HOW THE PANAMA CANAL IS PROGRESSING

Evening Star, Issue 14473, 26 January 1911, Page 7

HOW THE PANAMA CANAL IS PROGRESSING

Signs that the Panama canal is moving rapidly along to completion are contained in the annual report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the year ended June 30, 1910, which has just been made public. The construction of the lock gates has been contracted for and will be completed by June 1, 1913. These contracts have been awarded to the M'Clintic-Marshall Construction Company of Pittsburg, Pa., their bid for the entire work being £1,070,000. There will bo 46 gates in all, and according to the contract the work of erection at datum is to bwgin on January 1, 1911, and to be completed on February 1, 1913; at Pedro Miguel the work of erection is to begin March 1, 1911, and to be conducted May 1, 1912, and at Miraflores work is to begin January 1, 1912, and to be completed Juno 1, 1913.

—Cost to Build Canal. —

Of the sixty millions which it is estimated it will cost to build the canal, the; - ! remains only £25,400,000 to be appropriated. Tho total classified expenditure for canal work to June 30, 1910, amounted to £38,300,000, of which ovo.r six millions was tho not expenditure during the fiscal year covered by this report. Of the io'.d classified expenditures to Juno 30, 1910, 5.1 millions were for plant and equipment for construction work, of which £875,000 were expended during tho fiscal year. That part of the report pertaining to the progress being made in the construction work it; divided into Atlantic, Central, and Pacific divisions. Among the important pieces of work on the Atlantic division are tiie Gatun locks and dam. During the year 5,965,699 yards in tho dry and 435,178 yards in the wet were removed from the* look duunbers. In addition to this work there were removed 46,520 cubic yards of materia! in auxiliary, including dredging in tho French canal. The excavation in the upper locks was completed, including the trenching for tho curtain walls and for the lateral culverts in that portion whore these culverts were below the excavated areas. With the exception of the trenching required for the lateral culverts, the excavation for tho intermediate locks was completed. The excavation for the lower locks, exclusive of the approach wails, was also undertaken, and 375,000 cubic yards remain to be removed. The average cost of the excavation foi die past six months, including plant charges and division expenses, was 0.6751d01s per cubic yard. —Report on Dam. —

In speaking of the dam the report says : The total amount of the material placed in the dam during the fiscal year was, dry fill, 2,577,234 cubic yards, estimated on” car, or place measurement plus 25 per cent, swell, and hydraulic fill 2,933,175 cubic yards, estimated on borrow pit measurements, less losses ascertained by cross section when practicable. The average cost for the last six months of the year for the dry fill, including plant 28.19 cents per cubic yard; for the wet fill on the same basis 32.54 cents per cubic yard. The work of excavation was seriously hampered in many places owing to the "floods. The mest important work in the Central division was that done in Cnlcbra cut, the digging of which is one of the most stupendous undertakings in connection with the building of the canal. During the fiscal year 14.921,750 cubic yards of material were excavated from the Culebra cut, leaving 34,893,531 cubic yards to be removed in order to complete tills section of the canal. The remaining amount includes an increase of 6,409,560 cubic yards over the' estimate made m September, 1308. This increase is due to widening the canal north of Pedro Miguel lock so as to form a basin The total amount of excavation during the year was 27,945 cubic yards by steam shovels, and 65,513 cubic yards by hand, of which 44,948 cubic yards were classed as preparing foundations. Excavation proper was done at an average cost of l.ieedol per cubic yard, including plant charges and division expenses. At Mirallorcs the excavation for the upper locks was practically completed during the year, and the work'of preparing the foundations, erecting concrete plant, and placing concrete begun. The total amount excavated was 234,751 cubic yards by steam shovels, and 59,093 cubic yards by hand, scrapers, and cranes, the actual excavation work being done at an average cost for the last six months of about 5s 2d per yard. —Number of Employees.—

The average number of employees on tho rolls of the Commission during the past year was 4,569, and of the Panama Railroad 755, or a total 01 5,122. Mere than 60 per cent, of Ihe toial force w;w changed during the year, showing the usual unstable ehmaiic conditions.

laborers recruited during the year aggiegated 2,519; all were West Indiana, thlarger pari of them from Rarbadoes. Tie last recruiting was done in. January, 1910, since which dale immigration low exceeded emigration, and, as the work has reached jls maximum, the present population <1 the /.one furnishes an ample labor supply. There has always been an independent immigration from the West Indian Islands, but it wan not until within the .last four months (hat there, has been any such movement on fhe part of Knropenn laborers. During this period, however, 2,G00 came of their own volition from Spain and Italy. From the beginning «»f the ii-c.d year theio was a steady increase in (he force, until a maximum--58,676--was readied on .March 00. 1910, including the I’a.muna Railroad (~'ompa.nv and the tv local ion, and is the largest force on record. Since that time there has been a siigin decrease, but the total eU’cetive force on dune 50 was 55,578. as compared v...>■ 53,135 on June 5, 1909. The. health conditions on the isthmus arc reported by the chief sanitary oilier as an improvement, over those of the jne ceding year The iotai admissions to bos [dials and sick camps, including those sick in quarters, netted for the year 2t>,5JJ. The daily .average of sick, was 25.01 mn of every 1,000 employed, as against. 25.59 for the'preceding year. The totaljtiunbcr of deaths among employees was oho’, equivalent to an average of 10.84 per I.CJO.