The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-10-27

i"c'H lIuNoT una ing ltcus sea-, anu THO
Min Gold Fields Company is operat-
ing further south beyond Assouan. An
English syndicate with Il capital of.
ss2.boo,00O Is about to build n railroad
h6foss the T.ibyan Desert to develop.
the string of onses which lie one hun-
drcd miles or so west of the Nile VAL
ley. and by the Assouan Dam over
fi,ty thousand acres have been added
To that great fertile spot In the desert
known as the t1ayoum All OF these re-
gions may be called the backwoods
" Egypt. Most of them have long
been considered barren and worthless,
End about them little ~ known.
The Gold Fields OF the Desert.
Within tho past two or three years
q great interest has sprung up as to
tho gold fields OF Egypt. Prospectors
have been going over the desert above
cairo. between this country and the
Red Sea. and more than a score OF
ayndicates have been formed to pros
pcct the various concessions. Tho
whole country has been divided among
them, and the Egyptian government
has instituted n department OF mines
TO control them. This department Il,
lindc:. the Minister OF the Interior. and
II has a camel police. SO tba IT'S SOL
diers can go rapidly from place to
place and keep order. Lines of COM
munfcatfon from certain ports on the
Nile to the Red Sea are being opened
up in order to enable labor to be more
economically sent to the mines and
20 give the companies better means
or transport for the materials and
foodstufs which they REQUIRE.
Az present he headquarters Of the
mining department is at Edfou. he
tween Assouan n Luxor. 1T has sup
pies and material stored there. and It
mas been making experiments OF cross-
ing the eastern desert on motor cars
and motor cycle. to some or the min
ing centres. Just now tho chief mines
are far away from the Nile, and 1t is
necessary to have quick methods of
reaching them. A number are right
on the shores of the Red Sea-, and they
run up and down through the whole
of the eastern desert In the mountain
Gus regions bordering the coast There
are other mining companies operating
IN the Soudan, and some which have
concessions on the very border OF
Abyssinia.
Ancient Mines Being Opened.
A number OF these mining companies
are reopening the workings of the
ancient Egyptians. The Streeter con-
c%ession, for instance. is looking for
emeralds at the foot OF label Nugrus.
near where gold mines once were. It's
territory includes some OF the most
mountainous country OF Egypt, with
peaks rising from q mile 10 a mile and
q half above the level OF the Mediter-
ranean. 1t lies within thirty miles OF
the Red Sea, and is filed with ancient
workings of gold, lead. copper, iron
and emeralds. Just west of this o N
~cession 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 mines have
been found in many OF the other allot-
iments.
II is we'll known that the desert east
OF the Nile supplied quantities OF geld
ages ago. It was for several centuries
the California OF the civilized world,
and produced enough to make the
Pharaohs rich and to enable them to
send treasure to the kings OF Western
Asia. Some oil the letters to Pharaoh,
which have been discovered. come from
his royal correspondents in Asia, and
they are filed with requests for gold,
which Is spoken OF as being as plentl-
full in his country as dust.
A little later, when Egypt had loss
her empire and had been overrun py
the barbarians of the north, the amount
of gold yielded by the mines oI lne
desert was still great. Old Rameses,
the compressor OF the Hebrews. u
big income from them, n under the
Ptolemies the revenue OF the country
&C. said to have been something like
500. 600. 900 per annum, a large part OF
which came from the mines. On some
OF the oldest tombs3there are pictures
showing how gold jewelry was maze
over 400 years ago and one sof the
o~f,icials of that time states that he had
commanded an escort which trough
cold from the mines OF Keneh and KOS
sier to Coptos.
This same region is now being *
ploited by the Egyptian Mines ESplora-
ton Company, and not far above NOS
sier, on the Red Sea, Is the I'm ttus
Mining Company, which. with q caPi1al
of 100000. is working some OF moss
old mines. It has erected a large plant,
consisting OF an electric generating
station, air compressors for driving
rock drills, and o railway six miles
long. connecting the mine with It's
ten stamp mills on the seashore. Inc
main shaft is now over 500 rect deep.
and the output is $1,000 or $4,000 per
month. In the report OF last OCTOBER
the I'm Rus officials stated that more
than s1OO,O 900 worth of gold had been
mined, and hat improvements were
under way which would materially IN
crease the output. This mine was
worked as far back as 1877 B. G.. n
vast quantities Of gold We're taken out
Of it when the Pharaoh of the Bible
was on the throne. AT that time 1t Is
said that the Egyptian taskmasters
worked the mines with slaves. They
made them labor away day and night,
Tie children We're forced to-carry the
pre- n tho old people ground It to
powder,
Exploiting the Oases.
The opening up Of the GASES Of
Western Egypt is an agricultural
proposition rather than q mining one.
although extensive deposits of alum,
phosphates and minerals are said to
exist there. Gold, which run as high
as Sc per ton, has been found in the
lower beds of the phosphate rocks,
but it is not known whether 1t is
merely q local freak OF nature or
whether 1t may expand into richer
gold-bearing ore.
Tho GASES OF EGYPT lie 100 miles or
so west OF the Nile. in the heart of
tho Ltbyan Desert. There are four
great centres which have been known
for ages. n some OF which We're
,,@aI 90, +hnj,s farti1ttv 1yhop H4 tho