The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-18

They asked me to come In. They
said that there was an air channel
n a terrible pressure Of air coming
in. They did not realize It was gas
and could hardly conceive IL was an
air channel. because they were 500
feet vertically below the surface.
The gas was soon discovered.
because four or five of the men were
overcome by 1t in a few minutes and
had to be carried out by fresh men.
OF COARSE the men could smell and
realized that the air was not fresh. but
they thought that the gas had come
from the powder that had been used
there a few hours before.
We now have drifts in this same
property that have been abandoned
BECAUSE there was no mineral passing
through them. where hundreds Of feet
are absolutely closed up. In order To
open them again we would have to use
a. much powder as we did in the
original excavation. and the only way
thst one would ever know there had
been A drift there would he by finding
the timbers in places smashed into
splinters and In tho cracks and
splin-ers the rocks wedged as tightly
as they were before the ground was
first opened.
an working a shaft known as the
Halifax at Tonopah. New. 1t is now
I 700 feet deep. There il n section
about 400 feet thick in that shaft
at.ou. 700 feet below TIE surface that
has to he retimhered and eased of on
account Of the peculiar formation IT
passes through. This rock is moving
all the time, There are numerous
places that I personally came in con-
tact with in Eureka, Park City. Ton
opah and other mining camps where
this same condition exists and II il
Impossible ia keep an opening or pas
sagewuy clear unless you are continu-
ously working at IL
Ny first trip 10 the isthmian canal
vas about February in 1914. They
were then operating the great dredgeS
in the Culehra cut. Seeing the dirt
and material coming up from beneath
tic water and observing the character
If the rock, II occurred to me that they
TOO had come in contact with suhter-
-anean troubles and difficulties. and I
20, some If tho rock and had Il m
alyzod. 7 then put my engineer ~
work, going to Park City and different
po;nts where We had those troubles
with eruptive rock, flling In Will nm
limited material and the gases u1o
eating the miners.
After my experience with the gases
and the drift filling in for great dis
,anccs I began 10 doubt the theory
Of the g~eologist who had informed me
that the pressure was in III" rock itself
that it Vas a swelling material.
, through the weight If water pressure,
that was causing this trouble. We
took sacks If this material from the
pIsr,s that We knew were continuously
/, moving, also the places that had heen
filled IN. We kiln dried and roasted
4 4 and pressed II in squares, put II into
glass cases and turned water back On
il under pressure until We were fully
convinced that the theory Was wrong.
{ There was no expansion in the rock
@ whatever.
!, When Il, was kiln dried and roasted
q and water put hack onto 1t it did not
I even expand enough TO break the
i glass.
= We also analysed these rocks. as
/, we did the rock from the Culebra cut.
$ We found the ingredients about the
same. These eruptivc, or moving.
| rocks seem to come from the same
source. from TIA. same cause and are
made up Of the same material.
: stop and think what causes the
shocks and tremors which occur every
I few weeks what SHOOK down San
| Francisco and what caused cracks in
I the earth close to Santa Rosa, fifty
I miles away, where gas discharged for
days from openings 500 feet long,
@ where there was never an opening
before?
II These and many other comparisons
a" would tend To convince any thlnkinS
man that IN Central Amevtcn -
Panama. which is more subject Ia
q shock 81 and tremors than any other
part of America, there IL some rea-
son in the theory that | have adj
7" vanCed-
,c Should time prove that this theory
II has merit worthy of consideration ann
Il" there is anything | can do those in
" charge have hut to command me. NJ,
interest in ;his il merely patriotic
IT Wit, SINCERE good wishes for the sue
'r ,css nf the !-thmlan canal. have
Pc VI rl,Cd It ciuSc'N since tho America
IF ~GoN,rurneur secured ownership thersol
Z. from France I had the honor Of SIT.
ing N the senate Of the United State.
Fl as "A member from the state OF Utah
t. | favored the building of the greal
~ enterprise when the purchase ia.
made.