APPENDIX N. EQUIPMENT RECOMMENDED FOR CANAL EXCAVATION, WITH CAPACITY OF EACH UNIT. By ISHAM RANDOLPH. THE COMMITTEE ON SEA-LEVEL CANAL. GENTLEMEN: Pursuant to your request I present herewith the results of my work in determining the equipment which in my judgment suits best the various parts of the project for a sea-level canal on the Panama route. This presentation is in tabular form. The capacity rating is based upon my personal knowledge of the performance of the various machines scheduled, save in the case of the Israel Tarte class of hydraulic dredges. The record of work performed by that dredge is readily available, and there can be no question of the conservatism of my estimate upon what can be accomplished by such dredges. In the case of cableways I am assuming a rather higher average than was obtained on my own work with these devices, but I feel justified therein because of improvements made in their construction since their pioneer work with us. My rating of steam shovels may be considered low, but it is based upon experience in steam-shovel work under conditions far more favorable than those which will obtain in Panama. At the present time we are engaged in excavating a channel in limestone rock 160 feet wide and about 36 feet deep; this rock after being blasted is loaded by powerful modern steam shovels into side-dump cars and hauled by locomotives onto embankments, the average haul being less than a mile. On the top lift the average hourly output was about 67 cubic yards per shovel per hour. On the lower lift that average has fallen to 50 cubic yards per hour per shovel. On the other hand, one of these same shovels, digging in very hard clay, is loading an average of 257 cubic yards per hour. The record in West Neebish (Sault Ste. Marie) rock cut is reported as 535 cubic yards per shovel, loading into cableway skips, ten-hour shifts. This is above the average which the contractors think they can reasonably count upon. You will note that in several instances I suggest hydraulic dredges for removing material overlying the rock. This is in accordance with my own experience on sections A and B of the sanitary district of Chicago. There we used two hydraulic dredges (one of them built upon the bank and launched into a part of section A where the water was impounded by an earth dam) and removed about 1,200,000 cubic yards of such material as these dredges could handle, and when their limit had been reached we pumped the channel dry and completed the work with steam shovels. This is entirely practical, and the results obtained are very economical. Respectfully submitted. IsH-AM RANDOLPH. Equipment recommended for canal excavation, with capacity of each unit. From- Classification. Rock. Cubic yards. Seven-fathom contour to kilometer 10.1 { 4.090,826 3,278,234 ............. Kilometer 10.1 to kilometer 40.6 ....... ........... ............. -eo 42,857, 959 Kilometer 40.6 to kilometer 43......... Kilometer 48 to kilometer 60 .........{147591)98 ............. Kilmetr 6 tokilmetr 6.8 214,91,977 Kilometer 68.7 to kilometer 70 .{..........3 Kilometer 48 to kilometer 60........... 64,8,122 i.......... Kilometer 60 to kilometer 62.8........ ....... ............. Kilometer 62.8 to kilometer 68.75 ..... 2 7,00 ....... I...... I Kilometer 70 to kilometer 72 .......... 1,13,50 Kilometer 72 to kilometer 75.25 ....... .............. 102, 088, 174 Monthly Kind of equipment recommended. working Earth. Cubic yards. ............. Dipper dredge........................... 8, 692, 500 Hydraulic dredge No. 1 ............ .............. Cableway......... ............... 45,957,093 Hydraulic dredge No. 1................. 1,169,064 Cableway ............................... .............. Steam shovels and cars.................. 6,972, 586 ....do ................................... .............. _.. .do ................................... 3,154,812 Hydraulic dredge No. 2................. .............. Steam shovels and cars.................. 7383817 do.......................... ............... ..... do .................................... 42,012,155..do .......................... ............... .....do.......................... 1,614,359 ....do ................................... ............. Cableway..--....................-... 6,663,910 Hydraulic dredge ....................... ............. Cableway.......................... 863,885 Steam shovels and cars.................. ............. Dipper dredge........................... 1,207,685 Hydraulic dredge ....................... 2,605,090 ......do,................................... 128, 196, 056 capacity. Cubic yards 52,000 500,000 9,500 500,000 9,500 9,500 9,500 9,500 130,000 9,500 9,500 9,500 9,500 9,500 9,500 9, 500 130,000 9,500 9,500 52,000 130,000 130,000 Time in which one unit will do the work. Months. Years. 78.7 17.3 345.0 92.0 123.0 435.0 734.0 300.8 24.2 1,536.0 777.0 6,811.0 4,422.0 230.0 170.0 249.0 51.2 288.0 91.6 21.8 9.3 20.0 6.56 1.44 28.75 7.66 10.25 36.25 61.16 25.00 2.00 128.00 64.75 567.60 368.50 19.00 14.00 20.75 4.26 24.00 7.60 1.81 .......... 1.66 NoTE.-From kilometer 48 to kilometer 60, total yardage is 106,720,277. One shovel would do this work in 916 years, hence 60 shovels would do the work in 15.6 years and 93.6 shovels would do it in 10 years and 117 shovels would do the work in 8 years, these numbers being for the average of shovels employed for the respective periods. For each of these three cases the minimum and maximum number of shovels employed would be as follows: Minimum 40, maximum 82; minimum 63, maximum 125; minimum 78, maximum 156, respectively. For dredges of all classes one month is taken as 26 days. For steam shovels and cableways one month is taken as 19 days. 405