The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1884-01-11
THE PANAMA CANAL.
The Present Condition and Pros
poets OF the Entcrpr.sc--The
Work Of Digging Vigorously BE.

4 ~.
The Present Condition and Pros
poets of the Iintcrpr,sc--The
Z Work Of Digging Vigorously BE.
glih.
Boston Advertiser.
Capt. Nathan Appleton, who has been
Unidentified with the International Com.
pany s nee the time ofthe Paris congress-
which voted for the Panama route, a
warm friend Of Nj. De tic5sors, md
one ofthe earliest to put faith In tile
canal enterprise, having spent n fort
night or more upon tho isthmus, has
just returned homo to Boston. He
says that to get an idea of what
is doing OH the canal one need only
cross the isthmus upon the railroad
tr.lin, from which abundant signs OF
the extensive progress already made
can be obtained. About 5000 mcn are
employed. These are partly native In
dams, and partly negroes from Jamaica,
Of whom large numbers have been
brought over. Until within tho last
six months the work has been
principally preparatory. Houses
tor the workmei! have been erected ut
intervals along the line, the trees and
tropical growllls have been removed,
anl one can now ride on 81 horse along
the az OF the cana--that is, the line
which marks its exact centre from the
Atlantic To tho Pacific. The cana! COM
pany has purchased the railroad, and
the TACT OF there beinga railroad there
k,,t. r..
nal building of several years. Miles of
vations, large hospitals have been put
amount of machinery has been sent to
different poiuts and put in readiness lol
operation. The digging of the cana. has
now fairly begun. AT Calebya is the
higl.ts point on the line, some 5000 feet
above the level of tho sea. An Ameri-
can, Mr.. Albert Mlict, has the contract
for excarating and removing some o.
0oo,o 900 cubic metres. His place is called
the American camp, or section, from
the fact that almost all his mlcNna.y
was lnade i'll the United States; and lis
operations are watched with great inter
est, and even jcalously, 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 locomotive made
in Boston. From Calebra severa! mics
toward the Pacific and ten miles or more
toward the Atlantic tho lahorers arc al
nj work digging through this, the back.
bone of that part OF the Andes. A con.
tract has recently been made with an
American for dredging ten miles on the
Pacific end Of the canal, and at the At
lantic terminus work has already begun
Two DIE ding machines, each with ca.
pacity OF about l 900 cubic metres IL day
are employed there. The Americau
Dredging Company has the contract for
dredging ten miles of tl:e Atlantic end,
and it will put ut work there three col.
ossnl machines, one Of which is now on
It's way there, and tha other two which
are now building at Philadelphia. cacl
costing $l2j,0Go. Tie material that is
brought up from the bottom ofthe canal
atColon,. where these smaller dredges
are at work, is pure white coral, which,
when wet in its place, is cut through as
easily as cheese.
Tho canal company is now paying onl
not far from $5O0,0JD monthly on tho
isthmns, and another half million dol
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 atthe rate of million dol.
lars II month, and the company has sulli
cient money to go OH on this basis forthree
years to come, at which time tho work
will be SO far advanced that it will con
tinna by It's own momentum. In every
thing that is done, Capt. Appleton says
the inspiring mind and the controlling
land OF N. 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 tie work, but of
the work, and personal loyalty and de.
votion TO himself.
One matter which is Of course of great
interest is tic sanitrry condition OF tho
isthmus. There are OIL the average
about $50 pat ientsin the company's hos
pital at Panama, of whom only compar-
atively few were stricken with fever.
The others were suffering from various
disease and injuries received in work.
There were only thirty.fve patients at
the Colon Hospital. When it is consid-
cred that any oil 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 pestientia place it is commonly be-
lieved 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 clleapiy.
The time has now come, says Capt.
Appleton, when Americans should re-
aiize that the canal is not an imaginary
affair or the company uspcculatiyc organ
ization. 1t is n great reality, becoming
stronger and stronger every day, and
onr people should take par, in the work
in q manner worthy of the position they
occupy, geographically and politically.
The lille talk which has been not uncon.
mon i'll congress and in the American
press has had no effect in frightening
the people ofCcntral.and South America,
and it has not tended tn increase their
respect for the United States. They
know that the International Company
which is only Frencl, in the sense of be-
ing organized by the great cailal-diggcr,
who happens To be Ercnchman,
and having its administrative officer
in Paris, while really the lin.
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 nuyigators, Of merchants, and
of statesman for many years. The stat.
ue of Columbus, sent over by the En-
press Eugenie, now stands on the shore
at Colon. Doubtless, some day, one will
bc 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 q finished and accomplished
fact, Captain Appleton suggests, than to
erect monument TO Ferdinand De Les.
seps on the hilltop of Calebra. from
which, i'll Imagination, if not in fact, he
could sec the waters Of the two oceans
which it is his happy destiny TO bring
together us lie has the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean.
O'Donnell's Confession of the Muir.
der Of Carey.
The United Ireland of Dublin, publishes
an account Of the murder of Carey, written
by q gentleman who received it from
O'Donnell, and which was not to be told SC
long as chance renamed to savs O'Don
nelps life. The account shows that o. Don
nell deliberately killed Carey. There wal