Show BIG DITCH IS OPENED Water Turned into the Great Chicago Canal WERE NO CEREMONIES Not a Dozen Spectators Present When the Water from the Chicago River Began to Flow into What is I Ultimately to be a Ship Canal The Waterway Cost Thirtythree Million Dollars It will not beLong I be-Long Before Lake Michigan will i Shako Hands with Gulf of Mexico I Chicago Jan 2The 533000000 canal I at present used for sewage but ultimately ulti-mately to be a ship canal Is in use today to-day after seven years of hard work by I the trustees of the sanitary district which Is the name of a corporation Including In-cluding the larger part of the city of Chicago and many of its suburbs At least time Chicago end of It is in use but the water has not yet reached the other end at Lockport Ill and will not reach It for several days Probably never before has the completion com-pletion of a public work of such magnitude magni-tude been marked with such absolute lack of ceremony There were no speeches no exercises no cheering FEW SPECTATORS PRESENT About S a mthc sanitary district trustees 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 followed by the cheers of spectators Indeed the opening of the canal resembled more the tiny stream of water that I flowed over the Holland dike and grew larger and larger until it swept a great hole in the wall of earth That Is the I way the great canal was opened This method was used to avoid the danger j of a sudden rush of waters but it I robbed the opening of all Impressiveness j Impressive-ness nessWhat What Is called the collateral channel 1 has been completed for some time from I a branch of the Chicago river In the 1 southwestern part of the city to within fifteen feet uf the canll 1 Monday night a big steam dredge began to cut away thiswall of eailh but the work had not been finished when the sanitary district trustees arrived on the scene I this morning GREAT CANAL OPENED I Shortly before 9 a m a small stream of water was flowing through the hole in the fifteenfoot wall It backed up against sluice gate and at 9 oclock him gale was opened Then a small stream of dirty water flowed half way to the canal and slopped By this time the dredge had cut away some more earthand more water came over the dam This with what has gone before I trickled out on the Icecovered bed of I the main channel and the great canal had been opened The men at work on the earth dam I tried a charge of dynamite to remove an ice Jam that was Interfering with the flow of water but the opening was not enlarged At last the dredge worked Itself close up to the dam of earth and with a few sweeps of its arm cut a big hole in limo dam Quite a slream of water l came through but the dredge continued for hours to cutaway cut-away the fifteenfoot wall of earlh Finally the cut in the darn was discharging dis-charging 30000 cublc fecC of water c minute and the flow woa strong down the canal The dredge continued at work all day so as to make the dis charge 50000 cubic feet or more a minute min-ute uteWHAT WHAT CANAL WILL CARRY The canal has been built to carry 00000 cubic feet a minute but only about 60000 feet a minute will be ad mltted until the channel Is full If tho Chicago river had been turned Into the empty canal at the rate of 300000 feet a rnlnule time engineers ould have feared for the safely of the numerous bridge piers In the canal channel and for the controlling works at Lockport and the city of Joliet forty miles away There would have been also great danger dan-ger in the Chicago river from a sudden fall of water and a consequent Inrush ing from Lake Michigan About Wednesday at noon the water I 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 and the water will begin to run over time sills at the gate at Lockport twenty eight miles from Chicago There it will fall into the Desplalncs river and then Into the Illinois and Mississippi and so finally Lake Michigan will shake hands with the Gulf of Mexico Chicago people ale already eagerly watching the effect on the Chicago river of the opening of the canal This stream which Is so objectionable In Its present condition Is expected lo be comparatively pure and certainly to lose all Its features objectionable from a sanitary standpoint when the present stagnation gives way to a full strong current from Lake Michigan |