J
"V"
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THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE
1912.
Dry Glaciers Feature Along Canal Route
Lace Curtains and Draperies
I
f I want to tell you something ISMAV KTN Srralw ' t; teVk (j
K . I about th. dry glacier, ot the IkA V4llV'if llVf iPAv f ' J
TOttl mass., of earth and H lffiS6N V&iaK Jl JJ-fcW II khl MCV
v lv I' J : II nv 'III If F Itl ITl
t .-.x.'' ,1- J"" 1 -l I' t-v I IS. V'll I. till .'Illf.'IW -'Hi .i!!' .11 I u i I f 'ill
(Copyright, 1912, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
ULEBRA, Canal Zone, Panama.
want to tell you iomethlng
about the dry glacier ot the
Culbera cut, the mighty
masses of earth and rock
which are sliding down Into
the big ditch that - Unole 6am
Is gouging out of the Andes. It la hard
to understand them without being on the
ground. But If you will take your foot
t 1n HAII. U 4 . . 1 1 1
David D. Oalllard, the famous engineer
ho has charge of the Culbera division,
we shall go through the cut 'and look
at them with our own eyes. There are
plenty In sight even as I write these lines,
There are Wo places nearby where more
than 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth and
rock are , now moving. The material in
action is equal to a solid block 300 feet
square and 300 feet high. Build it up
as a cube and its base would be more
than two acres and it would rise to the
height of a thirty-story flat. That enor
mous quantity" of rock Is advancing at
the rate of almost two feet per day and
since the beginning of our digging we
have had thirteen or fourteen times as
much as that mass to take care of. The
total hW-Been- over 13,000,000 cubic yards
or enough material to make a wall three
feet thick as high as a two-story house
reaching all the way from New York to
Chicago. It would make four mighty
pyramids as big as Glzeh, and, all told.
considerably more . than the excavation
we have yet to make. In other words
had there been no slides the excavation
for the canal would have been done long
ago. As it -is we have 11,000,000 cubic
yards to dig and -of this sdmethlntf like
4,000,000 are the direct result of the slides.
Il thft ;CBlera .Cat. , ,s
But let us c'llmb- flown into the Culebra
cut. As wo stand here on the heights we
can see it stretching to the right and the
loft, until the windings of the mountains
hide K from view. It Is altogether nine
miles in length, and about 300 feet deep.
In some places the cutting back that has
been made - on account of the slides is
almost '2,000 feet wide, at the top and the
sloping goes down in ledges to the bot
tom of the canal, where the width is 300
feet. Looking at the country the edges
of the ditch are raged and hlly. In
some places the mountains rise high over
It, and in others they slope down and
then rise again.
, It is impossible to conceive the vast
amount of earth that has been taken out
The. figures convey no idea of the..con
crete dimensions. I will only say that up
to a, year ago, we had taken out enough
earth and rock to have built a "wall
200 feet high, twelve feet thick and long
enough to reach from the capital to the
White House in Washington, or enough
to have made six pyramids the sice of
Cheops and left something to spare. In
one month we have taken out enough
stuff to fill a ditch three feet wide and
thre"e !feet deep from Boston to Chicago,
and most of that was of Such a nature
that It had to be blasted. If you should
blast out a tunnel over a thousand miles
long and so big that a hog could crawl
through It you might have some idea of
the work Uncle Sam did in that month.
Dynamiting; the Andes.
AS we 'pick our way down into the cut
we can see the mighty work everywhere
going on. Flying trains of earth are
moving this way aiid that Bcores of
steam shovels are. puffing and groaning
as they drop the earth and rock on the
cars, and everywhere are gangs of ne
groes who are drilling the ledgea and
putting In dynamite to break up the earth
for the shovels.
As we start w Yass the pipe line
which carries - the air for the drills.
This is ten Inches' In diameter, and It
runs from one end of the cut to the
other. It Is fed by three air compressors,
each of which has a dozen furnaces fed
by fuel oil, and which are so powerful
that they can compress 17,009 cubic feet
of air every minute. The .air feeds the
drills and keeps them chugging away
day' and ' night boring the holes for the
blasting. It drives the augers, each as
big around as your leg,' down Into the
heart of the Andes, ..cutting holes from
fifteen to thirty feet deep. In which the
dynamite is sunk to tear up the rock.
"Last year," says Colonet-t'faillaTO, "the
holes we put down if Joined end to end
would have reached ?00 miles. They would
have equaled a pipe running all the way
from Philadelphia to, Chicago, or If sunk
straight through the earth would have
reached almost one-fourth of the way to
the center."
As 'we go on I ask Colonel Oalllard
something as to the amount of explosives
needed on the canal. He replied that Jie
consumption of dynamite for twelve
months was over 6,000,000 pounds. . Every
hole requires twelve pounds, and - the
consumption in one year would more
than load five trains of the.Iidgirwood
cars which carry the earth and rock out
of the cut As I watch them charging
the holes, I observe that the pynamlte is
wrapped In pink paper, and ask Colonel
Gaillard the "reason. He repjtes: r -.-
"That Is to keep track of it and pre
vent the workmen stealing It. to dynamite
the waters for fishing. 8uch a charge
kilts the fish and they rise to the surface
mmmmmmrnmmmmmmwm
-r ' h I
iHIlttS
'i ; i ' r i''- 1
and can be easily caught. The loss from
this source was considerable, but this
pink paper can be seen a great distance,
and now whenever we catch a man with
dynamite so wrapped we arrest ,ilm."
. How the Earth Slides. '
As wo make our way down into the cut
wo can see cracks everywhere. In some
places they are so wide that you could
put your foot In, them, and others would
hold only your finger. There are cracks
all over the hills, and some of them .nark
out bodies of earth which will have to be
moved, as they are already sliding down
into the ditch.
There is one great crack hero at Cu
lebra which incloses four acres, compris
ing 1,000,000 or more cubic yards, which
are already moving, although so slowly
as to be impreceptlble. The crack is
about a foot wide and it steadily grows.
Another movement .of the same kind is
apparent at Empire, where Colonel Gall
lard has his headquarters, workmen in
pointing to it facetiously say that Mother
Earth is about to take her revengo on
Engineer Gaillard for the scars he is
making upon her old body at Culebra.
At we go on I ask the colonel to tell us
something about the slides.' He shows us
that these cracks mark their beginning,
and later on in the out we watch tiro
earth coming down. There are hevsral
classes of slides. The first are those frcm
the surface, consisting of the material
lying above the bed rock. These are com
posed of clay and other earth, ; nd they
may have a great deal of rock mixed in
them. , Such a slide is caused by the dig
ging away of the material which holds it
In place and also by the Increased weight
made by the water of the heavy rainfalls.
This aids in carrying the earth down lrto
the canal.
Watching a glide.
Indeed, mpst of suoh slides qcsur at
that time, although there are fome also
in the dry season. I watched one such
mass of earth moving today. It com
prised about 1,090,000 cubic yards, equal
to a block 300 feet square and M0 feet
high, and was going forward at the rate
of eighteen Inches per- day. As I t'.ood
in the bed of the canal the place vhtre
the clay joined the rock could be jlalnly
seen. It was a sort of a hollow in :he
hills where the rock of the cut had been
blasted off sheer so that one could follow
with his eye the line where the t lay
ended and the bed rock began, ''.'here
was a ninety-five-ton steam vhovol at
the foot of the rock, and It was catching
the earth as it fell and loading the cars.
It was working Just fast enough, I vas
told, to keep the stuff from the slid? cut
of the way. I could see the earth fall
now slowly and now in great masses,
continuously dropping down lpto the cut
Mighty Cockroach.
These surface slides have carried down
great masses of material. Take the
Cucuracha on the east side of the canal.
The word Cucuracha means "cockroach,"
and this cockroach is the biggest of its
kind upon earth. It covers an area of
forty-seven acres and forms a great mass
of earth which has broken off 1,820 feet
from the center line of the canal.
It began when the French were still
working, and it has caused us trouble
ever since we started to dig. ' We nave
already moved out of it a mass of earth
amounting to 2,000,009 oublc yards, and it
Is still active. At one time it came on
ward at the rate of fourteen feet every
day. Nevertheless the steam shovels ale
it up as' it came, and there is no doubt
but that the shovels nd dredges will be
able to take care of it and all other slides
of the future.. The ordinary slide can
be handled by one shovel, and this Is
so even when the slide is a ' long one.
At Las Cascades a shovel moved up and
down a slide 100 times going- back and
forth and chewing off Its toes as they
were pushed into the cut.
There la a big slide on the west side
of the cut near Culebra, which covers
twenty-eight acres and another on the
east side north of Gold Hill where about
seventeen acres have broken off, begin
ning 1,200 feet back from the center line
of the canal. So far an area something
like 157 acres of slides has been taken
out;:, and there are many acres still In
motion. Colonel Gaillard, who has seen
the glaciers of Alaska, tells me that
these slides move just like them. The
earth flows down the sloping surface of
the bed rock, the lateral support of the
masses having been removed by the dig
ging. It is Just as though the earth were
made of molasses and held back by dams
at the sides. These dams were taken
away by the digging of the canal.
Sqneestng Old Mother Earth.
In addition to these surface slides or
flows there is another class of earth
motion which is carrying great masses
of rock into the canal. These masses
do not come from the top, but from the
strata of which the canal banks are
made. Sometimes they come from below
the canal bed and force themselves up
in humps through It, overturning steam
shovels and throwing down the railroad
tracks.
During my walk through the cut this
morning, at a point just opposite Gold
Hill, I saw a hump or great hill which
had risen up in the bed of the canal dur
ing the night, moving the four railroad
tracks which ran parallel across it. Th
rails were pulled out of the earth. Colonel
Gaillard and myself stopped to watch
the men who were getting ready to re
pair the tracks and were bringing up
shovels to take out the hump, when lo,
right under our eyes, we saw the earth
rise and throw' the railroad, . ties and
all, to one side. I had my camera ready
and made photographs of .the ground
Tvhlle it was moving. I had Just finished
taking my last picture when one of. the
tracks fell clear over and rolled down
the side of the hill, This hump was rtglU
In the bed of the cut and almost on the
bottom of what will be the permanent bed
of the canal. '
Where Rock Mores t,lke Water. '
Shortly after this I went with Colonel
Gaillard to one side of the canal where
the rock waa such that the strata bould
be plainly seen. The walls of the cut
contained many different layers of rock
of varying degrees of' density, lying one
upon the other. Here waa a stratum of
shale, there one of lava, and above it
one of limestone or a layer of voieanio
dust hardened to stone. Thero were also
strata of lignite and other fpft rocks.
Kow, before we began excavating, av
these strata lay one upon the other, the
weight of the maps was equally distrib
uted, bed upon bed, so, that it was pot
possible for any of the strata to move,
no . matter what lay above them. ThM
the great ditch was cut and the weight,
and pressure on that side were taken
away. This allowed the great weight
above to exert-its force on the weaker
strata beneath, and it has squeezed some
of them out into the oanal. You may
imagine how this could be if you will re
gard some of the weaker strata as like
a thick fluid, say molasses, or the jelly
in a layer cake. The layers above will
force the molasses out at the sides, and
if you press on the cake the Jelly wi.l
oose. Now, the lignite strata especially
are of this nature. These give way to the
weight above and force themselves out
Into the canal bed, or if the stratum is
under the bed of the canal it is squeezed
out so that it humps up and throws the
railroad as I have described.
Slide Cnn Be Controlled.
Slides of strata such as X havo de
described are common, but the engineer
know how to control them. They have
occurred so often that they are now
taken as a matter of course. The hump
I saw today wlli bo til out of the way
before night. Four hundred men are
working at it and sending it down to
Balboa.
Colonel Gaillard tells me that there has
not beerl one week during the last three
years when the bottom of the canal has
not been heaving and rising, but he adds
that the heaving grows less and less as
the weight from the sides of the cut Is
removed and the upper banks properly
slopod. At present the only place where
the earth is so working Is right under Gold
hill. The trouble occurs within a length
of perhaps 200 feet, whereas It formerly
extended over 2,000 feet. The humps make
It necessary to rebuild a great deal of
track, and on this - account altogether
more than 100 milea of track have already
been shifted. This is one of the neces
sities of the work, however, and It will
all be remedied when the canal has been
properly sloped and the earth is again
in equilibrium.
Baby Volcanoes of Culebra.
As we make our way through the rut
with Colonel Gaillard we can sen the
baby volcanoes which have alarmed the
Ignorant as to the future of th? canal.
They are not really vole .-.s, but are
heated areas where the chemical con
dition of the earth ,is such that it oxi
dizes upon exposure to the air and gener
ates heat. In some planes the cut steams
and In others the ground Is so warm that
you cannot put your hand in it.
1 These hot spots are found at various
depths, and they are often of such a tem
perature that dynamite would explodo
if put down In a hole, drilled through
them. For this reason a long Iron pipe
is dropped down Into every drill hole
before it is charged. It is left there for
ten minutes and then taken .out Now,
by running the hand along the pipe one
oan find Whether there Is a, hot place In
the hole' as this heats the pipe at that
place, Some premature' explosions' have
occuVed ''Owing to tl) lack., pf) this "test,
and 1 am. told that some of the material
now being handled would fire dynamite
If brought near It.
IareatlRnte a Ueyaer.
.In going through the cut with Colonel
Gaillard the other day I climbed the side
of a hill to the place whore the steam
Was ' pouring forth like a geyser. The
smelf of sulphur and brimstone, was
strong,1 and I had to get windward to
prevent being overcome by it. The col
onel warned me also that the gas might
be poisonous. I reached down and put my
hand in the steam. It was scalding. At
that place the ground was yellow with
sulphur and the steam was Oozing out
over an area of ' several square yards.
Colonel Gaillard took a manllla envelope
and held It over one of the cracks, and
the beat was audi that it destroyed It. It
even cnarrea a piece ot wnrce pine lum
ber, although it: did hot . bring it to - a
blaze. ' .
In looking At the earth near the steam
vents It seemed cool, and I put my hand
qn the surface. There was no sign of
heat, but when I scraped away a bit of
the crust I was almost burned by the
contact.
In loading this stuff the mass is some
times so hot that the brakemen cannot
ride on the loads, and they hang outside,
holding on by the irons, as the trains
move oa (toward the dump. .
I would say, in closing, that there is no
danger from these htated areas. The ge
ologists of the comml's.on have examined
them, and they say s hey tre due to the
oxidation of pyrites and other materials
which generate heat on their exposure to
lr. - FRANK O. CARPENTER.
What She Wants,
'I want you to build me a fashionable
home."
'Have you any special ideas as to the
style of house you want?" asked the
architect
"Not exactly. I want one of those
modern places. You know the kind I
mean-one with a living-room too small
to nook la." Detroit Free Press.
Because of a late spring the stock
in our drapery department is much larger
than it should be at this time of the year.
In order to reduce it we have decided to break away
from the common and accepted form of after-inventory
sales, and to place on the bargain altar an im
mense line of goods we have at prices far below
the regular figures. Nearly all cuts iare from one
third to one-half of the regular retail price.
In this stock are large and varied selections of lace curtains, in all sorts and
kinds, in the very latest styles; plain, fancy and colored scrims in all the newest
patterns and designs; cretonnes, chintzes and figured sunfast mercerized over
drapery goods, in both 3G and 50-inch widths. These goods are all very different
from the ordinary so-called sale goods, as they were bought for our regular'fe
tail trade and do not include any odds and ends or dropped patterns of old stock,
but are all good, new patterns in th4 latett styles. , .
Any one who has any neod or will have any need in the next three months'
time for anything in the way of lace curtains, cretonnes, scrims and 'over
drapery goods cannot afford to miss the bargains in this great sale. We noto
a few of these immense bargains: '
Muslin Bed Room
Curtains
A Big Line of Swiss and Muslin Cur
tainsBought to retail' at $1.50 to
on sale, pair.
85c to $1.20
SCRIM CURTAINS.
Suitable for Bed Rooms, Living
Rooms, Dining Rooms or any room in
the home in large variety of designs.
Appliqued Border Scrim-Worth $11,
.:!e. $5.50
With Lace Insertion and Edging
Worth $9.00; on sale $4 S5
With Filet Insertion Worth $3.75,
r:1:. ,.$2.20
With Small Lace Edge
on sale
at..
-Worth $3.00,
$2.00
CLUNY LACE CURTAINS.
In white ecru color.
Regular Value $6.50 On $0 7C
sale at , vO.IJ
Regular Value $5.5 On, ffQ CA
sale at fld.tlV
Regular Value $4.50 On tfft 7 c
sale at "..Id
ARABIAN LACE CURTAINS.
A Big Line of Patterns RangiDg from
$3.25 to $11.25; your choice of any of
;hantp::....$2.ooto$5.3s
IRISH POINT AND DUCHESS
LACE CURTAINS.
Very Fine Qualities and All New De
signsRegularly sell from $6.25 to
,S.on $3.25 to $8.00
NOVELTY NET CURTAINS.
In White, Ivory and Ecru Colors
Dozens of patterns to select from.
Regular values ranging from $2.75 to
5.t0.n...:$1.651o $2.50
Cretonnes and Chintzes
lot no. 1.
You Will Find a Large Assortment of
All Colors and Designs of Goods-"
Regularly worth as high as 35c
per yard,, on sale, per yard at' . . .Ov
LOT NO. 2. ' T
Cretonne and Taffeta Cloth Worth
40c per yard, on sale, per
yard at... ..... .......... .yl'.Wy
LOT NO. 3.' '.
Shadow Print Taffetas and Cretonne-.
Worth 50c per yard, on sale OOa.
per yard at.. .MUXt ,
LOT NO. 4.
Heavy Weight TaffetaA and Chintzes '
Worth GOc per yard, on . O'lO
. sale per yard at . . . Hv
Scrimi at Big Reduction
Scrims in Both Plain, Fancy and Col
ored Borders and Stripes- Ar
Worth 50c per yard, on sale. . . .4lvC
Scrims Worth 35c per yard, . 4 h'
on sale at 7 lUL
36-in. Sunfast Over Drapery Goods
Worth 75c per yard, on sale, OC
per yard at . . ;;. .' :. flwv '
50-inch Sunfast Over Drapery Goods
Worth $1.65 per yard, on $ 1ft
' sale, per yard at Vl J-w
1 AND 2 PAIR LOTS OF LACE
CURTAINS.
About 25 Patterns of One and Two
Pair Lots of Lace Curtains -In all
styles and prices, all on sale at
Va regular price
Come early. We will have an extra force of salespeople to wait on you
Miller, Stewart & Beaton Go.
413-15 17 South Sixteenth Street
EPOSITS made on or before June
10th in the SAVINGS DEPART.
MENT of the UNITED STATES
NATIONAL BANK will f draw
interest from June 1st.
THREE PER CENT interest is paid on
savings deposits and COMPOUNDED
SEMI-ANNUALLY. Funds may be with
drawn at any time without notice.
The combined capital and surplus Is $1,400,000.00.
It is the oldest bank In Nebraska.
Established in 1856.
United Slates National Bank
of Omaha, Nebraska
M. T. Barlow, President.
O. W. Wattles, Vice-Pro.
V. B. CaldwslU Vlcs-Frss.
W. B. Kkoades. Cashier.
O.T. Eaverstlok, Asst. Cash.
R. F. Morsmaa, Asst. Cash.
J. O. KoClnra, Asst. Cash.
Q. H. Yates, Asst. Cash.
Open on Saturdays Vntil 0:00 P. M. t j
MAN DO
Beare enMitflaaaa 1
lr from may part mt
"mt, inn omit
u.rr kiMfc Lars kvtlla Sl.OSl
pie Me. 7 nr booklet ft ee.
Josephine Le Fevre Companj
PhUaaalphla, Fa.
Suld br Bearon Drug Co., the Belt Drug
Co.. and tbe Btrwtt Company, Omaha.
TRAVEL.
TFBABX C. CX.ABX ..naj
Fifteenth Annual OuIm
O THE ORIEN
February IS to April 35, 1913. '
7S filoriona Days of Cruising; by th
NEW CUNAROER "LACONIA"
Co.ta $400 up. deluding hoteli, drtref, guldei, to.
VISITINO: Mrlr, 8pln, Alflers. MlU,Athen,
Oontant'lnopl, 1 e,y, n Peitln tnd Egypt.
Rome, ItlTlera. etc. 8top-orr In Europe and re
turn by rwlft S. 8.' "Murnl" end "Luilte
nli". Srnd for proitrim.
Tours to Europe, So. Amer,, Bound World
W. E. BOOK, Mil Farnam St.. Omaha.
FftAN'K C. CLARK, Tlmwi Building, New Tort
The Classified ;
Eajcs of Ihe Bee
are scanned daily by thou
sards of peoptai-- -
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