This statement by itself, however, would give a very inadequate idea of the rate at which the excavation is now proceeding, for of the total taken out by the Commission since 1904, 11,000,000 cubic yards were due to the work of the 12 months prior to June last. It will be seen from what has gone before that the rate of progress is now even greater than in the year June, 1907-May, 1908, for the daily output from the Cut for July, 1908 (55,427 cubic yards), works out at 1,441,102 cubic yards, allowing 26 working days of that month, which, moreover, is a wet month, when work is much retarded.
FROM CULEBRA, LOOKING EAST TO GOLDEN HILL.
THE CUT AT CULEBRA, LOOKING NORTH.
On the Date of Completion of the Canal.
Colonel Goethals, Chief of the Commission, when examined early in 1908 at Washington, declined to bind himself to a date for completion, or to an estimate of cost; nevertheless, it is not difficult to calculate the date of completion from the actual rate of progress on the assumption that all goes well. The year 1915 is thus arrived at by the authorities for the calculated, though not promised, completion. This is based primarily upon the rate of excavation possible under the restrictions imposed by the narrow gorge along which the spoil has to be transported. It has been also calculated that the constructive works, the locks and dams, would require about the same time as, but not longer than, the excavations. This just balance between the time required for the two elements, excavation and building, was one of the arguments employed in favour of the 85-foot-level canal, as securing "the utmost practicable speed of construction"[22] which could be obtained in a canal "affording convenient passage for vessels of the largest tonnage."
[22] See address by President Roosevelt to Board of Consulting Engineers, September 11, 1905. Report of the Board, p. 12.
One of the most impressive features on the Isthmus at the present time is the great workshop at Gorgona, where repairs of all kinds are done, and large machines such as the track-shifter are actually built. As I passed from machine shop to boiler shop, smith shop, car shop, pattern shop, and so on, I felt myself back among the circumstances of one of the great manufacturing towns, and forgot for the time my actual surroundings. It was with a feeling akin to surprise that, on quitting the foundry, I found myself on the fringe of the tropical forest, now darkening with the shadows of the swift-descending sun. I may here note by the way that the furnaces of the foundry produced considerable relief from the effects of the tropical heat, which that day was somewhat oppressive.