Show BIG BG CANAL IS OPENED J Lake Michigan Connected With Gulf G of Mexico I PURE WATER FOR CHICAGO a 0 OF OP DITCH DETCH THAT TEAT COST a Will wm Eventually Be Used As Asa a Ship Canal and Vessels May Sail Prom From the Great lakes Down the theM i sippi and Out Into the Atlantic l Ocean Oc an 1 4 c cJan Jan Jun 2 The ca cs at ir used for sewage but ul Ui ulU U taly tely to be a ship canal is in use useY toy ay Y after seven years of hard work by b the trustees of the sanitary district is In the name of ot a corporation In cJ Wing the larger part of the city of oC r Chicago and many m ny of its suburbs At least t the Chicago end of it is ie in use use Ilea but buC the water has not yet reached the theother other oth end at Lockport Ill and will not reach it for several days Probably never before has the com oom completion n of a public work of such mag meg magnitude magnitude been marked with such o absolute lute lack Jack of ceremony remony There were no speeches no exercises no cheering About 8 a m the sanitary district distri t trus trustees trustees tees teea and engineer gathered at the scene Besides a few workmen there were not a dozen spectators There was no grand rush of water to be fol tol followed lowed wed by the cheers of spectators In Indeed InT InI deed the opening of the canal T I bled more the tiny stream of water w teor that flowed over the Holland dyke and a I grew larger arger and larger until It swept elt elta a great hole bole In the wall wail of f earth That is the way the great canal canei was opened This method w WS was s used to avoid the danger of a sudden rush ruA of waters but it robbed the opening of all impressiveness Letting In the Water What is called the collateral Channel iannel has bee been completed for some time from froma a branch of the Chicago river in the southwestern tern part of the city to within fifteen feet of the canal Monday ronda night nighta a big steam dredge began besan to cut away this thiH wall of earth but the work had hadnot hadnot hadnot not been b oen finished when the sanitary district trustees arrived on the scene this morning Shortly before 9 a a m a small neil stream of water was flowing through the ole olein hole in the wwI wall It backed up against a sluice gate and at 9 the t gate was opened open Then a small stream strem of dirty water oater flowed half bal way to the canal and stopped By this time the dredge had cut away some somo more earth and nd more water came o ov oer r the dam dom This ThIO with what had bad gone gene before trickled out on the bed of the Che main channel and the great canal had been opened The men at work on the earth dam tried a charge of dynamite dyn to Tem rera Teman remove v van an ice lee jam that was with the flow of water but the opening was not enlarged At last hist the dredge worked itself close up to the dam of earth and with a few sweeps of its arm cut a big hole bole in the dam Quite a stream of water came oame o me through but the dredge continued for hours to cut cutaway cutaway cutaway away the wall wail of earth Finally the cut in the dam m was die dis discharging charging cubic feet fet of water a 8 minute and the flow was strong down the canal can J Carries Great Amount of Water The dredge continued at work all allday allday allday day so as to make the discharge charge dl 50 5 cubic feet or more a minute The canal 81 C has been built to carry cubic feet a minute but only about 00 10 feet a minute will wUl be admitted until the channel is full If the Chi Chicago cage cago river rier had been turned into the empty canal canol at the rate of feet a minute the engineers would have feared for the safety of the numerous bridge piers in the canal can channel and for the controlling works at Lockport and nd the city of Joliet forty miles away There would have also been beers great dan danger g ger gei r in the Chicago river from a sud sudden suddon den don fall tall of water and a consequent con in rushing from Lake Michigan About Wednesday at noon the water Is expected to reach Lockport and about four days from the time the flow began according to the estimate of the chief engineer the canal will be full lull and the water will begin to run over the sills at the gate at Lockport taHoe miles from Chicago o oThere There it will fall faIl into the laines De river and then into the Illinois and Mississippi and anti so finally Lake Michl Michi gaii will shake bends bands with the Gulf of Mexico Chicago tO people are already dy alre eagerly watching the effect on O the Chicago Chic o river of the opening of the canal This which is Isso so objectionable in its present p condition Is expected to be comparatively pure and certainly nl to lose all its fe features Jures objectionable from front froma fronta a sanitary s standpoint when the pres prea present ent Stagnation gives way to a full fun strong current from Lake gan |