The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-01-03
Che banana Canal.
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,row twelve inches every twenty-four
hours in we'll ''watered place." A
prominent engineer, who has spent
rood many years on the isthmus, fig
Tres it will take dredge on every
nile of the canal to keep it open from
he earth that will wash back from the
aims, (tne writer had the pleasure of
a rainfall of eight inches
n three hours time) and dredge on
avery half mile to keep it clear of veg
station.
In building lock type, the first cost
would be about $52,OOO,OOO cheaper
than sea level canal, but in ten years
we will spend what we saved from the
first cost, and after that it will cost the
government million dollars year to
operate and keep in repair, for at each
lock we will have to keep crew of |
men and machinery for opening and
closing the locks after vessels have
passed thru, to say nothing of the cost
of keeping it clear. Then we must
figure the increase in traffic in the next
century, as it will take some time to
"food" each lock, thereby causing a
delay at each entrance to vessels wait
ing their turn to pass thru.
One of the greatest difficulties of the
lock style will be in obtaining suitable
locations for the locks. They will
have to stand a pressure of four hun
dred pounds to the square inch, there
fore needing a good, solid foundation.
There are seven of these locks, and
with the exception of two they are
located in swamps, where they would
not only cost hundreds OF thousands
of dollars to construct, but would wash
out as easy as board fence would
with an extraordinary rainfall. The
country is also subject to earthquakes,
and the locks being more than fifty
per cent concrete, would crack and
with the high pressure of water, would
give way should one of these unfortu-
nate things happen.
want to tell you of the Panama
natives, and give some good advice to
those going to that country, SO 1 will
let the canal 60 until some other time.
The city of Panama consists of dirty
streets, dObe houses, nude and indOlent
people, caring nothing for work. They
| irfo 70 hG
plantations and board themselves
which they do for about FIVE cents a
day. They willnot work between 1876
aud 1 80 O'Clock on account of the heat
The thermometer standing from one
hundred and five to one hundred anG
ten in the shade between these hours
and the population you will find sitting
on the plazas, where a government
band is playing, until about 2:3O O'CLOCK
when they begin to drift slowly bacl
to work. They work until about sever
} o'clock and then go back to the plaz'
|, to hear the band again and play card
| until the music is over, and then the.
, 60 for the saloons and gambling dens
, The great trouble with American
down there is they find whisky to-
/ cheap, being only two cents a glass
+ and it only takes few months to drinl
1 themselves to death, which is q yer
] easy matter on account of the heat.
The writer was an engineer for
fruit company on the isthmus for min
! months, and had two members of hi
party die from drinking the nativ
i whisky and "Polka." They seemed t
3 think that it needed whisky to kee
i them from getting sick. honestly b'
|. lieve that the whisky would cause sicl
: ness quicker than drinking only waite
b I do not believe there were twenty day
a out of the nine months that was n,
l. in water up to my knees every day, an
: while l lost weight, was not sic
# longer than three or four days at
e time, while they it seemed were alwa,
1t so, until they contracted fever, whit
10 caused their death. Fully twenty.fil
s. per cent of the natives die from stor
If ach trouble, caused from drink. Poll
IT is drink made from native plar
ss looking like milk. It will sour if n
1t used in twenty-four hours; it cos
ID one cent q quart, and heard doct
al say it is ten times worse than whisk
to- 1t seems to make those drinking