New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-24

King Alfonso to RehabiIitate
Madrid'S Peculiar River.

Copyright 1910. BY the Brentwood Company
King Alfonso. having endowed his capital
with a magnificent new boulevard mile long
and one hundred and fifty feet wide. known
as the Gran Via, starting from the Plaza
de san Marcial, and having also assumed
the initiative in providing Madrid with a
sorelv needed. up-to-date and thoroughly
modern hotel. Al the op4ing OF which he
and the two queens We're present the other
day. has now taken seriously in hand the
regulation and canalization of the River
Manzanares. on the banks of which the
Spanish metropolis is perched
The Afanzanares is q most extraordinary
river. which has its source in some of the
most som6re recesses of~the neighbo-ing
Guadarrama range Of mountains. about
twenty miles above Madrid. and pours
itself into the Jarama River about twelve
miles below the capital. Sometimes it is
a river Of considerable dimensions. at other
times raging torrent. but usually
mere rivulet, which occasionally disap-
pears altogether from the surface of the
bed, water being found only after digging
40 depth Of three or four feet in the
sand. Its sudden changes take place with
out warning and without apparent cause.
anG one would ne almost tempted TO be-
the retaining walls of some natural reser-
voir in the mountain recesses giving way
under the pressure of water accumulated
from springs and melted SHOWS.
But the normal condition of the Man
zanares is that Of a rivulet, and as slch
it IS something very much akin TO a stand
ing Joke with the Madrilenes. The late
Count Tattenbach, who died the other day
as German A1nba ssador at Madrid, was
wort 10 declare that If he preferred the
ManZanares to all other rivers, il was
because II was 'navigable by carriage and
on horseback" Lord Byron causes Don
Juan" 20 light his cigar on one Of its
banks from q finder extended to him from
the opposite bank. while Tirse de Melina
surnar1ed il the Duke or All Cutters.
When Alexandra Dumas the elder was at
Madrid the river had completely dried up,
and he had his little joke in gravely hard
inS 20 tie head waiter a. the hotel at
which he was staying a glass Of water,
requesting him tn carry it down tn the
river sod Of the Manzanares. who. he in
sisted was badly in need Of 4 drink.
Yet three stately bridges span the river
bed the two oldest. Of stone. being known
Is the Puente de Toledo and the Puente de
Segovia. while the newer one a steel sus
pension bridge. hears the name Of the
Puentn de Ia Princesa- Charles III built
canal. which. leaving the Manzanares
Just above the Toledo bridge, traverses the
southern part Of the metropolis and Joins
the Jsrana River ar the village Of Vacia
Madrid But u is difficult ~ understand
the object Of this costly piece of work.
since TIE canal is naturally wholly dry and
2 receptacle for ofTaI and refuse whenever
the water is lacking in the River Mama
mares
The work which King Alfonso is now
irritating has for its object the canalization
Of the river from its sources In the noun
tair1s, that is 10 say, providing the stream
with an artificial bed and removing those
rocky obstacles at its source which keep
the waters pent UP in the mountains until
their very volume bursts their barriers.
Leading hydraulic engineers of the present
time are convinced that by this means and
by a very simple system Of locks the Man
zanares can be rendered not merely a re-
spectacle looking river at all times but
even navigable one all the year round.
And this view comedies with plans already
conceived in the reign Of Philip II, of Philip
" and Of Charles Il The last named.
however, had the misfortune to submit the
project 10 a Couacil of the Crown, which
pronounced against il. on the ground that
the enterprise would be as sinful as that Of
the Biblical Tower OF Babel. since If the
Almighty had wished the Manzanares to ne
navigable He would certainly have made
It so.
Tie money necessary for King Alfonso's
project has already been voted by the
Cortes and comprises a scheme for drain
ing all the rainwater Of the city, though,
OF course, not the sewage into the Manza-
mares, while il is intended, as soon as this
is completed. to further improve the ia
rama and the Tagus rivers in such fash
ion as to open I'D navigable waterway be-
tween Madrid and Lisbon.