Show SAYS HE GAN CLEAR GANAL removal of about ten million cubic yards of dirt will end slides CANT SET FINAL OPENING nothing to do now but carry away earth as it appears underlying strata not strong enough to withstand pressure of banks washington batill agton general G an oral goethals Goeth aln has be a sent a long report from panama 0 on u the recent slides in the big ditch lie he estimates that from seven to thirteen million cubic yards of earth eart h will have to be removed from tho them cut before the slides are entirely stopped ile ho believes behaves that the amount will realty really provo prove to be about ten million cubic yards it 11 should not be interred inferred how ever that the canal must bo be closed for ten months or until this largo large amount Is taken out for it Is tho the intention to pass ships as soon as a na navigable v channel Is opened with a fair prospect of maintaining it lie he does not know just when this will be accomplished complis hed canal meant means much loss to shipping while no figures aro are available at the washington office of the panama canal or at tile the war department showing the actual losses sustained by commerce by reason of having largo large numbers of ships tied up at tho the atlantic and pacific entrances to the canal officials concerto concede that the losses have been enormous there to la a feeling however that some shippers are 1 inclined n to exaggerate their losses only 0 aly the shippers can glye give actual figures of their losses losse soreven or oven approximate them the loss to commerce commerce would not havo have been as great had the panama railroad been in position to move a larger volume of traffic across the isthmus the inadequacy of tho the old rail system to meet the situation can be realized when it Is known that at the height of its activity before the opening of the canal it hauled a total ot at tons across tile the isthmus in 12 months there were about tons of cargo in vessels awaiting passage through the tha canal after the slides blockaded it and before any of them left to tako take the longer routes even if the panama railroad had pro served all of its rolling stock much of which went out of business when the canal was thrown open to traffic a year ago it would have required months to move the freight tied up at the atlantic and pacific ports about october 1 to say nothing has arrived since governor goethals and the panama railroad all authorities t are doing everything possible to facilitate traffic across the isthmus by rail giving preference to rush and perishable commodities modi ties between october I 1 and october 18 the railroad moved upward of forty six thousand tons of freight transshipped trans shipped from tha atlantic and pacific sides in addition to the usual volume of tons of local freight minimum flat rate by rail including coal shipments the panama railroad Is now handling between four and live five thousand tons of trans isthmian freight per day two extra freight crews have been put on the run across the isthmus Is about 2 hours at the timet time the great slides occurred tile the traffic through tho the canal was averaging upward of sixteen thousand tons dally daily and gradually increasing while the railroads facilities are wholly inadequate to handle the entire traffic it la Is taking care of considerable sid erable of it IL to make tho the financial loss as light as possible pos on shippers secretary of war garrison lson issued an order establishing temporarily a flat rate rate by roll rall of 3 per ton the regular rates range from 2 per ton on class 6 5 commodities modi ties to 15 16 on classes da and tl TI while only a small volume of traffic moves under the higher classes the fint rate of 3 per ton Is exceptionally low shippers can elect to pay the regular schedule of retail rates including crane crannage cra age and stevedoring the flat rate of 3 covers all of teso charges and just meets the actual cost of 0 the operation discusses earlier slides general ell oral goethals Goot hals in the first part of hla his exhaustive report discusses the causes of the earlier slides elides tho the theories offered in explanation of them and tho the steps taken to check the movement of the banks and bottom of the ditch then he cornea comes to the slides of october of last year and their treatment lie ho says saya in part ere passed through the canet canal when a channel of sufficient width and depth was dredged through cuca racha slide elide and when there was every reasonable hope of maintaining it in ehte respect there was no subsequent disappointment and the dredges were completing their work tn in this locality when on an october 14 IM without any warning a section of tho the ev erst at bank north of gold hill settled verli vertically cally 20 feet this suction section measured 2000 feet along the prism face and extended back about 1000 feet from the axis of the canal generally aloisa alot an bregu lar curved line the top of 0 the tha bank was from soo to feet above sea level and the he extension of the he ground eastward won wan relatively flat country in tile settlement tile alio upper portion that broke away remained practically parallel to in its original position and the benches which formed the upper part of the slide had not changed their relative positions though they were badly broken up while the lower strata were squeezed out across tile the canal subsequently the broken miles mass moved into tile the cut reducing the depth of water front from 46 45 feet to nine inches at an one point until august 1916 tile dredges were able for the most part to keep up with the movement its as it come camo down and probably would have been able to maintain this condition had not lot 1 a I movement occurred on the west bank necessitating work on this side bide to the detriment of the east bide aide where obstruction lies A crack was hiis found on the slope elope of 0 t zion hill in III juno june 1914 but oba ob senra erva lions eions mado made upon it showed no movement and the solidity of tile the hill was waa never doubted subsequent to the break on the tha cast side bide a gradual but general breaking up of the west bank followed find and the crack on the mope increased in size and now new ones developed farther up the hill until finally one extended to elevation the limit of the present break tho the movement into the cut from the ho west batik bank occurred early in august 1916 when a 0 section of zion hll hill broke away arld and settled down the edge of the break on this side Is also a curve the movements from tho the two sides aro arob toward the central portion of the area and at this central portion Is the obstruction to the channel it first appeared as an island forced up from the bottom then as a peninsula projecting from the east bank and finally was pushed entirely across the channel completely clo closing s it the dredges in attacking the closure have made little headway thus far for any gain was offset by a movement in the vicinity or in the rear of the lie dredges fore forcing I 1 ng them to withdraw and begin again their approaches pro aches on it these successive 11 movements are duo due in largo large measure to the rains which wore were above tho the average through october the amount of material blocking the canal at this locality could be easily removed in ten en days but tor for tile the recurring movements who when a cut la ili secured through this mass and it can bo be held some idea can be formed of when the passage of ships can be resumed but until this Is accomplished it Is impossible to make any predictions sluicing produces results sluicing the obstruction Is ili producing some results and the nozzles aro are being increased and streams with greater pressure are to bo be put it at work to force the material to the dredges and to draw down the material which is as the cause of obstruction this sluicing however will not decrease the amount of material to be handled by the dredges in the meantime the dredges not employed on the obstruction are working to the north of it dig ging the channel to full depth and as much wider than the prism as Is necessary to remove those portions of the slide in moving toward the cut the material on oil the cast side to Is forming int into 0 a succession of waves which move gradually into the prism the one that occupied part of the channel in october Is being dug away except at the obstruction another has formed in Us its rear and still another to Is forming up the slope of the hill this material in moving down has at the same time taken away the support of the overlying rock on the north side aide of gold hill which being seemed seamed becomes overbalanced over balanced and breaks away producing tile the same results as occurred on tile the south face of gold hill during the removal 0 of f cucaracha Cuca racha slide on the west bank the wave effect off act Is also evident hero tile the bank was pushed forward horizontally into the channel followed hy by a settlement of the mass the benches in some portions still maintain their relative position with respect to each other but the ground in their rear settled forming sink holes on the side bide away from the prism there to Is some movement northward along the axis of those these depressions pres press lons into the prism the southern portion of this west bank has come to rest but projects into the channel the breaks in the vicinity of culebra cut were handled by excavations in the prism and by steam shovels shovel 3 lightening tho the banks above at cuca eraclia a reat ireat deal of material was diverted from tile prism by when the break of october 19 1814 1914 occurred an examination was made to ascertain it if relief could be afforded by either cither of these methods but neither was practicable for the east cast bank some of the difficulties the configuration of 0 the ground made it impossible to mules any main riot rial away from the prism steam shovels and aralua could not operate on any portion of the broken mass which was incapable of giving them necea sary support and so BO far as concerned the stretch of ground between the break and the limiting crack it wits was in such condition that before preparations could be completed for beginning work jt it would be broken up en BO that steam shovels could effect nothing subsequent developments have verli fled this no further cracks or indications of a further extension eastward have occurred and judging from patst experience the existing limits arc R c marked the farthest section being 1300 feet from the east water line of the canal similar investigations were made with regard to the use ot 0 steam chov olo elo and sluicing operations on the wet west bank hk of 0 the he ground la Is such that alt all tho the material in lite hie present movement will bo be taken awn away long before the alio arpa area involved could bo be reached like the cast side sluicing away from rora the direction of the prism Is impracticable tile conclusion reached therefore was waa that the only method of handling tho the slides on oil the two banks Is B to ro move the material from lite hie gricin by dredges as it comes in the breaks on tho the two banks are clearly defined and judging from experience with other slides and breaks the limits of tho the movement have been reached confirmed by geologists mr macdonald MacU onald the ihu formerly employed passed through here bore on his way to costa alica three beelin ago and after going thoroughly over tho the slides reached the lie same conclusions as to the limits to which the alding would take place and the methods employed tor for handling tile the material life ills profession tits his intimate knowledge of the he formation of tho the locality and his experience with tho the various slides and breaks make his opinions on tho the subject of value lie ho also expressed the bellel belief that the troubles duo to slides would end crid witt with the removal of the material from those in ili progress when tile tho break occurred in ili october 1914 and the subsequent breaking up of lie ho west bank become evident it was decided to augment tho the dredging fleet elect by another 16 15 yard dipper dredge and three 1000 cuble yard barges barbea all of which aro are now in service anil aad tile the dredges are handling at tho the slide nearly a million cubic yards per month at a cost lose less than 30 cents per cubic yard As AB to tile the amounts involved it to Is difficult to mako make any reliable esti mate As already stated when tile the break occurred nt at cucaracha Cuca racha in 1013 it was estimated that cubic yards were involved but before the movement ceased cubic yards yard it wore were taken out by steam shovels and dredges in addition to upward of ri a million cubic yards of material which would havo have entered the prism had it not been removed by sluicing the length of the slides elides which are directly opposite each other Is approximately 2200 foet feet tile the channel through which Is navigable with the exception of COO feet the banks anro ato feet fact above sea level on the cast and extend up to feet above sea level on the west tile the area of the territory affected on the east cast side covers 81 acres and on the west tilde acres must reach anole angla of repose assuming that all material lying above planes extending fron rom I 1 tho the outside tho the bottom of the prism referred to up to tile tho limits of the breaks will move into the cut cubic yards will have to bo be removed before tile he slides are entirely stopped mr air comber resident engineer of the dc dredging edging division as slimed a surface parasol to the our bur face existing on october 14 the date data of tho the last complete completo survey and 46 45 feet below it on which basis cubic yards would be tho the quantity to be handled lie ho thinks however that a mean between tile tho two amounts may bo be more nearly correct which was tile the method of arriving at it the cubic yard figure which tins lias appeared in tile the press it to Is at best only a guess it roust must not bo be inferred from tuii tills that the canal will bo be closed until this amount Is dredged for such Is not th the caso case on the contrary it Is the intention to pass ships as soon boon as a channel is secured through tho the remaining feet and there aro are reasonable reneo grounds for assuming that a channel through the obstructed area can bo be maintained it Is certain that tho the troubles urn I 1 duo due to the failure of underlying strata because these were unable to bear tho the weight that tho the banks brought upon them under the circumstances it Is difficult to understand the impression that line has gained credence in somo some tors torn that a sea lovel level canal would havo have avoided tho the difficulties encountered since the cutting would have boon bein through tile the samp same material but at least eighty feet deeper it to Is also alao certain that hat nothing can stop the movement now in progress until the anglo angle of repose Is reached for the materials under the conditions that exist and that this can be reached only by removing tho the excess amount of material if experience counts tor for aught then that gained in the handling of the slides elides and the breaks that havo have occurred along the line of the canal leaves no doubt that thai the means adopted and now in uso use will effect a cure in tho elliou elldon that hat now close the canal furthermore that when cured no further troubles need bo be anticipated from slides elides in this his to lo c aliby |