Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-12-24
THE BIG SUEZ CANAL
AN ARTIFICIAL RIVER N THE
MIDST OF A DRY DESERT.
Enormous Profits from This Wafer
Highway.

o4S ANdJ'
The abandonment of the Panama
Canal and the discussion of matters
relating to NJ. de Lesseps has brought
me from Cairo TO Ismailia.
1t is fifty-eight years since he first
came 10 Egypt, in the French consular
service, and il is more than q genera
ion ago since he persuaded the Vice
ROY of the country that the work could
be done. Now more than two-thirds
of the ships which pass through the
canal belong to Great Britain, end the
/ English, III order TO protect their in
! terest in India, have had to put some
/ thing like Sl7 900, 900 mto canal
/ shares. 1t is not a bad investment, f"i
/ in 1855 the net profits of this cauaI
were more than So ,O00, 900, and aftot
all expenses We're paid the sharcsO.d-
( ers received a dividend Of Il per cent.
In 1886 more than 5000 vessels
passed through the canal, aud estiInat-
ing that each of these vessels
to India, Australia or China
made a saving of at least five
| thousand miles, il will be seen that
the aggregate saving in one year was
more than fifteen million miles, equal
TO q distance of six hundred times
around the world. | have not the
statistics of the number of passengers
carried in 1886, but ten wears before
that when the ships which passed
! through the canal were less than half
the number that now 90 through. the
passengers carried numbered more than
| ghty-three-thousand Undoubtedly
more than one hundred and fifty thous-
and passengers are taken through this
canal every year, and the charges arc -
on each passenger. 1t makes heavy
charges upon the vessels which pass
through, estimating them according to
their tonnage, and the receipts of the
canal make it one of the best paving
institutions of the world.
And still this canal is only one hun.
dred miles long; it is only one-Jwelflh
the length of the Red Sea, into which
it conducts the waters of the Mediter-
ranean, and these two bodies OF water
are of nearly the same level. They
now flow into one another without
locks, and the canal is well described
as ditch of the desert. This ditch Is
about three hundred feet wide at the
bottom, and the water within it is I-
quiet as mill pond. 1t is of beauti-
ful sea-green and The contrast Of this
color with the bare yellow sands
which line the banks of the canalluakc
il wonderfully beautiful. The canal
is so narrow that ships can pass only
at certain points, and the management
govern these passages just a. the train
, despatchers regulate the passage OF
trains upon our trunk lines. Their,
are, from time, to time, through tA,
canal wider spaces where the ship
t must turn in while others, which have
} the ght of way, may pass them, an,
, at a distance these ships seem 70 b'
walking, as it were. ia single lilD
through the desert. They are mot al
t lowed to go over five milr- AN hour
Q and this is largely due to the dcpEh o.
I the canal. Its average depth is sbou
. twcnty-four feet, and many Of th,
= ships which pass through are laou
than twenty feet deep in the water
D There is so little water under the bot
toms that there can be no great speed
, The banks of this canal are of dr.
and thirsty sand. IL some places the,
are kept back by pavemeuts of stOU
and in others by a network of twig
v like the jetties of the Mississippi.
cost nearly 500 900 600 10 build til
canal, and in some places the chanue
had TO be cut through solid rocks.
others there was little dredging needed
u The waters OF the Meiirerganca
flowed into long natural lakes, an
q these required but little excavation {
make them deep enough for The tran
sit of the ships. One OF the grea
rarAhlaFns in FFl4L-iTt.y rho .-.4r.sf "a
fresh water for the workmen. Th
q work was begun in 1898, and the rule
of Egypt provided % 600 luborer.
These We're relieved every tire
y months; but il was necessary 10 fee
i them. 1t took 1900 wa,er-ca~E-
e which were carried on the backs @
- camels, TO supply them with driukri
water, and this was kept up for liz
years. The work of preparing haTbOI
at Port Said and Suez was very exPeI
sive, and took a look Al the piers D
Port Said, which are intended 10 war
L off the eccumulatiOns of sand and mud
IS and which form the navigable entranC
f TO the canal. These piers are made O
-. artificial stone, composed OF dcseI
sand and cement. The machinery :
/ make them was brought here frol
d France and the stone, were made I
n throw into the sea. Each stone weighe
"a twenty tons, and il took %. 600 of the-
massive rocks to form the bases c
- these piers.
n Immense dredges are now emplovc
V throughout the canal. These pump u
!. the sand, which blows in from n
desert, and throw it out beyond n
banks. There are stations OF guarC
houses at intervals along the cOur,
and few small towns have grown Il
.r here and there.
? Curtain Lecture Topics.