| Show J s mi TEEL TEL NOW BRIDGES I FAMOUS F EUPHRATES 1 River Spanned panned by f Modern Modem Structure first steel high- high The n. n The river across the Euphrates Is nearIng completion Ir Iraq IiI ti ewer 40 miles mile mileti west of ot Bagdad ac- ac 40 to new news dispatches The jR KL which U is one of ot the most im- im int current engineering projects project smear Sear r East Fast will will be be a link Unk in the Q 1 overland motor transport rou route te tet ii World up since since the pa bAJ grown t Bagdad and Damascus between ee tf have been bell beaten ten out In the theof oeds to by men and Euphrates lon II of and chariots chariot for tor 50 cen- cen is horses hows q r says Mrs a National Geographic If bulletin Rigid bridges have hare ety minor part In this continua Ted Id a have been beena Floating bridges a a 7 cross across at half halt a dozen points i t at t other places ferries terrIes are oper- oper tt uv the Nile ille has so venerable a ad al and Its Us coma com- com d l ei as the Euphrates a on 00 river iver the Tigris continues the theat at and even the rile Nile Is U less lessin etin la in historic Incident The Euphra Euphra- Nis pis hu been the boundary line of ot lux ve empires along It have oil End ged battles and Invasions that have havela la lUl ged world history besides It have of lira fD some ome of ot the greatest cities that ft existed To its valley alley can cnn be bed tf d red the beginnings of ot many ny v i arts and sciences that cherishes today today sciences sciences and andos l and os ekes as 81 varied as ns astronomy I drawing of ot bank drafts geometry p alar calculations and mortgaging reel real estate file The be Euphrates rises In the ArmenI- ArmenI 1 Tarns mountains little more than er lindred andred miles southeast of ot the Black mack to It flows for tor nearly GOO COO miles mites gh Turkish territory and more 11 i f miles through French rench cone cond con- con e before entering Iraq d 1 Syria in ID the vicinity of ot Bagdad which of I on OD the Tigris the Euphrates an aptt ape ap- tt des cles to within 20 miles mites of ot Its t companion river The two or earns m s then gradually diverge to too toDo o- o to te miles farther tarther down The territory by these wat- wat eI d anus Is the famed tamed plain I ere w so far as written records die Ia the earths earth's first cities came Into H oil nl I Where There the Euphrates and Tigris i above e Bagdad the former Is 10 feet teet higher than the latter Irrl Irrl- gatlon gallon canals canal taken from the Lu u. u can therefore be led 1 across the plain and the drainage allowed to enter tine the TIgris The a and nd their successors discovered dISco this Ideal situation scores of ot centuries a ago o and constructed numerous canals de do- eloping the region Into a fertile gar gar- den Farther down stream tream the Euphrates Eu Eu- u. u drops to a lower level le and ami the canal procedure was reversed J Kv- Kv v- v bere the country was with canals As succeeding generations devel derel- skill In hydraulic engineering huge works were constructed On One canal paralleling the Euphrates from lilt Hit to the Persian gulf was miles mites long It was probably the longest canal ever constructed An ancient canal connecting the Euphrates and Tigris near Bagdad was navigable nn by steamers steam steam- ers 00 ro years ears ago but has hns since silted The highly de developed d eloped canal system made Mel Mesopotamia the land between the rivers rivers' prosperous for millenniums under various governments Even Joven after after aft aft- er the Moslems took possession much of ot the vast system was preserved ed But the Mongol Invasion In In 10 brought ruin Head wt iks anti and embankments were destroyed and the plains were turned Into alternate stretches of ot desert desert desert des des- ert and swamp It Is In this condItion condition condi comB tion that much of ot the land along niong the lower Euphrates Is to he be found today Certain sirens areas are well watered and well drained Fifty miles mile after pl close dose to Bagdad the Euphrates river runs beside beside be bl be- be side the ruins of Babylon Mounds of ot bricks and broken walls willis exposed by the work of ot archeologists cover corer more than CO CiO square miles and mark the place where one of ot the greatest of ot the worlds world's ancient cities throbbed with life 2 2500 years and more o ago o. o At the height of ot Its Us power and wealth Babylon Baby Baby- Ion lon numbered Its inhabitants by the millions On the southern portion of ot the site of ot Babylon Bablon Is the modern town of ot with busy bazaars among date groves troves and gardens After Arter the Euphrates and Tigris unite the combined stream Is known as the Arab al which flows Into the Persian gulf gult Sixty miles up the Arab al Is Basra the chief port of ot Iraq The river harbor has a depth of ot 17 feet teet at low tide From Basra a railway extends to Bagdad and on to 1 There are no rails between and on the Turk Turk Syrian border but a motor service closes the gap gup i and It Is now possible to buy buya a through h ticket from Paris to Bagdad or Basra When w Bagdad was at It its I zenith under the caliphs Basra was the busiest port of ot the East Kast o ast and anti had hall several hundred thousand Inhabitants The present Is about The Euphrates and the Tigris have built the fertile plain with their slit silt The delta advances Into the Persian gulf about 00 CO feet a year In Inthe Inthe the past years all aUthe the land between between between be be- tween the present meeting place of ot the rivers and the sea has been contrib contrib- At the end of ot the most recent Ice age the Euphrates according to geological estimates estimate entered the sea lell we west lit of ot the site of ot Its Bagdad dad more than miles from the Persian gulf gult |
