Omaha daily bee., 1912-04-07
MACHINERY WINCH DOES 77M~as

which is q shovel-like hand which claws
down into the bottom Of the canal and
takes up about five tons OF earth at
time. II does this in q steel bucket which
swings around and drops Its contents into
barge at the side.
There are altogether. venture. some
thing like score OF dredges at work on
the canal and the dredging is going on
on both sides Of the isthmus.
There are other machines which crush
the rock In the bottom OF the canal into
such pieces that 1t can be taken out by
the shovels. There Is one such at our
right. II is known as the Lobnitz rock
dredse. As we look We see immense iron
piles rising and falling. Those piles each
weigh twenty tons and when one Of them
drops 1000 pounds Of steel fall upon the
rocky toes Of the canal. They crush the
rock and II Is then ready for the dredges.
We move on down the channel to an
Ingersoll drilling dredge. THIS is to pierce
holes In the ocean bed that Il may be
broken up by explosives. The dredge Ia
big fiatboat containing an engine and
having three derricks like those Of an oil
well rising above It. Each derrick has
drill which works sixty feet under water.
and makes wells or holes In the bed Of
the canal as big az the leg Of man.
These holes are sunk 10 depth Of five
feet or more and then loaded with dyna-
mite. When q score or so have been
made the electricity Is turned on. II
flashes like lightning from one charge
TO the other and there Is q series Of
mIghty explosions. The sea Is cast into
the air and the water boils and bubbles
and becomes muddy with debris. An In
slant later ii is quiet again and a vast
amount of rock on the bottom Ia ready
for the dlpper and ciam-shell dredges.
These drilling machines 20 on perpct-
uuaily. They are run day and night with
the exception OF Sundays. This 10 80 OF
all the marine work at this end OF the
canal. The men work In two shifts OF ten
and twelve hours and are paid accord.
ingiy. The ten-hour men are Americans.
The twelve-hour men are gangs OF
Frenchmsn and other foreigners who
came here years ago and who have stayed
with the work.
| We move farther out 10 the sea, follow
ing barge which Is taking thousands Of
tons Of rock to be dropped into the deep
Pacific. We pass a boat upon which Is a
great dippsr lifting wagonloads OF earth
out OF the water and throwing them into
barses, That dipper holds two wagon
loads Of rock and Il looks almost human
as It rises and swings about through thu
air.
The Great suctisn Dredges.
And then there 10 the great steamer
dredse, the cuiebra. which through pipe,
sucks in mighty streams Of mud. grave
and rock and pours them into the mud
bins which form, part OF its eonstruc
ton II Is just IKE its sister. the Ancon
which is a, work on the other side Of tn
isthmus. These dredges make me thinl
Of the old song:
The prettiest girl ever saw
Was sucking cider through q straw.
Each has two gigantic straws Of ste@
4 WHICH tAlcuu uuhh sioto otie
pierce the mud flats or gravel bed. an,
suek at everything that Is small enoug,
to pass through the six by nine-inch hole
in their shoes. The best material ~
them is gravel. and the most difficult 3
heavy clay or rock. Solid rock canno
be excavated. but Jumps as big a.
mans head are carried through tn
pumps without harming them.
Not long ago the culebra drew abou
sixty feet Of steel chain from Panam
law and threw II into the bins. aud on tn
other side Of the isthmus the Ancon lite
a cannon ball from the bottom Of Limo
bay. Quantities Of fish. cells and shell
are taken up In these pipes and throw
with the mud and rock into the stomach
like bins. The Culehra came with It's ow'
steam ell the way from Chesapeake ba
into the Pacific through the Straits Q
Magellan, and the Aneoa. the Atlanti
suction dredge. steamed down from MOI
folk In the same way.
As TO the work Of these dredges. In II
first ten months the Culehra sucked al
most Ioo.m cubic yards out Of tn
! ocean and the Ancon did even BETTE
-Four million cubic yards would be enoug
to make . mighty prism 90 feet seuar