THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



105 



dam at Villar, which is 170 feet high. The 

 latter is built on modern lines, and is one 

 of four which overtop all other dams now 

 in existence. These are the Periar dam 

 in India, 173; the Furens dam, in France, 

 170.6; the San Mateo dam, in California, 

 which is the same height, 170 feet, as tht 

 one at Villar. The builders of the ancient 

 Spanish dams seem to have proceeded 

 mainly upon the idea of piling in plenty 

 of material, and while some of their work 

 has stood secure for centuries, some is 

 said to have failed because the founda- 

 tions were crushed by the sheer weight of 

 the enormous masses of masonry piled 

 above them. 



To the French belongs the honor of 

 first making a scientific investigation of 

 the best forms of profile for masonry dams, 

 and the dam at Furens was the first to be 

 constructed in accordance with the results 

 of these studies, It was built to protect 

 the village of St. Etienne from the disas- 

 trous floods to which the Furens river is 

 subject, the discharge sometimes rising as 

 high as 34,600 gallons per secoud, while 

 the average flow is 130. This dam, which 

 was completed in 1866, was not only much 

 higher than any that had been built up to 

 that time (170.6), but its graceful, slender 

 outlines constituted a daring departure 

 from previous methods. Colossal dams 

 are now so numerous in all parts of the 

 world that a mere catalogue of them 

 would fill a page. A few of the more 

 noteworthy are given in the following 

 table: 



Height. 



Tytam, China 95 



Grorzente', Italy 121 



Haniz, Algiers 135 



Vyrnwy, Wales 136 



Bat , France 152 



Gileppe, Belgium 154 



Washington Post. 



The proposed irrigation canal down the 

 west side of Cache valley, Idaho,, bids fail- 

 to be a great success. The constitution 

 and by-laws of the company that is going 



to undertake the construction of this 

 canal, were recently prepared, and the 

 stock and subscription lists are getting 

 substantial support. 



An irrigation convention was recently 

 held at Lawrence, 'Kan., but though well 

 attended and well conducted, practical 

 irrigation has not yet made much headway 

 in the state. 



RAILWAY STATISTICS FOR THE 

 WHOLE COUNTRY. 



The ninth statistical report of the In- 

 terstate Commerce Commission, just 

 Issued, contains some interesting figures. 

 One hundred and fifty-one roads, repre- 

 senting 30,475 miles, were in the hands 

 of receivers June 30, 1896, a decrease of 

 eighteen from the previous year. The 

 capital stock of these roads was $742,597,- 

 698, and the funded debt $999,733,766. 

 The total railroad mileage of the country 

 was 182,776, an increase of 2,119 miles. 

 G-eorgia shows an increase of 233 miles, 

 the largest shown by any state. These 

 roads .used 35,950 engines and 1,297,649 

 cars. The railway employes number 

 826,620, and they received 60 per ceut of 

 the total operating expenses, a slight de- 

 crease from the previous year. The 

 total railroad capital was"$10,566,865,771 

 which shows a capital of $59,618 per mile, 

 and if current liabilities are included as 

 part of the capital, it reaches $63,068 per 

 mile. The number of passengers carried 

 reached 511,772,737, an iucrease of 4,000,- 

 000. The freight tonnage was 765,891.385, 

 the largest ever reported by the roads of 

 this country and an increase of nearly 

 70,000,000 tons. The gross earnings were 

 $1,150,169,376, an increase of nearly 

 $75,000,000, making a net income of $33,- 

 000,000 more than during the previous 

 year. 



A Wisconsin paper says that "cigarette 

 smoking is offensive to those who are op- 

 posed to it." And it is opposed to those 

 who are not, as the mortuary records prove. 



