Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-08-29
been stripped off and turned down
THE DEPTH OF TWENTY FEET,

! THE DEPTH OF TWENTY FEET,
and the black earth brought to the
surface. This may be called pretty
''deep plowing;" but where land is
worth $500 TO $1,000 per acre, and
labor can be hiIed for a guilder
day-50 cents-or less, the owners
of such sand-buried ground can af-
ford to dig deep to rescue it.
While the dunes have been form
ed by the waves and winds-the ma
terlals being washed from the oppo-
site British coast-thev still owe
much OF their growth to the hand of
man. Were it not for a sort of wick
er-work formed of willow boughs,
interviewer with twigs, sea-grass and
straw, forming huge mats, which are
placed along the sea-face of the
dunes, the latter would be washed
away and the sea let in upon the
land. When the wind blows from
certain directions, the sea washes
away the sandy shore; but when it
comes from other directions, it casts
up sand and dirt upon the coast. The
self-prOtection of the Dutchman re-
quires that all the drift cast against
the coast shall be retained. Hence
he spreads mats of willow and straw
down into the water ut low tide, and
fastens them there with stakes driv-
en- into the sand Is or 20 feet. These
soon become covered mp with sand
thrown upon them by the waves;
and after they are sufficiently cover
ed, another shield of mating is
spread along the shore, which in
turn is covered. Thus the coast
line of Holland is being gradually
ADVANCED sEAwARD.
In some place, it has been pushed
forward half a mile by the method
described, and everywhere the dunes
have been greatly thickened and
strengthened in this manner, and
their surface covered with grass and
trees.
But there are many miles along
the coast of Holland where there are
no dunes, and where the waves roll
ed far inland between the openings
in these sand-ridges. To the task of
closing them the Dutchman stub
b0rnly sets himself. The first thing
necessary in the construction of
these bulwarks is to secure a firm
foundation, sufficiently strong to
support the immense weight to be
laid upon it. Multitudes of tall
trees are brought from the forests of
Norway, and driven deeply into the
sand in thick rows. After these
piles are in, forming the frame work
of break-water 120 to $50 feet
wide, large quantities of clay or te-
nacious mud, mixed with tough sea-
grass and willow-twigs, are rammed
down into the sand to make it wa
terproof. When all this preparato-
ry work is done, the great dyke or
embankment is commenced on this
foundation. The side next the sea
is faced with great granite blocks of
stone, brought from Norway, and
the space behind is filled with clay,
and behind that with sand mixed
with willow and grass mating. This
sea-wall is raised ten or twelve feet
above the highest tides, to guard
against the action of northeast
storms which may accompany the
tides. Whole forests are swallowed
up to furnish piles, and whole fleets
of vessels are employed in conveying
rocks and trees to build these sea-
walls.
THE MOST STUPENDOUs
of these marine ramparts are the
dykes of the Helder and of West
Kepple, at the extremity of the
tongue of land which forms North
Holland at the entrance of the Zui-
der Zee. This part of the coast is
more exposed to the fury of tenn
pests and the encroachments of the
ocean than almost any other part of
Holland. The great dyke of Helder
is six miles long. The sea-wall is of
enormous thickness. 1t descends in
to the sea 80 to 40 feet below tide.
The thickness of the stone facing of
the dyke is 200 feet at the bottom,
sloping backwards at an angl lie of 40
degrees. The quantity of fOunda-
tion-piling, driven into the sand so
to so feet in depth, is something
wonderful to contemplate. Millions
of cubic yards of granite and lime
stone blocks were required for the
outer wall. At short distances
apart, enormous piers are projected
into the sea about 200 yards, con-
structed of stone filling and fascines.
These piers help to protect the sea
wall from being undermined and
broken through; and yet, with all
this protection and ProdIgious
strength of wall,it occasionally gives
way before the fury of the tempest.
But it is so strengthened now that
the Dutch engineers believe 1t eapa-
bic of resisting any force short of an
earthquake.
| greatest danger Is uOJ AIOlu 4uLOdOS
Of the sea, but from internal
INUNDATIoNs,
arising from the blocking up of the
rivers by the ice when the spring
thaw sets in. All the ice of the
Rhine and the Meuse must pass
through the narrower Dutch rivers,
or forks of the Rhine, which form
the Dutch delta. When it happens
that the ice of the German Rhine
gets loose before the Dutch rivers
are free, dam is formed at some
point stretching from one bank to
the other, filling up the channel of
the stream, and rising in icebergs
above the surface. In such cases,
the accumulating water from be-
hind the ice-blockade bursts over
and through the embankments of the
river, and spreading over the coun-
try, sweeps all before it. The last
disastrous inundation of this Eihu
occurred in 1899, when the hhihe
rose seven feet in one hour, ana
poured a torrent down on Holland,
before tb.. ice in the Holland outlets