The weekly Butte record. [volume] (Oroville [Calif.]) 1858-1864, 1862-09-06
The SueZ Canal.

Canal will hear with pleasure that the work
is so far advanced that the water Of the Med
terranean has probably. by this time, entered
Lake Timsah. situated, as it is known, hall
way or about forty miles between Peluse and
Suez- On the lst of February last the Mari
time Canal had reached o point within seven
miles of Timsah. and building material of all
kinds were brought from different ports of the
Mediterranean through the canal as far as il
reached
A secondary canal. or as it is called, canal
of irrigation and of fuviatic navigation, now
brings the fresh water of the Nile to Lake
Timsah, and then DIVORCES into two branches.
one of which flows towards Peluse, and the
other towards Suez, in line parallel with the
/ great Maritime Canal. This little fresh water
canal is intended for supplying the wants of
10000 labOrers now at work, and for rriga-
/ ting the country surrounding the Isthmus
/ 1t is we'll known that the Isthmus of Suez
is neck of land which separates the Mediter-
ranean from the Red Sea. The distance from
one sea to the other is thirty leagues. The
Canal of Suez will thus be about eighty miles
in length, l40 feet wide and 81 feet deem. a
depth sufficient for vessels Of 5000 tons. 1t
will cost s60,000,OO0, and will probably be
finished within three or four years from the
present time.
On the route of the Suez Canal there are
three lakes. The first, near the shores of the
Mediterranean, is Lake Menzaleh the second
and largest is Lake Timsah, located about
midway and the third is the Bitter Lake.
about twenty miles from Suez near which
city will be the terminus of the canal
The navigation through the Suez Canal
will shorten the voyage for ships going from
ports of the Mediterranean to India. u 900
miles; for those going from the European
ports of the Atlantic 5000 miles; from the
northern ports of the United States, 1000
miles. Consequently the reduction of expen-
ses of ships passing through the short cut viii
be about so per cent.
From the statistical reports published in
1855, the tunnage OF the various ships navga-
ting from ports of Europe to India, was, in
1853 100000 tuns The navigation between
the United States and India was 100000
tuns. Total, 2,280,OOO tuns
The capital which will be spent in the con-
struction of the canal is estimated, as we have
said, at s60,00O,OOO. Vessels going through
will. at the rate of ten francs per tun Cess than
two dollars,) which on 3,0S0,000 tuns, give an
annual income of near S5OO0,00O. In addi
ton TO this the culture of 100000 acres of
land granted by the Viceroy of Egypt TO the
company, and the toll paid by boats naviga-
ting on the fresh wafer canal, will amount TO
s4OOOO0O Total, 100000.
Thus the annual income will be ten millions
of dollars or about 6 per cent on the capital
The Importance of connecting the Mediter-
ranean with the Red Sea is not a new idea.
for it was suggested 1900 years ago. Rham-
ses the Third, known as the Great Sesostris,
was the first king of Egypt who undertook the
digging of a canal for the junction of these
seas, and it was commenced $50 years before
Christ.
Nechor, one of the successors of Sesostris.
contributed considerably to the construction of
the canal, but prophet having predicted that
if completed it would open Egypt to foreign
invasion, the Prince ordered that the work
should be at once abandoned
After the conquest of the Persians, Darius.
the son of Hystaspes, sent large number of
aborers to work on the canal, but unfortu-
nately, he died before its completion.
The invasion of the Macedonians soon fol- /
lowed, and Ptolemy Philadelphus, worthy
successor of Alexander, after many years of
exertion, had the happiness of seeing the canal
completed.
This great and useful work was accomplish
ed go years before Christ 1t is said that
10000 laborers lost their lives, from want of
food and water while at work on the canal.
Thus five centuries passed away from the
time that the Sesostris began its construction
to the day of its completion 1t was after
wards called Canals Ptolemaus and, accord
ing to Pliny was 100 condees wide $50 feet) |
30 feet in depth, and loo miles in length 1t
opened on the Peusian branch of the Nile, /
near Bubastus, and terminated at Assinia, on /
the Arabic Gull.
1t seems that the rulers of Egypt still feared
the foreign Invasion predicted to Nechos, as
gates were placed across the canal, dividing it
into sections from one end to the other These
gates opened to admit one or two vessels at
time, and closed Immediately behind them.
The canal. filed with fresh water from the
Nile, had the great advantage of irrigating
all the lands of the Isthmus and soon that
once deSoate and sandy desert was covered
with numerous fields of corn and all kinds of
agricultural produce. Large and opulent CT
ties arose, as if by magic. along the line Of