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THE MAKING OF THE PANAMA CANAL.

BY CHARLES PAXTON MARKHAM.

It was in 1878 when Lesseps, flushed with triumph over the success of his Suez Canal scheme, formed a Company in France to construct another canal across the narrow neck of land dividing the North and South American Continents, known as the Isthmus of Panama. The French nation to a man were willing to find him all the capital he required. After numerous difficulties work was commenced, but bribery and corruption and an under- estimation of the magnitude of the task caused the Company to fail, only to be reconstructed time and again with similar results. In addition to this, yellow fever and every possible disease known to tropical climates decimated the hordes of workmen who poured into the Isthmus from the West Indies and adjoining States. The

average time that any one lived was only fifteen days, so prevalent were yellow and blackwater fever. Men had to be paid enormous wages to risk their lives in this unhealthy climate, but even so, the number of skilled men who were willing to labour under such conditions gradually gave out, and thus the work of construction came to a standstill. The United States had kept an eye for years on the progress of the French Company, as the con

struction of this Canal meant the easiest way of access for their war-ships from one side of the continent to the other. On the conclusion of the Spanish American War very striking sanitary work had been undertaken by the United States Government in Cuba, and as 8 result of these efforts the island was rendered habitable for Europeans. Encouraged by this success, negotiations were set on foot by the American Government for the purchase of the Panama undertaking from the French Canal Company, and in 1899 these negotiations were carried to a successful conclusion. The Panama Government sold for 10,000,000 dollars a strip of ground five miles on each side of the centre line of the canal, which enables them to boast they are the only Government in the world with a credit balance instead of a National Debt.

For the first year or two practically no work was done at all. Commissions and inquiries were instituted in order to investigate the unhealthy climatic conditions that existed and propound remedies. The doctors have made the Panama Canal, for without the medical profession the great work which is now coming to an end would have been an impossibility. Panama to-day is one of the most healthy places

in the world. The common Army Engineers. The Canal house fly and mosquito are has a total length of about practically unknown. These forty miles. The water at insects have been conclusively Colon on the Caribbean Sea proved to be the medium by has a rise and fall of only which most diseases are carried, two feet as compared with and to any one who has only about eighteen at Panama on casually noticed the climatic the Pacific side. There are conditions where these raven- six locks-three up and three ous pests thrive and decimate down, and as vessels will be whole villages, the truth of travelling in both directions, that good old saying, "Cleanli- the locks were duplicated, ness is next to godliness," must making a total of twelve in have struck home. Panama all. The French Company had to-day is the cleanest place in decided to make locks 738 feet the world, and probably the long and 82 feet wide; the healthiest. The doctor is the U.S. Government have, howman who has made the country ever, increased these sizes to habitable. To him, and to locks having a length of 1000 him alone, the construction of feet with 110 feet of width, this gigantic work must be and suitable for a depth of credited. Engineering skill 40-feet draught of vessel, thus and ability are all very well, allowing ample margin for the but when workmen fall down biggest vessels in the world to dead in a few hours, as they pass through. did under the administration of the French, no work could be brought to a successful completion. Following on the doctors, a commission of expert engineers was sent down to Panama, and two reports were presented to Congress, -a Majority Report which favoured a level canal, and a Minority Report which favoured locks. Ultimately the Minority Report was adopted, and wisely so, as it has been proved during the progress of construction, and work was commenced about 1908 in earnest.

As no contractors in the world were big enough to undertake the work, the U.S. Government decided to carry out the construction themselves, and the work was intrusted to the U.S.

One of the greatest difficulties with which the old French Company had to contend was a river known as the Chagres, which in the rainy season came down with terrific force, washing away all embankments and filling up all the excavations. This river, which rises in the south, discharges into the Atlantic side of the Canal. The control of the flood water by the Americans has been one of the remarkable features of this great undertaking. To guard against the recurrence of the trouble which had baffled the French engineers, it was decided to make a dam at the Colon end of the Canal at a place called Gatun, in which are also incorporated the spillway and locks, six in number, with a total rise of 85 feet.

This dam is the largest in the world. It impounds the water over an area of 164 square miles, with a greatest depth of 90 feet. The width of the base is half a mile, its height is 115 feet above sea-level, its width at top is a quarter of a mile. It has been constructed by first tipping two rock embankments side by side, leaving a space of about 100 yards, and then pumping in mud and clay to form a water seal. The hydraulic dredges suck up the mud from the bottom of the old rivers with a considerable quantity of water. It is then forced through pipes about 18 inches in diameter over a mile in distance, and thus delivered into the centre of the dam, forming a puddletrench impervious to water. The amount of earth and rock used in this dam is over 21 million cubic yards. In the centre of the dam is the spillway or overflow. This is built of reinforced concrete, and is 300 feet wide, and connected directly with the bed of the old Chagres river, thus keeping any overflow water from finding its way into the lower reach of the Canal seawards. It is impossible actually to realise the quantity of water running to waste from a river which it is wide of the mark to estimate as twice the size of the Thames: 306 billion cubic feet per year is about the yearly average of water to be controlled. The annual rainfall of about 220 inches occurs chiefly during the period from March to October. It is

VOL. CXCII.-NO. MCLXII.

estimated that the water impounded in the artificial lake of 164 square miles will be enough for working the locks during the dry season, and also for the turbines which will supply all the electric current required for manipulating the lock gates, shuttles, &c. This latter plant is, however, to be augmented by a steam plant in case of shortage of water in the large lake, which it is estimated can be lowered some five to six feet without interfering with the passage of the largest steamer.

All the locks are alike and are constructed of concrete. A solid hill of rock known as Ancorn provides the necessary material, and excellent sand is found in the estuary at Panama. This is sucked up by hydraulic dredges and loaded into barges, from which it is transferred by grab buckets into hoppers which in turn discharge into railway wagons. There are about 4,200,000 cubic yards of concrete in the locks, and a similar number of barrels of cement will also be required. Ancorn Hill is blasted with powder and the stone then loaded up into dump wagons by means of steam shovels. These wagons are emptied direct into a stone crusher, which is the largest in the world. It will seize and crack over 3000 cubic yards of rock per day, and will admit stones about four feet square. A terrible number of fatal accidents due to blasting have taken place right through the Canal area, chiefly owing to

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carelessness on the part of the native labourers. The steam shovels and locos throw out sparks which are wafted in all directions, and one of these sparks falling into a powder tin or a hole partially charged has resulted in the loss of numerous lives. Again, an unexploded charge of dynamite may be dug out by the steam shovel, causing it to explode and destroy the whole of the men employed round the digger. The powder bill runs to about £8000 per month. There are about 560 drills worked mechanically, chiefly driven by black labour derived from the West Indies. The men obtained from islands in British possessions are well educated and infinitely superior to the native black of the Southern States. They are used as clerks and typists, and are amenable to the strict discipline which is very rigidly enforced throughout the whole of the undertaking. The head man, Colonel Goethals, and his assistant, Colonel Hodges, are men who have had large and varied experience, and the system of strict discipline they have instituted and maintain is most remarkable. One never hears an order questioned; it is obeyed at once and with a smiling face. Any laxity in obedience is known to mean instant dismissal.

Telephones are installed all over the Canal zone. Messages are written down in triplicate, as are all orders to officials. Nine hours a-day for every one (with the exception of the loco drivers) is the time worked on the Canal. The loco men work

ten hours, half an hour extra being given for taking out and bringing back their locos from their respective sheds each way. There are nearly 700 locos of all sizes, but as a rule only some 380 are at work. The water is splendid. Many of the engines run for five years without having their boilers cleaned. These engines, of standard American type, are very large, having 20" cylinders, 26" stroke, 6-wheeled, coupled, with 54" drivers carrying 180 pounds of steam. They haul twenty wagons of the double bogie type and carry about 400 tons a trip. The flat dump wagons number 1800. They have only one side, the ends and other side being left off. The intervening space between the adjacent wagon is bridged over by a loose steel plate. They are all fitted with air brakes and centre buffers. The gauge of the railway is five feet,-an unusual gauge, which will make all the plant of little value at the termination of the work. The steam shovels are of various sizes,-many of them take as much as eight tons of rock at a lift. The drivers of engines of all classes are white men, with black firemen. Enginedrivers get about £2 a-day. In addition to this they have a free house or room and as much ice and coal as they want free.

Stringent rules are enforced about housing and sanitation. The houses are all of wood and protected with gauze screens round them. The entrance is through a swingdoor, and woe betide any one who props or leaves a door

open. Flies and vermin of all sorts have war to the death waged continually against them by the doctors and sanitary inspectors. All ditches and gutters as far as possible are made of concrete and kept swept and cleaned. The houses are raised about four feet above ground-level, and beneath the house-floor no refuse is allowed to accumulate. The roads are coated with a mixture of tar, carbolic, and paraffin: and paraffin: all house refuse is instantly swept up and the streets watered two or three times a day with carbolic and water. The Canal administration can house about 5000 whites, and in addition there are about 35,000 blacks. Every morning ice and provision trains start out and supply all signal-boxes and offices with ice and pure water. The sanitary inspectors examine all houses as often as possible, and any old tins or cooking utensils which they deem unfit for use are collected and dumped on the tips. The natives are personally dirty, but they are made to keep their houses clean and in order, or else they are expelled from the country. Other amenities of life provided on the works. The Government runs stores where all kinds of commodities can be obtained at the lowest possible cost, but only employees are allowed to trade with these stores. The employees purchase a book of paper money with which they pay for all goods. No actual money is taken at any of the stores. In addition, at the large centres dining-rooms have been in

are

There are

stalled where the single men get their meals if they are disposed to do so. also a number of Y.M.C.A. rooms open to any one, and this society is doing magnificent work on the Canal by providing healthy recreation for the young folk. Highgrade schools have been installed at various centres, and special trains run backwards and forwards with the children living away from the school area. The high wages earned allow parents to equip their children in plain and simple white dresses, though now and again you find other costumes bordering on vulgarity. Most of the white population are down there to make money for a few years, and then their ambition is to return to their old old home, buy a piece of ground, and settle down for life.

The army of the Panama Republic is a sight to delight the heart of a Gilbert and Sullivan Major-General. On parade it numbers about one hundred men. The uniform consists of white duck trousers, button boots, blue serge tunic heavily frogged, square top yachting cap of blue with a great tortoiseshell peak. An old Brown Bess rifle, without a bayonet, completes the equipment. The colours are on a jointed bamboo pole some fifteen feet high, gorgeous in silk and tied up with bows and streamers. The national band are dressed in white, and have little ear for time or music. They, however, play in the Plaza or market-place on Sun

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