The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-18

hard days work for two men to chain half
mile: Streams crossing the course Of the
canal had to be so provided for that they
emptied themselves into it when their re-
enforcement was needed, but flung them
selves over or under 1t in torrential sea-
sons when they would have otherwise de-
forest is SO dense that no good picture of
the works can be obtained BY ordinary So
lar photography, and at places the incline
Is SO steep that the man with a camera
can ind no place to stand while taking his
view. 1t is like trying to photograph par
ttcular row of shingles on a steep-roofed
house when there is no place to stand on
but the roof itself
The altitude is a great difficulty to be en-
countered in the prosecution of such a piece
OF work. A large number OF men cannot
DO heavy work at that altitude at all. Any
one with heart trouble is barred to begin
with The air has a third less oxygen per
cubic foot there than at sea level, and so
work that would make man 'puff'' on the
sea coast causes him to collapse at 5000 feet
above The strength of the men cannot
do more than half work at such an eleva-
ton. During the two years and more that
the work was in progress the company was
sending In constant stream Of men who
were as constantly leaving, with or without
notice. large number were physically I'M
able to endure the work, but even those
that did not get positively sick became
homesick. Nostalgia was epidemic among
them. Idle men who jumped at the chance
to go to the works and earn good wages
u1Su Will IdIlIleS VINO were most intensely
anxious to support those families, could not
stand the influence of the altitude, and the
seclusion upon their nerves. With good
wages, good board and short hours of work
they would get to brooding on their situa-
ton, to worrying about their families, to
fancying sickness when they did not have
1t, become sleepless, and rather than wait
for the end of the season and be hauled
down comfortably in the company's wagons
they would fold their blankets and kits and
silently steal away on the 75-mile tramp to
civilization.
The same difficulty has been found in keep
ing men to do the work of the preliminary
survey for the ditch from the Grande river,
where the conditions are somewhat harder.
Even in the midst of the hard times it was
almost impossible to keep men enough to push
the surveying work. J. H. Nelson, who was
the engineer for the first work and is making
the surveys for the second, gives these facts
about the men, and on examination ad-
mits that while he did not yield to mere
inconsistencies yet he had to come out Of the
mountains for a time because his growing
nervousness upset his digestion.
secondary result Of the great altitude Is
the constant dampness. The mountains rise
from semi-arid plain but all the moisture
there is in the air Is condensed about these
mountain peaks. This had some advantages
for the work in hand. Evaporation Is very
slight, and after the water is once secured
not much of it is stolen back again by the
sun. The green spruce logs that are used in
the many miles Of cribbing rarely get dry
enough to rot. They last almost as we'll as
piles completely submerged in water. But
while the work is in progress 1t is far from
pleasant to have it rain every afternoon. 1t
is all very well that the pine boughs cut
for bedding remain green three months after