The Panama Canal and Its Makers. Vaughan Cornish

Hills just visible) 76 ROCK DRILL (These machines bore a hole 30 feet deep in eight hours) 82 ROCK DRILLS AT WORK IN THE CUT 82 THE CUT, LOOKING NORTH FROM CULEBRA 86 THE CUT, LOOKING SOUTH FROM CULEBRA 86 FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST TO DISTANT HILLS 92 FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST ACROSS THE CUT (Terraces formed by landslip are just visible behind the smoke of a distant steam shovel) 92 FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST TO GOLDEN HILL (Showing excavation in steps and ledges. Each ledge has carried a railway track) 96 THE CUT AT CULEBRA, LOOKING NORTH (The scarped face of Golden Hill on the right. Taken April, 1908, in the then bottom of the cut, 120 feet above Canal bottom) 96 GANG OF WEST INDIAN LABOURERS (Unloading spoil-train at Gatun) 102 GANG OF SPANISH LABOURERS AT CULEBRA (Working in the sun in April, which is one of the hottest months, less than 10 degrees from the equator. The men are wearing European kit) 102 STEAM SHOVEL EXCAVATING SOIL AT CULEBRA 106 STEAM SHOVEL UNLOADING INTO A DIRT CAR 106 STEAM SHOVEL NEAR END OF STROKE (The marks of the teeth made in a former stroke are visible on the right. Golden Hill, with the highest berm, or ledge, in the distance) 112 STEAM SHOVEL, STROKE FINISHED, LOADED WITH SOIL 112 STEAM SHOVEL AT CULEBRA 116 SHOVEL-MEN AT CULEBRA 116 SCREENED BUNGALOW, CHRISTOBAL, COLON 122 SCREENED QUARTERS OF EMPLOYEES, CULEBRA 122 READING ROOM, EMPLOYEES' CLUB, CULEBRA 126 HALL OF EMPLOYEES' CLUB, CULEBRA 126 CUT SOUTH OF CULEBRA, LANDSLIP ON LEFT 132 LOOKING NORTH, THE SCARPED FACE OF GOLDEN HILL ON THE RIGHT 132 LOOKING NORTH FROM RAILWAY BRIDGE AT PARAISO 136 ABANDONED FRENCH MACHINERY 136 GANG OF EUROPEAN LABOURERS (IN 1907) 142 A FORMER HOT-BED OF MALARIA, NOW DRAINED 142 NEAR THE SITE OF MILAFLORES LOCKS 146 LOOKING NORTH TO CULEBRA DIVIDE FROM ANCON HILL 146 RIO GRANDE, NEAR LA BOCA 154 RIO GRANDE, FROM ANCON HILL (Country north of that shown in the last photograph) 154 LA BOCA, FROM ANCON HILL 158 ANCON CEMETERY 158 COMMISSION'S HOTEL AT ANCON 162 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, ANCON 162 VIEW FROM SPANISH FORT, PANAMA 166 CATHEDRAL SQUARE, PANAMA 166 PALACE OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 174 OLD FLAT ARCH AT PANAMA (Adduced as evidence of comparative freedom of Panama from destructive earthquakes) 174 MAP OF CANAL ZONE (Showing also profile of Canal, cross section of Culebra Cut, the borings below Gatun dam, and the cross section of Gatun dam as designed in April, 1908. The design of this dam, however, is still undergoing modifications) At end of volume

INTRODUCTION

       Table of Contents

      AT the present moment the Canal Zone of the Isthmus of Panama is the most interesting place in the world. Here is gathered an army of 40,000 men engaged in the epoch-making work of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and here is the greatest collection of machinery ever massed for the accomplishment of one undertaking.

If the present rate of progress continue unchecked, the Canal, it is calculated, will be opened in 1915. Then will that Isthmus, which has hitherto been a barrier between two oceans but has failed to act as a bridge between two continents, be pierced by a waterway capable of floating the largest ships now built or building. Then will the Pacific coasts of the Americas be accessible from ports on both sides of the Atlantic without the necessity of a voyage by the Straits of Magellan. Then will the distance from New York to San Francisco be shortened by 8,400 and that from Liverpool by 6,000 miles; the distance from New York to South American ports will be shortened by an average of 5,000 and that from Liverpool to these ports by an average of 2,600 miles: then for the first time Yokohama on the north and Sydney on the south will be brought nearer to New York than to Liverpool or Antwerp, and then will New Orleans and the ports on the Mexican Gulf be brought nearer than New York, by sea, to San Francisco, South America