The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1906-12-17

sxact site for each lock. Meanwhile
the work Is going ahead without a
break 49, ,-s Fl. r...
The Culebra cut does not offer such
great risks; that is, the damage liable
to occur from occasional land slips will
not represent what may be called ma.
ior disasters. The work will merely
call for intelligence, perseverance and
executive capacity. 1t is, however, the
work upon which most labor will have
to be spent The dams will be COM
posed of the earth taken out of the
cut and very possibly the building Of
the locks and dams will take even
longer than the cutting in Culebra
Itself. -, ...
Main Work at CuIebra.
The main work is now being done in
the Culebra cut It was striking and
impressive to see the huge steam SHOW
els in full play, the dumping trains car
rying away the rock and earth they
dislodged. In the rainy season the
steam shovels can do but little in dirt,
but they work steadily in rock and in
the harder ground. There we're some
twenty-five at work during the time !
was on the isthmus and their tremen-
dous power and efficiency were most
impressive.
AS soon as the type of canal was de-
cided this work began in good earnest
The rainy season will shortly be over
and then there will be an immense in
crease in the amount taken out; but
even during the last three months, in
the rainy season, steady progress is
shown by the figures: In August 240;
600 cubic yards, in September $4,000
cubic yards and in October $4,000
cubic yards. Passing through the cut
the amount of new work can be seen
at a glance. In one place the entire
side of a hill had been taken out re-
Gently by twenty-seven tons of dyna-
mite, which were exploded at one
blast. On the top notch Of the Culebra
cut the prism is now as wide as it
will be; all told, the canal bed at this
feet below what it originally was. 1t
will have to be sunk about 100 feet
farther. Throughout the cut the drill
ing, blasting, shoveling and hauling
are going on with constantly increas-
ing energy, the huge shovels being
pressed up, as if they were mountain
howitzers, into the most unlikely look
ing places, where they eat their way
into the hillsides.
Critics and Doubling Thomases.
It is not only natural, but inevita-
BILE, that work as gigantic as this
which has been undertaken on the
isthmus should arouse every species
of hostility and criticism. The condi-
tons are so new and so trying and
the work so vast that it would be alb
solutely out of the question that mis-
takes should not be made. Checks
will occur. Unforeseen difficulties will
arise. From time to time seemingly
we'll settled plans will have to be
changed. At present $4,000 men are
engaged on the task. After while
u.
a multitude it is inevitable that there
should be here and there a scoundrel.
Very many of the poorer class of la
borers lack the mental development to
protect themselves against either the
rascality of others or their own folly
and it is not possible for human wis
dom, to devise a plan by which they
can invariably be protected In a
place which has been for ages by
word for unhealthfulness and with so
large congregation of strangers sud-
denly put down and set to hard work
there will now and then be outbreaks
of disease. There will now and then
be shortcomings in administration;
there will be unlocked for accidents
to delay the excavation of the cut or
the building of the dams and locks.
Each such incident will be entirely
natural and, even though serious, no
one of them will mean more than a
EACH, when discovered by sensation
mongers and retailed to timid folk of
little faith, will serve as an excuse for
the belief that the whole work is be-
ing badly managed. Experiments will
continually be tried in housing, n.y.
giene, in street repairing, in dredging
and in digging earth and rock. Now
and then an experiment will be fail
ure; and among those who hear of it
a certain proportion Of doubling
Thomases will at once believe that
the whole work is a failure. Doubt
less here and there some minor ras-
cality will be uncovered; but as to
this have to say that after the most
painstaking inquiry l have been un-
able to find single reputable person
who had so much as heard of any
serious accusations affecting the hon
esty of the commission or of any re-
sponsible officer under it. I append
letter dealing with the most serious
charge, tina of the ownership of lots
in Colon; the charge was not ad-
vanced by reputable man and is
utterly baseless. It Is not too much to
say that the whole atmosphere of the
commission breathes honesty as it
breathes efficiency and energy. Above
all the work has been kept absolutely
clear of politics. have never heard
even suggestion of spells politics in
connection with it.
1'have investigated every complaint
brought to me for which there seemed
to be any shadow of foundation. In
two or three cases came to the conclu-
sion that there was foundation for the
com nj al inf orr3 thot tho M othOds ~ <ha