Frederic Courtland Penfield

“ The reservoir project was now in danger of drifting into European politics, and it was wisely concluded in Cairo and London to let the matter drop for a few years from public notice.
"What is a useless temple," asked engineers, "in comparison with a work involving the welfare of millions of human beings?" "Are sordid commercial motives," replied archæologists, "to override everything artistic in the world, and is a priceless monument of antiquity to be lost to civilization that a few more fellaheen, already prosperous, may grow more cotton and sugar and grain?" ”

“ Whitehouse, the latter was formally thanked for his scholarly suggestion, given a high decoration by the khedive—and the Englishmen proceeded with their studies preliminary to the Assuan dam.
To comprehend the importance of present-day irrigation in Egypt, it must be borne which, like cotton and sugar, command high prices because of their excellence. Indeed, with a reliable supply of water, farming in the Nile country can be pursued with more certainty of success than in any other country of which I have knowledge. ”

“ Tourist boat leaving Shelal for the cataract. It being the particles of soil contributed to the river by the wash of the mountains and hills in Abyssinia that enrich the fields, the dam will be so designed that the water released daily, during low Nile, will be drawn from near the bottom of the reservoir. Egyptian farmers prize the "red water," which is vastly richer in fertilizing value than clear water can be. ”

“ General view of the first cataract from Elephantine Island. Engineering skill is to rearrange nature's surface on the Egyptian frontier, and pond back into Nubia a body of water a hundred and forty miles long, crossing the tropic of Cancer, and extending southward nearly to Korosko,—a goodly step on the journey to Abu-Simbel and Wady-Halfa,—by means of a great dam across the Nile at Assuan. The Pyramids and the Sphinx have borne testimony through the centuries to the grandeur and power of execution which dwelt within the Nile valley ”

“ The Nile cane, likewise, is sufficiently rich to give its cultivators decided market advantages.
Successful in an unexpected degree in augmenting the population of the ancient land of the Pharaohs by enforcing hygienic measures, the British administrators at Cairo are recognizing the necessity for proportionately increasing the area of what on another page I have termed the practical Egypt. When the British occupation began, sixteen years ago, Egypt's population was about 7,000,000. ”

“ Each pier must be capable of supporting its own weight and the pressure of water against the adjoining sluice-gates, and the piers must be able to pass the torrent without damage. At times the velocity of the escaping flood-water will be very great; consequently the piers will be enormously massive. The locks for steamers and other craft navigating the Nile will be on the west side. ”

“ A dam there, besides, would submerge the temple at Kom-Ombos, as well as a good part of the town of Assuan. Hence all the engineers in the end favored damming the Nile at the first cataract, at a point about four miles south of Assuan, and not far from the island of Philæ. There nature has been lavish in providing hills of solid rock on each side of the river that will stand the ravages of the elements as long as the world lasts. ”

“ The Egyptian farmer can rely on getting four or five hundredweight of long-staple cotton from an acre, which is readily marketed for two cents a pound more than American cotton sells for—American cotton that does not average two hundredweight to the acre. ”

“ As an object-lesson, this Egyptian enterprise should have no more interested observers than in America, especially in Colorado, Nevada, California, and other States of the West, where the irrigation expert is succeeding the railway-builder as a developer. ”

“ No subject is receiving wider attention at this time than that of territorial expansion. Great Britain, as well as France, Germany, and Russia, is yearly pressing forward its domain in Africa and Asia, preceded by the soldier or the explorer ”

“ The customs and railways are certain to show large increases, and the reservoir will thus add considerably to the security behind Egyptian bonds of all classes, now amounting to a trifle over $500,000,000, and which for several years have commanded a fair premium. ”

“ As an incentive for them to live up to their agreement, the first payment by the Egyptian government is not to be made until the work is completed and accepted. The credit is a long one, certainly, and its present actuarial value cannot be much in excess of $10,000,000. ”