This would barely provide for the present population at 100 gallons per capita. There is evidence that this flow is decreasing, and engineers have expressed the opinion that a flowing well supply would be inadequate in time. The public supply is taken from Grand Traverse Bay and is supplied to 90 per cent of the inhabitants. The number of people drinking artesian water is difficult to estimate. The principal hotel, the county jail, the State insane asylum, several schools, a large saloon, and bottling works all have wells. On the other hand 90 per cent of the population have direct access to the public supply.

The position of the intake is such that under ordinary conditions it is protected from sewage pollution. The entire sewage of Traverse City discharges by five outlets into Boardman River, the mouth of which is about three-fourths of a mile east of the intake. It is claimed that the prevailing current sweeps southward from the lake around the bay across Traverse City's water front from west to east and then northward toward the lake along the shore of the peninsula which separates the two arms of Grand Traverse Bay. This is not always the case. As in other places, lake currents are notoriously unstable, and no doubt at times there is a reverse current from east to west carrying the sewage-polluted water of the Boardman River ¦ toward and beyond the waterworks intake.

Even with the normal current prevailing, the intake is exposed to pollution. Within 2 miles of the intake, in a direction almost due west, the sewage from a large county hospital where typhoid patients are cared for is discharged untreated into the bay. The following table shows typhoid fever deaths by months from 1900 to 1910, inclusive:

Chart No. 48 shows the excessive prevalence of typhoid fever during certain years in Traverse City. The worst year (1906) showed a seasonal prevalence in the autumn months. With the exception of this year of 1906 the figures show too many deaths from January to

1

2

1

1

2

10

6

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH-TYPHOID FEVER.
Death rate per 100,000 by years, 1900-1910

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910

June. This phenomenon is more marked in the past four years, 1907-1910, and during this four-year period there were 11 deaths from ! January to June and only 10 deaths from July to December.

75

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH.-TYPHOID FEVER.

Death rate per 100,000 per annum by months average for 4 years 1907-1910.
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

70

65

60

55

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

CHART 49. The seasonal prevalence curve in Traverse City shows pronounced peaks in February, November, and December, and low rates in August, September, and October.

Chart 49 shows graphically the peculiar distribution of typhoid fever deaths throughout the year and the excess of deaths during the winter and spring months, suggesting the polluted water supply as the only logical explanation of the peculiarity.

FRANKFORT.

Frankfort had a population in 1910 of 1,555. Fifty per cent of the population depend upon outdoor privies. There are about 2 miles of sewers, which discharge into the harbor by three outlets. The water supply is from driven wells about 90 feet deep. The wells just fall short of flowing by a few feet and the water is pumped to the mains.

MANISTEE RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN.

Manistee River rises in several lakes along the boundary line between Antrim and Otsego Counties in the north-central part of Michigan, flows southwestward across Kalkaska, Wexford, and Manistee Counties, and empties into Lake Michigan at Manistee, Mich. It has but two important tributaries, the Big Bear on the right bank and the South Branch of the Manistee on the left bank, both of which enter in the lower part of the river. The length of the river is about 110 miles, not taking into account the numerous bends and angles; but following its windings its total length must be about 200 miles, for it is very crooked. The total drainage area is about 2,120 square miles.1

The drainage basin is somewhat irregular in shape, the upper part being narrow, the widest portion being found in the lower third of the basin. The soil of the drainage basin is sandy and the stream receives a large proportion of its supply from springs along the banks of the main river and its tributaries. The country is flat or rolling. The elevation of the sources of the river is about 1,200 feet, the elevation of the mouth is 581 feet, a total fall of 620 feet.

The watershed of the Manistee is very thinly settled, and contains no cities, towns, or villages of importance except the city of Manistee, an important lumber center situated upon an excellent harbor at the mouth of the Manistee River.

MANISTEE.

The city of Manistee has a population of 12,381. Its water supply is derived from wells about 100 feet deep. Two-thirds of the population has access to sewers. The sewage is discharged without treatment of any kind into the Manistee River. Typhoid-fever rates from 1889 to 1905 averaged 15 deaths per 100,000 population yearly. In 1906 the rate was 8.4, but in 1907 it rose to 41.6, and in 1908 it was the same. In 1909 and 1910 the rate dropped to 16.6.

1 For descriptions of the drainage basins of rivers in Michigan the writer is indebted to the excellent reports of the United States Geological Survey.