Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1902 — Raising the Sea of Azov. [ARTICLE]

Raising the Sea of Azov.

He Sea of Azov, an aim of the Black Sea, is to be Improved for navigation by a novel method. It is joined to the Black Sea by the Strait of Iverteh, which Is about two miles wide and possesses a maximum depth of twenty-seven feet. But at the various ports along Its shores the depth of water varies only from five feet to fourteen feet. Every effort thus far made by tho Government to maintain channels for seagoing craft has been unavailing, and it has been necessary to maintain a costly system of lightering. It Is proposed, therefore, to get rid of the latter by rasing the level of the entire sea, through the construction of a dam across the Strait of Kertch. This dam will raise the water high enough to give twenty feet of water in all of the ports. A large amount of shore property will have to be protected, and compensation for damages to existing harbor work will be included in the bill of expenses.—San Francisco Chronicle.