The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
SUMMARY OF WORK
ON PANAMA CANAL
Annual Report Shows Very
Satisfactory Progress
DELAYS ARE NUMEROUS
Plans to Reduce Expense and TO
Save as Much Time as Pos
sibIe in Construction


is the gist of the annual report of the
Isthmian canal commission. made to
Secretary of War Dickinson by Col.
George w. Goethals, chairman of the
commission and chief engineer In
| charge OF the work on the canal, and
made public today by the former.
With the work of excavation and
of construction progressing favorably
at all points along the line with health
conditions better than ever before, with
a Capitalization and consequent econ
omy in certain parts of the work
and with maximum of laborers since
the United States began to dig the
canal, Colonel Cocktails report was de-
cidedly pleasing to Secretary Dickin-
| son.
The chief engineer reports, however,
| that 1t was not all smooth sailing dur
ing the past year. slides, breaks and
floods hindering the work to a certain
extent. He mentions four slides, COW
ering respectively Al, 73. 4 6 and / Z
acres and requiring during the year the
removal of more than 100000 cubic
yards of material TT was expected"
| he says, that slides would occur, and
in the estimates provision was made for
them, but it now appears from cracks
that show In the upper surface ada
cent to the faces of the cut that suf-
fcient allowance had not been made,
and the estimates were corrected to
meet the new conditions"
Three Bad Breaks
Three bad breaks, he reports, oc-
Cured during the year. one at the town
| of Culebra covering an area of more
| than ten acres and requiring re-
| moval of more than 100000 cubic
| yards of dirt and stone. The second
| largest break covered an area of more
| than IL acres and required a removal
of more than 900 cubic yards, while
the third break aggregated about 40, 900
cubic yards.
THE floods seriously interfered with
the progress of the work." says Colonel
Goethals, referring in particular to that
of the central division and the Culebra
cut, and the one of December 20 over
flowed the dixie separating the cut from
| the Charges river, cutting a channel
through 1t about 200 feet long and 81
feet deep"
The total amount of material removed
from slides and breaks in the central
division of the canal during the year
was more than 100000 cubic yards, or
| about Is per cent of the amount re-
moved during the year from the Culebra
cut, the principal part of the central
division.
More than 96,500,0O0 cubic yards of
material were removed from all parts
of the canal during the year, of which
almost 600 were from the Culebra
cut and almost 100000 from the
Chagres section. About 100000 cubic
yards remain to be removed from the
Culebra cut before this section of the
canal Is completed.
Il Cost of Excavation
Reports from various points along the
line show that the cost of excavation
varied from "a cents per cubic yard at
one place to as high $251 at another.
There is no such divergence of price In
the cost per cubic yard of concrete work,
the lowest average being 5000 and the
highest $500. More than 100000 cubic yards
of concrete were laid during the year.
Economy has been sought by the COM
mission in various directions ITO re-
duce to minimum delays on account of
breakdown OF machinery, plant and
equipment, which reflect largely In the
unit cost of work." says Colonel Geot-
halls, land to provide proper facilities
for overhauling plant and equipment, as
well as manufacturing necessary repair
parts, large shops have been provided
at certain points on the isthmus, In
which are employed total of 1891 men,
I'm general" he adds, 1.-The repair shops
and equipment on the isthmus are ade-
quate to meet all requirements during
the construction period. Nothing as yet
has been done toward permanent shop
facilities, which will be needed after the
completion Of the canal.
Reducing Expenses
During the year special attention was
paid to reducing the cost of maintenance
and operation of equipment In the shops,
including the Standardization of salaries
and wages and of material and supplies
In this same connection he reports a CEN
tralization of repair work to rolling
equipment other than steam shovels at
the Gorgana shops.
an the division of bookkeeping" the
report says, improvements have been
made in the classification of expendi-
/ lures and the compilation of statistics
| A distribution of the accumulated 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 of the work"
There was a steady increase from the
beginning of the past fiscal year In the
number of Employees che canal zone
until on March 30 last they reached a
maximum of 1856, the largest force on
record. This includes those employed on
the Panama railroad The total force at
the end of the year was S557s as COM
pared with 99493 a year earlier.
| Surplus of Water
! Investigations carried during the
year indicate, says Colonel Goethals,
that during ordinary years there will be
a 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 10 years, namely,
that of 1908, would be suffi cient to main
tain through the canal an average daily
| of pres tf1,,ae
| as great as the average number now
passing the Suez canal this after MAX
ing reasonable deductions for evapora-
ton leakage, power supply and lock-
| ages.
| Health conditions on the isthmus are
reported to be an Improvement over
those OF the preceding year, and no
cases of plague or yellow fever originated
on the isthmus during the year. The