Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-18
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Il G..-S.. 80
L OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ..:..,
| asfss 49,
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You'll be rising on the rising wat"~
plane. that's all. Until. at last. you'll
always come into the bright oasis OF one
Of the reservoirs-and all is normal boat
drawn water again. till you reach
the next tube section.
Going Down the Tube.
And the down trip, Ahead the roof
will slant in darkness till il meets your
canal water 1t shuts off all possible
advance But you do not advance.
Reach your hand down and touch the
canal water. There's no movement. Yet
the walls are going past YOU, And be-
hind. in the dim light you'll see IL"
water ellipse swirl-and dry floor coming
out of it.
do not think that any one will make
the trip twice for pleasure. The object
of the Alps canal is pure business. And
its construction. according to EnSince
Caminada. will be comparatively quick
and cheap to startle the world.
"All canal digging proper is avoided
he says. The material OF the tubes VIII
be a kind o. concrete whose source W"
have found quite nearby, in the ALPS
themselves. And the only digging Of
the ground will be tina. necessary 10
will be short. TO give us advantageous
cuts. The facility of laying tubes It
any angle. vertical or horizontal. will al
ford us extraordinary liberty of route
As the diameter OF the tubes Will h"
only great enough to pass single canal
boats their construction and laying will
be far less costly than might he imagined.
Once the Alps canal is built. the con-
sumption of water will be phenomenally
little.
As the tubes will be continually empty
ing themselves, all freezing in winter,
aquatic growths in summer. all intiltration
and erosion will be spared while thu
thickness and homogeneous character OF
the tubes will keep them in a natural
state of perfect repair.
Tubes at Any Angle.
OF course all this seems very eXtraor-
binary at first glance. /, who have ra-
Gently been over the Simplon from Stressa
on the Lago Maggiore up. up. up and
down, down, down to Brigue in SwitZer-
land, remember that our powerful noun
tain-multplied automobile covered lots
of ground on all those ZigZag facets UP To
the Pass watershed and down to the
Valley of the Rhone. To Law grea. TUNES
of concrete along that rather extended
route would be like building several rail-
roads. | said to myself.
Well. since thinking more. the difficult
ties appear less. The Alps canal will not
be forced to follow zigzag facets. II can
be thrown over ravines, like an aqueduct.
1t can be laid straight. 1t can take any
slant they choose to give it. Even IA do
grees in places,
In this way the Alps canal proper will
be short. The whole route is from Genoa
over the Little Apennines. then across
plains and easy canal country up To Mi
Ian and Lake Como. The vast stretches
of all this will be by usual canal and
the Alps will be attacked by the Maloja
pass far easier than the Smplon.
The Alps canal proper can be laid in
FIVE years" affirms the Italian senator.
This will include its locks and reservoirs.
all ready. During the same time the long
er. easier sections will be building indie
pendently.'
And the water?' some one asked him.
We have all we need-and more" he
answered. We know Just where il will
come from
And there stands the King of Italy he
hind him, silent. short-legged. garlic
smelling but inscrutably the master mind
of present-hour Italy. He has counted
up the canals cost already. He knows in
advance the profits Italy will make ny
dragging the freights of half Europe to
and through her.
STERLING HELLO.