Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-11-18
Monumental Achievement at
Panama, Costing to Date
Nearly Four Hundred Mill
ions, to Be Completed Next
Year.
TREMENDOUS PROBLEMS
SOLVED BIZ ENGINEERS
Vast Earth Slides Covering
Half Hundred Acres Each
Successfully Handled; 1000
Lamps to Light Vessels
Through Ditch.
my Leased wire % RVssinE HsraIA'


my Leased Wire 90 EVsainE HsraIal
Washington. Nov. l;.-Somotime
next summer or fall. no exact date be.
ing specified vessel will paEa from
ia" Atlantic To- ias Pacific ncross what
Is now the Isthmus OF Panama, which
consequently must disappear from
tho worlds geography and by tho
sam" human agency. tn" western
/ hem,sphcNc viii be divided into two
continents. Tho vessel viii not bu the
! oregon nor any other iHmuus ship,
but will be one of the many small
water cratt IN daily usr ny tho canal
builders; and probably the only pas
| senger will be- Colonel George W.
GOCthals, ana the stnn oi American
engineers. who for tho past eight yeHrS
have been carrying on the greatest en-
RIneering work tho world has ever
seen. II win he later tlan that, any
wherO from ak months To- year per-
haps before the formal opening OF
, the waterway viii take place aud "a
naval fleet headed by the famous old
oregon, will pass through into the
western ocean and the canal may be
fairly said Ia be open To trade,
These facts are not of official rec.
ord az yet, the dat6 OF January I.
! 1915, still stands for the opening pre-
dicted by Colonel Goethuls But that
tho opening will 10 anticipated to "A
great extent has besn promised by
tho canal builders In unofficial state.
mcnH, and now comes II clear intinia-
tiun ot their purpose 10 advance the
opening date, In the annual report OF
Iho canal c0mmISsloB,, Just published.
II * disclosed while the completion OF
th" great locks by january LIST next
viii not hc possible, owing Ia contract
delays, within AN months thereafter
ia" channel will he finished, while 10
insure the safe passage of the locks
tho contractor has been called upon
tn finish tho gates In ono flRht first,
80 that II the rest Of the work IN In
condition passage at ships can be
permitted without waiting for tho
completion at the other niEhts This
statement VIII be- understood when II IN
known that tho great locks are being
buiit In duplicate; side by side, not
only to add to the capacity Of the canal
hut to insure its continuance In OPP
GRAFTON IN case OF Il serious accident
tn a ship IN one Of the locks.
Tho report shows It most Satlsfac-
tory state ~ progress of the whole
great work, though in view of tho fact
lu"t II Is dated september 10Th last.
the figures regarding excavation; plac-
ing OF concrete, erection of dams and
locks aud subsidiary works arc not
~ recent az th0s" contained In the
regular monthly reports. Naturally
tho most iutcrrstirg feature of the rec
port rclutrS To- the operations In the
great Culrbra cut Here, great land
Slides. many ranking with an Alpine
avalanche ~ magnitude. have ~ in
creased the amount al material To be-
oxcayatcd. that vrrc il not found pos.
sbln o. stcadil, reduce the cost pen
ward al dredging ana steam shoyeling
through the growing oSpertness of the
employees ana improved engineering
methods, the total cost OF excavation
would have been vastly greater than
tho estimates during the last year
nearly l6,5OO,O00 cubic yards OF earth
were taken out Of This cut. leaving
nearly 100000 10 be displaced be.
fOTH the canal can he opened. The
da mayo caused by the slides may be
appreciated from thc fact that nearly
5000, 900 yards Of earth excayated was
80 composed or nearly 80 per cent o.
tho total excavation,
There In only one way to deal with
these slides and thn' In to dig them
out ~ they occur though some help
In gained by terracing the upper
bank, That Is because the geological
formation changes No frequently and
suddenly that no other effective treat.
ment has been found. so unstable Is
tho earth that the material In ono part
Of the cut begins to move on an In"