The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-01-19
Ditch Across 1stl,n1us Is Far
From Being Worthless
to Us.
oNE.FlFTH OF TASK DONE.
De Lcsseps Gang, Despite Fraud,
Accomplish a Great Deal--Ma-
chinery Not Entirely Valuclcss.
by MERRlLrA "A. TEAGuE.
Especial Correspondence to The Times
g53s5 n sfits- Ioisnnfch.1 5ii' stafni4ll-

~ j J. d q Z r 81 j =
PANAMA. r. r.. Dec. q. 1so3.-Whcn
the French. under the loadcrahip OF Fer
dinand do Lcsseps, began tho work Of
cutting canal across the 1sthmus their
Intentions weeo undoubtedly honest. That
the whole enterprise should have been
converted into heyday and q harvest
for tho most constituencies lot Of graft
err that ever infested execution OF n
great project Is due to process OF cvo-
luton. The mistake OF too much haste
was made In the beginning. 10 devel-
cpl afterwards into cue OF which tho
thieves were not slow to avail them-5
selves; but ut that same bcRinning there
was done some most excellent work
This work Will not have IT, be done over
4 ngnln, and 1t greatly slinpliflcs tho task
the United States Is now called upon TO
perform, aud at the same time gives
to the Panama route for an interoccan
canal almost incstimable advantages
over any other projected or agitated
This Work-oxcept that on the great
Culebra cut, where much OF great ad-
y vantage has been accomplishments OF a
+ preliminary character. Thieves did In
i fest the whole undertaking. but. IN spite
or their induEtry. tho money Of Franco
held out long enough to enable tho foun.
4 dalton to be laid for a completed canal,
1t lis that foundation which constitutes
& the fifth part Of the whole work
which is deemed to have been actually
done. That one-fifth part Is OF varied
nature. The Panama Canal Company,
i With de Lesseps at Its head. achieved
most scientifically when 1t subjugated the
route Of the canal. That 1t did this there
Is no doubt.
When It came upon tho scene tho Inc
1t was proposed the canal should follow;
8 had been untouched by shovel or drcdgc3
q and uncleared. Fourteen years OF mac
tivity have enabled the Jungle to once
moro encroach upon that line; but
france paid the bill IN blood and treas
4 IRE for the first oyerturnlng Of the soil
Reaching from ono side Of the Isthmus
tn the other there Is n ditch actually
cacav waited. 1t Is not deep enough for
any practical use. nor Is It as wide as
K present commercial demands require the
United States to make IT. but 1t Is there.
It's presence nttcsts the fact that tho
immense sums first required TO clear the
jungle and make an unrestricted path
across the morrow neck OF land Will not
again have TO be expended. Neither will
mex by the thousands DO called upon to
lag &down their lives In tho effort to re-
move the thick layer OF decayng vcGe-
table mold which covers all this tropical
: area
NATURE sOEsTHE WORK5DoNE.sf
j
cayntion was carried deep enough BY the
French to now enable the United States
to begin at once the work OF digging ~
comparatively solid soil, where, az Sur-E
Eeon Major Guy L. Edie. United States
army. explained In the Interview which
= formed the body OF one OF my recent lot
tiers, there is relatively little menace to
health or life. Further: From Colon 20
Bohio, fourteen miles. and from 10 Boea
northward for about three miles, the ca-
,al channel Is now actually dredgcd.
Neither of these present channels Is OF
any commercial consequence. The flow
OF the tides, which ore unrestricted and
the currents OF the M.rdi and Gatun
Rivers on tho northern side. and OF the
Rio Grande River on this side, have car
ricd into the channels deposits OF silt
that make them now almost impossible,
Tho banks are once more overgroWn
with the dense Vegetation common to the
country, and the channels are too mar
raw, even II they were deep enough. to
admit Of the passage Of ship a row
boat may go UP from the la Boca end,
at low tide, as far as the excavation was
carried, and ut high tide heavy launch
might make tho trip. On the Colon side
there are places whore not even row
boat can navigate; n launch will ground
whom only two or three miles from the
entrance have becn covered, md tho
way Is open to Bohio only for the light
cst draft cnyucas.
These channels do exist, however, and
when We take hold and begin work, IT
vii! be possible Tor our dredges to start
from opposite ends and literally eat their
way toward zach other. deepening and
widening as they 30, There Ia no clear
ing TO be done on either Of these sections,
The dredges need only go behind Crls-
tobal Colon Point on the porth,s and to
la Boca on tho aouth md their shovels
and scoops may Mt onco begin actual
operations. This Is all immense ndvnn,8
tage, as is tho fact that Cristobnl Colon
Point was built by tho French. There
was as great bit Of extravaganza as
was anything tho French did; but II
stands where 1t is absolutely protecting
the northern end of the canal It Is
not long enough, nor Is there room
enough between It and the mouth OF the
canal to provide adequate anchoring
grounds. Its extension for several hun
dred feet into the bay will DO simple
task, and once the drcdges start they
/can easily widen aud deepen the anchor.
Ing basin, as indeed they must do be-
fore they can properly approach the
canal Itself
THE GREAT CULERlsA$ CUT,
on the Culebra- Er,perador cut, where
tho backbone OF the Isthmus-tho Cora
dlleras Mountalns-is to DO broken, the
hardest and heaviest part Of the work
has haan done, This cutting nsgresatea
eight niles In length, but except ut
I Culebra is not an especially noteworthy
niece of work. There-at Cu'sbru--lt as
sumes magnitude which Is appalling.
The engineers who projected tho canal
chose Il depressed point In these noun 4
tain, where the extreme altitude was only
sQ3 feet, as tho propsr place to pierce the
obstruction, Beginning nt tho summit,
the French companies have been biting
now the range is pierced with q gigantic
cut more than two hundred fest deep.
bringing the altitude OH the bottom OF the 4
work down TO less than 1863 feet and
leaving only about one hundred feet still