The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-06-01
An Americans Plan for Refill
ing the Caspian Sea.

The London Echo says. Exit NJ. de
Lesseps, enter Mr.. Spalding, of Ameri-
ca! We have been in the habit of re-
garding the construction of the Ssez
Canal as a gigantic achievement, but
Mr.. Spalding has conceived a geograph-
ical enterprise which fairly takes ones
breath away. II is neither more nor
less than the turning Of the waters of
the Black sea into the Caspian, thereby
connecting the latter with the Med
iterranear, bringing back the volume
of water in the Caspian to an equality
with that which existed thousands of
years ago. The American engineer,
who is well and favorably known in his
own country, is so far in earnest about
his scheme that he has already COM
mended it to the attention Of Rus sia,
and his paper Is now In course Of trans
lation and publication into the
Russian language by Colonel Mil
Ter, of the Russian War Minis.
ter's staff. The plan has also been
Submitted to the President of the I'M
perial Geographical and Statistical
Commission. II the work conceived by
Mr.. Spalding could be successfully ac-
complished, n great result would be
to bring within the area of civilization
and European influences a large por-
ton of the Russian Empire which is
now inaccessible, and which possesses
a vast wealth of timber and other re-
sources. In addition to this, the large
tract of land in the vicinity Of the Gas.
plan Sea, which in recent ages has be-
come barren and sterile, might be re-
stored to its former fertile condition. 1t
certainly behooves Russia to give her
best consideration to this sckeme-gi-
gantic and hopeless as it may appear
upon the first Chancellor Mr.. Spalding
extends to Ter a warning to the effect
that "through the operation of natural
laws a great desert is in process. of for.
nation in the midst of the Russian En-
pre-"
In order to arrest the shrinking of
the waters of the Caspian and to
heighten their level, he proposes to cut
an adit, $50 versts in length, across the
ridge which divides the Black Sea from
the Caspian, SO as to pour in the waters
OF the Western system, and thus con-
meet the two seas. Other points of his
scheme he states as follows: "Begin-
ming in the basin of the Caspian Sea
at a point fifteen metres below the level
of the Black Sea, q cutting $50
metres wide should be made westward
to such a distance that at its western
extremity 1t would reach a depth of ten
metres. The surface of the earth at
that point would be five metres below
the level of the Black Sea. Here this
broad and deep cutting should be dis
continued, and a and shall
lower cutting should begin, which
should be carried all the way across"
Into the political, military, and COM
mercial results of this scheme we can
not now enter, but they are almost as
tempting as though one had Aladdin's
lamp brought within ones grasp. OF
course the enterprise is one which would
occupy years of engineering skill and
vast labor. But an empire like Russia
should be able to afford both the cost
and the toll, if the scheme were deemed
feasible. The impossible" has almost
ceased to be known to humanity
Shakespeare anticipated the time when
man would be able ''to put a girdle
round the earth in forty minutes" and
we have now the electric telegraph.
Will the future connect the name of Mr..
Spau.ding, of America, with the great
est effort of engineering enterprise the
world has yet seenP