El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-14

through.
The Lidgerwood cars are among the
wonders of modern excavation Ihere
are 20 Of them in each train, and eacn
car is I should judge, about 80 IeeI
long One train viii measure over 6UO
feet on the rtack. and eight or nine
trains make a mile. These care are
unloaded with plOws. They are hat,
with wall as high as your waist az
one side, and are so connected by steel
aprons that when loaded the earth ana
rock form g windrOw or great bank
from one end of the train to the other
When they shoot out on the dumps
the engines have such machinery that
lney QIag a mighty steel pillow over the
train and it shOvels the mass at one
motion FAR out from the side Of the
track After a time the pile rises, and
then gigantic spreader-another ma
chlne which runs on the track and
does the work of q thousand men
smooths down the dump. More rock. is
put on, and finally, even with the
spreader, 1t is too high for unloading
And then what DO these engineers
do? Do they seek q new dump? Not
at all They merely run out the track
sh1tter. a mighty machine which picks
over so that another dump can be
made This machine will throw more
than mile Of track nine feet in eight
hours, and It represents the work OF
900 men Nevertheless it is handled
by three white men and six laborers-
single ploWs have unloaded 16 trains
in eight hours, an amount so great
that it would take 5000 horses to
haul it If piled upon wagons.
A Look at the Rock.
But let US go on. We have already
Travelled three miles and are pretty
well along the cut See how the rock
runs in lines on each side. The strata
vary and they are Of different cOlOrs-
AS we pass one OF the fOremen hands
me a piece of rock in which a sea-
shell has been petrified. That shell
dnDncfrnd "
the ocean was over the tops Of these
mountains.
The rock Of Gold TIL is of many
COlOrs. AS we pass through it Is I
o'clock in the evening and the suns
rays are bringing them out Some Of
the rock is light red; other strata are
blue and there are great patches OF
yellow and of variegated hues. Much
of the wall Is OF the ~eelor as the
blue clay in the great diamond pipes
Of South Africa and. like the latter IL
Weathers upon exposure to air. one
Of the wOrkmen tells me he has picked
up stones which are a beautiful crys-
tai and which. when cut shine like
a mOOnstOne. Would It not be strange
TO find diamonds here in our canal
At Gold HILL
But I despair Of giving YOU the
scenes Of Culebra- The cut is indie
every moment We stop at last under
Gold Hill. the top Of which is more
than 500 feet above sea level We are
now on the very level Of the canal
bed. just about 40 feet above the sur
face of the caribbean and the Pacific
ocean. We are in a rocky, ragged
gorge of numerous levels, which rise
like cliffs on each side of US AT
places the rock is cracked as though
an earthquake had shattered it. Right
near here were the great slides when
thousands upon thousands Of tons
rolled down into the cut The cracks
We climb the heights to Culebra and
as we do so find ourselves wondering
whether the whole mountain VIII
slide. The engineers. however, know
every part of the excavation and IN
perstand just how TO handle the canal
If any part Of the mountain should
move. It may be that the slope viii
have to be widened. 1 know II is
mighty steep wall TO the top. I went
up on my hands and feet. painting and
resting at every few steps. The eXer-
ton was terrible in this tropical air.
and il took me something like a quar-
ter Of an hour to make my way to ten
top.
Five O'clock in the Cut.
I shall ask you to take a seat with
me there and look at the view We
are just back Of the Y. II. c. A. build
ing opposite Gold Hill. and a little
above the peak known 1s Contractors
Hill We are at the deepest part Of
in the gorge. We can see the great
cash winding its way in a curve to-
ward the Pacific, and twisting about
like a letter 5 as II goes toward Ca
tun- We can see the smoke of the
steam shoVels and hear their grOan-
ing as they labor and tug We hear
the chug-Chug-c Of the drills. the
whistles Of the many steam engines.
the rafting OF the cars and what
seems the perpetual noisy motion Of
the machines and arms OF the gods as
they move mountains going on in the
great canyon below
utes Of 3. When the second hand
reaches the figure the work will all
stop. There goes the whistle, and the
men come sWarming up the sides Of
sions The dynamite drillings ALI
through the cut are tearing the rocky
heart Of the earth. The noise IS that
of a mighty battle 1t shakes the
mountains, and the echoes reverberate
like the clapping of thunder. The earth
Quivers and We think Of slides, and
wonder II the hill upon which we are
sitting may not move down into the
Uncle SANS Mighty Thunder Blast.
This great battle Of explosions goes
on for half an hour or more The
charges are set off by electricity
which lights the fuses, but fuse may
be slow and the explosions are varied.
Now there is q single volcanic erup-
ton, and now II SOUNDS ike a DaLleFy
Of our great men-of-war when in &C
ton Tt is unsafe to walk through
the canal after dark, and especially
shortly after the men have stopped
work A cartridge may unexpectedly
explode and blow one to atoms
But look again down the cut There
goes the labor train taking the work
men home to Ancon. It is loaded with
silver employees, married men, lanai
cans and negroes from other parts OF
the West Indies, and also with Syr-
ians, Italians. Spaniards and others
who live at AncOn.
But see the train has stopped at the
going off OF a mighty dynamite charge
at the foot Of Cold Hill This has sent
up a volume Of vapor and fumes mixed
with dust which has filled the cut
from one side to the other, and it COW
ers the tracks in front Of the cars.
The train stops to let them rise before
II goes through. and as IT waits there
is another mighty explosion on the
opposite side of CUlebra- Uncle Sam
furnishes these mighty thunder blasts
every night They will form fit end
Of our trip.