The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-12-08
The Latest Engineering Triumph.

The greatest feat in engineering since
the construction of the Suez canal wa:
brought to successful termination a
few days since in the completion of the
North sea canal. AS early as 1919, when
the fury of wind and river was filling
with sand-banks the channel connecting
the Zuyde Zee with the North sea, the
merchants of Amsterdam fOresaw that,
to save their city from the desolatisn
that has befallen the now dead cities of
the ZuydeT, they must open an outlet to
the sea A cutoff but fifteen miles due
eastward would have connected them
with tile water. Is is true there would
have been difficulty in establishing a
secure harbor at the sea-entrance there,
but, as compared with the magnitude of
the whole undertaking, that difficulty
was inconsiderable. But, with that
astonishing stupidity that can be born
only of provincial solfshness, the canal,
which William l., when the plans were
submitted to him, declared should be
cut on the route OF that Just opened,
was run from Amsterdam to the Helder
the main entrance of the Zuyder Zee
fifty miles. For a time the north
canal served its purpOse-it took Amster
| dam to the sea. But it takes two days
| for vessels by that route to reach the
| city from the Helder the harbor there
is much of the time exceedingly difficult
to make, and the canal itself is too shall
low for naviga lion by the ships of this
era.
1t was these considerations Ethat led to
the projection of the present canal in
1865, to again avert the peril there was
of Amsterdam's being cut off from the
sea. Since then the work has been
steadily pushed through, considering the
outlay at what in this country would be
considered a very slow gait, since the en-
tire cost of the canal has been but 92,-
100000, or about S10,000,000 in our
money. The first difficulty encountered
in the work was that the level of the
country, except for a short distance, was
from twelve to twenty-seven feet below
sea level, and, instead of digging a chan
mel to admit the water from the sea,
banks had to be piled up to prevent the
overflow OF the country through which
it passed. This regiOn-that is, what
of it was not covered by water-had been
reclaimed by dykes, and one of the
objects to be attained through tie North |
sea Fcanal was to drain entirely this !
inland lake, thus reclaiming more land. |
This has been done, and by pumping out |
of the ancient lakes into the canal al |
ready u, ,450 acres of land have been |
reclaimed, some of which has been sold |
as high as GI20 or S600-per acre.
Three miles from the west coast the
route of the canal lay through the sand
dures, desert-barrens covered with shift
ing sands, like those along the Suez
canal. The difficulty to be overcome
here, as in the Suez enterprise, was to
prevent the filling of the canal with
and also to guard against the
of the banks by the waves
caused by the passage OF vessels. TO
accomplish this. as was done on the
Suez canal, the margin of the canal was
sown with various plants, the matted
roots of which hold the soil together, and
besides the banks were walked or lined
with artificial stone, gravel, broken
brick and clay.
As completed, the canal is fourteen
and three-quarter miles long, has a
breadth of eighty-eight feet at the bot
tom and one hundred and seventeen at
the surface, and will pass vessels of
-wenty-three feet draught. While con-
shorter and a trihe shallower
han the Suez, the North sea canal has
)een far more difficult of construction,
md relatively bids fair to be Of greater
for it v i'll maintain the COM
nercial supremacy of Amsterdam even
fter the Zuyder Zee shall have been
lyked in and wholly drained, as is now
proposed to do.