THE PANAMA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6823, 29 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PANAMA CANAL.

•* THE report «f Acting-Consul Chamberlaine, , , jiSt pubHshSd, gives very full details regard- ' «' ! in* the progress and present condition of M. ''-.S'Laß-lpsigreatpwjej.i for construeting a '.SSip-wnal of Panama That the work is teing prosecuted with <rre-t enerpyand on a very complete scale is .■ sufficiently attested by. the information comprised* in • this interesting paper. The administration or the Canal Company 13 .located at Panama, which, as the reader is ,-'. is os. the Pacific side. For'its accom'modatioa the Great Hotel of Panama, a Duildiug ccntaiuiug 20G rooms, wae pur-oua-ed at a cost or £40,000; and all branches of the service are concentrated within its walls, the first §oor being assigned to the inspector-general and his staff, consisting of Sll agents" of whom more than one : half were contracted for in France, the remainder being - engaged on'the isthmus. The total of workmen belonging to the company's staff is 6155, • of -whom tiy far the greater number are Jamaictius. It is from this side of tie isthmus, where' the most formidable of the physical difficulties of the undertaking are met with, that the gigantic task ot the projectors has been attacked with mo3t vigour. The line of the canal, however, " .appears to have been apportioned throughout its course in separate contracts of more • or less extent, most of which are in full operation. The first section extends from Rio Grande, which is a few miles above the. mouth of the Chargres, to Pedro Miguel, and is in tbe haads of. the Franco-American Trading Company, who have contracted to hand over thi3 nortionof the canal, completed, in two years, at a cost of £250,000. Pursumg the line- farther along its'oonras from the Pacific towards the Atlantic side, the next ' section terminates at Paraiso. Here the preliminaries of every description have been . comnlated in the ehapa of workshops, stores. Offices, engine sheds, platforms, Ac. -aoout4lo laCourare? principally West Indiana, being en*a<r.j.l en this portion. The real "bed or the canal is here marked out, and .excavations to the extent of 25,006 cubic metres have alre-.dy been carried out. The next in the division of the great work reaches to tjniebr.i, which brings the canal to the highest level in the isthmus. Here the cutting through the mountain will be nearly 350 feut in depth, measuring down to the bed of t'i.e canal. Tbe contracting engineers for thi-> comparatively short but important portion are Messrs. Sosa and Millet, the former a Colombian, educated in America; the ■■ lattar a Frenchman and a nephew of the great * ■ sculptor of that name. Messrs. Sosa and Millet's preliminary works have b= en ener- . geticiliy proceeded with, and the labourers engaged cumber 700, who are supplied with wat-r from a splendid spring 3S yards underground. This portion is describe*! as not unhealthy if the sanitary condition of th« ■ and c.itnp is well maintained. Altogether, including rock blasting, the sum to • fee piid under this contract is £450,000. The next section ends at Emperador; and • here also, we are told, solid progress has been • ma-ie, 640 labourers being engaged, and all the prslimmary arrangements having been completed, including 12 excavators and 400 wagsbna in position, and all necessary engines, cvaues". locomotives, eteam-y;imps, andsoundiu" ar.d boring machines. In this section alo*:o -upwards of 100,000 cubu: metres have . alr-udy-baen excavated aud carried away; tbe'bills and hillocks near the banks have beta l-.-voll'-d. and the main work will take pla-e at the beginning of thenexi dry season. In sections there is very little solid rock, tk..'soil being saud, sticky clay sownwifch nugvftts lit qu irtz, and in some parts patches of sokist aud dolerite. The work, in the . Emp'Tador sestion is spread over three years, and will comprise excavation to the amount of 3,030 000 of cubic metres, ai a cost to the : company of £715,000. "On approaching . this saefcion," says Mr. Cbamßerlaiae, "you would' fancy it was a small provincial town in France; all the chalets, villas, aad other buiidin js for residing in are 'constructed on an eminence overlooking for some distance the li'ae of rail.". The next sections after Emuerador are Upper and. Lower Obispo; - the caaal iu this part cutting the river Obispo in five '.GiffurenS places. The quarters and cautontniiuta are described as " well arranged and making rapid progress towards comple- . tion.'" He« the special feature of the work . is the construction of a railway to the bsrrage of the Chigres—a vast reservoir to be made by a dam of stone and earth across the valley ICO feet high and 2600 feet iu length, and capable.of storing 680,000,000 of cubic znetre-Tqf water. Forthia work aii: engines are already erected and readv, with 400 wagt'oii3 aad requisite machinery. Moreovur7 430 men are at work on this section, '■which number will be doubled in the coming moutf-:. Q". leaving Obispo the next import.ii'.t SEctioLi is Gorgona. Hereabouts the .ca-.al cuts-the Chagres five times, and ] follj-.va it 3 beet where the curves aro not i sharp.- ■ The Mamei subsection, included in i this pnrtioii of the work, i 3 under the r.;an- { agemmt of Mr. "Walker, O.E. The actual work being carried out here is the clearing : of the Hue of the canal, by blowing up with ' dynamite roots and trunks of large trees on 1 one side, aud by hand excavation on the < other. Here SSO labourers are engaged. It -i vvr.ts at this spot that ths riots took place in 1 March last, when the Carthagenians mas- ' sacred several Jamaicans in a cowardly s manner; but it has now been arranged by : tbe authorities that a respectable armed i fcroa e.hall be quartered along the line of ■ wo ; k?, so as to prevent in future any frays i arisiu« from jealousy of race or otherwise. > The next sections are Saa Pablo and Bohic 1 Sol.'ado, between which places ihu cana 1 again cat 3 the Chagres no fewer than fifteer. J time*. These portions had ouly been in hanc > for.thekstfewmonUjs ; but 300 workmen were < employed, at. each station, laying tracks « co.*'2tructirjc; habitations, pegging out tht £ wi&fo and length of the canal, and clearing <■ stumps ani trunks to enable the engineers at c commence active work in the next dry c : season. We have now followed the line of * the oiual for something lik« two-thirds of its t cour-;p, including all the most difficult por- c tiou of the work. From this point to the * outlet into the Atlantic at Colon tlie soil is i described as soft aud marshy, so that the t powerful dredges at work will certainly make e short work of the remainder of this gront g undertaking. Each dredge is said to be n capable of excavating 5000 cubic meires a day. The last important station on the Atlantic side is Ga'.un, the headquarters of * the c-sntractors for the last- sections. The settlement is stated to have been completed for. that object by the Canal six « mouths ago, and to ba provided with well- -r conatructed chalets, canteens, ambulances, workshops, sheda, offices, and platforms. That j. the .-lutivity of the. projectors it not confineit to the Pacific end of the line is Eufiijie:tt'y attested by Mr. Chamberliiine's desj-ipuon of the aspect of Culon— u rad;c2ily changed as the town has become r by the presence of the Inter-oceanic o Cat!; , .' Company. Only the other day it was , a Email pluce containing about 3000 inhabi- ■' tanta ouly, and without comforts of any d'scripUou for visitors ; now it counts ten a thousand sonla, and several inns aud ' 0 restaurants. The "Terrcplein" and mole builc by the company to the westward nf the town, at the projected eutrance to tbe CanaL represent 28 aere3 of ground reclaimer], com- t j prising one million and eighty thoisand cubic mevres nf artificial earth and stjne brought w from a distance of two anfl-a half miles. Upou j this gr.-;ui;d sub«.tantir>.l houses, store-houses, t | and workshops have already been erected for j. ( the coinpaisj 's officials. At Colon alona 2800 men were at work, and eight sailing vessels o were disciiarging for the company at trie date J| of Mr. Chamberlaine'e report. Begirding the a| probable "period of .the ■ conclusion of this stup-.-ndoue eute prise Mr. Chamberlaine j t offers no opinion ; but it is evident that it is found to present no insurmountable diflicultiea, and that its complotion may confidently ba expected at no very remote date. .' :,'