The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-08
Jetties Already Carried Out Five
Hundred Feet on the At
lantic Side.
Hordes OF LaborerS It Starvation Wages.
Paid in Debased Coin-Disgrace-
full Methods.


the harbor and the outer bay, and comfort
able buildings mt up at various points.
These include a receiving warehouse and
depot, quarters for the officers and men,
the barracks for laborers, at some dis
lance from the officers residence, and
hospital, where at present number of pm
tients can be accommodated. These build
ings, although detached and not grouped
closely together, present verv decent ap-
pearance as seen from ships deck at the
anchorage, while the old town of Greytown
is concea led from view by thin finger of
timber growing on tho sand strip between
the harbor and the sea. From the head of
the inner bay, and n a straight line to the
Divide, sixteen miles away, an immense
clearing has been made along the line of the
proposed canal. The ground rises radu-
ally from the seashore until it ternina tes
in the bold rocky ridge-the Culebra of
the Nicaragua scheme-where consider
able portion, of the money Of the enter
through the virgin tropical forest is
over 1000 feet wide at Greytown,
but a short distance above is reduced
in width to about 500 feet. Nearly par
allel With this clearing, and about 200
fopening intended for railr Dad to the Sill
90 Lagoon and the Divide, and here Mr.. G.
p. Treat, q we'll known American contract
or, has just broken ground for that work,
and has about 100 men at present en-
steamer Hondo on the 18th, bringing in
about ninety Jamaicans and a lot of rail
way material on the same steamer. Work on
the railroad was begun on the Goth, and it
is expected that the first twelve miles, the
limit Of the present CONTRACT. will be I'm
are associated Mr.. J. B.. Harris, well-known
in Guatemala, Mr.. Lane, and other engi.
neers and practical men.
The most noticeable feature of canal work
SO far. at least in it's probable influence on
the harbor of Greytown, is the jetty which
has been carried out from the shore to
distance of about 500 feet. The outer end
is now in II feet of water. The jetty is 43
feet wide and is built in the usual Ameri-
can way, By, .piling and filling in to secure
apart, constitute the central portion of this
structure. which is incloscd on both sides
by sheet piling, The piles are sunk in the
sand by means OF hydraulic jet which
sinks them from Ii to Is feet in from three
to five minutes. A few strokes of the pile
driver hammer then drives them few feet
further into the ground, 20 feet in all, and
fixes them in place and in line, ready for
the superstruoture of heavy timbers, &C.
curely bolted together. -Four sets of pile
on a heavy carriage and moving from side
to side across the structure, putting down
two piles at time, and two others on q
following carriage drive the sheet
piling. The spaces between the piles are
filled with mattresses of brush, held in
tity has hitherto been obtainable, but the
sand rapidly fills in, covering the brush
wood, and this small quantity of rock has
served throughout, being used over and
over again, as different sections of the brush
mattresses have been required. and put in
place. An idea of the sweep of sand around the
shore at that point may be formed from the
fact that the shore line on the side next the
mouths of the San Juan and Colorado riv-
ers seems to follow along with the progress
tiful curve from the end of the jetty to a
point about LOCO feet above its junction
with the old shore line. This siltlng-in will
probably not be so rapid or noticeable as
deeper water is reached, but it is only
question Of time when the whole of that
section of the shore line about Harbor Head
and to the westward of it will be changed
and extended considerably farther in to the
sea, when the sand will probably sweep
around the outer end of the jetty, forming
bars or banks at the entrance of the canal,
which will render dredging necessary to
maintain navigable channel. One of the
immediate results of this jetty has been the
opening of a channel into the old harbor of
Greytown to the westward of the jetty,
caused primarily by the action of the waves
on the narrow sand strip between the har-
Dor and the sea, and assisted subsequently
BY the flow of the river through the open
ing. This channel is now from five to six
feet deep and several hundred feet wide,
and these dimensions are constantly in
creasing, so that the new entrance to the
harbor is used instead of that at Harbor
Head in the discharging and loading of ships
which visit the port. Vessels and steamers
now anchor off the jetty, and not opposite
Harbor Head as formerly. Work on the
jetty has been suspended since April, be-
cause of the want Of material, but the
days ago with a cargo of piles, timber and
lumber, and the work will be Immediately
resumed. With the railroad finished to
Sillco Lagoon and the Divide rock will be
brought down, and the woodwork will be
supplemented by heavy stone embank-
ment on the west side of the jetty, which
will secure the necessary conditions of
strength and permanence. Mr.. Frank p.
Davis, divisional engineer, is in charge of
the work, assisted BY Civil Engineers Hunt,
Many of the old residents of Greytown
are still in doubt whether the enterprise is
really solid, bona-fde affair, or only a
bluff at the French at Panama, but they
certainly ought to be assured by this time
that they have nothing to lose, but something
to gain, by the expenditure of a con-
siderable sum of money in their
midst. They object that the new con-
Germ is niggardly in the matter of wages
to men, and consequently does not
mon laborers are paid but $40 per month,
but they are housed and supplied with food
by the company, the latter circumstance
being a cause of ofense to the retail shop
keepers. We suppose, however, that the
company will solve these questions as
10 mir a a NJ nd