The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-10-03
THE SLIDES |
AT CULEBRl
SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE ALARM
BUT HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED
so ENGINEERS WE'RE FULGH
PREPARED-READ ABOUT IT IN
FORUM PANAMA BOOK. s,aa@

FORUM PANAMA BOOK. o~a
(By Willis J.. Abbott, author of Pan.
ana and the Canal in Picture and
Prose. Copyright, 1913. Syndicate
Publishing Co. New York All rights
reserved.)
II the Capitol park at Washington
with the national capitol cresting ID
should suddenly begin to move dowR
into Pennsylvania avenue at a rate OF
about three feet a day, the ~authoritiea
Of the city would naturally feel soma
degree of annoyance. And IL the
smooth and level asphalt Of that his
toric thoroughfare should over night
rise up In the air eighteen feet in
spots, those responsible for traffic
might reasonably be somewhat wor-
| ried.
Such a phenomenon would be not SO
startling in mere magnitude as the
slides" which have added so greatly
to the work of the engineers on the
canal, and have made tourists, wise
with the ripe fruits of five days OBJ
servation. wag their heads knowingly
when Colonel Goethals calmly repeats
his assertions that the water will soon
1 ne lul = IL.
If these slides were an entirely new
and unexpected phenomenon for which
no allowance had been made in the es-
Inmates of the canal builders, they
would justify the apprehension they
have awakened in the non rOfession-
al mind. But the slides were in fact
anticipated. Even during the prelim-
mary scratching of the Isthmian back
bone by the French they occurred: and
the American engineers knew precise
ly what to expect. The first slide oc-
CURED during our work on the 18TH
mus in 1905: the Others have only
been bigger because the canal being
dug deeper has weakened the bases OF
the hills along it's banks. All the same,
the proportions 'Of the slides are terri
flying, and the chief geologist declarea
that they will not cease until the anglo
Of the canal bank becomes so gentla
that gravity will not pull the crest
down. '~'
The slides are Of two sorts. The
simpler Is a mere swift rush Of all the
loose surface dirt, sand, gravel and
stone dow the surface Of the bank
These gravity slides. though trouble%
some, present no new problems. To
stop them 1t is necessary only to car
ry the crest Of the bank further back
so that the angle will be less steep.
But the great. troublesome slides ara
those caused by the pressure of the
hilltop on it's undermined and weak
ened base. Once started, the Wh0la
mass, acres in extent, moves slowly
toward the cavity of the canal, threa
feet a day being its swiftest recorded
progress. At Culebra the slides COM
PEELED the moving of q large part of
the town away from the edge of the
cut, lest it be swept into the gorge. -
AS the slide moves slowly downs
ward, it's colossal weight applied at
| NOintG where n1t1lra had noaHa mn APO
vision for 1t. forces the earth upward
at the point where it can offer the
least resistance, namely the bed of the
canal. The upheaval Of the canal bed
and the occasional ~outpourings of
steam have led at times to exaggerat-
ed reports in the newspapers of voI-
canic action being one of the new
problems with which the canal build
ers had to grapple.
At one time it was the policy of the
commission to keep the public in the
dark concerning these apparently seri-
Gus obstacles TO the progress Of the
work. The canal zone is fairly haunt
ed by men able to arouse the attention
OF the public. Since l have been here
every ship brings congressman. maga%
Inc writer's and newspaper men. Any
thing that savors of secrecy instantly
arouses their interest, and If their
conclusions are it Is the
fault mainly of those who seek to OBJ
scure the facts. Probably it was large
ly because of the earlier efforts of the
commission to hush the matter up
that the impression spread in the
United States that the slides would
indefinitely delay the conclusion Of the
work even If they were not wholly
fatal to it. -
The commission now Is perfectly
frank. The story told about the ex-
tent Of the slides is sufficiently alarm
ing, but the calmness with which they
are meeting the situation is reassur-
Ing. %pI
Nobody with knowledge anticipates
that the slides will interfere with Coli
onel Cocktails determination to put a
ship through the canal on time. The
canal Is so wide at the cut that the
biggest slide has never INSTRUCTED
more han one-third Of Its width. so
that a sufficient channel for the pass
age of ships can easily be buoyed Off
In the free water while the dredges are
working to remove the. obstruction
The dirt a not always slide In
faster than it is carried out, for in
time there will be no dirt left to slide.
And SO undismayed and intent upon
success, the whole force from Colonel
Goethals to the youngest engineer
moves on Culebra and the doom of
that stubborn block to progress Ia
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