Dredges on the Suez Canal.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2661, 26 May 1908, Page 3

Dredges on the Suez Canal.

Tbe most vivid impreMH m of all will be that of the dredges. It is the wuiie mi ilte I stimuli of Paoann. The traveller from lite (ropiunl countries who enjoys the enforced hospitality of the quarantine station of Colon has ample opportunity to reflect on the function of the dredges in keeping o|«n international waterways. In the morning one is wen holding its way back and fortl) across the Atlantic entrance ; at night its moving lights testify to contiuuovs activity. But the desert is far different from the country through which the Panama Canal pisses. Forever blow the desert winds artl forever whirl the desert sanls. At Suez the prevailing winds and tbe mud nature of the soil require continued dredging to keep the Port Tewfik channel opeu. Along the route to the Bitter Lakes, and from these lakes to Timsab, the sands are raillitint; thedredges must fight them without intermission. But the greatest function of •these machines is at tbe Mediterranean entrance. Here at Port Said tbe message and the mission of the dredges are felt intensely. Night and day their hoarse voices cry out. Sometimes losing the raucous quality and screeching. Their ceaseless call is to action, to preserve the fruits of past digging, and to provide larger fruits for the commerce of tbe future. They maintain what has been gained, and, enable us to review tbe sources of these grains since the canal was opened.—Charles M. Pepper, in Scribner.