The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-01-10
THE PANAMACANAL.


THE PANAMA CANAL.
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
lust returned home 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 5000 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 growtl,s have been removed,
and one can now ride on a horse along
the az of 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 OF there being a railroad there
has proved an economy in time for "a,
nal building of several years. Miles OF
extra track have been laid for the exca-
vations, large hospitals have been put
up at both ends ii the canal, and a vast
amount of machinery has been sent to
different points and put in readiness fol
operation. The digging Of the cana! has
now fairly begun. At Calebra is the
nights point on the line, some 5000 feet
above the level Of the sea. An Ameri-
can, Mr.. Albert Alillet, has the contract
for excavating and removing some s.
100000 cubic metres. His place is called
the American camp, or section, from
the fact that almost all his machina ry
was made in the United States; and its
operations are watched with great inter-
est, and even jealousy, by the French
men and others, who are very
fast coming to recognize the superior-
ty of American machines and Ameri-
can inventive talent. He has an
excavator built at Albany. N Y, digging
sharply into the mountain-side, dump
ing into cars made in Springfield, and
which are hauled by a locomotive made
in Boston. From Calebra several mics
| toward the Pacific and ten miles or more
4 ~ lnIs1 0f
at work digging through this, the back
tract has recently been made with an
American for dredging ten miles on the
| Pacific end Of the canal, and at the At.
| lantc terminus work has already begun
| Two die ding machines, each with a ca
pacity of about 900 cubic metres a 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 is now on
It's way there, and the other two which
are now building at Philadelphia, each
| costing Sl2j,WlO. The material that il
| brought up from the bottom of the cana
| at Colon, where these smaller dredges
are at work, is pure white coral, which
when wet in its place, is cut through az
easily as cheese.
| The canal company IS now paying gu
not far from $500,0D0 monthly on the
| isthmus, and another half million dol
lars is being spent at the Paris and New
York offices for supplies and machiner,
Of all kinds. That is, the work is being
| pushed ahead al the rate of a million dol
cient money to go on on this basis fJl three
wears TO come, at which time the work
will be so far advanced that it will con
| tinue by It's own nome mum. In every
| thing that is done, Capt. Appleton says
the inspiring mind and the controlling
hano OF NJ. De Lessop is seen. He 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 fol
the work, and personal loyalty and de-
votion to himself.
| One matter which is of course of great
| interest is tire sanitrry condition of the
| isthmus. There are on the average
| about $50 pat ientsin the company's hos
pital at Panama, of whom only compar-
| atiyely few were stricken with fever.
The others were suffering from various
discs ses and injuries received in work.
There were only thirty-fv patients at
the Colon Hospital. When it is consid-
cred that any OF the 5000 workmen who
| are taken i'll are sent to one or the other
of these hospitals it is apparent, Mr.
Appleton says, that the isthmus is not
the presidential place it is commonly be-
| 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 al imaginary
| affair or the company speculative organ
ization. 1t is q great reality, becoming
stronger and stronger every day, and
| our people should take part in the work
in manner worthy of the position they
occupy, geographically and politically
| The lille talk which has been not uncDm.
| mon in congress ami in the American
| press has had no effect in frightening
the people of Centraiand South America
| and it has not tended to increase their
respect for the United States. They
know that the international Company
| which is only French. in the sense of be-
ing organized by the great canal-dlgger
who happens to be a Frenchman
and having its administrative officer
| LII IdflS, HIlIlc Icdlly ltAc ltiS
| 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 navigators, of merchants, and
of statesman for many years: The stat
ue Of Columbus, sent over by the En-
press Eugene, now stands on the shore
at Colon. Doubtless, some day, one will
I've erected to Balboa where the waves
| of the Pacific come up to he western
! extremity Of the canal. Nothing coul,
be more appropriate, when the cana
shall be finished and accomplished
fact, Captain, Appleton suggests, than te
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 Ked Sea and
the Mediterranean.