The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1913-07-18

er Respondent, for it seemed as If they
/ never would stop, but the progress
we are making this year has cheered
up the operating forces again, and
we can see the end of the task. The
slide and the break are quite differ
! ent. In the former the earth slides
/ at an angle down d sloping face OF
/ rock and in the latter the mass sinks
straight down and at the bottom
/ bulges out into the channel Along
both sides of the cut you can see nu-
merous small slides and breaks. Those
are in pockets in the rock wall, and.
annoying as they are. they only need
cleaning out. The CucardCha started
as a slide and now it is both slide
and break
incidentally. that cut should be a
great place for biologists. ! haze
found in it every kind OF rock except
granite, and many interesting fossils
and petrfcation have been discover
ed there In one stratum through
which we cut there were found great
number of teeth of prehistoric vare-
ties of sharks"
What is your opinion concerning
the date when the canal will be ready
Tor commerce." | asked.
If | had my say said the colonel
emphatically. not comM"rcial yes
sci would be allowed in the canal un-
til it is absolutely complete down to
the smallest detail In some of the
many safety devices were not in op-
GRAFTON and an accident should result.
the canal would get a black eye from
! which it might not recover Tor long
time Officially. the time for tn" com
pletion of the canal is stIIl January
/. 1915. 1t may be done before that
date, but in March of this "ear there
was still about S50,O00000 worth o,
work ahead Of US
We who have been digging the
canal and are still here in positions o.
( responsibility mean the members
of the Isthmian canal commission
/ are rather fearful concerning that part
of the Adamson bill which permits
/ the president to dissolve the commits
1 sion whenever in his Judgment the
I canal is near enough to completion.
/ We feel that it would be extremely
| unjust not to allow us to remain on
/ the job until after the grand formal
opening in January, 1915. 1t would be
much like permitting a boy to com
/ plete his university course. and then
taking him home before he receives
his diploma"
/ And then Colonel Gaillard said some
things about Mr.. Taft's efforts TO put
/ into effect that clause last January,
which must have made the eX-presi
| dents ears Jingle bit
/ The Culebra cut is like three-ring
/ circus. | don't know which way to
/ look, said one visitor to the zone.
1t is indeed a scene of wonderful ac-
tivity. Giant steam shovels are scat
tered through it, scooping up enor-
nous masses of rock and earth; on
/ half a dozen tracks on as many diff
/ ferent levels snorting and putting loco
/ motives are swiftly drawing loaded or
empty dirt trains; along the lodges
/ are batteries of steam and com
| pressed air drills, making holes for
! dynamite; suddenly there is a toot-
footing of a steam whistle, hundred
men scurry to shelter, and a dynamite
/ blast fills the air with sound and dirt
\ and rocks. These blasts during work
hours are known as "dobie shots" and
are fired for the purpose of breaking
/ up boulders too big for the shovels TO
handle. and to remove small masses
Of earth. Though small blasts, they
are decidedly noisy ones The larger
ones which loosen great areas OF ma
terial for the shovels. are fired only
when most of the workmen are out
of the cut, between II and / o'clock
| and after ).
/ The amount of dynamite used on
I the canal is extraordinary For sew
eral years the annual average has
/ b. N about 100000 pounds. Put in
another way, one pound of dynamite
has been used to every "a cubic yards
OF material blasted. When the drill
holes have been loaded, they are CON
nected i'll parallel and fired by means
/ OF current from an electric plant.
Colonel Gaillard, when he took charge
/ O. the central division, found a differ
ent system of firing in use in which
a considerable proportion OF the
charges failed to explode He changed
I that, and at the same time instituted
/ other reforms in the manner of han.
/ ding dynamite One result was
marked decrease in the number of ac.
cidents from premature explosions
Watching the steam shovels is a ia
vorite occupation of visitors who ven.
/ ture down into the Culebra cut They
seem almost human, and do a vast
/ amount of work. Their dippers hold
! liye cubic yards Of material, weigh.
| ing on an average a little more than
three tons. This spoil is emptied into
cars of several kinds. Flat cars with
one high side are unloaded by plows
that are drawn the length of the train
by cables upon winding drum. The
others are dump cars. the largest of
which are operated by compressed air
from the locomotive. The trains haul
the spoil from the cut to Cumming
grounds, which on an average are
about II miles distant. Some 1S.OO0.-
600 cubic yards of this material was
used as filling for the long breakwa-
ter at the Pacific entrance.
I