Let us now see how much matter has been removed, and how much dirt remains which has yet to be removed. I will give first the totals of what has been got out in both dry and wet way, both in the Canal prism itself and for auxiliary works.
Total Excavations in Connection with the Panama Canal.[20]
| Cubic Yards. | |
| By the French Companies about; | 81,548,000 |
| By the American Isthmian Canal Commission up to the end of June, 1908; | 40,923,533 |
| 122,471,533 |
[20] Canal Record, July 8, 1908.
Much of the work of the French Companies, however, consisted in dredging out sea-level channels at both ends of the Canal, whereas the principal American work has been rock-excavation in the Culebra Cut—or the Cut, as it might equally well be called. The figures relating to the Cut are:—
Excavation between Bas Obispo and Pedro Miguel, i.e.,
"The Culebra Cut," 9-1/2 Miles.
| Cubic Yards. | ||
| By the French Companies; | 22,600,000 | |
| By the American Commission to end of June, 1908 | 20,125,185 | |
| Total excavated in the Cut | 42,725,185 | |
| Remaining to be excavated | 37,973,063 | |
| 80,698,248 |
so that at the end of last June the Cut was half cut through, one quarter having been done by the French Companies and one quarter by the American Commission.[21]
[21] The total excavation for the prism of a sea-level canal was calculated by the Board of Consulting Engineers at 231,026,477 cubic yards.