Show MT GREAT i pill CULEBRA PUT CUT IS SCENE OF BATTLE BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE more D dirt being excavated now dally daily than during entire month of july 1904 1964 conquest of isthmian jungle washington wash in agton there th ero are those who have wondered whether apart from the tropical weather we athor tho the difficulties of overcoming the engineering obstacles of culebra cut were not overestimated but when it Is remembered that thai this nine rollo milo strip varying from feet to tho the top of gold hill west of culebra Cul obra la Is composed of rock slime gravel and tropical dirt when tt it Is borne in mind that tho the existing prism of this canal Is subject to frequent landslides and when it Is considered that this region la Is washed by a torrential rainfall which exceeds 12 feet bvm section of famous culebra cut yearly some realization of the difficulties presented will be possible it is one thing to blast and shovel a million cubic yards out of culebra but it Is another problem so to place the excavation that it will be out ot of the way for all time or so to place it that it if will protect the canal channel on the lowlands of the eastern portion of 0 the waterway the investigator at culebra as on other portions of the ditch Is impressed at the outset with tho the fact that the railroad Is the key to the situation both from an engineering and a sanitary standpoint this canal cannot be constructed upon a trunk sewer plan all of us have intelligent friends who seem to think that it la Is only necessary to excavate and throw the dirt along the bankson banks of the waterway dut but as the tourist obtains hla his first view of the cut at empire he observes that the rapidity with which the dirt trains are enabled to move out Is the measure of the days achievement through this region in order to assure a prism of definite width it has been found necessary to increase the proposed width from time to time as one landslide followed another and while that increases the total amoun amount of 0 the excavation it renders possible the placing of tracks one above another to abc acc accommodate omm tho the dirt trains during the month of july 1904 cubic yards ards of dirt were excavated at culebra cut one year later the monthly excavation was upward of cubic yards and during the month of july 1906 cubic yards we were re removed from the nine mile strips it is worthy of notice that on march 14 1907 the dally daily excavation was greater than the amount shoveled out during the first month of july cited the pre present di ent monthly excavation varies between six and eight hundred thousand cubic yards and with tho the passing of the rainy season where orientals Orient als excel ever since the Japan japanese esq and the chinese have contributed to the amusement of 0 the vaudeville theater patrons says the berliner morgen post these yellow people have been recognized as superior in certain lines thus they have remained well up in front as acrobats sleight of hand performers and jugglers some tricks of theirs can be executed only by people of their race A notable one of this kind is now a feature of one of our theaters two young chinese hang by their queues from low ropes suspended over the stage and with their whole weight on th tha hair go through many gymnastic evolutions Flina finally liy they grasp gras p by the hands two other acrobats who tug and pull at al the hands bands of the tha swinging men while they give an exhibition wt y strength and agility the performance for mance makes one marvel at the strength of the hair and scalp of these thesa people 11 cubic yards a month will le be the M W excavation record but back of this record of monthly excavation and ns as a preliminary condition essential to the present eul clency ot of tho the culebra army la Is the th story ut of tho the conquest of tho the lath jungle tho canal cut proper has been a constant source of trouble to tho the health division in many instances outlets for dral drainage ringe aro are fmura and the water supply can only bo be ditched in one pool the progress ot of each steam shovel loaves leaves in its train now and varied drainage dral nago problems tula this has necessitated constructing pools by filling in deepening ditches confining the water by rough itono stono walla and ditching the largo aldo pools thus ihus turning all the water into tho the main ditch whore where it forms forma a swift running stream unfavorable to mosquito breeding drip barrels of oil havo have been placed at points where tho the current slowed down and this combined with the rapidity of tho the current has reduced mosquito brooding in tho canal cut to a minimum the malarial reports of the district physicians being tabulated the number of cases in III tho the different camps la Is compared with that of the previous three weeks it if there is ia a decided increase of malaria tit ht any cami camp tho inspector of that district to la telephoned to look for the tha point of infection the mosquito inspector takes tho the list and goes over the whole ground in order of greatest increase locating or confirming the point of infection and reports upon tho the measures best ad adapted apted tor for the removal of 0 the same all the laborers of the district who can be spared from the dally ro routine work are at once concentrated at that point to make a swift and effective end to the mosquito breeding places |