Alaska and the Panama canal . g-est ships, completion of fortifications and buildings, beautifica-tion and numerous other final touches. It was originallyestimated that it would cost $157,000,000 to build the spending a good deal of time on the Isthmus threeyears ago, investigating and drawing conclusions to the bestof my judgment, I made this estimate: When the projectis entirely finished, over $1,000,000,000 will have been investedby the United States and France. I have no reason to changemy opinion now, when the total already is $740,000,000, add-ing the $400,000,000 we have si)
Alaska and the Panama canal . g-est ships, completion of fortifications and buildings, beautifica-tion and numerous other final touches. It was originallyestimated that it would cost $157,000,000 to build the spending a good deal of time on the Isthmus threeyears ago, investigating and drawing conclusions to the bestof my judgment, I made this estimate: When the projectis entirely finished, over $1,000,000,000 will have been investedby the United States and France. I have no reason to changemy opinion now, when the total already is $740,000,000, add-ing the $400,000,000 we have si)ent to the $340,000,000 spentby the French, and adding interest on the money spent up to 146 PANAMA CANAL ZONE AND REPUBLIC date, it will be seen that the total rises already close to$1,000,000,000. The original estimate on the cost of digging missed themark so widely because the American engineers were unac-quainted with the materials of which the whole country of theCanal Zone is made—lava ash. Before the major portion of. THE GREAT CITCARACHA .SLIDE. the excavating was done it was necessary 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 grea
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