Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-08
WORK ON THE
PANAMA CANAL
Speaker Cannon Talks on His
Recent Visit.
RESULT OF HIS INSPECTION
Situation Explained by Engineer
Stevens and His Subordinates.
THE GREAT CULEBRA CUT
Work That Mr.. Stevens Has Done to
Remove the Earth and Rock
to the Valley.
THE GREAT CULEBRA CUT

of Representatives, and Jim Tawney, CHAIR
| man OF the appropriations committee, got
| back to town this morning from trip to
| the canal zone. the West Indies and other
| dramatically delightful places, as guests OF
| Representative VIM. Mckinley of Illinois
| They were both Of them in fine trim and
had lots of cheerfally optimistic, If some
| what untechnical. things to say concern
! ing the progress of work on the big ditch.
The Speaker was in particularly good
shape. Everybody around the Capitol
knew this by 10 o'clock, from the fact
| that Mr. Cannon had not put in an appear
ance at that hour. His habits are well
known by all the folks under the dome.
| and it was realized that if the Speaker had
| landed back in Washington tired or nerv-
| Gus or worn out he would have been at the
Capitol bright and early this morning to
look over his mail, dictate a few dozen let
tiers. smoke a box or so of strong cigars
and do some other varieties of assorted
work. That's the way he rests up" But
when Mr. Cannon Is in fine and dandy
shape he takes his time about things.
So he didn't get around to his office in
the Capitol until this afternoon and didn't
do a whole lot of work when he got there.
BY the same token Mr.. Tawney must have
been feeling pretty salubrious too, for he
just dropped into the appropriations COM
mittee room to saw "howdy" and remained
only a few moments.
Result of His Inspection.
Mr. Cannon, after as careful an inspection
of the canal work as his limited time on the
isthmus would allow, Is convinced. as he
told a Star reporter today. that. barring
untoward incident and unforeseen circum-
stances, there is no reason why the canal
cannot be CONSTRUCTED in the next seven or
eight years. He spent a long day on the
canal zone, actively inspecting the work
that has been done-from I o'clock in the
morning to I o'clock in the evening. to be
exact-and he believes he had at least
passing view of almost every feature of the
project
He and his party climbed the hills which
are to form the buttresses for the great
Gatun dam they went through the Cufebra
and Obisco cuts to see the big steam shovels
at work, to the dumps to follow the dis
posal of the earth. and on through to Pan
anna to the sites for the locks on the
Pacific side. The only time Mr.. Cannon
left the observation platform of the pri-
vate on which the party made the trip
was when he climbed over the hills for
better view of what was going on.
Mr. Cannon thinks that the work will go
on a good deal better and faster if I'M
hampered by too much direction and super
| vision from Washington. believing that
when competent and reliable men have been
| placed in charge. as at present. they shouiu
| be left "unPeStered' much as possible
| The Speaker said that he had been most
| agreeably surprised at what he found IN
| the canal zone. and that he experienced no
more discomfort there than at home In
Danvlle on a summer day. This was. how
ever he said in what is called the dry sea-
| son and may be all changed in the rainy
season. though many or the young men
he met had been on the canal work TOT
two years or more and appeared to be in
excellent health and good spirits Ihey
laughed at the haZy stories published at
home about the terrible climate in Panama.
! Just as other young men laugh at the same
kind of bogy stories about the terrible ell
mate in Alaska.
~ Health is Good.
The Speaker added:
'Ciyilized man seems to be able to use
his intelligence to prove comfort and
preserve health in every part of the globe
when he has a chance to introduce CIV
iized methods and the government has
literally provided these throughout the
canal zone so that there is better health
even among the natives
Il had read a great deal ana heaTo
great deal about the engineering problems
until | had about come to the CONCLUSION
that there were greater and more dlrlcuit
engineering problems in connection WIN the
canal than had ever been encountered d!
any people in any time since the world
began. 49,,
do not pretend to understand even the
professional discussion of engineering prop
lens But as the situation was explained
TO me by Chief Engineer Stevens and his
subordinates there did not seem to be any
e,,tirely new engineering problems on the
canal There are many lock canals IN the
world ana some of them have great LOCKS
and great dams. l understand thefe are
dams of earth in the United States that
1 hold back d greater BODY OF water than
| tbe nrooosed Gatun dam is to hold back
TO form an artificial lake from that point
to the Culebra cut. .
There is. l am told, such a dam IN an.
fornia near San Francisco. and II was not
disturbed by the earthquake and did not
spring leak anywhere. The engineering
problem of Gatun seems TO have been set
lied in the United States. and all the en-
gineers have to do will be TO WORK In an
intelligent and honest way
.It will be a gigantic work to build an
earth dam mile long, nan nilie wiue
AT the base and nearly one hundred rect
high and it will take time. but such WORK
has been done before and, II mas peei
found efficient, and with hydrauhc power
steam shovels and cable carriers sucii DIS
are now in use it can be done ana done
well. IT,; .o,v, ,h.
| sea level to the ARTIFICIAL lake DENIM inc
| Gatun dam, an elevation OF eighty-hNe ieet'
must be a little larger and stronger 'hah
any we have in the United States.
The Culebra Cut.
Asked what he thought of the great Guile
bra cut and if the commission can cut
canal through the mountain there. Mr.. Can
non replied:
| THAT is a big work. but it is an en-
! gineering problem with which American
| railroad builders are familiar. In fact. 1t is
| not a canal problem so much as 4 is a rail-
\ road problem We have for forty years been
| working on just such problems in the west
| ern part of the United States. putting
| through the Rocky Mountains the trans
| continental railroads.
! Mr. Stevens is a rai'r road builder and he
! seems to have taken hold of this job OF cut
| ting through Culebra just as he'would if he
| were building railroad and Col. Goethals
| expressed his surprise at the completeness
| of the organization for that work. Mr.
| Stevens probably will never get credit for
the work he has done. He has made an or
| ganization that. if maintained will cut
| through Cu,ebra and remove the greatest
| obstacle to the canal. He has placed his
| drills and steam shoves and has laid his
| labyrinth of tracks so as to get the most
/ effective work from his organization.
| Here Mr.. Stevens has at work 53 steam
| shovels. 121 locomotives and about 1900 fiat
cars to cut down the Culebra hill and re-
move the earth and rock to the valley.
either - make a new roadbed for the rail-
road or to fill up the lower levels in the bed
| of the artificial lake. With railroad shops
and yards, with electrical plants and COM
pressed air drills. with dynamite blasting
and this whole great combination at work.
IT seems to me that the biggest jub in the
canal zone 8 certain n he concluded within