The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-12
EGYPT'S DESERTS.
The Gigantic Work for Damming the
Nile and Flooding the Wastes.

The Gigantic Work for Damming the
Nile and Flooding the Wastes.
Special Correspondence of the Standard.
Cairo. June IA vast undertaking
that may be regarded in America as
conclusive evidence of the British in
tention to stay permanently in Egypt,
mas peen begun by the duke OF Con-
naught laying the foundation of the
new dam across the Nile, the object of
which is to hold back the waters of the
river and so create a vast art1hclal
lake for the purposes Of irrigation. 1t
| is no exaggeration to say that no
sreat ter work has been attempted since
the building of the pyramids. Nine
tenths of the Nile and it's priceless sed-
iment are poured into the Mediter-
ranean. In other words, water and SOIL
enough to create several Egypts are be-
ing allowed to run to waste.
The plan which has been brought to a
practical beginning by the duke or
Connaught's inaugura ton includes the
construction of huge wall of granite
a mile and quarter in length, Whlch
is in places rs feet high and 30 or 80
| feet wide. This will be the largest dam
in the world. 1t will force back the
waters of the Nile until there is formed
a reservoir some 670 square miles in
area, which, 1T is estimated, will CON
tain 1000 million tons of water. by
means of this vast lake of Nile water
1t is computed that not less than 1000
square miles of desert land will be res
cued from arid waste, 1t would have
been useless to look to the natives to
make this dam. But they understand
| fully how to dig canals for irrigation
purposes, and they can be trusted to
work at these with will.
1t IS a great thing for Egypt. Inc
| British have certainly dealt generously
| with the land over which they nave as
| sumed control. Egypt is not to pay
one piastre until the dam, the locks and
| the canals are completed. she VIII
then be liable to the extent of $3.50
| per annum for so years. Her total OBJ
| legation will not exceed $25, 900. 600. and
| for this she will receive hnlshed I'M
dertaking reckoned to be worth at least
$500, 100000. Egypt will be saved from
| the dangers of low Nile and there
| will be added to her domain a large
| revenue-producing territory.
statistics show that Egypt is the
| most thlckly populated country IN the
world The provision of sustenance Tor
| millions OF mouths depends on the mar
| vellous fertility of the soil, and that
| again wholly on the mud and water
| of the Nile. In going by rail south
| ward from Cairo the traveller passes
| rich fields that are under perennial Gull
| tiVation, and close by sandy wastes
| that never grew blade of grass. The
sterile expanse may be only foot or
two above the luxurlant soil; but the
Nile never reaches it, and that is
| enough. 1t Is commonly said that II
| a single season passes during which
farm fails to receive its annual inun-
| dalton it takes three years of flood to
| make UP the defect. Now this waste
land is to be redeemed.
The eXpanse to be now irrigated Is
deemed to be specially adapted to the
| growth of the sugar cane, and one
writer thinks 1t possible that it may
double or even treble T1gypt's output
| of sugar. The dam of which the foun-
| dation is now being laid will practical
ly assure to the fellah his water sup
ply. His never-failing sunshine does
| all the rest. Every year. at the begin
ming of February, and for a month or
two earlier, the reservoir will be full.
In March the flow dwindles, and from
April to the end of August the Nile is
! low, and the demand for it's waters is
at its height; consequently throughout
these months the sluices will be opened
and the canals kept supplied by con-
slant current during the most precari-
| Gus part of the year. SO also for some
months in the autumn, when the Nile
is in full flood, the stream will run UNI
impeded through the sluce-gates' 1t
gives some idea of what d mighty tor
rent the river is in the equatorial wet
season to know that the sluices have
been constructed to permit discharge
of $4,000 600 tons of water every hour.
The massive structure will hold up a
head of water as feet higher above the
dam than on the lower side. Here is a
manifest source Of energy, and already
the electrical engineer is calculating on
installations to provide electric light
and machinery of any horse power that
may be needed. Thus the work viii
create a vast lake, irrfgate over 1000
square miles OF desert, provide spac-
| ions bridge over the river create COM