauge readings heretofore produced we estimate that there were about 15 days run of the canal in the river at that time. From that date to the 24th day of April, the day the peak of the flood passed Beardstown, which time is 45 days plus the 15 days required by the canal to have brought the river from 8 to 11.3 means 60 days discharging of the canal in the river on the day the peak of the flood passes Beardstown. There could have been no part of that water or an amount equal to that, discharged from the volume, for the reason that the rise of the river from natural causes was every day between the 10th of March and the 24th of April greater than the discharge of the river at its mouth, consequently an amount of water equal to the run of the canal at 10,000 cubic feet per second, which Mr. William F. Mulvihill states is correct in his answer to the State of Wisconsin in the case of the State of Wisconsin against the State of Illinois now pending in the United States Supreme Court. Ten thousand cubic feet per second is equal to 864,000,000 cubic feet every 24 hours or the amount of water equal to 20,000acres 1 foot deep in 24 hours. We say 20,000 acre-feet because our habits of thought make it more easy to grasp this unit of water as tangibly as we think of dollars, 20,000 acre-feet times 60 days equal 1,200,000 acre-feet which spread over 300,000 acres the amount of land flooded at the crest of the flood; which amount is equal to about 4 feet on the flood in the valley, and which amount the sanitary district was responsible for in the flood of 1922, in our opinion. Discharge curves of Alvord & Burdick report to Rivers and Lakes Commission, 129, 000 = 43,560 =20,000 acre-feet per 24-hour day. -6.4 days to submerge acreage of 129,000 acres. 300, 000 acres in valley submerged, then 129, 000 300,000 : 6.4 : x = 15 days. Time previous to March 10, 1922. March 10 to April 24.. Flood was affected by sanitary water. 15 45 60 a) = =4 feet on gauge. 20,000 acre-feet for 60 days (300,000 acres flooded, 1,200,000 acre-feet Crest of flood at Beardstown was 25 feet on gauge less 4 feet-21 feet with no sanitary district water. From Rivers and Lakes Commission report, by Alvord & Burdick, 1915, page 37. Since January 17, 1900, the previous water conditions have been greatly changed through the flow of the Chicago Drainage Canal, which has averaged from 3,136 cubic feet per second in 1900 to 7,185 cubic feet per second in 1913. The flow of the last-named year is equivalent to 7.1 inches on the drainage area tributary to Peoria, which is about 87 per cent of the estimated average flow at that place during the decade immediately prior to the opening of the canal. It is equivalent to about 3.4 inches upon the watershed tributary to the mouth of the river; probably equivalent to about 40 per cent of the run-off of the prior decade at that place. 1900. 1901. 1902_ 1903_ 1904_ 1905 1906 1907 FLOW OF THE CHICAGO DRAINAGE CANAL, 1900 TO 1914. Flow of the Chicago Drainage Canal in cubic second-feet, 1915 to 1923. But actual proof shows that the flow has been much greater, and at times as high as 15,000 cubic feet per second. STATE OF WISCONSIN, COMPLAINANT, V. STATE OF ILLINOIS AND THE SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO, DEPENDANTS. These defendants, and each of them admit that the mean yearly amount of water passing through said sanitary district canal, at its westerly terminus, for the years 1900 to 1917, both inclusive, was approximately the amount for said years set forth in said paragraph 15 of said bill of complaint. These defendants deny that the said figures are based on methods of calculation which result in very considerably, or to any extent underestimating any amounts of actual flow through said canal. On the contrary these defendants aver that the methods used to calculate said yearly mean flow of water are methods which should produce results as nearly accurate as could be produced by any method of calculation. These defendants further say that the flow of water through said canal for the first four months of the year 1922 has been approximately the amount required by the sanitary district act, according to the population of the sanitary district, namely-20,000 cubic feet per minute for each 100.000 population, which amounts to 10,000 cubic feet per second. The following are the effects of the discharge of water from Lake Michigan into the Illinois Valley: 1. Destruction of gill fish. POLLUTION. 2. Destruction of shell fish (includes pearls). 3. Destruction of fish food on bottom of river. 4. Unhealthful to inhabitants in the valley. 5. Destruction of beaches on account of being unfit for bathing. 6. Has reduced navigation on account of being offensive for excursions. |