The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-01-24

disasters attending this company, with
its record of the greatest steals In the
history ofthe world-and its attendant
numerous suicides. are still fresh III
the public mind and need no recapltu
lation here. The company, however, IS
not dead, though they have tried ID
vain to raise the $3.50, 100000 necessary
to complete the canal. The collapse of
the company awoke the strongest pub
lie prejudice against the route and It
Is indeed remarkable that in the many
points to be considered and In an nm
dertaking so gigantic the two routes
are such close rivals.
1t is not generally known that work
on the Panama canal was resumed N
1895, and has been continued to this
day. In order to save some of the
$500, 100000 De Lesseps' company
spent, and to retain the valuable con
cessions granted 1t, the receivers or
ganized a new company. The stock was
purchased by members of the original
company, who hoped by further sub
scribing to save part of their original
investments. Thirteen million dollars
was all, however, they were willing
to invest. and this only eleven days be
fore the expiration of the original con
cessIOn. An extension of the conces-
sion to 1910 was secured. The new
company did not waste the thirteen
| .tt1,.,. L., mana shoyv on soft orOuun
but. in contrast to its predecessors
made every dollar tell, in the hope OF
retrieving lost confidence, or, falling tt
secure further investments, to make
the partly built canal so much more
valuable when the Clayton -BulweI
treaty should be abrogated, so that thu
attention of the United States coul(
be secured.
There Is little native labor to be ha(
on the lsthmus. The climate is not con
ducive to activity and the natives arr
averse to labor cOnstitutiOnally. Th
old Panama company imported thou
sands Of Chinese, but they proved t
be poor workmen, especially when con
siderlng the expense incurred in trans
, porting them from China. The new
. company, placing a bond guaranteein
the safe return of those Of her subject
who should desire 1t. was allowed b.
, Great Britain to bring in 1900 negroe
/ from Jamaica. This number has dwir
a died, through death, desertiOn and ott
or causes, to about half the origins
). number.
i Nearly Half Completed.
( According to the original designs an
a specifications, the Panama canal is no
d Just 40 per cent completed. The A
t lantic side is open to a distance {
Q thirteen miles, the excavation varyin
/, in depth from 16 to 29la feet. This ha
d been filed In to a certain extent by 81
e deposits from the Chagres river, In tt
n beA Of which the canal part way lie
On the Pacific side a length of abOl
II three nules Is cut to a depth of q
n 26 feet. In Panama bay channel hs
1t been dredged TO deep water and a cl
n through the Cordilleras has been a
+ eomplished to a depth Of l60 feet
e Ii was In 1SjO-1SJ2 that the WSus
n company. which then controlled a
'e transisthmlan traffic bad the Nicar
10 qua route surveyed and twenty yea
b. later a commission went over the lii
lie for the United States. When the Pa
anna scandals began, MFR. A. G. Min
cal. who was a member Of that COZ
ct mission. obtained a concession fro
D. Nicaragua and the Nicaragua Can
re Construction Company was organize