PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



THE CANALS OF EGYPT. 



GUY E. MITCHELL. 



The great system of canals which affords 

 fertility to Egypt has been developed at 

 an expense of fearful suffering and labor 

 on the part of its constructors. Many of 

 the largest of the canals* have been built 

 by unpaid labor, or what is known as the 

 corvee. When Mehemet Ali, at the be- 

 ginning of the century began the canals 

 which today cut up the country, corvees 

 of more than 300,000 men were seen, 

 drafted from every part of Egypt, digging 

 the Mahmoudieh canal. At that time the 

 labor demanded annually by this despotic 

 power corresponded to the employment of 

 45(1.000 laborers for four months. The 

 poor fellahs who were thus driven to on- 

 erous labors, usually received thereby no 

 benefit to their own lands. The methods 

 employed in excavating were the most 

 primitive. The only tools used were the 

 /ass, a kind of large hoe and the couffin, a 

 basket woven from the stems of palms. 

 The corvee was usually divided into dig- 

 gers and carriers and children frequently 

 constituted the latter. The corvee was 

 directed by none too gentle overseers. In 

 the digging of Egypt's canals, the lash has 

 played an important part. 



UNDER NATIONAL CONTROL. 

 In all the great irrigation systems of an- 

 cient times, history records that a central 

 head made responsible to it each individ- 

 ual irrigator or section, and so the rules 

 and laws under which agriculture was 

 performed were framed in such a manner 

 as to insure the greatest good to the larg- 

 est number; thus a marvelously perfect 

 agricultural development arose under such 

 systems, and serious conflict of rights was 

 unknown. 



EASTERN CO-OPERATION. 



The manufacturers of the country, es- 

 pecially the East, now that their attention 

 has been called to the subject, are becom- 

 ing heartily in favor of the plan of federal 

 aid to irrigation, because of the promise 

 that the development and population of 

 these now arid lands means the establish- 

 ment of a great home market for their 

 goods. Their friendliness and aid will be 

 found not inconsiderable. 



IRRIGATION SURVEYS. 



A reliable and systematic survey of the 

 water resources of the arid region which is 

 subject to reclamation through the preser- 

 vat ; on of the waters that now run to waste, 

 is highly important. Congress should 

 authorize and appropriate liberally for the 

 carrying forward of such work. 



AN ACCESSORY INDUSTRY. 



In Colorado the new art of irrigation 

 sprang up as an accessory industry to min- 

 ing for gold and silver. The great desire 

 of many mining sections for irrigation 

 works is that products may be raised for 

 the man who does the mining and the 

 mule which hauls the ore, and the cost of 

 their living cheapened. 



A BUSY RIVER. 



The Scientific American remarks upon 

 the multiple duties of the Santa Ana river 

 in California. This stream, which flows 

 out of the San Bernardino mountains, is 

 now used to transmit power to Los Ange- 

 les some eighty-two miles distant. Nine 

 thousand horse power is consumed in pro- 

 pelling machinery, moving street cars and 

 in heating and illuminating the buildings 



