129 The Agricultural Economy of the American Bottoms 
portion of Cahokia Creek lying within the District and below the diver- 
sion canal; (5 ood gates and a pumping station at the outlet of 
improved channel of Cahokia Creek from the National Stock Yards to 
the river at Brooklyn; and (7) An intercepting canal along the easterly 
side of the District, for intercepting the flow of the creeks entering the 
District from the bluffs, from the Prairie du Pont channel to Judy's 
Branch.} 
With the exception of the last one objective, all of these original 
purposes have been realized (Figs. 18 and 26). The closed conduit from 
the National Stockyards to the river was the last of six projects to be 
completed. The intercepting channel was begun in 1920 but was only 
partially completed when further work was stopped by court order. 
Although Harding Ditch, extending northward from Prairie du Pont 
Creek had been constructed prior to 1907, it was of slight value because 
of sedimentation. It was widened, deepened, and extended northeast- 
ward to Caseyville. A tributary ditch was dug from the place where 
Schoenberger Creek emerges from the upland to the Harding Ditch. 
Horseshoe Lake, as a part of the improved Cahokia drainage system, 
and Pittsburg Lake, as a part of the Prairie du Pont drainage syste™, 
are considered invaluable as temporary reservoirs for flood waters. 
Improvements effected by the East Side Levee and Sanitary Board 
led to the organization of two additional districts—namely, the County 
Ditch Drainage and Levee District and the Canteen Creek District 
(Fig. 26). The former was organized to extend a ditch from the north- 
ern terminous of the Cahokia Ditch northwestward toward the Cahokia 
Diversion Channel as a substitute for an earlier ditch that had almost 
disappeared through sedimentation. This district in part overlaps the 
East Side Levee and Sanitary District. The Canteen Creek District 
was organized for the purpose of substituting a ditch extending from 
the bluffs to the Cahokia Ditch for the meandering and shifting channel 
of Canteen Creek. 
The improvements effected by the East Side Levee and Sanitary 
Board have beneficially affected farms far beyond the confines of the 
district. Threats of excess waters throughout both the Cahokia and 
Prairie du Pont basins have been reduced through (a) the diversion of 
upland water directly to the Mississippi River, (b) the construction an 
maintenance of fixed graded channels, (c) the construction of pumping 
stations where considered desirable to assist in the rapid removal of 
A eee 
Ibid 
