Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

DRAINING THE ZUYDER ZEE

CENTURIES OLD DREAM TO BE

MATERIALISED

FORECAST OF THE TASK

The simple announcement from Amsterdam, the other dfiy, to the effect that iho draining of tno Zuyder Zeo had been begun at Medemblik, marked v a definite period in the progress of a scheme which has been,, off and on, in the.forefront of practical politics iu Holland for over seventy years (comments the "Christian Science Monitor"). It has probably been a dream for . a very much longer time than i luit, for centuries in fact, for the Dutch have always been great engineers, but it was in the year 1819 that tho first definite proposal was put forward. Nothing camo of this or of subsequent proposal, 8»«a an evc-isu!.:rft.sii!g tnlightenn'ient on the. subject,, and ah eve:-growing determination amongst the enlightened that one day the great scheme .really, would be launched and carried uiumphantiy vj And so, in Ibati, the Zuyder Zee Association was formed, and it is largely duo to the untiring efforts of this association that a beginning has, at last, been made on a work which, when complete, will'go a'long way toward righting the wrong v'&lcb. the North Sea committed on Holland, curiously enough, just 70i) years ago. Prior to 1219, the whole region extending south to Naarden from'Texel, Vlio•land. and Tersclielling, the first threo of that long line ot islands which extends round the north-west coast of Holland, was good dry land. Marshes there wero. to be sure, lakes, swamps, and what not of the kind, but it was land like the rest of Holland, 'filled with flourishing villages and cities, with farms spreading themselves over the country side. Then, in 1219, the North Sea, which : has long been held at bay by all manner of uykes and other (iefences. decided to put an end to the opposition, once and for all. And so, with ,the help of a series of extraordinary gales from the north-west, it broke through all defences between Texel and Terschclling and raced 'over the lowlying land beyond.. It did not do it all in one great swoop, of course. The effort of 1219 was repeated in 1282, and it was not until tho-fifteen century that the salt water finally scoured out for itself its present resting-place. It is Unite a big place. _ The greatest leugth of the Zuyder Zee is l over 80 miles; its greatest breadth over 50 miles, whilst it has an area of nearly 2000 square miles. / Given iu acres, its area looks even more formidable, no less, in fact, than 1,23G,450, and of these, under, the scheme Vliioli is now being put in operation, it is proposed to reclaim some 800,000. . ,

fiow tlio only just way, of course, to appreciate what the Dutch Government propose to do is to get the large-scale map, about which so much has been hoard in recent years, nnd 6tudy the matter; note how the Dutch engineer proposes to throw a great dam across the neok of the bottle between the island of Weiringcn and Piaam, on the opposite coast of I'riesland; Jiow, once tho sea is oxcluded, he proposes to the great work of draining the huge area thus out off; how ho will do it "polder" by "polder," making a dyke around a' stretch of land and then pumping all the water from behind it; how. in doing this he .must make provision for rivers and streams to find their way to the sea; must take into account tho contour of the country, now lying some twelve feet 'or more under water; and must so cast his work that the .farmer, the builder, tho joiner, and the market gardener may follow dose upon the heels of the receding waters. And they will, of course, follow close. The Dutch Government has it all worked out to a nicety. No less'tlian 87 per. cent, of the reclaimed land will bo fertile, covered as it is with alluvial sea clay and silt from thn Yssel River, and, within a few weeks of its first seeing the sun after its 700 -years' immersion, the "grass of the field," in all its forms, will surely. be springing up on it. As to tho archaeological discoveries likoly to be made, that is another story, and a long one.' 1

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190819.2.83

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 277, 19 August 1919, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
716

DRAINING THE ZUYDER ZEE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 277, 19 August 1919, Page 7

DRAINING THE ZUYDER ZEE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 277, 19 August 1919, Page 7

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert