if


312 REPORT OF BOARD OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS, PANAMA CANAL.

soft rock 22 cents, and the cost of mining, taking the total cost of mining and the total number of yards removed, will bring the mining 12 cents; but it really cost 45 cents and 22 cents, because a great deal of the material removed did not require mining.
 The CHAIRMAN. Have you an opinion, Mr. Dose, as to the proper unit cost for material taken out with a proper plant, proper organization, tracks, dumps, etc.?
 Mr. DosE. It is pretty difficult to say; it depends entirely upon the season. Some years it will cost a good deal more than in others, and it depends upon health conditions and the labor and so many other things that it is difficult to say. It ought to cost as much as or more than at home. For instance, yesterday it rained; if we had been working full blast it would have done much harm. We would have had to shut the work down entirely for perhaps three days. The tracks wash out; there are slides and other unsatisfactory conditions following a heavy shower, and it is pretty hard to guess. Of course, I have my own view of it, but I may be mistaken.
 Mr. HUNTER. What are your own views?
 Mr. DOSE. I really do not think you can take out the hard rock and the material in the Culebra any cheaper than you can at home. For material like that in the Culebra the cost is about 70 cents in the United States; softer material perhaps you can handle for 50 or 65 cents.
 The CHAIRMAN. You say you could not handle it any cheaper. I should think it would cost more.
 Mr. DosE. I do not know whether it would cost much more than it would at home, but it would be pretty difficult for me to say how much it would cost, there are so many considerations entering into it.
 Mr. HUNTER. You have been there every day?
 Mr. DOSE. No, sir. I was only there a comparatively short time.
 General ABBOT. When were the steam shovels introduced? .You say the old excavators were dropped out in June; when did the steam shovels come in?
 Mr. DOSE. Steam shovel 101 started November 11.
 The CHAIRMAN. Of those two types of shovels, which is the more effective, the 5-yard dipper or the 2-yard?
 Mr. DOSE. In that soft material on the hillside I prefer the lighter shovel. It weighs a good deal less, it is easier to handle, and for that work I prefer the lighter shovel; for the heavier rockwork a heavier shovel.
 The CHAIRMAN. The dry season and the wet season compared, what proportion of the earth has to be shoveled out of the dump cars, and how much will run out?
 Mr. DosE. I was not up there in the dry season.
 The CHAIRMAN. What proportion now?
 Mr. DosE. Of the red material we have to shovel out nearly 85 per cent.
 Mr. STEARNS. I have been somewhat surprised at the small expense of the dumps given by Mr. Dose. Taking it by the year the loading cost has been twice as much as for dumping, or very nearly, and that seems to be the general rule, whereas I had understood it cost more to dump than to load
 Mr. RIPLEY. The transportation is really an item of dumping.
 Mr. BURR. I think the dumps referred to in conversation would, as I understand it, include not only the dumps proper, but the whole scheme of getting the material from the excavators to the dumps and disposing of it.
 The CHAIRMAN. Will you please look and see whether that item of transportation does not cover the unloading of the cars?
 Mr. DoSE. I am sure, General, it does not. The transportation includes the train crews, cost of fuel, etc., taking cars from the shovels to the dumps and back to the shovels again. The cost of dumps includes the men on the dumps, dumping the cars, and throwing the tracks. The discrepancy arises because the shovels were not working half of the time, thereby increasing the cost of loading per yard actually excavated way beyond what it ought to be.
 The CHAIRMAN. What are they charging for coal now?
 Mr. DosE. According to these figures here coal costs $7 a ton.