2 THE “AUDUBON 7B UL eae 
One bird student has kept a record of 84 species of birds observed in one 
year in the pit and around its rim. 
During the spring and fall migrations many rare visitors pause here to 
rest. The beautiful snow-white American egret, once almost exterminated 
by plume hunters, visited the pit in the fall of 1946. A Barrow’s golden- 
eye and his mate, diving ducks which breed in high mountains or the far 
north, stopped for a week or more in the spring of 1947. This bird is 
practically unknown in the Chicago area. The honeysuckle hedge in May 
is all aflutter with warblers. 
Here is a wildlife preserve ready-made. Since the Illinois Brick Co. is 
asking $325,000 for its purchase, it is proposed that the City acquire it by 
condemnation proceedings, and make it a city park along the lines suggested 
by Mr. Wallace G. Atkinson, a landscape architect. 
Do the people of Chicago want the stench and ugliness of a garbage dump 
for years to come in this neighborhood? Or do they want to preserve a 
generous and beautiful gift of nature? If you want the latter and are a 
resident of Chicago, please secure a blank petition addressed to Mayor 
Kennelly, have it signed, and return it to Mrs. Janet Hull Zimmermann, 
1000 North Dearborn Street, Chicago 10, Illinois. 
COMMERCIAL WASTELAND* 
Recently in the news has been the proposed uses for a 76 acre tract of 
land and clay pit on the western edge of Chicago at Touhy Avenue and the 
Drainage Canal. This area, owned by the Illinois Brick Company, was the 
source of clay for brick manufacture, but has been inactive since 1930. The 
City of Chicago has proposed acquiring this property to use as a garbage 
dump. It has been stated City Engineers estimate the pit could be filled 
by garbage in seven years, grass sown and a park created. It is projected 
the fill-in; method of disposal, which has been recommended by the U. S. 
Public Health Service, would be used. This method recommends disposing 
of the garbage in trenches to a depth of not more than 12 feet before being 
packed down and covered with at least two feet of clean earth. Neverthe- 
less, the property owners in the adjoining neighborhood of attractive, well 
groomed homes are enraged. 
The pit is fed by springs which keep the non-stagnant water level ap- 
proximately 20 feet below the level of adjoining streets. In one section the 
water is reputed to be 40-50 feet deep, whereas in other parts it is not 
so deep but what marsh grasses and reeds thrive. Trees which remained 
from the time the pit was actively used, or took root before the water level 
raised, are being killed by the water and the barkless silhouettes stand out 
in contrast to the reeds and water below. The southern one-third of the 
area is several feet above the present lake level but still well below the 
streets. 
How can this wasteland be utilized? 
*By Wallace G. Atkinson, Landscape Architect, reprinted from Illinois Society of Archi- 
tects’ Monthly Bulletin, November-December, 1946. 
