Tipon is a self-contained, walled settlement that served as an estate for Inca nobility. Located 13 miles down the Huatanay River Valley by the Inca capital of Cusco, the 500-acre archeological site provides knowledge and better understanding of the pre-historic Inca and their irrigation and building skills. The site represents great mastery of irrigation and hydraulic technology. The civil engineers of Tipon designed buildings, 13 integrated central terraces, waterworks, hundreds of other terraces and massive structures to be visually and functionally harmonious with their surroundings.
Canal
TiponCountry: PeruWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Tipon/Creator: Incan Civilization and predecessors
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Emmanuel Dyan (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: TiponEra_date_from: 1200
2006
Traversing the Great Glen of the Scottish Highlands for 60 miles the Caledonian Canal connects the North Sea by Beauly and Moray Firth on the east coast with the Irish Sea by Lochs Linnhe and Eil on the west. Thirty eight miles of the canal pass through freshwater lochs Douchfour, Ness, Oich and Lochy with the remaining 22 miles formed by earth cutting. Initially 28 locks, and later 29, were required to reach the summit elevation of 106 feet at Loch Oich.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Dave Conner (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Caledonian CanalEra_date_from: 1804
2007
These canals and locks are a part of the first extensive system of canal and river navigation works undertaken in the United States. The idea for the canal was proposed by George Washington, when, as an engineer, surveyor and military emissary for Virginia, he saw the need for a trade route west beyond the Allegheny Mountains. In order to do create this route, it was necessary to try to tame the Potomac River which was a wild, unruly stream which only the hardiest of rivermen ever attempted.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Rudi Riet (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Potowmack Canal and LocksEra_date_from: 1799
1970
Opened July 9, 1904, this lift lock is the highest of its type in the world, transferring boats between two water levels in a single 19.8 m (65 ft.) lift. Designed in place of conventional locks, which would have lengthed the time considerably to transverse a gradual drop, this lift lock was a unique solution made feasible. It operates on a balance principle. Each boat chamber is supported by a ram, 2.28 m (7.5 ft.) In diameter. These move up and down inside water-filled cylinders connected by a pipe.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Mac Armstrong (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Peterborough Hydraulic Canal Lift LockEra_date_from: 1904
1999
The United States became interested in a water route through the Panamanian isthmus in the mid-1850s, but it was the French who first attempted to build the Panama Canal. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt, the French began the project in 1876. Conditions were brutal: rampant yellow fever and malaria; massive landslides and flooding; sweltering heat; and construction equipment that was too light for the job.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Naval Surface Warriors (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Panama CanalEra_date_from: 1914
1984
This reaction or "Scotch" turbine had as its antecedent the steam reaction wheel invented in Greek Alexandra by Hero around 100 B.C.. It found widespread hydraulic application in the United States from the beginning of the nineteenth century to mid-century when French-inspired hydraulic turbine design pushed reaction wheels into obsolence.
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Image Credit: Public Domain (Author's Choice)Image Caption: Morris Canal Reaction TurbineEra_date_from: 1850
1976
While the Erie Canal has become well-known in the annals of American history, the Middlesex Canal, built two decades earlier and a model for canal engineers throughout young America, has only recently become recognized for its important achievements. Extending 27 miles northeast from Boston harbor to the Merrimack River near present-day Lowell, Masachusetts, the Middlesex Canal provided low-cost and efficient freight transport for almost five decades, helping to establish the canal in the U.S. as a viable means of economic development.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Daderot (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Middlesex CanalEra_date_from: 1803
1967
Developed by the Hohokam, a prehistoric group of Native Americans, the canal system in the Salt River Valley serviced more than 100,000 acres of mostly arid desert country in what is now southern Arizona. The prehistoric Hohokam constructed one of the largest and most sophisticated irrigation networks ever created using pre-industrial technology.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Dave Hogg (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: The Hohokam irrigation system included some 700 miles of canals.Era_date_from: 600
1992
AleNGothenburgState: Västra Götaland CountyCountry: SwedenWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Gota-Canal/Creator: von Platen, Baltzer, Telford, Thomas
The Gota Canal is the biggest infrastructure project ever built in Sweden. The canal was dug by hand with shovels made of wood. It took over 22 years of 12-hour days - an estimated 12 million man-days of labor - to complete the project.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Patrick Strandberg (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Gota CanalEra_date_from: 1810 to 1832
1998
In its day, the famous Erie Canal was the world's longest canal and America's greatest engineering feat. It was the principal route for emigrants from the East and agricultural products from the West. Before construction of the canal, New York City was the nation's fifth largest seaport, behind Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans. Within 15 years of its opening, New York was the busiest port in America, moving tonnages greater than Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans combined.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Doug Kerr (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Erie Canal - Waterford, NYEra_date_from: 1825
1967
Innovations
Much of the sophisticated system of canals, dams, gates, and tunnels built to manage water power in 19th-century Lowell is preserved today as the basis of the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Heritage State Park. Pictured above is the Boott Penstock, an early channel adjacent to…
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The idea of a canal eliminating the costly and dangerous sea trip around the Massachusetts peninsula of Cape Cod was envisioned as early as 1623 by Pilgrim leader Miles Standish. It was not until financier August Belmont became involved in 1906, however, that sufficient funds for the project…
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The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is the only canal built in 19th-century America that still operates today as a major shipping route. Connecting the Port of Baltimore and Upper Chesapeake Bay with the mouth of the Delaware River and the Port of Philadelphia, the canal was one of the first…
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The Dismal Swamp Canal was created as a 22-mile waterway, extending from Deep Creek, Virginia to South Mills, North Carolina. The canal enabled North Carolina producers of building and agricultural products to deliver goods to the Port of Norfolk where they were transferred to ocean-going…
The significance of the 15-mile Whitewater Canal was not in its ability to create a profit, but rather its effect on the economic growth of the Whitewater River Valley, considered the gateway to the interior of Indiana. Before the canal, travel was challenging. Most waterways in Indiana…
In its day, the famous Erie Canal was the world's longest canal and America's greatest engineering feat. It was the principal route for emigrants from the East and agricultural products from the West. Before construction of the canal, New York City was the nation's fifth largest seaport, behind…
Read More
The Gota Canal is the biggest infrastructure project ever built in Sweden. The canal was dug by hand with shovels made of wood. It took over 22 years of 12-hour days - an estimated 12 million man-days of labor - to complete the project.
The Gota (pronounced yeu-ta) Canal is a 347-…
Developed by the Hohokam, a prehistoric group of Native Americans, the canal system in the Salt River Valley serviced more than 100,000 acres of mostly arid desert country in what is now southern Arizona. The prehistoric Hohokam constructed one of the largest and most sophisticated irrigation…
Read More
While the Erie Canal has become well-known in the annals of American history, the Middlesex Canal, built two decades earlier and a model for canal engineers throughout young America, has only recently become recognized for its important achievements. Extending 27 miles northeast from Boston…
Read More
This reaction or "Scotch" turbine had as its antecedent the steam reaction wheel invented in Greek Alexandra by Hero around 100 B.C.. It found widespread hydraulic application in the United States from the beginning of the nineteenth century to mid-century when French-inspired hydraulic turbine…
Read More
The United States became interested in a water route through the Panamanian isthmus in the mid-1850s, but it was the French who first attempted to build the Panama Canal. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt, the French began the project in 1876. Conditions were brutal…
Read More
Opened July 9, 1904, this lift lock is the highest of its type in the world, transferring boats between two water levels in a single 19.8 m (65 ft.) lift. Designed in place of conventional locks, which would have lengthed the time considerably to transverse a gradual drop, this lift lock was a…
Read More
These canals and locks are a part of the first extensive system of canal and river navigation works undertaken in the United States. The idea for the canal was proposed by George Washington, when, as an engineer, surveyor and military emissary for Virginia, he saw the need for a trade route west…
Read More
Traversing the Great Glen of the Scottish Highlands for 60 miles the Caledonian Canal connects the North Sea by Beauly and Moray Firth on the east coast with the Irish Sea by Lochs Linnhe and Eil on the west. Thirty eight miles of the canal pass through freshwater lochs Douchfour, Ness, Oich…
Read More
Tipon is a self-contained, walled settlement that served as an estate for Inca nobility. Located 13 miles down the Huatanay River Valley by the Inca capital of Cusco, the 500-acre archeological site provides knowledge and better understanding of the pre-historic Inca and their irrigation and…
Read More