Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-01-27

of your members Whais asvaired friend
of mine that / cannot do better iii speak
ing to you this evening about the Pan
anna Canal than to- tell YOU
First 4 he amount Of work done by
4 the French 4
Second. The amount Of work done BY
the Americans since the French aban-a
doned the task; and
Third. What the actual conditions on
the Isthrnus are today
S3ss With your permission, II will follow
this outline III my earlier remarks,
though in doing SO I may repeat some Of
the statements which made before
the Knife-and Fork Club at Kansas
City on Thursday evening. .8
The French were altogether about
twelve years on the Isthmus, about ten
years Of which were devoted to the
active work of construction During
h that period they spent over $3.50, 100000
y and accomplis a total excavation Of
about 88,O0O,0O0 cubic yards is gem
orally believed that a large portion Of
this money was nlisapprop rated, and a
great deal of III was squandered lndoubt-
eddy in the purchase of useless nnachin--
cry. AS The greater part of the excava-
tion was for sea-leyel canal, much Of
d it will be Of no value in the construction
Of lock canal Roughly speaking,
{ however, it may be said that one-half
the excavation was III the backbone of
the divide and was useful work A sub
stantial part Of the excavated material
was so deposited along the proposed
line of canal that It will have TO be
moved again in the present work, be-
cause the canal we are constructing will
Il be more than twice the width Of that
proposed by the. French. Their sea-level
plan contemplated a canal ~ feet wide
and 29.5 feet deep their subsequent
4 lock plan was for canal SO feet wide
4 and 29.5 feet deep. 35ll=.#,
The canal we are constructing will
have through the great cut bottom,
width Of 200 feet and 4 depth Of 45S feet.
For tWo-thirds of its entire length it
will have a width exceeding 500 feet. Il
the French had finished either one Of
the canals cont plated 81 them, II
would now Be 30 ilad equate the
demands Of sxiistng shipping that NJ
would be closed III ia ton and De
in process 81 IONS rnptio IN into aeanal
Of ldouSe width lid u depth As tllte
French ieft ths great cut, sshs distance
across from the highest point on each
side was about $50 fest hen llI
canal is completed this distance will sbe
about 1000 feet The additional $50 feet
must be taken from the slopes on either
side for their entire distance, and what
ever the French placed there Of else
where within the lines Of our canal
) prism will have to be rehandled.
The French had on the isthmus when
they gave possession to the Americans,
about 1000 buildings, mostly. houses for
the employees, some excellent hospitals,
4 and some storehouses and machine
shops. Many Of these buildings were
capable Of repair and have been put
into service They left vast quantity
of machinery, all OF it twenty Or twenty
FIVE years out Of date and virtually
worthless. Their locomotives and roll
ing stock for the railway, as well as the
rails Of the road, were also out of date,
too light for modern use, and utilized
only because no others were available.
They had constructed only such docks
and Wilarves as were absolutely neces-
sary for the discharge Of material and
machinery shipped from abroad, and
they had no terminal or switching yards
on the railway worthy of the name.
Aside from erecting fine hospitals
they had done nothing for the preserya-
ton Of health. Modern methods 81
preventing disease were unknown II
their time. Yellow fever was believed
10 be due to poison, ever present, to
which certain proportion OF rleWconl-
ers, especially Europeans and Ameri-
cans, were expected to succumb, as they
had always done. The disease was pc
lieyed to be sconta gious and 70 be trans,
mitted by personal contact. N alaria was was
believed to be caused by a miasna en-
hailed from the soil 81 by sdecayirig yeget-
alton, and to be spread BY newly up
turned earth. Nothing was done in ths
direction Of supplying pure water q
Il providing sewerage. The men were
poorly housed and poorly fed. and ths
mortality among them was 80 appalling
that it spread throughout the world tbs
belief that the Isthnaus Of Panama wa
the pest hole Of the earth-a yeritabls
hell Of disease and death 8s
When the United States purchases.
from the French company is rights
privileges and property, it paid the sun
Of $40, 200, 900 for them. This was no,