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Grady County Progress—Special Edition
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The Oldest Jewelry Establishment In
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CUCARAO&L 32,11*4 STR
Colon, C. Z.—If you wish to hear
“language,” just say "Cucaracha”- to
one of the engineers engaged in build
ing the central division of the Panama
canal.
Cucaracha in Spanish means a
cockroach. In the Canal Zone it
means the greatest of the numerous
slides that have made the completion
of the Culebra cut so different and so
expensive. Why that slide was named
•the cockroach I could not discover.
Certainly even the Panamanian cock
roach is not so large, and he moves
much more swiftly.
Before the first French company
quit operations in 1889 the Cucaracha
began to slide, and it first gave the
Americans trouble in 1905, the second
year of their work on the canal. Be
tween then and July i, 1912, nearly
3;000,000 cubic yards of material was
removed from the canal because of
It. The slide had broken nearly 1,900
feet from the axis of the canal, and
covered an area of 47 acres. Last fall
the engineers were congratulating
themselves on having the cockroach
stopped, but In January it started
moving again, and nearly covered the
bottom of the cut.
“What is going to be the cost of
that slide to the United States?” I
asked Colonel Goethals as we stoqd at
the edge of the Culebra cut and look
ed across the Chasm to where the
steam shovels and hundreds of men
were laboring to remove the vast
mass of earth and rock.
“Well,” the chief engineer'replied,“our
estimate is that by the time it is all
cleared, up it will have required the
expenditure of about $5,000,000 more
than th^ cut would have cost if the
slide had not occurred. It is still mov
ing, and has broken so far back that
Giant Steam Shovel.
now we are shoveling the crest away
from the canal in order to relieve the
pressure from above. Before the move
ment in.January began the excavation
in the cut at that point had been
carried to within 16 feet-of the canal
bottom. Digging out that 15 feet of
material removed the support of the
Cucaracha, and down It came. If we
could have turned in the water and
taken out the 16 feet with dredges, I
think the pressure of the water would
have done much to prevent the slide.”
<‘What of the future?” I asked. "Is
there any danger of slides occurring
after the canal is opened?”
"Absolutely, none, I believe,” he an
swered. “When the excavating and
dynamiting have ceased and the wa
ter is in, It will be quite safe. We
have the slides and breaks mapped
out as far back as there is any Indi
cation of their extending, and are
working back to those lines. It is
merely a matter of persistency and pa
tience.” , i
“When will the water be let Into
the cut?”
In October,” replied Colonel Goe
thals. “But there will be no celebra
tion over the event. That one in Jan
uary, 1915, is-giving.us enough worry,
and we don’t forget the premature and
ridiculous celebration by Ferdinand de
Lesseps many years ago. We will just
turn the water in—that’s all. Then we
can complete the excavation there
with suction dredges, which will do
-the vyork cheaply and rapidly."
"And when will boats'be'passing
through the canal?”
“That I cannot say, but the sooner
the better, for the operating crews
must be properly trained before that
January celebration. I wouldn’t have
an accident occur for anything. If we
cannot have commercial vessels going
through before then, I shall ask the
government to send naval vessels
through, so the operating forces can
get the experience. Anyhow, I want
to see the canal qpened to commerce
as soon as possible, for It is- revenue
I am after.” )
Another day I stood with Col. D. D.
, Gaillard, the engineer of the central
division, outside his office in Empire,
and watched his army laboring in the
cut, the completion of which has
been his biggest task and greatest
glory. Right at our feet a big area
had sunk down 70 feet in a night, and>
if there had not been warnings of the
break a wing of the colonel’s office
building would have gone down with
it. “We had just time to remove that
wing,” said he, “and my office force is
rather nervous now, for there are
, three big cracks under the main build
ing. I expect it, too, will have to be
torn down very soon.
| "These slides used to make us rath
er despondent, for it seemed as if they
| never would ■ stop, but the progress .
: wo are making this year has cheered
up the operating forces again, and
i we can see the end of the task. The
slide and' the break are quite differ
ent. In the former the earth slides
at an angle down a sloping face of '*
rock, and in the latter the mass sinks
straight down and' at the bottom
bulges out' into the channel. Along :
both sides of the cut you can see nu
merous small slides and breaks. Those
are in-pockets in the rock wall, and,
annoying as they are, they only need V
cleaning out. The Cucaracha started
as a slide and now it is both a slide,-,
and a break. -*
“Incidentally, that cut should be a
great place for geologists. I have
found in it every kind of rock except:
granite, and many interesting fossils;
and petrification have been discover-'
ed there. In one stratum tUrough;
which we cut there were found a great
number of teeth of prehistoric varie
ties of sharks.”
“What is your opinion concerning
tbie date when the canal will be ready
for commerce?” I asked.
“If I had my say," said the colonel
emphatically, "not a commercial ves
sel would be allowed in the canal un
til it is absolutely complete down to
the smallest detail. In some of the
many safety devices were not in op
eration and an accident should result,'
the canal would get a black eye from
which it might not recover for a long’
time. Officially, the time for . the com- ~
pletion of the canal is- still January
1, 1915. It may be done before that.-
date, but in March of this year’ there
was still -about $50,000,000 -worth of
work ahead of us.
“We. who havft been digging the
canal and are still here in positions at .
responsibility—I mean the members
of the Isthmian canal commission-—■
are rather fearful concerning that part
of the Adamson bill which permits
the president to dissolve the commis
sion whenever in.his judgment the
canal is near enough to completion.
We feel that it would be extremely
unjust not to allow us to remain ‘on
the job’ until after the grand formal
opening in January, 1916. It would be
much like permitting a boy to com
plete his university course,, and then
taking him home before he receives,
his diploma.”
Andjthen Colonel Gaillard said some
things about Mr. Taft’s- effortB to put
into effect that clause last January,
which must have made the ex-presij,
dent’s ears tingle a bit.
"The Culebra cut is like a three-ring
circus. I* don’t know which way td
look,” said one visitor to the zone.
It is indeed a scene of wonderful ac
tivity, Giant steam shovels are scat
tered through it, scooping up enor>
mous masses of rock and earth; on
half a dozen tracks on as many dif
ferent levels snorting and puffing loco
motives are swiftly drawing loaded or
empty dirt trains; along the ledges
are batteries of steam and com
pressed air drills, making holes for
dynamite; suddenly there is a toot-
tip.