River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-01-10
THE PANAMA CANAL.
The Present Condition and Pros.
poets of the EnterprIse-The
work OF Digging Vigorously BE.
gun

The Present Condition and Pros
poets of the EnterprIse-The
Work OF Digging Vigorously Be-
gun.
Boston Advertiser.
Capt. Nathan Appleton, who has been
Unidentified with the International Com
pany nee the time ofthe Paris congress
which voted for the Panama route, a
warm friend of NJ. De Lesseps, and
one Of the earliest to put faith in the
canal enterprise, having spent fort
night or more upon the isthmus, has
Just returned homo to Boston. He
says that to get an idea of what
Is doing on the canal one need only
cross the isthmus upon the railroad
train, from which abundant signs OF
the extensive progress already made
can be obtained. About 6,000 men are
employed. These are partly native In
dams, and partly negroes from Jamaica,
of whom large numbers have been
brought over. Until within the last
six months the work has been
principally preparatory. Houses
Tor The workmen have been erected at
intervals along the line, the trees and
tropical growths have been removed,
ana one can now ride on a horse along
tbc Ak al the canal--that IS, the line
which marks its exact centre from the
Atlantic TO the Pacific. The canal COM
pany has purchased the railroad, and
The fact oil there being railroad there
Inns proved an economy in time Tor "a
mai building of several years. Miles OF
extra track have been laid for the eXca-
vations, large hospitals have been put
up at both ends of the canal. and vast
amount of machinery has been sent 10
different points and mt III readiness tol
operation The digging Of the canal has
now fairly begun. At Calehra is the
hights noint on the line. some 5000 feet
above the level Of the sea. An Ameri-
can, Mr.. Albert Millet, has the contract
for excasating and removing some 81
10000 cubic metres. His place Is called
the American camp, or section, from
the fact that almost all his machinery
was made in the United States; and its
operations are watched with great inter
est, and even jealousiy, by the French
men and others, who are very
fast coming to recognize the SUPERIOR
ty of American machines and Amerl-
can inventive talent He has an
excavator built at Albany. n ~, digging
sharply into the mountain-slde, dump
ing into cars made in Springfield, and
which are hauled by locomotive made
in Boston. From Cale6ra several miles
toward the Pacific and ten miles or more
toward the Atlantic the lakorers are ut
at work digging through this, the back
bone Of that part OF the Andes. \ con-
tract has recently been made with an
American for dredging ten miles on the
Pacific end Of the canal, and at the At
Iantjc terminus work has already begun.
Two Dire ding machines, each with a ca
pacity of about 900 cubic metres day,
are employed there. The American
Dredging Company has the contract for
dredging ten miles of the Atlantic end,
and it will put at work there three col
ossal machines, one of which ls now on
It's wav there. and the other two which
are now building at Philadelphia, each
costing Sl25, 900. The material that Is
brought up from the bottom ofthe canal
at Colon. where these smaller dredges
are at work, is pure white coral, which,
when wet in its place, is cut through as
easily as cheese.
The canal company is now paying out
not far from $4,000 monthly on the
isthmus. and another half million dot
lars is being spent at the, Paris and New
York offices for supplies and machinery
of all kinds. That is, the work Is being
pushed ahead at the rate Of lion dol
lars Il month, and the company has suffi-
cient money to go on on tins basis Tor three
wears to come, at which time the work
will be so far advanced that it will con-
tinue by its own momentum. In every
thing that is done, Capt. Appleton says,
the inspiring mind and the controlling
hama OF NJ. De Lessop is seen. lie has
not only the happy faculty OF choosing
the right men to put in the various po-
sitions connected with the work, but OF
inspiring them with an enthusiasm for
the work, and personal loyalty and de-
voton to himself.
one matter which is Of course of great
interest is the sanitrry condition OF the
isthmus There are on the average
about $50 pat ientsiu the cOmpany's hos
pital ut Panama, of whom only cOmpar-
atively few were stricken with fever.
The others were suffering from various
disc 4ses and injuries received III work.
There were only thirty-tve patients 81
the Colon Hospital. When 1t is consid-
cred that any OF the 5000 wcrkmen who
are taken ill are sent to one or the other
OF these hospitals II IS apparent, Mr..
Appleton says, that the isthmus is not
the presidential place it is commonly be-
lieyed TO be. The water from the soil
is not fit to drink. and the canal COM
pany has imported hundreds OF thou
sands of bottles Of spring water which
is sold cheapiy.
The time has now come, says Capt
Appleton, when Americans should re-
alize that the canal is not an imaginary
affair or the company speculative organ
izati0n 1t is great reality, becoming
stronger and stronger every day, and
our people should take part in the work
in a manner worthy Of the position they
occupy, geographically and politically.
The lille talk which has been not uncom.
mon in congress and in the American
press has had no effect In frightening
the people of Centraland South America,
and il has not tended to increase their
respect for the United States. They
know that !he international Company
which is only French in the sense of be.
ing organized by the great eanal-digger,
who aappens to be Frenchman,
and having its administrative officer
in Paris, while really the flag
Of the United States Of Columbia floats
over it and protects tit is doing the
work which has b en- the dream of tray
elers, of nayigators, of merchants, and
of statesman for many years. The stat.
ne of Columbus, sent over by the En-
press Eugene, now stands on the shore
at Colon. Doubtless, some day, one will
be erected to Balboa where the waves
OF the Pacific come up TO he western
extremity of the canal. Nothing could
be more appropriate, when the canal
shall be finished and accomplished
fact, Captain Appleton suggests, than to
erect monument to Ferdinand De Les
seps on the hilltop Of Calebra, from
which, in Imagination, if not in fact, he
could see the waters Of the two oceans
which It is his happy destiny to bring
together as he has the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean.
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Singular Contests OTStrength.
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