The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-11

negroes, went down the Canal COM
pany's track at a rapid rate to En-
perador, where we were Joined by M
Vidal, the chief of this section. We
found large warehouse filled with all
sorts of supplies and repairs for ma
chlnery, all kept In the most perfect
order. There are, at various points an
the line, 400 locomotives. mostly of ReI-
gian make, of which only twenty are
In use, ten on canal work and ten in
railroad traffic. Steam shoyeIs. dreires
dump cars and such like are to he seer
everywhere, but all weIl-painted and
cared for
Working our way back, we noted the nroo-
ress OF the work on this section. EmpersdoT
OF about three miles. The formation is va.
r1ois, earth, soft rock and ridges Of hasaIt
alternating every little Way The most Of
the excavating was done by negroes from
Jamaica and Africa, and seemed rather SLOW
We wondered that more OF the machinery WAS
not used. but were told that the Character
III ens Iormaoloh rendered their use unsat-
difnculty OF getting competent men tn handle
the machinery. White men cannot or will not
live here. and. except the highest officers. ali
are Colombians or negroes. The Colombians
are said TO be unreliable, and not very good
workers, but the Jamaica negroes do Very
well and more are being added TO the force
as fast as they can be bgSHght over Some
500 negroes were brought from Sierra I.eone
as an experiment with the idea that thew
could stand the climate Of the rainy sea
son, and they probablyIeany but the difi-
Guilty seems to be that they will not work
They were brought over under contract and
must be boarded and lodged in any case 80
tnat there Is nothing to induce them to exert
themselves.
The company has some 5ea huild;nps
most OF which are free quarters for the men
ana their families. The Jamaieans Law off for
two or three weeks at the beginning of the
rainy season, pick out patch of ground in
the hills. put in few bananas vans etc
and come back to work. Later on. thew 20
out and harvest their crop. They are said to
WORK quite steadily. as there is nothing else
to do. and the most that we saw were doing
as much as could be expected.
FARTHER along. we a succession of sea-
Die ways similar to those in use on the Chi
cago canal. The material is loaded by hand
into small car a tramway dumned into
the pan, carried overhead on the cable and
dumped again into the gravel car on the
track.
An engine takes the trains. when loaded
to the dump, pin is pulled on each car and
the whole bed of the car tits to one side
The cable ways have been recently put in
and more are in process, but the Operators
have hardly learned to handle them TO fhe
best advantage.
1t was rather startling to look down the
Ilne ana see the numbers OF men at work
and the gravel trains running back and forth
when we had supposed that the whole project
had been abandoned. l confess that I had
vaguely wondered. before reaching Panama,
visible, Or whether it had all grown IN tn
brush, and here were LOO men at work on
this section, 1.2e0 on the next and enough on
other parts to make 8 600 in ALL
We got back to Culebra at II O'Clock in
time for breakfast which we took at the
residence OF M. Renaudin. The house is de-
lghtfuliy situated on the top Of little hill.
Ire highest spot in the neighborhood where
the breeze was very refreshing after the hot
sun. Nj. Raggi the chief of the section of
Cule6ra had Joined us shortly before. and
o CLOCK came before we knew it while we
were chatting. We started at once for the
Work, which is the only heavy cut on the
line. according to the present plan large
amount has already been done, and It is
cut, little over mile
Here we saw an excavator, on the prin-
clp!e OF a dredge. which scooped up the loose
rock, previously blasted and loaded II onto
the cars on the track alongside. IT worked
| steadily and rapidly and did as much as
any one could ask. II more machinery like
this could be used, the completion would
| De considerably fastened. A little farther on
| we saw cars being loaded by hand. This
was contract work, $1.10. silver, per car Of
six cubic yards Of loose rock The men
| much as two cars a day. As the material
must be thrown up from a level below
the track the work is hard, and l do moi
know that l have seen men work het+er 49,
| these did N
Another scheme which seems to work well
but is expensive. Is a tunnel from the end
OF the cut. large enough to admit gravel
train, while holes are sunk from the ton az
stated intervals. through which the earth
and rock is broken down into the cars in the
tunnel: AS fast as the cars are filed the
ualh is moved car length, which brings
| an empty car under each shaft After the
tunnel is made the cars are loaded very
easily and cheaply. but whether the, expense
OF the tunnel IS not enough to more than
! make up for this is a question Thev saer,
to be much interested in American machinery
! ana methods, and express a desire to gel
american contractors Interested but the DIFF
| hcuity OF getting the right kind of labor is
! SO great that our people would probably hes
nate at attempting anything Of the kind
Ihey have also tried the experiment of
carrying away the material with water in
pipes. but as pumps are necessary To hanaIa
the water. 1t is not satisfactory ana will
probably be abandoned
some three miles long remains tn no done
on these two sections U'"O