The Elbert County tribune., 1915-12-24
Removal of About Ten Million
Cubic Yards of Dirt win
End Slides.
CAN'T SET FINAL OPENING
Nothing to Do Now but Carry Away
Earth as It Appears-Underlyin
Strata Not Strong Enough
to Withstand Pressure
of Banks.


Washington.-Gener Goethals has
sent long report from Panama on
the recent slides in the big ditch. He
estimates that from seven to thirteen
million cubic yards of earth will have
to be removed from the cut before the
slides are entirely stopped He be-
lieves that the amount will really
prove to be about ten million cubic
yards. 1t should not be inferred, how
ever, that the canal must be closed
for ten months, or until this large
amount is taken out, for 1t is the in
tention to pass ships as soon as a nav
igable channel is opened with a fair
prospect of maintaining it. He does
not know just when this will be ac-
complished.
Canal Means Much Loss to Shipping.
While no figures are available at
the Washington office of the Panama
canal or at the war department. show.
ing the actual losses sustained by com
merce by reason of having large num-
bers of ships tied up at the Atlantic
and Pacific entrances to the canal, of
ficials concede that the losses have
been enormous. There is a feeling
however, that some shippers are in
clined to exaggerate their losses Only
the shippers can give actual fignres of
their losses or even approximate them
The loss to commerce would not
have been as great had the Panama
railroad been in position to move a
larger volume of traffic across the
fsthmus. The inadequacy of the old
rail system to meet the situation can
be realized when 1t is known that at
the height of its activity before the
opening of the canal 1t hauled total
of 643.17S tons across the isthmus
In IL months. There were about 375.-
600 tons of cargo in vessels awaiting
passage through the canal after the
slides blockaded it and before any of
them left to take the longer routes.
Even If the Panama railroad had pre-
served all of it's rolling stock much of
which went out of business when the
canal was thrown open to traffic a
year ago, it would have required
months to move the freight tied up at
the Atlantic and Pacific ports about
october /, to say nothing of what has
arrived since.
Governor Goethals and the Panama
railroad authorities are doing every.
thing possible to facilitate traffic
across the isthmus by rail, giving pref
erence to rush" and perishable com
modities. Between October / and Oc-
tober Is the railroad moved upward
of forty-six thousand tons of through
freight transshipped from the Atlantic
Pacific in, I'D, a
usual volume of 10000 tons of local
freight
Minimum Flat Rate by Rail.
Including coal shipments, the Pan
anna railroad is now handling between
four and five thousand tons of trans
1sthmian freight per day. Two extra
freight crews have been put on. The
run across the isthmus is about 216
hours. At the time the great slides
occurred the traffic through the cana,
was averaging upward of sixteen thou-
sand tons daily and gradually iDcreas-
Ing. While the railroads facilities
are wholly inadequate to handle the
entire traffic, it is taking care of con-
siderable of it.
To make the financial loss as light
as possible on shippers Secretary of
War Garrison issued an order estab.
fishing temporarily fiat rate rate by
rall OF S3 per ton. The regular rates
range from So per ton on Glass com
modities to SIS on Classes D2 and tt.
While only small volume of traffic
moves under the higher classes. the
nat rate of SO per ton is exceptionally
regular schedule of rates. including
wharfage, craneage and stevedoring
The fiat rate of SO covers all of these
charges and Just meets the actual COST
OF the operation.
Discusses Earlier Slides.
General Goethals in the first part of
his exhaustive report discusses the
causes of the earlier slides, the theo-
nes offered in explanation of them
and the steps taken to check the move
ment of the banks and bottom of the
ditch. Then he comes to the slides
OF October of last year and their
treatment. He says in part:
Ships were passed through the ca.
nal when a channel of sufficient width
and depth was dredged through Cuca.
racha slide, and when there was every
reasonable hope of maintaining it. In
this respect there was no SUBSEQUENT
disappointment and the dredges were
completing their work in this locality
when, on October IA. 1914. without
any warning, section of the east bank
north of Gold hill settled vertically 20
feet This section measured 1000 feet
along the prism face and extended
back about 1000 feet from the axis of
the canal. generally along an irregu-
lar curved line
Tho -. af hr