The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-19
How the Dutch May Recover Holland

1t is well known that Holland once com
prised much larger area Of dry land than
it does now. and that the Dutch have not
only managed to save the remnant by an
elaborate dixie system, but have gradually
reclaimed considerable sections Of what WAS
lost, the amount already recovered being no
less than $50 square miles. Now they pro-
pose to'gain some $50 square miles more by
the reclamation Of large part OF the Zuider
Zee. An association formed for that pur-
pose has submitted its plans to a royal
Commission and an outline of the latter's
report has been lately published.
AT the beginning Of our era and for many
centuries afterwartl the area now c0mpre-
hcnded in the I,iider Zee was covered by
tract OF forest country, enclosing an ex panse
of fresh water named Lake Flevo. A series
Of foundations beginning in 10 and end
ingi 1905 resulted in the permanent sub
mcrHence OF this region, yet even now the
ships that sail over the drowned forests oc-
casionally get their anchors inextrcably
caught in the tangled roots OF the buried
trees. Many Of the towns that sprang up on
the coasts of the newly made Zuider
Zee became in process OF time thriv-
which now has but 100 houses, ranked AZ
one OF the principal Hanse towns in the six
teenth century; Enkhuizen, which Mt pres
ent has but 5000, once had ~, 900 inhab-
itants, and IIoorn, the population Of which
has shrunk TO 10000, formerly had fleets
on every sea and warehouses throughout
the Indies The gradually increasing dis
Use OF the Zuider Zee as an outlet for com.
merce has been due partly TO the obstruc-
tions to navigation offered by the shifting
shoals and sand banks, but mainly to the
transfer Of the trade OF Amsterdam to the
North Holland Canal aud Y ship Canal,
which connect the Dutch commercial capital
with the German Ocean.
The first step in the process of reclama-
tion will be to convert n large part of the Zui-
der Zee into fresh water lake, by means
OF colossal sea wall or dixie running from
North Holland to Friesland, completely
shutting ont the tides of the North Sea.
This embankment will lie PIC feet wide at
the base, and its top will DO more than II
feet shove the level of the sea at Amster-
dam. Somewhat below the summit on the
inner side will he laid a track wide enough
for wagon road and railway The sea
once barred out, the next move will la to
enclose within separate entertainments four
different areas, containing in the aggregate
$50 square miles, The four polders, as
lands redeemed in this way are called, will
be not filled up, but emptied by pumping
the water up to successfully higher levels
until it finds a passage by the main channel
to the sea. Az the shallower portions
are exposed, they will he progressively
brought under cultivation, aud il is calcu-
lated that within ten years from the begin |
ming OF the work 25 600 acres can he made |
annually available. To avoid too heavy a |
drain on the national resources, the whole |
labor of reclamation is TO he spread over u |
term Of thirty-three years In the end, the |
Luider Zee will he reduced to central |
channel of about fifteen miles in breadth,
called the Ysselmeer communicating. first,
with the sea by locks at WieTingen; secondly, |
with Amsterdam by branch three miles in
width, and lastly, with the mouth Of the
Hssel by similar but shorter arm. One
Effect OF this great work will be to leave
many of the existing seapOrts high aud dry
put, as We have said, their commerce has
ong been in declining condition, aud the
Of 1t is not worth preserving.