Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1932, Page 79

-_—— Engineers in Plotting the Course of NewBig DitchW as Harrowing Task, Fraught With Menace of Fever, Poison Reptiles and ClimaticHardships. at Granada, San Carlos and the base camps of the companies. At a later date some of the small camps engaged in drilling to ascertain the geological formation along the proposed route also were equipped. In this way unified control of all field werk was effected. Head- quarters, which was in touch with Washington through Panama, was able in turn to com- municate with all its remote camps in the jungles and te respond promptly to orders for supplies and equipment. STABLISHING camps and routes of supply and eommuniecation was a grueling prelim- fnary to the work at hand—the actual investi- gation and survey of the canal route. But a well fed army is usually a good army so far as morale is concerned. Training, of course, is another matter. But the Corps of Engineers long has been reputed for its ability to accom- plish difficult and dangerous missions. But it is indeed a wonder there was not more sickness as the result either of contracted disease or injury, for day after day the men labored in the gloom of the jungles, elimbing slippery, mud-covered inclines or wading in the ooze of swamps where the air was putrid with decaying vegetation. While it can be definitely stated that the success of the expedition from a teehnical standpoint was due to the Corps of Engineers, their achievement was made possible by the fine co-operation of all units. Evacuation of the sick and wounded was only one problem of the Medical Corps. Medical men accom- penied the Engineers in the field and were prepared at all tines to treat on the spot cases not sufficiently serious to warrant re- moval. Sanitation had to be considered along with the prevention of disease. But the Medical Corps did not confine its work to the care of troops. Most of the na- tives were woefully in need of medical atten- tion. The standard of living among these people, a good many of whom were employed on the survey for unskilled work, is extremely primitive. They live in small huts construeted of came, with palm-thatched roofs and dirt floors. Their food consists chiefly of beans, bananas, rice and plantains. They go bare- footed the year 'round, and ragged trousers, tattered shirts and delapidated straw sombreros are the common costume of the men. The women wear faded print dresses and cotton underclothing made of flour sacks. With the coming of the Engineers, however, the mode in women’s wear underwent a change. Bright crimson sigral cloth, disearded after its origi- nal use, replaced the fiour sack. Few of the children wear any clothes until they are 5 oré years old. “El doectov,” as he camec to be known, was viewed by the natives both with awe and devo- tion. Small wonder, for in their eyes he was a man of miracles. After an injection of anti- venin a patient would recover miraculously from the bite of the dreaded toboba, one of the most venomous of reptiles. What faith could these people have, then, in the weird rites, potions and incantations of the snake doctors? The majority of children were infected with round worms. Malaria was abundant, to say nothing of the ravages of other tropical mala- dies. Injuries also had to be treated. The medieal unit in Nicaragua did more than > 2A77Q L 10 GAANDE PARTS OF NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA Showing the Line of - the Proposea Nicaragua Conal Uniteo States Army ENGINEERS N Nicanasua Srarure mie&s [N Y - NavricAc mices THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C,. FEBRUARY 28, -1932. Nicaragua Canal Survey rs of the Nicaragua Canal Survey and their families. Children of engineer officers in Nicaragua were sent to pnvate schools, ecclesiastical institutions, or were instructed by their parents. Group in office of Maj. Dan 1. Sultan, officer in charge, Nicaragua Canal Sur- vey, Granada, Nicaragua, May, 1930. Seated, left to right: Maj. Sultan, Lieut. Eugene M. Caffey. Standing: Sergt. James V. Guthrie, Corps of Engineers; Pot. (First Class) Emmett Calvert, United States Army Engineers Battalion jn Nicaragua; Dr. Ignacio Martinez, interpreter; Pvt. Henry Watson, and Sergt. Henry C. Gooeh, United States Army Engineers Battalion in Nicaragua. live up to the traditions of the corps. Maj. Paul R. Hawley with his officers and enlisted men added another chapter. The wives and children of officers in the field remained at Granada, where, despite primitive conditions, life was not unenjoyable. Quartered here were approximately a dozen familles and 18 to 20 children. The city boasted & movie which provided diversion outside the home. The ~ a.{r\/[l g U€ houses, while not equipped with the modern conveniences considered a necessity in this country, were picturesque with their patios and ornately tiled floors. After an experience with the local schools, which proved unsatisfactory, the children were given instruetions at heme or sent to private cr ecclesiastical schools. Ia the town itself the threat of banditry was not a menace. The Niearaguan people were friendly Ny TagIYY 2 and some of the better class families, many of whom are of Spanish descent, entertained lavishly. HE possibility of a Nicaragua\route for an interoeeanic canal dates back to the fime when the conquistadores sought a natural and expeditious passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. An outstanding feature of thz geography of Nicaragua is a chain of two great bodies of fresh water, Lake Nicaragua and Lak> Managua, situated near the Pacific and drain- ing into the Caribbean by way of the San Juan River. Lake Managua, the smaller of the two, s of importance to the canal project only in that it offers a reserve water supply. Lake Nicaragua, however, which is 45 miles wide and 100 miles in length, provides a natural waterway for 70 miles, or approximately two-fifths of the total length of the proposed canal. The San Juan River and its valley form a natural route for a canal from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea, a straight line distance of 80 miles. In 1901 the Isthmian Canal Commission, under Admiral Walker, submitted a report recommending the Nicaragua route, and changed in favor of Panama only when the French company reduced the selling price of its franchise. No survey had been made since that time until the Engineer Detachment un- dertook the task in 1929. Old data was useful, but entirely insufficient. The prcblem now was not simply a question of determining the practicability of constructing a canal. It included, in addition, an estimate of costs. And by cost was meant the expense involved in building and maintaining a water thorough- fare which would meet the next hundred years’ growth in shipping. From a statistidal study of traffic through the Panama €Canal, a figure was arrived at which should cover increase in the size of vessels. Based upon assumed incremsnts, which pro- vided for an increase in length of 50 feet amd 5 feet in width for every 10-year period, and applying this increase to the largest ship tran- siting the canal in 1930, the Nicaragua Canal in the year 2000 must be able to accommodate vessels 1,125 feet in length with a beam of 120 feet. These two dimensions are the prime consideration. The draft of a ship does not increase in proportion to its length and beam. It is estimated that a 40-foot depth will con- tinue te serve the needs of commercial carriers for the remainder of the century. While the size of locks necessary to meet distant fuoture nrceds could be computed from statistical history of the growth of shipping, actual construction costs could not be figured until all field work had been completed. Broad- ly speaking, the work of the survey divides it- self under three heads which are sufficiently seif-explanatory to give an idea of the infor- mation necessary before costs could be com- puted and recommendations made. These are: (1) Topography, or the contour of the land; (2) geologoy, or sub-surface in- vestigations; and (3) meteorological and hy- drological investigations. Meteorological and hydrological data were necessary for a study of the available water supply and the features governing navigation. Rainfall records were kept at strategic points on the watershed areas of Lake Nicaragua, Lake Managua and the streams adjacent to the probable line of the canal. Records of lake levels, siream flow measurements and evapo- ration data had to be collected, and a study made of atmospheric conditions along the canal line, particularly at the termini. When the expedition returned to the United States in the Summer of 1931, a detail of one officer and one enlisted man remained in Nicaragua to continue this work. Whether a venture of such magnitade as Continted on Eleventh Page