"President Roosevelt running an American steam-shovel at Culebra Cut, Panama Canal"

stereograph

PHOTOGRAPHS
Underwood & Underwood
PANAMA, Panamá, Canal de
1906
paper
overall: 3-1/2 x 7 in.; image: 3-1/4 x 6-1/4 in.

Stereograph mounted on gray board with rounded corners; photograph of President Roosevelt running an American steam-shovel ath Culebra Cut in the Panama Canal, 1906; printed on left "Underwood & Underwood, Publishers./ New York, London, Toronto-Canada, Ottawa-Kansas."; printed on right "Works and Studios `/ Arlington, N.J. Westwood, N.J." and "SUN SCULPTURE/ UU/ TRADE MARK"; printed on bottom right "(17)-9359 - President Roosevelt running an American steam-shovel at Cule-/ bra Cut, Panama Canal. Copyright 1906 by Underwood & Underwood, U-95854"; printed on back "9359 We are near the south end of the biggest cut in/ the whole route, about ten miles from Panama. The fol-/ lowing extracts from the President's message to Congress,/ dated December 17, 1906, refer to his observations here/ on November 16 of the same year./ 'On Friday morning we left the hotel at seven o'clock/ and spent the entire day going through the Culebra Cut,/ the spot in which most work will have to be done in any/ event. We watched the different steam-shovels working;/ we saw the drilling and blasting; we saw many of the dirt/ trains (of the two different types used) both carrying the/ earth away from the steam-shovels and depositing it on/ the dumps, - some of the dumps being run out in the/ jungle merely to get rid of the earth, while in other cases/ they are being used for double-tracking the railway and/ in preparing to build the great dams... On the top/ notch of the Culebra Cut the prism is now as wide as it will/ be; all told, the canal bed at this point has now been sunk/ about 200 feet below what it originally was. It will have/ to be sunk about 130 feet further. Throughout the cut/ the drilling, blasting, shoveling and hauling are going on/ with constantly increasing energy, the shovels being pres-/ sed up as if they were mountain howitzers into the most/ unlikely looking places, where they eat their way into/ the hillside./ 'Our fellow countrymen on the Isthmus are working/ for our interest and for the national renown in the same/ spirit and with the same efficiency that the men of the/ army and navy work in the time of war'./ From the Notes of Travel No. 40 copyright 1907 by Underwood &/ Underwood." and "President Roosevelt operating a steam-shovel, Panama/ Canal./ Le President Roosevelt, operant u;ne escoupe a vapeur,/ Canal de Panama./ Brajident Roojevelt, eine Dampjjchaujel bedienend, Banama/ Canal./ Presidente Roosevelt manejando una pala de vapor,/ Canal de Panama./ President Roosevelt skotande en angskopa - Panama-/ kanalen./ (Russian script, same text)."

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