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Damming a River of Fire

By WARD MADDEN

THE strangest fortification line on earth is being planned for the island of Hawaii. For thirteen miles across the flanks of Mauna Loa, the world’s most active volcano, high barricades will dam and divert rivers of fire. This daring scheme is designed to protect the Hawaiian city of Hilo, with its 20,000 inhabitants, from the volcano’s flow of lava. Science, for the first time in history, has declared war on a volcano. Read the rest of this entry »

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Project for Flood Relief Stations

NOBODY calls the Mississippi River “America’s Sorrow,” as the Hoang-Ho has been called that of China; but the Father of Waters has a habit of going on a spree with great regularity, and his numerous tributaries do likewise. It is probable that, given time enough, engineers will have built sufficient reservoirs and levees or embankments to keep the angry waters in check till they reach the Gulf of Mexico. Read the rest of this entry »