Making The Dirt Fly Analysis

The first of the four required sections that I read was titled, “Making the Dirt Fly”. This particular section outlined a few of the many obstacles that engineers and laborers faced throughout their endeavor to make way for the Panama Canal. Torrents of rain, mudslides, and the terrain’s apparent resistance of such alterations engulfed equipment and thwarted months worth of progress. Despite these naturally occurring interferences, American equipment was fundamental to this astonishing accomplishment. These efficienct and well-made machines could produce results that would otherwise take fifty men to complete. A photograph to the neighboring article exposes several laborers standing on drilling tripods which were supposedly used for placing …show more content…
A French inhabitant of Panama is quoted, “If you try to build this canal there will not be trees enough on the isthmus to make crosses for the graves of your laborers”. He was referring to the viral and bacterial outbreaks that claimed thousands of French laborer’s lives and nearly jeopardized the American endeavour to see this project through. While the medical records were not entirely intact, an estimated twenty thousand workers perished within the Panama Canal development timeline. The canal workers were already subject to dangerous conditions such as flying debris from explosive blasts, mudslides and several other varying work-hazard related injuries. A solution was devised soon after two doctors made an essential discovery. Ronald Ross and Carlos Juan were able to prove that diseases such as Yellow Fever and Malaria were spread through Mosquito bites. William Gorgas, an American surgeon, was able to devise a plan involving thousands of laborers disseminating into the Canal armed with sprayers full of crude oil that was imported from California. All still water sources such as puddles received a coating of this oil to inhibit the breeding grounds of these insects. Other similar and undisclosed methods were also used to manage the Mosquito that was responsible for the malaria outbreak. Within eighteen months, the resumption of construction is …show more content…
The article approaches the competitive spirit between the diverse crews while explaining the local media’s stimulating contribution, the differences in pay between skilled and unskilled workers as well as the living quarters provided to “gold” and “silver” workers. It is not unreasonable to state that the gold workers, being the skilled laborers were the privileged between the two. They received a higher income and better housing although it is apparent that the word ‘better’ should be used lightly. The living conditions were considered to be rudimentary at best. The simple things that one might take for granted such as windows or screen doors were a luxury in what would be comparable to a garrison. It is noted that there were often up to seventy two workers in one building; they slept in fold-out cots mounted to the walls. The photographs depicted seemingly poor conditions and the adjacent article continued to mention that many sought out an alternative residency. Undeterred by these circumstances, job hunters amassed to find work which gradually and ostensibly created the much needed infrastructure that the american laborers needed such as