Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-12-26
THE GREAT NILE DAM.
Completion Of One of the Greatest Of
Modern Engineering Works-FIoods
of Eeypt's Historic River Under
ControI


Control.
The great Nile dam and reservoir
were formally opened Dec. 10th at As
souan, Egypt, in the presence of the
Duke of Connaught and British and
Egyptian officials. This great engineer
ing Enterprise consists of dam ana naVi-
cation channel at Assouan, "A barrage
and lock at Assout and a regulator an.
lock at the head of the 1brahimieh canal
at Assiout. The preliminary studies for
the Assouan dam and channel were made
by MIR Wllcocks during 1903. and af-
ter various projects had been submitted
to Sir William Garstin. under-secretary
of state for public works an internation-
al commission. to which the matter wac
referred. pronounced the opinion that
Assouan was the only site which offered
the necessary conditions Of solid rock
foundations width of waterway. facility
Of construction and sufficient storing
capacity The dam is across the first
rapids of the first cataract. TO the north
Of the Island OF Philae and the height
to which the water is to rise has been
SO adjusted that the ancient temples on
this island will not be entirely submerged
! The contract was concluded In February
| 1895 for the construction of the dam and
! connected works for GE.2000 000, repay
! able I'm sixty half-yearlv instruments Of
/ cE.S.6i3. beginning on July !. 1903, the
! date fixed for the completion OF the
| works The low summer levels. cspec-
| tally I'm 1900 have been so favorable that
! the dam was to all intcnts and purposes
completed before the food Of 1872 one
| wear before contract time. owing 10 tn
/ h1d rock mot with In the excavation Of
: The foundations large extra eXpenditur.
J has been caused for masonry. The cv-
/ ocnd;ure will amount to about GA
f.Fr 1.g.f.s I
! vanccd by the government and refunded
/ hv the public debt commission i'm two
| yearly uavmcnts Of CE.670 OO0
The dam Is to hold nm water to 1oc
metres above mean sea level: the great
cst head on the dam will be o. metree
tho lowest level on the downstream sidc
| being SC metres. The storage canacitv
is estimated NJ io65 Oooon cubic metres
| Of water The reservoir will he flIed
| between December and March. after tho
! food has passed. and will he discharged
| during MAY. June and July. There arc
l4o under sluicos. fourteen square metres
| i'm area. and 30 upper sluices. seven sdua 20
metres In area. In food the suices will
| he fully omen. so MS not to lessen annre-
, Gladly the velocity Of the river. and TO
| avoid the deposit Of silt After tho flood
| when tho water Is clcar-for Ithe Nile
| Hood brings down the rich silt which Is
! the fertilizer Of Egypt-the sluices will
! be gradually closed and the reservoir
! nllcd. In an average wear II should lao
hlled by March J. only the upper sluices
! Will then Doe opened 70 pass the DISCHARGE
| coming from the south In Mnv. whom
! thC demand for water for the summer
crons Increases. the sluiccs will be grad
uallN opened 10 supplement the siippiv in
| inc river and tho water stored will grad
u'Hy be- discharged until July when an
| the sluiccs will be fully omen 60 mass tho
discharge ~ the Nile Good
The dam Is straight rom end to ard
ana its length Is about two thousand
! metres It's width at The ton Is seven
metres and al the deepest port o.
n''res The height from tho lowest part
"' 'h" foundation 10 the ton IS fortv
n" interior masonry Is rubble
1''hli' IN fGur TO one cement ,nor,,r
w" interior "qslng is OF square rorlf.,o
Er'n,te I'm two to four cement rrnr,,,
me lining ~ tho sluices is heavy r-,,it-
| aShiar or cast iron III LIT
closed by steel gates.
Nlta'l"n was formerly only feasible
n Sr''' dihcultN at high Nile: II viii,
az M eNi'aI Tor on the left bank
~ me dam a NAVIGATION canal bas -
rnc'ed which has already -,
'H''.'u' whereby navigation b,s -,
''"I't'u possible throughout ~,
rs i"r as Wady Halfa.- This .i,d5,aIi.
'"'ut TWO thousand metras lon, ~
NJ, ~ IN" whole water traffic OF tbo
~, w russ Tor the difficult MASSAGE
wi inc cataract has become n thing ~ -,
I'S, II is provided with four lo,Ls
''V" seventy metres long and ais metres
WIDE. the height Of their gates gradual
ing from nineteen down 70 eleven metres
me number Of workmen employed
reached M one time nearly eleven tbous.
ana. or whom over nine hundred wcre
Europeans. largely Italian stonemosons
over three thousand tons Of masonry
were times completed in day. and
7s much as 500 cubic metres Of mason
ry Were laid in one month before tho
food came down Many unforeseen ar
hcultlcs had 10 be overcome
The Island Of Philae will be partially
-Ihm"rrgd each season when the re-rr-
Fnir is fuil. Most OF tho temples and build
ines ON tho island Will during this period
he covered with from two TO four metres
of water. except the great Temple Of Isis
The risk NJ damage to these beautiful ru-
ius has been ohviated by UNDERMINING
an the important parts by strengthening
E them with steel airders