The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-19
WORK ON PANAMA CANAL,
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE BY
THE FRENCH ENGINEERS
Ditch Actually Excavated Across
the Isthmus, but 1t Is Too
Shallow for Use.
ALL WORK PRELIMINARY
Except the Great Culebra Cut,
Which Is an Extensive and
Costly Undertaking.
BARGAIN AT S5o,ooo,ooo
Canal, Railway Machinery and
Concession Secured Cheap
by the United States.
ALL WORK PRELIMINARY
BARGAIN AT $5o,ooo,ooo

From the Journals staff Correspondent.
PANAMA, r. p Dec. 2S. 19O3.-when the
French, under the leadership Of Ferdinand
De Lesseps, began the work of cutting a
canal across the isthmus their intentions
were undoubtedly honest. That the whole
enterprise should have been converted into
q heyday and harvest for the most con-
scienceless lot of grafters that ever infested
execution Of great project is due to a
process Of evolution. The mistake Of too
much haste was made in the beginning. 10
develop afterwards into cue of which the
thieves were not slow to avail themselves;
but at that same beginning there was done
some most excellent work. This work will
not have to be done over again, and it
greatly siml-- .es the task the United States
Is now called upon to perform. and at the
same time gives to the Panama route for
interoceanic canal almost inestimable ad-
vantages over any other projected or agi-
tated
This work-except that on the great Guile
bra cut, where much of great advantage
has been accOmplished-is of a preliminary
character. Thieves did infest the whole
undertaking, but, in spite OF their industry,
the money of France held out long enough
to enable the foundation TO be laid for
completed canal IL is that foundation
which constitutes the one-hfth part of the
whole work which is deemed to have been
actually done. That one-fifth part is Of a
varied nature. The Panama Canal Com
pany. with De Lesseps at its head, achieved
most giganticany when it subjugated the
route Of the canal That it did this there
IS no doubt
When II came upon the scene the line it
was proposed the canal should follow had
been untouched by shovels dredge and
uncleared. Fourteen years of inactivity
have enabled the jungle to once more
crOach upon that line; but France paid the
bill in blood and treasure for the first over
turning or the soil Reaching from one side
OF the isthmus to the other there is ditch
actually excavated. 1t Is not deep enough
for any practical use. nor is IL as wide a
present commercial demands require the
United States TO make 1t; but II is there.
Its presence attests the fact that the i'm
mense sums first required 40 clear the jungle
and make an unObstructed path across the
narrow neck OF land will not again have 10
be expended. Neither will men by the thou
sands be called upon TO lay down their
lives in the effort 10 remove the thick layer
OF decaying vegetable mold which covers
all this tropical area.
NATURE OF THE WORK DONE.
That work has been done. and the excava-
ton was carried deep enough by the French
to now enable the United States to begin at
-
solid soil where. as Surgeon Major Guy l..
Edie. L. S. A, explained in the interview
which formed the body of one Of my recent
letters, there is relatively little menace to
health or life. Further: From Colon TO
Bohio. fourteen miles. and from La Boca
northward for about three miles, the canal
channel is now actually dredged. Neither Of
these present channels is Of any commercial
consequence. The flow Of the tides, which
are unrestricted. and the currents of the
MiEdi and Gatun rivers the northern
side. and the Rio Grande river on this
side, have carried into the channels deposits
OF silt that make them now almost tmpaSsa-
bic The banks are once more overgrOwn
with the dense vegetation common to the
country. and the channels are too narrow,
even IL they were deep enough, to prevent
the passage of ship. A rowboat may go
up from. the La BOca end, at low tide, as
far as the excavation was carried, and at
high tide heavy launch might make the
trip. On the Colon side there are places
where not even TOwboat can navigate; a
launch will ground when only two or three
miles from the entrance have been covered,
and the way is open 10 Bohio only for the
HghteSt draft cayucas.
These channels do exist, however, and
when we take hold and begin work il Will be
possible for our dredges to start from oppo-
site ends and literally eat their way toward
each other. deepening and widening as they
20. There is no clearing TO be done either
OF these sections. The dredges need only go
behind CristObal Colon Point on the north,
and TO La BOca on the south and their show
els and scoops may at once begin actual op-
eratiOns. This is an immense advantage, as
IS the fact that CristObal Colon Point was
built by the French. There was as great a
bit Of extravaganza as was anything the
French did: but it stands where II is abso-
lutely protecting the northern end of the
canal II is not long enough nor is there
room enough between II and the mouth of
the canal TO provide adequate anchoring
grounds It's extension for several hundred
feet into the bay will be a simple task. how
ever. and once the aredges start they can
rrfra o-4r,
as indeed they must 90 before they can
properly approach the canal itself.
THE GREAT CULEBRA CUT.
on the Culebra-E -Emperador cut, where the
backbone of the isthmus-the Cordineras
mcuntains-is to DC broken. the hardest
and heaviest part of the work has been
done. This cutting aggregates eight miles
IN length. but except at Culebra it is not
an especially noteworthy piece of work.
There-at Culebra-it assumes a magnitude
which Is appalling. The engineers who pro-
jected the canal chose a depressed point
I'm these mountains. where the extreme
altitude only 363 feet, as the proper
place 10 pierce the obstruction. Begin
ming al the summit the French companies
have been biting away at the mountain
for years. until now the range is pierced
with a gigantic cut more than 200 feet
deep, bringing the altitude on the bottom
OF the work down 10 less than l63 feet
and leaving only about 100 feet still TO be
excavated This has been the work Of more
than a score OF years. for il has pro-
gressed almost without interruption during
the trials and tribulations OF the French
companies. More than 100000 cubic me.
ters of earth remain to be taken out be-
fore the Culebra cut can be said to be com
plete; but this gigantic undertaking is sim
plifed by the fact that the French have al
C-ulebra plant-stcam excavatOrs. DUNN
ing cars. locomotives and trackage-which
with careful Overhauling and modern ad.
ditions. be utilized in prosecuting the
undertaking The only objection to what
the French have done at that point is an
engineering One-the slopes are somewhat
too precipitate 10 Justify belief i'm the abso.
lutte security OF the work when II shal
have been completed.
The other great preliminary task per
formed ~ the French companies was in
providing a railway feeder for the entir,
canal work. and in actually constructinl
the canals TO divert the flow of the Mind
and Gatun rivers. The latter Is OF httl,
account in It's present condition. for IL runi
through such low land that its has beer
almost entirely flled with silt and will hav,
10 be almost entirely wholly redredged Tn,
line OF II exists. however, flowing from
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9. COL. IL