The Portland daily press., 1895-07-20
ROBBlNG THE OCEAN.
Stupendous Engineering Scheme De-
Yised by Thrifty Hollanders,

Bottom Used for Farms-Tba Work
Will Cost Hundred Millions or More.
Holland, the quantity picturesque home
of quaint and picturesque people whose
unceasing warfare with the ocean for the
recovery and preservation of the land
from the seas destroying sweep has
given it place unique among the nations
of the earth, has now in contemplation
the most stupendous undertaking of that
nature ever yentured upon-one which
will take high place among the greatest
engineering enterprises of history-the
reclamation for Agricultural purposes of
the lands which lie beneath the waters of
the Zuyder Zee. In this age of canal
building, with the echo of the elouuence
which welcomed so recently the opening
to commerce of the Kiel and the Cana
dian sos Canals still ringing in our ears,
this startling proposition to reverse the
universal order-this reassertion of the
people of the little Dutch monarchy of
their own instructive individuality and
their own peculiar methods of progress
receives an added interest.
The history of Zuyierr Zee is one of
peculiar interest, and to the mind of the
practical Dutchman, who has met and
overcome many like obstacles in the past,
reassures him of the entirely practical
nature Of the undertaking and that it
will most surely be crowned with sue
cess says q writer in the Chicago Times
Herald When Rome was at the zenith
of her fame and her armies of conquest
and colonization were spreading over
Europe what is now known as the Zuyder
Zee was tract of fertile land densely
covered with forests through which wild
beasts roamed at will. A mariners chart
of Holland made as late as the eleventh
century indicates that the fringe of is
lands on the north as they now appear
were then part Of the continent The
River Ysse1 poured its waters into the
North Sea, between the Helder and the
present Island of Texel Another river,
thesVlie, ran into the North Sea, between
the Islands Of Vliland and Terschelling,
while In the center of the forest region,
through which the rivers passed, was a
the year 1170 a mighty food, known to
history as "All Saints Day Flood" be-
gan the breaking down of the natural
barriers which up to that time had pro-
tected the mainland In 1887 and 1850
more floods occurred, and the flood Of 1895
and 14l0 completed the work of inunda-
tion and destruction and left the Zuyder
Zee in its present form. Even now the
fishemern of the Zuyder Zee are reminded
of that early time when their anchors
take hold upon some old giant of the
priIneval forest, now buried deep beneath
the waters, and refuses to let go. Deep
in many parts, the Zuyder Zee is shall
low and dangerous sea for navigators, and
it's shores are strewn with the wrecks of
ships driven out of the narrow channel
when the eastern winds were blowing.
For the last half century it has been the
dream of the engineers of Holland that
they might annex from the waters of the
Zuyder Zee this great body of land, a
tract SO large that it would be generous
sized province of little Holland, and
thus afford homes and new opportunities
for enterprise to many thousands .of the
thrifty folk who know SO well the better
way to improve such opportunities. The
schemes suggested from time to timeEhaye
assumed every possible form. The great
est problem has ever been as to the dispo-
sition of the waters of the Yssel A
branch of the Rhine, with it's outlet in
the Zuyder Zee, it's abundant waters
seemed an obstacle almost insurmounta-
BILE to the patriotic and public-spirited
citizens who sought their country's best
good Plans without number were sug-
gested and as promptly rejected until in
1886 a group of patriots formed what was
called the Zuyder Zee Association, and
set about the work of making the project
of reclaiming the lands a practical and
q national issue. Of this association, @.
Lely was made engineer, and after a
thorough survey of the work he brought
forward proposal for great embank-
ment, extending first from the mainland
to the island of Wieringen, and thence
across to Friesland this to be followed
up by the construction of four large
.'polders, - which would drain and utilize
what were the best parts of the Zuyder
Zee from an agricultural point of view,
and still leave the deep water channels as
at present. while the Yssel and some
smaller rivers would be free to run into
a lake to be known as the Ysselmeer, an
outlet therefrom for the surplus waters
being provided by means of locks and
sluices at the Wieringen end of the north
ern embankment.
In the early part of 1892 the report of
the association was su omitted to the gov
ernment. with the result that in Septem-
ber of that year royal commission was
to examine the report and exhaus-
lively investigate the matter in all it's
possible bearings. MI. Lely, who had
meantime become Minister of the Water
saat was made President of the commits
sion, which consisted of twenty seven
gentlemen, selected with special view
to their fitness to deal with question of
such magnitude and involving SO many
and SO varied interests.
l. Tbo cop,o issiOu was divided into four