I907.] THOMSON— PROGRESS OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL. 129 



Stretches of country come into view bordered or covered by the 

 bold and intensely colored foliage of tropical plants. At last the 

 river valley leads ofif to the east and the train moves toward the 

 beginnings of the deep cutting at the divide. 



At Bas Obispo over thirty miles from Colon is the great rock- 

 cut and since the general course of the canal is southeast, this cut 

 is about five miles to the northwest of the celebrated Culebra cut, 

 where the greater part of the excavating work needed is now done 

 and has still to be done in the future. From the Gatun dam there 

 will be about thirteen miles of flooded river valley deep enough 

 for ships of the greatest draught without dredging or excavation, 

 but for the rest of the distance toward Bas Obispo material in in- 

 creasing depth will need to be removed. 



The French left the level of the cut at Bas Obispo at about lOO 

 feet elevation, which has since been cut down by the Americans to 

 74 feet up to March i. To satisfy the condition of an 85-foot 

 water level some thirty-four feet more in depth will be removed. 

 The deepest cutting done and yet to be done, is at the true divide 

 or Culebra cut. At Bas Obispo, but more especially at Culebra, 

 are the evidences of the great amount of work which had already 

 been done by the French. In fact, the real work of building the 

 canal is here. To complete this section of the canal, a length of 

 about nine and one half miles, will require the removal of about 

 50,000,000 of cubic yards of rock and earth in addition to that 

 which has been taken out hitherto. At the station called Empire, 

 between Bas Obispo and Culebra, a stop was made for viewing the 

 shops located there, and to allow a glimpse of some of the dis- 

 carded French machinery to be had. Here rows of beautifully 

 built, but according to present standards, small-sized locomotives 

 of French make are found partly overgrown with vines. The 

 workmanship of these and other remains of French plant, so bounti- 

 fully strewing the canal route, is highly esteemed by the present 

 engineers. The fault of small size or capacity, it is only just to 

 say, would have characterized such machinery in general at a time 

 twenty or more years beck. A considerable number of these French 

 engines are actually in service now. Their refined construction is 

 sufficiently indicated by the fact that they have copper fire boxes 

 and white metal fire tubes. 



PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC, XLVI. 185 I, PRINTED JULY 16, I907. 



