Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1912-04-25
The Romance of Engineering.

The Romance OF Engineering.
The wide popularity of the writings OF
Jules Verne proves that, although engi-
neering is supposed TO be far removed
from the field of romance and speculation,
this great art is capable of being so han
died by writer who combines free i'm
agination, a facile pen. and, OF course, a
fairly broad knowledge of science and
art, as to become absorbingly fascinating.
The school of Jules Verne has its later
representatives in Kipling and Wells,
who both possess, in rare degree, the
faculty OF writing technical romanceS and
even indulging in technical prophecy,
without overstepping the line which sep
arates the sublime from the ridiculous.
But, after all. is it necessary to 60 to
Jules Verne when the day-by-day hap
penings in the field of engineering supply
us with situations as replete with the
wonderful and the dramatic as any that
haye been conjured up by the writers OF
technical fiction? Let us put that state
ment to the test. During the first week
of the present year, when the North At
lantic Fleet was making its way south for
Guantanamo, Cuba, storm OF extreme
fury burst upon the fleet, working swift
damage, disabling many ships, and cauS-
ing the admiral to bid each disabled YES
sci make its way to the nearest port OF
refuge. During the greater part of the
gale an official at, Washington was in touch
with every battleship and cruiser in the
fleet. Sitting in the quiet of his office, he
learned hour by hour how each vessel
Jared, where She was, and how her course
was laid. If heavy sea came aboard,
smashing boats and carrying away deck
structures, the facts were known within
the hour and laid upon his desk in type
written statement. He was able to con-
verse with the captain of each ship, ad-
wise with him; and in short, through the
wonderful eyes and ears of the wireless,
he was in position, had he so wished,
to control and coordinate the movements
Of the scattered fleet with surer knowI-
edge Of their position than the admiral
himself. The most daring dream OF Jules
Verne never carried him so far into the
seemingly miraculous as that
The wonders of yesterday become the
commonplace facts of today; and the en-
gineer has so surfeited the public with
achievements OF daring and. magnitude
that the greatest works excite passing,
if not languid, interest. 1t was only the
other day that the Mayor OF this city,
standing a thousand feet below the SUR
face of the Hudson River, set off the final
blast that opened from shore to shore,
through the solid rock, huge inverted
drinking supply conduit, which is big
enough for a railroad train to run through.
And this will form merely one link in a
ninety -mile-long subterranean aqueduct
for supplying New York's drinking water.
The people of the United States are so
much interested in the engineering prob
lens of the Panama canal, that they over
look some other contemporary featS OF
engineering, which equal those at the
Isthmus in difficulty and occasionally sur
pass them in daring and originality.
When the engineers Of the Catskill aque-
duct reached the Hudson River and sank
their test borings in its bed, they found to
their dismay that below its waters was a
deep geological gorge, filled to depth OF
800 feet with loose glacial drift. So they
determined to blast out tunnel below
the gorge. going down until they reached
absolutely solid rock that was impervious
to water. They found that they would
have to sink TO a level over 100 feet be-
low the surface of the river-and this they
have done. SO when the work is opened,
an artificial subtenanean river OF pure
mountain water nearly 100 miles in length
will flow from the Catskills to New York.
When it reaches the Hudson, at an ele-
vation of 400 feet above the river, it will
make sheer drop Of l 500 feet, flow
horizontally for over 5000 feet at depth
of 100 feet below the river and within
walls on each square foot Of which the
water will exert pressure OF 40 l-2tons,
and then rise vertically through height
of 500 feet to the "flow-line" level OF
the aqueduct. 1t is great work, boldly
conceived and most successfully accom-
plished.
The Romans were great builders OF
aqueducts; but they never worked on
such scale as this. There was no ne
cessity. Had Rome called for a daily
supply of 500, ,OOO, 900 of gallons, its en-
gineers would, doubtless, have found a
way-even though they had neither dy-
namite nor diamond drills. - Scientific
American.