Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1906-12-20

ter class who are to be found as fore
men. as skilled mechanics, as police
ordinary dav Ia hnrars are also good.
Work OF Construction.
But thousands of those who are
brought over under contract Cat our
or loaf around Colon or work so bad
" after the arst three ~ fnnr davs
the amount of labor performed on Fri
questioned many of these Jamaica
work and what. IL any changes. they
wished, | received many complaints
these eonai Sgs f as reEsras mes cor
tradicteq one another. In all cases
where the complaint was as to their
on examination that this Individual
was himself a West India man of color.
either policeman, u storekeeper. or
an assistant stofekeeper. Doubtless
Americans; but those to whom spoke
did not happen to make any such COM
plant to me.
The work is now going on with a
vigor and efficiency pleasant to wit
ness. The three big problems of the
dam, and the Culebra cut. The Guile
bra cut must be made. anyhow but
of course changes as TO the, dams or
the dams, may still occur. The La
Boca dams offer no particular prob
lem the bottom material being SO
good that-there is a practical certain
ty. not merely as to what can be
achieved, but as to the time of achieve
ment. The Gatun dam offers the most
solve; and yet the ablest men on the
isthmus believe that this problem is
proposed; although. of course. 1t ne
cessitates great toll, energy. and in
telligence, and although equally, of
in connection with the work. The risk
arises from the fact that some of the
material near the bottom is. not so
earth dam now contemplated is thrown
across from one foothill to the other
we will have what is practically
low. broad. mountain ridge behind
which will rise the inland lake. This
artificial mountain will probably show
less seepage, that is will have greater
natural mountain range. The exact To-
cality of the locks at this dam-as at
the other dams-is now being de-
Taft, with three of the ablest engin
GERS of the country-Messrs. Noble.
Stearns and Ripley-will visit the
make the final and conclusive exami
nations as to the exact site for each
lock. Meanwhile the work is going
ahead without break.
The Culebra cut does not offer such
great risks; that is, the damage liable to
occur from occasional land slips will not
asters The work will merely call for in
telligence. perseverance, and executive
capacity. 1t is, however, the work upon
which most labor will have to be spent.
The dams will be composed of the earth
taken out of the cut and very possibly
the building of the locks and dams will
lake even longer than the cutting in
Culebra itself.
In cuIebra Gut
The main work is now being done in
the Culebra cut. 1t was striking and
impressive TO the huge SteAI Sl0VeiS
in full play, the dumping trains carrying
way the rock and earth they dislodged.
machinery, which often stand a little
way from the line of work, though of ex-
cellent construction, look like the veriest
toys when compared with these new
steam shovels, just as the French dump
ing cars seem like toy cars when COM
pared with the long trains of huge cars,
dumped by steam plows, which are now
IN use: This represents the enormous
advance that has been made in machin-
cry during the past quarter of a CEN
fury. No doubt quarter OF century
hence this new machinery. of which we
are now so proud, will similarly seem out
of date, but it is certainly serving it's
mad to be entirely discarded. We still
have in use a few of tbs more modern,
but y yards of earth. They can be en-
ployed on certain lines with sharp
curves. But the. recent cars hold from
old clumsy methods of unloading them,
a steam piow is drawn from end to end
of the whole vestibuied train, thus i'm
mensely economizing labor. IN the rainy
reason the steam shovels can do bat
little in dirt but they work steadily in
were some % at work during the time l
was on the isthmus, and their tremendous
power and efficiency were most impress
Sive.
New Records for Excavation.
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 increase in
the amount taken out: but even during
the last three months, in the rainy sea-
son. steady prosress is shown by the
in September, 291, 900 cubic yards, and in
October, $4,000 cubic yards. In October
new records were established for the
output CT individual shovels as well as
for the tonnage haul of Individual loco
motives | hope to see the growth of
different shovel and locomotive crews,
just such spirit as has grown on our
battle ships between the different gun
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 recently by q tons of
dynamite, which We're exploded at one
blast. At another place 1 was given
presidential salute of q charges of dyna-
mite. on the top notch of the Culebra
cut the prism is now as wide it will
be; all told, the canal bed at this point
what it originally was. 1t will have to
be sunk about 100 feet farther Through
out the cut the drilling. blasting, shovel
ing and hauling are going on with con-
stantly increasing energy, the huge
shovels being pressed up, as If they were
mountain howitzers. into the most I'M
their way into the hillsides.
Railway improvements.
The most advanced methods. not only
in construction, but in railroad manage
mo hnx he in
with corresponding economies in time
and cost. This has been shown in the
cars, and from cars into ships on the
Panama railroad, where, thanks largely
to the efficiency of General Manager
been beer = noteworthy Ny examination 'i tend nd
ed to show that some of the departments
had doubtless necessarily become over
subordinated without impairment of effi-
cheney and with a saving of cost. The
chairman of the commission, Mr. Shonts.
has all matters of this kind constantly
in view, and is now reorganiZing the gov
eminent of the zone, SO as to make the
form of administration both more flexible
and less expensive, subordinating every
thing to direct efficiency with a view to
the work of the canal commission From
time to time changes Of this kind will IN
doubtedly have to be made, for ii must
be remembered that in this giant work
of construction It is continually neces-
which are vital for the time being. but
which soon become useless; just as 1t will
be continually necessary to put up build
ings, and even to erect towns, which in
ten years will once more give place to
Jungle, or will then be at the bottom of
the great lakes at the ends of the canal.
Critics and Doubling Thcmases.
1t is not only natural, but Inevitable
that work as gigantic as this which
mas been undertaken on the isthmus
should arouse every species of hostility
and criticism The conditions are so new
and so trying, and the work SO vast that
it would be absolutely out of the ques-
ton that mistakes should not be made.
Checks will occur. Unforeseen difficulties
will arise. From time to time seemingly
well-settled plans will have to be