Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-08-06

From Gatun To Obispo the Chagres
crossed the line Of the canal twenty
three times In the same distance the
Chagres river has twenty-stx trtouta-
ries. the more Important ones being the
Gatun and Trinidad rivers. All con-
tribute 10 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 excayated part.
Even where the cut has been sunk
through Soiid rock these slides occur
red. as the rock formations Of the
isihmus are brittle and dissolve to dust
after exposure to the atmosphere. An
attempt was made to prevent slides by
pIaxtering the sides Of the cut with
concrete. but the experiments were
futile. There were between dfteen
aud twenty important slides on both
sides Of the nine nile cut. the largest
being on the west side Of the canal
near the town of Culebrn and embrace
ing slxty-three acres Around the
towns OF Cuiebrl and Empire were
many smaller slides That gave much
trouble To the engineers. Steam shov-
els. locomotives aud dat cars have been
caught In these slides. but. singularly,
few lives have been lost
Sometimes tbe pressure on the sides
OF the canal operated to make the earth
bulge up IN the bottom of the cut Di-
vision Engineer GaiIlard devised the
plan Of terraclng the sides OF the cur
to relieve this pressure. with the result
that murh extraneous mterial 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 fve foot level lock type
were forced TO admit that the attempt
TO sink cut through the isthnlrs for
sen level channel would be attended
10y such prodlgi0us earth movements.
necessitnting such nm inestimahle nd,
ditiohal excavation. IA to make u we'll
nigh Impossible. Fur sea level canal
the cuIebra cnt would have to 50
eighty live feet deeper tlian In the
present plan. which would require bSth
wider bottom and Indefinitely wider
surface opening. and then the slides
would I've UNNECESSARILY greater than
at present The best year's work 10
the, Culehra cut wnF l(.5Sli,S0l ynrds.
Slides Ilrst aud last have added more
than TINT amount To the total estimate
Of excavation for the division. Vet the
Increase, In efficiency of the Orgnniza-
ZION has enabled the workers 10 handle
the extra amount within the time and
cost estimated for tnking out the orig
tnal gardagP. :
/ Three fnethuds of excavation have
been employed IN digging the. seven
miles Of sen level channel on thes
lantic side and the eight miles ut sim.
liar channel dm the l,ircifc side steati
shovels dug down on the Atlantic side
to forty feet below sea level with great
dikes to hold oct the wnter. and dredges
have done the remainder OF the excsf
vAting. On the I'acific side. In addE
ton 10 dredges and shUvels. the lly.
draulic method has been used. This
method consists OF playing d powerful
stream Of winter on the earth nnd drafn-
Ing the water with the soiI In a fiIIld
state to Il selected dump which has
been boarded. the water being drainpds
OF when the mud has deposited The
Atlantic entrance required an excava-
tipn OF Il 81, D00 cublt. yards and the
Z. : - 49, Is