Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-02-04
Miscellany.
TorlOnfa's Great Work.

A correspondent of the London
Times, who is travelling among the
out-of-the-vay places of South Italy,
beyond the reach of railroads, found
himself one night at the wretched, dirty
town of Avezzano. He thus explains
the object of his visit:
'My object in staying at Avezzano
was not to look at the town, but to in
spect the works by which Prince Tori
onia has converted what was once a
marsh, forty-two miles in circumference,
called Lake Fucino, or di Celano, into
a fertile rural district, intended to sup
port and accommodate two thousand or
three thousand laborers. 1t is an enter
prise in which Imperial Rome, in the
palmy days of her power, had at first
failed, and at last only partially sue
ceeded, while the neglect of after ages
had almost entirely obliterated every
was an inconvenient neighbor to the
province, and as the ebb and flow of its
level wrought either food or fever to
the surrounding villages, Caesar, We are
told, and after him Claudius and Nero,
bethought themselves of q remedy for
the evil by an outlet which should dis
charge the waters of the lake into the
Liris, the bed of which was about eighty
feet below the bottom of the lake. The
intention of the Romans was, however,
not to drain the lake, but simply to re-
duce it to one third of its original size.
The work of the Caesars was not prop
~ htx-
mended by the exertions of the later
emperors who took it in hand. The
middle ages found the channel already
choked up, and the efforts of the EN-
peror Frederick IL, the creative spirit
of this region, to open it were unavail-
ing. 1t was this task, to which SO many
great sovereigns had proved unequal,
that a private man, Prince Torlonia,
took upon himself. He bought out q
company which had obtained grant Of
the lake in 1852, but which failed in its
attempt, and, with the aid of English,
French and Swiss engineers, he went to
work in good earnest in 1858. He ex-
pected at first that the work could be
achieved at an outlay Of l, 200, 900 Roman
crowns (f200, ,0OO, but he soon found
out that that the expense would exceed
twice that eum-indeed, it is said to
have risen to more than 81, 600, 900 and,
in spite of his well-known enormous
wealth, the peasants of the environs
doubted whether Torlonia would drain
the lake, or the lake drain Torlonia.
His success was, however, splendid. He
reopened and greatly widened the old
Roman channel, and made it four miles
in length and about twenty-one yards
in width. Through this channel an e1-
tent of thirty-six thousand acres of the
lake was drained, and the whole ground
will, it is said, be laid bare and brought
into cultivation before next spring.
81 drove out to see this stupendous
work early in the morning, as the thick
autumn mist broke before the rays of a
sickly sun, giving, in spite of the popu-
lar proverb, a very faint hope of fine
day. Where huge lock moderates the
outflow of the water monumental
building in white Travertine is now
rising, to be dedicated, it is said, to the
immaculate Conception, but on a Gen.
trail monolith of which an inscription
will send down to posterity the date of
VIC iClACNCACAt uhti lilo VI lto
princely promoter. The ground rescued
from the lake has already been cut out
into large squares, intersected by mag
nificent roads. along which are to rise
four hundred peasant dwellings, with
twenty-four chapels and two converts.
These buildings, and the barns, sheds,
and other premises necessary for culti-
vation on the largest scale, will be
raised at cost of ESQ, 900. The whole
estate of fifteen thousand hectares will
be organized as a monster model farm,
to be colonized by laborers from the
various estates of the Prince. Large
tracts of the ground reclaimed are
already yielding corn crops at a profit
of thirty to thirty six per cent, and will
continue to do so for three years with
out manure, while the upper slopes of
the lake-bed are mantled over with
young low vineyards, the produce of
which can hardly fail to be of the best
quality.