Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-26

month since December, 1907.
The employees were carried from
the various towns to their work In the
cut or on the locks and dams by labor
Trains These trains took them to their
homes or the hotels for the noon meal.
consuming from ten minutes to half
an hour In the journey. But as the
rest period ut noon was for two hours
In the canal zone ample time for eat
Ing was allowed. ru .lrg
In the month Of March. 1909. more
dirt was taken out than In the frst
Twenty-Five months Of operations. The
excavation In one month usually ex-
ceeded an amount equal to the pyra-
mid Of CheOps. which Is $50 feet
square and 45l feet high. The canal
force Of 1909. 1910 and 1911 would
have dug and finished the Suez canal.
March. 1911. retains the record for the
greatest excavation In the cut. when
1,72S.T4S yards were removed. and this
also Is the record month for excava-
ton for the whole canal. with total
removal Of 3.32T.4i3 yards. The aver
age daily output Of steam shovels rose
from 500 yards I'm 1905. when only dirt
was handled. to 1900 yards in 1911.
when rock predominated. The cost In
the central division has ranged from
10 cents II yard to 0l, cents yard.
with an average Of 81 cents. from 1901
to 1909 and fell to 81 cents In f9l1-12.
Rains interferred with the excava.
ton work in the cut. reducing the out.
put In the rniny season several hundred
thousand yards month. During the
downpours operations were suspended.
but the cut was dug mt Il slaat on both
sides Of the mountain system, so that
water was dsained out of 1t by gravity.
running out ut both ends. River
which crossed the line of the canal
were diverted by digging new chan.
nels for them. -.. fr.'
Almost mt the windup Of operations
the canal diggers made the highest rec
ords for excavation. On April II. 1912.
forty.four steam shovels took out g..
COS. yards In the cut. which Is the rec
ord for one day In that division.
Steam- shovel No 25T working at Ca
tun took out 1854 yards In one day.
the highest record In the canal zone
for one shovel. the date being May 2.
1912. and in August. 1912. the same
shovel made record by removing &c.
S44 yards In twenty-siX working days.
That part Of the central division
which Is little mentioned extends from
the Gatun locks to the entrance of the
Culebra cut. about twenty-three miles.
Only about 12.4OO.OO0 yards had to be
excavated to complete this channel, as
1t follows the Chagres river valley
from about sea level to Bohio; then
the level rises until 1t reaches forty
eight feet above sen level ut the cut.
From Gatun to Obispo the Chagres
crossed the line Of the canal twenty
three times. In the same distance the
Chagres river has twenty-six trfbuta-
ries. the more important ones being the
Gatun and Trinidad rivers. All con.
tribute to the great Gatun lake.
The slides. which have been accu.
rately and inaccurately exploited In
the press, represented the steep sides
Of the Culebra cut breaking of and
falling down into the excavatsd part
Even where the cut has been sunk
through solid rock these slides occur
red. as the rock formations Of the
isthmus are brittle and dissolve to dust
after exposure to the atmosphere. An
attempt was made to prevent slides by
plastering the sides Of the cut with
concrete. but the experiments were
futile. There were between fifteen
and twenty important slides on both
sides Of the nine mile cut, the largest
being on the west side Of the canal
near the town of Culebra and embrac-
ing sixty-three acres. Around the
towns Of Culebra and Empire were
many smaller slides that gave much
trouble to the engineers. Steam shov.
els. locomotives and fat cars have been
caught In these slides. but. singularly.
few lives have been lost.
Sometimes the pressure on the sides
Of the canal operated to make the earth
bulge up in the bottom Of the cut d.
vision Engineer Gaillard devised the
plan Of terracing the sides Of the cut
to relieve this pressure. with the result
that much extraneous material has
been prevented from sliding into the
cut. Engineers who formerly stood
stanchly for the sea level type Of ca.
nal after seeing the slides Of the pres
ent eighty-6ve foot level lock type
were forced to admit that the attempt
to sink a cut through the isthmus fos
q sea level channel would be attended
by such proditious earth movements.
necessitatinp such an inestimable ad-
ditional excavation. as to make 1t well
nigh impossible For sea level canal
the Culebra cut would have to go
eighty-fve feet deeper than in the
present plan. which would require both
q wider bottom and indefinitely wider
surface opening. and then the slides
would be immeasurably greater than
at present The best years work IN
the Culebra rut was 16.5SG.S91 yards.
Sides first and last have added more
than that amount to the total estimate
of excavation for the division. Yet the
increase in efficiency Of the organiza.
tion has enabled the workers to handle
the extra amonnt within the time and
cost estimated for taking out the orig
inal yardage.
Three methods Of excavation have
been employed in digging the seven
miles of sea level channel on the At
lantic side and the eight miles Of sim.
liar channel on the Pacific side. Steam
shovels dug down on the Atlantic side
to forty feet below sea level with great
dikes to hold out the water, and dredges
have done the remainder Of the exca-
waiting. On the Pacific side. In addi-
ton to dredges and shovels, the hy-
draulic method has been used. This
method consists Of playing powerful