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RIVER & LAKES IMPROVEMENT AS SOCWION HAS BEEN ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP DUES ARE NEEDED IF GOOD WORK J$ TO CONTINUE OFFICERS MAKE PUBLIC SOME OF THEIR ^ RECENT ACTIVITIES NO PAID OFFICIALS direc- Chicago, May 3®# tlflcHenry Plaindealer, ^ jlcHenry, 111. , - ; £*. Gentlemen--The officers and - « '"'Itors of the Fox River & . . f * * ttrovement association wish thru your "-J'/•..*' -press to bring to the attention of the ' Presidents of the district represented this association many of it» recent in the interest of the pubbecause from the following copies correspondence you will note that improvements have been solic and accomplished by the associa thru which all the residents o: district and the traveling public* eceive benefit, whether they are ^embers of the association or not. The association's committees are Continually active on such matters as outlined herewith, but it is very hard ^ bring these activities to the atten- HH*on of all the residents of the district. Is there any resident, whether sum- H^ljiier resorter, native or business man, ';3ln the district who can claim that v>jthese activities are not for his bene- ^<it, and is there anyone interested in ;; vthe district who can say that he can receive more benefits or be assured of ; "!;4>etter representation than whaf; he is "^receiving at such a small cost as the yearly membership dues, or can he say that such improvements can be , obtained or that he can be represented in this manner unless there is an asso- • ciation of this kind to represent him in such matters, because there is no »; organized form of government in this district to look after such activities. No one can say that with the rapidly increasing population of the district that an association of this •. kind is not necessary to assure and develop sanitary living conditions 'and other needed improvements. Those active in the work of the association have frequently been told by residents that they did not pay their yearly dues in the association because no one came to collect them, and this should not be necessary and is impossible, that is for collectors to go around and collect the residents dues because the association has no . collectors and there are no paid agents, as all those active contribute their time and service to this public work, and therefore those who are public spirited should send in their membership fee without being solic ited. Can anyone deny the fact that this • association has accomplished a great many essential improvements for the district with its very limited funds and small membership, and if it has been able to accomplish so many im provements with a membership con : sisting of such a very small percen tage of the people who are benefitted ' by these improvements, what could the association do if all those or even the majority of those who participate v. in these benefits would support this association ? It costs money to obtain Hie many improvements required and this money has to come from those for whom the improvements are being obtained, and is there anyone who reads this evidence of the association's activ - ities and knows what it is doing for the people who can say he is doing hi duty and justice to himself and his neighbor if he does not sendin his yearly membership fee to suppqrt this good work. It is at this time of the year that the association should be provided with funds necessary to carry on its - activities for the promotion of addi tional good roads, better sanitary con ditions, additional public facilities marking and maintaining navigable channels in the waters of the district. ^ ; which means protection for people in traveling the waters and you can do your share in furthering these activ ities by sending in your 1924 dues at this time. Do not wait for your neighbor or anyone else to ask you for your dues, because no officer,, director or member of the committee of this association receive any compensation Please do your share and send youi dues to the* secretary, Mr. James . Mrar, 601 St. Clair St., Chicago, and _ he will forward to you a marker identifying you as a member of the association and a boat pennant for 1924. At this time the officers, directors and .members of this association wish to say that they hope you will not confuse this association with that other improvement associations which we-understand have been organized for improvements in their respective localities only, but keep in mind that . this association, the Fox River the McHenry dam north Wis., including all of the imately seven feet clearance. We, the association,- wi would kindly consider this in your plans and in letting the contract for the above mentioned bridge. Yours very truly, For River & Lakes Improvement Assn. (Signed by) C. E. Carson, ' Chairman, Engineering Com. . J?. S.--In our opinion we see no reason why this bridge with a length of 350 feet could not be crowned four or five feet and in that way save the htigfat at abuttments at both to permit such boats to pass under them, and we take this opportunity of asking you when constructing the survey, consideration WJ given to the city of McHenry. There bridge to make it of sufficient» were considerable volumes of sewage No resident or merchant can be public spirited and protect his interests without being a booster for this good fcrork. The 1924 membership placard will identify to all that you have done your share and yon are ACKNOWLEDGE REPORT OF SANITARY SURVEY OFFER SUPPORT Tf IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE this height above normal water level to permit such boats as above named to pass under such bridges and this bridge in particular, because all navigation between the chain of lakes upd Long lake has to pass under the bridge in question. We therefore hope you can cooperate with us in the above matter. Thanking you for your past co-operation and assuring you that we are at all times anxious to co-open you in every way. we beg to Yours very truly, tm Riverv&Ukes Improvement Ass Mr"' Secret**§.' -s- v*' wr-.-'. . . ' • May 19, 1924. Department of Public Health, Springfield, 111. Attention: Harry Ferguson, chief sanitary enginer. Gentlemen--Your report on the sanitary survey of the Fox river and adjoining lakes was read at a meeting of directors of this association and needless to say your department was highly commended for the satisfactory and thoro way this work was done, and we feel very proud of the fact that we were associated with you in this good work, which was of paramount importance. In regard to the sanitary inspection for 1924 and following years, as per your suggestion, we will gladly appoint an inspector who will follow up this work, or would the appointment of three members of this association to act as inspectors, one for each district, meet with your approval, they to report any unsanitary cases they may find, they of course to be subject to your orders and work along the lines you may suggest. We would be pleased to hear from you suggesting the best possible solution of this matter, stating just what the duties of these inspectors would be, so they would not exceed their authority. Yours very truly, Fox River A Lakes Improvement Asso, Jas. Mraz, Secretary. May 19, 1924. Izaak Walton League of America, 536 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111. Gentlemen--At a meeting of t directors of this association, a res lution was passed, offering the support and co-operation of this association to the Izaak Walton League of America and incidentally acquainting you with the following facts because you are nationally active in preventing the pollution of public waters. In the year 1928 this association took it upon itself to have a survey made of the sanitary condition of the Fox river and surrounding lakes and therefore solicited the aid of the department of public health of the state of Illinois, who responded immediately and made the survey, resulting in the elimination of numerous sources of pollution of these waters. The survey was started on Fox river below McHenry, 111., and was extended upstream. It included, in addition to the river proper, from the dam upstream to the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, all of Pistakee lake and bay, f'ox lake, Njfipersink lake, Grass lake, Lake Marii, Channel lake and Lake Catherine, also in the river drainage basin were surveyed Bangs, Fish, Wooster, Round, Long and Hastings lakes. During the survey about 1400 pieees of property were inspected. It is the intention of this association to have three inspectors, who will follow up this good work already started and co-operate with the state in eliminating every source of pollution in this district." . Very truly yours, Fox River A Lakes Improvement Assn. Jas. Mraz, Secretary. PROPOSED IOTENRY BRIDGE SHOULD BE HIGHER TER GRAVEL ROADS IN LAKE COUNTY " ^im „-~ May 21, 1924. Mr. Russell, -- - - Supt. of County Highw^S, Waukegan, Illinois. Dear Sir--In regard to the road leading from Volo to McHenry, Fox Lake and Ingleside, also lea'ding from Wauconda towards McHenry, called the river road, the association at its last meeting decided to ask you to do everything possible to put this road in passable condition as you know that it will take a couple more months before the concrete road is completed a tic' ready for use. The above mentioned detours or roads are in such bad shape that after the slightest rain you will always find somebody stuck in the road. There would be no necessity for this if you had done a little bit of work in such places where it was most needed. We wish you would co-operate with us in this and we appreciate what you did last year after taking these matters up with you. Fox River & Lakes Improvement Assn (Signed by) J. F. Mraz, Sec. ASK FOR COMPLETION ROUTE 20 THRU M'HENRY REPORT OF INSPECTION FOX RIVER SANITARY SURVEY the Fox rhrar • •, ^ i,, , May 12, 192* Department of Pub. Works A Bldgs., Division of Highways, Springfield, 111. Gentlemen: At our last meeting of the Fox River & Lakes Improvement association the question came up for discussion regarding the height, etc., of the new bridge across the Fox rhrer at McHenry. -- Same was referred to the engineering committee, of which I am chairman, and I therefore, on my last visit to Springfield, looked into the matter somewhat and got a sketch showing the style of bridge and proposed height of same. We have investigated this and believe that the elevations which you are working from and which you term as ordinary and extreme water elevation differ from what actually has existed in the past. For instance, you call ordinary water elevation, 742.28, this we call rather low, the ordinary elevation being more nearly 743. The extreme high water elevation should be 761 which would bring the bottom of your girders practically right 9a the extreme water elevation, which in our opinion is entirely too low. The ice piles up a great deal above tha water elevation when it flows down the river in the spring and it would undoubtedly ruin the bridge in time. The elevation of the bottom of the old bridge at McHenry is approximately 754 at the under side, and some years ago the ice came down against the one section of the bridge so that it sustained some damages. This has been witnessed by some of the people living in McHenry* The under side of the Johnsburg bridge across the river only two or three miles above is at an elevation of about 758 and if the extreme high water elevation is 751 it would leave a clearance of about seven feet, which is really lower than the requirements for a canopy top launch going under the bridge. There is no reason why the new bridge at McHenry should be any lower than the Johnsburg bridge. The old McHeriry bridge can easily be raised to the same height as the Johnsburg bridge at a cost not to 'exceed $5,000.00. We are now working and the state as well as the federal government are with us and in favor of navigation thru the Fox river down as far as Elgin at least, and this new bridge ought, therefore, to be built with a view towards not obstructing navigation It least a* far as canopied beats May21,1W4. Mr. Frank T. Sheet®, Supt. of Highways, ' Division of Highwajfi, ^ Springfield, 111. Dear Sir--At the last meeting of the Fox River & Lakes Improvement association held May 18, a question, regarding the concrete road from Volo to McHenry, also thru McHenryJ3 towards Woodstock, came up for dis cussion. We understand that there is a distance which has not yet been contracted for and we, the association, as well as the residents in McHenry and round about, wish to ask if it is possible and within the law to award this stretch to the present contractor (this additional amount of road required to get to the river) as it would be a great benefit to the people oil ?: McHenry as well as to all the summei| residents Ground the river. This would eliminate the delajf caused by advertising for bids, etc.f and we .also believe it would, save th4 state some money by So doing. We therefore wish, on behalf of the association and the people of McHenry. that you would carefully consider this before letting the contractors move their equipment away from their present location. Yours very respectfully,. Fox River & Lakes Improvement Assn. (Signed by) J. F. Mraz, Sec. Department of Public Health May 6, 1924. Subject, Fox river sanitary survey. Report of inspection. Fox River & Lakes Improvement Assn. 5115 Sheridan Road, Chicago, Illinois. Attention, James F. Mraz, Sec. Gentlemen--Attached is a report summarizing the results of a sanitary survey of the upper Fox river and connecting lakes which was made by sanitary engineers of this department during the summer seasons of 1922 and 1923 at the request of and in cooperation with your association while C. Kier Davis was secretary and A. W. Hannifin and Walter Marggraf were presidents. The survey demonstrated that the Fox river and connecting lakes were being1 discharged into Fox river thru several private or semi-public sewers at McHenry and the river water was especially dangerous at and below the city. We did not make any effort to have these sewers abandoned at the time of our survey because a plan for a comprehensive sanitary sewer system for the entire city had been prepared. With the installation of such a public sanitary sewer system all private sewer outlets can be abandoned and then all the sewage will be treated in a sewage tank and then discharged thru a single outlet. The. outflow «f sewage from the tank can be chlorinated during the bathing season so as to not dangerously contaminate the river water down stream. We believe that sanitary inspections similar to those made during 1922 and 1923 should be continued during 1924 and following years in order to help maintain good sanit&ry conditions in upper Fox river valley, which is probably the most important summer resort area in Illinois. The survey for 1924 should cover the places given in the list attached to the official copy of this report where conditions were not found entirely satisfactory during 1923 and inspections should be made at all properties developed since 1923 or where changes in water supply or sewage disposal have been made. This department will be glad to co-operate with the Fox River & Lakes Improvement association in such further sanitary survey but because of our limited staff and appropriation we do not feel that we can give as much time to the work this year ps we did during the past two years in order to get the work started. Our engineering staff is quite limited and we have to render, of course, a similar service to other parts of the state. We would, therefore, suggest for your consideration the employment by the association or by Lake county of a sanitary inspector for duty at least during the summer months. For such work you might possibly, obtain a student who is a resident of the county and, therefore, familiar with local conditions and who is taking a course in engineering, preferably sanitary engineering at some technical school or university. We should be glad to give certain instructions to such a sanitary officer and to co-operate with him from time to time as you might desire. The Fox River and Lakes association is to be commended on its interest in maintaining good sanitary conditions in upper Fox river valley and it has been a pleasure to co-operate with the officers and members of the association in the survey that we have made during 1922 and 1923 and we shall be glad to continue to co-operate in much work in so far as the staff of our division of sanitary engineering and the appropriation granted to us permit. We shall be glad to hear tiie summer seasons of 1922 and 1923. After a conference in Chicago on June 29, 1923, with C. Kier Davis, secretary, and A. W. Hannifin, president of the association, a preliminary inspection trip was made :n company with the association officials on July 29. 1023. During the progress of tKe surveys other conferences were held from time to time in Chicago with the association of ficials. Detail inspections were made during August and September, 1922, by Sanitary Engineer H. P. Potter, M. Le- Bosquet and W. M. Olson and during by Chicago Y. M. C. A. At each piece of property ii effort was made to ascertain the source of drinking water supply anl the method of disposing of and liquid household especially any sewers, that might cause objectionable pollution of the river or lakes. In the case of hotels or boarding houses having dual water supply systems, one system supplied with lake water anl the other system supplied with well water, inpection was made to ascertain if there were any cross conneci tions between the two pipe systems. IP! - infest ' 11 MORE SCENES IN DISTRICT PROPOSED BRIDGE OVER SQUAW CREEK AT INGLESIDI . " •• lla£4j£3fM.' £ IB." Russell, . Supt. of Highway** , . Waukegan, 111. Dear Sir--At last rifWi directors' meeting of this association, ou# directors from the Fox Lake and Lon^f Lake districts called to our attention the fact that you contemplate the construction of a new bridge near Ingleside over Squaw creek and we hasten to bring to your attention a very important matter with reference to the future construction of bridges in the Fox Lake district and that is the height of the bridges ow normal water level. As you lenow in the past few years a very large number of motor boats have been constructed and put in use and most of these are expensive boats with tops which are not detachable, and in order to permit and not obstruct navigation it is of the utmost importance to the navigating public that bridge# |p constructed high SCENES IN DISTRICT SERVED BY ASSOCIATION being objectionably polluted by sewage at many points and such pollution was rendering the waters dangerous for use for bathing purposes. As a result of the survey a letter giving instructions and regulations was sent out under date of Feb. 1, 1923. to each property owner and this was followed by a special form letter covering the sanitary conditions on each piece of property. These letters resulted in a considerable improvement and quite a number of sources of pollution of the river and lakes were eliminated. I«l addition to the pieces of property } * sanitary from you relative to the carrying on of the sanitary survey during 1924. Yours very truly, e Chief Sanitary Engineer. REPORT OF SANITARY SURVEY. of the upper Fox fiver and connecting" lakes by Harry F. Ferguson, chief sanitary engineer. At the request of and in co-operation with the Fox River and Lakes association, which association is composed of people residing or owning summer cottages in the area of the upper Fox river and connecting lakes. July and August, 1923, by Engineer H. P. Potter. A total of thirty-seven man-days was required to make the detail inspections in 1922 and a total of eight man-days in 1923. Object to Surve> ^ The main object of the survey wm to help bring about the elimination of existing pollution of the river and lake waters, and the prevention of additional pollution in order that the river and lakes will be safe for bathing and other recreational purposes. During the survey information was also obtained relative to the sources of drinking water supplies in order that advice might be given to the users as to their probable sanitary quality and suggestions and recommendations made as to how to install and maintain sources of drinking water supplies free from contamination. Extent of 8urrey ^ • The survey was started afrhe dam |>n Fox river below McHenry and was Extended upstream. It included, in addition to the river proper from the (lam upstream to the Illinoi|-Wiscon sin state line, all of Pistakee lake, Fox lake. Nippersink lake, Grass lake, Lake Marie, Channel lake and Lake Catherine. Some of these lakes are virtually enlargements of the river and the others are located close to it, and they are the sites of hundreds of summer cottages, hotels and vacation camps. A few other small nearby lakes, also in the river drainage basin, were surveyed, namely, Bangs, Fish. Wooster, Round, Long and Hastings lakes. A camp on Loon lake and camp on Crystal Lake were also inspected. Properties not adjacent to the river or lakes and thus probably not discharging any pollution into the river and lakes were not inspected. During the survey ^about pieces of property were inspected as follows: Hotels ... .v...; . -- 4 9 Board houses • • • 73 Houses and cottages, appro*. 127® Camps wr-'.JI. .. Propertias inspected in 1923 . for first time SO The camps that, were inspected are given below together with the name S)f the organization maintaining the lamp an l the location of the camp. Reports on the inspections of each of the camps are on file in the state division of sanitary engineering. Sunset camp, Channel Lake, maintained by Jewish People's institute. Boy Brotherhood Republic camp, Loon lake, maintained by Boy Brotherhood Republic. - Camp Chi, Loon lake, maintained by Jewish People's institute. Camp Yamac, Wooster lake, maintained by Young Men's Jewish Char- • -p • ities. Camp Covenant, Crystal Lake, maintained by Chicago B*nai BVith council. Council camp, Bangs lake, maintained by Council of Jewish Women. Camp Hastings, Hastings lake, maintained by Chicago Y. M. C. A. . rnwftw nni\i.*n fuk lake. also M - i m- -i 2tj Special attention the camps. Sanitary Instructions and Regal** tions Adopted At the close of the field inspections '* made in 1922 and after a review of the recorded conditions found during the inspections a form letter was prepared giving sanitary instructions and regulations. A copy of this letter - was sent under date of February 1, / 1923, to a consolidating mailing lUAtfS \ prepared in co-operation with the Foat p River & Lakes Improvement associa- » tion. This list included each prop*. erty owner or resident in the area pU which this department or the associa~^,* ; tion had record. In preparing the sanitary instiw> tions and regulations incorporated f* „ . that letter, effort was made to pr#> , vide for such sanitary conditions Hit would eliminate and prevent object tionable pollution of the river and lakes and also protect water supplies and at the same time make it necessary to make only the minimum amount of changes in existing water supply and sewage and waste disposal : systems. In addition to the general letter of instructions and regulations another letter was sent out to each property owner whose property was inspected giving the results of the inspection and making definite recommendations - for any improvements that were coa-( sidered from the inspection to be advisable. In order to economize clerical work, a form was also used for these letters, a copy of which is r appended. This form was found to ' ^ be satisfactory by cros ing out words .> * f that did not apply to any particular ' -j property and by filling in the blank spaces to cover the conditions on each ' ^ **- property as found by inspection. There were sent out about 1509 copies of the general letter giving sanitary instructions and regulations • and about 1240 copies of the special. form letters to each property owner. * C ; V In response to letters from property owners receiving the two form letters and desiring additional advice, about eighthy additional letters were ten. ' •, ' Results of Inspection^; ^ Of the 1400 pieces of property inspected during the 1922 season, 2-ff '" or 17 per cent were found with con-; ditions in conflict with the sanitaiy > regulations decided upon and recorded in the general letter of inatructioas and regulations. Reinspections were made of thesn ; 247 pieces of property during tkf 1923 season and it was found that in the majority of cases the property owners had made the necessary ir»- provements. There were found In ;• these reinspections 55 places whera conditions were still unsatisfactory. # A list of these places is appended the office copy of this report and to tha official copy sent to the Fox River A Lakes Improvement association. Sum nary a Mi Concluding ResMrltn' The extent of the sanitary survey made in the upper Fox river vallMy (ConUnuad on