CHAPTER XVI. SOMETHING ABOUT THE CANAL.
"Suppose you tell us what you know about Panama and the canal?" remarkedTubby to Rob as the three boys perched in the bow of the _Caribbean_,three days out, watching the flying fish as the vessel's prow sent themscattering like coveys of birds from big patches of yellow gulf weed.
"Yes, that's a good idea," supplemented Merritt, "I guess we won't getmuch time to study books down there. Mr. Mainwaring said this morningthat, after he had given the work a preliminary look-over, he was goingto hunt for the source of that tributary of the Chagres that he thinks isresponsible for the big floods every rainy season."
"Well, I don't suppose I know much more about it than you two fellowsdo," rejoined Rob modestly, "but I've been reading up on it."
Here he looked at Tubby, who had done nothing much on the steamer butconsume three huge meals a day, with "snacks" in between, and amusehimself. One of these amusements had been stuffing some of thoseodd-looking pills known as "Pharaoh's Serpents" into the captain's pipe.Almost every boy can guess what happened when the glowing tobacco reachedthe "Serpents" and big, wriggly, writhing things began to climb out ofthe pipe bowl.
"Ach himmel, der sea serpent," yelled the skipper, who was a German.
"Oh-h-h-h-h-h!" screamed a lot of ladies to whom he happened to betalking.
It was just at this juncture that the captain had caught sight of Tubbydoubled up with laughter behind a ventilator. He chased and captured thefat youth, who then and there received a spanking for which he got nosympathy, even from his fellow Scouts. Except for spilling "sneezingpowder" in the main dining room at dinner time and burning an oldgentleman's bald head by sun rays concentrated in a magnifying glass,Tubby had done nothing out of the way since.
"Fire away. Unload your knowledge," ordered Merritt, luxuriouslystretching out under the awning.
"All right, here goes. To begin at the beginning, of course you know thatPanama was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502."
"Ginger snaps!" interrupted Tubby. "Is there anything, except ConeyIsland, that he didn't discover?"
"Shut up, can't you," cried Merritt indignantly. "Go on, Rob, it's justthe nature of the beast. Never mind him."
"Well," resumed Rob, "Columbus discovered the Chagres River and sailed upit. He called the beautiful harbor by which he entered it Porto Bello.Then came Balboa, who was the first to cross the Isthmus and view thePacific. It was about this time that a road was built across and the cityof Panama founded on the Pacific side. It was from Panama that Pizarroset out to begin his brutal campaign which ended in the practicalextinction of the Incas of Peru."
"Oh, cut out the history and let's get down to the canal," mutteredTubby; "I hate history, anyhow."
"It's my belief that you like nothing but eating," declared Merrittindignantly.
"And sleeping," put in Tubby without a smile.
"The road was fifty miles long and well paved and provided withsubstantial bridges, some of which are yet standing although the road isalmost impassable," went on Rob. "It was the war between Mexico and UncleSam in 1846-47 that brought about a change. But in the meantime, I forgotto tell you that old Panama was sacked by Captain Henry Morgan and hispirates in 1671, great stores of gold taken and the inhabitants put tothe torture. The city was never rebuilt, but its ruins still stand somemiles from the site of the present city."
"Well, what happened in the Mexican war?" asked Tubby.
"I'm coming to that. At that time there were not more than 9,000 miles ofrailroad in America, and it was a hard matter to get as far west asChicago by rail.
"Between the East and the Pacific Coast lay great prairies, practicallyunexplored. Indians were thickly scattered over this region and veryhostile to the white man. The journey across took months. The lack of ashort route to the Pacific coast set everybody to thinking. Then, in1849, came the great gold rush to California. Hundreds of miners went byway of the Isthmus, but there was no railroad and they got sick, and manyof them died on the way across. It became clear that there must be arailroad and, at last, in 1855, after unheard of difficulties had beenmastered, one was completed with American capital.
"From the first it paid tremendously, in the space of forty-seven yearsmaking $38,000,000 of clear profit for its projectors. But to build thatforty-eight miles of track had cost 2,000 recorded human lives, fiveyears of labor, and $8,000,000."
"First history, then a railroad year book, and now, I suppose, we'll getdown to the canal," grunted Tubby.
"Yes, that's coming now," smiled Rob. "In the first place, the idea ofbuilding a canal across the narrow strip of land forming the Isthmus hadbeen a dream even of the early Spaniards. Then a Scotchman founded acolony which was to grow rich on the products of the Isthmus and also diga canal. Disease and failure soon put an end to this enterprise. In fact,from the earliest days Panama and the Isthmus have always been known asone of the most unhealthy spots on earth. As you may know, it is onlynine degrees north of the equator, and the rainy season lasts more thanhalf the year. But nowadays, with modern medicine and modern hygienicmethods, it is quite safe, with reasonable care, to penetrate the jungle.Mr. Mainwaring told me that," he added.
"Well, after various schemes had been gotten up and had fallen through, aFrench company, backed by the money of almost everyone in France whocould by hook or crook secure stock, in 1882 turned the first shovelfulof earth for a canal. It was to have been a sea-level one, that is, onewithout locks, and was projected and engineered by Ferdinand De Lesseps,the aged builder of the Suez canal.
"We know now that a sea-level canal would not be feasible on the Isthmus.It would take too long to build and cost a prohibitive sum, almost doublewhat a lock canal costs. For seven years digging went on, with fearfulloss of life among the laborers and engineers from yellow fever. Then, in1899, it was discovered that almost half of the $400,000,000 raised hadbeen squandered in mismanagement and waste, and by far the larger parthad gone in what we should nowadays call 'graft'. An investigation wasmade. Several of the promoters of the canal committed suicide, and DeLesseps went mad and died in an asylum. Such was the tragic history ofthe French era; but brighter days were to come.
"It was in 1898 when the _Oregon_ made her record run from San Franciscoto join the Atlantic fleet in the West Indies and fight the Spaniards offCuba, that Americans began to think that a short cut was needed. With ouracquisition of the Philippines, a 'door' between the Pacific and Atlanticwas declared to be almost a necessity. There was much discussion atWashington, but finally in 1903 President Roosevelt and Congress decidedthat if we could purchase from the French all they had left at Panama andcould, in addition, buy a strip or 'zone' across the Isthmus for canalbuilding purposes, it would be fitting and right for the United States totake up the work.
"After some dickering, the French company, took $40,000,000 for what theyowned, and, in 1904, the Panama Republic, a newly created nation, soldthe United States for $10,000,000 a strip of land ten miles wide andfifty miles long, which strip of land is now known as the Canal Zone.
"The first thing that the Americans did after they took hold was to starta campaign against disease. No canal could be dug while yellow fever hadto be reckoned with. Under the masterly hand of Col. W. C. Gorgas, theZone has been cleaned up till disease is almost rarer than in cities ofthe north. Mosquitoes have been wiped out, streets paved, filth andgarbage, which used to lie and rot under the hot sun, all swept away, andgood comfortable houses put up for workmen and their bosses. The men whostand the climate best among the laborers are Jamaican negroes. Hindus,Italians and Spaniards are also employed for lighter work, but for'making the dirt fly' the Sambo is the real thing.
"Anything else you'd like to know?"
"Well, yes," said Merritt. "Just why is this Chagres River such animportant part of the canal?"
"Well, it's this way, as I understand it," said Rob. "In the first place,the canal is fifty miles long,--forty-one mil
es through the land and ninemiles of channel dredged out in the harbors of Colon and Panama. FromColon to Bah Bohia the route passes for twelve miles through low, swampyground not much above sea level. Then it cuts into the hills and ispractically a more or less shallow ditch as far as a place calledMiraflores, nine miles away. The highest point of land that the canalmust traverse is Gold Hill, at the famous Culebra, where it is 662 feetabove the sea level.
"But right here occurs a 'saddle' through which the canal must run. This,at its lowest point, is 312 feet above sea level. Right here is thenotorious Culebra Cut, which is an immense excavation nine miles longand, in places, more than three hundred feet deep in solid rock,--thinkof that!
"Bad as Culebra has been as an obstacle, however, the Chagres River isworse. For 23 miles the canal must follow the valley of this river andcross and recross its bed. The Chagres is an unruly stream. At times itis small, and then again it swells to tremendous size, sweeping allbefore it and causing great floods. To build the canal the problem was toturn the Chagres into a friend, instead of an enemy, and that, it isbelieved, has been done in an unique way.
"You must now roughly picture a cross section of the canal route as aflat-topped pyramid. Suppose the top of the pyramid to be hollow and thatthrough that hollow flows the Chagres River. Well, on one side of yourcup or hollow is the famous Gatun Dam, in the construction of which2,250,000 barrels of cement have been used. Below the Gatun Dam is a'flight,' just like a succession of steps of locks. These will be used tolower vessels from the 'cup' at the top to the Atlantic level,--or toraise them, as the case may be.
"On the other end of the cup, on the Pacific end that is, will be anotherflight of locks, the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks, which will raiseor lower vessels from and to the Pacific. Is that clear? There's a bigcup at the top of our pyramid, and steps, or 'locks,' lead down to thelevels of the oceans on each side."
"Oh, it's as clear as mud," muttered Tubby, "go on."
"Now, then, we get to the Chagres and the part it plays," went on Robserenely. "That whole 'cup' at the top of our pyramid is actually anartificial lake of vast size. As a matter of fact, it will be 165 squaremiles in area. At Gatun a great dam will hold it in, and at Pedro Miguelthe locks will perform the same office. This lake is the valley ofChagres, and the Chagres will be relied on to keep it filled. Thisimmense Gatun Lake, as it is called, is the 'keystone' of the canal. Anyweakness in the Gatun Dam would ruin the whole project. You can see, ofcourse, why this is so, because the water in that Gatun Lake will berelied upon to fill the locks which will raise vessels up or down."
"But suppose the Chagres River cuts up ugly, as you said it doessometimes?" asked Merritt.
"Well," said Rob, "I heard Mr. Mainwaring say that the great lake will beso big that a flood would affect its level no more than a cup of waterpoured into a bath tub. The river will merely serve to keep the lakefilled and supply the water needed to work the locks."
"That's a very good description, Master Rob," said a voice at theirelbows.
They started and looked up, and there was Mr. Mainwaring himself lookingdown at them.
"We have changed the Chagres from a dangerous enemy into an excellentfriend," he said, "but, as Rob pointed out, the Gatun is unavoidably thespot at which an enemy who wished to harm us could do almostirretrievable damage at the expenditure of a few dollars' worth ofdynamite, if," he paused for an instant, "if he knew just where to placeit."
"Does anyone possess such knowledge?" asked Rob.
"Yes, anyone possessing a duplicate of my plans would know just how toset about dealing the canal a fearful blow," was the slow response.
Rob's pulses beat fast and thick. He caught his breath. Jared had suchduplicate plans, and was in the hands of men who could work on his weaknature to give them up. He glanced up at Mr. Mainwaring, expecting to seesigns of anxiety on his face. But the engineer was perfectly calm.
"After all that 'dry history,' as Tubby called it," said he, with asmile, "let's go and play shuffle board. Fred is waiting for us."
The Boy Scouts at the Panama Canal Page 16
