The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-11-16

prepared Wy the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, ID. c.
The Netherlands, which celebrated
the silver jubilee Of their queen re-
Gently, usually go so quietly and eff
ficiently on their way and have so few
of the turmOils and alarms that In
large part make up modern news, that
the outside world seldom appreciates
that here is a country that is one of
the best ripened and most wholesome
of the fruits Of civilization; a land in
which war has been transmitted into
q successful strife of science against
nature; in which thrift has al but
conquered poverty; and in which
kindly human nature has developed a
social system and governmental ma
chinery that seem to bring content
ment to the whole spotless, busy, in
telligent population.
There are paradOxes in the Neither
lands that catch the eye more quickly
than the solid facts. First is the mat
ter of the country's name. To the
English-speaking world it is Holland"
But this is no more the correct name
than Virginia" is the mare of our
Union. Holland Is merely the name
of two of the states Of the United
Netherlands.
And this only begins the paradoXes.
1t is a country where the rivers run,
so to speak, over the heads Of the
inhabitants. PopulOus cities rest be-
low the level Of the sea, which per-
sistently clam0rs for admission. Guilt
waited fields are buried under unpro-
ductive sand, and marshes are drained
to become fertile gardens. Hollands
very existence is a paradox in physical
geography.
The face Of the earth is usually
accepted us being rather old in COM
parison with a and his works. But
not so in Holland. The Dutch have
nodded and reshaped and constructed
the features of their land more rad
ically than the most modern surgeon
has rebuilt the faces of mangled var
victims. A large part Of the country
has been wrested from the sea and Is
held every day from its aggressive
waves.
Everywhere there are canals, some
so small that they barely accommo-
date a rowbOat and others so large
that they will float an G liner.
Primarily, most of the caANls are
drains, and the carrying OF trafc is
an incident, though in many cases a
most important incident.
Elaborate Drainage Systems.
Since most of the land is below the
level of the sea, the soil must be
drained before it can be titled. bitches
are dug, into which the water runs.
AS these become full, the water IS
pumped into others having higher
banks; then from the latter into 9TH
ers still higher, until finally sea-level
is reached. The laws of nature are
reversed. The drainage is from lower
levels to higher. In the early steps
the water is lifted by wind power, but
soon the volume becomes so'great and
such a large area of land is vitality
concerned in it's prompt removal that
the state erects a pumping station and
a trusted official sees to 1t that the
water in his canal does not remain
above it's assigned level.
Thus the drains become greater and
greater and may he used as water
ways. Their banks, made of sandy
earth, must be reinforced by being
faced with stone or fortified by piles.
In the case Of the larger streams,
these banks become dikes, and both
stone and piles are needed in order
to control the waters. There is not
a stone quarry in Holland, yet because
Of its faced dikes it has more stone
work to the square mile than any
other country in the world. It's for
ests are too few to supply fuel to its
inhabitants; yet 1t has millions of
great tree trunks underground, driven
in TO serve as building foundations or
hold in check the washing waters. The
huge dikes along the North sea, on
both sides Of the River Mas, skirting
the Rhine and the Zuyder Zee, are
faced with piles as close together as
they can be driven. And these are
backed by dressed German basalt or
Norwegian granite.