Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-03-01
Old NORTH DAkOIAN At PANAMA
Dr. COe Formerly Of uandan, Visits the Canal Zone and
Gives His Impressions Of the Great Work
Being Done at That Point
Special TO the Tribune

prove worth millions in money and
years in time to the great enterprise Z
said Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, of Port
land, Ore.
There is ! brotherhood in this
whole canal business since Theodore
Roosevelt was there, in which he and
eYry worker on the zone worthy Of
the name of worker are closely knit
ted, and which is to save the United
States many millions of dollars in
money and vast amount Of valuable
time. Every steam shovel, every en-
CINE, every drill there, is digging,
hoisting, steaming, whistling, drilling
and blasting, merry unison of in
dustrial music, and today through all
of it is a chord of thankfulness that
the President was there. The men
behind these guns of industry are vie
ing with each other to do a little
more today than was done yesterday,
in honor of the president, our friend
at court, who has visited u.s.
DR.. Coe, who is a prominent physi-
clan and a man of large financial in
terests on the Pacific coast, accom-
panied by Mrs. Coe, has just complet-
ed five weeks trip from Portland to
/ New York and Washington by way OF
Panama, which was taken for pleas
ure, but which gave an opportunity to
study the sanitary situation in Pan.
anna preparatory to making a report
on that subject for the section on by.
giene of the American Medical asso
citation. .5i
Although examining the project as
a physician" DR.. Coe said, .sthe indus
trial side of the subject naturally ap.
pealed to me. as to one who in small
! way in new country is also an EN-.
ployer of labor. was astonished at
the great progress already attained by
the United States, as well as the prep
aration under way for its material en-,
largement. Colonel w. C. Gorgas, chief
sanitary officer, devoted some time to
US. in which we inspected during the
four days Of our visit the chief points
of interest, including the line Of the
canal and the important industrial
sections of the work.
Waking the Dirt Fly"
Since landing in New York / have
( 50 often been asked the. questfsn, Are
they actually doing any conside rable
amount Of digging? that / am sure the
q average man here who has not visited
the canal does not comprehend the
yastness Of present operations, which
now include, among other features,
the work of fifty enormous steam
shovels. In December there were $780,
75O yards of earth and rock removed.
OF the fifty shovels in place when we
We're there, forty-six were in active
K operation, the others being under re.
pair The. present volume Of earth be.
ing removed is about double what it
was six months ago, and Chief Engi-
neer Stevens informed me that in
March he expects to handle, under
favorable conditions, 100000 yards.
Mr.. Stevens is the same unassum-
ing man he was while working out in
my country for Jim Hill, and in the
social division at the mess houses
along the line of those who wear
coats and those who don't wear.
coats, each having separate dining
rooms 1 imagine he takes the latter.
At least, when asked him why he
was not over at the TivoH, he replied
that It was most too high toned for
me. The way they are planning upon
the increase and the presidents in
fuenee upon the project was shown by
a man in the engineering department,
who emphatically declared to me: If
Roosevelt keeps at the helm, and ste
vens Increases as he plans, not eight
years, but six years, will see the work
through.
While the president was there it
rained cats and dogs. Everybody down
there talks about it. A weeks rain
fall. including the time the president
was there, was the greatest in fifteen
Years. An official Of the canal said
laughingly to me: 4 think the presi-
dent rather put 1t on us down here
the way he went out in the rain and
never noticed it. One thing is sure,
we can't make excuses hereafter to
the States that we are not working on
account of rain.
pom eyry side and from every
class + heard Of President Roosevelt's
trip TO the canal. He ate in this
boarding house He walked here Or.
He climbed up there He made 4
talk here. He was on my engine;
you can bet am making good on what
he said about her Here is one Of
our men the president talked to about
the grub said Jamaican. his bIarly5