The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-30
H
1-DiggiD~ the Ditch.

-runcement will soon be made that
cha Panama Canal is three-fourths
Gnmpleted. More than three-fourths
~ ali the dirt to be moved is already
at of the ditch, and other parts Of
che work are progressing apace. AS
mis- modern labor Of Hercules, which
q literally TO divide the continents n
r,i+e the world, nearS the final stages
If completion it is apparent that the
4hjrty-fve thousand men who compose
me great canal digging army are de-
+c-mfned to keep up with their rec
ords made In the past, and to finish
4ha work with the cOlors of victory
living over the greatest physical OBJ
etacles man has ever set out to over
come.
Think Of a single landslide with a
elIpprfciaI area OF f~Orty-seven acres,
enpping foot by foot into the canal.
Yet the canal diggers simply redouble
their determination, and declare that
thev will not let such a thing delay
the opening Of the canal one single
hour, Think of increasing by one
shird the bottom width Of the canal
through the great Culebra Cut without
adding a single dollar to the previous
estimate of the cost Of the work.!
Think of increasing the total
tons by eight million cubic yards
EQUAL to a ditch six feet deep and
twelve W1uc anu ItdIly Ell uuIluIeO
miles long-Without increase of cost
or extension of time! That is what
the Americans are doing at Panama.
Two years ago the world was mar
Yelling at the health conditions OBJ
tanning on the Isthmus. 1t compared
well with the healthiest spots on the
map. But the death rate has been
lowered from eighteen then to eleven
now. Two years G it was costing
L~lp ,,>-1 - Tod
dirt in Culebra Cut; today it costs
eight and four-fifths cents. A hum
ired like instances might be cited to
show what wonderful progress there
has been at Panama.
The problems Of the canal naturally
divide themselves into two general
classes-thOse of digging the ditch and
those Of building up the great locks
and dams. The big ditch is rapidly
assuming it's ultimate shape. and by
the time Culebra Cut is down to the
requisite depth, there will be nothing
left to do in h remainder Of the
channel. Already about half Of the
length of the canal is completed and
awaits only h water supply. The
interior tWenty-three mics of the Dig
waterway. extending from h Gatun
dam to the point where the Chagres
River comes into the canal. is cor
pleted but for a finishing touch or
two during the next dry season. Add
TO this the completed sections in the
shOal water of the Atlantic and the
acifc. and it will make more than
half Of the canal finished. Nearly a
third Of the ditch already is open to
navigation. The material feet, carry
ing stone and sand and ement to the
Gatun locks, for man months has
been plying UP and down the five mile
section from deep water in the At
lantic to the lower n Of the Gatun
lake. on the Pacific end ships are
now coming up the canal three miles
to Balboa, and light craft i V miles
further to Mirafores.
necessarily, night and day, dredges
Keep up the work of deepening the
channel in from the Atlantic to Gatun
and in from the Pacific to Miraf1ores.
AS one sits on the Balboa steamer
pier and watches the big sea-gOing
dredges, the large self-propellin, barg-
Is, the great tug-draWn scows passing
up the channel and out to sea again,
with their night lights Of red, green and
White all agloW, he begins to realize
how unrelenting is the warfare
against the barriers which divide the
oceans.
The month Of March Witnessed high
water mark in the attack of the canal
army on the backbone of the ditch
work, which is known as the Central
division. When upward Of two million
Yards Of material was taken out.
There Will remain, On June 1. about
twenty million yards of material in
Fulebra Cut, out of a total of S4,-
100000 yards. If the average of last
YEAR could be maintained to the end.
the cut would be completed by No
Nember /. 1912. But allowing an av-
frage Of less than half os much per
month, Culebra ought to yield up its
last shoVelful OF earth in ~Janaury,
1914.
When the work began the canal
oigsers faced the problem of remov-
Ing 100000 cubic yards Of dirt,
enough for a canal through level land
from Washington to New York big
enough for the Lusitanta to be towed
through, or forty feet deep and a hun
"red feet wide. On jun 1st they will