Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
NICARAGUA DREDGES
Wonderful Work Done in the Harbor
at San Juan Del Norte.
TWENTY-FIVE TONS PER MINUTE.
The EXcavating to the Divide Rock Will be
Done In Two Years.
CONFIDENCE IN THE MACHINERY
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.i

E. Kern, private uecretary of Chief Engi-
neer Menecol of the Nicaragua Canal Con-
struction Company writes an interesting
letter about the resumption of operations for
re-opening the harbor OF San Juan Del
Norte, or Greytowu, which has been closed
since 1866. The work was begun at IL
in the morning, October is, and at in the
afternoon the following day over 300 feet
| had been dredged to depth of 20 feet by
the City of Paris, which is one of the seven
dredges bought by the Nicaragua Canal
Company from the American Contracting
and Dredging Company.
The distance to deep water outside the
bar is 1000 feet. Very soon vessels draw
ing 18 or 10 feet can enter the harbor, the
full depth of which will eventually be 30
feet. A breakwater built out into the sea
for distance of 7$0 feet will prevent the
harbor from filling up again. Mr. Kern
says:
VERY RAPID WORK.
The dredge is excavating about 25
tons of material per minute or IA
bucketfuls. each holding one cubic
yard. 1t has been running
day and night since starting and it is in
tended to continue doing so. The exca-
waited material is deposited through
chutes 200 feet from the center of
the dredge and the area over which the
material is being dumped will be gone over
by another dredgs. thus widening the
channel to 800 feet and piling the sand and
mud on the bank of the bay. These two
machines will excavate the channel to the
depth of 20 feet at first, leaving the greater
depth OF 80 ieet to be made later on.
1.-THE North American Dredging and I'm
provement Company, under contract with
the Canal Company, has powerful harbor
dredge here, and scows and tugs to assist in
working il are on the way to the United
States. In addition, the canal company is
now having built in Scotland a dredge OF
the most effective sort known Tor this work.
This will be ready for delivery within few
weeks.
FACILITATES CANAL WORK.
SIT will be but short time before all ves-
sells touching at this port will be able to en-
ter the harbor and be discharged alongside
the railroad wharf which is now built.
With the harbor open, the expensive method
of landing machinery iE lighters will be
thing of the past and work on the canal can
couple of the Colon dredgers will be kept in
the harbor, enlarging the area of the navi-
gable water there and the others will begin
operations in the canal.
can inspection Of these dredges in run
ming order will impress any one OF their
great capacity and fitness for the work to be
done here. Their great towers are 80 feet
high, supporting the massive ladder ahd'
chain holding over 40 buckets Of a cubic
yard, or over a ton capacity each, capable
of excavating for depth of 80 feet. The
material is carried to the top of the tower,
where it is forced by gravity through
chute to a distance of 200 feet from the GEN.
ter of the dredge and deposited on the banks
OF the canal.
AT WORK ON THE CANAL.
"Supposing that each dredge is working
regularly and making an excavation OF 80
feet, the full depth OF the canal, 1t will go
ahead 500 feet each month, giving as result
three-quarters of mile progress for the
seven dredges; but as couple OF them will
be employed in the bay, it can be supposed
that five will work on the canal route. In
that case they will 60 ahead completing the
excavation at the rate of half mile
month, so that the IL miles between San
Juan del Norte and the Divide or rock cut
would be completed in two years.
''The entire length of the canal in exca-
vation is but 26 miles. This calculation is
on basis of limited amount of work for
each dredge not equal to its full capacity;
but if they work day and night, as was the
case at Panama, the result would be accom-
plished in a proportionately shorter time.
The earth to be excavated on this section of
the canal is of a character that can be
worked readily.
''There is nothing that demonstrates the
capacity of the dredges more than the result
of their operations at Colon, where they
made immense fortunes for their owners.
One dredge alone excavated 237, 900 cubic
yards of material in one month, and in that
time earned nearly enough to pay its origi-
nal cost"