The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-21
TIE PANAMA CANAL.
THE SCHEME PROVING TO BE A BON
ANA FOR THE CONTRACTORS.
Observations OF Returned Cincinnatian
The Army of Leeches Who Find
Asylum on the Isthmus-Bad
Business.
[Cfncinnati Enquirer Tnterview.l

A former Cincinnatian, Mr. w. J.
Crosby, has just returned from Panama,
where he has been since last September
fulfilling a contract for tightening cargoes
on incoming ships to the shore. The
yellow fever has been and now is com
uniting dreadful Tavages there, and when
his turn came his physician and
friend hurried him out of the country.
Mr.. Crosby has been a number Of years
on the isthmuS; at one time as an agent of
the Pacific Steamship company, aud his
position gave him opportunities for oh
servation, which he seems to have i'm
proved to the fullest extent. The
history of the Panama canal said he,
will be a record of fraud almost unpar-
alleled in the annals of any nation.
Already it has cost the sum of l 1850.
OOO The projectors hnFc IN addition
debt of $50 900 10, and now they esti-
mate that to compass lis completion 1O0,-
O0O, 600 additional " II be needed, w hat
have they acc mpliSaed? Nothing more
than the trans DoTtation to the oh ective
point of an un United amount of n:achin-
ery which is seleSS and can not even be
converted into old iron, as the rates for
freight away from the isthmus are so
high as to render protitless any such ven
ture.
"The Nicarauga route is undoubtedly
the best for canal purposes, but it is said
at the same time the longest The route
II
dictate is the shortest but 1t is fraught
with difficulties which, [ think, have all
been too lightly considered. even if they
have been considered at all.
"For instance the land lies very high
in places, and the deepest portion will be
a cut six hundred feet in depth. Now
thu water surface of the canal will have
to be $50 feet in width. This will neces-
state cut of nearly eighteen hundred
feet in width at the top; so you can easily
innMgine the amount of dirt to be removed
The canal line follows closely the line of
the Panama railroad The contract for
removing the dirt has been let
caEt for $19, 100000, and as yet
the contractors have done nothing. Then
they seem to have taken no account of
the varying aspects of the spring tides.
OF course they will have to employ an
elaborate system of locks In the spring
the tides on the Pacific side rise from
twenty five TO thirty feet. while on the
gulf coast they are from twelve to fifteen
inches These conditions deem of i'm
portauce, and lastly they are using the
channel of the Chagres river as a starting
point OF the canal on the gulf side. The
Chagres is a mountain stream, and in
times of food is a terror to the inhabitants
You have heard about torrent rushing
and jumping Well, the breast of tor
rent in the Chagres just jumps along.
1t comes down like a solid wall, bearing
all before it They will have to divert
the entire channel of this stream. The
canal has now been under way four years,
and the channel, when completed, will be
fOrty-seven miles in length
THE company has erected a great num-
Der of houses along the line and just to
give you an idea of the manner in which
they conduct their business l will tell you
that in their office, which is an immense
place. they had at one time over 700
clerks employed. 1t seemed at once
hospital and an asylum for broken-down
relics of French nobility. Each window
of the office had small balcony and each
balcony its lolling Frenchman. When
one got tired, and went within to either
pore over the pages of French novel OF
questionable moral purity or the Paris
papers, another Frenceman took his
place. If any one appeared with bill or
Series of accounts he, as like as not, would
be told to call again, as all hands were too
busy to pay any attention to him. To any
man attempting to conscientiously dis
charge his duty this was discouraging All
these fellows did was to draw their
salaries. ! understand, however, that the
force has recently been materially de-
creased.
ain addition l can assure you of one
thing, and that is, if the Panama canal is
ever completed it will be by American
brain and pluck. The way the present
syndicate are engaged it will take 100
years to finish the work.