Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . op of some laborers head. Incidents of thissort are wearing on their nerves and also upon thephysique of the individual upon whom the burdenhas been laid. On several occasions I timed steamshovels working in the Cut on various sorts ofmaterial and found the period occupied in get-ting a load, depositing it on the car and gettingback into position for another bite to be a frac-tion less than two minutes. According to myobservations from five to eight shovel loads filleda car. The car once filled, a big negro wig-waggedthe tidings to the engineer wh
Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . op of some laborers head. Incidents of thissort are wearing on their nerves and also upon thephysique of the individual upon whom the burdenhas been laid. On several occasions I timed steamshovels working in the Cut on various sorts ofmaterial and found the period occupied in get-ting a load, depositing it on the car and gettingback into position for another bite to be a frac-tion less than two minutes. According to myobservations from five to eight shovel loads filleda car. The car once filled, a big negro wig-waggedthe tidings to the engineer who pulled the trainahead the length of one car. The Jamaica negrowig-wagging is always a pleasing spectacle. Heseems to enjoy a job as flagman which gives fromfive to fifteen minutes of calm refiection to eachone minute of wagging. Far be it from me toquestion the industry of these sable Britons bywhom the Canal is being built. Their worth in anyplace, except that of waiters at the Tivoli Hotel,must be conceded. But their specialty is undoubt-. TRAVELING CRANES THAT BEAR THE BRUNT OE BURDEN CARRYING 2l8 PANAMA AND THE CANAL edly wig-wag-ging- If we climb up-on one of the emp-ty fiat cars wewill see that uponthe floor of thewhole train, usu-ally made up ofabout 20 cars, isstretched a stoutcable attached toa heavy ironwedge like a snowplow which, whilethe train is load-ing, is on the endcar. Hingedsheets of steel fallinto place be-tween the cars,making the trainfloor continuous from end to end. If we should accompany the trainto the dump—say at the great fill at Balboa abouttwelve miles from the Cut—we shall find that when it
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Keywords: ., bookauthorabbotwil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
