Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-06-11

ucdVy IdlHS except
and thus been weak
Geolosist Y 1'csA'd'
In view Of thesefsults .geologists
viii be- Interested know that Mr..
MacDonald's officia printed reports
q, long as five veal Ago emph'st'ea1'y
urged upon the diJ Lon enginsel. tnen
in charge of th1SxcaFstlor OF .ns
Culebra club TIFF these banks 'n..
have recently c1ed trouble by slid
ing be dug baclb til the slopes were
very much f,attel ham they werrwhen
these recent aes oecurred' oua
where MacDog pre0ntod tn<S
might be expect
The division ineer OF the sentfas
division. Of VIII the Culebrn cut
was the princfl part was always
absolutely conAeed that the slopes
considered sadby engineering prece-
dents rather }han those inc cana.
peolpRlst Techmendeh and urged
would he themes at which to stop
steam shovel kcavation. This engt-
neer's oninion Sfluenced Gel9ersl Goe.
thals, until thltime came, as y aio,
when the genial found that he mad
to take person. charge OF the excN
walton work in3he Culebra cut. When
he did this. i'd, In actual charge
came to see n1re in detail the recon.
~o1loo;ct hoH hoon.
making, he dopted them as far a.
the limits of lime and the advanced
condition OF the whole work then
made possibl Since that time Gen
eral GoethalJhas taken genufns inter
est in the SUGGESTIONS experienced SEQ
logists have Seen able to offer after 9
study Of locA conditions. This atti'
tude toward PRACTICAL biologists means
much for thfr future work with civil
engineers e}gagea in tasks in any
way similar to the problems of canal
excavations 4
W(rk IL INDICATED.
The vindeation Of the work Of the
canal geolqEisk 4ssi1s the last four
Or FIVE years made by these sxperi'
Inents has called into notice here ING
fact that it was the canal dredge az
vision ana not Geologist Macdonald
that fixed the approximate date Of the
last of November, 1916, as the time
when channel say 1875 feet wide
would be cleared through the sliding
ground. When Mr.. Macdonald, in DC
tober, made a brief examination OF
these slides during a stay here Of !:
lay, he asked the canal engineers
when they could get q narrow chair
mel through the mass Of earth and
rock that was then completely barring
he canal. They answered, 1.-TWO
weeks Whereupon Mr.. Macdonald
said to New York World correspon'
lent that if such a channel could be
put through by "about the last week
in November" so as to give the
lredges and scows chance properly
md effectively to attack the slide, the
channel could probably be kept open
md gradually enlarged to normal size
IN spite of the sliding movement. MI.
said that there would be
some possible chance Of the channel
closing again during the next four OF
i've months, but when the material
low moving had been brought under
control by dredging, no new sliding
hat would close the canal channel
would occur, "as long as Gabriel's
rumpet remains unsounded.' The
hedging engineers did not have a mar
ow channel cleared through the slid
ng material on the last of November
BECAUSE dredge broke down, but they
lad such a channel through about
en- days later. The governor of the
anal is not permitting vessels, ex.
:ept it's own, to 60 through the chan.
lel, because passage interferes with
he dredging, and because, as Geolog
st Macdonald suggested, there is
emote possibility of another closure
# the channel should very heavy
aims or other unexpected conditions
'ccur, until such time as the dredges
emove all the menacing material. Al.
er this has been removed, and it is not
'reat in quantity, according to meas
res on the canal, though it is known
hat small slides will occur for some
ears, no slide that will close the
anal can occur.