, 1874-08-15

|
II cor WHOM MI tco.lanl forms in oitIor Lin Wan
n or lek brnnchos of tho Rhino, '"0 ~"
F. y, Tho oarl!or citizona OF Chicago 1lavc rot
n., ivey aesoIlssson n, e o effects Of lceat
: apo. which throw tho swoon flood Of lint jitti
!; river t'own tto Mud Lake slough into tLo uty
and Inundated It, destroying an itnn,nse nnoui1
OF OF !r.13orty: l. A Y CONTINGENCY uf tlia Kind
n H." im9'!sh-ioa !; Creator scale, to which lIol
. =, Tho coas-of-aFma Of ono Of tho prosincoA o
nolinld IL Lion swimming, with tho motto
aclor a;aSn e. stryo au keep my hoa
n"tlonal motto. for tho wholo country has to
: arnuontE 70 KEEP lTH HEAD ABOVE WATER
AMI save itself ftom snbmorsion. In ann,
aets q g., !tol,and tc ses at lgh lido Is 90 fec
: ut low tide deep enough to drown tho tn1tos
,nHrl. Along Boma parts Of tho Nhlno. durl,r
tue apftngtrcshota, tile wator ia higher tha,, tic
1a 1nola o. or tue houses OF tue clttos mud townt
atlta who live bohtna the dykes can fool thom
Vibrao from tho blows Of tho lingo waves. and
cah near tho b1eakels roaring and ringing above
ioir heads ~ tholr nlad cl1otts to et'gnlf tl,o
!stoneTA. Tho rcader may well Imagine tlIat
Holland Ia delightful country IN Which to
| Two foF nooplo Of norvOnB temperament or weatt
nnrves. But tho stolid Dutch,l,an calmly drinks
nis M boor aud anokos ha rlpo, or BleopA through
danger. -
Tno construction Of tho oooan and river dyl,es
lor TUG protection OF Holland, including only
tnoao pnlwarka and o1nbauhmonts orootod at
tie Inhabitants Of tho Netherlands tic ouormous
sum Ut
| Two TuoUBAND MILLIONS or DoLLanB
since tho ti1ne OF their war Of independence
a,:,a' aga'n'st Spain, three centuries ago. How so
SOURCES, coull afford to epond 80 protlipous a
sum Of money munt always romain a uIyatarv.
Alter tlo terrible var with Philip II. Of span, tIe
POPULATION was reduced, BY bntcnery. starvation,
msa.bo aa %sf1.,o 4sm,Dt from n, 2e99 9 1;6
Tor the putpose Of drowning out tho spaniards:
1ns tho doapolato act ru,,Iou tho inhabitants
af'or no wSvos ,as Q! .ho so for many years thoro
| noiand. Then cotnnenceu tho mighty work Of
reconstrncing tho Aoa~walls riyer dykes and
| embankMonts, aEd tic expulsion Of tic ob-
ils trnsiye water: Whole generations laborod aud
toliod dufihg their !ivoB on tAlB hugo task; aud
tndeod 1t could hardly be considered completed
until the hrat part OF thls century; bnt, III truth,
mo WORK chn mover be considered finished. The
natc''man ! can only keep from drowning by cor-
! t'nuatly requiring aud strengthening his dykes
und operating his, ilI-pumps. Etorual
viei'aneo with lin fs the price, not ony Of libor-
t., but Of exiAtonce.
A special college at DELI! is sot apart for tho
instruction ol a''g'nocra whobe duty 1t III to
WATCH THE STATE OF THE w1sps, TIDES AND
WATERS,
and guard against all ncci1lont8 from irr,,utiona
Of the ocean or the Rhine, and to SEQ that tho
wAtors iI tho low lands. Tie National Boatd Of
Water Engineers, which includes nen Of hieI
acientiitc utsannonts, has most important dutios
to perform; ind. Indeed. tic. existence Of flol-
lana may 10 said to depend on its skill md
watchfuluess. Tie annual oxpotlAe Of koopinr
In ropair the whole ByBtem Of dykes and dams.
canals and sEuicowayB, md operating tile State
wlld.miils amounts to about 55,000,000 year.
everything Is now ln sucl, perfect condition that
the operating and woar-and-toar expenses ara
roducod to minimum.
TnEitE AnE TWO GREAT PUBLIC wonKs.
undertaken by privAle compauics which ara |
lkaly to provo failnrcH uuieaa taken or their |
hands ~ the Government. Tho ono is tile now d.
rect slil'-cana from Amsterdam to tho ocean, aud
tho other III tho draining of tho Zuider Zee, with
tue object Of roclaiulng the submerged land for !
pasturago-purposos. the preaeut Hhiu-ca,al
which connects Amsterdam with lhs oooau II oxoa.
The shallow; unuayigablo Zuidor zoo, on tic ona
sido, and tho oceau On tho othur. It enters tho
ocean Mt tho Holtler, 81 mllos north Of A1nstor-
daai whereas 1t is only 2o miles west OF tho Int
Old engineers ocollstructodit could flt,d no safo
or suitable llarbor Of entrance al,d oxit aud we're
therefore Obliged to run their canal to the north
eng of tue 81 peninsula, l!stead Ut across it. THIS
fataa 1a ~ ~ ieet wIde at tho surface. % at tho
or any yoYael mt drawing mora tJ,or .tort |
1t feot OF wator. Little packet-stoam-
ora ply On 1t ut the spocd ~
miles an hour, without seriously washing tho
bAnkH, Which are protected by willow wicker.
work. roda out and back Oh one OF tbom solno
% milos. It passed through coutl,!,lal fleet Of
all kinds Of wuter-craft, from all East~Iudiamau
lowed by hteam.tug TO barge dragged BY
ionkoy, or Q ,nnrket-boat scudtliug undor ful
sail. ladon with milk-cans, md steered by an Old
Homan. Nearly all tho craft wore moving uulor
'all AZ evory or Enilos, u little narrow lator,l
canal from across the country entered The graud
canal from both sidos Of it, aud tho sails Of i
lars;os and boats could DO seon moving along
ham for miles away
but cosn'mny was formed few years ago to
Construct caas to
CONNECT AMSTERDAM DIRECTLY WITH THE NORTH
sEA,.-
'hly 20 miles dlatance. They have excavatod a
'ast ohannel, 200 feet wide at the surface by 50
i the button. and 90 foot doop, caionIatod to
dmlt tile largeat ocentl-stoa,ueiB M to tho
shArvos Of tho city. Tho ditch III dug, but tho
oinpai'y has met with immonse diicultiou in
routing basin. Of harbor Of rofugo, ut 'ho exit
i the canal, md, aftor axponding millions of