The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-19
Big ENGINEERING WORK
DIFFICULTIES TO OVERCOME IN
BUILDING PANAMA CANAL.
Americans VIII Go About the Work
on Different Plan from that
Tried by De Lesseps.

gives the history of the Panama canal from
the time NJ. de Lesseps undertook this vast
| project up to the present day. 1t also de-
| scribes the Industrial commercial and mill
tary value of an interoceanic canal. The
amount and character OF the engineering
work TO be done by the United States are
set forth in the following excerpts from the
article. which is written by n. o. Mes
senger:
After all these years and all the failures
| of the past. the United States government
| bids fair to prosecute to successful finish
the most prodgious engineering work of
the worlds history.
With characteristic Yankee ideas OF clean
| illness. the first thing the government will
| do, after taking hold of Panama, will be
to clean up the isthmus. The place must be
made habitable for men Of northern birth,
and the effects of the deadly climate must
be reduced to minimum. Water works
and sewers. whitewash and disinfectants,
chloride of lime and the scrubbing brush,
will put the one-time charnel house in a
fairly habitable condition. The towns Of
| Colon and Panama will be renovated, as
was the city of Havana Modern IDEAS Of
sanitation Will be adopted, and no expense
VIII be spared to bring about hygienic con-
| ditions. The old Panama company built
ample hospital quarters. which will be
| utillzed wherever IL is possible. But the
sanitary commission which win conduct this
| essential preliminary of work on the 18TH
mus will not use the existing hospitals if
| better sites can be obtained and more con-
Venent quarters can be constructed.
flelo hospitals will be located at points
convenient along the route, with pesthouseS
| Tor the Isolation of sufferers from infectious
diseases, such as yellow fever and small
| pox, two types of disease which wrought
havoc among the first workmen. Pure
drinking water will be supplied, although
experience has shown that the ignorant
races of the tropics will not conform to san
itary rules respecting diet. When the great
BODY or workmen enter the field an efficient
medical corps will be Installed to minister
| 10 the ills which mankind, in spite of all
/ precautions, must ever find itself heir to in
THREE GREAT PROBLEMS.
Once prepared measurably to overcome
the effect of the climate upon the workmen,
| the canal commission, or the contractor
who takes over the work, will make ready
to cope with three great physical problems
| of the gigantic undertaking. i. e., the con-
troll of the Chagres river, the completion of
the Culebra cut and the construction of the
| Bohio dam. When genius, science and in
domitable energy shall have mastered these
probiemS-when they shall have tanned the
W1ld Chagres and made IL serve man in
stead of annihiating him; when they shall
nave cut through Culebra as with giants
stroke and shall have reared the Titanic
walls OF Bohio, the rest of the work will be
Out question of time and persistent la bor
IL has been said that the Chagres river is
the Demon of the isthmus. 1t has indeed
proved demonaical in its ravages since the
french hrst attempted to curb its impetu-
Gus, torrential flow. 1t has been the evil
spirit or the land in more ways than one:
for, besides presenting in it's floods physical
obstacles TO the construction Of the canal
| that heretofore have been insurmountable.
| II is believed to be the breeder of the yiru-
lent type of fever which bears it's name
| The natives, profoundly superstitious abodt
the stream, view with terror its surprising
hoods, rising eighteen or twenty feet in a
night, the phenomenon bearing I'm their
| minds something of the supernatural. But
American engineers, who have carefully
gagged ard measured and estimated the
powers of the Chagres have given their
opinion that it can be subdued and tanned
10 unitarian purposes. instead of remain
| ing source of perpetual danger American
sanitarians. on the other hand, have under
taken to rob the river of its savage, fever
bearing witchcraft. 1t will be bound and
hampered in some ways, and It's volume in
| creased and extended in others, so that this
Drawing, death-carrying monster will be-
come In part a peaceful lake and in part
deep and earnest stream, bearing upon it's
flood the commerce of the world
Tie Chagres river, about lbs miles long
drains an area of nearly 900 square miles
| 1t flows through tropic region of hills and
the year is about $50 inches 1t is not the
average rainfall, however. which causes
the trouble. but the capacity of the stream
| to carry appalling floods There is one
record, in recent years of a rise in the
| river OF twenty-three feet in sixteen hours
| Its discharge at given point has been
known to increase from $50 cubic feet per
second to $4,000 cubic feet per second. 1t
was these conditions which necesstated the
rejection OF the sea-leyel plan; the admis-
sion of such a volume of water to the
canal would have endangered the entire
works.
TO CONTROL THE CHAGRES.
The problem of controlling the immense
volume of water was simplifed by the adop-
| ton of the system of locks: but another
problem necessarily introduced-the
supplying of water to the summit level.
There is a dry season. which, would pro-
| duce deficiency in the volume of water
and lower the level of the canal below the
point required for the passage of large
steamships. The deficiency is likely to
occur during the months of February
| March. and April; water must be stored
during the rainy season to supply it, The
volume of water to be stored would form
| lake thirty-eight square miles in area
and three feet four inches in depth.
The American engineers, who carefully in
| spected the entire route, regarded the Bohio
dam as the most important structure on the
/ line; TO use their language, ii is 'of great
and offers many difficulties of construc-
| ton" The first task OF the commission of
| engineers was 10 procure full and reliable
data concerning the foundation upon which
the dam must rest and to study the various
| types OF structures which might be adopted
The French engineers made only twenty
one boringS along the line OF the DAM and
| in the central part of the valley they failed
| TO penetrate to bedrock. The American en-
gtneers discarded the French data and made
eighty-six additional borngs extending all
| but seven of them To the rock The borings
| disclosed variety OF materials including
every section strata were found which are
| permeable by water. The engineers could
not determine either the extent OF the strata
| or whether they communicate with the sur
| face OF the ground above the site of the
dam. The construction of an earthen dam
| would depend upon whether the leakage
| would be sufficient to endanger IL: upon that
score there has been difference of opinion
| The commission found site few hundred
| feet below the old site. where the length of
| the dam would be considera bly, greater but
| where the physical features of the location
would admit of the construction OF an earth
carried down TO bedr. ok throughout the
| length of the structure. This type was
| adopted in preference to a dam wholly of
masonry The foundation of the core wall
| will be sunk by the pneumaffc process at
| all points where the foundation bed is lower
| than thirty feet below mean sea level
| Where the foundation Is above elevation
thirty Golfer dams will be used.
The Bohio dam will have a total length
! OF 2.5f6 feet. Its width at the top viii be
twenty feet; and its height. above the low