408 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



third ward, or those blocks north of North Street and east 

 of Broad. There excellent housing conditions prevail 

 and the environment is good. There are smaller areas 

 scattered aronnd in the southeast and west parts that 

 are good also, but there are no very large areas that do 

 not have insanitary and poor housing conditions scat- 

 tered through them. 



Cedar Fork. The greatest potential source of danger 

 to the city is Cedar Fork, the open sewer which runs 

 diagonally through the center of the city. Tt and its trib- 

 utaries form an environment in which are found some 

 of the poorest and filthiest areas of the city. This creek 

 has slight natural current, and the sewage wastes of al- 

 most the entire city are emptied undiluted into this creek 

 through 30 large sewers. Samples of water tested 

 showed the presence of the colon bacillus and over 250,000 

 colonies of bacteria to the cubic centimeter. Besides 

 these sewers there are two large tributaries which con- 

 tribute their waste to the main stream. One enters the 

 stream at Holton Street and carries the wastes from the 

 Standard Oil pumping station in the southwest part of 

 the city. The banks of this stream are used as a dump- 

 ing ground for refuse and garbage. The other branch is 

 called Silver Creek and enters the main stream at West 

 Street. There is almost no current in this stream and 

 there is a filthy scum on its surface. The stream lies in 

 the region of the poorest section of the city, and on the 

 banks are wells, privies, manure heaps, and dilapidated 

 structures used as homes for negroes and the poorest 

 white people. About half a block up stream from the 

 entrance of Silver Creek is another sewer that discharges 

 daily about 8,000 gallons of the black oily gas house 

 wastes into the stream. In the summer when the wind 

 is in the right direction, the odor from the stream can be 

 noticed for long distances from Cedar Fork, while peo- 

 ple living on its banks find it almost unbearable. In 

 times of drought the lowered stream leaves a sludge 

 along the banks open to flies, dogs and small children. 



Wells and Privies. Another great problem for Gales- 

 burg is that of the wells and privies. In an area of 30 

 blocks in the 7th ward, there were 248 houses and 245 



