The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-07-22
MYSTERY OF THENlLE
HOW WATER IN THE RIVER is
REGULATED FOR hARVEsTs.
And Now Another Twenty.Three Feet
ls to Be Added to the Great Dam
at Assouan--Burlss His
torle Ruins.

Every morning from little room
Of a great white house on the eastern
shore OF the Nile. at Assouan, is
clicked by telegraph to Cairo the dues.
ton. How much water?" The an.
swer comes, so many thousand gal
Ions less. A button is pressed, the
water which flows under the iron
bridge at Cairo Is increased or d.
minished some ten days later In ac-
cordance with the telegraphic answer
and the intervening valley between
Assouan and Cairo has a little more
or a little less water on its surface.
The man at the button may bring
10y or sorrow to thousands Of little
farms-it is all according to the mes.
sage he receives
From the great white house there
extends across the river granite
wall or dam $50 feet high. Half way
up this wall. and stretching its en-
tire length, line of shutters opens or
closes by a pressure of the button
In the winter months huge lake ex.
pands to the southwark, which has
every appearance of being flood, for
I'm certain places, the tops of palm
trees are discernible above Its sur
face, and the SUBMITS OF inundated
ruins apparently mark the sites of
sunken cities. AS the days go by,
and Cairo demands more and more
water, the palm trees and the ruins
seem to rise from their watery beds,
until, In June and early July, the river
flows freely with all its historic indo-
lence.
Still the cry for water is Unsuitable,
and now the 150 feet Of granite wall
will be heightened by % feet, which
will double the power of the man al
the button, and after that no more
palms or ruins will unfold them
selves, as the hot months come, from
the surface of the lake. The palm
trees will not be missed, but what OF
the ruins? That Is the tribute Of the
past which modern agricultural Egypt
is called upon to pay.
Just south of the granite wall is the
island which holds the amphibious
ruins. Twenty.three feet of granite
now stand between 1t and oblivion. 1t
is named Philae, and it is the burial
place of Osiris. A temple of IA col
umns rises on its eastern bank, and
on its western is the great temple of
Isis. begun by Ptolemy Philadelphus
and added to by the Roman emperors.
Its front is in the form of a propylon,
before which is an expansive court
bounded by two galleries. the column
sides Of which skirt the shore for 25O
feet Behind the propylon are many
halls and chambers of curious and fan
tastic design. The whelming waters
of the winter months have already be-
gun their work. Floors have sunken,
columns fallen, and walls crumbled.
The twenty-three additional feet OF
granite will complete the work OF
devastation. Philae and its ruins will
never again feel the sun Of Egypt.
1t was thought that the granite wall
across the Nile at Assouan, l5O feet
high would provide perpetual irriga-
ton for the desert to the north. That
was a mistake. But will the % add
tlonal feet to the summit of the wall
which will forever bury Philae, com.
plete the work? VIII the man at the
button in vhe great white house ever
have the power that Joseph had to di-
rect. increase or diminish the flow OF
the river? Joseph had no Assouan
dam and no shutters to manipulate by
the pressure of a button. In what
therefore did his power to make Egypt
perennlally fertile consist?--N Y
Times.