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Thirlmere
Reservoir
TABLE-TALK.
DUNMAIL RAISE and the Valley of Wythburn are threatened next
year with an invasion which has excited the indignation not
only of the principal dwellers in one of the loveliest nooks
in the very heart of the English lake district, but has
awakened painful surprise and opposition all over the
country, wherever the love of natural beauty, and the
reverence for famous men whose footsteps have doubly
hallowed it, are not yet quite extinct. A ruthless piece of
vandalism is contemplated which it is to be hoped may yet be
baffled by a firm and united resistance. Parliament is to be
asked in the approaching session to empower the Manchester
Corporation to turn the beautiful lake of Thirlmere into a
reservoir for supplying with water, not Manchester alone -
for that city, they own, has an ample supply for the next
twenty years to come - but the various towns en
route. Only dire and extreme necessity, and an absolute
impossibility of obtaining water elsewhere, could justify
this proposal. Neither of these conditions fortunately
exists. "Not one tithe," as Mr. Somervell, the chief and
indefatigable opponent of the scheme, has pointed out, "of
the moorland available for the supply of water of
Manchester, between the Lune and South Lancashire, has been
utilised as yet." To carry out the scheme proposed a huge
embankment would have to be reared to the height of at least
70 feet, thus lengthening the lake from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2
miles, and deepening it to the extent of 60 or 70 feet. This
would have the effect of placing under water the whole
valley, and the beauties of the spot would be buried in a
deep dark reservoir. "It is the intention of the Waterworks
Committee," naively remarks the Cumberland Times, "to
substitute for the present tortuous up-and-down track a
straight road cut on a level line around the slopes of
Helvellyn. Below it the lake, enlarged to more than twice
its present dimensions, will assume a grandeur of
appearance in more striking accordance with its majestic
surroundings. HOW THE VALLEY WILL LOOK IN THE DRY SUMMER
SEASON, WHEN THE RESERVOIR IS HALF EMPTIED, HAS YET TO BE
ASCERTAINED." Another ground of opposition to the scheme is
its danger as well as it unsightliness. In the very possible
and even probable event of
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