The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-07
II Graphic PeD:piCfU10
81 Conditions Oh
The ZJIhzDuS
of earth that have been dumped on
the sides.
When Will We Have Canal?

How much time will be required to
build the canale This question is often
asked, and cannot be answered with
certainty. 1t is possible, however, to
figure how long it may take. Let us
assume that the Culebra cut is to be
reduced to sea level, and that the re-
mainder. of the work can be completed
by the time this tremendous ditch is
finished. In addition to the work
already done at Culebra, there remain
in this section of territory 100,000,000
cubic yards of earth and rock to be re-
moved, or the equiva lent of the total
removal at Suez. About thirty-five
average steam shovels could work on
this division without interference.
Working on one shift ten hours a day
and making due allowances for stop
pages, accidents and delays usual to
large contracting work, they should
average 100000 yards year per shovel,
or say 100000 cubic yards a year for
the thirty-fve shovels. With two shifts
they could double this speed. It will
be at least a year before thirty-fve
shovels can be set to work; two years
more may expire before the lighting
system will be in order to permit of
double shifts. Therefore, the best that
can be hoped for is about 100000
yards removal in the next three years,
and 20,O00,000 per year afterwards, or
a total Of seven years of cutting with
the steam shovels, supplemented by two
years more work In completing the
canal ready for transportation. This
would make 1913 the earliest date at
which the canal could be completed,
| and some enthusiasts have declared that
it will be opened in that year. But
these do not reckon with serious acct
dents and interferences, which are
| practically certain, not to mention the
| dreaded yellow fever, which has here
tofore proved the most serious obstacle,
| and against whose rayages no practical
remedy has even been suggested. Con-
] sentative men say that the commission
will do remarkably well if they are
able to complete the canal by 1917, and
that there should be no cause of COM
plant if it is not finished before 1920.
Certain Washington officials declare
that from twenty to one hundred years
will be required to complete the work,
but these men are suspected of an alli-
ance with the retarding movement,
which, if anything, will delay theecom-
pletion of the enterprise beyond if
| teen years, and their estimates are not
taken seriously by any one.
The Financial End.
| Up to the present moment the Pan
! anna canal has cost the United States
| $60,000,000, of which two;thirds went
to buy the rights and property of the
French company, $10,000,000 to satisfy
/ the Republic of Panama, and the re-
naming $10,000,O00 has been spent in
| the work on the isthmus.
I The probable expense of completing
the canal can be calculated approx
(! mately. The former isthmian canal
commission estimated that the rock and
earth removal would cost so cents
yard. Actual work in Culebra the past
year shows that the cost will be only
i so cents yard, so that the simple dig
ging Of this greatest ditch in the world
will involve an expenditure of $685.
I 100000 if carried to sea level, and
! about $65.000,000 if the canal is con-
j structed with locks.
i Harbor dredging has been done in
the United States in many places for
/ nine cents a yard or even less, but at
SuCu d QiSGdHCc TIE
! tions that will govern work at Panama,
it may well cost % cents yard. The
test behring's have been sufficiently ex-
i tensive at this time to show to practical
!, men about what is to be encountered
in both harbor dredging and swamp
dredging, and therefore these costs are
known with close approach to accu-
racy. However, a great part of the ex-
!, pense may come with the unfgurable
!, conditions growing out of yellow fever
! epidemics and general Generalization
: of both laborers, contractors and the
) engineering corps.
A review of the entire. project, as it
stands today, gives one faith that
; America will add one more laurel to the
national brow, by completing this truly
!, stupendous work, and thus multiplying
4 the world S commerce. Let us hope
: that it may be accomplished without
any Of the financial scandals that
swamped the previous undertaking, and
, that are so apt to creep in where so
much money is being spent; also that
| the terrible loss of life that accom-
:. panied De Lesseps abortive endeavor
may not find repetition, in the history
/, that will be made in the coming
/ decade.
E6rxyor nd NV, l. of& INN