A Vindication of De Lesseps.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 4, 1 February 1908, Page 121

A Vindication of De Lesseps.

It has been the custom to regard the old machinery left behind by the French company which failed to construct the canal as in every way bad, in design, workmanship, and efficiency. Hundreds have seen the rustmg piles of scrap-iron lying m melancholy profusion all along the line of the old workings, only to condemn them unequivocally. There was a vast quantity, and the asset was considered too small to be counted of any value at all.,

The news is now published that one of the old dredges which has been lying in the Rio Grande for more than twenty years has been re-built at a moderate cost, and is capable of excavating 120,000 cubic yards of material per month ; as much in fact as can be removed by four of the most modern 95 ton 5-yard steam shovels. Of this resurrection from the dead of the old company, competent engineers estimate, that when it is put to service at the La Boca entrance of the canal, it will do more work than a modern dipper dredge costing It is pathetic to read that in the reconstruction of this derelict the various parts used were all of French construction, and were found in the tropical jungles among the abandoned material which had lain exposed to the elements for over two decades. Among the lot were three boilers m excellent condition, absolutely free from corrosion ; two cylinders in good shape, and the engine in the hull could not be surpassed, says a practical authority, by modern machinery, either as to adjustment or economy of operation. All of which is attributed by practical men, who have seen with their own eyes, partly to the excellence of the material and partly to the careful management which, when the work was stopped, covered up the machinery with lead and? grease. The reconstructed dredge is found to compare very favourably with an old Scotch dredge which the old canal company had in use for some years, and was abandoned as the other was, and duly re-constructed, since when she has done splendid work with a record of less than forty days out of commission for repairs in five years. When these two derelicts are at work together the effect on the progress of the work will be, say the engineers, very marked. A third dredge of French construction is in hand for re-construction, and promises to be every bit as good when put together and commissioned, with the use of French materials taken from the debris by the side of the canal. Add that the material removed by the dredges now at work is all taken out and dumped into deep water by eight self-propelled barges, and it is evident that the prestige of the veteran who built the Suez Canal can be well re-established by the work he has left behind him in the canal, which he might have made a triumph, but for the malevolence of political faction, and the dishonesty of political allies. At all events the reputation of the engineers of France will emerge with the completed Panama Canal out of the darkness of the past, cleared of the grave imputations of incompetency and carelessness. Perhaps, also, the plan of some of ,the best of them for a sea-level canal may also' one day be vindicated. Who knows ?