Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-18
BIC JOB At PANAMA
The Greatest Problem is the
Culebra Cut.
WORK NOW PROCEEDING
ARMY OF LABORERS TESTING
COST OF CONSTRUCTION.
WORK NOW PROCEEDING
Graphic Pen Pictures From the Spot
Hungry Steam Shovels Eating
Into the Mountain.
Copyright, 1905, by Frank G. Carpenter)

Copyright. 1905, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
IN THE CULEBRA CUT,
Isthmus of Panama.
I have come to Panama to tell you how
Uncle Sam is digging his big ditch from
ocean to ocean. l have Travelled over the
line of the canal from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, have talked with the engineers of
the various sections, and, in company with
Chief Engineer Wallace and Governor Da-
Wis, have walked over the greater part of
the Culebra cut.
1 sit in the Culebra cut as I write, with
thousands of men at work about me, with
steam drills boring holes into the rocks for
blasting and with the new steam shovels
putting away as they load the cars each
doing the work of hundreds of men.
1 am in the midst of the mountains. Rag
ged rough and covered with q dense
growth of vegetation. they rise high above
the great rocky gorge in which the exca-
walton is now going on. Below me the wa
ter lies in the bottom Of cut, and look
ing up and down the gorge 1 can see the
work of the French engineers. They la
bored thirty years and spent here and In
Paris $2SO,000,O00 in gold; but they worked
in the dark, and with boodlfng and bad
business accomplished only one-tenth of
this excavation The French were fine en-
gineers paper, but they never ascer-
tanned the cost estimates Of men, machin-
cry and materials which are absolutely es-
sential to any rational deduction as to the
time it will take to build the canal or the
money needed for the purpose.
What Is Being Done at Panama.
This is what the canal commissioners and the
chief engineer are doing today. They are max
ing the tests which will form the basis of all
estimates and contracts for the work of the
future. There are now gangs of men all
along the line of the canal under the charge
Of skilled engineers looking into every cost
element of the canal construction. Some
parties are at the headwaters of the Chagres
and others al various places along its course
| making borings for tunnels and dams. 9th
ers are preparing the way for the harbor
excavations al the Atlantic and Pacific ends
of the canal, and others are testing every
foot of dredging to be made through the
lowlands and on the rises to the Culebra
cut.
Here at Culebra there is small army at
work, part of 1t using the old French ma
chinery and others working the great steam
shovels, testing the different sections of the
pass and ascertainfng to cent and a min
ute just what it will cost in time and money
to get each kind of rock and earth out
This work is experimental but at the same
time practical. Every day takes out and
carries away mass of materials which will
not have to be handled again. and this while
the work is being organized and tested for
the great undertaking of the future
In addition to this the sanitation projects
are going rapidly on. The vegetation has
been cut away from the score and more
towns which lie on both sides of the Panama
railroad and drains made off into the
bushes. The streets of Panama City are
dug up for the new sewers and waterworks,
and a great reservoir for a supply of fresh
water has been made in the mountains.
The architects and carpenters are every
where preparing quarters for the men.
Hundreds of the old French buildings are
being remodeled and the sound of the ham,
mer and saw can be heard from one end of
the isthmus to the other. The old French
materials have been chopped out of the
bushes and machine shops have been erect
ed at Panama, Colon. Bas Matachin, EN-
pire and at other places along the route.
Indeed, the whole canal zone has begun to
hum and from now On 1t will be one of the
Industrial beehives of the world. The en-
ployes at work, Americans and natives, al
ready number something like 5000 and this
force will be steadily increased until it is
three or four times as great.
Uncle Sans Big Ditch.
Indeed. the work planned here is so vast
that 1 can only describe it by simplifying
the figures by homely comparisons. In the
first place, let US take bird's-eye view of
the canal. 1t Is to cross the isthmus
through about the middle of the Panama
republic, country which is as long as
from Washington city to Boston. via New
York, and which ranges In width from
thirty to $50 miles. The canal is to go
through one of its narrowest parts, but 1t
winds its way this way and that, and the
distance from ocean to ocear will b., about
forty-five miles, and with tlle dredging nee
essary at the entrances in ME Atlaatie and
Pacific, just about fifty miles. Looking q
the map the job seems chore in COMPARE
son with the Suez canal, which is 100 miles
long; with Kiel, which is seventy miles, or
with the Grand canal of China, which runs
north and south for more than 1000 miles.
crossing two mighty rivers, through q
territory populated by millions
This view Of the canal changes when
one stands on the ground. The job In