New-York tribune., 1902-12-14
DAMMING OF THE NILE.
A GREAT ENGINEERING WORK WHICH
IS PRACTICALLY COMPLETED.

Any one who was near Assouan. in Egypt
about three and half years ago might have
seen large number of railway cars, loaded
with stone and carefully enwrapped with stout
wire. dumped into the river Nile Each OF
these huge and heavy Jumps weighed fifty tons
more. and sank with great rapidity. This
extraordinary proceeding was of the ingen-
ious preliminaries of most amazing piece OF
work the damming of the longest ard most cele-
brated river in the world. 1t was the initiation
of a scheme which is to prove one of the great
est triumphs Of modern science in the land
whose civilization dates back further than that
of any other. except possibly ChaIdea-
These and other masses of rock which were
deposited at that place and time we're not on
the site of the dam proper. but below It, WORK
on the main dam could be performed only in
still water, and in order TO check the current
where the permanent structure to be 1T
necessary to provide temporary barriers
Three of the latter. extending in a chain across
the river. and each blocking a separate channel
We're erected. They were composed Of what en-
f;ineers call rubbIe loose stone. No attempt
made to render them watertight- All that
the designers Of the great work wanted at that
point to check the flow sufficiently to i'm
part pondlke calmness to the region immedi-
ateIy above For that purpose a line OF blocks,
weighing from one TO twelve tons each. was ade-
quate. The first channel was closed on May IL,
1899. the depth being thirty feet. and the normal
speed of the current closely approaching fifteen
miles an hour. The food season on the Nile
comes between June and October. and the water
then rises from twenty-five to fifty feet above
its lowest level. Hence the rubble dams
subjected 10 terrible strain But they did not
wash away. In November. with a subsidence
OF the water it was possible to go one step
further
A large section of the river bed directly where
the main dam was TO stand now incOsed
with sand bags, piled high enough to rise above
the surface of the stream These were packed
together with a degree of care designed to pre-
vent serious leakage; for it was desirable at
this stage Of the operations to have dry bot
tom to work The most critical period was
that when the pumps were started and the
cineers were to discover whether this second set
Of temporary structures watertight Sue
cess attended their efforts. however. Only
enough fluid trickIed in to call for the services
of two out Of the twenty-four powerful pumps
available The masons were thus enabled to
proceed. Before they had finished work
particular section of the river. another was in
closed with sandbags in the same fashion By
degrees it was possible TO extend the permanent
structure all the way from one shore to the
other 1t is now approaching completion. and is
likely to begin its career of usefulness before
the close of the year.
The dam is about mile and a quarter long,
and about seven metres C23 feeD wide on top.
The rear or south surface is nearly vertical but
the north face or front slopes perceptibly. A
difference of level in the water the two sides
will average about sixty-seven feet. Owing to
the Irregularities Of the river bottom, the depth
to which the dam reaches varies greatly but
the maximum is $50 feet To these figures