Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE PANAMA CANAL. 137 especially Europeans, were expected to suc- cumb. Malaria, on the other hand, was sup- posed to be due to a miasma Fighting exhaled from the soil or by de- caying vegetation, and likely to spread abnormally when the ground was disturbed. The theory of the transmission of these two diseases by certain species of mos- quitoes had not yet been put forward. The medical staff of the United States Army first tested the theory on a large scale. Their success in dealing with malaria in Cuba, Porto Rica, and the Philippines after the war with Spain, could not be questioned ; and a great deal was expected when Colonel Gorgas, M.D., the extirpator of yellow fever from Havana, was appointed to supervise sanitary opera- tions in the Isthmus. So difficult was his task that not until early in 1906 were the rates of sickness and mortality noticeably diminished. So grave, indeed, was the outlook in 1905 that many American engineers and civil officials threw up their appointments, and the influx of labour from the West Indies was seriously affected. Dur- ing this year there occurred in the Canal Zone 231 cases (81 fatal) of yellow fever. The rate of mortality per thousand among the native population rose from 40’75 in February to 69’22 in July and 65'17 in December, the cor- responding figures for Canal employees being 14, 46-11, and 40'36. Since the occupation of the Zone the Ameri- cans have spent about £1,225,000 on so- called municipal improvements, and more than £1,500,000 on sanita- Mortality ^jon proper. The results reduced. . x achieved prove that the money has been well laid out. Paved throughout and provided with complete systems of water- works and drainage, Panama and Colon now rank among the most healthy places in the tropics. Every settlement of workers on Canal and railroad has up-to-date sanitary arrange- ments. Thanks to the operations of the “ mosquito brigade ”—the filling in or oiling of swamps and stagnant waters, the construc- tion of miles of ditches to carry off the tor- rential rains, and the systematic clearance around every town or camp of grasses and undergrowth—mosquitoes are now almost a rarity in the neighbourhood of the Canal. For the white employees and their families life has been made positively pleasant by comfortable quarters, a good food supply, and the encouragement of clubs and facilities for recreation. For some time sanitary and construction staffs were troubled by the reluctance of the coloured labourers to avail themselves of the barracks and wholesome food provided by the Commission, and by their fondness of taking a day off in the jungle. A temporary cure for these tricks was found in paying the men partly in meals. The workers fed better and became more healthy. Lately, however, there has been a relapse towards old conditions, for, according to a recent official report, about 7,000 labourers abstain from eating at the kitchens or living in Commission buildings. Speaking generally, it may be said that, thanks to the remedial measures of the past four years, the health of the Isthmus compares favour- ably with that of most of the Southern States of America, and that of the Canal employees with an average military barracks or great engineering enterprise in temperate lands. The Panama Canal will command a foremost position among the engineering feats ever attempted by man for any one of four reasons —its unprecedented width and depth ; the great cutting through the continental divide ; the number of men and ma- chines employed in the work of excavation ; and its monster accessory structures. It has been designed to give safe and convenient passage to vessels of the largest tonnage and greatest draught now in use or likely to be launched. Its minimum depth, will be 45 feet, Magnitude of the Canal Enterprise.