“ Eighty per cent. of the bottom consists of sea clay and the more recent silt of the Ysel; 20 per cent. of sand, partly in the north about Urk and Enkhuizen, partly in the south along the high shores of Gooi, Veluwe, &c. The shallowness of the sea and the character of its bottom, promising fertile soil, occasioned various projects of drainage. The scheme recommended by the Zuider Zee Vereeniging (1886) formed the subject of a report in 1894 by a state commission. The principal feature in the scheme was the building of a dike from the island of Wieringen to the coast of Friesland. ”

“ The gain would be the addition to the kingdom of a new and fertile province of the area of North Brabant, a saving of expenses on dikes, diminution of inundations, improvement of communication between the south and the north of the kingdom, protection of isles of the sea, &c. ”

“ The area south of this would be divided into four polders, with reservation, however, of a lake, Yselmeer, in the centre, whence branches would run to Ysel and the Zwolsche Diep, to Amsterdam, and, by sluices near Wieringen, to the northern part of the sea. The four polders with their areas of fertile soil would be:—
The Lake Yselmeer would have an area of 560 sq. m. ”