Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1904-06-09

OF . few days each year. and while theJ
prevail ships must go to sea for safety
The Panama harbor is remarkable fol
its tides, currents. and dead Gains
which compel sailing vessels to rely OF
ocean tugs.
The Lsthmus of Panama Ii OF volcanic
origin, and biologists have found unmis-
taxable evidence that the two grea,
oceans were at one time connected a,
this point Within the last half century
earthquakes have occurred that were
severe enough to have destroyed eli the
docks and dams which are to be con,
structed in connection with the canal.
Culebra itself, the highest peak over
looking the right-of.way is al extinct
volcano. Two great and difficult
obstacles confronted the French engineers
of the sDsLesseps company, amounting
almost TO insurmountable barriers to
their work, but these have practically
vanished before the superior ability and
perseverance of American genius, and
real obstacles are secrets carefully hid
den in the bosom OF mother earth to be
revealed only In some volcanic disturb
ance as surprise and not as problem
to be solved by genius. The Culebra
hill. rising three hundred feet above the
ievefof the sea. was found by DeLesseps
to be a soft and spongy earth that
crumbled and fell as fast as excavations
were made, untill the engineers were
bafiied and beaten. But the Yankee has
probed the hill to its heart and found
that the soft earth is only superficial
layer upon base of solid rock, which
forms the best of material for canal
The other obstacle is the Chagres riv-
er, an uncertain and mountain stream
which rises on the divide and flows par
allei to the canal route, crossing and re.
crossing it = dozen times or more This
stream, which Is ordinarily tame and
pacific, with depth or y few feet. be-
comes converted in q few hours TO q de-
StEuctiye and torrential river, forty or
hfty feet In depth. But even this diff
Guilty has been turned to an advantage
and win serve the purposes of man. To
accomplish this, immense dams of ma
sorry. ninety feet high, win be built
strong enough to contain and restrain
the waters Of the torrent, and water
course will be constructed, running par
Mel TO the canal. to carry of the sur
plus water after enough has been taken
70 operate the locks and canal all along
the line. Again the enemy of genius
will be transformed into q friend OF
commerce.
With oil Of the property interests of
his great project in our possession, with
he treaty with Columbia signed, grant.
ng all the rights and privileges neces-
iary, with the wealth, ability, and gee
MUS OF the United States supporting the
lnde' taking, assuring It's success, we
have but to look ahead TO the results as q
hing of certainty. and to benefits with
'ut number. To sum it up, we are to
nave gigantic, overland waterway,
orty-six miles long, with q minimum
iepth of thirty feet and its width at the
'ottom one hundred feet, capable of
,assing the largest merchant vessels or
men of war. Distances from our eastern
. oar western ports will be divided by
wo. 1t will take ship twelve hours
q pass through the canal
rhe distance by the new
quite from New York to Valparaiso will
" -four and half thousand miles, in
tead of eight and half thousand by
way of Cape Horn, with all its perils and
hangers and the loss of time, which real
y amounts to more than AL else. From
New York to Panama it will be nearly.
LOCO miles instead of $4,000 as Al pres
.nt. From New York to San Francisco
will be 5000 miles instead of nearly
I, 900 miles, part of which must be
through dangerous Antarctic seas. A
Fargo Of merchandise dispatched from
he wharves Of New York can be ieliv-
red il San Francisco in about the same
lime required to carry 1t by rail over any
'ne Of the rail systems OF our continent.
Ind At d farS less cost. The battleship
)regon, which WINS ordered from Nalpa-
also 70 Cuban waters at the outbreak
i the Spanish American war, could
nave reached it3 destination IN about
'orty-eight hours insteaa of being four
weeks on it's trip. And when the first
'essel bearing alost the flag Of the only
nation capable and destined 70 b<gin and
inish this task. shall have been borne
through the Pspama Canal on the bosom
i the conquered waters OF moalnszsssi
'osrent, then shall IL once more be de.
nonstrated to The nations II the earth
hat not BY conquest, By force Of arms,
aor BY accide ut Of position but - :