The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1906-08-22
WORK ON THE CANAL.
1t is Progressing Under Satisfactory
Conditions.

machinery for the Isthmian
canal commission, is spending
a furlough at his home in Min
neapolis. Mr.. Brooke talked
interestingly to a Journal re-
porter, saying among other
things:
panama is a fine country to
live in, the Isthmian canal is
the greatest and most inter
esting engineering project the
world has ever known, and
the men who have been circu-
lating stories about the evils
of the country and the impos-
sibilities of the work are not
telling the truth. They are
usually men who have been
discharged for cause or have
some imagined grievance.
"The sanitary conditions on
the isthmus are as good as,
or better than, those in Texas
and the other southern states
continued Mr.. Brooke. I'VE
now have more than 10000
men at work on the canal and
railroad, and during the TWEEN
ty-one months of my stay we
have not had one case of yell
low fever. Malaria, of course,
there is, but this is brought on
largely by lack of care and in
disCretiOns. A man of fairly
temperate habits can 60 into
that country without material
ly changing his mode of living.
1--WE have made many chang
es and improvements, We
have paved the streets of the
towns, furnished pure water
supplies, cut down the bac-
terra breeding fungus which
used to grow in profusion
about the streets, and in other
ways increased the healthful-
ness of the place. When | first
went there, New Orleans quar-
antined against Panama; now
Panama guarantees against
New Orleans. Of course the
isthmus is not a summer re-
sort, and man must take
reasonable care of himself and
must take his two to four
grains of quinine every day.
That is one thing [ wouldn' t
do at first, but touch of ma
laria brought me to it. 1t is
peculiar, but in that climate
quinine in large quantities
does not bother you and has
no effect on your sight or hear
ing, as it does in the northern
ATTITUDES.
"The most remarkable thing
about the canal work, and the
one that always impresses the
visitor, is it's magnitude. The
people in the states have no
conception of the size of this
great work, nor Of it's difficult
ties. Before | went to Panama
[ thot [ had had enough ex-
perience in the engineering
work. When | began the work
there [ found that the only use
my experience was to me was
to give me the capacity to
study out the best methods to
be used there. The conditions
= are so entirely different, ev.
erything has to be done on sc
much larger a scale than any
thing | had ever seen or heard
of, that the problems presented
> by the Panama canal all have
: to be solved by reverting t.
: first principles. My experience
5 there has meant more to me
: than | can tell, and / am thor
oughly in love with the work
"In the first place, think O
: moving $4,000 men away from
their homes, putting them al
: to work and providing for theil
board and lodging in wile
and unsettled country. Is tina
little undertaking? We nov
have things down to work
4 ing basis. The whole forty
d seven-mile length of the cana
8 is one camp or city. We hav,
: three mamoth hotels, two more
J. are under construction for tn,
q laborers, and are now BUILDING
4 one that will have everv mod
: ern improvement, convenienc,
: and elegance. This will b,
e done in time to receive Presi
: dent Roosevelt when he Wis t.
Q the isthmus next year.
J "Then came the profile n.
e of the engineering work. The
n country is made up of (
t series of hills that .em az
e though they had simply beer
n pushed up together by som,
l.