TURNING THE GULF STREAM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 214, 3 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

TURNING THE GULF STREAM.

A. SCHEME for turning, or rather, d- fleeting, the G<»lf Scream, which, for the oresent, however, in likely to exist on Duper only, has been originated by Mr Job"n C. Good bridge, an inventor and -njjine«r wt- 11 known in New York. It hus for its objeott ohunging the tempera rure of the Atlantic States by obtaining uore of the benefit of the Gulf Stream Mr Goodbridge assumes that the reason chut those States do^ not get the benefit of it now in 7 that they have between them "ttidit a Polar current, coming down along r he co.mt of Labrador, through the Straits f Belle We, and forming the cold western *all of the Gulf Stream. The existence of this current iv well ehfcablinhed, and in fact, is one of the facts on whioh the ■fficial sailing directions, both in the United States and England are b-ised. What Mr Goodbndge proposes is that it Jutald be 1 stopped in the Straits of Belle [sle by: a dam at a point where it is about 10 miles wide and 100 feet deep. The 'diitn, he says, could bo built with the ndjacent ronk*, iind the cost would not exceed 40,000,000d0k The effect of thin would be, he oalcut'itew, to change the remperature of the coast from Cape EEatteru) to Newfoundland. Nova Scotia would 'hrfve a climate us mild as Cape May, and Block IsUud and Cape Cod would 1 ' become wintor wateringplaces. Moreover, the St. Lawrence would be open to navigation throughout the year. 'Mr Goodridge also thinks, though not with much positivenesn, that the deflection of the Arctic current might •urn the r Gttlf Stream further southward, •md thus cut off en«ug.h heat from tho British Isles to give them the climate ot Labrador ; and then, giving rbe rein* to nis fancy, he seeß the Queen abandoning her icy kingdom, and taking refug<« ■■* impress in India, But all thin is too ouch to expect for 40,000,000d0k, and very thankful we ought to be that then* ire not enough insane men to raise be tween them even that sum for such * wild bcberne as that of Mr Goodbridge. — I Iron.