THE CULEBRA CUT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144084, 1 May 1913, Page 4

THE CULEBRA CUT.

ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES IN THE PANAMA CANAL.

CHRISTCHURCH, April 28. Air. E. Fondi Wright, a son of the Jntc Mr. E. G. Wright, who was associated with his father in several important engineering works when the Canterbury railways were being constructed. writing from San Francisco last month to the*editor of the Lyttelton Times, does hot take an optimistic view of the ability of ■ tho American engineers to overcome the difficulties that are confronting them at the Culebra Cut in the Panama Canal. Perhaps a portion of his letter may ho quoted without bringing down on his head tho wrath which the American people reserve for those-sceptics who venture to suggest that tho great 'waterway may not be open for traffic by the end of next year. “You may remember that some four or five years ago I pointed out that this slide would become a very serious problem, and X do not see how they arc going to cope with it. Supposing the canal was completed and steamers going- through, there is nothing to prevent a slide taking place at any time, and so traffic may be suspended for months and years, as these slides may take place faster than they can be cleaned out. The Culebra Cut is 45ft. deep, and the Chagros River is simply a mountain torrent, so that you can be sure it rises at least 50ft. to the mile, and that the bed of tho river one mile from the ditch is in round figures 100 ft. above the bottom of the cut.

“Now, everyone knows that when you dig a ditch the adjacent water drains into it, and when water can fall 100 ft. in one mile it is going to make things move further from the start. It has been recognised that these hills wore a moving mass and that they were not on solid rock. Then, in the rainy season, they have torrential rains, and ns the river, say three miles away, will be 200 ft. at least above the ditch, and as water will invariably find the shortest way down, it appears to me as if these hills will always bo coming down.

“It looks as if it would be about as practical to build a ditch across one of the shingle slides of one of your mountains ns it will bo to build one here.”