The Regulation of Rivers (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Regulation of Rivers 1. The Improvement of Waterways is a Commercial Necessity. - Waterways have always held a prominent part in the commercial life of the world. Rivers and the seas constitute nature's especial contribution to the development of material progress through their advantage as fundamental routes of communication. Economic transportation demands the removal of impediments to navigation. Harbors must be given an easy approach and ample accommodations for ocean shipping. Canals form essential links of waterways where natural barriers obstruct their continuity on great trade routes. Rivers require the deepening of their channels at shoal places and other essential improvements to fit them in full measure for their service to commerce. 2. Both Theory and Experience Essential in Regulation of Rivers. - The regulation of rivers involves the control of flowing water. It therefore is based upon hydraulic laws. The bed and banks of a stream are unstable in greater or less degree. These modifications are produced by the river currents, but the principles involved are as yet but imperfectly understood. The purpose is to so control the flow that a favorable channel shall form in places where it has been inadequate. Regulation is not wholly a question of the application of known hydraulic formulæ. Many works of improvement have been disappointing when designed with too great a reliance upon the exactitude of values involving variable factors, or with too serene a confidence that the effect will be favorable in all essential details if only the theoretical values are attained. Neither is the regulation of rivers entirely a proposition of adopting such design as has proved successful elsewhere. Many projects of this character have fallen short of the expected efficiency because of failure to adequately modify the design in adapting it to differences in regimen. The exponent of the finality of hydraulic theory proclaims for its results an adequacy which often proves fictitious, while the partisan of the sufficiency of practical experience assumes for it a potency which is essentially fortuitous. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.