'File 23/15, 19 I (D 89) Mesopotamia - General' [‎173ar] (367/455)

The establishment of Ui^ s organiza
tion for the task has caused some stir in the
Middle East. At Baghdad, as well as at Haifa
and Tripolis, the two Mediterranean termini of
the line, people are speculating on what this
enterprise will mean—what wealth it will bring
to these ports, and how far the barren country
whifch the line traverses will be opened up for
the future. The Arabs whose territory it
touches must be wondering, too ; but they keep
their thoughts to themselves. For the present
they are clearly satisfied that it brings them
work and money.
The line starts from near Kirkuk in the oil
field and runs south-west to the Tigris, crossing
that river at Fatha, not far from Baiji, the rail
head of the Tigris railway. Thence it con
tinues to Haditha on the Euphrates. Here the
line divides, and the northern or French fork
runs almost due west into Syrian territory to
end at Tripolis, while the southern or British
fork continues south-westward into Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan
until about 37deg. E., where it turns north
eastward. It crosses the Jordan about 20 miles
south of Lake Tiberias and reaches the sea near
Haifa.
Work has been begun simultaneously from
four bases—from Kirkuk, from Fatha»on the
Tigris, using the Tigris railway, from Mafrak
in Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan on the Hejaz railway, and from
Tripolis. The first two gangs are working west
ward. When the Kirkuk gang reaches the
Tigris it is to leap-frog over the Fatha gang and
continue along the northern fork until it joins
hands with the party working from Tripolis.
Meanwhile the Fatha gang will continue along
the southern fork until it meets the Mafrak
party.
A REMOTE CAMP
On a recent visit to the Mafrak camp I found
the work going ahead steadily. The camp lies
in the middle of a great plateau as flat as a
table-top. To the north are the blue ranges
of the Jebel Druze; to the north-west—a good
80 miles away—the snow-capped ridge of Her-
mon, but to the east the plain seems to stretch
indefinitely. There is nothing to break the sky
line but a string of camels making their way
down to the Hejaz, or a distant trail of dust
showing where one of the company's tractors
is ploughing its way out to pipe-head with its
load of pipes. A few months ago Mafrak was
nothing but a spot on the map and a railway
station, but now there is a great compound full
of huts, offices, stores, and motor repair-shops,
and all that is required to maintain a popula
tion of several hundred men. From it the pipes
and the telephone line stretch east and west side
by side.
Just beyond the horizon to the east begins the
lava-belt, the most difficult area which the line
has to traverse. For more than 100 miles the
plain is formed from the ejections of an ex
tinct volcano, which appear in places as solid
basalt, in others as loose boulders of all sizes up
to a cubic yard. Even when a rough track has
been cleared the surface is a merciless test for
wheeled vehicles, something like what a fresh
patch of road metal, unground by the steam
roller, represents for a bicycle.
Over this the 10-wheel Scammell tractors with
their immense balloon tires bump their way
slowly day after day, carrying their 10 tons of
pipes, clouds of fine lava dust eddying from
under their wheels at every lurch and smother
ing the eyes, noses, and ears of their crews. The
pipes are now strung well half-way through
this area, and a water-line has also been laid
for about 30 miles to supply the pumping
station H.5, which will be situated in the middle
of the belt. This will be the last of the pump
ing stations on the southern fork, and will send
the oil on its final stage across the Jordan valley
and to the sea.
Westward from Mafrak cultivation soon
begins and the line runs over rolling country
which produces the best wheat in Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan .
Following the string of pipes one comes upon a
crowd of Arab villagers gazing in awe at an
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