Morning journal and courier., 1883-04-10
THE PANAMA CANAL.

Though but little is said at present about | the Panama canal much is being done to get it well started. Captain Nathan Appleton of l Boston, the American agent of De Lesseps, has just returned from the Isthmus and what he says about the condition of affairs there is interesting and impressive.
 According to MT. Appleton the Canal con- paay is now spending not far from $500, 900 in wages and salaries a month Another $500, ,0OO a month is spent in the offices of the company in Paris and New York, and in the purchase of machinery and material Tn l different parts of Europe and America At least 5 ,OOO men are at work for the company on the Isthmus. The principal point of at l tack is at Mount Culebra the highest point on the Isthmus, little over three hundred
 feet above the level of the sea, and some tif- teen miles from Panama. MT. Albert Millet, an American citizen of French percentage,
 has the contract for removing 100000 cu-
 bic metres from the top of the hill For this he will soon have in operation ten or twenty excavators built in the United States In
 Mir Millet's camp eight languages are spo-
 ken. From Culebra to Psriso and Pedro Migul, along the line of the Rio Grande, a
 little stream flowing into the Pacific, and in
 the other direction to Emperador, Obispo,
 Matachin, and Gorgona, distance in all of some fifteen miles or more, operations are being actually carried on in excavations along the ''axe" of the canal. At the Pacific terml nus, which is some three miles ab ove Pan anna, contract has been mads with
 an American for dredging, and he Is now be- ginning the work. At the Atlantic terminus two dredging machines, with capacity of 1000 cubic metres day, are in operation.
 They were built in Belgium, and are similar | to those used at Suez and in digging other | canals and dredging harbors in Europe. This | work is preparatory for the three colossal dredgers which are being built at Philadel- phia. These machines have capacity of l 10, GOO cubic metres per day each, and are on 1 the same plan as the others, with the addition 1 of chute 150 feet long. which will send | the material brought up from the bottom,
 mixed with water, well over the bank of the
 canal Mir. H. B. Slavep, an enterprising
 young Californian, is the first American who I has had the pluck to take hold of the actual work of dredging, and, to facilitate his oper- SAAS American Contracting and Dredging Com pany, it's stockholders being some of the solid capitalists of San Francis
 co and New York, he being the President. Three of their machines have
 been ordered at an expense of $125, ,o0o each At the entrance of the canal new town is
 being built A mile or two from the mouth
 some 2,OOO men are at work building houses
 and workshops, together with an immense
 wharf, and, in fact, everything necessary for
 new port of entry. For this they are filling
 in the accessible marsh land with earth taken
 from Monkey Hill. two miles in the interior.
 All this has 8 busin ess appearance. It will
 surprise many to learn that the great enter prise is so fourishing. How long it will continue to flourish remains to be seen, but
 men are doing such wonderful things nova
 days that the canal may really be dug. If it
 is it will probably cost much more than the
 bold and sanguine De Lesseps has estimated,
 but he and many others doubtless think it
 will be cheap at any price, say $500, GOO. GOO.