Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1824-03-11
HOLLAND CANAL.

We cannot but feel them the language Of Love.
HOLLAND CANAL.
Extract Of a letter from q gentleman
i'm Paris, received at Boston, dated
Dec. S, 1885,
!. Before l left Amsterdam, | made
an excursion to the Helder, to see the
North Holland Canal, and the Dock;
Dock Yard, aad Harbor. at Niewe
dep.
The canal is not yet quite Gnish-
ed, but all the locks, bridges, &c.
are done. 1t is intended to furnish
a passage for large ships from the
Helder to Amsterdam, and will ad-
nit ships Of the line. 1t is "a feet
deep, with double locks, one 81 feet
wide, and 200 long, and another by
the side Of it for small craft, 10 feet
wide: the whole length is about S6
miles. Crossing the water called
the Y, from Amsterdam, at ferry,
we arrived at the great locks called
Wjllemsluys. At this place is the
first great sluice, which, like all O.
theirs, is built with brick, having the
auoins, copings, &c. in stone, a pure
de taille employed in this country
and brought from immense quarries
in the neighborhood Of Macstricht,
Liege, Namur, &c. AL the mason
~ is excellent; the cement is new
one made by Mons. Cazias, of u
trecht, who has a patent Tor it. In
the Y, at Amsterdam. is found a
kind Of clay, or mud, which is taken
up with scoops into boats, carried
aud thrown upon the bank to dry,
then burnt in close furnaces, like pot
ters' ware, and afterwards ground to
fine powder; it is used with little
sand, but no lime, and resembles the
dust of pale bricks in color. While
at Utrecht, Mr.. Cazius gave me spe-
cimens of the earth before being
burnt, of the burnt earth, and Of the
powdered cement.
The sIuices have been built three
or four years, and the cement ap>
reared as hard aud as firm as the
bricks themselves, and think. must
be durable, though many doubt it;
and Mr.. Cazius told me very no.
nestly he did not think it so good AS
the kind formerly used. but that it is
much cheaper. 1t has not been long
enough in use to test its merits.
The jettees bounding the passage
from the Y to the first sluice, a dis
lance of a quarter of a mile, are
made from earth extracted x brought
from the canal. On one Of them
have been erected a ferry house, inn,
&c. These jettees are neither form.
ed with wooden frame work nor
stones, as quay walls are commonly
made, hut with wattles and fascines
of small brush wood, such as willow,
alder. birch. &c. A mass Of these
are connected together and sunk
with old bricks and earth, so that the
top shall be above water at low tide.
Afterwards tho work is raised to its
proper height by alternately laying
first brush and fascines, with their
large ends outwards at right angles
with the canal; next several lines Of
small stakes are driven into the mass
and waited, the intermediate spaces
and the bushisg filed with sand, soft
earth or clay, taken from the canal
near tho place which finally becomes
we'll padded BY the flowing Of tho
tide. The face has a little batten,
and tho whole will last IGOR l2 years.
To execute it in timber would be We
~ costly, and to build stone or brick |
walls, % the foundation must all be |
piled, would lead to an enormous
expense. u the same way IL the quay