The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-07
Dauntless u. s. Engineers
Lay Aside Their Coats and
Begin Work Within Sight
of rs, 600 Graves Wherein
Lie the Victims of Previous
Attempts to Construct the
Waterway Bet.Ueen 7tUo
Oceans. LIB e.: @~srs>>
BY Charles n. Cochrane.
opyright, 1905, by Charles H. Cochrane.

I. Copyright, 1905, by Charles H. COchrane.
Colon, Panama, Dec. 90.
~ HE Panama canal has been
world s wonder for a number of
reasons-it was worldwide in
its conception and will be worldwide
in its benefits when completed, and
on account of its world-interest, it has
caused more comment, speculation and
representation; coupled with wealth
of hasty and deliberately false state
ments than any other work undertaken
for the benefit Of mankind during mod
ern times. -~. -. =. -
A ffty-mile cut, half Of it thru
swamp, and nearly ten miles thru high
ground, with an erratic, torrential river
to control in times of food, across a
tropical country, where the temperature
varies eighty degrees every twenty-four
hours, and where, turning over the
swampy soil renders yellow fever cpl
denies certain-this work to be accom-
plished thousands of miles from the
source Of machinery and supplies-such
is the problem that confronts the Pan
anna canal commission. Unquestionably
it is the most stupendous and difficult
engineering work ever attempted, and
the more thoroly one studies the condi-
tions, the more one realizes that altho
possessed Of an enormous appropriation
of money, and plenty of ingenuity and
ability, the old French companies were
foredoomed to failure, and that even
with improved engineering methods
and machinery, and honest and brainy
men at the head, success is far dis
tant goal. '. - '-.'-.@=.. So
Conflicting reports regarding condi-
lions and operations have been banded
about until the American people, who
only want to t'see the dirt 1ay' do not
know what to think of this great work
for which congress has already appro-
priated .$6O,000,OOO.
It was with the idea of attempting
to straighten out this mass of tangled
ideas that The Journal sent me to the
scene of operations, to make investiga-
lions in careful and impartial man
{ ner. ......,... 49, y.
The Canal Region.
The crying need for the Panama canal
is impressively apparent to- one i who
approaches Colon for the firsts@time by
boat: Over the fat land, backed by
slight ridges in the distance, one almost
imagines d glimpse of the Pacific. The
marrow strip Of land which connects the
Two great continents, yet so effectually
divides The world Of commerce, makes
the proximity Of the great waterway,
less than fifty miles away, and yet,
many thousands Of miles distant to the
navigator, all the more aggravating to
soldier. sailor and business man. One
imbhed only with the inspired and sen:
fimental side Of the picture wonders as
Colon draws near, why someone doesn' 4
get out with shovel and tear away
the few rods Of offending land and de:
clare the water gate Of Panama open
to the world. It is only when one gets
down on TO the level land, journeying
out of Colon to the blue topped hills
in the distance thatza full understand
ing of the task which the brightest men
of modern times have enshrined as an
idol, before which to sacrifice lives
fortunes and regulations, comes home
with great force. 4 ss3
My first impression of the canal zone
was embodied In, haunting desire to
get back to civilization, and so must
bethe desire Of everyone who has lived
among the conyeniences and comforts
OF the settled states. 49,;
s The climate of theIregion is tropical
tee-stiWstys Gue SdHle, eACepG IOIy the SUD
den and ferocious storms peculiar tc
such latitudes.8&5 The facilities 8o1
jungles and sWamps in such localities
for producing malarial and yellow feve,
germs are at their highest efficiency
and the graves of the tens Of thousands
of victims soaring, the hillsides in the
region, of Bohio sound a discouraginp
warning to the new arrival. Sleep out
of doors seems almost impossible on
account of the malaria, and sleep IN
. doors is out of the question during the
greater part ofsthe year, altho. in many
locations preferable, from the stand
point of comfort, to the noxious vapors
Of the night. These two diseases are
the scourge of Panama, and the terror
Of anyone who has spent his life in
cooler ATTITUDES.
When Americans can become accli
8 mated to this country, consummation Of
! s