Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-14
BY John Floyd Hume


O. UNI up in your own mind all the things In New
York that are called blg-subways, bridges,
~ large buildings and the like--and you may
scome to some idea of the magnitude of the
Panama Canal.
For the purposes of description, the canal 1t is
now being constructed the lock plan, may be d-
vided into three sectonsthe Atlantic section with
six mile channel from the sea, then lake about fig
teen miles long, made by damming up the Chagres
River: the Culebra section ditch through the hills
rine miles long and hundred feet wide at the bot
tom; and the Pacific section, system of small lakes
and channels made by damming up the Rio Grande.
Should the level plan eventually be adopted the
canal will be practically ditch the isthmus,
the type of canal recommended by majority of the
Board of Consulting Engineers although Congress
later formally adopted the S5foot level lock plan in
1906
The most picturesque part of the canal at present
is Culebra cut, the digging of which is about two
thirds finished At the point where the hills high
est the eastern wall of the canal will rise high
above the bottom of the channel the top OF the
Singer Building rises above the pavement of Broad
way Widen Broadway TO two hundred feet from
Bowling Green 10th street nine miles; place the
taller buildings Canal street and grade the others
to the north and SOUTH tilt them at angle Of forty
FIVE degrees fill up the gaps of the cross streets and
vacant let's and you have fairly accurate fac-simile
of the Culebra cut section of the canal
Broadway may be said to be built up sodly for nine
miles, Just the length of the 'Culebra cut section. If
all the buildings along these nine miles, fronting the
street both Sides stacked in piles and in
their present form they would just about fill the
hole that is yet to be dug in Culebra cut
When the canal is finished the Metropolitan Life
Building In Madison square might be placed COM
fortably in the of Culebra cut its sides barely
touching the sides of the canal at the bottom, and
its tower the tallest business structure in the world,
rising only few feet above Gold Hill. the eastern
wall of the canal
Vast Figures in the Story.
AS for the excavations of the New York Central
and Pennsylvania Railroad stations In New York,
compared with the total excavation of Cuebra cut
they In size about olive is to watermelon.
The New York subway required the excavation of
100000 cubic yards of dirt and rock. The French
in their efforts to build the Panama Canal dug out
of Culebra cut 100000 cubic yards of dirt leav-
ing for the American excavptors about eOlooooOo
making the total 135,000000.
The Americans have yet to take out about 100000
cubic yards. If there is any doubt about the mag
nitude OF this task let the who is 'nces
SAINT, smoker figure out how long it would take him
to smoke 135,000o00 cigars; or let the woman who
loves ribbons guess how much 1876 100000 yards would
her, bargain day; or let either of them
unueTtdke W count loo,uOVVu, uesihhin6 One, IWo,
three and so on Besides the work at Culebra there is
about 100000 of cubic yards of excavation in vari
Gus parts of the canal channel.
The French Canal Company during its operations
from 1880 1889 expended 1915 100000 in trying to
build the canal The United States has spent SO far
about $15000O,0O0 and the expenditures now at
the rate of $4O,0000O0 year. Various estimates as
to the total cost of the lock plan canal to the United
States place the at from 900 to $780,
100000. If the level plan should be adopted the
cost will be about $100,O0oo00 additional.
In large white building top of the hill at Guile
bra where housed the engineers and the various
heads Of departments they speak of the canal as
great work." while showing you bewildering draw
ings and giving you brain staggering figures. Down
In the dirchwhere of steam shoxels putting
away, swinging their noses like herd of trained
elephants the workmen call it "a job" They don't
say 1t is big great probably because they used
TO It. But rs job 1t is the biggest in the history of
the world and the oldest IN Americabiggest because
no other work of man except the Suez Canal may be
compared with it, and Americas Oldest project be-
cause it had its inception in the minds of the first
white men who set foot in the country.
Columbus sought a short passage to India ard
China. The United States Is now building Co
iumbus, world was medieval Europe and the fringe
of the Mediterranean with meagre populations
where there are millions to-day. Through his efforts
have risen new continents with new millions Of peo-