The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-20

CONCLUDED FROM FIRST PAGE)
and upon every hand until it may be said
that there was not tool brought to the
isthmus nor yard of work done along the
canal route that represented entire honesty.
At the northern end of the waterway the
evidence of stealing begins at Cristobal
Colon point. To build a breakwater TO pro-
tect the entrance of the canal the French
built a small paradise-1,OOO feet out into
Limon bay and several hundred feet wide
Money was lavished there with appalling
recklessness Instead of building this break
water with cribs mats and riprap, as Is
commonly done, the French used stone
cubes three feet on either face. Instead OF
going to the great stone stretches about
Bohio, easily accessible from the railroad,
and opening quarrieS for stone, the French
awarded contracts for its manufacture out
of concrete, and the price paid for each
block was $75 (silVer), equivalent TO about
$50 in American gold. Upon such founda-
ton, constructed at a cost many times in
excess of what would have been required
for a simple breakwater, honestly built, the
French made a park, providing water
works drainage sewerage and all modern
conVeniences; planted cOcOanut trees and
carted enormous quantities of sand to pro-
vide a pleasingly smooth surface for it all.
SUPERFLUOUS MANSIONS.
Aud the park made the French company
cover it with beautiful bungalows, some
large, some small. There was a comfort
able house for the Colon offices; there were
architectural models for the administrative
staff there was excellent stabling for the
horses which the company maintained for
the pleasure of its officials
But fas more eXtravagant than these
things were the two buildings erected
the extremity Of the point, one for a resi-
dence for De Lesseps and the other as
residence for Charles de Lesseps, son of
the engineer, who seems to have had his
finger in all the rascality that rioted over
the isthmus and for such of the directors
in the French company as might elect to
visit the actual work. These buildings,
elaborate bungalows, built on the English
stucco style, especially designed and
contracted for at exOrbitant prices. All of
| the interior WOODWORK in them is done In
| the most expensive and rarest woods, hand
carved and turned into beautiful decora-
| tions. The furniture for both houses was
especially made in Europe. and for sumptu-
| BUSINESS it would compare favorably with
the contents of old world palaces.
! In both houses there are, too, immense
/ quantities of specially designed and decor
! ated silver, in sets and services; cut glass
and china of almost priceless worth-all
paid for out of the money credulous France
! Criminal as was this original project for
| this small paradise and these magnificent
palaces, the enormity of it all is heightened
! by the fact that to-day, through neglect,
| the Point is decayed and rotten, the houses
| given over TO mongrel-breed squatterS,
while the two palaces, now occupied, We're
|
| eighties when De Lesseps came to the
! isthmus and perpetrated the farce of open
! ing the canal to navigation.
HOW SOME GRAFTERS WORKED.
In the excavated portions of the sea-level
sections there is visible proof of this same
mad work of the grafters, for from Colon
to Bohio, and from La Boca to the end of
the excavation the muddy water of the filed
in ditch flows through rows of superflu-
Gus machinery. At La Boca alone where
the dredging was never extended inland
more than three miles, there lie rotting in
| the mud scores of dredges, steam, self-pro-
| polling dumping scows, launches, eta
fleet so large as TO have made effective
work impossible through the inter-
ference of the machines. And from
| reliable persons, who were lin the
| downright thievery was practced on
! the most glaring Of all the available proofs
! of Frenzy rascality. Lying In the mud, soft
silt and swamps, are nifty Belgian locomo-
tives. built especially to the order of the
| Panama Canal Company, and in their day
! as perfect pieces of machinery as Europe
/ had ever produced. From some of these 10
| comotives the partial Grating was never re-
! moved, for il was discovered after they were
| delivered here that "a mistake had been
| made in ordering them. They were all or
| dered for a different gauge railroad from
that on the isthmus and were, therefore.
!
| back TO Europe 70 be sold where they might
| be used. they were dumped in the mud and
there they lie to-day.
The crime of these locomotives is rivaled
| for downright rnscaity by another which
protudes its proof all over the isthmus. OF
| the whole canal work twenty-seVen miles,
! by the nature Of the land, from the very
! beginning of the enterprise required TO be
| eNcavated from the surface, the other twen-
| ty-twO miles being under water dredging.
| The French proceeded. however in their
| greed for contract commissions. with the
idea of dredging practically the entire route.
| Their scheme was 10 eXcavate from the
| surface until ditch of sufficient depth 10
float a dredge should be secured, then 10
pump water into the ditch and turn dredges
loose on the work.
Dredging is vastly more costly than sur
face excavation, yet the French entertained
this monstrOus idea, evidence of which is
found in the high ground OF the interior jun
giles. There, by the side of the ditch, stick
ing through the tangle of vegetation at short
| distances, lie the hulls and machinery OF
dredges IL was proposed TO put together
and launch into the ditch after Ii should