Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-06-11
keep PANAMA a.
canal OPEN BY :
DREDGING ONLY.
WI
Scientists Prove by Experiments
< That Numerous Suggestions
Offered Are Useless.
GEoLoGIsT IS INDICATED
Found That Drainage and Wells
Would Do No Good-6eIieved This
May Be Last Time Great Wa
terway Will Be Closed.

way 0V 1OOS uVuO SIVQS W q.
terway Will Be Closed.
Ancon Canal Zone), Panama.-Tha
the rocks in which all the present slid
ing in the Panama canal. is taking
place cannot be weakened to any no
table degree by heavy rains, and Other
facts instructive for the civil engineer
ing profession, are results that have
been derived from investigations
made to ascertain what value, il any
there was in the innumerable sug
gestions for controlling the canal
slides that have been mailed to Gen
eral Goethals from all parts Of the
werld. 4. Kid
That there was nothing practical in
all the schemes that contemplated
draining the area that has been giving
trouble, by means of tunnels or wells,
as has been suggested from many
quarters. has been conclusiyely proved
by q series OF experiments made un.
der conditions that will make the re-
suits Convincing and Of interest to all
civil engineers and geblogists.
Advised That Il Was Water:
1T is the water in those slides that
makes them slide" General Goethals
has been advised in all languages. III
you had drained off that water by
means OF small tunnels and wells these
slides would not have occurred" and
''by means of wells and tunnels future
slides from this rock will be avoided"
are two other opinions that have been
insistently sent to him for long
time, and especially Of late. What
General Cocktails thought he did not
say, but a cable was sent for every
thing that was needed to conduct a
series Of Investigations that would be
the last and convincing scientific an.
swer to all these suggestions. Donald
F. Macdonald, the canal geologist for
the last five or six years, was retained
and ordered to conduct the most ex.
haustive experiments along the lines
of the latest geologic knowledge and
the suggestions of the commission OF
scientists that lately came to the
canal. Prof. J. X. Mead, a geologist
from the University of Wisconsin, who
has made speciality Of Just such ex.
periments as were suggested, was en-
gagged to come to the canal and assist
Mr.. Macdonald with his very special
knowledge of his latest development
Of geological work.
What Experiments Prove.
The experiments Messrs. MacDon'
aid and Mead have been making prove
that the rocks that have been sliding
contain about 30 per cent, by volume,
Of water, a very large amount. The
rocks that are moving toward the
channel of the canal are so broken up
that they have had every opportunity
to drain and to lose their water by
evaporation. Notwithstanding these
conditions, these rocks, as these ex-
periments prove, have only about one
half Of per cent less water than the
rocks of the same class that were ex'
amlned after they had been submerged
In the canal for months, period long
enough to have thoroughly saturated
them with water.
With this general result as basis,
Messrs. Macdonald and Mead con.
tinued their experiments until they
proved conclusively that while the
rocks that have been sliding contain
the high percentage of water men.
toned, this water is largely in capil'
larry form and cannot be effectively
drained except to the extent of pos
sibly or per cent by any system
that could be devised. No more con.
vincing argument can be advanced to
prove that not deep drainage of the
weak rocks but vigorous digging
away by dredges of the material now
sliding, is the remedy for the slides
under present conditions.
One Theory Absurd.
A theory held tcnaciously during |
the dry excavation construction period
among the engineers directly connect
ed with the Culebra cut was that the |
high ground above the canal channel
should be allowed to slide so as to
reduce the amount of blasting. This
was one of the many ideas that Cen
eral Cocktails had to override during
the building of the canal. These ex
periments prove that he was abso
lutely correct from scientific geolog
ical viewpoint in overruling this the
DRY and in digging away with steam
shovels as much earth as possible CT
the banks that might slide. Geologist
Macdonald from the first maintained
that initial movement, and by this the
great weakening of the canal banks
should be prevented by terracing the
slopes back with steam shovels; for
before any movement occurred, slopes
might be maintained at an angle of
something like one in three, or steep.