The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-10-31

Hllloadlll% pow was drawn BY n steel
cable over the fiat ears, swearing the
mateFl.I off The side which was omen
Then SpreaderS We're pushed over the
track t" shove the material to one side
ana down tie enbanEmpnt Track
shutters later came along aud moved
the trnrE over to the edge of the fill.
Between l.WDJ,EN and l.5UUUOO Yards
went out of the Cuiehra cut every
month since December. 1891.
The employees were carried from
the various towns to their work in the
cut or on the locks and dams by labor
trains. These trains took them 10 their
homes or the hotels for the noon meal.
consuming from ten minutes to half
an hour in the journey. But as the
rest period at noon WAS for two hours
i'll the canal zone ample time for eat,
ing was allowed
In the month of March. 1900. more
dirt was taken out than in the first
twenty-five months of operations The
excavation in one month usually OK.
cpeded IN amount equal to the pyra
mid of CheopS. which is 40 feet
square and l5l feet high. The canal
force of 1909, 1910 and 1911 would
have dug and finished the Suez canal
March, 1911, retains the record for the
greatest excavation in the cut, when
l.T2S,T4S Yards We're removed. and this
also is the record month for eXcHva
ton for the whole canal. with total
removal of 3.32I .l43 yards. The aver.
age daily output of steam ShOvelS rose
from 800 yards in 1903. when only dirt
was handled. to l,lOO yards in 1911.
when rock predominated The cost in
the central division has ranged from
10 cents II yard to 81 cents n yard.
with an average of 81 cents. from 1904
to 1909 and fell to II cents in 19ll-12
Rains interferred with the eXrava.
tiOn work In the cut. reducing the out.
put in the rainy season several hundred
thousand yards II month. During the
downpourS operations were suspended
but lllt Nlll W bS NllS 1T a NitlIlt WI J'Ab
sides of the mountain system, so that
water was drained out of it by gravity
running ont at both ends. Rivers
which crossed the line of the canal
were diverted by digging new chan
uelS for them.
Almost ut the windup of operations
the canal diggprs made the highest rec
ords for excavation. On April II, 1912
forty four steam shOvels took out GS,
so. Yards in the cut which is the rec
ord for one day in that division
Steam shovel No. 25I working at Ga
tun took out 5,554 yards in one day
the highest record in the canal zone
for one shovel. the date being May =
1912. and in August, 1912, the same
shovel made II record by removing So,
81 yards in twenty-SiX working days.
That part of the central division
which Is little mentioned extends from
the Gatun locks to the entrance of the
Culebrn cut. about twenty-thrce miles
Only about l2.4G0,OO0 yards had to bt
eXcavnted to complete this channel, Il.
1t follows the ChagreS river vale!
from about sea level to BOhiO; theI
eight feet above sea level Mt the cut
| From GatIn to ObiSpO the Chagre'
crossed the line of the canal twenty
| three times. In the same distance tn,
Chagres river has twenty-siX tlibuta
ries the more important ones being thu
Gatun and Trinidad rivers All con
tribute to the great Gatun lake.
The slides. which have been accu
rately and inaccurate!y exploited il
the press, represented the steep side
of the Cuebra cut breaking off ant
| falling down into the eXcavated part
! Even where the cut has been SUM
through solid rock these slides Occur
red, us the rock formations of tn
| isthmus are brittle and dissolve to duS
| after exposure to the atmosphere. y,
| attempt was made to prevent slides b.
clustering the sides of the cut wit
concrete. but the experiments wer
futile. There were between fftee
and twenty important slides on bot
sides of the nine mile cut, the larges
being on the west side of the cana
near the town of Culebra and embrat
ing siXty-three acres. Around tn
towns of Culebra and Empire wer
many smaller slides that gave niue
trouble to the engineers. Steam shoN
els, locomotives and fiat cars have bee
caught in these slides. but, singularl!
few lives have been lost.
Sometimes the pressure on the side
of the canal operated to make the cart
bulge up in the bottom Of the cut. ID
vision Engineer Gaillard devised tn
plan Of terracing the sides Of the Gu
to relieve this pressure, with the reSu
that much eXtraneouS material ha
been prevented from sliding into tn
cut. Engineers who formerly. Stoo
stanchly for the sea level type OF e
nal after seeing the slides of the pres
ent eighty-five foot level lock typ
were forced TO admit that the atteml
TO sink a cut through the iSthmus fC
sea level channel would be attende
by such prodigi0us earth movement
nerpSSitating such an ineStimable az
ditinnal excavation. rs to make it we
nigh impossible. For a sea level cant
the Culebra cut would have to 9