The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-10-07

ed his task without the assistance oi
such men as Col H. +. Hodges, Lieut.
Col. David Du B. Ballard and Lieut..
Col. William L. Sibert, army en-
engineers, who have had charge Of vss
rious phases OF the work, but Col. Goer
thals is recognized as the real builder
of the canal.
Under Colonel Goethals the greater
part of the 1875, O00, 900 which the can
al will have cost when it Is completed
has been spent 1t has been by far
the costliest engineering project in
the world Nearly three-ffths Of
billion dollars has been spent in dig
ging a 40-mile ditch" This means
that the Panama canal has cost the
United States $10,O00.900 mile.
Over SIZE, 100000 of the total amount
spent has been used to make the canal
zone habitable and sanitary. 1t has
been suggested that this is an eno1e
nous amount of money to spend in
cleaning up place in which few peo-
pie will reside permanently, but the
engineers say that the sanitation of
the canal zone was the chief factor In
making the canal reality. The fail
ure of the French has been attributed
to a large extent to the fact that
the workmen could not survive in the
fever and pest ridden country.
The building of the great locks
which raise vessel to height OF 81
feet above sea level at one end Of
the canal and lower 1t the same dis
lance at the other end, has been In
charge OF two OF Colonel Cocktails
! assistants, Colonel Hodges and Lieu
tenant Colonel Sibert. Colonel Hodges
work in installing the immense lock
gates that form SO important a part
of the operating machinery OF the
canal. and his ability to overcome all
obstacles had led Colonel Goethais to
call him genius. The building, pois-
ing and operation OF the lock gates
constitute one of the delicate prob
lenas of lock canal construction, and
| the proper handling Of this problem
| has been Colonel Hodges eontribu-
/ ton to the work Of construction OF
the canal
|
charge OF the building OF the great
| dam and locks at Gatun, in addition
| to other duties He saw long, &C
tive service Ia the Philippines, and
he Is known In the army as a fight.
er as well as AN engineer.
Realize Dream of Centuries.
Through the work of these men-al!
/ aq No 81
! lighting body, the United States has
heen able to attain what has been In
| truth the dream of centuries In nine
years these men have carried through
Ian undertaking that was first thought
of several hundreds OF years ago.
The Emitted States government first
took definite action looking toward
| the/construetion Of an isthmian canal
in 1884, when the senate voted for
the building of .Nicaraguan canal.
An expedition was sent to Nicaragua
!! to make an investigation, and report
| ed that the canal could be construct.
ed for $76,000,00, hardly one-twenti.
eth of the amount that the Panama
( canal viii have cost when completed.
De tesseps First to Dig.
The matter rested until after the
Civil war. when negotiations for g
canal commission were entered into
by the United States government. Be
fore anything had been accomplished
the concession for Panama canal
had been given to Lucien Napoleon
Bonaparte Wyse, a Frenchman. He
organized g. company, which sold out
later to the fnanciers associated with
| Ferdinand de Lessfps. The company
organized with de Lesseps at it's head
was the first one tc actually begin OPP
! erations on the isthmus. FOR eight
| years de Lesseps struggled manfully
against the greatest odds that man
ever was called upon to face. Then
he was forced TO give, up the fight.
his company coilapsing as result Of
dishonesty and extravaganza on the
! part of its promoters, and de Lesseps.
driven insane by the scandal, ended
his days IL an asylum.
Such was the history of the 18th.
msan canal project for tonne 800 or
400 years. until the day ia 1904 when
Uncle Sam undertook the task
In nine years the ,dreara Of the cen
turtles has been realized