New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-19
WORK OF DE LESSEPS.
Present Condition of Panama Canal
Cost offsets Gam.


- honest That the whole enterprise should |
- converted into heyday and harvest for |
= most constituencies lot OF ''grafters' that
.,ssted execution OF a great project is due TO a
ocess OF evolution. The mistake Of too much
90 was rasde In the beginning TO develop az
800 into q cue OF which the thieves were not
~ 70 avail themselves; but that begin
- there was done most excellent work.
rgis work win not have to be done over again.
81 II greatly sInpIihes the task the United States
a. now called upon TO perform, and at the same
zine gives TO the Panama route for an interocean
csnal almost inestimabls advantages over any
sthsr. projected or agitated
This vork-except that on the great Culebra cut.
vbere much OF great advantage has been accom-
rlshed-is OF preliminary character. Thieves
sis tnfest the whole undertaking. but. in spite Of
their industry. the money OF France held out long
enough 10 enable the foundation to be laid for d
completed canal. 1t Is that foundation which con-
,tttutes the one-hfth part Of the whole work which
Is deemed TO have actually been done. That one
s,h part is Of varied nature. The Panama Canal
Company with De Lesseps at its head. achieved
most gganticaIly when 1t subjugated the route of
the canal That II did this there is no doubt
When II came upon the scene the line it was pro-
nosea the canal should follow had been untouched
by shovel dredge and uncleared- Fourteen
years inactivity have enabled the jungle to once
more encroach upon that line; but France paid the
bill In blood and treasure for the first oyerturning
Of the soil Reaching from one side Of the isthnus
20 the other there Is a ditch actually excavated-
It deep enough for any practical use, nor IS
It as wide as present commercial demands require
the United States 10 make it; but II is there. It's
presence attests the fact that the immense sums
first required to clear the jungle and make an IN
INSTRUCTED path the narrow neck Of land viii
not again have TO be expended. Neither will men
by thousands be called upon to lay down their
lives IN the effort remove the Jhick layer of de-
caying vegetable mould which covers ali this tropi-
csl
NATURE OF THE WORK DONE.
That work has been done, and the excavation was
carried deep enough by the French 10 now enable
the United States TO begin at once the work Of
digging IN comparatively sohd soil, where there is
relatively little menace 10 health or life Further:
From Colon to Bohio, fourteen miles and from La
Boca northward for about three miles the canal
channel is actually dredged. Neither Of these
present channels is OF any commercial conse-
Quence. The flow OF the tides. which are unre-
stricted and the currents OF the Mindi and Gatun
rivers the northern side. and OF the Rio Grande
River this side, have carried into the channels
deposits Of silt that make them now almost i'm
passable. The banks are once more overgrown
with the dense vegetation common to the country,
and the channels are TOO narrow. even if they
deep enough, TO prevent the passage Of e ship a
rowboat may go up from the La Boca end. at low
tide. far the excavation was carried, and at
high tide heavy launch might make the trip. On
the Colon side there places where not even a
rowboat can navigate; a launch will ground when
only two three miles from the entrance have
been covered and the way is open TO Bohio only
for the hghtest draught cayucas.
These channels do exist. however. and when We
take hold ana begin work. it will be possible for
dredges TO start from opposite ends and lit
orally their way toward each other. deepening
and widening as they go. There is no clearing TO
be done on either of these sections. The dredges
need only go behind Cristobal Colon Point on the
north, and TO La Boca the south, and their
shovels and scoops may begin actual oper-
ations This is immense advantage. is the
fact that CTistobal Colon Point was built by the
French. There great a bit Of extravaganza
anything the French did, but it stands
where it is absolutely protecting the northern end
OF the canal. II IS not long enough. nor is there
room enough between # and the mouth Of the
canal 10 provide adequate anchoring grounds. Its
extension for several hundred feet into the bay win
be a simple task. however, and once the dredses
start, they easily widen and deepen the an
chor1ng basin. indeed they must do before they
properly can approach the canal itself
THE GREAT CULEBRA CUT.
On the CUlebra-Emperador cut, where the back
bone OF the tsthmus-the Cordilleras Mountains-is
70 be broken the hardest and heaviest part of the
work has been done. This cutting aggregates eight
miles a length. but except at Cuebra it is not an
especially noteworthy piece Of work. There-at
Culebra-it assumes magnitude which IS appaIl-
Ing. The engineers who projected the canal chose
depressed point in these mountains. where the
place % pierce the obstruction. Beginning at the
summit the French companies have been biting
away at the mountain for years, until now the
range is pierced with a gigantic more than two
hundred feet deep. bringing the altitude on the
bottom OF the work down less than 163 feet and
leaving only about hundred feet still TO be
excavated This has been the work Of more than
score OF years for IL has advanced almost with
out interruption during the trials and tribuations
OF the French companies. More than - GO cubic
Of in IN ba ,F,a
Cnleora cut can be said 10 be complete; but this
gigantic undertaking Is sinpIifed by the fact that
the French have al CuIebra plant-steam exca-
vators, dumping cars, locomotives and trackage--
which, with careful Overhauling and modern addi-
lions. can be utilized IN prosecuting the under
taking The only objection what the French
nave done at that point Is an engineering one-the
slopes are somewhat too precpitate to justify be-
Lief in the absolute security OF the work when It
shall have been completed.
he other great preliminary task performed by
me french companies was in providing a railway
ieeoer for the entire canal work and IN actually
constructing the canals 10 divert the flow of the
-n1l ana Gatun rivers. The latter is Of little ac-
go N It's present condition. for it runs through
e., -" 4ahd that II has been almost entirely
ieu WIN sllt and viii have 10 be almost wholly
0seu' The line OF Il exists however. flowing
-toHi point near the confluence Of the Gatun and
.1i proper TO the Bay Of AIanzanIlla be-
tween the site OF Colon and the mainland and.
go american direction the dredges can quickly
= = silc'enty serviceabe. The railroad feeder
- -O"e'eT' OF the hrst importance.
THE RAILWAY FEEDER
me grant Of the canal concession to VVyse raised
conflict with the railway franchise for il over
hpped the railroads nonopolv OF trsys,t aoss tbs
s'lliaes- one OF De Lesseps's first acts was TO
e'oaci4e that conflict by buying tor the French
-