The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1913-10-10

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ed his task without the assistance of
such men as Col. H. F. 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
billion dollars has been spent in dig
cling a 4O-mile ditch" This means
that the Panama canal has cost the
United States s10,OOO,OOo a mile.
Over 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 peo
pie will reside permanently, but the
engineers say that the sanitation of
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 tp-s !
.fauasx A.vAAs rslsssss~s.saAeps~ss3 pbeJ
The building of the great iocA
which raise 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 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 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 a fight
er as we'll as an engineer.
Realize Dream Of Centuries
Through the work of these mn-all
of them members Of Uncle, Sans
fighting body, the United States has
been able to attain what has ben In
truth the dream of centuries. l., nine
years these men have carried through
an undertaking that was first thought
of several hundreds Of years ago.
The United States government first
took definite action locking toward
the construction of an isthmian canal
in 1884, when the senate voted for
the building Of Nicaraguan canal.
An expedition was sent to Nicaragua
to make an investigation, and report.
ed that the canal could be construct.
ed for $2S,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 tina
Civil war, when negotiations for 4
canal commission were entered into
by the United States government Be.
fore anything had been accomplished
the concession for q Panama canal
had been given to Lucien Napoleon
Bonaparte Wyse, a Frenchman, Ha
organized company, which sold ont
later to the financiers associated with
Ferdinand de Lesseps. The companv
organized with de Lesseps at it's head
was the first one to actually begin m.
erations on the isthmus. For e,sht
years de Lesseps struggled manfullv
against the greatest odds that man
ever was called upon to face. Then
ne was forced to give up the fight
his company collapsing as a result =,
dishonesty and extravaganza on tho
part of Its promoters, and de Lessons
driven insane by the scandal, ended
his days in an asylum.
Such was the history of the 10th
milan canal project for some Ann -.
4oo years. until the day in 1904 whom
Uncle Sam undertook the task
IN nine years the dream of the cen.
turtles has been realized. ~