Monday, October 14, 2013

Dam Romans


Val suggested that we bike to a nearby lake but forgot to tell me that the route was pretty much straight up.  It was so steep that even she had to stop once to catch her breath – whoa!
 
The lake is artificial, formed by a small dam built at a narrow point in a gorge.  The original dam was built by the Romans over 2,000 years ago and was the first barrage voûte (arch dam) in history.  An arch dam is a particularly strong and efficient kind of dam, well-suited for gorges and canyons.

Those Romans, they were pretty awesome engineers – I guess you could call them the Stanford grads of the ancient world.

KVS

There’s the dam behind me
 A nice spot for a picnic

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