The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-04-07
EXCLAMATION AND PANAMA..
What is Being Done For Both and The
Cost Compared.
Reclamation Servie

Reclamation Service.
Authorized ......... June IL, 1902
Excavation (cubic yards) -. 5fss99T7
Roads constructed ....... 33sla miles
Tunnels +.s..i.............-. S.
Bridges ..........i,...s+s f83
Laborers employed ....l.a.,.. 10000
Doctors .......'...,.sss*... AZ
Nurses .......s. ..s...s-...+..t-,. 80
Money expended ..s..,... sA2s0o0,N00
Ultimate cost to Uncle Sam Nothing
lNote-Figures TO january, 1909
Panama Canal. j.
Authorized ........... June 2s. 1909
Excavation (cubic yards) j.. 59.s27,373
Roads constructed ,........,.. IS miles
Tunnels ............5.a.l. !. ..ss,.. Mons
Bridges a..s... ..,.,.s.....,..... One
Laborers employed ...w..,,... $4,000
Doctors ....... ..4..s 4. -. .s...... 80
Nurses ...,....s... ............-.. 70
Money expended ....,.,. St75O00.00
Ultimate cost TO Uncle Sam S325 900 600
(Note- Figures 10 january, 1909
Washington. April 7.-started within
the same week hy acts Of Congress, and
working side by side since that time,
the Reclamation Service and the Panama
Canal offer interesting facts and figures
tor comparison.
Although the difficulties that beset
tie engineers and workers in the Canal
Zone have been numerous and varied,
and their achievements worthy 81 ali
praise, few appreciate the wonderful
progress made ~ thu aconquerers Of the
arid West In the Reclamation Service
And thev have worked against almost
as great adds. been heset hy as hot a
sun I'll summer. and With SHOWS 1T win
ter (which latter the Canal folks doubt
less would be glad 70 have. Moreover,
while the men at Panama have been at
work twelve months in the year. the
men IN the West have been able 20 put
III but eight mouths
The nearest project 10 a railroad Is
known as the Truekee. Carson, which e
half a mile away. while the great PATH
finder Dam on the North Platte "A 81
miles from the nearest railroad-~more
than twice the distance across the 18TH
MUS, Ard these "a miles lie across a
blazing desert and mp the sides Of rocky
mountains.
The work AZ Panama has bern nec.
essarily confined largely to digging, the
men Of the Reclamation Service have
been building They constructed four
teen dams and will soon have sixteen
more completed, and these are immense
structures bound by cement to rocks
high up near the source Of the life-giv
ing waters.
There have already been finished BY
the Service 3,453,3 miles Of canals
more than enough to stretch from New
York 70 San Francisco. The water that /
feeds them comes. in some cases. by way
Of tunnels blasted through solid rock.
Fifty eight tunnels in al have been con
strneted, a work considerably greater /
than the building Of the NV York sub.
way.
The total number Of men employed !
bY the Reclamation Service, including /
clerks, i less than 1000 The number
o. employees on the Canal Zone, includ ,
Ing clerks Il more than 10000.
The Reclamation Service has started
thirty projects, and ii win Be number
Of years before these can be fully de-
veloped II an inspector should start
out to travel from one project 10 an
other until he had visited eli lie would
have 70 cover more than 1900 miles
travelling By the shortest known routes.
This means diversihcation OF adminis-
trative efforts and scattering Of men.
An inspector would have TO travel less
than 81 miles to inspect the entire Pana-
ma Canal.
The work Of the Reclamation Service
4 beginning to bear fruit. Already
i75.514 acres Of land have been reclaim
"a from the virgin desert, and $4,000
homes have beer made for families in
/ country formerly worthless but which
now blossoms under the magic of irri-
cation. This land IL valued at from
s22 TO S65 an acre, and before the Re-
,lamation Service was started, Uncle
sam couldn't give Il away
1t IL conseryatively estimated BY en-
gineers that there are 30,0o0,000 acres