A Marvellous Project.

Hastings Standard, Issue 308, 28 April 1897, Page 4

A Marvellous Project.

A CANAL ACROSS RUSSIA. A canal is to bo built between the Baltic and the Black Sea, or a least such a canal has been projected, if j we are to credit Le Journal des | Transports (Paris). " This canal," according to the above-named journal, will extend from Riga toKherson, a distance of I*oo kilometres, (1118 miles), utilising the Duna, the Beresina, and the Dnieper rivers, and also the Pripet (an affluent of the Dnieper), the Niemen, and the Vistula. The average width will be 64 meters (210 ft) at the surface and S3 meters (113 ft) at the bottom, with a mean depth of 8-5 meters (28ft *. The country to be traversed in western Russia is so liat that locks will not be necessary, and the engineers will have no serious difficulty to surmount Special ports will be estab i: L ~ 1 V the chief Russian towns on tl t r i iu ,nd a branch canal will jot; 5 i lin canal to a certain muni >• » her important centres. It is proposed to utilise the- current that will dow through the canal, for the purpose of sener.iting sufficient electric« nt-ivy to the canal along its entire k nL-:h. .-o th-.it navigation may be eontinui-d by It is calculated that \ easels may pas«

through at a speed of six knots an hour, or six clays for the entire passage. The length of time required to coi'io'eie the work is placed at five years, nucl the expense at- about 600 million francs. The promoters of the scheme think that by setting to work at once they will succeed in opening the canal at the same time with the inauguration of the Trans-Siberian Railway."