404 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON A SANITARY SUR- 

 VEY OF GALESBURG, ILLINOIS 



Ella Devenny and George W. Hunter, Jr., 

 Knox College 



The object of this sanitary survey is to determine 

 general sanitary conditions in the city of Galesburg and 

 to make specific recommendations for the betterment 

 of the same. 



Location. Galesburg, the county seat of Knox County, 

 lies on a high prairie in the upper Illinois glaciation, on 

 the crest of the water-shed between the Illinois and Mis- 

 sissippi rivers. It is 165 miles southwest of Chicago 

 and about 50 miles east of the Mississippi river. It is a 

 large railroad center, an important division point of the 

 C. B. and Q. railroad, has large shipping and switching 

 yards, employing in normal times over 3000 employees, 

 some 25 manufacturing plants and two flourishing col- 

 leges. Its area has a total of about 5,760 acres. It is a 

 well treed city, has 38 miles of paved streets, and about 

 60 miles of water mains and sewers. It has four parks 

 containing over 200 acres, and there are in its environs 

 several small artificial lakes which give a surface water 

 supply for the railroads and some factories. 



Topography. Galesburg lies in an upland prairie dis- 

 trict; the soil is mostly brown silt loam, sprinkled here 

 and there, particularly in the southeastern part of the 

 city, with light clay loam and in the eastern part with 

 yellow silt loam. The valley of Cedar Fork, an open 

 sewer which flows through the town, is a deep glaciated 

 deposit, but in most parts of the city the drainage is poor 

 because of the impervious clay subsoil. The surround- 

 ing region is rolling prairie, but there is very slight drain- 

 age for the city sewage. 



Climate. Galesburg climate is favorable to health. 

 It meets Huntington's requirements in that it has rather 

 sudden changes and great extremes in temperature. The 

 mean temperature in summer is about 79 degrees Fahren- 

 heit and in winter about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. 



Population. At the last census the population was 

 27,696, the greatest percentage being American born, al- 



