Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-10-09

&
| tiers, is admitted nov TO be so strong
/ that nothing short Of an earthquake
such as has never been known in the
/ Central American region can harm
I It. The Gatun dam, Gatun lake and
! the Culebra cut, so gigantic are the
/ proportions of each, dwarf the other
! engineering works Of the canal that
/ in themselves have challenged the
/ admiration OF the world
| World Gives GoethaIs Credit
| To Col. George GoethaIs, chairman
( Of the Isthmian canal commission,
4 chief engineer Of the commission and
/ governor Of the canal zone, the world
will give the credit for the successful
/ completion Of the Panama canal Col
/ onel Goethals could not have accom-
/ plished his task without the assist
/ ance OF such men as Col. H. F.
! Hodges, Lieut.. Col David Du B. Gail
lard and Lieut. Col. William L. Sibert,
/ army engineers, who have had charge
/ Of various phases Of the work. but
/ Colonel Goethals is recognized as the
! real builder Of the canal.
| Under Colonel Goethals the greater
part of the 375,0OO,o0O which the
canal will have cost when it is COM
pleted has been spent. 1t has been by
! far the costliest engineering project
/ in the world. Nearly three-ffths of a
/ billion dollars has been spent in dig
! ging a 40-mile ditch" This means
| that the Panama canal has cost the
| United States $4,000, 900 a mile.
Over s16,000,000 Of the total amount
spent has been used to make the canal
zone habitable and sanitary. 1t has
| been suggested that this is an enor-
| nous amount Of money to spend in
! cleaning up a 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 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 a vessel to a height of 81
I feet above sea level at one end of
the canal and lower it the same dis
lance at the other end, has been in
charge Of two Of Colonel Goethals'
assistants, Colonel Hodges and Lieu
tenant Colonel Sfbert 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 Goethals to
call him a genius. The building. pois-
ing and operation of the lock gates
constitute one of the delicate prob
lens of lock canal construction, and
the proper handling of this problem
has been Colonel Hodges contribu-
ton to the work of construction Of
| the canal
| Lieutenant Colonel Sibert has had
charge of the building of the great
| to other duties. He saw long, ac-
tive service in the Philippines, and
he is known in the army as a fight
er as well as an engineer. His fight
| ing qualities have enabled him to
carry through the great work of
which he has had charge in the
canal zone
Realize Dream of Centuries.
Through the work of these men-all
of them members Of Uncle Sans
fighting body-the United States has
| been able to attain what has been in
. truth the dream OF centuries. In nine
years these men have carried through
an undertaking that was first thought
of several hundreds of years ago.
There is evidence that the idea Of an
! isthmian canal was born as early as
| the sixteenth century, for history re-
cords the fact that the Inquisition
declared such a project to alter the
face of the earth to be impious and
! further discussion of the matter was
| forbidden by Philip II of Spain, whose
reign began in 1856. More than a cen
son revived the scheme, established a
colony on the shores OF the isthmus,
and made a crude survey of the route
The United States government first
took definite action looking toward
the construction of an isthmian canal
in 1884, when the senate voted for
| the building Of a Nicaraguan canal
An expedition was sent to Nicaragua
to make an investig2 ton, and report
ed that the canal could be construct
ed for $25,000,000, hardly one-twenti-
eth of the amount that the Panama
canal will have cost when completed.
De Lesseps rst to Dig.
The matter rested until after the
Civil war, when negotiations for a
/ canal commission we're entered into
by the United States government. Be-
| fore anything had been accomplished
the concession for a Panama canal
had been given to Lucien Napoleon
Banaparte Wyse, q Frenchman. He
organized a company, which sold out
later to the fnanci0rs associated with
! Ferdinand de Lesscps. The company
organized with de .esseps at its head
was the first one to actually begin OPP
erations on the !, lmus. For eight
years de Lesseps struggled manfully
against the greatest odds that man
ever was called VI IN tc face.
Such was the history Of the 18TH
milan canal project for some 500 or
400 years, until the day in 1904 when
Uncle Sam undertook the task.
In nine years the dream of the cen
turies has been realized.
| to read between the lines, behind the