Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-01-21


used even Il work were resumed on
the Panama Canal, which is no longer
classed among the probabilities.
Difficulties of Construction.
What is left OF the canal? This
answer TO this question can be altered
every year, Cor the condition of the
work is deteriorating very rapidly.
The cut was TO have been from Colon,
on the Atlantic coast, to Panama on
the Pacific coast, distance Of fifty
four miles. Suez ie eighty miles
long, but the obstacles presented at
Panama were immeasurably greater.
In the Culebra cut and the hills of
Mindi the elevation of the isthmus
is 300 feet above the level of the sea,
and the excavation in those places
had to be made through the solid
rock, tGo. And then came the obsta-
Gle of the Chagres River, which was
practically insurm0untable. The
canal crosses and recrOSses it.
Were it an ordinary, well-behaved
river it might be easily managed.
But it is wild, hayward, untamed
river, like the people of the country
through which it flows. A heavy
tropical rain comes, and il rises forty
feet in twelve hours. What to do
with so much water, for it flows into
the canal as well, then becomes a
problem that has vexed the best en-,
gineers in the world. The difficulty
has been obyiated partly by an in.
tricate system of dams and locks,
but no one can say whether it would
have lasted or would have subdued
the Chagres in its widest moments.
The canal, as originally intended,
would have been 30 feet deep, from
200 to 250 feet broad at the top, and
about 100 feet broad at the bottom.
On the Atlantic side are Is or 20
miles of canal, dredged to depth Of
10 feet by the American Construction
and Dredging Company, and there are
partial excavations and lines traced
by the French all the way to Panama.
At Colon, lying IN the water, is a
huge pile of grandolithic blocks,
20, 700 in number They were brought
from the West Indies at total cost
of about cents block. They were
intended for banking up the canal,
but were dumped off the ships into
the water years ago, and have been
lying there ever since, monument
to the recklessnesS and corruption Of
the Panama scheme.
The eighteen or twenty miles of par
TALLY completed canal will soon be-
come nothing but a muddy ditch.
The banks are caving in, and every
time it rains huge masses of earth
are washed into the canal. In few
years the canal, except where cut
through the solid rock, will be filed
up entirely by these heavy washings,
and the vegetation will begin to grow
again where the dredging machines
tore it away
Peyond Resurrection.
Remaining on tie Isthmus are
many Europeans who still believe
that the work will be resumed. But
this is extremely improbable. Many
calculations have been made as to the
amount Of money it would require to
complete it. None fall under 5000, :
900, 600. Some run as high as $3.50, :
600, 600, and a few 90 so far as to say
that the canal cannot be built at all
so that it will return a fair interest
on the investment. But there is an
other difficulty. The concession from
Colombia, under which the canal was
to be built, expires next February,
and. even if the concession should be
renewed, whence will come the CAPT
tai needed for the prosecution Of the
work? The French people will give
no more, and the capitalists Of other
countries are rather shy Of Panama.
Thus far only the financial loss has
been considered. But there is an
other question that appeals to hui
manity. Negro labOrers are now on
the isthmus prey to disease. At
one time there were 60, 900 negroes at
Colon. They led careless, merry
life, and saved not one cent from
their earnings When work ceased
they were unable to return to their
homes. and they are still on the 18th
mus, less the thousands who have
perished. Some have become out
laws, and infest the localities on
either side of the canal route
In a short time the route of the
canal will he covered with tronical
vegetation, in which wild animals
will make their lairs.
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