Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-02-01
|STAMUS CANAL
INTERESTING FACTS IvEN eY
CHAIRMAN sHoNTs.
LARGER THAN FRENCH PLANS
Work Done by French Company Well
Worth the Prlee Paid for It-Won.
derfui Sanitary Work Accom-.
plished by Our Government.

ooTuI sanitary WORK ACCOM-.
piished by Our Government.
Chicago.-Theodore p. Shonts. chair.
man Of the Isthmian Canal Commits.
sion was the guest of honor Saturday
at the banquet Of the Commercial Club
Of Chicago. The members OF the club
intend. next month. to make an excur-
sion to the Isthmus. Cuba and Jamaica.
and the discussion Of the canal ques.
tion was prelimary to tho expcdl'
tion.
Mr.. Shonts said Of the work done by
the French on the Isthmus:
The French were altogether about
twelve years on the Isthmus. about ten
years OF which were devoted to the
active work Of construction. During
that period they spent over $25O.0OO.'
100 and accomplished a total excava.
tion OF about $4,000 cubic yards. II
Is generally believed that a large por'
tion OF this money was misappropri.
atcd. and "a great deal OF II was squnn.
dercd undoubtedly In the purchase Of
useless machinery. As the greater part
OF tho excavation was for n sca.level
canal. much Of II will be of no value
In tho construction Of lock canal.
Roughly speaking. however. Il may be
said that onc,half the excavation was
In the backbone Of the divide and was
useful work.
"a substantial part OF tho cScayatcd
material wns no deposited along the
proposed line Of canal that II will have
to be moved again In the present work.
because the canal VIC are constructing
will be more than twice the width Of
that proposed by the French. Their
sca,icvcl plan contemplated n canal
Z: feet wide and 29.5 feet deep: their
subsequent lock plan was for n canal
3s feet wide and 29.5 feet deep.
The canal We nrc constructing will
have through tho great cut "a bottom
width OF 200 feet and n depth of t5
feet. For two.thirds Of it's entire
length IL will have width cscccdin.
500 feet II tho French had finished
either one Of tho canals contemplated
by them. II would now bc 80 made
quaic to the demands OF cxistin. ship
ping that II would bc closed to navi,
cation and be In process Of rc.construc.
ton Into n canal Of double width and
depth. An tho French left tho great
cut. tho distance across from the hi.h'
est point on each side was about 75c
feet. When our canal In completed
this distance will be about 1000 feet.
The additional $50 feet mus; be taken
from the slopes on either side for their
entire distance. and whatever the
French placed there or clscwh-r,
within tho lines of our canal prism
will have to bc rchandici.
THE French had on tho iH,hmus
when they gave possession to tn,
Americans about 5000 buildings
mostly houses for tho employees. some
excellent hospitals and some store
houses and machine shops. MANY oi
these buildings were capable Of repair
and have been put Into service. They
left n vast quantity of machinery. aii
OF Il twenty To twenty-five years out
Of date and virtually worthless. Thcii
locomotives and rolling stock for III,
railway. m well as the rails Of the
road. wcr- also out of date. too light
for modern usc. and utilized only be
cause no others were available. The,
had constructed only such docks and
wharvcs mn were absolutely necessary
for the discharge Of material and ma
chincry shipped from abroad and they
had no terminal or switching yards on
the railway worthy Of the name.
aside from erecting I'm. hospital,
they had done nothing for tho prcscrv.
alton OF health.
when tho United States purchased
from the French company It's rights
privileges and property. II paid $40.
100000 for them, This was not poor
bargain. as is sometimes popularity
supposed. II was n reasonable csti
mate of the value Of the property oi
the Panama Canal Company. The offer
to sell at that price came from tho
French company itself. and was not
suggested by any official OF the United
States.
"Scver in the history of the world
has any government or any corpora
tion made such comprehensive and cx
haus,ivc arrangements for the health
and comfort Of Its common iaborcrs
as has the government OF the United
States on the isthmus, and nowhere
else on earth have the sanitary rules
been 30 rigidly enforced. with such sue
ccssful results"