In Egypt, the 130 mile fresh water canal from the Nile to the diggings of the Suez Canal is completed

The 130 mile Sweet Water Canal ran from the Nile River to the area where Ferdinand de Lesseps' Suez Canal Company was building the great link between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The Company itself had constructed eighty miles of the project and the provision of fresh water to the town of Suez, as well at its role as a transportation link for the remaining three years of the canal construction, was vital.  (By John Osborne)