Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-10-08

job of building the canal to man
who couldn't quit, and Colonel Goe-
thals, then attached to the general
staff of the army at Washington. was
| selected for the post.
Colonel Goethals would not have
quit If he could, once the job was
undertaken, for the word is not IN
his vocabulary. He plunged into his
work with all the enthusiasm that he
possessed, and soon created working
organization that has been the wonder
Of the world.
Under Colonel Goethals the greater
part of the 1915, 100000 which the
canal would have cost when it is COM
pleted has been spent. 1t has been by
far the costliest engineering project
in the world. Nearly three-fifths OF a
billion dollars has been spent in dig
ging 40mile ditch" This means
that the Panama canal has cost the
United States S10,000,000 mile.
Over $16.0OO.00O 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 or
| the canal zone was the chief factor IN
making the canal a reality. The fail
ure of the French has been attributed
| to a 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 vessel to a height OF 81
| feet above sea level at one end OF
| the canal and lower 1t the same dis
lance at the other end, has been in
/ charge of two OF Colonel Cocktails
assistants, Colonel Hodges and Lieu
tenant Colonel Sibert. Colonel Hodges
work In installing the immense lock
| gates that form so important part
of the operating machinery of the
canal and his ability to overcome all
| obstacles had led Colonel Cocktails to
| call him 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 contribr-
ton to the work Of construction of
! the canal
Lieutenant Ccloael Sibert has had
| charge OF the building OF the great
dam and locks at Gatun, In addition
to other duties. He saw long. ac-
tive service in the Philippines, and
he is known in the army as 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--alI
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 az
the sixteenth century, for history re-
cords the fact that the Inqulsition
declared such a project to alter tho
face of the earth to be impious and
further discussion Of the matter waA
forbidden cv Philip II. of Spain. whose
reign began in 1856. More than a cen
fury later Scotchman named Patter
son revived the scheme, established 4
colony on the shores of the isthmus.
and made crude survey OF the route.
During the succeeding century the
project was considered at various
times by French. Spanish and Ameri-
cans.
The United States government FIRST
took definite action looking toward
the construction OF an isthmian canal
in 1894, when the senate voted for
the building of q Nicarag!lan canal.
An expedition was sent to Nicaragua
to mas an Investigation. 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 First TO Dig.
The matter rested until after the
Civil war, when negotiations for a
canal commission were 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
Bonaparte Wyse, a FTenchman, He
organized a company, which sold out
later to the fnanciers associated with
Ferdinand de Lesseps. The company
organized with de Lesseps at its head
was the first one to actually begin OPP
erations on the isthmus. For eight
years de Lesseps struggled manfuIly
against the greatest odds that man
ever was called upon to face. Then
he was forced to give up the fight,
his company collapsing as result OF
dishonesty and extravaganza on the
part of It's promoters. and de Lesseps.
driven insane by the scandal. ended
his days in an asylum.
Such was the history or the 18TH
milan canal project for some 900 or
400 years, until the day in 1904 when