Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1915 — To Check Panama Slides. [ARTICLE]

To Check Panama Slides.

The writer has had over two years’ experience in the engineering department of the canal zone, and has given considerable thought and study to the subject. The heavy rains of the canal zone are responsible for the slides, and if a large proportion of the water is properly drained off, these slides will have to slow up so that the dredging going on below will be able to take care of the channel, and thus do away with the constant obstruction to the passage of vessels. It is probably true that in years to come the elopes will take a natural grade, but the question is: “How many years?’’ The writer is of the opinion that it will be at least twenty or thirty years before such a result is obtained if the theory of the general is followed, and that shipping will be delayed each year for about four ,months during the period of the greatest rains, which is from August to December. The remedy that is suggested is the trench and gravel method. It has been carried on so successfully in the west and other places, that the writer does not hesitate to guarantee its success on the Panama canal if properly executed. The only question now is the obtaining of grave, and broken stone in sufficient quantities at a reasonable cost, and going to the expense of purchasing proper equipment, which was in operation on the canal at one time, hut has been removed before it should have been. Steam shovels and trenching machinery, rock crushers and other valuable equipment have been sold and removed, and before such a scheme can be placed in operation, must be purchased again. There is where the mistake has been made, in assuming that these things would 'not be needed further. . How much will it cost to delay these slides So that the fleet of dredges will be able to keep the prism open? Maybe not more than $1,000,000, possibly $2,000,000 or more. But what is that compared to the loss In delay to shipping for the next decade, and why is such a small amount (small when compared to the total cost of the canal) to be begrudged when its great benefit will be many times greater, not to mention the advantage of a clear and certain passageway in case of war? If such a scheme is to be carried ■out, preparations should be started at once to get the necessary equipment on the ground so that when the dry season commences in January, everything will be in readiness to begin operations on a large scale. The first four months of the year being dry months, practically no rain will delay such operations during that period. Dredging will have to he carried on in the prism below these slides for many years to come, no ma ter what remedy is applied, and the writer suggests the above as a remedy to the great delays in shipping through the canal.—Walter S, Wheeler in New York Times.