Four railways cross the canal and two main roads, and these will be
carried across on swing bridges. The cost is estimated at L8,000,000.
About six thousand men are employed on the works, principally Italians
and Swiss.--_The Engineer._
* * * * *
THE KIOTO-FU CANAL, IN JAPAN.
Japan is already traversed by a system of railways, and its population
is entering more and more into the footsteps of western civilization.
This movement, a consequence of the revolution of 1868, is extending
to the public works of every kind, for while the first railway lines
were being continued, there was in the course of excavation (among
other canals) a navigable canal designed to connect Lake Biwa and the
Bay of Osaka, upon which is situated Kioto, the ancient capital of
Japan.
The work, which was begun in 1885, was finished last year, and one of
our readers has been kind enough to send us, along with some
photographs which we herewith reproduce, a description written by Mr.
S. Tanabe, engineer in chief of the work.
The object of the Kioto-Fu Canal is not only to provide a navigable
watercourse, putting the interior of the country in connection with
the sea, but also to furnish waterfalls for supplying the water works
of the city of Kioto with the water necessary for the irrigation of
the rice plantations, and that employed for city distribution.
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