The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-08-26
by FRANK g. CARPENTER
Copyrighted, 1913, by Frank G.. Car
penter.)
penter.)

B'itC
WASHINGTON, d. c.
have just had a long chat with
,'ol David ID. Galliard, the engineer
commissioners, who for the past six
years has had charge of the mighty
excavations of the Culebra cut. / first
met him when [ wrote Nd the Panama
canal. now more than a year ago. I
then went with him on foot through
the mighty cash which he was max
ing in the Andes. We walked to-
Hether from gang to gang Of the thou
sands of men who were gouging out
the earth, blasting the rocks and
carrying the mighty trains Of spoil
down to the ocean. We investigated
the petty volcanoes and studied the
slides. At one place in the canal
Mother Earth had bumped up her
tack and thrown a railroad half way
down to the bottom. i photographed
the colonel beside this great hump,
and had just time to change my film
before another hump occurred and
the railroad again went flying, being
overturned under our eyes.
My talk with Col. Galliard last
night was at the Monday evening re-
ception of the Cosmos Club. He wore
a black steel-pen coat. a boiled shirt.
well BACKED shoes, and looked more
like a club man thar a civil engineer
'iS Ap AOhhio OhhS W IN =
npon earth. When we walked to-
Eether through the canal at Panama
he was in his working clothes. His
riding trousers were wrapped in leg
eings Of leather. his shirt was Of fan
mel. and he looked as much the day
as any Jamaican handling a drill.
When at Panama he walks miles
through the canal every day, and
there Is not a detail Of the excavation
OF which he has not a practical and
scientific knowledge. He knows the
work so well that he can describe 1t
10 the amateur in plain English and
sayS.
II was in the same simple language
that We talked last night. l had ask
ed Col. Galliard not to deal in figures
but to give me the story Of what was
going on in numbers, and in
such terms that the man on the street
could understand.
The Culebra Cut.
Every one knows what the Culebrs
cut is. 1t Is that part of the cana
where the mountains had to bt
eouxed out to make the lock water.
way through which the ships can go
The excavation began at a point abovt
Sea level almost as high as the top o.
II Washington Monument. Tha
Was on the top of Gold hill. and OF
the opposite side of the pass the dig
cing began, a little more than 10'
feet lower. 1t has to go down to for
" feet above the sea level. and tn
amount Of excavation has been esti
mated as enough to max a tunne
TO the center OF the earth so large II
size that a railroad train could ru'
through and not scrape the walls
The total amount OF digging an
carrying away of earth done by tn
Americans will be about 22o, 900. 90
cubic yards. and the bulk Of this vas
sum has come right out Of the cut a
Culebra. In order to understand VIVA
this means. I would say that a var
81 earth weighs over a ton and q hall
a for each Of these millions OF cubi
yards you may ngure that it woul
take two good-Azed horses to haul
In a wagon up hill and down over tn
ordinary farm road Of our country.
During my talk with Col. GaliiaF
the question - to the actual amou
Of material which had been handle
under his supervision at Panam
cAmA Up, ana he said:
when 7 frst went to Panama
was in change Of the dredging In tn
Atlantic and Pacific divisions, and
there took ont something like 5000
coo cubic yards OF material In q
tion. I had the Cvlehra cut. That vi
In April, 1te7, just about SIX yea
sgo. Since then We have 1cavate
more than 10000, 900 cubic yard
When I took charge. e.seo, Gee cu0