Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-05
FRENCH JUNK FROH PANAMA
Machinery that Cost Millions Sent to
the Scrap Heap.
MADE IN ODD PLACES
ola Locomotives, Cars, DredRes and
Girdcrs to He Brought Here Co he
sOld-Helped the Canal Before
Being Condemned.

The Isthmiau Canal commission haS
begun the job OF transporting about lO,-
900 tons OF old French junk from the
isthmus to New York City. Tho junk In
Guides old locomotives, dump cars, tanks,
bargcs. boilers, Orders, dredges. sheet
iron, parts OF old machinery and other
things for which the French canal COM
pany paid millions OF dollars and which
Il left to go to ruin on the isthmus.
The commission is selling on competitive
bidding all the old iron and steel along
the canal route except such parts as may
bosreserved for canal work.
About 700 tons will be moved to the
states every two weeks by the steamships
Ancon and Cristobal. IL will take three
years to transport all Of the junk. The
most Of II will be strapped where It lies
on the isthmus. The commission win
ship no pieces of more than twenty tons
In weight. This will permit the shipping
of locomotive boilers with fire boxes and
f,ues.
The most Of this old material Is OF for
eign manufacture and as it is landed in
New York Uncle Sam is confronted with
the proposition Of being obliged to pay
himself 81 a short ton on the entry. Under
a provision in the sundry civn act Of
May, 1908, this duty will be returned by
1hNNt boAh ~ NAb AHA Ahlhuc uuN W ~
complish this without a special appro-
~priation each year it will be necessary to
have the sale only after the
junk has passed through the New York
customs house. Each contractor will be
under a bond Of $4,000 and payments are
to be made to the canal commission after
each delivery.
The sale is being made at this time
chiefly for the purpose of getting the old
material that lies in the great basin OF
Gatun lake out before the basin is filled
with water. There are large quantities Of
the junk i'm the lake basin.
What IL Brings.
Each of the locomotives eft by the
French yields between 500 and 5000 worth
OF copper alone. The commission will save
the old steel rails on the isthmus, to be
used as reinforcement in the concrete
work and as telephone and telegraph poles.
Some of this old French junk has been
found In extraordinary places. Dredges
have been discovered almost buried COM
pletely In sand, hundreds OF feet away
from any body of water and overgrown
with dense tropical vegetation. Appar-
emily they have been carried away from
the river bed by high water or the river
itself had shifted its course. Several of
these buried dredges were In a fairly good
state Of preservation and are now doing
work on the isthmus.
Some Of the junk has been lifted from
the bottom OF the Chagres river and from
tho bottom OF the old French canal prism.
where hundreds Of thousands Of dollars
worth of equipment sank after the French
abandoned the work. Some Of the relics
in the canal prism near he crossing OF
the Rio Grande river were lodged only
q ffor haavry cbarvos 80 avyHov,It. k,a -
exploded under them. Others have been
raised from watery graves and are now
helping to link the Atlantic with the Pa
ciflc.
PrOnts VIII he Small.
The profit from the sale Of the French
junk will be small compared with the value
OF the service that the commission already
has derived from the cast-off equipment.
For the first two years OF their work the
commission relied absolutely upon the old
locomotives left by the French. In 1905
there were log Of these weatherbeaten To-
comotives in service, compared with only
fifteen American-made engines Since tina
time the percentage OF the French locomo-
tives has steadily decreased.
French dump cars also were used almost
exclusively by the commission In the first
two years. At one time more than 1000
OF them were hauling the dirt from Uncle
Sans shovels. The French relies fur
nished also many shop tools, stationary
engines and much repair material in the
early days Of the construction work.
In fact. Americans may thank the old
French equipment for the fact that the
canal Is today just half completed. With
out the aid of this rusty, storm-battered
assortment of French machinery there
would have been long delays In providing
an adequate equipment from the states.
1t Is estimated that the French supplies and
equipment thus far utilized amount fully TO
81 900, 600.