The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-12-29
Ancient Aqueducts
By GARRETT P. sERVIss.

WHET New YOrk's immense new
aqueducr s. completed u VIII
rank yery high among tho engineer
ing marrcis OF ne world ard Will
measure I'D 10 the civic maEnituts
and Importance % the future metro
polls % tho earth In some % t-
details q; !s UNMATCHED in human
achieveracni. The great siphou, car
Carrying an imprisoned river under
the bed Of tho Hudson at the HlSh-
lands. and The supply tunnels tina.
are 20 come M zoo feet out o. IN.
rocks underneath tho CITY. are
works worthy Of the band OF ma
ture hcrsslr In their grandeur thes-
recall geological phenomena
Bu; while We indulge iustiflabls
pride n sdniring these things. We
are 81 danger ~ e5agseratiug their
Importance. We are apt Go think
that such achievements arc peculiar
% orr aEe and time We become
unjust and contemptuous toward
antiquity. which Is a foolish stat.
o, mind. because u leads us 70 the
erroneous conclusion that We srs
incompSrably greater than wcr.
the men who built empires ana
cities thousands oc years ago.
bs a matter OF fact We are greiter
only IN the mastery which advance
INK science has given uB over cer-
tain details. We are greater IN some
things and smailcr in othe-s. Even
IN our own chosen field OF mechanical
~. w..
iessl%. suppose that some proud cd
Roman-let us gay Of the days of
Diocletisn-coUld tread the soil of the
new world and examine our new
aqueduct. We should look In vain for
any sign OF amazement IN his eyes
when he saw vast city supplying
Itself with water by bringing Il from
the mountains many miles away. Tho
carrying % tho water beneath the
bed OF broad river might interest
him, but ha would not be surprised.
Hs would say-
This you have accomplished be-
cause you have n better way OF maxi
ing cement and better machines for
penetrating the rocks than we he'd.
But did not the Romans. centuries be
fore my time, drive a tunnel 5000 feas
through the lava rock OF Mount Al
banus 10 let the waters out OF Its
great crater? ] see nothing essential
ly astonishing In what you have dona.
We could. and would. have done aim
liar things IL We had had the ad-
vantage OF two thousand years OF
progress. Upon the whole, I think
You have been rather slow.
Consider what we had accom-
piished before the barbarians de-
scended upon US. We carried water 70
Rome from the mountains forty miles
away. and We built nine great suuo-
ducts, three OF which are still bearing
water TO Rome, while their huge lines
OF masonry with their mighty arches
defy even your powers ot imitation.
All over the world. wherever We
structed roads aud squeducts that re-
main today. come almost as good as
when they wero built.
comparing the tools that we had
With yours. and the state OF practi-
cal science In our time with what ~
* today, ] cannot feel sb8shed IA your
presence. On the contrary, l am
rather surprised that you have done
so little You are still following IN
the track we marked out. Your great
engineering inventions are nothing
more than improvements. The under
lying ideas arc all ours"
Then. out OF the ElJs1an fletdH.
might come shade TO rebuke the
Roman. one OF the engineers who
served the great AmeneIuhat o.
Egypt. who would say:
PROUD Roman. sneer no more at
these ncIgl!ng Americans. look 10
your own lsurels. You brought wa
tor from the mountains 10 Rome.
though the Tiber flowed at your feet;
We. IN Thebes, drank the mighty Niis
10 satisfy our thirst and tho thirst
OF our teeming land. You talk Of
your masonry and your aqueducts'
Look at ours! So FAR from improving
upon them. you did not even equal
them"
Then. from all over the ancient
world, and from the most dittart
tracts OF time, would Gock the engf-
neers or the past, and one would say.
king Solomon built suueducts for
Jerusalom": and another. "Semira-
mis- made Babylon glorious With
sparkling waters" and another. "Ze-
nobia. the Palnyrian queen, turned
Tadmor OF the desert into a garden
OF roses" and from the far-or Land
OF Confucius would come one ~ho
would say: Thousands OF years be-
fore Greece or Egypt or Chsldea was
heard Of ne Chinese had seized the
waters of the great yellow rivers thar
flow down from the roof OF the world