Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-07-03
LANES EMBANKMENT.


re NJ. ,sry of which is Forgotten
n'' ,ot Of An extensive commerce
the seq 81 trade, Roman London was
I'inep, in antiquity as 1t is To-Day 20 y
Fn!ll ssnl,ments, the memorials OF its
non'''D nroye its prominence. One
staess:; !; 4 is Roman work. which is
le= .;n > is the embankment Of the
et's'l., ,,es This immense work is
lhaln,nlv,,alled by any of the labors
e l adarn English engineers. For
le mo '.oe miles along the course of
tE,se, s, lofty mounds confine the
streatlh, fixed bounds, and offer q
b xl WITH to the navigator. On each
nre ps aonntry spreads out far below
tue nankment, and more than once
e aaers have broken through. over
Va'e .ba lowlands, and left desc
cad em them. The English had
en , s.J' to repair and strengthen the
ec' oi The river, and were indebted
Is u kill of q Dutch engineer for the
he ,i, of the Roman work. "The
teIa as from Richmond" says Mr..
aneS "is An artificial river" How
l.s, rears of ceaseless toll, of acute
a.oar;ns skill, and vast expense were
nI ,yd on this unequalled work no
av ~: relates, no record even suggests.
sO' nthorities attribute the embank-
He al" .,,o Re,pic traders. before the
~. ,u invasion; others, even to the
n ma Of the Middle Ages. But there
pA aJ reason to suppose that the true
ho 0n of the chief improvements on
p Thames were the Romans. Similar
,r Almost an equal scale exist in
' "a: arts of England. and we have the
snlaint of the subject Britons that
we're worn out and consumed in
;,;ra the woods and embanking the
A' 30, that the hapless natives were
treated by their Roman task
.,ar, as harshly as we're the savages
T.yti and Cuba by the Spanish dis
<sr,es But they have outlived their
Eafole these embankments were
de, the country below London was
immense fen, or marsh, over which
Tide flowed necessarily. The town
ia have been only o collection Of
IL houses seated on the rising ground
|Se tie river. It was already a seat
considerable trade even before the
buau conquest. But the genius and
HI Of the Roman engineers, if the
bmans built the embankment, gave il
be unequalled facilities for traffic
n have secured its commercial su
enacy in every age. By the embank
NJ. the Thames was confined within
(,nd,; many acres Of land we're added
the agricultural domain, while along
h fine highway of the river ceaseles'
|ocession of vessels of every size ani
I'm moved up and down. They came
Strabo tells US, from the mouths o
Loire and the Garonne, the Sem
d the Rhine. Some were war ships
red usually by oars, and distin
|hned by their sharp beaks of iron
d their crews armed with spears AM
ad; some were huge merchan
se!s, propelled by oars and sail, lade
iii rich cargoes of Eastern manu-
lures, with the wines of Italy, an
artistic wares of Greece; some, sal
ldown the river from the docks c
rlon, would carry the tin, lead, furs
the corn and cattle of the West t
SITS of Gaul and Spain. Julia
!. in Britain the necessary supple
his perishing soldiers in German,
1.-The immense stores he drew from
len famine prevailed on the continer
[1v the general cultivation and pro
riy of the island. His 600 col
lips we're hastily built in the forest
rlennes, and possibly landed only c
% southern shore; if we allow them
arden of 100 tons each, they woul
Dual the capacity of at least six Un
ras or Etrurias, and the very names
pr modern argosies recall the Itaiis
Eachers Of our ancestors.-Hape,
lagasine.