Naturally, his project met with much opposition; but finally public opinion declared the plan, with some modifications, to be practical, and that the construction of such a canal would be profitable to commerce. A company was formed and at the end of five years the canal, at its Mediterranean entrance at Port Said in the eastern portion of the Delta, was finished.
From Port Said the canal had to cross about twenty miles of Lake Menzaleh, a shallow body of salt water, which in general appearance strongly suggested the lagoons of Venice. Beyond the lake much more labor had to be expended, owing to the varying height of the land above sea level. Some twenty-two miles of ground, varying in height from thirty to eighty feet, had to be cut through.
The work of excavation was most laborious, owing to the nature of the soil, which was often mixed with clay. The vast quantities of sand seemed endless, even with the aid of dredging machines and elevators, in excavating a canal as wide as that proposed—three hundred and twenty-seven feet.
When the Bitter Lake region was reached the work of excavation was no longer necessary, but much labor had to be expended in making an embankment for the better security of the canal.
At the southern end of the Bitter Lake region the work of cutting was again resumed as far as Suez, some thirty miles. This was, perhaps, as difficult a task as any that had to be accomplished. So difficult was it that the width of the canal was here reduced quite a little from that at first planned.
About the middle of March, 1869, the waters of the Mediterranean were successfully conducted into the Bitter Lake. Early in the fall of the same year Count de Lesseps had the well-earned satisfaction of making a steamer trip the entire length of the canal in about fifteen hours.
Thus had the skill and the energy of the French nation overcome the doubts and the objections of the English as to the practicability and possibility of so stupendous a piece of work.
It was a day of triumph when a formal notice of the public opening of the canal, throughout its entire length, was issued by Count de Lesseps in November, 1869. Several of the royal heads of Europe were invited to attend. The Emperor of Austria and the Empress Eugénie were among those present.
November 18, the imperial yacht L'Aigle, of France, with a fleet of forty vessels, made the passage of the first part of the canal to Ismailia in about eight hours and a half. At Ismailia the fleet was met by four vessels recently arrived from the southern terminus of the canal at Suez. The whole fleet set sail for Suez November 19, reaching the Red Sea two days later.
Examination of the canal proved that the water was never less than twenty feet in its most shallow parts. The usual depth was not less than twenty-five feet. The canal is now open to navigation for vessels from all nations. The usual time of transit is fifteen hours. The total cost of this great achievement of mechanical skill was about sixty million dollars.