Description

مصطفى شورى [Mustafa Shura / Shora].
هذا الجدول يبين اسامي المواقف الخط الحجازي ووجود ماء طيب وغير طيب وعدم وجود ماء وارتفاعهم عن سطح البحر
حجاز تيموريولى مواقف اسماریله مسافه ارینی و سطح بحردن اعتباراً ارتفاعلرینی کوسترر جدولیدر
[This table lists the names of the Hejaz Railway stops, indicating the availability of good and bad water, as well as the absence of water and their elevation above sea level.]
Damascus: مطبعة الفيحاء [Alfayhaa Press] [circa 1908-1914].

This notable ephemeral print in Ottoman and Arabic languages, likely given to pilgrims on the Hejaz railway, illustrates the locations of water sources along the desert route.

Marked are 74 stations, crossings and stops along the 1,302 km route from al-Qadam al-Sharif (lit. “the Noble Foot”), located south of Damascus, to Medina. This railway line was completed in 1908. The first set of numbers next to each station indicates the distance in kilometers, starting at 000 for the first station, while the second set of numbers represents the elevation of each stop.

Stations marked with a six-pointed star indicate the presence of water, while those marked with a sun-like symbol signify that the water quality is good and can be considered drinkable. If a station has no symbol, it means that water is not available there.
The water supply along the Hejaz railway was a significant challenge. Stretching 1,302 kilometers through a scorching desert, the railway faced limited water availability for the drinking and washing needs of passengers, as well as for the employees, transported animals, and the trains themselves. The high temperatures not only caused rapid evaporation of exposed water supplies but also led to contamination of the closed ones.

Several water systems were installed along the railway, each offering varying qualities of water. The railway roughly follows the path of an ancient pilgrimage route, and to support its operations, several old stone reservoirs known as “birkas” were utilized, some of which date back to Roman times. In addition to repairing several old wells, new water towers were constructed.

Special wind-driven water pumps, similar to windmills, were also installed, as they the warm and arid climate of the desert. One of these pumps still exists at the Al Ula station, noted on the current broadside as a water source, though it is not clean. This powerful pump is capable of filling three wells.(For images, see: James Nicholson, The Hejaz Railway: Technical Difficulties | Hejaz Railway).

Our broadside highlights that out of 74 stations, water was available at only 26 stops. Of these, only five provided high-quality, reliably drinkable water: Amman, Jurf ed Darawish, Al-Ukhaydir, Al-Bweir, and Medina. The chart demonstrates that in many cases, excessively long distances had to be covered in extreme heat without access to any water.

In 1908 amateur archaeologist, map-maker and a British officer Francis Richard Maunsell (1861–1936) described a problem with water supply on the Hejaz Railway

“The old pilgrim route is followed very closely throughout, and at the stations the stone cisterns and reservoirs to provide a supply of water to the pilgrims are noticed. Water becomes very scarce; in a few places wells have been dug, and water is raised by wind-pumps. For some reason, boring for artesian wells does not seem to have been tried. One attempt was made in rocky ground, and when the drills broke no further attempts were made…

At Tebuk, 430 miles from Damascus, is the first oasis of any size, and here a depot has been formed, at which the railway can recoup itself before another long stretch of nearly waterless desert is entered and the next depot at El Ula reached.”

(Maunsell, F. R. “The Hejaz Railway.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 32, no. 6, 1908, pp. 572, 579. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1777519. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025).