Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1912-02-09

| N IL
( tory and surprising its own
b most sanguine expectations.
the canal digging army at
| Panama, which has marched from
one victory to another under the lead
ership of Col. George W.. Goethals, is
now preparing for the final assault on
I the heights of proud Culebra noun
| tain.
Against what odds this canal army
has fought, few, even of its admirers,
fully appreciate When the plans for
Its construction were prepared, it was
estimated that nine years would be
! required to remove the 100000
cubic yards of material it was then
proposed to excavate. Since that time
one difficulty and another has arisen
and has forced up, notch by notch, the
total amount of material to be remov-
| ed, until today it is estimated that
the entire task will represent the ex-
cavation of 195,000,000 cubic yards.
! Slides in Culebra cut have been re-
| sponsible for a part of this increase,
while the widening of that part of the
|
more. Then the ocean currents in the
Pacific and the work Of the Chagres
river on the Atlantic side have de-
posted large quantities of silt in the
line Of the canal and all of this must
| be removed, writes Frederick ]. Has
kin in the Indianapolis News.
Yet In spite of this tremendous in
| tn +L1 ~ NOT IN
removed, the last shovelful will come
out in a little more than six years
after the work began in earnest Thus
1t will be seen that while the amount
of work to be done has increased by
more than seven-eighths, the time in
which IL was estimated it could be
done has been cut down by approx
mately one-third Furthermore, so
magnificently has the canal army re
sponded to the demands of its leader
for efficiency that the vast amount OF
additional work is being done with
money saved by economical operations
on the work originally planned. When
one stops to consider that all of this
additional work is being done on saw
has not added one penny to the orig
inal estimates of cost, the marvellous
results of the efficiency campaign on
the isthmus become apparent.
Culebra cut always has been the
backbone of the canal problem. Once
it was thought Gatun dam would be
the most knotty feature of the work.
| doy,a hos on
much less of problem than was an
ticipated that the canal officials long
ago ceased to worry about it. They
felt, four years ago, when they We're
beginning to plan the foundations OF
this great structure, that there would
be many difficulties to overcome, and
yet they were prepared to meet them.
The actual work has not been nearly
so difficult of accomplishment as they
had expected, very much to the dis
comfiture of those people who insisted
that the dam could never be built.
On the other hand, Coulebra cut has
proved to be much greater task
than was anticipated. When Presi-
dent Roosevelt ordered that it's bot
|
200 to 800 feet, he added consider
able element to the difficulties of the
problem. The great masses OF ma
terial that have been sliding into the
| canal from the adjacent banks, one
slide alone having a surface area OF
Al acres, have added immensely to
the seriousness of the problem at
Culebra, and yet, one by one. these
difficulties and obstacles have been
overcome, so that there now remains
to be removed less than 100000
cubic yards out of total of more
than S8,000,000. So rapidly has the
work progressed that it is expected
that within four months the big cut
practically will be completed, except
the three miles through the heart of
Culebra mountain. There will remain
ON that date, in that three-mile
stretch, 100000 cubic yards of ma
terial 1t Is expected that 80 steam
shovels can be operated advantage
ously In this contracted area, as
against AZ now in operation. Assam
ing that the 80 can do as well in pro-
portion as the AZ now are doing, the
last shovelful of dirt will come out in
less than Is months from the present
date.
The canal authorities always are
prepared for any emergency that may
arise. They take nothing for granted.
and accept no risks Every step must
be proved as we'll as human instru-
mentalities may prove it before it is
taken. They prepare for every I'M
aginahie contingency. Recently they
had a government geologtst from
Washington make an battle-ground