The Building of the Canal, Its PhysicaI Features
41
Fig. 14. SateIIite picture of Nile Delta with Suez CanaI in background (Gemini IV;
courtesy NASA)
between 1967-1974. Although the data are not complete and finally proven, it
seems that the changes of depth which occurred in the Canal during these years
do not indieate a silting up. It took much arguing and political maneuvering for
de Lesseps to obtain his final charter: the British opposing the Canal and using
the technical authority of W. Stephenson, the French using all the technicoromantic enthusiasm of the Saint Simonians (the "possibilistes" and the "canalistes").
In the following pages a few te.chnical data about the Canal will be given, but
no complete topographie and physical description of the Canal (Figs.14 and 15,
Map 1).
A total of 75 million m 3 were excavated by 1869. The totallength of the Canal
is now 162.5 km. To that must be added the western pier of the harbor of Port
Said, which has been built 6.5 km out into the Mediterranean, while the eastern
jetty of Port Said is only 2.5 km long (Fig.16). A jetty approximately 2 km long
exists at Port Ibrahim at the Gulf of Suez (southern) end ofthe Canal.
Only about 70 km of the Canal are dug out in dry land, while the rest of the
waterway crosses aseries of lakes and swamps (from the north: Lake Menzaleh,
Lake Ballah, Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes). -
The 45 km through Lake Menzaleh are deepened in the shallow lake, with the
excavated earth forming two dams which contain the Canal (Fig. 17). By this, the
eastern end of Menzaleh has been cut off from the main lake and turned into a
41
Fig. 14. SateIIite picture of Nile Delta with Suez CanaI in background (Gemini IV;
courtesy NASA)
between 1967-1974. Although the data are not complete and finally proven, it
seems that the changes of depth which occurred in the Canal during these years
do not indieate a silting up. It took much arguing and political maneuvering for
de Lesseps to obtain his final charter: the British opposing the Canal and using
the technical authority of W. Stephenson, the French using all the technicoromantic enthusiasm of the Saint Simonians (the "possibilistes" and the "canalistes").
In the following pages a few te.chnical data about the Canal will be given, but
no complete topographie and physical description of the Canal (Figs.14 and 15,
Map 1).
A total of 75 million m 3 were excavated by 1869. The totallength of the Canal
is now 162.5 km. To that must be added the western pier of the harbor of Port
Said, which has been built 6.5 km out into the Mediterranean, while the eastern
jetty of Port Said is only 2.5 km long (Fig.16). A jetty approximately 2 km long
exists at Port Ibrahim at the Gulf of Suez (southern) end ofthe Canal.
Only about 70 km of the Canal are dug out in dry land, while the rest of the
waterway crosses aseries of lakes and swamps (from the north: Lake Menzaleh,
Lake Ballah, Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes). -
The 45 km through Lake Menzaleh are deepened in the shallow lake, with the
excavated earth forming two dams which contain the Canal (Fig. 17). By this, the
eastern end of Menzaleh has been cut off from the main lake and turned into a