Evening star., 1907-10-26
Copyright. 1901. by Frank G. carpenter)
PORT TEVFIK

rum / r. " Il IN
X - ODERN enterprise is openin 8
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copper in the Sinai peninsula.
The Egyptian Exploration Company IS
working gold mines between Luxor and
the Red sea and the Nile Gold Fiells
Company IS operating further south he
youI Assouan. An English syndicate with
"a capital Of two and oue-half million do
lars IS about TO build a railroad across the
L!hyan desert to develop the string Of
. oases which lie one hundred miles SO
west o. the Me valley, and by the As-
sou5n dam over fifty thousand acres have
been added to that great fertile spot in
the desert known as the Fayoum. All of
these regions may he called the backwoods
Of Egypt Most of them have long been
considered barren and worthless and
about them Iittle is known.
The Gold Fields of the Desert
Within the past two or three years a
Rreat interest has sprung up as to the
god fields of Egypt. Prospactors have
been going over the desert above Cairo,
between this country and the Red sea
and more than a score of syndicates have
been formed TO prospect the various con
cessions The whole country has been
divided among them, and the Egyptian
government has instituted a department
of mines to control them. This depart
ment Is under the minister of the in
terror, and It has a camel police so that
Its soldiers can go rapidly from place to
place and keep order. Lines of Communi
cation from certain ports on the Nile to
the Red sea are being opened up In order
a. i yTI, III,
sent to the mines and to give the com
panies better means of transport for tn"
materials and foodstuffs which they re-
quire.
AT present the headquarters of the min
Ing department. is at Edfou. between As
souan and Luxor. 1t has supplies and ma
terial stored there. and it has been max
ing experiments of crossing the eastern
desert on motor cars and motor cycles to
some of the mining centers. Just now
the chief mines are far away from the
Nile, and II is necessary to have quick
methods Of reaching them. A number
are right on the shores of the Red sea.
ard they run up and down through the
whole of the eastern desert in the noun
talnous regions bordering the coast. There
are other mining companies operating in
the Soudan. and some which have con-
cessions on the very border of Abyssinia.
Ancient Mines Being Opened.
A number Of these mining companies
a-e reopening the workings of the ancient
Egyptians. The Streeter concession. for
instance is looking for emeralds at the
foot of label Nugrus. near where gold
mines once were Its territory includes
some OF the most mountainous country of
Egypt. with peaks rising from mile TO
q mile and a hall above the level of the
Mediterranean. II lies within thirty miles
OF the Red sea. and is filled with ancient
workings of gold lead. copper. iron and |
emeralds Just west of this concession
the Egypt and Soudan mining syndicate
has four prospecting areas of twenty-five
square miles each. upon which ancient
gold workings are shown. and evidences
of old mMnes have been found in many of
the other allotments
1t ie we'll known that the desert east !
Of the Nile supplied quantities of gold |
ages ago II was for several centuries the |
California OF the civilized world. and pro- |
duced enough to make the Pharaohs rich |
and TO enable them to send treasure to |
the kings of western Asia. Some of the !
letters TO Pharaoh, which have been dis |
covered. come from his royal correspond
ents in Asia, and they are filed with re-
quests for gold, which is spoken of as |
being as plentiful in his country as dust. |
A little later, when Egypt had lost her |
empire and had been overrun by the bar |
barians of the north. the amount of gold |
yielded by the mines OF the desert was |
stNl great Old Rameses the oppressor of |
the Hebrews. had a big income from