The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04
UNCLE SANS DRY GLACIERS
All About the Mighty Masses of Earth and Rock
Which Are Falling Into the Panama Canal.
By FRANK G.. CARPENTER.

Yards Still in Motion and Thirteen
Millions Taken to the Dumps-HOw
the Earth Moves and Where the
Rock Flows Like Molasses-How
the Canal Bed Humps Up-Some-
thing About h Baby Volcanoes
and Steam Geyscrs of Culebra.
Copyright, 1912, by Frank G.. Car
penter.)
Culebra, Canal Zone, Panama.,
Want to tell you something about
the dry glaciers Of the Culebra cut,
the mighty masses Of earth and rock
which are sliding Town into the big
ditch that Uncle Sam is gouging out
OF the Andes. 1t is hard to under
stand them without being on the
ground. But if you will take your
foot in your hand and come with
Col "a D.. Gaillard, the famous en-
Eineer who has charge of the Culebra
division, we shall go through the cut
and look at them with our own eyes.
There are plenty in sight even as /
write these lines. There are two
places nearby where more thar L.
600, 600 cubic yards of earth and rock
are now moving. The material in
action is equal to a solid block 500
feet square and 800 feet high. Build
it up as a cube and it's base would be
more than two acres and it would
rise to the height of a thirty-Story
flat. That enormous quantity Of
rock is advancing at the rate of al
most two feet per day and since the
beginning of our digging we have had
thirteen or fourteen times as much
rs that mass to tai care of. The
total has been over 100000 cubic
yards or enough material to make
. wall three feet thick and as high as
a tWo-Story house reaching all the
way from New York to Chicago. 1t
uould make -four mighty pyramids as
(,s.l1 ~ Il - 49,
ably more than the excavation we
nave yet to make. In other words
had there been no slides the excava-
ton for the canal would have been
done long ago. AS it is we lave H.
coo, 600 cubic yardsyet to dig and OF
this something like 1000, 600 are the
direct result of the Slides.
In the Culebra Cut.
But let US climb down nto the Guile
bra cut. AS We stand here on the
heights We can see it stretching tt
the right and the left until the wind.
in%s Of the mountains hide it from
view. 1t is altogether nine miles il
length, and about 500 feet deep II
some places the cutting pack that has
been made on account of the slide
IS almost 1000 feet wide, at the tol
and the sloping goes down in ledge
TO the bottom Of the canal, where tn
width is 800 feet. Looking at tn
country the edges Of the ditch ar
ragged and hilly. In some place
the mountains rise high over 1t, an
in others they slope down and the
rise again.
1t is impossible to conceive tn
vast amount Of earth that has bee
taken out. The figures convey n
idea of the concrete dimensions.
Will only say that up to a year ago
We had taken out enough earth an
rock ia have h,i1t q wall goo fox
high. twelve feet thick and lon
enough to reach from the Capitol
the White House in Washington, c
enough to have made six pyramid
the size Of Cheops and left somethin
TO spare. In one month we HAY
taken out enough stuff to fill a ditc
three feet wide and rnree feet dee
from Boston to Chicago, and most {
that was Of such a nature that 1t ha
TO be blasted. If you should blast OF
a tunnel over a thousand miles Ion
and so big that a hog could GRAY
through it YOU might have some ide
Of the work Uncle Sam did in thu
month.
Dynamiting the Andes.
rs we pick our way down into tt
cut we can see the mighty work ever,
where going on. Flying trains
earth are moving this way and thu
scores Of steam shOvelS are putin
and grooming as they drop the ear
and rock on the cars, and everyWhe
are gangs of negroes who are drNll1
the Lodges and putting in dynaml
TO break up the earth for the shove
Ms we start we pass the pipe Iii
which CARRIES the air for the drill
This is ten inches in diameter, and
runs from one end Of the cut to t
other. 1t is fed by three air COZ
p~reSsors, each Of which has a dOz
furnaces fed by fuel oil, and VIII
are SO powerful that they can COZ
press 1900 cubic feet Of air eve
minute. The air feeds the drills a.
keeps them chugging away day a
night boring the holes for the bla!
ms. 1t drives the augers, each
Dig around as your leg. down II
the heart of the Andes, cutting no