Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-12-21
Number 43
Letter from the Canal Zone.
LES Cascadas. Nov. lsl 1905.

Las Cascadas, Nov. Is, 1906.
Editor The LEADER
l have found that life on the Isthmus
has some interesting features-some
peculiar, it is true. 1t is often incon-
venient, unhealthful, and sometimes
tiresome, but there are also many beau
tlful features which should be
tackled only by poet with an inspira
tion. These will not dwell upon or
attempt to describe.
For over a week we have been having
continual downpour of rain. There
is from six to eight feet of water all
over the bottom of the canal Some of
the steam shovels have been under
mined and have fallen oyer on their
sides; the tracks are floated off their
beds and things brought to general
standstill. This is the last effort of the
rainy season to quench the awful trop-
lcal thirst, and soon it will be the drv
season, when the work will forge ahead
under the mighty impetus given it by
the constantly increasing number of
laborers. The labor now consists
chiefly of negroes from Jamaica, Brit
ish Guiana and the Barbados, and a
few native Panamanians of mixed
Spanish and Indian blood. These are
massed and worked separately, accord
ing to nationality, but as rule they
are very unsatisfactory and the work of
a very poor quality. The best class of
labor on the Zone at present is few
hundred men from the mountains in
the northern part OF Spain. They we're
employed on the island of Cuba for
awhile in railroad construction, and
while they get $2 gold, in contrast to
the $l20 silver of the Jamaican, they
do three times the amount of work.
| Some may think the jamaican would
produce more work if paid better, but
he has been given an impartial trial,
and 1T is found he can be worked only
in the true old plantation stvle, with
his humdrum swing in time to his weird
chant exerting himself no more for 50
gold than for 81 20 silver go cents in
gold) Panamanian money is called
silver and is worth only one half of our
currency, which is called gold for dis
tinction. You will readily see that the
labor question is the greatest problem
in the construction of the canal.
Culebra cut is the place where all at
tention is turned at present. This is
undoubtedly the greatest piece of work
ever undertaken by man. The cut is
over ten miles long, averages over 200
feet wide at the bottom, with proper
tional slopes and width at the top. The
deepest part will be at Gold Hill, oppo-
site the town of Culebra. There the
cut is $50 feet deep, over quarter of
mile across the top, with still 100 feet
lower to go. The size OF this enormous
cut can hardly be realized.
the ball and reception given last
night at Cristobal Colon in honor of
President Roosevelt was distinct sue.
cess. All American employees were in.
vited, and in spite OF the rain turned
out in full force. The ladies wore their
pretty ball costumes, while the gentle
men were clad in the regulation white
duck, the formal dress suit of the
tropics. 1t was beautiful scene, and
the welcome given the President at the
first visit to foreign territory by Il
President of the United States was
warm and hearty. He made an address
thanking the employees for their endur.
ance of sickness and Inconvenience
which attend a project of this kind, and
Immediately after left for the battle
ship Louisiana, on which he will sail
for the States. r. q. WYGANT.