The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-03-27

resources Inen aNallaDle, tnere was
provisional change in the plans to haster
the opening by making a canal with locks
For two years the old company pro
ceeded on this basis, and then it went int
bankruptcy, after having expended 1929,
693, 07Sf. of which about 4O0000,0oOf had
been spent in Paris. When the new COM
pany took up the work, in 1894. it was
with a cash capital of $4,000. O00f.. or about
S11,G40GG0. a sum deemed sufficient for the
provisional operations contemplated. al
/ though the cost of completion had at that
time been officially estimated at 900 600
0O0f
The work of the new company since
1895 has been confined mainly to the big
cuts, where the excavation was bound to
/ be needed to complete a canal under any
( plan. 1t is said until about year ago
/ the force ranged from 1.5OO to $500 men.
and the amount of material taken out
/ averaged 1000 COO cubic yards annually.
100 MEN AT WORK
There have been only seven hundred
men at work on the Culebra cut recently.
\ dozen trains of twenty cars each ara
| filled with earth every day, and carried a
few miles down the Pacific slope to the
main dumping ground.
According to the estimates of the Amer
lean Isthmian Canal Commission. tire
work still to be done between OF spo ard
and Pedro Miguel. a distance of less than
eight miles, involving eXcavating IS, 81. 2j0
cubic yards Of material and will prob
ably take eight years to finish, at a cost
with the locks. of $4441446) At the
+ hfrvE,.-
canal at the axis is to be 2s6 feet below
the natural surface of the ground. Ii is
intended to have the entire cut lined with
masonry walls with nearly vertical faces
and furnishing benches thirty-eight feet
wide on either side for tracks of the
Panama railroad.
The Culebra station is about forty min
utes by rail from Panama. It is at the
foot Of a steep hill. which must be cross
ed to reach the settlement which forms
the base Of supplies for the district. TIE
town differs Little from 4 dozen others
along the line OF the canal. except that
all the houses appear 20 be occupied and
the stores give the impression of greater
activity.
There is. as usual one street with
houses close together. built on abrlck piers
foot or more from thea grqaud u pre-
vent dampuesS. There are ne sanitary
arrangements Of any kind. and lean black
pigs wallow under the shacks and vie
with the buzzavds as scaveugers.
The greater part of the population con-
sists Of Jamaica negroes. who have lived
on the isthmus since the early days Of the
French Canal Company. aud who have
acquired the Spanish tongue. although
they converse habitually in their native
idiom. \ few lean chickens scratch in the
mud. and goats and dogs walk slowly in
and out Of the buildings. showing little
animation unless there happens 20 be q
scrap Of food in sight. Most Of the bust
ness is in the hands OF Cinnamon.
CILEBRA'S NATURAL DRAINAGE
With the advantage Of natural drain
age. Culebra. Ike many other isthuian
towns. would be perfectly healthful il or
binary precautions were taken and sim
I pie regulations were enforced II the
+ present town IS permitted to continue az
all after the United States government
+ has taken possession of the canal it will
F probably have 10 undergo a great change.
4 Beyonu the limits OF the town are few
F good buildings set back in cultivated
patches. In one Of these now live Major
William NJ Black. OF the Engineer Corps.
+ United States Army, and his associates
/ who have been making a special study OF
I the iS0hmus- They have been watching
T the work done by the French company
since the American commission recca-
mended the purchase Of the company :
+ property on the basis Of So COCOA Major
+ Black is now engaged IN procuring elab-
crate reports 10 lay before the new COM
mission emhodyins many suggestions He
i an earnest advocate Of a tide level
| canal, taking the stand that = lock canal