Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-18
THIRD DAY OF INSPECTION
Smaller Towns Are Visited and Ma
rines and Other Forces Reviewed

On Saturday morning we started at
8 o'clock from the hotel. We went
through the Culebra cut, stopping off
to see the marines and also to in
vestigate certain towns; one, of white
employees, as to which in certain re-
spects complaint had been made to
me; and another town where I want
ed to see certain houses of the colored
employees. We went over the site Of
the proposed Gatun dam, having on
| the first day inspected the sites of the
| proposed La Boca and Sosa dams
We went out on a little toy railway
| to the reservoir. which had been
built to supply the people of Colon
with water for their houses. There
| we took lunch at the engineers mess
! We then went through the<stores and
shops of Cristobal, inspecting care
| fully the houses of both the white
! and colored employees, married and
buildings. We then went to Colon
and saw the fire department at work;
| in four minutes from the signal the
| engines had come down to Front
street, and 21 ~ Inch hose pipes
i were raising streams Of water about rs
! feet high. We rode about Colon,
Through the various streets, paved /,
unpayed, and in process of paving
| looking at the bitches, sewers. curb
| ing, and the lights. i then went over
! the Colon hospital In order to com
pare it with the temporary town or
! field receiving hospitals which I had
/ already seen and inspected. I also
inspected some of the dwellings, of the
employees. In the evening I attended
"a reception given by the American
employees on the Isthmus, which took
| place on one OF the docks in Colon
and from there went aboard the
Louisiana.
Each day from - TO Is hours were
spent in going over, and inspecting al
there. was to be seen, and in examin
Ling various employees. Throughout
my trip was accompanied by the
surgeon general of the navy, DR.
milan Canal commission, Mr. Shonts
by Chief Engineer Stevens; by DR.
/ Gorgas, the chief sanitary officer OF
the commission; by Mr. Bishop, the
secretary of the commission: by Nj
Ripley, the principal assistant en-.
gineer: by Mr. Jackson Smith, whe
has had practical charge of collecting
and handling the laboring force; by
I Mr. Bferd, general manager of the
railway, and by MIR Rogers, the gen
eral counsel of the commission: ant
many other officials joined us from
time to time.
At the outset I wish to pay tribute
to the amount of work done by the
French Canal company under very diff
ficult circumstances. Many of TIL,
buildings they put up were excellen
and are still in use, though. natural
lily. the houses are now getting out o
REPAIR and are being used as dwelling
only until other houses can be built
and much of the work they did il
the Culebra cut, and some of tn
work they did in digging has been o
direct and real benefit. This countr,
has never made better investmen
than the $40, 600 0l0 which 1t paid t
u the French company for work an
betterments, including especially tn
f Panama railroad.
An inspection on the ground at tn
height of the rainy season served t
convince me of the wisdom of con
gress in refusing to adopt either
} high-level or a sea-level canal Tfler
seems To be universal agreemen
, among all people competent to judg
I THAT the Panama route the one actu