ENGINEERING. 



309 



called Monkey Hill, with the object of filling 

 up the lagoons at the bottom of the bay of 

 Colon, in order to improve the sanitary condi- 

 tions. The 120 horse-power dredgers remove, 

 each of them, 6,000 cubic metres of earth a 

 day. The machines of the Franco-American 

 Trading Company, which were built in Lock- 

 port, N. Y., excavate 2,000 metres. This com- 

 pany has contracted to dig the Pacific opening 

 from the mouth of the Eio Grande to Paraiso 

 within the term of two years. 



Florida Ship-Canal. A project for a tide- water 

 canal across the upper . part of the Florida 

 Peninsula has been taken up by a company 

 formed for the purpose. The commercial 

 prospects of this canal are more encouraging 

 than those of the again intermitted Cape Cod 

 cutting, for the 800 miles of navigation which 

 it will save were described by Commodore 

 Maury as being as dangerous as any in the 

 world. The annual losses from wrecks on the 

 southern coast of Florida are computed to 

 amount to $5,000,000. A saving of 1 per cent, 

 in insurance is therefore counted on. The 

 commerce which goes through Florida Pass 

 annually is said to be three times as great 

 as the traffic of the Suez canal. The route 

 selected is from a point on the Suwanee river, 

 to a point above Jacksonville on the St. John's 

 river a distance of somewhat over 60 miles. 

 The estimated cost is $20,000,000. 



The Iron Gate. The removal of the obstruc- 

 tions in the cataracts and narrows of the Dan- 

 ube, called the Iron Gate, at the point where 

 the Austro- Hungarian, Servian, and Rouma- 

 nian boundaries meet, was attempted in 1781, 

 and again in 1834. The scheme has been de- 

 ferred up to the present in pursuance of the 

 protective policy of the Austrian and Hunga- 

 rian Governments, which feared the compe- 

 tition of foreign manufactures, and even of 

 American grain. In 1883 it was again taken 

 up, and arrangements were made for the final 

 execution of this important and difficult work 

 of engineering. On June 4th, an accord was 

 reached between the. Austrian and Hungarian 

 ministries, in a conference at Vienna, by which 

 the Hungarian Government undertook the regu- 

 lation of the river. The agreement of Servia 

 and Roumania was obt-uned. The cost is to 

 be reimbursed by the levy of tolls for the 

 period of ninety years. The various estimates 

 range from 10,000,000 to 22,000,000 florins. 

 The general plan which was adopted was 

 worked out by the American engineer Mac- 

 Alpine. 



Diversion of the Syr Darya. Schemes for 

 changing the course of the Syr (Jaxartes) and 

 that of the Amou (Oxus) have been under the 

 consideration of the Russian Government for 

 some time. Both of the principal rivers of 

 Turkestan have followed different channels at 

 different periods. The partial diversion of the 

 Syr into the bed of the Jany Darya is a work 

 of no great difficulty, as it was accomplished 

 by the Kara Kalpaks about 1760. The river 



was turned into its former course by means of 

 a dam constructed in 1837 or 1838, by order 

 of the Khan of Khiva, to prevent the Russians 

 from using it as an avenue of approach to his 

 capital. In 1853 the Russians broke the dam 

 and allowed the waters to flow into the dry 

 bed of the Jany Darya, but finding that the 

 Syr Darya was rendered too shallow for steam- 

 boat communication, they restored the work. 

 In 1883 a channel was reopened, and the 

 water soon penetrated as t'ar as Irkibai. 

 Whether the main volume of the river can 

 be diverted into the new course, and whether 

 it can be made to flow into the Amou or the 

 Sea of Aral, is still doubtful. The work al- 

 ready accomplished will restore fertility to a 

 large portion of the Kizil Kum desert, and im- 

 prove the military and caravan communica- 

 tions with Khiva and the Amou Darya station. 

 Drainage of Lake Okeehobee. The reclamation 

 of swamp -lands on an enormous scale has 

 been undertaken in Florida by an association 

 of American and English capitalists. The 

 Florida Land Improvement Company, organ- 

 ized by Hamilton Disston, of Philadelphia, in 

 addition to 4, 000, 000 acres of State lands which 

 were obtained by purchase, selected, and in 

 great part resold, one half being taken by an 

 English syndicate and several hundred thousand 

 acres of the remainder by other purchasers, 

 received authorization to drain the Okeehobee 

 district, covering 11,000,000 acres; on terms 

 giving the company for its service one half of 

 the land reclaimed. There are some sections 

 in the overflowed lands, as well as in the pine- 

 lands of Southern Florida, which are sup- 

 posed to be as well adapted to the cultivation 

 of sugar as any soil in the world. The cane 

 can be harvested in saccharine maturity, as 

 the region is south of the frost -line; but 

 whether it will propagate itself for a suc- 

 cession of years by ratooning, as in Cuba, is 

 not yet established. These lands are also 

 suitable for jute, which is grown in Florida 

 of a superior staple and luster. The feasi- 

 bility of draining Lake Okeehobee was es- 

 tablished in 1879, in a survey ordered to be 

 made by the Federal Government. Col. Meigs, 

 who conducted the survey, calculated the level 

 of Lake Hickpochee, connecting with Lake 

 Okeehobee, to be 22 feet above mean low 

 tide. A survey made in 1881 demonstrated 

 that the elevation of Lake Okeehobee above 

 the low- water level of the Atlantic ocean was 

 25 feet. When Lake Okeehobee overflows 

 its banks and backs the waters of its numer- 

 ous tributaries, submerging the entire sur- 

 rounding country, a portion *of the overflow 

 finds its way into the Gulf of Mexico by slug- 

 gish and tortuous channels through Coloosa- 

 hatchie river and other outlets. The company 

 began to cut a canal from the Coloosahatchie 

 in January, 1882, and made connection with 

 the lake on Dec. 10, 1882. A steady current 

 set through this channel, which relieved a 

 large surface of swamp-land adjacent to the 



