The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-15


quite 50 hazardous As matter Of
fact most of the steam shovel engi-
neers are former locomotive engineers
whose eyesight or hearing has failed
slightly, or who have some other. pny-
steal defects that disqualfy man for
holding the throttle on q fast express
train or even on a thirty car freight
train.
When the late Senator John Tyler
Morgan of Alabama died here a few
days ago al his big residence on John
Marshall Place. there were IN one of
his rooms several boxes Of rock-Iike
looking substance. These were borings
from the Gatun dam site. During the
long and tedious investiga tons Of the
site for that big dam. which will be
one of the great engineering feats Of
the canal, many tests were made OF
the indurated clay, which must be the
foundation for the tremendous struc-
ture. Indurated clay is virtually rock,
although the name misleads many peo-
PIE 70 thinking that il IS much softer.
To convince the Senate. Committee on
lnteroceanic canals. when canal mat
ters were under discussion there last
winter, the Canal authorities had sew
eraI boxes Of the borings sent TO Wash
ington- These bOrings interested SEN
ator Morgan very much He took them
10 his committee room and when he
became too i'll to go 10 the Capitol had
the boxes removed 10 his house. He
was preparing 10 have the indurated
clay, or rock, tested by some govern
ment official that he might know on
his own inquiry something definite
about the character of the clay The
Senator died. however, before the
tests were made.
But the Canal Commission Is very
well satisfied with the progress made
toward the construction Of the Gatun
dam. The Commissioners. since Score
tary Taft visited the isthmus with emf
nent consulting engineers who decided
that the foundation was satisfactory
have been working out many Of the
details. A number Of. civil engineers
have been engaged on surveys and
plans One Of the things they have
developed IS that the area of the great
Gatun Lake viii be 225 miles square.
as against 118 miles quare estimated
by the minority of the board of con-
suIting engineers. who drew a report
in favor Of a lock canal This Demon
strates how far the best of engineers
may be in error in their computations.
The new figures give the canal author
tiles much encoura cement, because il
increases the advantages of a lock
canal in that there viii be such a large
volume of water inPounded from the
Chagres river as 10 assure a minimum
Of fuctuation in the water Of the canal
on the high level In spite of the
tremendous evaporation Of water in
that latitude, the artificial lake. as now
estimated, viii afford sufficient water
for ffty-six lockages a day, instead of
twenty-six as had been Heretofore
calculated.
The rebuilding of the Panama rail-
road, which has been one Of the big
tasks in connection with the canal con-
struCtion, is now nearly completed. The
building Of double tracks has been 60
ing on for about two years. as has
been the building Of new and stronger
bridges. The road is all double track
ed now, except for approximately five
miles.
The Commission expects far less cri-
ticism Of the canal at the next session
of Congress than there has been here
tofore. The claim has been put for
ward that these outbursts Of criticism
greatly retard the work, in that they
discourage the men on the isthmus
and demoralize the labor iegions. That
was the reason, as has been often stat
ed, for President Roosevelt's trip to the
isthmus last November. followed by
an illustrated message to Congress in
which he set forth what he had seen
and declared that criticisms were with
out material foundation.
- l.
arise anew from time to time and TO
meet this the Commission Office here
in Washington has prepared a lot Of
material about what is being done on
the 1sthmus, Of the progress that has
been made. etc. etc. A number OF the !
sixty or seventy congressman, who /
visited the isthmus in March and in /
spected the canal, have prepared lee I
lures about It which they propose TO /
deliver during the summer and autumn. /
The administration expects these lee /
lures 10 be quite a factor IN enlight- /
ening the people. Soon after the re- /
turn Of the Congressional parties Rep !
resentative Loud. of Michigan. who IS /
one of the members who proposes to I
deliver canal lectures before his con- (
stituents. addressed thirty-three Ques- I
tons about the canal 10 Secretary BIZ I
shop. These questions were carefully /
answered. Mr.. Bishop made mineo-
graph copies Of the letter and these
have been distributed 10 numerous per-
sons asking for Information.
The dimensions Of the locks in the
Gatun dam. for instance, are given II
the letter The Board Of Consulting En-
gineers decided in favor Of locks there
50 feet wide, with disable length be-
tween gates Of SEQ feet, bur these Iii
mansions were afterHard increased by i
resolution Of the Commission, and by
approval Of the President, 70 100 feet
wide with disable length Of 1000 feet.
\ lot CT Information, which is not
a AVAILABLE TO the average citizen, was
compiled IN this reply 10 Representa-
tive Loud Il states that the highest
point % the original surface Of the
ground in the Culebra cut was 334 feet
above sea level that the highest point
% the original surface al Bas Obispo
IS feet above sea level. that the
French dug down Isl vertical feet IN
CuIebra cut. leaving the Americans 70
axcavate about almost as much again
deeper and through the broader base
r.