The farmer and mechanic., 1912-05-14

French watched out for their sun
pines. They coated the machinery
with paratine and other oils and
painted some parts Of it with white
leao. It is owing to this care that
We have been able TO use so much
OF the stuff.
French Dreaiges Which Work for
Uncle Sam.
Take, for instance the fredees
Ihere ale French machines working
at both ends Of the canal This is so
of ono Of the best dredges OF the
Balboa channel. which has been re-
made and equipped with modern ap-
phances Another dredge, which
. lay for twenty years sunk in the mud
| near the Pacltic. was taken up clean
ed and repaired. and it is now roue-
ing out and loading all the sand used
Tor the Pacific end Of the canal Two
Dig OreCges We're taken out of the
j fnud on the west bank of the Chasres
and floated down to the dry docks At
Cristobal. Here they were repaired
and they are now at work in I.iplon
bay.
We have even used the old dredres
/ OF the ladder tyne, consisting Of an
endless chain of nineteen steel buck
/ cts which scoop the mud from? the
! bottom OF the canal an, carry il out
70 d chute at the side into a barge.
These dredges had good boilers, and
the machinery was found in excellent
| condition OFT account Of its careful
olllns and painting before il was
abandoned
Those dredges cost tens Of thou
sands Of dollars. They were brought
here in 1885 and they remained in
the mud more than twenty Years
Their tenders We're silted over hv the
r.
Of sand six feet high in which a tree
forty feet tail Was, growing. our en-
g1neerS had to cut a channel forty
feet wide into theh dredses and ther
take them out and repair them L
is a wonder that they could have
done excellent work
There were four other laddel
dredgeS nearby which have been Du
to use and on the Pacific side tn,
hull Of a ladder dredae was raisee
and prepared for work. The same il
true OF eNcaSators Of one kind or an
other and also Of locomotives ant
, cars
The French Railroad Material
, A vast amount Of the FRENCH rail
road material has been used ant
. some Of this mas hinery is still work
! ing. Many of the locomotives lef
were worth sS.0o0 and upwar,
cranes. each of which. if we Woul,
have had to buy them. would haN
cost $4,000
!, Some Of the Locomotives were rieh
. out in the jungle. / remember whel
: i was here in 1905 [ scared a foe
= Of bats from one of them and wa
:, attacked by q swarm of yellow iac et
: which had made their nest inside tn
. boiler OF another, Great ,iizar rds. in
Guiding iguanas craWled about he,'
: and there under the car wheels. All
we had to walk carefully for fear {
= the small hes. That was near Rohio. O
: ground that is now covered by tn
waters of (s4tun lake.
;, Machinery Drowned in Lake GatlIT
= And just here that lake which "
:, are making by the great dam :
= GatUn. Will be more or less ilnpret
y mated with iron from the French mf
teriai which viii rust away within i
bed. a great deal Of the stuff h;
been left in the Jungle and ! say
e away off in the trees. a twenty-tho,
i sa nd dollar excavator twice as big {
9 = threshing machine, up the sides
which the waters of the ke al
le slowly crawling.
'e There are also scores of steel dun}
"a cars which have been oEeiturne
IS along the line Of the OLD Frene
canal. now q part cl tht 10 Ne.
III one place there is d tree as b
he around as soOd-sized havoc.
y which has grown over steel true
lt and carried it up with il. The me
car is Undecided in the trunk Of II
tree.
q The old French company had alt
n cether over 10, coo cars and e,00e ire
s. dumping wagons. When they ga
H. up the job they allowed q Va
"a amount Of this to 60 to waste. Al
20 when [ first came across the rai,roa
90 which was about fourteen Years as
k after the second French company HI
IS taken hold. there were enough G.
! wheels to equip u trunk line Of IA
IL way scattered along the canal fro
Id one end TO the other. There We
TO hundreds Of car beds which had &c
i t.d away. | crumbied some OF Il
%. wood into 81 Wdust in my fingers.
k.:n &nY