Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1914-02-13
Weary OF PANAMA
coerHALs AND HIS AIDS
W.. ee MIGHTY GLAD TO
COME BACK HOME.
climate IS VERY TRYING
unilders Have Been Drenched
O' 'Ul,h Rain Nine Months of Each
vss, but Have Completed
Their Task Quickly.
Nv GEORGE CLINTON.

ffgEH
o.sthals, chef engineer Of Panama
UO w., construction, will remain as
'" -ornor of the isthmus only until
,',nory first next. This seems to be
' ,s-,rpd The great engineer proba-
~ 'sy will either accept the police com
W .5i.siopership of New York or under
. .I some other work of prominence,
..,yided he is placed on the retired
r., If the army after the canal is
opened ~,
4 always has been known that Col
mpY GOethals did not care to be made
.rarnor of the Canal Zone to hold
tse position for any great length of
lime Colonel Goethals, Lieutenant
qoonel William L. Sibert and the 9TH
:, great engineers are willing and
.rou wish to leave the Isthmus OF
panama as soon as the great work is
cmpleted? Why? They need rest
,nd moreover they are tired of the
tropical life.
Does anybody blame the chief en-
gneer or his division engineers for
ysSing In their hearts to come back
IA the United States? The work in
Tho Culebra Cut, with the nervous
strain imposed because OF its peculiar
dscplties. killed Lieut.. Col. David
DUB Gaillard. He virtually had I'm
hNsd his labor when he gave up his
He The work of the other divisions
% the isthmus was as heavy as that
With which Gaillard was confronted,
but Il was not in its nature so trying.
II 1t had been, other great engineers
Ike Gsillard probably would have died
Il their post.
Life on tsthmus IL Trying.
In August of last summer. visited
the lsthmus of Panama and was the
guest Of division engineer who was
one Of my classmates at West Point.
He Is a big man In brain and body,
but that he felt somewhat the effects
Of the tropic sun, of anxiety and Of
pAysical and mental labor there was
no doubt What Is true OF him I'M
geStionably is true of other engineers
who have done their work on the
isthmus. Seven years of it. and is
thEe any wonder that they yearn for
home?
For nine months each year for seven
Years the workmen of Panama have
been rained on. For these nine
months they were drenched and dried
alternately four or five times q day.
The rains descend as they do not de-
send anywhere else and then they
stop and a baking sun comes out to
roast man and beast for an hour or
Two, then to disappear and let the
isln go at 1t once more.
When young officer of engineers
WHO was assisting the engineer in
charge of the construction of the
latun Locks and dam was working at
Porto Bello getting out stone and
gravel to be used for foundations, it
lsned fifty-nine inches in one month.
ls Chief, necessarily anxious to COM
Ne'e his work, kept calling on his
lieutenant for quicker action and
more material. One day the young
Oncer flashed this telegraphic mes
aSe TO his superior: Fifty inches of
'sn not extraordinary; anything more
"lSldered an act of God and mans
ivSpOnsibility ceases"
Inc youngster received no more
alfyup orders.
Work Has Been Done Quickly.
Inc Panama Canal has been COM
ss'ed quickly. The men building 1t
a'U' eVerlastingly at it and yet there
'Ss the appearance of leisureliness
= 'ae work 1t was only In appear
sAOe' however. They walked slowly
uVm one post of duty to another, but
'Aea they were standing still direct
aS hey made the dirt fly because
%e AOorers under them were men to
"AOm tropic conditions were usual
.u 10 whom the short hours and the
S'uu treatment accorded by the
sueiiean officers were unusual and
Tine, :. S---e' 80
,. Vim rev individual exceptions, the
~Aing force on the Isthmus of Pan
'4" mas kept its health. The Ameri-
~ M engineer officers, however. have
M sne effects of seven years of labor.
S"'eOver, they are homesick and their
H. x has been accumulated
!. me fact that the time is near at
tbs cure. "a" eoAne no -
p"eep'ng In Touch With People.
IL ,ssioent Wilson has said that in all
yior uOes ne wants to be guided by the
tboos VI the country rather than by
lons S' u The city of Washington. Not
bs s S1er his Inauguration he said to
can ae"spaper men: "The only way
lvs succeed =, is by not having my mind
M ~ - washington. My body must
NM we're but my mind has got to live
UnIed States, or else will fail
ooOt,, | nave got to understand the
hba OF will not understand my
las s., probable that every president
but WI !, exactly as Mr.. Wilson feels,
g aoo.ma,. was probably only Theodore
h dan i' who made actual systemat-
nth - attempts to keep in touch
og SI sentiment of the entire coun-