Note 72 — LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE PLAN OF CHICAGO

House Bill No. 352, introduced in the Illinois legislature on March 23, 1909, proposes to confer on the city complete legal power to create harbors and provides as follows: “Sec. 14. For the purpose of acquiring or constructing wharves, docks, levees, or in connection with such wharves, docks, or levees, elevators, warehouses, vaults or necessary or appropriate tracks or terminal facilities, the city may reclaim the submerged lands under any public waters within the jurisdiction of or bordering upon the City of Chicago, and shall thereupon be vested with the absolute title, in fee simple, to the lands so reclaimed; and for any of the purposes aforesaid the city may acquire, by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, the title of the private or public owners, if any there be, to lands lying beneath such public waters and to any lands penetrating into or abutting on such public waters, and also the riparian or other rights, if any there be, of the owners of the shore lands abutting on such public waters in or over such public waters or the submerged lands under such waters. The city and the owner or owners of any such abutting lands or riparian or other rights are hereby authorized to agree upon a division of the said submerged lands between the said city and the said owners, and upon a boundary line dividing the submerged lands acquired or to be acquired by said city, and the submerged lands to be taken, owned and used by said owners in lieu of and as compensation for the release or transfer of such riparian or other rights to said city; subject, however, to the requirement that in all cases in which said city shall have agreed upon any such division, the said city shall file a petition or petitions in chancery and obtain a decree of court thereon, in like manner as is provided with respect to boards of park commissioners in and by a statute of the State of Illinois entitled, ‘An Act authorizing park commissioners to acquire and improve submerged and shore lands for park purposes, providing for the payment therefor, and granting unto such commissioners certain rights and powers and to riparian owners certain rights and titles,’ approved May 2, 1907.”