3-021-550 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Isthmus of Suez Maritime Canal: Lake Timsah, 1869. Lake Timsah '...[is] an inland basin...into which the waters of the Mediterranean have been admitted by the completion of the first half of the Canal from Port Said. The new town and inland port of Ismailia is on the northern shore of this lake...here at once becomes apparent the advantage obtained by the Fresh-Water Canal...[The] Canal, 40 ft. wide by 9 ft. deep, comes to Ismailia from Zagazig, a distance of fifty miles. At Ismailia it divides into two branches. One, with double locks, is connected with the Maritime Canal. This branch of the Fresh-Water Canal passes through the El Wady, the estate originally purchased for the company for £86,000, but which was subsequently purchased from them by the Egyptian Government for £400,000. The other branch, after taking advantage of the ancient canal of the Pharaohs, reached Suez, traversing a distance of fifty miles. When the works were commenced one great difficulty was the want of water fit for drinking, which made the construction of the Fresh-Water Canal of the greater importance. The Egyptian Government had agreed to execute this Fresh-Water Canal in 1856; but M. Lesseps found it must devolve upon the company were it to be done in time'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.