THE PANAMA CANAL.

Western Star, Issue 861, 19 July 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PANAMA CANAL.

5000 LABOURERS CARRIED OFF IH

THREE MONTHS. “ Our 20,000,000 dollars has been spent in establishing homes for the engineers and working men along the route of the Panama ship canal,” said Captain James Whitbank, who has been for more than a year engaged in dredging operations on the canal, and who has just returned home after a tough tussle with ; the dreaded swamp fever. “ Plenty of money there, captain 1” “ Oh, plenty. There is only one thing more common than cash, and that is death,. .Men die like the leaves in autumn. Only the Italians appear to live. The dead are disposed of without ceremony. A shallow grave, no prayers, and all is in a moment forgotten. There are now 15,000 men at work on the canal, mostly negroes from Jamaica and the French West Indies. These negroes are brought over in droves as fast as those at work die, and I venture to say that not two-thirds of the 18,000 labourers now at work will be alive a year from now. It’s dreadful. Five thousand died during the past three mouths j but the large pay tempts men to brave all the danger. The company appears to have an unlimited supply of money, and pays off every two weeks.” “ What progress has been made in the four years ?” “ Well, two miles,and a half of the canal proper has been dug out. 1 Originally this section was dredged bo a depth of fourteen feet, but is now only sis feet deep, the soft swamp lauds, pressed down by the weight of the dirt thrown out on either side, filling in the canal from underneath. A good deal of work has, however, been done with the great steam shovels in levelling the high lands through which the canal is to pass, and dredging will soon be started in those sections. Work is now progressing upon the only large mountain which obstructs the way of the canal from ocean to ocean. This mountain is 4,00 feet high, and’ nine miles in circumference, and is to be cut down with steam plows and carted away. The company has been compelled to spend 20,000,000 dols., as 1 said,,to locate'homes through ssvarnps from which as a basis the work of digging out the canal can be carried on. This work necessitated the building of railway branches into the swamps and the making of solid foundations with stone and gravel hundreds, of feet wide and miles in extent. Labourers get 3dols. a day, and skilled mechanics and bosses from lOOdols. to 350d015. a month.” “ Will the canal ever be finished 1”

“ Not, I think, unless the swamp sections are constructed with piling, and that would cost so large an amount of money that the scheme could not possibly pay. But the company appears to have all the cash necessary to carry on the work.”— Philadelphia Record.