The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-04
PANAMA ENGINEERS
 FIGHTING SLIDES
 ALONG CANAL CUTS
Dredges and Hydraulic Opera tions Combined to Re-
 lieve Dangers.

I Panama, May 2.-Rock and dirt are still moving down the Cucaracha slide | into the Cu1ebra cut, but the engineers who have been fighting the treacher- l ous slides in this vicinity are at last gaining upon nature. Tears that the opening of the canal, set for January, 1915, would have to be postponed in-, definitely, have been growing less each day, for the dredges and steansho OK 1 els have been taking out the dirt and rock much faster than it slid into the, canal.
 The Cu1ebra. slide just to the south of the Cucaracha trouble, is entirely I at rest and it is hoped it will re- main sso. but the canal engineers will watch this treacherous hillside with some anxiety as the rainy season ap- proaches. Breaks already are show 1 ing far back from the canal prism and these may indicate a movement
 which might any day precipitate tons l of crushed rock and dirt into the ca nal for the tireless dredges and steam shovels to remove. The coming wet I season will be likely to loosen any thing ready to slide.
 l Dredging and hydraulic operations I in the cut continue day and night. Back of Gold Hill, the hydraulic 1 pumps are washing away vast quanti- I ties of loose soil greatly relieving the pressure which has forced so much of 1 The dirt into the canal prism. At I I been busily engaged in removing the dirt out of the channel itself while, l far up the side of the slide, other hy- l drauIic operations are tearing at the I very heart of the hill.
 Within 8 short time two new large l dipper dredges will be engaged. These are the largest yet built of this type. I One already has been received on the isthmus andeis almost ready for ope- I ration. At the same time the dredge txffV f7f channel which now averages about 25 i feet, to the required 5 feet.
 This deepening of the channel, the lengineers believe, will be a tedious op- eration, for the weight on the hillsides at Gold, Culebra and Contract ors hills is constantly forcing the bottom of the canal upward. It is anticipat- I ed that this will continue until the I weight on the hillsides has been sufIi- I cient1y 1essened.
 I there have been removed from the ca
 nal prism between Gamboa, and Pedro f Miguel which includes the entire Gu Zebra cut area g total of. 27s000, 1000, Icubic yards of dirt with probable $, 900. 900 cubic yards remaining to be I excavated
 The recent announcenaent of Col. George w. Goethals.s governor of the
 Panama Canal Zone, that there would
 
 lwaEe scale, averted what threatened Ito become a serious labor difficulty. 1The unions represented on the isthmus lsnet and formed the Metal Trades ECouncil and obtained strike sanction Il ifrorrl their parent bodies to be prepar- led for any emergency that might arise. iNo further action, however, is contem-
 plated by the unions. it is generally believed.
 E,o
 dening in the vicinity of Gatun Locks land Dam. The top of the dam is be ling graded for tropical plants. The work Is being done by H. H. Reed, su- Ipervisor of the fourth division. It is lpIanned to beautify the grounds sur the construction work has been com
 pIeted.
 I The navigable reaches Of the canal
 will be allowed to grow up in, their inatura1 tropical verddre, confined
 within certain limits Already in
 many places the canal looks more like 1 a natural Water-course than one co1i-
 structed by the hands of men.
 At Cristobal, it is proposed to build 1 a tropical park along the land ends of f the wharves of the Panama Railway. Discarded canal machinery is being
 sold to several private corporations in South and Central America. Vefae- 1 zuela mas nad cOmm1SSlon on the
 Isthmus which purchased considerable
 dredging machinery with which to deepen several harbors.
 A number of the large dredges that
 dug their way through Culebra Cut have been sent to Porto Rico where they are soon to be. engaged in harbor
 work, Many of the locomotives that
 hauled the spoil cars out of the cut have been sold to South American concerns. Because of their wide -ta gauge they are not suitable for rail- l ways in the United States
 T unlgcE lAfaIa TA0Hsr