The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1913-09-18
CONTINUED from yesterday

Necessarily all the basic work &C.
compllshed under Wallace and Stevens
is lost sight of In view OF the maghh,
cent superstructure erected under Colo
mel Goethals. The modern sightseel
has nothing to remind him Of the
wretched conditions Of the first two
years, the battle with disease, the ar.
duous labor Of creating in the jungle .
duplicate American civilization. thu
taptalizing struggle with government
red tape before stick OF timber. o
pound of iron. 4 shipment of food OF
an efficient workman could be secured
Colonel Cocktails deserves the admI
ration that his service on the canal In,
evoked. but the generality of writers
looking at what exists today and heed
less Of the beginnings of the task. los,
their perspective and commonly fal
Into the error Of ignoring the very re
markable and wholly vital preparation,
work under John f. Stevens.
President Roosevelt had selected II
Messrs. Gaillard. Sll,erf. Rousseau and
latter. Hodges engineers OF execptiona
ability. who. with $. b. Williamson
picked by Colonel Cocktails. demon
strated capacities which in larg,
measure account for the splendid prog
reSs OF the Cocktails administration.
1t would be erroneous TO assume tina
Colonel GoetImls had nothing TO do b,i
sit back and watch the signals on til
main Zine OF canal construction. as in
dicnted by his predecessors The decks
indeed. had been cleared for action an,
the blueprlnts nicely finished aud tie,
with ribbon, but the real struggle wa;
Just beginning
The first annual report of the com
mission. to be written rs of June 81
the end of the governments fiscal yeaI
was issued by Colonel Goethuls In 1907
three months after Mr.. Stevens resign
ed The president had asked Colone
Goethals TO report on the contract plan
after an inspection of the canal, ana
this mastery argument against turn
Ing 1t over to private contractors is the
reports most notable feature. aside
from Its unusual comprehensiveness.
Taking survey of the conditions
when he took charge, Colonel Goethals
found that so per cent Of the plant for
finishing the canal was on the ground
or ordered. The preliminary work. for
relocating the Panama. railroad. had
been done. and actual construction OF
the new line was begun In June. 1907.
shortly after his arrival. Excavations
In the lock sites were uncompleted, and
1t was two years later. in 1909, before
my concrete was laid. In April. the
month he arrived. nearly 100000 yards
were removed from the Culebra cut
the best mouths work to that date
Dredging in the Atlantic aud Pacific
entrances OF the canal had gone ahead
steadily, though not extensively. Less
than 6,ooo. 900 yards had been removed
from tie Culebra cut by both Wallac,
and Stevens.
The fall of 1907 and the month Of
October presented q new problem ii
hAS Suhtl SOhSkAuSlAOu WHICH ever SlllCt
has been one of the most fornldnbl,
and uncertain factors in the project
A slide began at cucaracha on the east
side Of the cut near the town of Guile
bra and suddenly filed the cut, closlni
It for transportation. In 1884 tn,
French had noted this earth move
ment, and during Colonel Goethals
first years on the canal it Involved al
area Of forty-seven acres. Before dir
trains could move through the cut
steam shovels had to work night ant
day for several weeks, and from that
time onward the slides have been the
bugbedr OF the organization, not be
cause they were insuperable, but from
the extra work they involved and the
possibility that they might delay the
completion of the project.
ITO be continued,)