The Colorado statesman., 1913-10-04

! telSi ls duHlllleu now 10 pc so strong
that uothing short of an earthquake
such as has never been known in the
Central American region can harm
1t. The Gatun dam, Gatun lake and
the Culebra cut, so gigantic are the
proportions of each, dwarf the other
engineering works of the canal that
in themselves have challenged the ad-
miration of the world.
World Gives Goethals Credit.
To Col. George Goethals, chairman
of the Isthmian canal commission,
chief engineer of the commission and
governor of the canal zone, the world
Will give the credit for the successful
completion of the Panama canal. Col
onel Goethals could not have accom-
plished his task without the assist
ance of such men as Col H. F.
Hodges, Lieut. Col. David Du B. Bail
lard and Lieut.. Col. William L. Sibert,
army engineers, who have had charge
of various phases of the work, but
Colonel Goethals is recognized as the
real builder of the canal
Under Colonel Goethals The greater
part of the $375,000,O00 which the
canal will have cost when it is COM
pleted 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
ging a 40-mile ditch" This means
that the Panama canal has cost the
United States s10,OO0O00 a mile.
Over $16,O00,000 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 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 in the
fever and pest ridden country
The building of the great locks
which raise a vessel to a 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 a part
OF the operating machinery of the
canal, and his ability to overcome all
obstacles had led Colonel Goethals to
call him 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.
tion 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, ac-
tive service in the Philippines, and
he is known in the army as fight |
er as well as an engineer. His fight
ing qualities have enabled him tc
carry through the great work of
which he has had charge in the
canal zone
Realize Dream of Centuries
Through the work of these men-all
of them members of Uncle Sans |
lighting 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 thought
of several hundreds of years ago. |
There is evidence that the idea of an
isthmian canal was born as early as |
the sixteenth century, for history re-
cords the fact that the Inquisition |
declared such a project to alter the |
face of the earth to be impious and |
further discussion of the matter was |
forbidden by Philip H. of Spain, whose |
reign began in 1856. More than a CEN
tury later a Scotchman named Patter-
son revived the scheme, established a
colony on the shores of the isthmus, |
and made crude survey of the route.
The United States government first
took definite action looking toward |
the construction of an isthmian canal |
in 1894, 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 $25,O0O,0O0, 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 a
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
Banaparte Wyse. a Frenchman. He |
organized 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 |
nIr Inn lnn ,A.,r.A IL.