The Washington herald., 1913-03-23
With Volcano and Earthquake "Seares" Seemingly Disposed
Of, GAcier-Eke Movement Of Earth and Rocks Con-
tinues to Retard Progress

I back from the axis OF the canal and
covers an area of forty-seven acres.
| Breaks Due to steep Slopes.
Another variety of slide. properly called
break. Is due to the steepness of the slopes
and the great pressure upon the underly-
ing layers Of soft material The largest
slide or break Of this type Is that on the
west side of the cut at Culebra. Just north
| Of Contractors Hill. and covers an area of
! seventy-five acres. Over 100000 cubic
\ yards of material have been removed
from this slide. and 1t said that by the
| time the canal Is completed something
| like 1900. 900 cubic yards will have been
taken out. On the east side Of the cut
| similar slide covers an area Of about
fifty acres, breaking back about 1. 80 feet
from the center of the canal. About
10000 cubic yards have been taken out
Of this slide and more remains to be re-
moved. 1t IL estimated that the total
amount of material that will have to be
removed from the canal because of the
slides will aggregate at least 25.0oo,0
cubic yards.
On the other hand. the government
geologist on the canal believes that the
rock conditions along the canal will limit
the slides within fairly definite bounds.
and that when the slopes have been re-
duced to their proper angle the slide
problem will be practically solved. He
says this angle will vary from almost
perpendicular in the case Of strong rocks
to a very moderate slope for the weaker
rocks. Almost the only remedy of prac-
tical Importance In the slide problem"
said he. is to lessen the weight of the
high mountains from the top, 50 a. to
reduce the tendency to slide and prevent.
II possible, breaks and other movements
Slopes which have not moved will stand
at a much sleeper angle than those which
have already cracked and bulged." He
went on and pointed out that the first
estimate for the excavation Of Culebra
Cut designed slopes much too steep for
the weak nature of most of the material
through which the canal was to be ex-
cavated, but said that. though slides OF
considerable magnitude may yet occur.
the sliding period will eventually be
brought to a close and the ultimate COM
pletion and successful operation of the
the canal cannot possibly be in any dan
ger from these slides.
Sources of Information.
In this story the writer has endeav-
ored to give a faithful account of the
facts as presented to him. He inter
viewed canal officials and engineers In
private practice. thus obtaining opinions
on both sides of the question. and lastly
he gives the opinion of the canal geolo-
gist. who has made a thorough eKamina-
tion OF the locality Figuring that the
government engineers may be a little too
and the private engineers a
little the other way, the fact remains
that the greath earth slides on Culebra
Cut are a serious problem and a great
to the great work being done
on the Panama Canal. The tremendous
destructive possibilities. of the slides.
however, will be apparent to any one. but
whether they may ultimately result in
the destruction Of the greatest work
ever conceived by man, must, be left to
the future to decide.
Copyright, 1918, by William L. AltdorferJ