The Springfield herald., 1899-02-24
TO HARNESS THE NILE
BRITISH GOVERNMENTS PRO-
JECT.
Planned to Construct Great Ressrvo!rs I
IrrI4ate Egypu. Drs n I.nnds.

A tremendous task il To be undertake
en- by the English In Egypt-nothing
less than the creation for purposes of
irrigation, of a reservoir having two or
three times the superficial area Of Lake
Geneva. Ex-Consul General Il. G. Pen
field describes the proposed undertake
ing in the February Century, in an H.
lnstrated article appropriately entitled
"HarneSsing the Nile" He says:
Engineering skill is to rearrange ma
lures surface on the Egyptian from
tier. and pond back into Nubia body
OF water 40 miles long. crossing the
trOpic Of Cancer. and extending south
ward nearly to Korosko-a goodly step
on the journey to Abu-Simbel and
Wady-Halfa-by means of Il great dam
across the Nile at Assnan. The Pyra-
mids and the Sphinx have borne testi-
mony through the centuries to the
grandeur and power OF execution
which dwelt within the Nile valley;
and what more fitting now than that thp
same valley be the theater of a gignn-
tic engineering exploit, audaciOus per-
haps, but certain of success. and minis
tering to mans necessities, rather than
TO his vanity.
AS building achievement the scheme
Is on a scale worthy of Il Rameses or Il
Pharaoh. To create in the heart of the
African desert II lake having from two
to three times the superficial area of
Lake Geneva, in Switzerland. and con
troll it with scientific precision. so tla'
the lmpounded flood may be turned into
distant channels at will. is stupend-
GUS undertaking. But the engineers
claim that their plans can be carried
out to the letter; they have estimated
the exact cost of the dam. computated
almost to the gallan the volume of wat
er that will be imprisoned, and figured
the necessary resistance to be provided
at every point of the masonry. In Cal
TO, the experts of the ministries of pub
lie works and finance. likewise. have
calculated to n nicely the sum from
taxation that will come into the public
treasury through the country's aug
mented productiveness
Subordinate to the great dam, Il
smaller one, not unlike the barrage at
the apex of the delta. ten miles TO the
north of Cairo. is to be made at Assiut
Its function will he to give a sufficient
head to the river to force the water into
the system of irrigation canals that
vein hundreds Of thousands of acres be
tween Assiut and Cairo. The compile
ton of the Cairo barrage Ut was hegun
by Mehemet Ali Pnshn. from the plans
Of French engineer. but not made ef
fective until England took the country
in hand so developed cotton culture as
to add to the public revenue of the
country at least $4,000. 900 annually. 1t
may safely be concluded that the As
suan reservoir is but one of series
which will In time he constructed
southwark to the Victoria NyanZa The
re-establishment of the Khedival au-
thority at KhartOum will determine
this.
The Egypt of the map shows more
than 100000 square miles. an expansc
nearly seven times as great as New
England; but the practical Egypt-that
which produces crops and sustains life
is barely ns large as the states of Yer
mont and Rhode Island taken together
This Is the ribbon-like strip of alluvial
land bordering the Nile. few miles
wide on each side. and measuring not
more than 10.5OO square miles. The cx
tension planned. and To be completed
in the next six or eight years. wholly
by irrigation. is no less magnificent in
conception than the reScuing from the
Libyan and Arabian deserts of 2.5GO
square miles. or twice the area of
Rhode Island This will be eXploita-
tion in its trucst sense. and its accom-
plishment will be a verificatlon Of the
ancient saying that Egypt is the Nile
and the Nile Is Egypt"