Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-04-30

\ remarkable feat of hydraulic engineer
ing, an account of which appears in the
New \ ork Herald, has lately been accom-
| plished in Italy. Prince Torlonia, a very
wealthy man, has drained Lake Fucino, at
an expense Of 81 600 900, and regained for
! himself about 1000 acres of very rich
land. From his earliest youth this prince
| has had passion for the possession OF land.
! W hen company was formed in 1852 for
! draining the lake, the NeopoliIan govern
ment offering the drained land in the bed of
I the lake to the contractors, he took One-half
I OF the shares, and in short time bought
out all the shareholders This work was at
tempted by the Roman Emperors Hadrian
and ClauiIus eighteen centuries ago, but
was only partially successful. At the be-
ginning Of the present century the entire
surrounding PLAIN was flooded for period
of thrty-three years, the villages were de-
stroyed, and the Inhabitants reduced to mis-
cry. Slrveys and studies were ordered for
draining the lake at that time, but there
was bat Little accomplished. Again. in 1852.
the Old Claudlan emissary was rendered use
less by the fresh deposits which encountered
1t. At last, about eighteen years ago, one
man was found VINO said, = will under
take the work and carry it to comuletion
alone. The work was accomplished with
great expense and difficulty. The complete
success of this enterprise has restored ~ 600
acres OF fertile soil 10 agriculture. Where
eighteen years since squalor, misery, filth
and barbariSm existed, there are now over
10000 well housed. healthy and industrious
people.
The prince has received several gold med
ais for his patriotic and daring enterprise.
lie is undoubtedly the most remarkable man
IN modern Italy, Yankee in enterprise and
genius, descendant Of a simple huckster.
and although nov about seventy years Of
age, Is still Young in spirit and eager for
new achievements. He has promised to as
sist in draining, at his own expense. the
Lake Traian, and so create the new port of
Rome. Hon. George ?. Marsh, in the new
edition of his work on - Nature and Man"
now entitled The Earth Modified by
Human Action. speaks at some length Of
Prince Torlonias enterprise. He says
'' Lake Facino, near Lagodi Clano, in the
former Neapolitan territory, about fifty
miles eastward Of Rome, lies (or rather law
2,2UO feet above the sea, and has no visible
outlet, but was originally either drained by
natural subterranean conduits or kept with
IN certain extreme limits by evaporation In
years OF uncommon moisture it spread over
the adjacent soil and destroyed the crops in
dry seasons it retreatei and produced cpl
demlc disease by poisonous exhalations from
the decay Of vegetable and animal matter
upon It's exposed bed julius Caesar had |
proposed the construction of tunnel to |
lower the bed Of the lake and provide a reg
ular discharge for its waters, but the enter
prise was not actually undertaken until the /
reign of Claudius, when, after temporary 1
failure, II was at least partially completed. |
From tins imperfect construction it soon got |
out Of repair, but was restored by Hadrian.
and it i said to have answered its design for
centuries. In the barbarism which followed |
the downfall Of the empire it again fell into |
decay, ana though numerous attempts were |
made to replace 1t during the Middle Ages. |
no tolerable success seems to have attended |
any Of these efforts until the present genera
ton. Abiding - the assertion that the
emissary viii not suffice to drain the bottom
OF the basin, Mr. Marsh writes - Springs
rising in the bottom Of the lake have ma
terially impcded the process of drainage,
and some engineers believe that they viii
render the complete discharge of the waters
impossible. Il appears that the earthly and
rocky strata underlying the lake are extreme
ly porous and that the ground already laid
dry on the surface absorbs an abnormally
large proportion Of the precipitation upon it.
These strata, therefore, constitute a reser-
yoir which contributes to maintain the
springs, fed chiefly, no doubt. by under
ground channels from the eighboring noun
tainS. But it is highly probable that after
certain time the process Of natural desicca-
tion $50 apparent in New England and Cen
tral Africa, a noticed by Liyingstone) will
drain this reservoir and the entire removal
o! the surface water will then become prac-
tlcable. lie thus concludes - The COM
plete draining Of the lake, including the
ground occasionally flooded, recoyers for ag-
rlcultural occupation and permanently Sc
cures from inundution about 1000 acres Of
as fertile soil as any in Italy. The technic-
al difficulties to be surmOunted were most
battling and discouraging in character and Of
such extreme gravity that it may well be
doubted whether the art of engineering has
anywhere triumphed over more serious OBJ
stacles. This great victory Of peaee-prob-
ably the grandest work Of physical in
proyement ever effected by the means. the
energy and the munifcence of single indi-
vidual-is Of no small geographical and
economical, a. well as sanitary, Importance,
but it has still higher moral value as an
almost unique example of the exercises of
public spirit, courage and perseverance in
the accomplishment Of a noble and benefi-
cent enterprise by private citizen"