The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-04-01
The Might Of the Rivers.

Il
The boast isfrequently made that man
has subdued the earth, commanded the
| elements, and compelled the grandest as
well as the most mysterious forces of ma
! ture Ariel-like to do his bidding. There
is some ground for this boast, but it goes
too far. Not year passes, nay, hardly
day, that the incompleteness of mans
conquestis not made apparent, and some
times he appears as the conquered in
stead of the conqueror in his attempts to
subiugate nature. The recent terribly
destructive floods in the West illustrate
in striking fashion the truth that man
has not yet even got the upper hand of
one of the agents of nature with which
he came in contact at the dawn of his
history@the rivers. In every age the
efforts of men to master the rivers, along
whose courses they delight to live, have
formed conspicuous feature of this
struggle with nature. Hardly any other
thing has in an equal degree called into
play human ingenuity, perseverance,
and mechanical skill. Yet the rivers are
not mastered. The art of bridge build.
ing is one of the oldest and one of the
most perfect of the mechanical arts.
| structures that human hands have reared
are bridges spanning great rivers. Yet
as often as the season of floods returns
great bridges are swept away and dashed
to pieces. There are few large rivers in
the civilized world that have not swal-
| lowed up hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth of such structures. Statistics
showing the annual cost of repairing the
damage to bridges caused by overlooking
and ice-gorged rivers would undoubtedly
reveal a huge leak in the pocket of the
public. Even the small streams in the
country, that in the hot days of July con-
tain barely enough water to wet few
| pebbles in their beds, swell at this season
into torrents that cost the farmers many
days of labor lost on their fields in repair
ing and rebuilding bridges. Every year
the railroads are put to great incon-
venience, delay, and expense from this
cause.
But the damage to bridges is only one
of the losses caused by the rivers. In
flat countries it is impossible, or it has
proved impossible so far. to keep rivers
confined within their banks The most
elaborate system of levees and dykes
have failed 70, hold them. The Mississ=
ippi and its tributaries, along whose
courses there are now so much distress
and loss caused by floods, are in this re-
spect among the most refractory of riv-
ers. The Dutch have kept the. ocean
out of Holland more successfully. than
the Southern planters have kept the
Mississippi out of their fields. Every
time there is agreat flood, not only tiocks
and herds buts,men and women are
drowned. Probably there. will always be
losses and disasters of this kind, but it
would seem that experience ought to
point out some better protection than
now exists. Whenever a flood occurs we
hear of gangs of men working with all
their might to strengthen the threatened
levees. Sometimes their efforts are sue
cessful, but oftener the works. begun too
late. We even see cities partly over
flowed and whole villages swept away
by the great rivers. Some of these dis
asters might be, and ought to be pre-
vented by forethought and proper pre-
cautions; others, perhaps, would occur
in spite of human efforts.
Rivers and similar streams also cause
great damage at this season to roads and
highways. To great extent this loss is
preyentable, as it is often due to careless
ness and ill-placed economy on the part
of those whose business it is to construct
the roads and keep them in order. There
are few regions in which may not be
seen roads running unnecessarily close
to the banks of rivers, and unprotected
by proper embellishments. Almost every
year some of these roads are partially
destroyed, and with singular want of
foresight are hastily and carelessly recon-
structed in the same place and without
any extra protection. Some roads of this
kind are very picturesque, and excite the
| admiration of summer visitors on that
account, but this is is kind of romance
of heavy cost to the neighboring farm
ers.
A great deal remains to be done in
getting the control of the rivers. Prob
ably they will always. succeed in break
ing their. confines once in while, bat. it,
is certain that with more intelligent and
careful application of mechanical knowl-
edge, man can generally be their master.
N Y SIN.