[A. C. Harper, resident engineer, La Boca.]

The work of clearing for cross-section lines for topography has been continued; also staking out the center line.

Clearing for triangulation stations on North Ancon, San Juan, and Agua Dulce Hills has been completed.

[C. E. Davis, engineer waterworks and sewers.]

Pipe line from Rio Grande reservoir to Panama.-Three gangs have been started at work laying 16-inch pipe along the railroad track from Rio Grande to Panama, 2,500 feet having been laid during the week.

Distribution pipe line, city of Panama.-During the week 134 feet of 10-inch pipe and 1,632 feet of 6-inch pipe has been laid.

Panama sewers.-Six hundred and twenty feet of 8-inch sewer pipe and 75 feet of 12-inch sewer pipe has been laid.

Culebra.-Work has been continued of concreting the reservoir back of the police station.

The 6-inch pipe line for mechanical purposes has been laid between Culebra proper and Rio Grande.

Waterworks for marine camp at Haute Obispo.-Connection has been made between the pumping-station supply at Bas Obispo and the tanks located at Haute Obispo, and water has been pumped into these latter tanks.

Considerable of the old pipe has been torn up and preparation made for installing a pumping station for high surface system at this place.

Gorgona.-The concrete dam across the river has been completed.

Colon waterworks.-Work has been confined to laying Decauville track between Mount Hope station and site of dam.

[A. M. Burtt, acting supervising architect.]

The usual forces have been at work at different points along the line of work in this department. Work is still being very much delayed on account of lack of lumber.

The bachelor quarters at Corozal are rapidly nearing completion, a portion of the upper stories being ready for service.

[C. A. Strom, mechanical engineer.]

Bas Matachin shops. The overhauling of one locomotive has been completed and work continued upon three others.

Forty-one dump cars have been overhauled and put in service.

Empire shops. The work of overhauling three locomotives has been completed and the work of overhauling 15 is now in progress.

Twenty-three cars have been repaired. These are old cars picked up along the line.

Five labor transportation cars have been also finished during the week and five more are under way.

Cristobal shops.-Work has continued on the overhauling of two Cook road engines and one Roger's switch engine.

Twenty French dump cars have been overhauled and made ready for service.

EMPLOYEES.

The number of men at work on April 26 was as follows:

Owing to lack of rain gauges we are not able to report the rainfall at Cristobal and Panama.

Very respectfully,

W. E. DAUCHY, Acting Chief Engineer.

Mr. JOHN F. WALLACE,

PANAMA, May 3, 1905.

Chief Engineer, Isthmian Canal Commission, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: While you are in the States I wish you would, if possible, arrange to send us the proper number of men to superintend the different departments of the work at Culebra. At the present time we have but two men there, who are running the five different departments. These are Mr. Zook and Mr. Galvin. Mr. Zook at the present time has charge of the track department, transportation department, and department of dumps.

Mr. Galvin has charge of the excavating department and mining department. We should have at the present time the proper kind of a man to take charge of the transportation department, the proper kind of a man to take charge of the department of dumps, and the proper kind of a man to take charge of the department of mining.

In addition to these we should have a good second in each department who is capable of taking charge of a department during the absence of the head, either on account of sickness or leave or absence or otherwise. In addition to this we should have a first-class man as engineer of construction to assist the division engineer.

With regard to the men mentioned above, I think it is of the utmost importance that such inducements in the way of salary should be offered to the heads of these departments as would enable us to make a proper selection. Or, in other words, we should be able to pick our men instead of having to take such men as we can get.

What we need, in the first place, are men that are competent, and in the next place, men that will stay with the work. In order to get a cemented, working organization, it is necessary to have some degree of permanency, particularly with these higher class men.

Our whole organization at Culebra at the present time lacks stability on account of a large number of men being dumped upon us in a short space of time without a sufficient number of men in the higher positions to train them and make them available, particularly when the kind of men that the rank and file consist of is taken into consideration, and the further fact is taken into consideration that only 18 per cent of the gold men now at work at Culebra were there on the 1st of January.

Mr. Ehle has received a cablegram from the States which necessitates his going home at once. This will throw more work than ever upon Mr. Galvin and Mr. Zook, who are both doing all that can be expected of them, but neither of them has any staff whatever in the way of competent supervisors or assistants, and each one of them at the present time has several times as much to attend to as he can attend to properly.

I call your attention to this matter, as I would like very much to have the men for these positions selected while you are in the States.

Very truly, yours,

W. E. DAUCHY, Acting Chief Engineer.

PANAMA, May 3, 1905.

Mr. JOHN F. WALLACE,

Chief Engineer Isthmian Canal Commission, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I want to again call your attention to the character of the men that we have been receiving during the past month. No doubt the shipping of this kind of men has been stopped by this time, but for your information I present the facts to you.

I inclose you a list of cases of incompetent men who have been sent out recently. This is in addition to the list sent you by last steamer.

I wish to call your attention particularly to the case of Leslie J. Perry, who was sent out as supervisor of dumps at a salary of $175 per month. This man's experience during the past nine years has been clerical experience in some department at Washington, a man 61 years old. He is not at all suited to the position he was sent to fill.

Yours, truly,

W. E. DAUCHY, Acting Chief Engineer.

Mr. JOHN F. WALLACE,

PANAMA, May 4, 1905.

Chief Engineer Isthmian Canal Commission, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: I wrote and cabled you yesterday with regard to our necessities for additional superintendents at Culebra. Mr. Ehle has resigned, partly on account of having received a better offer in the States, and partly on account of the condition of his family, which necessitated his returning home. It was the better offer, however, that finally decided him to go.

In this connection I wish to state that Mr. Galvin has asked for leave of absence, to which he is entitled and which should really be granted, as he has been in rather poor health for the last month and needs a rest to recuperate, but it seems to be impossible to let him go until we have additional men at Culebra.

I have arranged to put Mr. Zook in charge as acting division engineer. He has practically no one to assist him but Mr. Galvin. Although we are filling the other positions with such material as we have, it is only a makeshift. I have just cabled you as follows:

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Out

Heavy rains have put tracks and dumps in bad condition at Culebra. put is steadily decreasing; costs have increased rapidly. We must have track foremen. Need tie plates, requisition 350A."

Our tracks and dumps are getting in very bad condition, and our output has dropped down to 3,000 or 4,000 yards a day. Owing to the fact that we have no track foremen to keep things in shape, derailments are constantly taking place, dumps are slumping off, and the required rebuilding of track and lack of proper superintendence are demoralizing the work generally.

I am giving as much personal attention to the Culebra division as I have time to give, but the situation is such that it needs the proper kind of a man there constantly. Not only that, but he needs proper help.

We have heard of but one track foreman coming from the States. Unless we get a large number of them and get them promptly, things are going to come very nearly to a standstill at Culebra.

We should have at least 40 men of the caliber of the ordinary section foreman to take care of tracks and dumps at the present time, whereas we have but about 3 that are worth their salt.

It is imposible to find track foremen among the trainmen and other men being sent down here. They are not upon the Isthmus and must be sent from the States or elsewhere.

Yours, truly,

Mr. JOHN F. WALLACE,

W. E. DAUCHY, Acting Chief Engineer.

PANAMA, May 6, 1905.

Chief Engineer, Isthmian Canal Commission, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I will endeavor to give you an idea of the present condition of affairs at Culebra, brought about by very heavy rains coming upon us in our unprepared condition, and on account of the general demoralization due to the yellow-fever scare and other causes, and I hope that when you have read this letter you will not class me as a pessimist.

1. Regarding tracks.-Owing to the fact that we have been almost entirely without track foremen during the whole of the dry season, and to the further fact that it has been necessary to keep all of the track forces that we had at work constructing new tracks to prepare for the installation of steam shovels, we have had no opportunity to do any work toward fixing up existing tracks during the dry season in order to get them in shape for the rainy weather.

This, together with track conditions brought about by the Belgian rail on soft ties without tie plates, has caused our tracks to become almost impassable now that we have had a couple of weeks of rainy weather.

Derailments are taking place constantly, and without proper facilities for rerailing engines and cars, some of our shovels have been delayed hours, and sometimes days, at a time.

We have as yet received but one track foreman, but I am very glad to see that there are several on the steamers that have left New York and New Orleans, and I hope that these men will be followed by a good many more.

It is going to be a difficult matter to do proper track work during the rainy weather, and just how successful we are going to be in doing it remains to be

seen.

But it is going to be necessary to have proper materials in the way of rails, tie plates, and fastenings.

2. Regarding dumps. The sticky clay material which we have been handling on level 90 meters and from steam shovels 202 and 103, where it has been deposited at the dumps, is acting in the same manner as it acted before the material was taken out of the cut, and this to a greater degree that is, it slips down and sloughs off from the dumps, taking the track with it in some cases and in others leaving great holes 15 and 20 feet deep, making the dumps at times impassable and unsafe for engines to go upon them.

Another trouble we are having is in handling this sticky material on account of it sticking fast to the dump cars, in all cases having to be shoveled off.. This takes a great deal of time and is very expensive, and delays very much the working of the steam shovels. I am trying to rectify this difficulty by arranging to work the shovels as far as possible in harder material, but to do this is going to necessitate laying a large amount of additional track, which can not be done at once on account of the difficulties mentioned under the head of tracks.

As to relieving the dump situation by using the Panama Railroad to dump from, we are doing this in the case of steam shovel 103, using the Panama Railroad between Culebra Y and Empire; but the same difficulty comes up with regard to delays on account of material sticking to the cars.

We are also prevented from doing this to any great extent on account of lack of cars, as the additional time it takes to run trains any distance on the Panama Railroad necessitates a larger number of cars than we have at the present time, and to operate in this way successfully we should have flat cars so that we can use the Lidgerwoods and bank spreaders. On account of the situation of some of our shovels it is impossible to reach the Panama Railroad with the output at present.

I am arranging to relieve the situation somewhat on level 90 meters by taking one of the shovels from that level and working it in the bottom of the canal where we had steam shovel 105 working. No. 105 is working at the barrier at the south end of the cut, and we are also arranging to start No. 106 at this same place as soon as we can get the track laid; but this work is going to be necessarily very slow and expensive, and the output of the shovels very small while it is going on.

Now, these conditions of tracks and dumps are the result of lack of preparation, which has been due to lack of material and men. I am satisfied that our shovels can work during the rainy season in a satisfactory manner, and the output per unit approximate what we have estimated; but to reach that output during the rainy season is going to necessitate a large amount of preparatory work in the way of proper track construction, proper dumping facilities, and proper equipment, which, of course, is going to take time to prepare and install. 3. Regarding men.-I have sent you one or two cablegrams the past few days stating our needs. The yellow-fever scare has caused great demoralization among our forces all along the line. While this demoralization is entirely uncalled for and unnecessary, and we have done everything we can to check it, yet the effect upon our work is the same.

Yesterday Mr. Galvin had a strong attack of "cold feet" and has quit and is going back by the steamer Monday. This practically leaves Mr. Zook alone at Culebra.

We have arranged a temporary organization, as follows, and will do the best

we can:

I have placed one of Mr. Ruggles's men, a young man by the name of Thorn, in charge of excavating matters.

I have put a man by the name of Charles E. Vettier in charge of transportation matters. Mr. Vettier is one of our yard masters lately sent out, and while I do not know much about him at present, he appears to be above the balance of the men we have been receiving in intelligence, and the only thing we can do is to give him a trial.

I have put mining matters in charge of William D. Waltman, a young fellow who has recently come to us who has had no great experience, but who seems to be a bright young man and is more available than anyone we have.

As to dumps, we have three dump supervisors coming on steamers now on the way, and if they all have not reached their dotage and have had any experience whatever tending to fit them for the work, we hope to select some material out of the three to look after dump matters. The last man sent us as supervisor of

dumps was a man 61 years old, and his only experience has been in a clerical line.

I have put Mr. A. T. Davis temporarily in charge of tracks. While he is not fitted for the job, he is the only available man we have.

In regard to laborers, we find it almost impossible to get laborers to work during the rains, so that when we have a large amount of wet weather, as we have had in the last few days, everything practically stops.

We have a large surplus of trainmen and conductors, some of them pretty fair men, others not worth much. I think, however, that a large number of them are going to quit after pay day, as they are all affected by the yellowfever scare.

We have one man who lately came down as supervisor of engines by the name of Murray, who is a good man and is doing good service.

A general yardmaster by the name of Callahan arrived here last week, at $175 per month He never went to work and took the next steamer back.

I hardly know what to recommend with regard to stopping the sending of additional trainmen and steam-shovel men. The steam-shovel men thus far do not seem to have been affected by the demoralization as much as the other departments, and most of them are doing good work, but from the present outlook it seems to me that we can do little or nothing in the way of expansion until a large amount of preparatory work has been done, and that being the case it does not seem to me that we are going to be able to use the number of trainmen that we have on hand for some time to come. On the other hand, if a large percentage of them get frightened and leave we may not have a surplus.

4. Regarding buildings.-On account of having no lumber we have not been able to push the work of preparing quarters for men. At the present time we are more crowded than we have been at any time since the work started.

The hotel at Culebra which was designed to accommodate 60 men now has 102 occupants, and all of the houses are more than full, and we are putting men in tents.

This crowded condition is, of course, causing dissatisfaction among the men. particularly now that the wet weather is upon us. Men come in from the work wet through, and where several of them are in a small room with wet clothing and so on, it is unpleasant for them, and is one of the reasons for dissatisfaction. We are doing all we can to rush preparation of the quarters for marines at Haut Obispo, so that we can have the use of the buildings at Empire. But this is delayed on account of material, and also on account of Lieutenant Wood's objection to going there until sanitary conditions are put in the best possible shape.

Our output at Culebra for the past week has been as follows:

On Friday it rained all day, which practically knocks out the entire output. With the number of gold men that we now have at Culebra our expenses are such that our unit costs are going to go sky high on account of the decreased output and time lost on account of rains.

While the outlook is far from encouraging at the present time we will do the best we can under the existing circumstances, but I am strongly of the opinion that our efforts during the next few months have got to be devoted to preparation rather than to an expansion of work.

Yours, truly,

W. E. DAUCHY, Acting Chief Engineer.

PANAMA, May 8, 1905.

Mr. JOHN F. WALLACE,

Chief Engineer, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: I send you herewith a memorandum sheet showing the output at Culebra for the month of April and the cost of the principal items. This sheet is gotten out in advance of the regular report and there may be some minor changes, but probably none to amount to anything.