Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century, the true mirror of a phenomenal era, a volume of original, entertaining and instructive historic and descriptive writings, showing the many and marvellous (14780507061)

Identifier: triumphswonderso01boyd (find matches)
Title: Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century, the true mirror of a phenomenal era, a volume of original, entertaining and instructive historic and descriptive writings, showing the many and marvellous achievements which distinguish an hundred years of material, intellectual, social and moral progress ..
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Boyd, James Penny, 1836-1910
Subjects: Progress Inventions
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa., A. J. Holman & Co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



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the date of the completion of these most important works isstill problematical. In the improvement of its harbors every government has been active.Thirty years ago a depth of 23 feet was considered ample, but after 1880 itbecame necessary to adopt 27 feet as the standard. During the past fiveyears the larger seaports have required harbors with 30 feet of water in orderto accommodate the largest ocean vessels, and the limit has by no means beenreached. The United States Government has just recently, 1899, authorizedthe deepening of New York harbor to 35 feet. As noted before, the Oceaniccan be loaded to a draft of 32^ feet. The docks of the great seaports have been improved at a cost of manymillions of dollars. As an illustration of this Liverpool may be cited. Thecitys position gave it great commercial possibilities, but a troublesome barat the mouth of the Mersey, and a tide with a rise and fall of thirty feetmade the construction of its harbor and docks a difficult matter. The prob-
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500 TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF THE XIXth CENTURY lem was solved by the construction, under public control, of a large numberof commodious wet docks with gates which are opened only a few hours aday, during high tide. These harbor improvements have made possibleLiverpools phenomenal expansion in commerce during the past quarterof a century, an increase that has given the city third place among the sea-ports of the world, with an annual tonnage of vessels entered and cleared of16,000,000 tons. The achievements of Manchester during the past decade are even morenotable than those of Liverpool. Manchester is situated on a small streamthirty-five miles from the ocean ; but she has become a seaport for the largestocean vessels, and has docks and wharves equipped with the most improvedappliances. Her dock-sheds, for instance, are twin structures, three storiesin height, and the arrangements for handling freight are such that goods aretaken directly from the ships to any one of the three stories