The farmer and mechanic., 1912-05-14

FOundrlcss-HOW 1Wenty-Seven Mil
lion Dollars Rusted Away-Dredges
Which Now Work After Twenty
Years in the Mud-The Railroad
Material and How Trees Have
Grown Over the CArS-HogSheads
of Rusty Pens and Carloads Of Tool
Hand!eS-Graft in Concretc-A
Fifteen Thousand Dollar Pig Pen
An Easy Way to Make One Hun i
ttrcI Thousand Dollars.
tCopyright, 1912, by Frank C. Car
penter)
ANCON, Canal Zone, Panama.
TO YOU want relic Of the FraAch !.
IHachinery at Panama? Uncle Sam I
Is now closing out the last batch. He
has sold it for over two hundred ,
thousand dollars to a Chicago wreck
ing company, and that firm is now
digging il out Of the jungle and car
rying it by the Panama railroad down
10 criStobal. 1t is piled there on a
mighty dump and is being broken UP
and classified. The bolts and nuts
are put in one place, the wheels in
another. and other bits Of machinery
Of various kinds each have their pile.
The dealers recognize about three
hundred different cass fcations of
iron and steel. and every class is
found in the scrap pile. The ma
chinerN is first taken apart by cutting
off the rivets with SiedgeS, and much
Of the metal is broken into three
foot lengths for convenience in melt
ing. The stuff will be taken to the
United states The finer pieces will
probably be sold by cata logue, and
The remainder of the steel Will go to
the foundries TO be worked over
again.
This last sale makes the total
weight Of the scrap disposed Of be-
tween fifty and sixty million pounds.
and the value of that sold and USED
III the work has footed UP more thar
two million dollars. The sales have
All been made by auction. and at SO
much per ton. For this last lot the
ton rate was SIS. and included in the
tlattrii-i were old locomotives
drcdees. eXcayators, dump cars boil
"rs, cranes steel rails, copper and
brass. The canal authorities estimate
that at least one million dollars worth
Of such scrap has been used in max
ing ma hineyy for our work.
How 'Ew..nty-Seven Millions Rustlai
Away.
When we bought the canal Of the
French for forty million dollars. they
gave US estimate as to the balance
Of the machinery and supplies on
hand This balance was not paiG for,
blt was thrown in for good measure
/ was down here Just afte- took
sneers over the buildings machine
works and warehouses. and saw just
what there was. According to the
French books the value OF the whole
was twenty nine million dollars. The
above statement accounts tor two
millions. but | doubt not but tha'
nrle Sam has realized much more
than twice that out Of the vast equip
1nent which was then on hand. a.
90 the tWenty-ni ne lion dollar estl
mate that Was all down on th'
French books Of account. They Wer'
fine bookkeepera. and among the Vol
NrreS of canal records are eiShteei
great ledgers, each tall as q table
as thick as a big family Eible and a
heavy as q ten-Ne.sr-oid boy. | an
.old that Some Of these ledgeTs vii
,e S,lown at the San Francisco ex
position.
have looked carefully over thes
books and find them wonders o. ac
count keeping The writing is lik
copper-plate Cn"ravirE. and they ar
n mass; of figures from one end to tn
other In the eighteen volumes ther
are about ninety thousand pages. an
IN them every item Of expense w,
ih.t down even to the cost or tn
horse. the building OF pig pens an
the goods iD the storehonses.
engineers have told me that the
found the supplies TO tally with III
accounts SO kept.
The French Balance Sheet.
.mcng other things there was
balance sheet the items OF whfc
alone would fiji a page OF this news
paper ] can give oniS a few OF then
There were 81 barses So yawls an
- steam launches There were Z
steel cranes 40 steam WjncheS. 80
big pumps Of various kinds, 100 roc
hi } n 4.
There was floating drill which,
believe is now in use, which was va
Ned by the French at $4,000, an
other dredges and drills running I'M
the millions. There were 81 Amer
can locomotives. valued at $4,000