Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-10-14
By WILLIAM R. SCOTT
CHAPTER I.

The Land Oivided-the World United.
F 1t should have been said in 1904
that in nine years we would have
removed more than 2OO,OOO,OOO
cubic yards Of earth and rock.
laid 100000 cubic yards Of concrete.
made dams and fills Of more than So
100000 cubic yards. relocated the Pan
anna railroad, spent no more than
$3OO.OOO.OO0 and put the first ship
through from the Atlantic to the Pacif.
&c. Europe would have smiled at our
youthful temerity! Yet in 1918 we will
have done precisely that.
During the first two years and a
half the canal was in its first phase.
1t was the period of pioneering. prep
aration and adjustment. Two chief
engineers were tried from the ranks
of civil life. accomplishing the main
preliminaries to canal construction be-
fore their departure.
The second phase of the canal was
from the beginning of 1907 to the
spring Of 1912. During these six
years the heart Of the task was accom-
plished. President Roosevelt had
found the man who was to take the
organization built up by the men from
the ranks Of private industry and hurl
It against the natural obstacles that
stood in the way of success. Colonel
Goethals was to take the blueprints
and head full Of theories and work
them out into the locks, dams and
cuts in concrete mold today.
tod ~n1 nrk In
1912. when the chief engineer set Oc-
tober. 1913, as the date for the sub
stantial completion of the canal. 1t is
distinguished by the gradual disper-
sion of the army of workers. by the
reverse process of the first two years
and by the creation of permanent
operating force with the detail finish
ing work that attends every large prof.
ect.
The east has furnished the canal
with its chief engineers-Wallace from
Massachusetts. Stevens from Maine.
GOethals from New York. But every
state in the Union has furnished the
rank and file. as we'll as every nation
in the world.
Standing out distinctly from the
construction phase Of the enterprise
is the figure Of Colonel Gorgas. the
chief sanitary officer, now. as In the
critical days Of 1905. quiet. alert. con-
f1dent. The last days of the canal find
a perfect mechanism Of his creation
recording his ideas with dispatch and
precision. receiving the plaudits OF
this and secure in the admiration OF
succeeding generations.
Gatun dam may break. caving IN OF
the foundations Of the colossal struc-
lures may occur and other commissions
of nature may disable the canal, but
nothing can rob the Americans OF q
wonderful achievement. nor will the
work have been without glory and JUS
LITIGATION no matter what the future
holds. We still could rejoice in the
sheer courage. persistence and indom-
table ability that have wrought the
work in Panama.
Just us the civil war developed Grant
and the Spanish-Am war Dewey
and Schley, so has the Panama canal
developed Goethals. He justly is eel
ebrated in the periodical and daily
press and in books as splendid en-
bodiment of Americanism-the ideal
combination of ability and integrity.
A perspective view Of the whole en-
terprise shows that Theodore Roose-
welt by his individual actions on at
least three occasions vitality affected
the canal and its successful consum-
nation. When he cut the Gordian knot
Of diplomacy and took the canal ZONE
he made the first long stride toward
interOceanic communication. When be
threw his weight into the scale for a
lock type canal he decided the most
critical question that ever arose in the
career of the enterprise. The third
time his judgment prevented a great
mistake was when the project def
nitely was taken from the possibility
Of private construction and placed In
the hands exclusively of government
supervision. There were lesser deci-
sions Of great moment. notably the
order for widening the locks and the
Culebra cut. and his whole connection
Will Tic RIOJcCt was SuSh 10 W A0AN
a. the most brilliant phase Of his ad-
ministrati0ns.
To July l, 1918. the canal had cost.
eight months before its completion.
$298OOO. 900. This was divided as fol
lows: Canal zone. $10OOO.0OO: French
purchase, $4O.OOO.OO0: engineering and
construction. $184!O00O00: general ex-
penditures, $S7. OOO. 900: sanitation. $18.-
100000: civil administration, $780,
900: Notifications. 100000.
At the San Francisco exposition some
compensation will be found for fall
ure to see the canal by an exhibit OF
every kind Of machinery used by the
French and the Americans In the thir
ty-Rve years Of construction. or f'om
1880 to 1915. When the government
finally sold Off the old French ma
chinery that had Uttered the canal
zone for three decades the best speci-
men Of each kind Of apparatus was re-
served for this graphic exhibit.