New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-06-11
DANGER TO ASSOUAN DAM
Cannot Be Made Higher Work to
Preuent Topping OUer.

ICCCHC 4 OPpH"S ONO''
Some engineers in New-York who have
watched with interest the enormous project OF
damming the mighty Nile at Assouan, Egypt,
| are receiving reports from time to time which
convince them that the danger Of the destruc-
ton of the dam is increasing rather than d.
| minishing as the British engineers would have
the world believe. When it was discovered that
the dam was not high enough to furnish the
water necessary for irrigating the entire area
which was to have been made fertile by it, the
proposal was made that the dam be raised
This has been vetoed by the engineers, and they
are now devotng their energies to protecting the
he'd of the river with a cement floor TO prevent
the water from eating under and topping over
the great pile of masonry which confines the
river.
All prospect of raising the dam has been aoan-
doned for at least two years according to a
statement made by Sir Benjamin Baker the
consulting engineer, who recently returned to
London from an inspection of the dam 1t will
take this long to complete the pavement, which
is being thrown across the river to protect the
dam Sir Benjamin declares that this delay
will be good for Egypt, as it will stop speculat-
ing in land.
Perhaps no one in New-York is more familiar
with Egyptian irrigation projects, including the
Assouan DAM than F. Cope Whitehouse, VINO
lives at the Park Avenue Hotel. When not III
Newport. He has studied the Egyptian situa-
ton for the last ten years and has made dlscoV-
cries by personal exploration that have attract
ed the attention of the British Department OF
Public Works.
while there is no immediate danger of a break
in the dam at AssOuan, the situation is rap
idly becoming more grave" said Mr.. Whitehouse
to a Tribune reporter few days ago. British
| engineering authorities are sending out comfort
ing bulletins to the effect that nothing has oc-
| Cured at Assouan which has not been ex-
| pected. Yet the very facts that they are taking
| most expensive steps to protect the dam ana
have given up the project of raising it in order
| to increase the amount of storage and enable the
dam to irrigate the district which the specifca-
tons promised are sufficient cause for alarm.
| One must consider that the breaking away of
| the dam would be international calamity
| such as modern history does not record. ana
would cause the sweeping of everything IN the
| Nile Valley to Cairo and the sea
! The Nile rises about the first week IN july
| after the monsoon occurs in India and when the
| rain is falling over the whole of Central Africa
| A dam could not be built which could hold BACK
this flood, which amounts to one thousand milf
ion tons a day At this period at Assouan the
sIuices in the dam opened and the water
rusnes through them at a rate of forty miles an
hour There are 40 of these sluices. feet wide
| and - feet high, in the dam They are at dlI-
| ferent levels and by November, when the Me
has fallen sufficiently, some Of the lower ones
are shut off and the water gradually rises be-
hind the dam and backs off The distance COW
| cred by the back water is 150 miles or. say the
| distance from New-York TO Albany. Its great
test depth is so feet.
About this time last year it became known
in Egypt that the project of raising the dam
| 10 feet inches as approved by Sir Benjamin
Baker. and recommended by Sir W. GarStln. adj
wiser to the Public Works Ministry. could not be
carried out. This. however. was not announced
| until March of this year SO far the puphc
seems scarcely to realize the situation with
| which Egypt is confronted There Is
vast acreage of land awaiting reclamation
which was purchased on the strength OF prom
ises made by British engineers, at highly minated
| prices
.It appears that the dam is being gradually
| weakened by the force Of the water passing
through the sluices, and, according to the new
theory of the stress to which masonry dams are
subjected advanced by Professor Karl Pearson
it is liable to tilt and vertical crack de-
velop Then again. the bed of the Nile Is BENG
eroded by the sluices, great holes being torn
by the force of the water. If this mischief Do