The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-01-31
Ohe .G1eat Pauomo Canal fom efvn1au 3y
 G ~e~~ mv~~ream~

ed. The failure was almost neces-
 sary to final success; we saw how not
 to do it. Thus, Upon the stepping
 stones of our dead selves we rise to
 higher things
 As a matter of fact, the French ac.
 excavated some 80 milhcn cubic yards
 although only some 30 million of this
 have been used by the Americans
 The cost to the French is said to have been 26O,OOO,OOOO but may have been much more It was scar ] cely possible that work of such mag nitude could be carried out as a pri- vate enterprise; it was a task which only a powerful government clothed with international authority and back ed with unlimited financial resources could be expected to carry out sue cessfully, and in the flush of victory we should accord all honor to the great French engineers who blazed the way for our success and to the pluck and enterprise of the French people who made such historic sac rifice in an attempt to advance the commercial interests of the world
 In 1904 the French canal properties, concessions and rights were purchas- ed by the United States Government for S40,OOO,O This was dirt cheap" when the experience purchas- ed with them is also considered. Even this money did not reach the pock- cts of the people to whom it should have rightfully gone, but was filched from them by some modern political rent reports be true.
 Before satisfactory arrangements could be carried out for the construc- tion and maintenance of the canal a new Republic had to be made. as the Republic of Columbia to which the Isthmus belonged was found to be ob durate in it's unreasonable demands. This was skillfully accomplished" in a manner it may be well not to investi- gate too closely, and the Republic Of Panama with a government quite amenable to the United States was
  19O3
 The Canal Zone was then formed A strip O. land 10 .oi;es wide across he Isthmus, 5 miles on each side of the ,:e:i'cc line of the Canal, was practi- cally ceded to the United States for $1O ,O0O,OOO.O0 This Government also agreed to pay the 2anama government $250, 100000 per year from 1913, when it was expected to have the Canal in operation. The Isthmian Canal Conl- mission was then formed to take charge of the actual work of construc- tive merits of a sealevel or lock canal was made by a body of engineers of reputation, and the min ority report, recommending a lock canal, was, I think, wisely adopted. At first the government tried to run was the inevitable consequence of try ing to operate important work of this kind at such long range, internal jeal- ousy and friction resulted; the initia- tive of those on the ground and in a position to know, was throttled, and Finally, full power was granted the Chief Engineer on the ground, who was made Chairman of the Commits !! sion, and under his masterful handling of the entire organization the results i accomplished have been marvellous ] O fr11o ic Ia for the carrying out of the work and 1 organization and discipline is 1 in evidence everywhere, many of the | engineers being West Point men.
 While the Isthmus is 40 miles across he Canal is actually 50 miles long, for the salt water approaches at each i end had to be dredged out to deep water. As a matter of fact, there are ,nly 9 miles of heavy rock and earth cutting in the whole 50. This is call ed the Culebra Cut, but what a Hercu- anean task it has been. The Canal crosses the continental divide at Cui- sbra, Gold Hill being the highest point; the maximum depth of the cut tt this point is 375 feet, and the rock S a hard basalt; the average depth If the Culebra cut is 12O feet; the width at bottom is 300 feet widened O 800 feet at the turns to allow easy passage for boats 1000 feet long. At op the width varies according to the character of the sides. This cut call d for the excavation of 90 million ubic yards, but owing to the numer . us slides from the sides the amount ; equired to be taken out has been { ;reatly in excess of that, and these lides will certainly give trouble for l