Omaha daily bee., 1882-12-06
THE PANAMA CANAL.
Four hundred Thousand Dollars for
Three Canal DredGee.

| ESAh ShAANA ~ ~
Three Canal Dredgea.
Philadelphia Record.
The largest dredging machine ever
| construct,d will DO launched in this
city within . few weeks. This I'm.
! mense mud digger ia one of the three
being C instructed by Slaven Broth.
ers, ct CALIFORNIA;, at Petty's Island,
tor the Panama canal company, the
aggregate cost OF which will be over
$40, 700. The Que nov 80 near COM
pletiou is 100 feet long, 60 feet wide
aud IL feet deep. When all the ma
chinery 10 in place 1t will contain 300
tons of iron. On each of tho the
monster dredges there will be eight
separate engines, the pair of high.
PRESSURE engines which run the dredge
being of 250.horse power each.
The dredges are of q new patent
and work with a series of buckets on
an endless chain. There are eighteen
of the buckets to each machine, which
can dig and dispose OF 1920 cubic
yards of dirt la an hour for tho three
dredges of 1850 cubic yards. Thus
in four months, working twelve hours
q day, they could dig out $500, 900
cubic feet or a canal eight feet wide,
twelve feet deep, and nearly fifty
miles long. After the dirt is eoooped
up in the buckets it is run up the
long arm of the dredge fifteen or
twenty feet below. The hopper is
made of iron, and weighs Eve and a
half tons. From the hopper the dirt
is forced By machinery into and
through a huge pipe, three feet 10
diameter and 100 long, to its place
of deposit. The pipe has a
fall of eighteen feet, and to
insure the easy passage of the
of the dirt through it, q heavy stream
of water is constantly forced through.
The stoppage in the work of digging
is never very long. The dredger rests
upon a ''spur" or pin, upon which 1t
Dan be revolved without stopping the
dredging buckets, thus enabling the
operators to dig from side to side at
will. Tho machinery for the first
dredger, which was manufactured In
California, is now here, and as soon
as the hull is launched will be
placed on board. Before taking the
big digger to Aspinwall a number of
preliminary tests will be made with 1t
In tho Delaware river. The second
dredger will be commenced as soon az
the frat il launched, and work on the
third will be commenced as soon as
the second Ia finished.
The Canal Construction and Bank
ing company, of which the Messrs.
Slaven are agents, in addition to the
building of the d%redgers, have u con-
tract with the Panama Canal COM
pany to dig out ten miles of the canal,
for shich they are to be paid So, 000,.
600. Mr.. L. Ward, who is tho super
intendent of construction in connec
ton with the building of the dredge
in this city, has just arrived here
from the Isthmus of Panama, where he
has put up sixty.eight buildings
along the route of the proposed canal
in connection with this 81; 900, 600
contract. He says the work prepare
tory to the commencement of digging
out tho great canal is about finished.
The canal company has 80 far spent
about $40, 900, 900, and he has no
doubt that the canal will be completed
within the ten years specified by the
engineers There are, he states,
about 8. 600 men at work.
1t is not unlikely that the big dred-
ger, tho construction of which Mr..
Ward is experimenting, may be first
experimental upon in starting the
work of digging the proposed ship
canal across the Delaware aud Mary.
land peninsula. M. A. Slaven, who
is president Of the California bank and
construction company, and his brother
81. B. Slaven will be in Philadelphia
In q few days, having Just completed
an examination of the route of the
proposed Delaware and Mary.
land canal with the pres
ident of the company,
Col. Horace B. Tibbets, of New
York. Col Tibbets will sail for Paris
soon, where he says capital sufi ,ient
to build the canal WITHOUT government
aid has been guaranteed. His com
pany has charters from Delaware and
Maryland to construct the canal by
the Sassafras river route. 1t is pro.
posed, however, to give the California
capitalists an opportunity to invest
there, and it is said that the Slavens
are favorable to the Delaware aud
Maryland scheme and will put money
into it.