The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-11
Nllllll!ss.eEa9le
NEW WORLDS WONDERS.
FAILED SEVEN THROWN INTO OBJ
SECURITY IN COMPARISON.

SECURITY IN COMPARISON
sSfxgss'er rs.E
Scores of the Creations of Modern Times
surpass Amy or All of the Wonders of
the Ancients-Some of Americas Re
mRrkabIe Achievements.
Compared with the seven wonders Of
the world classified by the ancients there
are seven times seven wonders now. The
tabled Colossus of Rhodes, the Alexan-
drian lighthouse, the hanging gardens OF
Babylon, sink into insignifcance beside
the achievements of modern times. The
Colossus Of Rhodes was, in all probable
fly, a myth, while the Bartholdi statue is
an accomplished fact. and undoubtedly
equal in point of achievement to any of
the seven wonders Of the ancients, not
even excepting the pyramids.
As matter Of fact, the real wonders
of the world, albeit they have ceased for
the most part to be wonders by reason
of familiarity, represent inventions
rather than engineering and architect
ural skill; the railway, the steamboat, the
photograph, the telescope and the self
binding reaper are in themselves won
ders of which the Egyptians and the
Greeks never dreamed. But in the line
of engineering skill, which was the most
prominent feature of the original seven
wonders, there are so many proud
triumphs that it is by no means an easy
matter to name the foremost seven.
THE MODERN LIST.
The list comprises the Forth bridge, in
Scotland; New Yorks underground
aqueduct, which is thirty miles long, on
an average $50 feet underground, and
cut through rock: the Eiffel tower; the
Brooklyn bridge; the st. Gothard tun-
mel, between Switzerland and Italy, be-
gun at a height of | $40 feet, and cut for
nine and one-half miles through the solid
rock; the Improvements at Hell Gate,
and the jetties at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi. 1t is easy to take exceptions to
this list.
There are probably few intelligent peo-
pie who will not dispute the claims of
some one or other of these achievements.
The Eiffel tower, for example, lofty as it
is. should scarcely be permitted to crowd
out the Suez canal, and the engineering
feat of removing the Instructions at
Hell Gate is hardly to be compared with
the building Of the Pacific railroads.
The Siberian railroad also is entitled to
dispute the claim of some Of the wonders
in the list, while the Bartholdi statue is
scarcely to be crowded out, not only for
its colossal proportions, but by reason of
the skill required to produce the results
aimed at. There are several cantilever
bridges also, some one of which is likely
to suggest itself to engineers as having
good grounds for disputing the place in
the list of seven.
To many unfamiliar with the problem
to be solved it may seem as if the jetties
Of the Mississippi were hardly entitled
70 a place in the list There are no
mighty buttresses Of stone, no marvel
Gus structures by human hands to arrest
attention-only lines of willow basket
work, filed with mud and gravel and
sunk in the river channel. But we see
what has been accomplished by such
simple means suggested by the genius of
Capt. Eads.
SIMPLE But WONDERFUL.
Here is the problem: A river necessary
to the inland commerce of a continent,
whose waters continuaLy bear vast
quantities of sand and gravel toward the
sea. A cubic mile of solid earth, it has
been estimated, is thus borne down by
the Mississippi every year. When the
stream met the waters of the gulf the
current was checked by the infowing
tides, and great burden of earthly mat
ter was deposited, while the river spread
out over great extent of territory.
Navigation was rendered uncertain and
dangerous. and millions of dollars ex-
pended in dredging brought impractical
results. The river could beat the United
States government in a contest waged
on that line.
Then came Capt. Eads with propo-
sition to gather the willows along the
shores, make them into crates or mat
tresses, fill them with mud and gravel,
place them in parallel lines where a
channel was wanted, and set the river to
do its own digging by means Of a quick
ened current. That was the basis Of the
1etty system, winch has more than
doubled the depth of the channel at the
mouth of the most important river on
the globe.
The aters continued to deposit sand
gravel between tho jetties and the
shores, the willows sprouted and grew,
and thus eolid banks of earth were
formed and protected by trees. 1t is
only necessary to extend the line of will
low baskets from time to time as occa-
sion demands in order TO carry the chan
mel still further into the gulf. The jetty
system is a grand triumph of simplicity,
but fairly entitled by reason of the re-
suits obtained to be reckoned among the
leading seven wonders of the world
Frank Leslie's Monthly.