The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-02
IExICO's GREAT DRAINAGE WORK
a Plan That Has Required Nearly 800
Years for Its Working out.


From the Mexican Herald.
A great work has been practically fin
ished, the drainage Of the Mexican val
ley. which has required for its compile
ton nearly 500 years and many millions
Of dollars. and has cost the lives of hun
dreds of thousands Of men.
The Valley OF Mexico is an immense
basin, OF approximately circular shape,
with one extreme diameter Of about
sixty miles, completely bounded by high
mountains, ana having only two or three
quite high passes out of il. No water
drains out of the basin. The surface
Of this valley has a mean altitude above
the sea Of ,4l3 feet, and an area of about
2,220 square miles. Mountain ranges rise
on every side. making a great corral
of rock containing dozens of villages and
hamlets, with the ancient capital IN the
center. In times past the fires OF vol
canoes licked up the earth, and such
fires still live in the mammoth Popocat-
epetl. from whose great nav sulphur
fumes ana smoke with jets of name
have poured through the centuries.
The valley thus hemmed in with solid
walls of rock had been an inland sea Tor
many cycles, and during the early eX-
istence of man here the salt waters
spread over a large extent OF the de-
preston. The waters have been grad
ually lessening by seepage and eVapora-
ton, and the Aztec pilgrims coming from
the north in the fourteenth century nav
ing received a sign that they We're to
build their queen-of-the7world city on
a small island of the sea, set about build
ing dlkes and combating the oNerhoW
of the waters. Many Of their works re-
main to this day and show that the val
ley was divided by them into nVe great
departments. The bikes were built UNI
der the direction of King Netzahualco-
yoti, a relative of the Emperor OF Nom
tezuma, whose surviving works prove
him to have been an engineer whose con-
ceptions and accomplishments would
have given him high standing even
among modern engineers
Originally built in the midst OF a lake,
the city has been left on dry ground by
the receding waters. Lake TeXcoco-some
three miles distant-Chalco and Aochl-
milco have attitudes nearly four leet
gleater than the pavement of the capital.
Still more imperiously do the lakes OF
the north dominate the city. san Christo-
bal and Xaltocan are about nVe Ieet,
while Zumpango is over thirteen feet
The project now completed is a modifiea-
tion of a scheme projected by simon
Mendez in the time of the Spanish govern
ment which in 1S49 was adopted py
Capt. Smith of the corps of American en-
gineers which accompanied Gen. ScotI
army. The tunnel was ultimately located
under the saddle and through the raVine
of Acatlan, its mouth being near the VII
lage of Tequiquiac. The works nave Deen
begun several times and then suspended
without effecting anything of Importance.
In 1866 the works now nearing completion
were commenced. project proposed by
Senior Francisco de Garay, a Well-knoWn
engineer of the city of Mexico, was pro-
nounced the most feasible. But the rev.
dictionary struggle succeeded, ana Tor
many years the work was RELOCATED TO
In 1879 Engineer Don Luis Espinosa,
the present director of the works, took
charge of the undertaking. In the first
period mentioned the cutting of TequiX-
quiac was excavated and the greater part
of the shafts were begun, But at that
point the work was stopped by ponucai
agitations The work was really COM
menced in 1885. when the city council OF
Mexico submitted project TO the tederal
government and offered to contribute
largely to the cost. President Por1irio
Diaz then named a special commission
with ample authority TO diSburse the FUNDS
dedicated to the work. and this body up
to the present date has directed its eXecu-
ton. The drainage works, now carried
out will receive the surplus waters ana
sewage of the city of Mexico and carry
them outside the valley, and will also
control the entire waters of the valley
affording an outlet, whenever found nee
essary, to those which might otherwise
overflow fields and towns rendering the
soil stagnant and marshy.
The sewers of the City OF Mexico form
a network of covered channels, located
sometimes in the middle and sometimes
on the sides of streets, these being al
most always gorges, communicating with
a system of secondary sewers that empty
into collecting sewer discharging into
the canal of San Lazaro, which transports
the sewage to Lake TeXcoco. II the water
is high in the lake, water backs up into
the houses and streets.
The canal and siX-mile tunnel through
the mountain range have a total length
approaching forty miles. The present
works will take rank with the great
achievements of modern times, just as the
immense cut of NochitOngO, their I'M
successful predecessor, was the leader
among ancient earthworks in all the
world. The completed system will have
cost $20,000,O00.
The benefit of these works to the city of
Mexico cannot be overestimated. Instead
of being one of the healthiest cities in the
world, as it should be with its magnificent
climate and situation, Mexico, unfortu-
nately, has a terribly heavy death rate,
due principally to want of drainage and
generally bad sanitary conditions. When
the existing danger of floods is removed,
and the sanitary evils are remedied by
a proper system of drainage, the increased
security that will be enjoyed by life and
prosperity will certainly have its effect on
the prosperity of the city. Property will
rise in value, the population will grow
with rapidity, not to mention the tide of
tourists that will set in from the United
States, and this will mean larger revenues
for the city.