Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-11-21
PROGRESS ON CANAL
SATISFACTORY, SAYS
GOE 7 Halls
Report of Operations for the
Year Shows Much Work Done
Despite Slides and Floods
Health Conditions &c 4.
rBy Morning Journal Special Leased wlreI


Washington, NOV. 20,-Summarizet
in phrase, satisfactory progress al
along the Panama canal zone is tn,
gist Of the annual report Of the 18th
mian Canal Commission. made to the
lSecretary of War Dickinson by Colone
George w GOethals chairman Cf the
commission and chief engineer il
charge Of the work on the canal anC
made public today by the former.
With the work of excavation ano
construction progressing faVorably al
Ian points along the line. with health
conditions better than ever before
with Capitalization and consequent
economy in certain parts Of the work
land with maximum of laborers
lsince the United States began TO dig
the canal Colonel Goethals' report
was decidedly pleasing to Secretary
| Dickinson
The chief engineer reports however,
that it was not all smooth sailing
during the past year, slides. breaks
and floods hindering the work to q
slides, covering respectively A, 1.S,
! AZ and IL acres and requiring dur
| ing the year the removal of more
than a million cubic yards Of mater-
! iaL 1T was expected" he says, that
slides would occur, and in the esti-
mates provision was made for them,
| but it now appears from cracks that
| show in the upper surface adjacent
to the faces OF the cut that sufficient
allowance had not been made. and the
| estimates were corrected to meet the
new conditions
| 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
Il removal Of more than million
and a half OF cubic yards of dirt and
stone The second largest break COW
cred an area Of more than eleven
acres and required q removal Of more
than 100000 cubic yards, while the
third break aggregated 1900 cubic
yards
The floods seriously interfered
with the progress of the work, says
Colonel Goethas referring in par
ticular to that Of the central division
and the CulebIa cut. land the one of
December 20 oVerflowed the dixie sep
arating the cut from the chagres
river cutting a channel through it
about 200 feet long and 2 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 fiji
teen per cent OF the amount removed
during the year from the Culebra cut,
the principal part Of the central divis-
ion.
More than SO. 500. 900 cubic yards of
material were removed from all parts
of the canal during the year, OF which
almost l 100000 were from the Cule-
bra cut and almost 10000, 900 from
the Chasres section About $4,000, 900
cubic wards remain to be removed
from the Culebra 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 |
ner cubic wards 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 lowest average being 5000 and |
the highest $500. More than 700, !
600 cubic yards of ccncrete We're laid |
during the year.
Economy has been sought by the /
in various directions ITO |
reduce to q minimum delays on ac-
count Of, breakdown of machinery. i
plant and equipment which reflect I
largely in the unit cost of work, says
Colonel GOethals and to provide
proper facilities for overhauling plant
lnd equipment. as well as manufac-
turing necessary repair parts. large
hops have been provided at certain
points on the isthmus in which are
employed q total Of 4391 men,
In general he adds, "thc repair
shops and equipment on the isthmus
IRE adequate TO meet all requirements
luring the construction period. Moth
ng as yet has been done toward
ornament shop Facilities which viii
~ needed after completion of the
anal
During the year special attention |
vas paid To reducing the cost of main
enance and operation Of equipment in
he shops, including the standardized
ion of salaries and wages and Of ma
eria and supplies necessary in con-
tructing repair work" In this same
onncctiOn he reports a centraliZa
ion Cf repair work To rolling equip
lent other than steam shovels at the .
iorgana shops
In the division of bookkeeping
he report says improvements have
cen made in the classification of eX-
euditures and the compilation of sta
sites. A distribution of the accumu- a
tied plant charges. formerly carried 4
S one item was made. sn that the 4
liant is now shown i'm the expenditure Z
ccounts by divisions and BY units of i
he work.
There was steady increase from 4
ne beginning of the past fiscal year (
the number of employees on the Z
1nal zone, until on March 80 last. X
ley reached q maximum of 3S,676. \
he largest force on record This in !
udes those employed on the Panama =
lilroad The total force al the end Z
the year was 35.57S. as compared y
ith 33, 4g3 year earlier. x
INVESTIGATIONS carried on during the 4
'ar indicate. saws Colonel GoethHlS >
lat during ordinary years there will r
p considerable surplus of water X
ON Gatum Lake. even in the dry x
ason. and that the water supply OF 4
e worst known dry season for the 4
st nineteen years. namely that OF Z
los. would be sufficient t. maintain Z
rough the canal an average daily !
imher of passages three or four !
mes az great as the average number =
,w passing the Suez canal. this after 7
al king reasonable deductions for II
aporation. leakage. power supply \
.d lockages.
Health conditions on the isthmus =
e. reported TO be an Improvement /
er those ~ the preceding year. aad \
eases Of plague or yellow tower 7
iginatcd on the isthmus during th-< ID
ar The daily average OF sick was 4
ont o. every thousand employed as j
ainst 23-fg during the preceding !
ar ana the total uumltt.r a,T .Iaafbe r