Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-11-09
AN INLAND SEA.

Australian Lakes Which Could BE Con-
nected by Canals with the Ocean.
A correspondent writes to the Bris-
bane australia Courier of the pro-
posed Lake Eyre scheme: This scheme
has not been much noticed oflate years,
and vet by it's means the whole climate
and character of Australia may some
day be destined to be thoroughly
changed, turning what are now arid de-
serts into q huge inland sea, surrounded
| by cultivated shores and extending
over hundreds of miles of now useless
uninhabitable country. tits not general
ly known that Lakes Eyre and TOrrens
and the small lakes surrounding them
are salt, and are situated at the bottom
of a great depression which extends
Tor miles east and west of Lake Eyre
| and for hundreds of miles in norther-
Iv direction. Yet such is the fact, this
depression being many feet below sea
! level.
By levels already taken the land in
| the Immediate vicinity of Lake Eyre is
| known to be over forty feet below
| the level Of the sea. There is no doubt
that the sea once flowed freely in the
! center OF Australia, and some con-
vulsion of nature having cut off the
| entrance Of the sea the water which was
| left in the center has gradually disap-
peared owing to the enormous evapora-
| ton which takes place there. 1t is sup
posed that the entrance WAS somewhere
near where 1t Is now proposed to cut &
canal-that is to say, Spencer Gulf. The
| country between Spencer Gulf and
| Lake Torrens is composed of q chain OF
small lakes and creeks. From Lake
/ Torrens to Lake Eyre it is intersected
| by water courses, which by deepening
would join the waters of the two lakes.
| The greater part of the land in this de-
| preston is of no value, being either salt
| marshes or Dogs, Or else arid deserts
covered with stones, as witness the
Great Stony Desert; but on the margins
! of the depression the soil is most ter
tile, and during the rainy season will
! grow anything.
What can be more feast bic than to cut G
canal as proposed and let IN the sea, and
| so utilize all this present waste land
| On and around Lake Eyre the evapora-
| ton is as great as one inch per diem.
Consider some hundreds of miles OF
country covered with water several feet
deep, and subject to heat which would
evaporate one inch of water per diem.
| What would become of the thousands oil
| tons of moisture taken up into clouds
| 1t must be precipitated again, and
where? Somewhere in Australia. At
present the coast ranges intercept all
rains coming from the sea inland, and
so they never reach the interior. But
| if rain be produced in the interior and
is stopped by the coast ranges from going
out to sea, will it not render our rainfall
more frequent and regular, and SO swell
| the present inland creeks into perma-
nent rivers?
Then, instead of having a continental
climate in the center of Australia, we
! should have an insular one, q regular
rainfall and balmy breezes instead oft the
not north winds of Victoria and South
Australia and the bitterly cold winds OF
| Queensland. All the lands around the
lake for hundreds of miles would feel
the benefit of this inland sea and be
] fertile. There is any quantity of good
| soil there, and once this scheme was be-
! gun we should see towns springing up
all along the lines of the canal and
around the margin Of the sea. New in
dustries would be started, work would
| be ready for all and reign Of prosper
| ity would set in such as was never
! dreamed of for the vast interior Of Aus
| tralia