Key Pollution-Related Activities Throughout This Period

  Industrialization and Sewage

In 1900, Illinois’population is 4,821,550 with 1,698,575 in the City of Chicago. This population growth represents a 26% increase for the state and 154.4% for Chicago over the last decade. The Illinois River valley sees a 10.3% increase in population, with a 28.2% increase in the urban population, compared with just over 1% for rural areas (Illinois State Board of Health 1901).

This increasing population and industrialization of the Illinois River valley from Chicago to Grafton pose serious pollution problems for the Illinois River. Sewage treatment plants do not exist throughout much of this period, so human wastes are dumped directly into the river, along with wastes from distilleries and other industrial plants situated along the river, and with the offal from the stockyards. This last poses a significant and increasing source of pollution. In 1860, 306,428 head of cattle and hogs are killed and packed at Union Stockyards. By 1863, the number killed and packed jumps to 1,029,948 head (See Figure 13).

Figure 13: Conditions Inside the Union Stockyards Slaughterhouse

This increased pollution from the stockyards leads directly to outbreaks of crysipelas in 1863, 1864, and 1865; crysipelas is an acute, contagious disease characterized by inflammations and open sores. A commission is appointed in 1865 to “devise the best plan to cleanse the Chicago River” (Illinois State Board of Health 1901).

Chicago is not the only source of pollution. In 1888-89, for example, the population of Peoria is 55,000, 10,000 in Pekin, and 8,000 in other small towns south to Grafton. All of these cities dump sewage directly into the river. Also, in Pekin and Peoria, 40,000-50,000 head of cattle are maintained with all of their wastes, and in 1878, 50,000 to 100,000 hogs are slaughtered in Peoria alone (Johnson and Company 1880). The numbers of cattle and hogs increase dramatically in a short time after the stockyard opens in 1877. Receipts of cattle at the Peoria Stock Yards in 1878 are 25% higher than that in 1877; receipts for hogs are 125% higher in 1878 than in 1877 (Johnson and Company 1880).

These livestock are all maintained on 35 acres enclosed by a high board fence with planked and graded streets and alleys, subdivided into small yards or pens. Some of the pens are covered, others are open; all are fed with a constant flow of the “purest water flow from the 840’ deep artesian well on the grounds” (Johnson & Company 1880).