Charlevoix county herald., 1912-03-02


~ ing record of the worlds his
A tory and surprising it's own
# W most sanguine expectations,
'-'-D' the canal digging army at
Panama, which has marched from
one victory TO another under the lead
orship OF Col George w. Goethals, is
ncW preparing for the final assault on
the heights of proud Culebra noun
tain.
Against what odds this canal army
has fought. few. even of its admirers,
fully appreciate. When the plans for
ITS construction were prepared, it was
estimated that nine years would be
required to remove the 103000,00o
cubic yards OF material it was then
proposed to eXcavate. Since that time
one difficulty and another has arisen
and has forced up. notch by notch. the
total amount of material to be remov-
ted, until today it is estimated that
The entire task will represent the eX-
cayation of 195,000.000 cubic yards.
slides in Culebra cut have been re-
sponsible for a part of this increase.
while the widening OF that part of the
big ditch by one-half has added much
more. Then the ocean currents in the
Pacific and the work Of the Chagres
river on the Atlantic side have de-
posited large quantities of silt in the
sine OF the canal and all of this must
ne removed. writes Frederick j. Has
kin in the Indianapolis News.
Vet in spite of this tremendous in
crease in the amount of material to be
removed, the last shovelful will come
out in little more than six years
after the work began in earnest. Thus
it will be seen that while the amount
OF work to be done has increased by
more than seven-eighths. the time in
which it was estimated it could be
done has been cut down by approx
mately one-third. Furthermore, so
Tuagnificently has the canal army re-
Sponded TO the demands of its leader
for efficiency that the vast amount of
additional work is being done with
money saved by economical operations
on the work originally planned. When
one stops to consider that all of this
additional work is being done on say.
spgs effected elsewhere, and that it
has not added one penny to the orig
lnai estimates of cost, the marvellous
results of the efficiency campaign on
the isthmus become apparent.
Cuiebra cut always has been the
backbone OF the canal problem. Once
II was thought Gatun dam would be
the most knotty feature OF the work.
but this great dam has proved so
much less of problem than was an
tiCipated that the canal officials long
ago ceased to worry about it. They
felt. four years ago, when they were
beginning to plan the foundations of
this great structure. that there would
be many difficulties to overcome, and
yet they were prepared to- meet them
The actual work has not been nearly
so difficult Of accomplishment as they
had expected, very much to the dis
comfiture of those people who insisted
that the dam could never be built.
On the other hand, Coulebra cut has
proved TO be a much greater task
than was anticipated. When Presi.
dent Roosevelt ordered that its bot
tom width should be increased from
geo TO 800 feet. he added a consider.
able element to the difficulties of the
problem. The great masses of ma
terial that have been sliding into the
canal from the adjacent banks, one
slide alone having a surface area of
AZ acres. have added immensely to
the seriousness of the problem at
CuIebia, and YET, one by one. these
difficulties and obstacles have been
overcome, so that there now remains
to be removed less than 16,000.000
cubic yards out of a total of more
than IS 1000 900. So rapidly has the
work progressed that 1t is expected
;hat within four months the big cut
practically will be completed. except
,he three miles through the heart of
CuIebra mountain. There will remain
on that date. in that three-mile
stretch. 100000 cubic yards of ma
terial 1t is expected that 30 steam
shcyels can be operated advantage.
Ousiy ia this contracted area. as
against az now in operation. Assum.
ing that the 80 can do as we'll in pro.
portion as the az now are doing. the
iast shovelful Of dirt will come out in
less than 1S months from the present
date.
The canal authorities always are
prepared for any emergency that may
arise. They take nothing for granted
and accept no risks. Every step must
he proved as well as human instru'
mentaiities may prove IL before 1t is
taken. They prepare for every i'm
aginable contingency. Recently they
had a government geologist from
Washington make an battle-ground