The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1914-01-30
Continued From Last Fridays Issue)


100 feet. the highest point on the cen.
ter line of the canal being at Culebra.
between Gold and Contractors hills.
where excavation has gone down 272
feet After the soil had been removed
for short depth solid rock was struck
and to Jan. l. 1918. 54,5O4,15O pounds
OF dynamite were used in blasting, or
the staggering total of 27,252 tons
The lay mind thinks of pound of dy-
Mantle as impressive, but it's use in
, the canal work has been bewilderingly
heavy.
Most of the explosive has been used
In the Culebra cut. 1t is estimated
that pound of dynamite will break
up 2.14 cubic yards Of rock and earth.
and as much as twenty-six tons have
been set off in one blast in the canal.
Stringent rules have prevailed to pre-
vent accidents, and. while deaths from
this cause have run into the hlndreds,
the handling of this amount of dyna.
mite has been distinguished for the
small number of fatalities The largest
single shipment Of dynamite to Pan
anna was S46 tons, received on June q,
1911, without an accident in loading or
unloading from the steamer.
All through the day drills operated
by compressed air bored into the rock
in the cut for twenty-four feet. A
:, small charge Of powder was set off at
the bottom of these holes to enlarge
them for the real charge of as much
as 200 pounds Then after the men
had quit for the noon hour or after 5
o'clock in the afternoon the charges
were set off by electric current Many
persons have been killed by being
struck by rocks hurled long distances
In these blasts. The next morning the
steam shovels found plenty Of food for
their hungry jaws. which bit of four
or five cubic yards at dip; swung
around and dropped the six or seven
tons upon the cars. Frequently they
lifted rocks so heavy that the cars
were broken.
From $50 to IT'S trains a day loaded
wAh excavated materials left the Guile
bra cut for the dumps. A great deal
went to build the mighty Gatun dam;
much has been used in retaining near
~ 400 acres from the ocean at Balboa.
the Pacific terminal; the new Panama
railroad required millions Of yards In
making fills and the breakwater at
Balboa also took considerable
amount. What could not be usefully
employed was wasted on dumps. The
average haul from the cut has been
twelve miles, but as much as thirty
miles was Travelled by some Of the dirt
trains. Twenty fiat cars constituted a
train, and one car could be loaded by
a shovel in two and half minutes, or
with seven scoopfuls Of earth and rock.
When the trains got to the dumps an
unloading pillow was drawn by steel
table over the fiat cars, sweeping the
material off the side which was open.
Then spreaders were pushed over the
track to shove the material to one side
and down the embankment. Track
shifters later came along and moved
the track over to the edge of the fill.
Between 100000 and 100000 yards
went out of the Culebra cut every
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 at noon was for two hours
in the canal zone ample time for eat
ing was allowed
lin the month of March, 1909, more
TT was taken out than in the first
twenty-five months of operations. The
xcavation in one month usually eX-
eeded an amount equal to tile pyra-
hid Of Cheops, which is $50 feet
ysquare and 451 feet high. The canal
force Of 1909, 1910 and 1911 would
Ntaye- dug and finished the Suez canal.
March, 1911, retains the record for the
greatest excavation in the cut, when
172S74S yards were removed. and this
also is the record month for eXcava-
ton for the whole canal, with a total
removal of 1897 ,443 yards. The aver
age daily output Of steam shovels rose
from 500 yards in 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 a yard to 81 cents a yard,
with an average of 81 cents. from 1904
to 1909 and fell to 81 cents in 1912.
Rains interferred with the excava.
ton work in the cut. reducing the out
put in the rainy season several hundred
thousand yards a month. During the
I ,downpours operations were suspended
but the cut was dug at slant on boil
sides of the mountain system, so tina
water was drained out Of it by gravity
running out at both ends. River:
which crossed the line of the cana
were diverted by digging new chan
nels for them
Almost at the windup of operation
the canal diggers made the HIGHEST rec