Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-06-27
Szegedin.

1t is more than two months since the
terrible flood destroyed Szegedin, and
yet if you stood on the nights of the
railway dixie you would see around you
sea of muddy, weedy wall closed in
by the sandhills near Dorozma, distant
many miles. To rid the country of
such enormous masses of water seemed
well-nigh impossible. For this pur-
pose a ring-dike inclosing the town
must be built before pumping could be
begun. The Hungarian Parliament
adopted this plan at the end of March
and in the first days of April building
society was intrusted with it's execution.
Ten days were required to collect the
materials necessary for the undertak-
ing. Three hundred pontoons were
brought from Siebenburgen, Transyl-
vania, 10000 square feet of poles,
rams, ETC., 600, 900 cords of wood, and
250 anchors from Pesth, and sixty ships
and fifty boats from Upper Hungary.
The number of these has been doubled
since. The Danube Navigation Com
pany sent four of its towing steamers.
Everything was taken to Szegedin by
water, of course, and an opening TWEEN
ty yards broad was made in the dikes to
permit the passage of steamers, ships,
pontoons and boats. The 1900 work.
men employed are nearly all poor in
habitants of Szegedin, chosen by the
Government in preference to all others,
and who besides are clever at this kind
of work. Smiths and carpenters are
rather rare in Szegedin, and, as 1000
were required, they were taken from
Upper Hungary. 1t was difficult to
lodge such number of men, and ships
were furnished for the purpose, bar
racks built, and a number of railway
cars turned into bedrooms. The wages
of a laborer were fixed at from one flor
in twenty kreutzers to one florin eighty
kreutzers per day, those of carpenter
or smith at from two tiorins fifty kreut-
zers to three forins fifty kreutzers. The
men worked in relays, twelve hours by
day and eight by night. At night OPP
erations went on by torchlight and by
electric light.
On April 10 work began. Pile driv-
ing was the first thing, and about one
hundred pile-driving engines were in
operation day and night. Piles were
driven into the earth a yard apart. To
these were added the cross-beams and
anchors to enable them the better to
resist the pressure of the waves. When
finished this wall of piles was 1000
yards long. The most dangerous point,
however, where a gap of 567 metres
was made by the great flood, and which
subsequent storms widened to 877 me-
tres, was made safe by driving the piles
closely side by side. The empty space
between the wall and the railway-dik9
was filed up with fascines and lim e.
stone from neighbOring hill. AL
though the weather was as unfavorable
as possible, steady progress was made
and satisfactory results were obtained.
On the Goth, however, another terrible
storm destroyed almost all the work
accomplished, a great many of the
ships, almost all the pile-drivers, and
swept away a great quantity of the
scarce and costly materials. The dam
age was estimated at from 10000 to
20, 600 fiorins. 1t took ten days to re-
pair the damage done, and, although
another storm on the 11th interrupted
the steady progress of the work, still
the whole wall of piles, 1000 yards
long, was finished in forty days. AT
the same time the old dikes and en-
bankments were repaired, raised, and
extended to follow the course of the
round wall of piles. Wood was very
scarce, and the rafters from the roofs
of houses destroyed by the flood were
used for the purpose.
Now that the city has been isolated
from the outside flood it is possible to
begin pumping. One hundred and
twenty steam pumps are to be employed
twenty hours each day, and it is calcu-
lated that the quantity of water pumped
out daily will amount to 100000 cubic
yards. And yet doubts arise as to
whether this will suffice to master the
$4,000, 900 cubic yards of water which
Szegedip is said to contain. Continual