The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1910-11-24

upper surface adjacent TO the faces Of
the cut, that suHicient allowance had
not been made. and the estimates were
corrected to meet the new conditions, 2
Three bad breaks. ne reports, occur
red during the year, one at the town
OF Culebra, covering an area Of more
than ten acres and requiring remov-
al Of more than a million and half
OF cubic yards OF dirt and stone. The
second largest break covered an area
of more than eleven acres and re-
CURED removal OF more than 900, 900
cubic yards, while the third break ag-
gregated about 10000 cubic yards
The floods seriously Interfered
with the progress Of the work." says
Col. Goethals. referring in particular
to that of the central division and the
cuIebra cut, and the one OF December
20 overlooked the dixie separating the
cut from the chagres river, cutting a
channel through It about 200 feet long
and 81 feet deep
The total amount OF material re-
moved from slides and breaks in the
central division of the canal during
the year was more than two and a
half million cubic yards, or about If
teen per cept Of the amount removed
during the year from the Cule5ra cut,
the principal part OF the central di-
vision.
More than $500, 900 cubic yards Of
material were removed from all parts
of the canal during the year, of which
almost $4,000, 900 were from the Guile
bra cut and almost 100000 from
the. Chagres section. About 81, oOo,-
600 cubic yards remain to be removed
from the cuiebra cut before this sec
ton of the canal is completed
Reports from various points along
the line show that the cost of excava-
ton varied from twenty-four cents
per cubic yard at one place to as high
as s2.51 at another. There is no such
divergence of price in the cost per
cubic yard OF concrete work, the low
est average being 5000 and the high
est $3.50. More than TOO,o 900 cubic
yards Of concrete were laid during the
year.
Economy has been sought by the
commission in various directions. ITO
reduce to minimum delays on ac-
count of breakdown of machinery,
plant and equipment, which reflect
largely IN the unit cost OF work" says
Col. Goethals. land to provide proper
facilities far overhaullng plant and
equipment, as well as manufacturing
necessary repair parts, large shops
have been provided at, certain points
on the Isthmus in which are employ
ed total Of 1891 men.
In general" he adds, the repair
shops and equipment on the Isthmue
are adequate to meet all require
ments during the construction period
Nothing as yet has been done toward
permanent shop facilities which will
be needed after completion of the
canal
During the year special attention
was paid to reducing the cost of main.
tenance and operation of equIpmeH
in the shops. Including the standard
izatIon of salaries and wages and OF
material and supplies necessary in
construction repair work" In phls
same connection he reports a cen
tralizatlon of repair work to rolling
equipment and other than steam
shovels at the Gcorgana shops.
In the division OF bookkeeplng,'
the report says. Improvements have
lbeen made in the classification of ex-
pendItures and the compilation of sta
tistics. A distribution of the accumu-
lated plant charges, formerly carried
as one item. was made, SO that the
plant Is now shown In the expenditure
accounts by divisions and by units Oh
the work"
There was steady increase from
the beginning of the last fiscal year
In the number OF employees on the
canal zone-untll on March 30 last.
they reached maximum OF 1856,
the largest force on record. This in
Guides those employed on the Panama
railroad, The total force at the end
Of the year was 35.57s. as compared
with 23,493 a year earlier
Investigations carried on during the
year indicate, says Col. Goethals, that
during ordinary years there Will be
considerable surplus Of water from
Gatum Lake, even in the dry season,
and that the water supply of the
worst known dry season for the last
nineteen years, namely that of 1908,
would be sufficient to maintain
through the canal an average daily
number OF passages three or four
times as great as the average number
now passing the suez Canal, this af-
ter making reasonable deductions for
evaporation. leakage, power supply
and loclSages"
Health conditions on the Isthmus
are reported to be an Improvement
over those of the preceding year; and
no cases of plaques or yellow fever
originated on the Isthmus during the