Omaha daily bee., 1912-06-02

about the dry glaciers Of the
- Culbera cut, the mighty
EEkEXn masses of earth and rock
which are sliding down into
the big ditch that Uncle Sam
is gouging out Of the Andes. 1t is hard
to understand them without being on the
ground. But II you will take your foot
y in your hand and come with Colonel
David D. Gaillard, the famous engineer
who has charge Of the Culbera division,
we shall go through the cut and look
at them with our own eyes. There are
plenty in sight even as I write these lines,
There are-two places nearby where more
than 100000 cubic yards of earth and
rock are now moving. The material in
action Is equal to solid block 800 feet
square and 800 feet high. Build 1t up
as cube and its base would be more
z than two acres and 1t would rise to the
height of thirty story flat. That enor-
y nous quantity Of rock is advancing at
the rate of almost two feet per day and
since the beginning of our digging we
have had thirteen or fourteen times as
much as that mass to take care Of The
total has been over 100000 cubic yards
or enough material to make wall three
feet thick as high as q two-story house
reaching all the way from New York to
Chicago. 1t would make four mighty
pyramids as big as Gizeh, and, all told.
considerably more than the excavation
We have yet to make. In other words
had there been no slides the excavation
for the canal would have been done long
ago. AS it is we have, 100000 cubic
yards to dig and of this something like
4,O00,000 are the direct result of the slides.
IN the CuIebra Cut. ,,, ..r
But let US climb down into the Culebra
cut. AS We stand here on the heights we
can see it stretching to the right and the
left until the windngs Of the mountains
hide 1t from view. 1t Is altogether nine
miles in length, and about 300 feet deep.
In some places the cutting back that has
been made on account of the slides is
almost 1000 feet wide at the top and the
soping goes down in lodges to the bot
tom of the canal, where the width Is 300
feet. Looking at the country the edges
some places the mountains rise high over
1t, and in others they slope down and
then rise again.
1t is impossible to conceive the vast
amount of earth that has been taken out
The figures convey no idea Of the, con-
= crete dimensions. will only say that up
to year ago, we had taken out enough
earth and rock to have built a wall
800 feet high, twelve feet thick and long
enough to reach from the capitol to the
White House In Washington, or enough
to have made six pyramids the size Of
Cheops and left something to spare. In
one month We have taken out enough
three feet deep from Boston to Chicago,
and most of that was Of such a nature
that 1t had to be blasted If you should
blast out a tunnel over thousand miles
long and so big that a hog could crawl
through 1t you might have some idea of
the work Uncle Sam did In that month.
Dynamiting the Andes.
AS we pick our way down into the cut
we can see the mighty work everywhere
going on. Flying trains Of earth are
moving this way and that. Scores of
steam shovels are putting and groaning
as they drop the earth and rock on the
cars, and everywhere are gangs Of me-
groes who are drilling the lodges and
putting in dynamite to break up the earth I
for the shovels.
As we start we pass the pipe line
which carries the air for the drills. |
This is ten inches In diameter, and 1t |
runs from one end Of the cut to the
other. 1t is fed by three air compressors,
each of which has a dozen furnaces fed
by fuel OIL and which are so powerful |
that they can compress 17,aO9 cubic feet
of air every minute. The air feeds the |
drills and keeps them chugging away
day and night boring the holes for the
blasting. 1t drives the augers, each as
big around as your leg, down into the
heart of the Andes. cutting holes from
fifteen to thirty feet deep, in which the !
dynamite is sunk to tear up the rock.
Last year." says Colonel Galllard, THE |
holes we put down, if joined end to end
would have reached 900 miles. They would |
have equaled pipe running all the way
from Philadelphia to Chicago, or If sunk |
straight through the earth would have |
reached almost one-fourth Of the way to |
the center" go.
AS We go on ask Colonel Gaillard |
something as to the amount Of explosives |
needed on the canal. He replied that The |
consumption of dynamite for twelve |
months was over 100000 pounds. Every |
hole requires twelve pounds. and the |
consumption in one year would more
than load five trains Of the LAdgerwood |
cars which carry the earth and rock out |
of the cut. AS I watch them charging |
the holes, 1 observe that the dynamite Is |
wrapped In pink PAPER, and ask Colonel |
Gaillard the reason. He replies:
That is to keep track Of it and pre-
vent the workmen stealing it to dynamite
the waters for fishing. Such a charge |
kills the fish and they rise to the surface |