Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1913-01-30
PROGRESS OF PANAMA
CANAL

More than any other undertaking
in the worlds history. perhaps. the
Panama Canal is due to the combin-
ed development OF many elements OF
civilization While the French en-
gineers failed TO complete the canal,
we must remember that no one could
have succeeded al that time, and we
must give them credit for courage,
engineering ability and credtable
achievement.
without Col. Gorgas 10 first ell
inmate The mosquito and make the
Canal Zone not only livable but com
Portable and even attractive the can
al would never have been built.
Without the modern developments OF
excayaiing machinery and OF con
crete the great locks at Gatun, Ped
70 Miguel and Miraflores and the
lniueSmile cut AZ Culebra would new
o. have been completed within rea-
sonable time. without the repair
shops at Cristobal Gorgona. Empire
land Balboa 20 keep the locomotives.
steam shovels and other machinery
in operation the rapid progress
would have been impossible And
without the selection % proper ma
ltarial 10 stand the climate. not for
Getting the too often overlooked item
Of betting. the cost in delays and In
actual money might be difficult 10
compute.
The shops az Cristobal and Balboa
handle the repairs for the dredges
and other eXcavating machinery at
the Atlantic and Pacific ends Of the
canal. respectively This includes
the barges which carry the materii
laway 10 be dumped, some being SELF
propelled and called by their French
name "clappets." as we'll as tugs,
launches and any sort OF sca-coing
icraft which may be used.
The largest shops are az Gorgona,
Enlarged from the Frehch shops at
This place. and here all the locomo-
tivcs and cars for the excavation
work as well as for the Panama Rail
road are repaired Al times this
shop has employed 1900 men II is
difficult 10 see the necessity for
such a large shop until We stop 10
consider that the lsthmian Canal
Commission railroad. built solely in
the Culebra cut and for hauling the
dirt or spoil. as it is called away
from II. is about the size Of the Bos-
ton a Albany railroad There are
over 500 locomotives and 40oo cars.
and riost OF the locomotives are big
ones. weighing over 100 tons each.
They are very unlike the usual con-
tractors locomotives We usually
think OF In connection with excav-
alton work
A. Empire the steam shoyels are
repa red and the shops employ about
200 men at times II takes a lot OF
shop work 10 keep the dirt flying,
but they are kept at work with as
little delay as possible by a thor
ouehly organized plan OF action and
corps OF inspectors and workmen.
The inspectors visit each shovel as
III works away. and not only gets the
reports OF the shovel engineers, but
look Il over for weak spots and worn
parts. Any needed repairs are r--
ported 10 Empire by telephone so
that repair parts and supplies can be
prepared in advance
After the dirt trains have stopped
running al p. NJ. the repair train
starts out from the Empire shops and
makes its rounds TO the steam sho-
wells which are In need OF its ser
vices. This repair train consists of
a heavy locomotive, a large wreck
ing crane. a box car. which is a fair
| 81 well equipped machine shops. and
another box car filled With supplies