Alaska and the Panama canal . ecessary to remove manymillion cubic yards of slide material upon which the engineershad never figured. They learned that in order to reduce thepressure .so the water would hold the soil back they mustmaterially increase the excavation, and even with the gradegreatly reduced the slides came with disconcerting the Big Ditch was opened to traffic. Colonel Goethals PANAMA CANAL ZONE AND REPUBLIC M7 pointed out that the earth had not reached a state of equil-ibrium, and that probably it would be necessary to continuedredging for many months. It was hope
Alaska and the Panama canal . ecessary to remove manymillion cubic yards of slide material upon which the engineershad never figured. They learned that in order to reduce thepressure .so the water would hold the soil back they mustmaterially increase the excavation, and even with the gradegreatly reduced the slides came with disconcerting the Big Ditch was opened to traffic. Colonel Goethals PANAMA CANAL ZONE AND REPUBLIC M7 pointed out that the earth had not reached a state of equil-ibrium, and that probably it would be necessary to continuedredging for many months. It was hoped that these earthmovements would not be so extensive as to interfere withnavigation, though the channel at several points in CulcbraCut necessarily would be reduced consideral)ly in width fora while. Just two months after the opening of the water-way, rains caused a serious landslide north of (iold Mill, wherethe earth reaches its greatest height on the Isthmus. Thou-sands of cubic vards of rock and dirt entered the ri* THE DIKE AT MIRAFLORES WlTH 4O,O00 POrXIXS OF DYNAMITE,BEGINNING THE INFLOW OF WATER CONNECTING THE TWO OCEANS. completely blocking it for a distance of 1,000 feet. Shipspassing through when the slide occurred were forced to waituntil the great dredges could reopen the channel, an oi)erationUhich consumed much valuable time. The total excavation in the Canal has been over 232,000,-000 cubic yards, with Culebra Cut, nine miles long, the most 148 PANAMA CANAL ZONE AND REPUBLIC difificult and uncertain part of the work. Here over 30,000,000cubic yards of material, lying outside the intended banks ofthe Canal, was swept down into the cut. The excavation inthe cut represents about one-half of the digging done byAmericans. Slides frequently put the railroad system out ofcommission. Often they wrecked dirt trains and steam work of removing the debris at Culebra took up manymonths. Colonel Goethals did the best he could, however. Asan i
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