Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0264Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a small sailboat traveling in a channel within a city, a windmill is seen to the right. Above the image "T337 (Star) is printed, below the image "5041-T In the Land of Dikes and Windmills - Characteristic Scene in the Netherlands." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
5041
THE LAND OF DIKES AND WINDMILLS - SCENE IN THE NETHERLANDS
"Britannia rules the waves" has long been the boast of England, but for acutal conquest of waters, the people of the Netherlands have certainly the highest claim. They spent nine years, 1839-48, to surround Haarlem Lake with a dike and a canal, and in four years more pumped it dry. the cost was $3,940,000, and the sale of the 45,000 acres wrested from the water brought $3,500,000; thus the work nearly paid for itself.
The greater part of Holland is below sea-level. The traveler may stand at the foot of one of the great dikes at high tide and hear the waves beraking against the other side of the dike, nearly 20 feet above his head. There is a Dutch proverb; "God made the sea, we made the shore." This placid landscape, the glassy surface of the canal, the idle boat, the mill awatiting a chance breeze, the sold, restful architecture of the houses, give us little hint of the struggle thorugh which this brave little country has passed. It frequently happens that when a young man gets married he joins his capital with his wife's to purchae a boat which thenceforth becomes the permanent home for themselves an children.
If is proposed to make a shore for the Zuider Zee and pump it dry like Haarlem Lake; its area is 687 square miles. The little kindom has 2,000 miles of canal; they serve as highways of travel, as drns, and as fences dividing the fields and gardens. Windmills are everywhere a conspicuous feature of the Ductch landscape. They serve various purposes of agriculture and manufacture but heir chief business has been to keep Holland pumped dry.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection