Gilpin observer., 1899-02-23
TO HARNESS THE NILE
sRs3asH GOVERNMENTS PRO-
JECT.
Planned to Construct Great Reservoirs t,
Irrigate Egypt's Des,rt Lands.

1rFIXAt0 E2ypt'1 DeBt EL LnnOo.
A tremendous task is to be undertak-
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 f. G. Pen
field describes the proposed undertak-
ing in the February Century, in an H.
lustrated article appropriately entitled
"Harnessing the Nile" He says:
Engineering skill is to rearrange ma
ture's 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 n great dam
across the Nile at Assuan. 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 the
same valley be the theater of n gigan-
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 scale worthy of Rameses or a
Pharaoh. To create in the heart of The
African desert lake having from two
to three times the superficial area of
Lake Geneva, in Switzerland, and con-
troll 1t with scientific precision, so that
the impounded flood may be turned into
distant channels at Will, is stupend-
ous 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
ro, the experts of the ministries of pub
lie works and finance, likewise have
calculated to nicely the sum from
taxation that will come into the public
treasury through the country's aug.
mented productiveness.
Subordinate to the great dam. n
smaller one, not unlike the barrage at
the apex of the delta, ten miles to the
north of Cairo, is to be made at Assut
Its function will be 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 comple
ton Of the Cairo barrage Qt was begun
by Mehemet Ali Pasha, from the plans
OF French engineer, but not made eff.
fective until England took the country
IN hand) so developed cotton culture as
to add to the public revenue of the
country at least $1O,OOO,OOO annually. Ii
may safely be concluded that the AS.
suan reservoir is but one of a series
which will in time be 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 expanse
nearly seven times as great as New
england; but the practical Egypt-that
which produces crops and sustains life
is barely as large as the states of Yer.
mont and Rhode Island taken together.
This is the ribbon-like strip of alluvia!
land bordering the Nile, few miles
wide on each side, and measuring not
more than 10,5OO square miles. The ex.
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 $500
square miles, or twice the area of
Rhode Island. This will be exploita.
tion in its truest sense, and its accom-
pllshment will be verification of the
ancient saying that Egypt is the Nile,
and the Nile is Egypt"