Vistula River

“ Toward the south the soldiers must cross narrow ravines in all directions, often covered with wild, thick undergrowth. The chief river is the Vistula, which enters by the southern boundary and flows first north, then northwest, skirting the plateau region at a height of 700 feet, finally making its exit near Thorn, thence on to the Baltic through East Prussia. Its valley divides the hilly tracts into two parts: Lublin heights in the east and the Sedomierz heights to the westward. ”

“ A right bank tributary of the Bug, the river Narew, [29] is worth notice, because along it we find a chain of Russian forts. About thirty miles west of Novo Georgievsk the Vistula receives on its left bank the sluggish river Bzura, which rises within a short distance of the Warta [30] or Warthe, a northward and westward flowing tributary of the German river Oder. The Vistula now sweeps north-west past Plock, and enters Prussia some ten miles above Thorn. ”

“ Shortly before sunset the rain set in; the persistent, splashing, cold rain that drives northward from the Carpathians. In a few hours the roads would be impassable. The dawn would see the rise of the Vistula; and there are few sights in nature more alarming than the steady rise of a huge river.
There is to this day no paved road across the plain that lies to the south of Warsaw. From the capital to the village of Wilanow there are three roads which are sandy in dry weather, and wet in spring and autumn. During the rains the whole tracks, and not only the ruts, are under water. ”

“ He would proceed in a boat on the river Vistula, his sweetheart by his side, against the tide, without oar or sail. He could take a piece of glass in his hand, and with it burn up whole villages, although a hundred miles distant. ”

“ Nearing the Baltic Sea it forms a delta, dividing into two main arms, the left or western of which bears the name of Vistula, and flows directly to Danzig Bay, while the right is called the Nogat, and flows into the Frisches Haff. The enclosed deltaic tract is very fertile. ”

“ The Bug, another right-hand tributary of the Vistula, describes a wide curve concentric with those of the middle Vistula and the Narew, and separates the Polish governments of Lublin and Siedlce from the Russian governments of Volhynia and Grodno. Only light boats (galary) are floated down this broad, shallow stream, whose flat and open valley is often inundated. Its tributary, the Narew (250 m.) , brings the forest-lands of Byelovyezh in Grodno into communication with Poland, timber being floated down from Surazh and light boats from Tykocin in Lomza. ”

“ Vizagapatam proper lies at the southern end of this bay and Waltair at the northern, and between them, along the shore, runs a fine road which opens up a whole series of splendid (but so far greatly neglected) building sites.
Immediately north of the Dolphin's Nose is a small river called the Upputeru ('salt river') which drains a land-locked tidal swamp four square miles in extent and the land behind it,and flows to the sea over a sandy bar of the usual kind. ”

“ He wants to buy canal and dam, land and everything, and he offers a good price. If we accept, he will cut the tunnel through the ridge to the Warrior River and bring that water in here to irrigate the valley, and he will bring on his colony from the East. As soon as Davison is able to talk about it, I’ll put the matter before him. I think it would mean big money to us, if we sell a part of the land, enough for them to settle their colony on; and sell out to them, too, our interests in the irrigation company. They’re in shape to cut that tunnel to the Warrior and put in a good dam. ”

“ The little stream is never still. It will scarcely keep confined to the banks or within the stone walls which in many places protect the shores. The river dances along as if seeking to be free. For the most part it is a torrent, sweeping swiftly past the solid masonry and descending the steep bed in a series of wild leaps or artificial waterfalls, with wonderful effects of sunlight seen in the showers of spray. Fed as it is by many mountain streams, the Visp is always full, and the more so, when in summer the melting ice adds to its volume. ”

“ Fogg thinks it would be well to sell our canal interests and a part of our land to this Eastern man. I agree with him. I think we ought to hold a good deal of the valley land; it’s going to be valuable, when that tunnel is cut. That man will bring in a colony of farmers and gardeners; a good many people can live here, with the aid of the irrigation that can be had from the Warrior River. I want to stay here, in spite of what has happened; and you and Lucy will want to stay here. There isn’t a prettier valley in the state, and it’s our home ”

“ Then it is a sight long remembered, as roaring, rollicking, rushing along it is a brawling mass of waters, often working havoc with banks, road, village, and pastures. If one never saw a mountain, the sight of the Visp would more than repay, but, as it is, one's attention is taxed to the uttermost not to miss anything of this little rushing river and at the same time get the charming views of the Weisshorn, the Breithorn, and the other snow summits which appear over the mountain spurs surrounding the head of the valley. ”

“ The young archer—morn—broke his arrows on the remote hills, walking golden-sandaled down the lake, when we continued our voyage.
The still waters were soon lashed into fury again by an unfavorable wind, increasing toward midday to such a degree that we were glad to take refuge in the harbor of South Haven, where we lingered until the dawn of another day.
Opposite the mooring-place of the "Marguerite" stood an edifice whose interior we all longed to view. ”

“ If one were not looking so sharply after his horse and his scattered property, and keeping the little procession on the go in order to lose no time, he would enjoy the scenery between Vispach and St. Niklaus more than he does. It is always wild and in places is magnificent. On both sides of the valley are crags of great height and occasionally a snow-tipped peak. Sometimes we rise far above the river Visp, and then again descend to its level. We are always within hearing distance of its deep gurgle. ”

“ The soil and climate seem to be so favorable, that less labor is wanted than in most other countries. A great deal, if not most of the fertility in the valley must be ascribed to the ingenious system of irrigation, which they have introduced by a dam constructed in the river above Paso, and turning a considerable quantity of water into a canal. ”

“ It forms two horseshoes and an ox-bow connected, as we see it from our windows; and when the tide is out diminishes to a rivulet about two feet in width. At flood it is more than twice the width of the Wissahickon, and when the high tides of August come its magnitude is surprising.
Then we understand why the hay-ricks (which we wickedly tell our friends from the "Hub" resemble gigantic loaves of Boston brown bread) are on stilts, for, regardless of dikes or boundaries, this tortuous creek spreads over its whole valley, as if in emulation of the greater river of which it is a tributary. ”

“ In this generation the Wisconsin is kept to her bounds by levees; but the government canal furnishes a free highway. The railroads have spoiled water-navigation, however; and the canal, like the most of the Fox and Wisconsin river-improvement, is fast relapsing into a costly relic. The timbered sides are rotting, the peat and sand are bulging them in, the locks are shaky and worm-eaten, and several moss-covered barges and a stranded old ruin of a steamboat turned out to grass tell a sad story of official abandonment. ”

“ Yardley Hall School, then, is at Wissining, Connecticut, and Wissining is a very little town—so little that some maps do not even show it—situated on Long Island Sound about midway between Newport and New Haven. A little river—not much more than a good-sized creek, to tell the truth—leaves the Sound there and meanders back [57] through marsh and meadow until it finally loses all likeness to a river—even a little one—and becomes simply a bog. ”

“ The path by which Jack and I had passed was covered with rocks and masses of soil, which obstructed even the course of the stream; we could not discover the place we had forded, the river had opened itself a wider course, far beyond its former one.
“It is impossible,” said Fritz, gazing on the ruins, “that we can remove all these immense stones without proper tools; but, perhaps, with a little courage, we may cross over them, the rivulet being widened cannot be very deep. At all events, it cannot be worse than the coral reefs.” ”

“ It originally stood on the right (western) bank of the Vamsadhara, but one fine day the river turned to the south-west and flowed on the other side of it, and the village is now perched on a sort of island on the left (eastern) bank, with the old bed of the river to the east of it. In flood time this fact and the presence of several big channels on its southern side make the place almost inaccessible. ”

“ In an hour or two the streams are once more tranquil and the sun has reappeared; but the river below has received nearly all the water that has fallen, and swirls on deep and dangerous. Fords that have little changed their appearance are now impassable, and none but the stranger will attempt to cross them. ”

“ To pass the drift, which is always difficult and dangerous except when the stream is exceptionally low, marks on the rocks have to be consulted. The road does not run direct across the river, but makes a wide bend; it descends to the river bed from the level of the surrounding veldt by a very steep and narrow cutting. There are huge boulders in the stream, hidden in its turbid waters, which render the crossing particularly awkward for waggons. ”

“ Nevertheless, although in open water, we now find ourselves prisoners in a species of lake, as we are completely shut in by a serious dam of dense rafts of vegetation that have been borne forward and tightly compressed by the great force of this new river. It is simply ridiculous to suppose that this river can ever be rendered navigable. One or two vessels, if alone, would be utterly helpless, and might be entirely destroyed with their crews by a sudden change that would break up the country and inclose them in a trap from which they could never escape. ”

“ The city is handsomely laid out, containing many fine public buildings and private residences.
When I came on deck the following morning the rain fell in heavy showers. A cloud appeared to open directly over our heads, and let down the water almost in one body, but at 7.15, as the violence of the rainfall had somewhat abated, we departed from Syracuse, sailing past Geddes, Bell'isle and Canton, where we struck another shallow place in the canal. As we approached Peru the mists were rolling away, which gradually, as they became thinner, received and transmitted the rays of the sun ”

“ In one week this party had gathered sixteen pounds troy of fine washed gold dust. They worked hard, were well fed, and had liberal rations of "strong water" daily. We rested a couple of hours at noon, in a pleasant bottom, heavily timbered, and afterwards, striking away from the river at an acute angle, moved leisurely on through a broken country, intersected by many water-courses, and overgrown with dense clusters of trees.
During our afternoon march we passed several deserted Indian villages—the round-shaped skeletons of the huts alone remaining to mark the former settlements. ”

“ This was in August, and yet at one place we traveled over a snow bank which we estimated was 25 feet deep. After arriving there in company with one or two others, I selected a claim on the middle fork of Feather River, a short distance below the mouth of Nelson’s Creek, where the stream could be turned by a dam. We thought there was a possibility that the river bed might be rich, and we concluded to construct a small wing dam sufficient to test it. We put in the dam so as to throw the water from a small portion of the river’s bed. The claim proved as worthless as our first one. ”

“ It is not very hard to keep a raft or any floating object in the center of the current of a stream, even if left alone at times, but the number of things which present themselves from time to time to drag it out of this channel seems marvelous.
Old watermen and rafting lumbermen know that while a river is rising it is hard to keep the channel, even the driftwood created by the rise clinging to the shores of the stream. ”

“ I walked up a river about 8 miles and saw a great many Kangaroos and about 20 wild turkeys—returning to the Inlet on the 12th I met Mr Bussell who told me they were in Search of me—and that this river was not the Vasse, but that it was a Stream, that he had never seen before—it runs South West, and commences at the junction of the Vasse River as a small Inlet, this was on the 12th. ”

“ This swamp, which (see the map) is crossed by the railway line leading to the port, runs along the west side of Vizagapatam town and crowds it into a narrow triangle at the apex of which is a small eminence called Ross' Hill and at its base a higher and larger height formed of rock but covered with blown sand. Close under the west side of this latter runs the main bazaar-street leading north-eastwards to Waltair, a clean, bright, well-built line of houses wearing a prosperous air. ”

“ Thus the same chain of mountains that fed the Victoria on the east must have a watershed to the west and north that would flow into the Albert Lake. The general drainage of the Nile basin tending from south to north, and the Albert Lake extending much farther north than the Victoria, it receives the river from the latter lake, and thus monopolizes the entire head-waters of the Nile. The Albert is the grand reservoir, while the Victoria is the eastern source. ”