FIG. 4.—Revised cross-section of Gatun Dam as recommended by Board of Consulting Engineers, February, 1909.
FIG. 5.—GENERAL PLAN OF GATUN DAM.
X. SANITATION
At Panama the seasons are divided into two well defined periods: the dry, or winter, and the wet, or summer seasons. By this occurrence of maximum moisture and maximum heat, the health conditions are made the worst possible.
The dry season includes the months of January, February, March and April, the rainy season the remainder of the year. During the dry season the average temperature at Colon for 6 years was 70.5° F, with a monthly maximum of 90.9° F, which came in January, and a monthly minimum of 68.4° in the same month. During the rainy season the maximum average temperature for any month occurred in October and was 91.9° F. The minimum was 66.9° F., for August. A record of 15 years at Colon shows a maximum rainfall of 154.9 inches and a mean of 130.2 inches. Four years’ records at Panama show a maximum of 84.73 inches and an average of 66.8 inches. At Culebra the records for 3 years showed a maximum of 98.97 inches and a minimum of 64.25 inches.
The most common forms of disease on the Isthmus are due to fevers. According to good authority the most sickly period is September, October and November, during which time dysentery and a severe bilious fever are very common. Foreigners seldom acquire the immunity of the natives from local diseases. The Isthmus by various writers has been called, “The Grave of the European”, “The Pest-House of the Tropics”, and one author says that here truly “Life dies and death lives”.
On account of the health conditions the labor question is greatly complicated. For this reason extreme care has been taken by the United States Government to do all in the power of science to make the zone a healthy locality. Sanitation expenses will average at least $2,000,000 per year. The work has been under the direct supervision of Colonel W. C. Gorgas. The war on the mosquito has been continual and unrelenting. For the first two months of the fiscal year 1908–’09, the work in the Canal Zone, consisted of the collection and disposal of garbage and night soil, the cutting of grass and brush, and sanitary drainage and oiling. In the terminal cities the work consists of inspection, fumigation, grass cutting, surface drainage, and oiling undrained areas.
This department also has charge of the hospitals and of the quarantine. As far as possible all the sick are concentrated at Ancon.