The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-03-27
OF the Seventy-Seven Million Cubic Yards of Material
Excavated Only 80, 586,332 Figure in
the American Plans.
Labor of the French Companies Was Based on Sea
Level Canal, While the United States
Will Have Lock System.
the American Plans.

Special Correspondence n. Y. Herald)
Panama. March Although the course
of the canal follows in a general way the
line of railroad between Colon and Pana-
ma. travellers by train can form very
faint conception of the work done for the
millions spent by the French canal com
pany. From the car windows may be
seen here and there vast accommodations of
machinery of all kinds, sometimes in
sheds. but more often with nothing to
protect il from the weather There are
buildings on every hilltop. almost all Of
them untenanted. with crumbling walls
and holes rotting through floors, roofs
and balconies From time TO time cuts
appear. but none of much Importance
With exception Of the great cash at Guile
bra, the only place where work is actually
being done.
From the train one might be led to be-
Eeve that little had been accomplished
except in-the way of prelimnaries for
housing and caring for the workmeu who
will cut the great ditch from ocean to
ocean. There are evidences of scratch
across the isthmus and of an old clearing
on either side. now oYcrgrown by dense
masses Of tropical vegetation. hiding
reads and long disused tracks \ score
or more OF elaborate hospital buildings
il a park commanding the city OF Panama
tell Of the dangers incurred by those who
release the vapors from the humid soil
To inspect the canal as it stands it is
necessary to leave the railroad and to fol-
low a devious line, extending through
rivers. swamps and passes through a
chain Of steep hills. At either end Of the
line the canal is virtually completed
though some alterations are probable be-
fore the American engineers are willing
to accept the work. In the central por-
ton much that has been done is rendered
absolutely useless by the present plan of
locks with great lake high above the
tide level
Millions Of cubic yards of rock and
parth have already been taken from the
great cuts At Obispo and Culebra. but
many millions more must be removed be-
fore ocean liners and battle ships can pass
through them. and only a comparatively
small proportion OF the engineering prob
lens have yet been solved.
While millions of dollars were recklessly
Equandered and wasted 10y the old French
canal company. q trip over the line dem
Dnsuates that though there were many
serious propositions that should have been
solved on the isthmus some practical
labor was being done along the line.
The new company has always been
hampered for funds. and its operations
have consequently been circumscribed 1t
has inherited = system Of red tape with
an expensive management in Paris and
its progress has been slow. Some men
have been constantly employed at Guile
bra. ana the hill has been slowly dlsan-
pearing under their efforts. though il
would take generations to complete the
canal upon the present basis. and The few
trainloads Of earth that are moved each
day have little app-eciable effect
IN a general way the course Of the
canal is from the northwest on the CARR
bean TO the southeast on the Pacific side
The width Of the isthmus from Colon
south in a straight line is less than thirty
six miles but the canal. including the
harhor approaches. VIII be nearly fifty
miles Ions.
Starting ~ a point about seven miles
east Of the mouth Of the Chagrcs river
the canal follows the river valley 10
obispo. where it crosses the Cordilleras
that forms the divide and then strikes
another stream, the Rio Grande that
empties into the Pacific near the city Of
Panama.
When the French company. headed by
Ferdinand de Lesseps, started its eaor-
nous task the idea was 10 make q tide
level canal. The cost WAS estimated by
de Lesseps in 1850 AZ Si2..Seo 90. and the
time required at eight years. Seven years
later, after the fact had long been evident
90 the well informed that the canal could
1ot be completed at the sea level with the