The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-15
WORK GOES ON
 INzUYDERzEE
 RECLAMATION
Dutch Refuse to Halt
 Project Despite Conquest

AmSt srdan, Aug. l5-(UPl-Hol- IAnders; despite the fact that their country is occupied territory, are ct work on their so-called 12th pro- vince eclamation of the former Zuyder Zee. area.
 About 750,O00 acres Of new land will have been added to Houands area when the reclamation project IS completed. This will mean 8 gain of 2 per cent of the total area and 10 per cent of the cultivatible land.
 Only . fairly large lake - the Yssel Lake = will remain of what once used to be the large inland sea called the "Zuider Zee"
 Before Holland was caught In the war, it was stimated that this g1- gantic task would have been finish ed in 1852 at a total cost of be- tween $750,0OoOoO and $1,OOO, ,oOO,- 900. -
 At what date the work now will be finished and at what cost-n noe body knows, but that does not de-, ter the EollanderS from fulfilling their ages-Old dream. They man their dredging machines just the same; they operate their gigantic pumps and grip their spades and go ahead with the work.
 Work Begun in 1920
 The project was begun in 1920. The gigantic dam across the an- trance of the Zuyder Sea -- 26 miles long-was completed in 1892. Two years later the first "polder" (which means reclaimed lake or seal was under cultivation. This new land was called the "Wier- inger-Meer Folder" It covers about 50.0OO acres.
 In 1887 work was started on an even more gigantic task, the recla- nation of the second section = the "North Eastern Folder" of 1l8,500 acres.
 Provisionary work in the mean time was begun on the third pol- der of 250O0O acres. The fourth and last polder will contain 150,0oO acres.
 During December of, last year the dike or dam around this second polder was finished and the tre- mendous pumping stations began their task of pumping out of the bowl more than 1,500, 900, 900 cubic meters of water. This work will be finished by this fall. Most of the time more than 4,000 men have been working on dike construction.
 ThO work of retaining the sec- ond polder was done by Dutch workmen, directed by Dutch over seers, under the direction of Dutch engineers.
 Model Villages Planned
 As soon as the water is pumped out of the polder and the new land has been exposed long enough to the influence of sun and air and has been de-salted, one central vil- lage surrounded by six smaller vn- lages, will be erected.
 It was of the greatest importance to know beforehand what the ex- act composition of the new soil would be. So as not to lose time, samples of the soil were brought to the surface by long drilling in- stallstions and tested in specially built laboratories.
 All the new land of the first pol- der vas reserved for wheat growing, vegetables and for cattle grazing. The same procedure will be followed for the second polder, now under construction, as well as for the third and fourth .polder. There is no i:1- tention to turn them into over- crowded areas with big cities. They will be producing -centers for agri- cultural and dairy products and thus will provide for Holland more economic living space.
 In the half of the impressive pumping station which stands in the middle of the 26-mile long dam across the zuyder Sea entrance, may be seen plaque, bearing these words: "A living nation builds at tts future"