T .- 

 THE 



ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 



DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LAKE OF HAARLEM. 



THE drainage of the great lake of Haarlem by the Dutch Govern- 

 ment, a work which stands unrivalled in the history of hydraulic 

 engineering, and which has been prosecuted with energy since 1848, 

 has been nearly completed within the past year. The origin and 

 history of this great enterprise is as follows : 



In the year 1539, the Xorth Sea, long restrained by artificial dams 

 and dikes, as well as by some natural ridges of sand, suddenly burst 

 its barriers, and brought horror and desolation into the fertile flats of 

 Xorth Holland. Twenty-six thousand acres of rich pasture land, with 

 meadows, cattle and gardens, were covered by the waves, and the 

 village of Xieuweinkirk was submerged and all its inhabitants lost in 

 the tremendous calamity. The inundation resulted at first in the 

 formation of four lakes, but the barriers of soft alluvial soil which 

 separated them were gradually destroyed, and the four lakes became 

 merged into one. The degradation of the shores also continued, 

 until, at the commencement of the 18th century, the waters covered 

 an area of 45,000 acres, with an average depth of 13 feet below low 

 water in the Zuyder Zee. This lake constituted what has since been 

 known as the Haarlem Meer, or Sea. The people of Holland saw 

 with much alarm, the rapid extension of its boundaries, and, at an 

 expense of about 33,000, succeeded in partially arresting its pro- 

 gress ; an expense of about 4,000 per year was moreover entailed, 

 for the preservation and repair of the works of defence. More than 

 two centuries elapsed from the time of the first inundation before any- 

 one began to dream of recovering this vast tract of country, and then, 

 for a long period, all plans proposed were deemed impracticable. At 

 length, on the 9th of November, 1836, a furious .hurricane from the 

 west drove the waters of the Lake upon the city of Amsterdam, and 

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