We all know from Roman antiques history that Hadrian had a wall built in north Britain to keep the Scots from coming over and killing Roman soldiers in the night. We now know that a canal crosses Scotland and somewhere in that area a Roman tunnel was expanded to allow a futuristic looking canal to become a waterway that comes out of that tunnel to soar into space and onto the one massive Archimedes Screw to replace the previous eleven canal locks.
I had just watched a documentary of the building of this project, which was part of a Millennium Project for this economically challenged area. The science involved has been so sweeping and combined with the architecturally spectacular magnificence of this modern marvel that uses the ferris wheel effect invented by young lad Archimedes to lift water out of the Nile.
Now we see four boats in the upper tub enter, as do four boats more than 75 feet below into their tub. The spin cycle lasts only fifteen minutes as you must enjoy quite a thrilling sweep out into space and arrive in a different place and time, as you paddle your canoe out of this space ship from Mars it would seem. Hello, down here on earth. Keep moving, four more boats are coming down.
The citizens of this town by this hill are told to expect their new Falkirk Wheel is expected to draw two hundred thousands of tourists each year from now on. And the reflex of many, including a retired Innkeeper such as myself, is to select the finest location for, say, a new Roman style Inn, and restaurant with finest views of the Wheel reserved for luxury suites and place settings.
That is just how things happen, and if there were any hot springs nearby they would be as like Roman Bath, now a heavenly attraction in the south west of England not so far from Stonehenge. As it is, this is a fine renewal of the canal that inspired the Erie Canal that opened up America. As we have admitted, this little canal did no grand things such as that, and had finally been abandoned the past forty years.
This grand renewal, one might imagine, if placed some where on the old abandoned Erie Canal somewhere between Albany to Buffalo, would likely also inspire tourists by the millions as it is nearby fabled Niagara Falls. You would naturally go over and paddle your honeymoon canoe over to and the thrill of a new life ride up, up and away all the height distance between Buffalo over to old Fort Orange as the Dutch called the city up the Hudson from New Amsterdam.
If you get to see this amazing, joyous ferris wheel from the ancient Nile, you can just imagine some fortunate town around Rochester or wherever, caught in a slump now and then. Like Niagara, this wheel will go on and around for some time. They give it a lifetime of two million turns before they do whatever it takes. By then the happy tourist towns of Falkirk and where the science and the tourist industry of up state New York decide is the best location for a larger, of course, Erie Wheel.
Sweetly ironic it would be, that once again the Erie pick up on an idea from this same canal that inspired it. The wheels of progress through history, as with the Archimedes screw, do keep turning. And we applaud that. Quite in awe, really. Fun funds well spent to revitalize. People from all over the old Roman Empire will come and marvel, even the scholars of Alexandria.
Although on the Falkirk Wheel, it could be that they have a sign, No Roman Warships Allowed. And charge any citizen from old Rome double to paddle their canoe here.
Author Resource:-
Derek Dashwood loves the combining of science into the humanities to create a financial bonanza and an attraction for all to enjoy, and it came from Rome, in a way
Ancient Roman Legacies To The Future
![[Valid RSS feed]](/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
