The Laclede blade., 1906-07-21
THE PANAMA CANAL.
h An Interesting Account Of Conditions In the
Canal zons...tiow the Work Is Done.
EMPIRE, CANAL ZONE, July 4, 1905.


Thinking that the citizens
our old home town might be interes
ed in the construction of the Panam
canal, the greatest engineering prof.
lem the world has ever seen, we wi
endeavor to describe the conditions O
the isthmus as seen by resident.
We are located at Empire, whicl
is, next to Culebra, the highest poin
in the canal zone, having an altitud
of about five hundred feet. The coun
try from Bas Obispo to Pedro Miguel
a distance of twelve miles, is noun
famous. The principal excavating by
steam shovels will be done between
these two points, as the canal will be
approximately FIVE hundred feet deer
at Culebra.
The earth's strata between these
two points run from loose rock and
earth to solid rock, and all has to be
mined ahead Of the steam shovels. A
stranger hearing the continuous re-
ports from the heavy blasting would
think some war vessels were bonn.
harding the seaports.
The earth and rock is loaded by the
steam shovels on fiat cars and hauled
to the dumping grounds over the
Panama railroad.
Mr.. Stevens, chief engineer, recent
ly said that "the main problem was
not the excavating of the dirt but
rather the getting rid oft" In fact,
most of the dirt will have to be haul
ed over the Panama railroad to Colon
and Panama to find dumping ground.
The construction Of the canal from
Bas Obispo to Colon and from Pedro
Miguel to Panama will be principaily
done by dredging.
The United States, in undertaking
to construct the canal, has had to
overcome many obstacles peculiar to
tropical country, and it has done this
as only Americans can.
First was placing in proper sani-
tary condition the cities of Colon and
Panama and the entire zone.
Second was the pure water supply,
which is now drawn from reservoirs
in the mountains.
Third was the establishment Of
towns and building Of quarters for
employees.
Fourth and greatest of all was the
labor problem.
The sanitary department had to
construct sewers, drain cess pools, fill
up swamps and clear the disease and
mosquito breeding tropical jungle.
The water from the mountain reser-
yoirs is second to none, but as an ad-
dional precaution each town has a
sterilizing plant, and all the water
used for cooking and drinking pur-
poses is sterilized, placed in fve-gal-
lon bottles and delivered to employees.
THE towns were established at the
highest points. The quarters are
frame buildings, nicely painted, with
large yerandas entirely screened. The
bachelor quarters are taken care of
for the men, and the married quarters
are furnished complete for housekeep- |
ing with a good grade of furniture.
The government owns and operates
the commissaries and hotels. The
sell the necessaries of
life as cheap as in the United States.
The hotels serve very good meals for
thirty cents each.
The common labor is performed by |
Martinique and Jamaican negroes.
They reckon that it takes FIVE negroes
to do the work of one white man.
People in the states cannot imagine
how slow q Jamaican negro can work.
The government is now getting SPAN
iards from Northern Spain, and they |
do about twice ss much as the me-