Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1895 — A STUPENDOUS FEAT". [ARTICLE]

A STUPENDOUS FEAT".

Reclaimfnq. TSO Square Miles of Latvd Now Uhder Water, One of tne most stupendous feats in engineering which the world has ever seen is proposed by the people of Holland, being nothing less than the reclamation of the waters submerged by the Zuyder Zee. The scheme, it carried oat, will result in recovering about 750 square miles of land now under water and will add a new province to the country. It is estimated that the work will cost over SIBO.000,000, and will require 88 years of constant labor. The Dutch Government has recently received a favorable report on the plans from the Roval commission appointed to look into the project, and It is re ported that the government and many pfthe leading eltieens of Holland consider the scheme practicable. In the expansion of territory, in the increase of trade and agriculture, and in the giving to thousands of people the opportunity of profitable employment, the project, though a stupendous and very costly one, will be one that will recommend itself to most Hollanders The work proposed to be done consists, first, of the construction of an extensive embankment from almost the extreme-point of North Holland to the Friesland coast, so as to shut out the ocean from all further access to the Zuyder Zee; and second, of the formation, by means of further embankments, of four great “polders” on different patts of the shores of the Zuyder Zee for the purposes of land reclamation. Io is estimated that the capital value of the land to be reclaimed, for agricultural purposes, will be over $185,000,000, There is one important point which has been raised by the objectors to the plan, and that is that its consummation will practically destroy the Zuyder Zee fisheries, the revenues of which now average about $850,000 per year, employment being given through these fisheries to 8,000 persons, and 1,500 vessels. To compensate the fishermen for their loss the Royal commission proposes to give to every man thus deprived of a means of livelihood a new vessel suitable for the North Sea fisheries; and further to insure them against accident, to pension old fishermen and to exempt from harbor dues all the craft owned by them. It is believed in Holland that after the settlement of the secondary questions the government will at once order the great work of reclaiming these lands under water to be begun.