The times., 1901-03-17

HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING.
| This is one OF the oldest branches Of en-
| gineering, and was developed before the
| last century. The irrigation works of
| Asia, Africa, Spain, Italy, the Roman
aqueducts and the canals of Europe, are
| examples. Hydraulic works cannot be
| constructed in ignorance of the laws
| which govern the flow of water. The
action of water is relentless. as ruined
| canals, obstructed rivers, and washed-out
| dams do testify.
| The principal additions of the nine
| teenth century to hydraulic engineering
! are the collection of larger statistics of
| the flow OF water in pipes and channels,
of rainfall run-Of. and available supply.
| 1t is now known that the germs of dis
| ease can be retained by ordinary sand
| filters, and it is now an established fact
| that pure drinking water and proper
| drainage is a sure preventive of typhoid
| and similar fevers Very foul water can
be made potable. Experiments show that
| the water of the Schuylkill River at
Philadelphia, which contains 100000 germs
| in the space of less than a cubic inch,
was so much purified by fltering that
| Of sanitary science, but the application
| of it is through structural engineering,
which designs and executes the filter beds
with great economy.
The removal of sewage, after having
been done by the Etruscans before the
| foundation of Rome, became lost art
! during the dirty Dark Ages, when filth
/ and piety We're deemed to be connected in
| some myterious way.
! 1t was reserved for good John Wesley
| to point out that Cleanliness is next TO
| godlness." Now sewage works are as
! common as those for water supply. Some
| of them have been of great size and cost.
| Such are the drainage works of London,
/ Paris, Berlin Boston. Chicago, and New
| Orleans very difficult work was the
| drainage of the City of Mexico, which is
| in a valley surrounded by mountains, and
| elevated only four to five feet above
| lake having no outlet. Attempts to drain
| the lake have been made in vain for 800
| years 1t has lately been accomplished
| by tunnel six miles long through the
! mountains, and n canal of over thirty
! miles. the whole work costing some S20,-
| COZ, 600.
| The drainage Of Chicago by locks and
canal into the Illinois River has cost some
! s35 900 900 and is well worth it's cost.
| Scientific research has been applied TO
! the designing of high masonry and con-
! crete dams, and we know now that no
well-designed dam on good foundation
| should fail The dams now building across
! the Nile by order of the British Govern
ment will create the largest artificial lakes
| rf-r-- a mill
be of inestimabIe value in irrigating the
crops of lower Egypt. Their cost, al
! though great, will not exceed the sums
| spent by lavish Khedive Ismail on useless
palaces. now falling to decay.
The Suez Canal is one of the largest
hydraulic works of the last century, and
| is a notable instance of the displacement
OF hand labor by the use of machinery
! IsmaiI began by impressing a large part
of the peasant population OF Egypt, just
as Rameses had done over 1900 years be-
fore. These unfortunate people were set
! to dig the sand with rude hoes, and carry
| it away in baskets on their heads. They
| died by thousands for want of water and
| proper food At last the French en-
| gineers persuaded the Khedive TO let them
introduce steam dredging machinery A
| light railway was laid to supply pro-
visions. and a small ditch dug to bring
| pure water The number of men en-
ployed fell to one-fourth. Machinery did
the rest. But for this the canal would
| never have been finished.
The Panama Canal now uses the best
modern machinery, and the Nicaragua
Canal. if built, will apply still better
methods developed on the Chicago drain
age canal where material was handled
al . less cost than has ever been done
before.
Russia is better supplied with internal
waterways than any other country. Her
rivers rise near each other, and have
long been connected by canals. 1t is
stated that she has over $1,000 miles of
internal navigation, and is now prepar-
ing the construction of canals to connect
the Caspian with the Baltic Sea.
The Erie Canal was one of very small
cost but its influence has been surpassed
| by none The winning of the West
was hastened many years by the con-
struction of this work in the first quar-
ter of the century. Two horses were just
able TO draw ton of goods at the speed
of two miles an hour over the wretehed
roads of those days. When the canal was
made these two horses could draw boat
carrying $50 tons four miles an hour. Mud,
or. in other words, friction, is the great
| enemy of civilization, and canals We're
the first things to diminish it, and after
that railways.
The Erie Canal was made by engineers,
| but il had to make its own engineers first,
as there was none available in this cOun-
| try at that time These self-taught men,
some Of them land surveyors and others
! lawyers showed themselves the equals
of the Englishmen Brindley and Smeaton.
| when they located a water route through
the wilderness, having a uniform descent
from Lake Erie to the Hudson. and which
would have been so built if there had been
enough money.
The question now is whether to enlarge
| the capacity of this canal by gravity, en-
larging it's prism and locks, or to in
| crease speed and move more boats in a
season by electrical appliances. The last
! method seems more in line with those of
| the present day.
There should be n waterway from the
| Hudson to Lake Erie large enough for
| vessels able to navigate the lakes and
the ocean y draft of twenty-one feet can
be had at cost estimated at 100000 000.
The deepening of the Chicago drainage
| canal to the Mississippi River, and the
deepening Of the Mississippi itself to the
| Gulf of Mexico, is logical sequence of
the first project. The Nicaragua Canal
would then form one part of great line
of navigation, by which the products of