r—. ». j
- r*f aa>- TrS CRAGRfJ RiyfR \
■ lU i iI'N ©lie looks upon the gigantic
/ work that is in progress on the
Is-ha us -f 1‘acacia and beholds
wf | the hills and the mountains glr
mg way before the onward
» . * I m*r. h -f modern machinery—
sees steam, electricity. air and
water all ha rawed and made to
the bidding of man. fas ©an
hot stand tn ise and ask the
raestioe What is the propel
• f power ha k of this great
undertaking*
_I •. e guestioa comes to him tn re
dout -d fere as be remember* that the spot
on whir* *11 this great work Is in progress
a as ..-sly r' *-ntlj t> garded as the death-hole
of * :.e worid bat bus . w ben be beholds a
land treed from the fearful savage# of the dis
• ases that had for rectories taken their toll
of human life by the ten# of thousands, he is
.m*'rained to asa again What has wrought
this wonderful change?
And the answer nomes hvi to hint from
far down the rugged road that is filled with
the fumes of the msdt.ight oil that has been
burned by student* and men of science of
p**( and pmmi tines - O. fellow -toiler. B*W
and abuts and around and directing this
area* e*tsrprtse. upon which the eyes of the
world ar> .entered today, is the irresistible
power of w - ;• tra ced, cultured intellect.
1* i* remarkable -he number of people one
find# who its of the .opinion -hat the idea of
a ratal a* toss the Is tt.us of i'acarsa is some
•.i.ia id. r*i*nt origin, when the fast is. it is
Mi
i
■ i —■ i ————— ■ ■ _
J Ci/L£SRA CUT - JHOWJ/tG GOLD ML tLJ
have covered the sides of the excavation with
solid gold. The cut through these mountains
is known as Culebra cut. and is nine miles in
length—through solid rock. The cut begins
at Bas Obispo and ends at Pedro Miguel locks.
The question is often asked. What be
comes of the vast quantities of dirt, rock,
etc, that are taken from the canal? It is
loaded on trains by means of the steam shov
els and hauled off—a portion being placed on
Catun dam. a portion is taken to the Atlantic
and a portion to the Pacific oceans and placed
on the great breakwaters that are building
there, and yet other trains are busily engaged
in hauling the excavations to the railroad
tracks that will skirt the northern edge of the
canal, and which will have a solid rock bed
the entire distance. They find use for every
particle c! it. Getting rid of these excavations
has caused the Canal Zone to become the
busiest railroad center in the world. It is
said that S00 trains pass a given point near
the town of Culebra in a day. hauling out the
rock from the cut.
The United States is constructing a lock
canal, as before stated. These locks are in
pairs, each having a width of 110 feet and a
length of 1,000 feet. Each lock consists of a
chamber, with walls of concrete, and with
water-tight gates at the ends. The level of
water is to be regulated through openings in
the bottom by the operation of valves in the
side and center walls, which will permit the
water to flow into and out of the locks by
gravity. It is estimated that it will require
eight minutes to fill one of them. The locks
are the largest that have ever been designed
in the history of the world. The gates con
'• * -*'/. " CfiJ .'.Run CJLZBRA CUT
/RlJAO SGGUlL LOCALS
a maver zi.x' ha* enraged the attention of the
rt'J.tef world for nearly five hundred year*
Many answer rueful attempts hare br*n made
t« a' com pi.* l the ob;er* ic the past, and it'
m good te realist 'hat the dreass and designs
of the Spamei. adventurers of the fifteenth
cantmry are about to be brought to |mes by
Aaetrtt ewzmeer* of the twentieth 'entury
bpam. Portugal England and France have
each is turn made a failure in their attempts
to ta»rre the Isthmus with a canal
Cutambwa * s 'he first to propose a water
highway from Europe to Asia, westward, by
way of -he Atlantic. It was such a highway
be sou*, t. and not the new- world, which he
real:? found He landed on the Isthmus of
Panama, near the present site of Colon, in the
>«*r lSdC. but It was a Spanish engineer
aamed Saavedra, one of Balboa’s followers,
who firs' advocated the construction of a
eahai a roes Panama This was in 1517. and
sXer studying *be question for a dozen years,
he eubmttt 1 m* plans to Charles V . king of
tapuic Surveys of ths Isthmus were made,
bu' -he work of cutting a canal was reported
to be iroprw. - ..-able After the dtatb of
-alias X. his snrruggnr Philip II.. in 1657.
sect an enrlceer to survey the Nicaraguan
route, who likewise made an adverse report
The vitwttoa was then abandoned for 2o0
'on. af'er wLi<h time j« was again opened,
and feas b~-a befora the p> bile ever since.
in "* '-or Is- i the French people, headed
by faun* Ferdinand de Leasrpw. who had
gained hot fatae and fortune by the surcess
fu. -otw|l* oa of the Suez canal, took up the
natter 4 <■oustrutting ’he Panama <-anal. and
wen' vigorously to work to connect the two
iwnsswt The great engineer thought he had
na''.* an easier undertaking before him than
be had recently been successful in accotr.
I»hrtiitig—that the cutting of the Suez ra
tal but be *u vastly mistaken. As work
juncressed oc : be canal wit h seeming suc
cess. glowing reports were wafted back to
France «/ what was feting done, and the fame
of 4c bnfiW roe* to the point of flero wor
ship la > he was eP ;-ted to the French
academy, aad *. a saluted by Gambetta as
“tfe* Grand Old Pr« n-1 man " In 1**5 he was
seated among th< Immortal* Victor Hugo,
the great Freni h novelist, being his sponsor,
and Re*, a. that other brilliant French writer,
dthvrrcd the valedictory.
But the cark »-loud* were gathering behind
all this fantastic show, and in a few more
years the rms came. The evpendlture of
money tfea* h .d be*-o «-onfributed mostly bv
it. j-oor-t t-n;lc of Frail e was sojnethillg
■f”, • jrt b'lng placid as high as
i... i ,n , -r* i vesrs and then the crash
•swe burying a'h the wreck the hopes
I
and expectations of the great engineer, and
carrying sorrow and want to the homes of
thousands upon thousands of French people
who had contributed their little all toward
forwarding the great enterprise. The nation
was brought to the very verge of revolution.
Judicial proceedings were instituted, and trials
were had. extending over a period of five
years. There was disclosed to the horrified
world such an orgy of corruption as history
had never before recorded. A hundred French
senators and deputies were accused of having
taken bribes, and the police department was
under the same charge.
Count de I.esseps never recovered from the
shock—and went down to his grave In 1S94—
only 16 years ago—a broken-hearted old man—
but his fame will remain immortal despite
the sad ending of his career.
In 1903 the United States purchased the
interests and belongings of the French com
pany on the Isthmus of Panama, paying there
for the sum of $40,000,000—the assets consist
ing of valuable surveys, implements of all
kinds, many thousand houses, railroads, land;
and also paid the Republic of Panama $10.
000.000 for the Canal Zone—a strip of land in
said Republic of Panama ten miles wide and
practically 50 miles long—extending from Co
lon on the Atlantic side to Panama City on
the Pacific. Through the center of this ten
mile strip the canal is being constructed. At
present there Is an army of nearly 40,000 men
engaged in the gigantic undertaking of build
ing this great water highway from ocean to
ocean.
The first party of Americans went to Pana
ma in 1904 to begin work, but they found the
country infested with diseases of the most
fatal kinds, and the year 1904 was practically
spent in improving health conditions. This
work has been under the supervision of Col.
\V. C Gorgas, and so effective have been the
methods pursued by him and his able assist
ants in the Canal Zone of the Isthmus of
Panama that the health conditions of that
tropical country are about as good today as
those of the southern states of America.
Contrary to the general belief, the United
States is not digging a "big ditch" across the
Isthmus of Panama. When the canal is fin
tsi i d and ships are steaming across Panama
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa,
the waters of the two oceans will still be at
least forty miles apart. They will never meet
at all. A sea-level canal, which would have
allowed the waters of the Atlantic and the
Pacific to come together, is not being dug; but
an 85-foot lock canal is being constructed. As
to the relative merits of the sea-level and the
lo-k canal it is not writhin the province of this
article to discuss.
The K5-foot lock canal which is being con
structed consists of a sea-level entrance chan
nel 7 miles long. 500 feet wide and 41 feet
deep on the Atlantic side to the foot of Gatun
t pronounced "Gatoon'T locks. On the Pacific
side there is a corresponding sea-level chan
nel to Miraflores locks, about S miles long.
500 feet wide and 45 feet deep.
At Gatun the S5-foot lake level is obtained
by a great dam about a mile and a half long,
and nearly half a mile thick at the bottom or
base. The dam rests on impermeable material
of sufficient supporting power, and fills the
openings between the hills at Gatun. through
which the Chagres t pronounced ''Shaggers")
river flows to the sea. This river crosses the
channel of the canal no less than fifteen times
in its serpentine course and is one of the
most turbulent streams known during high
water, though it looks peaceful enough during
the dry season. It was one of the great ob
structions to the possibility of digging a sea
level canal, but this enemy has been converted
into a friend, and will be made to supply the
greater portion of the water for filling the
great artificial lake.
The great Gatun dam—upon the successful
completion of which depends the success of
the canal—consists of a water-tight center or
core composed of clay and sand mixed in
proper proportions. Those materials were
adopted after consultation with the best ex
perts in the world, who came to the conclusion
that clay and sand were the most impervious
materials that could be used. This material,
after being properly mixed. Is deposited hy
draulically—that is, by being pumped ifi by
dredges. This center core is confined by a
rock wall on each side, the rock so used
being taken from Culebra cut. At the bot
tom this impermeable core of clay and sand
has a width of about S60 feet, and gradually
tapers upward until a minimum thickness of
400 feet will be had at the water level of the
lake. The dam will rise to a height of 115
feet, or a distance of 30 feet above the level
of the lake. The artificial lake—which will
be known as Lake Gatun—will cover an area
of 164 square miles, or over 100,000 acres. The
entire navy of the United States can find safe
anchorage therein.
The greatest obstacle that has stood in the
way of the engineers for the past 500 years
in constructing a canal across Panama has
been the mountain range known as the Cor
dilleras—the backbone of the continent. It
was here that the French people wasted and
squandered such a great amount of money
. that the picture shown above is called “Gold
hill”—It being asserted that they spent enough
in their endeavor to cut through the moun
tain at this point that the money used would
sist of two leaves and are massive steel struc
lures 7 feet thick, 65 feet long and from 4"
to 82 feet high. Eighty-four leaves will be
required for the entire canal, and their total
weight will be 86,000,000 pounds, and will cost
nearly $6,000,000.
When the canal is completed—which Colonel
George W. Goethals, who is in charge of the
great work, says will be some time during the
year 1913—here is the manner in which a ves
sel from the Atlantic side will get to the Pacific:
It will enter the sea-level channel at Colon and
go a distance of seven miles to the foot of Ga
tun locks; there it will be lifted by means of
these locks a height of 85 feet above the sea
level to the surface of Gatun lake; the gates
of the lock will be opened and it will steam
out on this lake and go a distance of 23 miles
to the beginning of the great Culebra cut. and
carefully proceeding through this cut a dis
tance of nine miles, it will check up at Pedro
Miguel locks, where it will enter the lock and
be lowered a distance of 28 1-3 feet to the level
of Miraflores lake, and then it will steam a
distance of three miles across this lake to
Miraflores locks, where it will be lowered by
two flights a distance of 56 2-3 feet to sea
level; and then it will enter the Pacific chan
nel of the canal and go a distance of eight
miles out to deep water of the ocean. It will
require from ten to twelve hours for a vessel
to make the passage from one ocean to the
other—thus saving many thousands of miles
of travel, and many days of time in a journey
to any of the ports on the Pacific side of
the Americas and also to the Orient.
Colonel Goethals states most positively
that the cost of the canal will not be over
$375,000,000; and in this amount is included
the purchase of the French company's be
longings—$40,000.000—and the $10,000,000 paid
for the Canal Zone, and also the cost of the
sanitary department, which of course has been
a considerable amount.
In order to get some idea of what the
cost of the canal means—$375.000,000—and put
it so the mind can in some measure grasp the
figures, we make the following statement:
There are in the world nine principal canals,
to wit: The Suez, the Kiel, the Manchester,
the United States Ste. Marie, the Canadian
Ste. Marie, the Amsterdam. Corinth, Cron
stadt and the Erie-Ontario canal. The total
cost of all nine of these canals was $264,000,
000, which is less by $111,000,000 than the
Panama canal alone will cost at the lowest
estimate. But even if this amount is doubled,
the United States will complete it. The pride
and reputation of the nation are at stake, and
she cannot afford to make a failure as all the
other countries have done that have gone bs
foro».
Hunt Buffalo in Autos
T
* • - '
Earagcu Bison Escaping Front James
J. HtlFs Farm Is Run
Down.
The screams of school children bar
ricaded la a district school seven
wiu« from Anoka prevented a charge
through s window of the building by
the enraged buffalo that escaped from
James J Hills farm 20 miles away,
.pi pIt the clue to the whereabouts
of the beast that led to .its death, says
a Minneapolis dispatch to the New
York World
Reporters ascertained in their chase
of the animal that it really was a full
grown American bison. In an auto
mobile the reporters began the hunt
for an animal now almost extinct.
Even the skeptical people of the
country, who scouted the first reports
of farmers, who were terrorized by
sight of the beast, are convinced that
It really was a buffalo.
Early the countryside was roused
and the chase renewed. After an ex
citing hunt the animal was located In i
the heavy timber a quarter of a mile
from Barney Monlon's place, on the
State road. County Attorney H. Pratt
and Lee Giddings left the automobile,
in which they had been pursuing the
beast, and hastily entered the tim
bert tract. On the other side of the
woodland Pratt made out the creature
dashing through a field of stubble.
Though it was a long shot, Pratt fired.
This was followed by a volley from
Giddtngs, and together the men has
tened in the direction of the clearing.
A trail of blood was found, and an
other glimpse through the farther
thickets showed that the animal was
hampered in his rapid flight by a
slight limp. Later in the day the buf
falo was shot and killed by a posse.
The Shapely Back,
it is only within comparatively re
cent years, says the London Daily
Sketch, that women have come to real
ize the importance of the back view.
Bernhardt insisted on having the
backs of her gowns trimmed and It
was counted an eccentricity. Many
women are charming simply because
the lines of their backs are good,
while others get no redlt for pretty
faces because their backs are poorly
shaped. One reason for dressing the
back well is that people gaze at backs
more than at faces. It Is not permis
sible to do the latter, while nobody
can object to the format.
IMPORTANCE OF ERADICATING
INJURIOUS CATTLE TICK
Southern States Need More and Better Live Stock and
Larger Dairy Industry—Objects be Promoted
by Destroying Pest.
The eradication of the cattle tick
from the southern states is a problem
of prime importance to the agricul
tural interests of that section. More
over. the good that would result from
the elimination of the tick would not
he entirely confined to the region dl- i
rectly concerned, and thus the matter
assumes to a certain degree a national
Importance.
The south needs more and better
live stock and a larger dairy industry,
and these objects would be greatly
promoted by the destruction of the
tick. The increased production of live
stock by reason of its important bear
ing in maintaining and improving the
fertility of the soil, would be of dis
tinct benefit in increasing the yield of
field crops. An incidental though im
portant advantage of stock raising and
dairying would be found in the distri
bution of the farmer's income through
out the year, enabling him to live on
a cash basis. It can thus be seen that
the benefits which would accrue to
southern agriculture from the exterm- j
Ination of the cattle tick would be
very great and far-reaching.
There are several species of cattle
ticks, but the chief one is commonly
called the •'cattle" or "Texas fever"
tick. It is the one most frequently
found on cattle and Is much more
abundant than the other species.
When the losses occasioned by this
parasite are once thoroughly under
stood by farmers and stockmen there
will be little need for arguments in
lavor of tick eradication. Some of the
losses are not directly noticeable and
consequently make little impression,
while other losses properly charge
able to the tick are frequently attrib
uted to other causes.
Various writers have estimated the
annual loss due to the tick at from
140.000,00 to $100,000,000. These fig
ures should be ample argument, even
»o the most comprehensive, for the
eradication of the pest.
In getting rid of the tick, it may be
attacked on the pasture and on the
cattle.
In freeing pastures the method fol
lowed may be either a direct or an
indirect one.
The former consists in excluding all
cattle, horses and mules from pas
tures until all the ticks have died from
Pail Spraying Pump.
starvation. The latter consists in per
' mining the cattle and other animals
to continue on the infested pasture
and treating them at regular inter
vals with oils or other agents destruc
tive to ticks and thus preventing en
gorged females from dropping and re
tnfesting the pasture. The larvae on
the pasture, or those which hatch
from eggs laid by females already
there, will all eventually meet death.
Such of these as get upon the cattle
from time to time will be destroyed by
the treatment, while those which fail
to find a host will die in the pasturc
from starvation.
Animals may be freed of ticks in.
two ways. They may be treated with
an agent that will destroy all the ticks
present, or they may be rotated at
proper intervals on tick-free fields un
til all the ticks have dropped.
Spraying is probably the most con
venient and practical way of treating
cattle on the majority of farms. A
good style of pail spray pump will be
sufficient for treating small herds.
About 15 feet of 3-3 inch high pressure
hose is required and a type of nozzle
furnishing a cone-shaped spray will
be found satisfactory. A nozzle with
two small an aperture should not be
used.
Every portion of the body should he
thoroughly treated, special attention
being given to the head, dewlap,
brisket, inside of elbows, thighs and
fianks. the tail and the depressions at
the base of the tail. Crude oil alone
may be used, but in general a JO to 35
per cent, emulsion will be better.
All the cattle should be sprayed
every two weeks and the treatment
should not be discontinued simply be
cause the ticks have become scarce or
seem to have disappeared.
In localities where ticks commonly
occur on cattle In considerable num
bers during the winter time it will be
advisable to continue spraying. In lo
calities where ticks disappear or are
present in very small numbers during
the winter, the cattle should be in
spected carefully each week to remove
and destroy any ticks that may be
present. When warm weather comes,
it will be well in all cases in which
spraying has been discontinued dur
ing the winter to begin spraying and
continue until It can be determined
with certainty that eradication has.
been accomplished. The spraying
should not be delayed until ticks show
again in considerable numbers. One
tick destroyed in the early spring will
save the trouble of destroying thou
sands a few months later.
Lambs and Wool.
It is asking too much of a ewe to
make her grow the heaviest or next
to the heaviest fleece cf her life, and
raise a lamb in one year. It cannot
be done without checking the growth
of the sheep and producing a lamb
lacking in constitution. Continuing
in that line for several years, the
flockmaster will have a very uneven
flock, and constitution will be bred
out of them.
The Hogpen Floor.
The cement flooring with movable
slat platforms makes the Ideal floor
for the hogpen. The cement floor
alone is too cold and damp for the
hogs, but with the slatted flooring on
top. which may be taken up to clean
out the place, there is nothing which
is better.
Beans in Michigan.
The cultivation of beans in Michi
gan has become so large that bean
, threshers with complete outfit of lua
I chinery and men travel over some
' parts of the state to harvest the crop
I as wheat threshers do in other states.
SLIDING PARTITION IN STALL
The sliding partition shown in the accompanying illustration provides
| ; safe way to approach the head of a kicking horse to feed it or put on the
i harness. It does away with the necessity of entering the stall from behind
and the risk of being kicked. The partition reaches as far as the manger
and the entire framework and boards are carried on two rollers attached
to a joist above. Small metal clips are fastened to the floor on each side of
the partition to keep the bottom in place and guide it in sliding back
MEXICAN STYLE
OF FARMING
_
Most Primitive Methods of Agri
culture Are Still Carried on
In Many Parts of the
Old Republic.
(By VICE-CONSUL, R. M. STADPEN.)
The most primitive method of
farming is still carried on in many
parts of Mexico. The plowing is done
by the old-time bull tongue, which
Is a crooked stick with the point cov
ered with an iron shoe, which only
scratches the soil.
Corn is planted by hand, a man fol
lowing the plow, dropping the seed
and covering it with his Ibot. It is
cultivated with the same plow, which
gives very poor results in destroying
the weeds. The fodder is gathered
by pulling the leaves or blades from
the stock, which are made into bun
dles and carried from the fields by
pack mules.
Rice is planted, after the native
plow has scratched over the land, by
being thrown broadcast, and covered
by hauling a bunch of brush over the
land. When the rice is about one
foot or 18 inches high it is cut down
with grass hooks; not even a scythe
is used for this work. This cutting
back is said to make the rice grow
more bunchy and enables the rice
plant to get the best of the weeds,
whereas, if the land had been proper
ly plowed before planting, there
would be no weeds and this cutting
back would not be necessary. Some
eight or ten days before cutting or
harvesting time the water is shut off
from the rice fields to allow the rice
to ripen, when it is cut with the same
grass hooks. It is then piled up for
three days, when it is threshed by be
ing hand beaten on a rock, by which
process five to ten per cent, of the
grain remains on the straw. During
the eight or ten days the field is dry
ing out a loss of about 40 per cent, of
grain occurs from various causes. '
This style of farming, without
farm implements, could be continued
through the long list of crops that are
raised in that country.
