The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-01-27
NOW IRRAGATING EDEN
RESTORING FERTILITY TO THE
GREAT BABYLONIAN PLAIN.
Once Region Studded With Large
and Wealthy Cities, 1t Is Now
an Uninhabitable Desert.


an Uninhabitable Desert.
After lying dormant for ages as
the result of devastating waters, Tar
tar inroads and Turkish apathy fer
tility is about to be restored to the
desolate regions of Mesopotamia as
by the wave of a magician's hand.
For ages the waters of the Tigris |
and Euphrates have run to waste in
the desert or accumulated in un-
wholesome marshes, and devastation
and the decay of centuries have set
their mark upon enormous areas
that once bIossomed as the rose. In
the great Babyloniah plain tradition
has placed the Garden of Eden, and
the still visible ruins of the old dams
and canals show how important a
part was played by irrigation in the
economic prosperity of Chaldea and
Babylon.
The magician is the modern en-
gineer, in the person of Sir William
| Willcocks, who in 1909 was commits
| stoned by the Turkish government to
prepare an irrigation scheme. In its.
entirety Sir William Willcock's pl9 n
| entailed an expenditure of $l] -
| 100000. The end Of 1913 saw. the
| completion of the first and most i'm
portant part of the work--the Hin
| diyeh barrage.
Except in flood time all the water
of the Euphrates in recent times has
| flowed down the ancient Hindia ca
nal, leaving the original bed Of the
river passing through Babylon dry in
| the summer. Because of this agri-
culture on the banks of the Euphra-
ties had been practically abandoned
and the population had moved across
to the linda canal. The canal, how
ever, was not large enough to handle
the body of water Of the river and
much good land adjacent to it had
become swamp. The tillers of the
region expected to lose every third
crop through floods.
The barrage, Al miles south of
| Bagdad, has been built just above
| the town of Hindiyeh, and to the east
| of the present river bed, and it dis
| tributes the waters of the Euphrates
through regulators down to the old
Hillah branch, just past Babylon to
Hillah. 1t is 500 feet long, and con-
sists of 35 arches fitted with sluice
gates 16 feet wide. The arches are
supported by piers 10 feet high, and
4 feet thick, with key piers measur-
ing II feet.
At Habameh. almost opposite Bag
dad, another barrage is being con-
structed, which will carry off the
flood of water into the ancient Bah
ylonian reservoir. The result of
these works is that floods in the
Euphrates will be reduced to a min
imum and 100000 acres will be re-
claimed by means of irrigation
works and canalization, which will
insure a plentiful and constant sup
ply of water.
For centuries this land, once stud
ded with many great cities and later
covered with a continuous forest of
verdure, has been an uninhabitable
desert of salt marshes, bare plains
and sand drifts Now Isaiah's pre-
diction that "the desert shall rejoice
and blossom as the rose" is about to
come true, for the yield of wheat and
cotton along the Euphrates and the
Tigris is expected to return rich divi-
dends on the cost of irrigation.
An interesting sidelight on the
great work is provided by the state
ment of Sir William WilIcocks that
had Noah built a means Of escape
from the Euphrates waters through
the valley of the ancient Pison he
would have saved the whole country
| and not merely his own family.