The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-07-19
THE GREAT NILE DAM.
US t Completed at Cost of
Nearly $40, 900, 1000.
Greatest Engineering Work Of its Kind in The
WoId---Kept $4,000 No kmsn
Busy -Four Years.
(From Louisville Courier Journal.

which Is the greatest engineering work of
its kind in the world. has just been com
pleted at a cost OF nearly $4,000. 600, its
construction having kept 10000 workmen
busy for a period of four years. 1t is
20 feet high. 6,400 feet long. % feet wide
q. the top, along which a roadway runs,
and contains 1,00O,O00 cubic yards of solid
masonry. Located at Assuan just be-
low the first cataract. it will store water
during the winter for the months of scar
city, holding enough to cover 1,40O square
miles, TO the depth of l foot, and thus
will add. it is estimated. $11 100000 an
nually to the wealth OF Egypt.
Hitherto Egypt has been a land of al
ternate flood and drought, depending upon
the condition of the Nile But there is no
reason why this should continue to be
the case. inasmuch as the overplus OF
water furnished by the Nile during tic
winter is sufficient, if stored IN suitable
reservoirs. to moisten ali Of tle arabic
land in this country through the dry
period. When the requisite works hav,
been established-the great dam above de-
scfibed being important step In this
direction-al of the tillable fields of
Egypt will be irrigated and cultivated
throughout the year
SOURCE LONG A MYSTERY.
The Nile is one of the longest rivers
In the world, being in that respect n
the same class with the Amazon, the
Congo and the Mississippi. For ages the
secret of its source was regarded as d
geographical mystery, but recent explora-
tlon has proved that the White Nile
rises in Lake Victoria Central Africa
and flows northward until at Khartoum,
2,100 miles from its place OF origin, il
unites with the Blue Nile, which origin
ates IN the mountains of Abyssina. Not
until 1T has pursued course of $500
miles does the mighty stream empty itself
into the Mediterranean.
BY September of each year the Nile
has become a mighty torrent, its flow
augmented from a minimum of 900 ell
BIC feet a second to 1000 cubic feet a
second. Upper Egypt is largely trans
formed into lake dotted with island WI
lages--in which condition it continues
for thirty to forty-fye days, the waters
thereupon retreating. But once in fifteen
years or so the river rises unusually high,
doing an immense amount of damage;
while, on the other hanl, occasional years
of low water bring incalculable suffer
ing. During the great plague of the book
OF Exodus the reaches of the stream be-
came stagnant pools swarming with dy-
ing fish, and the Nile stank-a disastrous
situation which was repeated less thar
1000 years ago, when water famine re-
duced the people to such extremities
that human flesh was for some time an
important item of food supply.
FURTHER SCHEMES DISCUSSED.
There has been much discussion of the
feasibility of converting these vast sheets
of water, Lakes Victoria and Albert, in
Central Africa, into storage reservoirs, in
which water might be held back at the
season of flood, but as yet no surveys
have been made with a view to ascertain
ing how far such a scheme would be
practicable. The dam at Assuan can he
made to hold three times as much water
as at present by simply increasing its
height 30 feet, and this will doubtless he
done before very long. As one result o.
the building of the dam, the ancient tenn
Piles on the Island of Philae. IN the middle
of the river, which possess such great
value in the eyes of arohaeolo2lsts. VIII
be partly submerged; but, in order to
protect the mas far az possible against
damage. the British government has been
spending a great deal of money III
strengthening their foundations.
THE GREAT DAM.
The dam has four locks, each 260 feet
long and so feet wide, which will enabl
small boats to pass al almost any time of
the year There are alSo 1S5 sluice-ways,
which, as the river rises, VIII be gradually
closed, beginning with the lowest one.
Thus the reservoir will gradually fill.
without apEreciably affecting the flow
of the stream The upper gates, on the
other hand. will be the first to be open.
ed when the water is turned back into
the Nile in May.
The most serious engineering difficulty
encountered was to find stable material
on which to place the foundation OF
the dam In one part of the river bot
tom the granite was SO far decomposed
that it had to be dug out for depth OF
so feet and filled IN with fresh and solid
granite blocks from the quarries near by,
whence the ancient Egyptians obtained
with their primitive appliance. immense
amounts of the same building material.
The irrigation problem in the United
States has assumed such great import
ace within the last few years that the
Department of Agriculture has thought it
worth while to make d special lnvestiga-
ton of the subject in Egypt, where irriga
ton has been practfeed since the earliest
historic times. All the information col
Iccted will soon be published in a book.
The most striking possible illustration OF
the prefitableness of irrigation lis afforded
bv Egypt, where tract OF agricultural
land no larger than the irrigable area of
california supports 100000 oil people.
pays the expenses Of costly government
canal built by Joseph. the sagacious He
brew premier of Biblical fame 1t is a.
long as the Hudson river, has an average
width of IT'S feet at the bottom, with q
depth of 90 feet, and. thanks to levces
on both sides, is able to contain stream
80 feet in depth at the season of high |
Nile. when its flow amounts to 10000 GU
bic feet a second AT Medinet al Fayun.
it separates into many smaller bitches,
A. All