The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-10-10


ed his task without the assistance of
such men as Col. H. T. Hodges, Lieut..
Col. David Du B. Ballard and Lieut..
Col. William L. Sibert, army en-
gineers, who have had charge of va
rious phases of the work, but Col Goe-
thals is recognized as the real builder
Of the canal.
Under Colonel Goethals the greater
part of the $375, 100000 which the can
al will have cost when it is completed
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 a 40-mile ditch" This means
that the Panama canal has cost the
United States s10,000,000 a mile.
Over SIS, 100000 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 0eo-
pie will reside permanently, but the
engineers say that the sanitation Of
the canal zone was the chief factor in
making the canal 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 a vessel to height of 81
feet above sea level at one end of
the canal and lower it the same dis
lance at the other end, has been in
charge OF two Of Colonel Goethals,
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 Achinery of the
canal, and his ability to overcome all
obstacles had led Colonel Goethals to
call him a 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 contribu-
ton to the work of construction OF
the canal.
Lieutenant Colonel Sibert has had
charge of the building of the great
dam and locks at Gatun, in addition
to other duties. He saw long, &C.
tive service in the Philippines, and
he is known in the army as light
er as we'll as an engineer.
Realize Dream of Centuries.
Through the work Of these men-all
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 though
of several hundreds of years ago.
The United States government first
took definite action looking toward
the construction of an isthmian canal
in 1884. when the senate voted for
the building of a Nicaraguan canal.
An expedition was sent to Nicaragua
to make an investigation, and report
ed that the canal could be construct
ed for S25, 100000, 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
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, Frenchman. He
ganized a company, which sold out
later to the financiers associated with
Ferdinand de Lesseps. The company
organized with de Lesseps at its head
was the first one to actually begin op-
erations on the isthmus For eight
years de Lesseps struggled manfully,
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 a result Of
dishonesty and extravaganza on the
part of its promoters. and de Lesseps,
driven insane by the scandal, ended
his days in an asylum.
Such was the history CT the 18TH
milan canal project for some 800 or
400 years, until the day in 1904 when
Uncle Sam undertook the task.
In nine years the dream of the cen.
turtles has been realized.