Omaha daily bee., 1912-05-12

Of it's careful oiiing and painting before
IL was abandoned.
These dredges cost tens OF thousands Of
dollars. They were brought here In 1855
and they remained IN the mud more than
twenty years. Their tenders were siited
over by the bay and were closed in by a
bank Of sand six feet high. In which a
tree forty feet tall was growing. Our
engineers had to cut channel forty feet
wide into the dredges and then take
them out and repair them. 1t is a wonder
that they could have been used at all.
but am told that they have done excel
lent work.
There were four other ladder dredses
nearby which have been put to use. and
on the Pacific side the hull of ladder
drcdge was raised and prepared for work.
The same is true Of excavators of ono
kind or another and also Of locomotives
| and cars.
The French Railroad Material.
vast amount OF the French railroad
material has been used. and some Of this
machinery is still working. Many Of the
locomotives left were worth 5000 and
upward Apiece, and there were as7 loco.
motive cranes, each Of which. II We would
have had to buy them, would have cost
st.ooc.
Some of the locomotives were right out
In the jungle. remember when | was
hero In 1895 scared flock Of bats from
one OF them and was attacked by q
swarm OF yellow jackets which had mads
their nest inside the boiler of another.
Great lizards. including iguanas, crawled
about here and there under the car
wheels. and We had to walk carefully
FOR fear OF the snakes. That was near
Bohio on ground that is now covered by
the waters Of Gatun lake.
Machinery Drowned In Lake Gatun.
And Just here that lake which we are
making by tho grea. dam at Gatun will
be more or less impregnated with iron
from the French material which viii rust
away within Its bed. A great deal OF the
stuff has been left In the Jungle and
saw, away off In the trees, a ,eOeoo sxca-
vator twice as big as a threshing ma
chine, up the sides of which the waters
Of the lake are slowly crawling.
There are also scores Of steel dump
cars which have been overturned along
the line Of the old Panama canal, now a
part OF the lake. In one place there Ia
tree as big around as good-sized hay
cock which has grown over Q steel truck
and carried IL up with II. The metal
car Is imbedded In the trunk Of the tree.
The old French company had alto
gether over 1000 cars and ZOO iron
dumping wagons. When they gave up
the job they allowed a vast amount OF
this to so to waste. and when / first
came across the railroad, which was
about fourteen years ago. after the sec
ond French company had taken hold,
there were enough car wheels to equip q
trunk line OF railway scattered along the
canal from one end to the other. There
were hundreds OF car beds which had
rotted away. / crumbled some Of the
wood into sawdust in my fingers.
aueer Thing. Uncle Sam Got.
During my stay on the isthmus In 1906
visited the warehouses which had then
just been turned over to our engineers.
Among them were buildings which COW
cred as much as ten acres. They were
divided into sections and walled with
Shelves containing all sorts Of material.
In one place ] found 100 coal-oii torches
tied TO the rafters and near them a small
haystack Of lamp wicks. Along the side
walls were bins Of nails and screws and
carloads OF tool handles. There were
hogsheads upon hogsheads Of zinc tacks
to put on the galvanized roofing. and our
expert in charge at that time estimated
that the value Of supplies In that house
was at least szsoooo.
At another place was shown piles Of
copper plates. each as big As the top Of
a library table, and tons Of copper bars
for the repair OF the machinery. There
we're great bales OF brass and steel wire
and tons Of zinc and lead.
Hundred Thirty Warehouse FAN.
When we took hold Of the work we
found here 100 storehouses and ware
houses full OF supplies, and also forty
one parks which contained machinery 100
heavy to house under cover The con-
tents Of the buildings and parks were so
great that one OF the engineers estimated
that II all the machinery and stuff could
be leveled down they would have been
enough to cover to the height OF your
waist q 5oeacre farm. / went through
these parks. They were covered with
structural material. Here steel rails were
laid up like cord wood. and there sheets
OF zinc and plates Of iron were piled one
upon another.
At Empire and Colon / saw great ma
chine shops and at Empire the buildings
covered about fifteen acres. Some OF the
French shops were found in the jungle
but the brush and trees were cls..red
away and the old machinery used This
was 80 at Bas Mataehin. where was un-
earthed machine shop which had en-
tirely disappeared. Il was fund to cover
about dozen acres. ard to contain q
complete equipment Of machine tools. Il
took about three wees for our gangs Of
men to cut down TIE jungle. and within
q week or so later the old French ma
chinery was making general repairs Of
all kinds on the excavatcrs and driiIs.
and on the rolling stock Of the trains.
Nevertheless. with al their car. as