In 1798-9 Napoleon visited Egypt, and to his genius is attributed the idea-among moderns-of conserving by dams and reservoirs the flood waters of the Nile. This dam was to stand where the Nile branches to form the Delta, and it was this latter tract that was to receive the benefits of the project. In 1805 Mehemet Ali became Viceroy to Egypt. This bold, brilliant, ambitious, unscrupulous despot promoted Egyptian agriculture and industry, but laid the foundation of an overwhelming public debt. For the construction of the Mahmoudieh canal he imprest a quarter of a million men, one-tenth of whom died within the year required for its construction. Taking up Napoleon's idea, he set out to dam the lower course of the Nile. French engineers were summoned. The Viceroy even proposed to use the material of the pryamids for the purpose, but the engineers were wiser. The work begun in 1833 was stopt by the havoc of the plague. Incompetent workmen-the weak, half-starved fellaheen-hindered progress. The foundations were shallow and unreliable. In 1861 the work was declared finished, but two years later when full use of the dam was attempted, the wall cracked in several places and threatened to move from its foundations. In 1882 the British came in, and among other improvements took up the Cairo dam. First the Damietta branch was saved and then the Rosetta section, and by 1890 the barrage was in working order. In 1899 a weir was constructed above the dam, thus adding to resources and making further irrigation canals possible further the stream. The productiveness of the Delta has been at least up doubled. The now famous Assouan dam, nearly two miles long, is located about seven hundred and fifty miles from the Mediterranean. Its object is to form a vast reservoir to store up the Nile water at flood-time to be released as needed. The combination for checking and distributing the Nile waters is really threefold: (1) The dam (north of Philae and crossing the first cataract at the first rapids) and navigation channel at Assouan; (2) a barrage and lock at Assiout (200 miles north of Assouan); (3) a regulator and lock at the head of the Ibrahimieh canal at Assiout. Work was commenced in 1899. The contractors were Sir John Aird and Co. of London. Sir Benjamin Baker, Sir William Garstin, Sir William Willcocks, Messrs. G. H. Stephens and Fitzmaurice, with their corps of expert engineers directed the work. To the progressive spirit and diplomacy of Earl Cromer must be credited the carrying thru of the project. The cost, some $15,000,000 or more, was provided by capitalists and by open subscription. Public response was hearty; the first call in 1899 for £400,000 brought in London alone £11,000,000 sterling on a four per cent loan. At the bottom of this most stupendous enterprise has been faith,-faith in Cromer, in the promoters, in the engineers, and last but chiefest, faith in Egypt. 130 feet above its Located at a point where the river narrows to a width of a mile or more, the dam connects with the granite cliffs on the east and the limestone rock on the west. The dam is a wall estimated at 2,150 yards in length, rising foundation and varying in thickness from 98 feet at the bottom to 23 feet at top. The original plan was for a head of 83 feet of water. Recent plans add 23 feet to this, increasing the volume to 21⁄2 times its present capacity. The original cost of some fifteen and a half million dollars will thus be increased it is estimated by about seven and a quarter millions. Massive stone buttresses, inclined up-stream, support the mass of stone and the floods pent up behind it. 180 sluice gates provide for letting out the water. In the lower tier are 140 large gates for regulating the river flow. Above are 40 smaller gates for surplus and overflow. The structure is down to bed-rock. Wherever pockets of softer material were found, the river-bed was dug out and said pockets were filled in with more solid material. The misfortunes of earlier undertakings were not forgotten. The sliding gates (Stoney patent) are closed by electric winches placed above. At the beginning of high Nile the gates are left open and the floods of water with their load of soil pass thru. By December 1 the water is comparatively clear and the gates are closed. The lake, estimated capacity c. 234,000,000,ooo gallons, altho this can not be a fixt statement, and is at best an estimate-fills up by the first of February, and by the latter part of April is put in requisition. Some idea of the benefit accruing from the building of the dam may be derived from a comparison of statistics. In 1877, in which year a low Nile occurred, over 1,030,000 acres of tillable ground were left without water supply. The filling of the Assouan dam commenced November 26, 1906, eight weeks being consumed in the task. The emptying of the great reservoir, supplementing the flow of the river, lasted from April I to August 1. In 1907 the Nile reached its lowest mark since 1877, yet the land deprived of water in this year was only 115,756 acres, ten per cent of that so left in 1877.6 The raising of the dam 161⁄2 feet and the water level 23.1 feet doubles the capacity of the dam, and adds 1,000,000 acres to the tillable area of Egypt that is, a summer supply of water is assured at the season when most needed. 7 The face of nature has been appreciably changed by the erection of the great dam with dykes a hundred and fifty feet high in parts, and equipped with most modern and complete sluice-gates. The lower cataracts, with their roaring swirling rapids, as Bab-el-Kibir and the Mahommed Ali Channel, will be in part lost in a huge inland lake. Indeed, there are two lakes; one at Assouan and a second at the subsidiary dam at Assiout. Navigation will be made possible-as never before-by a canal fitted with four locks, each thirty feet wide and two hundred feet long. The rising floods that are to redeem Egypt and preserve the land for future generations, bring with them consternation for the archeologists. Beautiful Philae is gone. The Temple of Isis with its glorious hall and pylon, the Temple of Hathor, the graceful colonnade of Nectanebo, "Pharaoh's Bed," built for Augustus and completed by Trajan, the arch of Diocletian,-all will be submerged many feet under water. Konosso will be an island and many of the inscriptions from 4,000 years ago will be lost. The Nilometer is gone. A full dozen temples and three fortresses lie buried a whole or a part of the year. Already foundations-too often laid on sand-are giving way and walls are cracking. The sites of ancient civilizations are to be displaced by inland seas. But the loss to the archeologist is far outweighed by the economic necessity. The future of Egypt rests on agriculture. The date-palm and the grape are common, the latter in two or three varieties. Besides, there are oranges, lemons, pomegranates, figs, apricots, peaches, bananas, melons, mulberries, and olives. Vegetables are grown, as tomatoes, asparagus, lettuce, and cucumbers. The heavier crops are the chief staples, of which the leading one is cotton. The third in rank, tho far 6. Final completion is announced for 1912. Egypt Exploration Fund, 1910-11, P. 20. Archeological Report of "Con 7. From the Pall Mall Gazette for July 26, 1911, we quote: sidering the certainty of the low Nile, which, thanks to the Assouan dam, does not cause the same trouble as formerly, news of the Egyptian outlook is encouraging. Indeed, today there comes to hand a telegram speaking very confidently of the crop position, and within the next week or two its prospects should be almost beyond question. |