THE PANAMA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15518, 28 January 1914, Page 6

THE PANAMA CANAL.

REMOVAL OF THE SLIDES. GIGANTIC UNDERTAKING. DATE OF OPENING UNCERTAIN. - I [FROM OITB OWN CORRESPONDENT.] San Francisco, December 28. The date of the actual opening and operation of the Panama Canal by commercial vessels is an event now dependent solely upon one thing, namely, the removal of the prodigious slides of earth that, like avalanches, pour down from the sides of the mountain through which the Culebra cut has been blasted, filling the channel to higher than what will be the water level when ships are passing.through the canal. Had it not been for these discouraging slides vessels would to-day be passing from the Atlantic, to the Pacific. The locks are completed, and have been tested by actual operation. The same is true of the giant lock gates that swing back and forth to let the ships enter and leave. The Culebra cut has been gouged down to the required level, its bed being 520 ft below the summit of the adjacent range. Only the creeping earth from the sides of this range prevent the definite naming of the day when the canal will be a fact accomplished. The latest intimation from the members of the Canal Commission is that some time in January a passage will have been dredged and cut through the chief of these slides, the Cucuracha, to permit of a vessel being taken through the waterway. Then will occur -an. informal opening. It appears, though, that the complete' arresting of the earth avalanches so as to make possible commercial operation of the canal will be a matter of several months, and Colonel Goethals, the chief builder of the "ditch,", who is a man of extreme caution, will not pin himself to any date earlier than January 1. 1915. Ground in Constant Motion. The monumental nature of the task in dealing with the Cucuracha slide alone is apparent from the recital of the fact that it comprises an area of 47 acres of moving land, and has broken back 2000 ft from the rim of the cut. Over the whole of this area the ground ,is in constant motion. A system of cracks is ever developing and spreading all. around the upper rim of the funnel. From these the ground moves downwards and towards the centre to form the final mass of the elide. As a rule, the slide moves slowly—too slowly to be appreciable to a watcher. The forest moves with it. Huge trees and all the matted tropical jungle growth that surrounds • them slip along, 'so gradually, so imperceptibly, that the birds and the monkeys in the ■ branches remain in their wonted haunts, unconscious that their worjd is moving, to destruction. When the creepirfg ground nears the central vortex the pressure .causes a heaping-up. The trees are overwhelmed in* the confusion of broken ground and perhaps buried, only to appear again when the steam shovel sin the cut digs down into them. The Cucuracha slide is like a glacier in most of its movements., pressing ; forward slowly and quietly but irresistibly. Like a glacier, it bears a drift of, debris on its surface trees, , the i huts of - the ; natives, even the rusted machinery, left by the French, all moving to a common fate. . ,■•.: :'■ Foundations Squeezed Out. The gouging-out ' of the Culebra cut has weakened the underpinning of the hills, and the walls of the cut will not "in some instances stand up 'against the enormous weight from above have literally been 1 squeezed "out into the canal. Some of the great slides 'began in ; me French days. American- engineers re ported when they took ;: hold of the work, that they would Wear. themselves out/and that after/ a; sufficient amount of material had sloughed away; from the sides, slopes would reach a condition of stability and equilibrium.„.. From present ,'; aspects ■ that happy, situation is a rlong ■> way off. Colonel.Goethals is reported to have stated that, , while . the i canal s would \be readv •'.; for the commerce of the : world by January 1, 1915, it never would be finished.' In other words, he believes that the slides never will cease to provide work: for the "dredges unless it might ;be until the -.entire range of hills bordering Culebra cut-had gradually slumped into it and bad been laboriously scraped away after years of dredging. The Cucuracha is the most formidable - of these earth avalanches, but more than JO- slides have at one time and another interfered with the work: of the canalbuilders. At various places fissures* have appeared in the upper earth and ' spread and joined until a slide poured down into the cut. In August, 1912, a tremendous break near Empire ; threw a ■ mass of mingled-rock and earth halfway across the cut, burying an enormous quantity'-' of machinery, ' and. what was worse, allowing the diverted waters of the 1 Rio Obispo to rash into the cut and flood;part of it The quantity of earth removed from the cut has been increased by 20,000:000 cubic feet by reason of these' slides. v How much more will have to be dredged out no man knows There .is some hope that with 85 feet of water in the cufc the walls,will be bolstered up and slides prevented in the Three Forms ,' of Attack. ; ; : ' The undertaking of getting sufficient of this Cre 2? mg x earth out' of the cut to enable ships to ; pass through is an enormous oneAut the means. uUarTgW .Three, forma of attack are ■ empß by the engineers. While the dredges scooping up the debris as it poursffiS cut and! barges are dumping* it f ar £2? steam shovels with attendant dump S are burrowing into the upper levels taking off the tremendous top £ the ™ e ', nd ,? n the .'*&** *»P« of the hills hydraulic monitors are wasVng awa the ground and sweeping it over {£„?£ back canyons in. theendeavoSr to rob the slides of their last-source of/supply^These hydraulic monitors are singularlyeffeX They siuice off the ground with -its overshadowing forest and force T over in a torrent of mud and ,™i -. tangled branches. "Nt *? £&■"* the rear. These are the SEP th f t lead up to the head of < the ?£' ST ing area that feeds the CncurlS *"& the purpose of the engineerSi "J}* to eat into the head- of thfsMft' away to the back valleys *» S£>.? only means so far devised nf » ! • tbe Cucuracha in the attack »g ttteA telegram from Panama ,«». j„ '. stated that a channel 100 ft wS *? a «° deep had been dredged SuS th. of the Cucuracha slide that 1 Prtlon the Culebra cut, da£,mS&^ 3 dicates that at last thf great S" *'< workmen is removing the efrfh.* y of rapid rate than it &? from «8 ? more above. But it may be two ™, hei & engineers, before &?&&** the eaten their way back to 7 •&*?" h »e slide and are able to a&W °f the source. This, of course, n f the operation of the canal /„?£ prevent while. It is just a \,St m * fche - mean " that portion that hefact Si ° f • how *" can be dredged out. This LV- Cut moved, then the canal S 1 ?* jeoperation. Colonel Goethals iE. TCady . for to have this portion rft£\"? romi of the way by P Febr4. whi& Che °* bers of the commission more ±f mem say that in January this wlfl S"™ 1 accomplished. mil »▼• been