.^J^mofthe Panama CanalMuseum

VoL 3, No. 1 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, AUGUST 1, 1952 5 cents MAJOR CANAL OPERATIONS AND FINANCES

CONSIDERED BY BOARD AT JULY JEETING

1953 Housing Program

One Of Many Problems

Slated For Discussion

Girls' Nation Representatives

CANAL ZONE representatives to the sixth annual Girls' Nation, now being conducted in Washington

by the American Legion Auxiliary, are shown above shortly before sailing July 25 for the States. They

are Arline Schmidt, \ejl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Schmidt, of Balboa, who was elected Lieutenant Governor of Caribbean Girls' State which convened at Fort Wm. D. Davis in April, and Joyce CoUinge, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Collinge, of Balboa, who was elected Governor. Both girls are outstanding

students of Balboa High School and both take an active part in high school athletics.

Canal Zone School Enrollment This Year

is Expected To Reach New AU-Time High

Canal Zone school buildings will be

filled to overflowing with an expected all- time record high enrollment of about

10,600 when schools reopen this fall. There were 9,832 in Canal Zone schools

last year. Colored schools reopen August 4, while the white schools and the Canal Zone and

La Boca Junior Colleges will open September 4. An expected increase of about 10 per- cent in white elementary school enroll- ment—reflecting a sharp upswing in the

national birthrate starting in 1942—will

fill every available school room on the

Atlantic side and necessitate some re- districting on both sides of the Isthmus. The number of students in the white

secondary schools and the Canal Zone

Junior College is expected to be slightly

higher than last year. Colored elementary school enrollment

is expected to be about five percent

greater than last year with a slight in- crease in the number of students in colored secondary schools.

Primary changes in school curriculum

will be the teaching of Spanish in grades

four, five, and six, if funds are made available, and the addition of elementary

school classes in instrumental music. School Redistricting

Redistricting on the Atlantic side to accommodate the larger number of ele- mentary school students will involve the

transfer of most children living in Coco

Solito from the Margarita to the Cristobal Elementary School. On the Pacific side, children from Fort

Clayton, who were formerly divided be- tween the Pedro Miguel and Diablo

Heights Elementary Schools, will be di- vided this year between Pedro Miguel and

Cocoli Schools. About 20 new elementary school teachers have been employed in the United

States and six new teachers have been employed for the white secondary schools. There will be 20 new teachers in the

colored schools, all of whom were member's of the first class graduated this spring from the La Boca (Sse yaqe i)

Many important decisions concerning

the various Canal operations this year,

especially those relating to the fiscal pro- gram, were expected to be reached at the meeting of the Board of Directors held

this week in Washington.

The meeting, which opened last Monday, was attended by Governor Seybold—

his first since becoming President of the Company. The Governor is scheduled to return to the Isthmus this week. Also attending the meeting was Lindsley H.

Noble, Comptroller, whose election as a

general officer of the Company was on the July agenda.

Of the many questions slated for discussion by the Board members this week,

two of immediate interest to the average Canal employee were the housing program

and the Panama Line operations.

The steamship line operations have

been under study now for the past several months and reports on various phases were scheduled for presentation to the Board this week. Housing Plans For 1953 The extent of this year's housing pro- gram and the individual projects to be

undertaken as a part of the 19.53 fiscal year program probably will be announced

at an early date. Governor Seybold stated

last month after final Congressional

action on the Canal Company and Canal Zone Government budgets that the pro- gram will be continued at "an appreci- able" rate this year. A considerable amount of the work re- mains to be completed under contracts awarded during the past fiscal year for both quarters construction and site de- velopment. Some of these contracts will not expire until late this fiscal year al- though the bulk of the work is expected

to be finished during this calendar year.

It is not presently expected that bids on

individual housing projects for this fiscal year will be advertised until late this calendar year. Aside from the housing program, the

allocation of funds for (See pag? 6) AUGUST FEATURES

# Canal's record year in shipping—six pages Pages 15-20. # Signalmen's Union has two members

-Page 2. 9 The story of what Is done about your

weather Is told on Pages 10 and 11. # Cricket—how It's played and who plays It -See Page 14. # Progress of townsite development at Car- denas—Page 6.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1,1952

Slogan Of "Every Member An Officer"

Fits Union Local Of Two Signalmen

Every member is an officer—and that means both of them —in Local 133 of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen of America.

Spencer B. Smith is Chairman and

Tracy P. White is Secretary-Treasurer. That's a quorum and a roster of the loral.

It's the smallest local in the entire union of signalmen in the United States

:uid Canada. It is also the only local south of the Rio Grande and the smallest union in the Canal Zone. The local has no meeting time or place.

They meet frequently anyway. Mr.

White putt-putts over "to Mr. Smith's on

his little railroad motor speeder or Mr.

Smith putt-putts over from Balboa to Clatun to see the Secretary-Treasurer.

(Jr, there are times when they both puttputt to meet each other half way. No Dues To Local

They pay no dues to Local 133— only to the National Brotherhood.

If there's disagreement between members about union business, the business probably just doesn't come off. If one

thinks so, the other thinks not, the matter

is usually dropped.

Organizing activities are completely nil for lack of potential members. Mr. Smith

and Mr. White are the only local railroad men eligible for union membership. As Signal Maintainer for the Northern

District of the 50-mile Panama Railroad, Mr. White tends the signals to the "24-

mile," a mile north of Darien, and Mr.

Smith, Signal Maintainer for the Southern District, is responsible for the other

half of the line. Local 133 was not always ro small. When it was organized in November

1927, there were five full-fledged charter members.

Supervisor Loses Membership

There was R. S. Wood of Ancon, a hard

worker at union bu?iness. He became

Supervisor of Railroad Signals in 1948 and withdrew in accordance with union custom. As elder statesman without portfolio, he is still an interested consultant and advisor.

It was largely because of Mr. Wood,

Local 133 in 1935 became affiliated with

the Central Labor Union.

G. A. Sausel, an original member, transferred to the Locks Division in 1935 and

is now a control house operator.

Other charter members have now re- tired and are living in the United States. Equipment Changes made

The signal system in early union days

employed not only two signal maintainers,

and a signal supervisor, but two battery men, a construction man and one relay

repairman. Changes in equipment and in the system have reduced the number to three who double in brass as signal maintainers, batterymen, construction men, and repairmen.

The signal system also has eight local- rate employees who, together, have 309

years of Panama Canal service. The Panama Railroad signal system,

which the signalmen keep in operation, includes 84 automatic signals which tell locomotive engineers on the trains to proceed, stop, proceed slowly, etc.; three

large signals with colored lights; and 24

THIiS 18 LOCAL 133 of the Brotherhood of liailroad Sii^nalmen of America. The Sij;nalmen are Spencer B. Smith (left), Chairman, and Tracy P. White, (light), Secretary-Treasurer. That's all there

is to the local.

automatic flashing lights or wigwags at grade crossings; all of which operate from

signal lines in underground cable. Automatic Signal System

The present track circuit is gradually

being replaced with coded track in which

the track itself carries the impulses be- tween signals, eliminating much of the underground cable. Chairman of Local 133 is almost native

to the Canal Zone, having come to the Isthmus when he was ten months old, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Smith, who now live in Gatun where his father is a control house supervisor at the locks. He became an apprentice railroad signalman in 1943 and became a journeyman

signal maintainer in January 194S -with

time out for service with the Air Force

during World War II. Mr. White, who came from a railroad family, went into the railroad business himself in 1929 with the Maine Central

Railroad. He was employed in the signal

system of the Panama Railroad in December 1946. Lifelong Zonian

Mr. Wood, who is something of a godfather to the present Local 133, is also almost a native. He came to the Canal Zone when he was 11 months old when

his father, the late Joseph C. Wood, was

working at Empire.

He was first a helper in the Canal or- ganization during summer vacation peri- ods and was a helper in the Mechanical

Division for about four months before he went to work in the signal department of the Electrical Division in April 1927. The Signal Section was transferred to the Panama Railroad in July 1949, and at about the same time Mr. Wood was

promoted to his present position of Signal

Supervisor.

Six of eleven new temporary fire stations being built in Canal comnninities were opened 10 years ago. They were the Aneon

Si(hstati<m No. 1, Cocoli Subdation No. 2 and Pedro Miguel Substation No. 2 on the

Pai'ific side, and the Cristobal Substations

I and 2 and Gatun Substation No. 2 on the Atlantic side. K(JBKKT S. WOOD, Supervisor of Uailroad

.Signals, adds an unofficial third to Local 133.

.\a a former ardent union worker, he now

serves as consultant-advisor but has not been a member since he became a supervisor.

Nurses at Margarita Hospital moved

into new nurses' quarters just completed

in July 1942 near the hospital.
August 1,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Lt Gov. Paxson Meets

Civic, Labor Leaders

At Monthly Conference

Representatives of Canal Zone labor and civic groups had an opportunity to meet their new Lieutenant Governor on

July 24 and they made the most of it. They made so much of it, in fact, that the July session of the Governor-Employee

Conference went well over the usual

closing time. The Lieutenant Governor, Col. H. 0. Paxson, conducted the conference in the absence of Gov. J. S. Seybold, who was in Washington to attend a meeting of the Company Board of Directors. At the end of the conference, which

occurred just two weeks after Lt. Gov.

Paxson's arrival in the Canal Zone and

which was concerned with a wide variety

of matters, he commented that it had been

a new and different type of orientation

for him.

"It's much better than reading papers and documents," he said. A number of new subjects— copra bugs,

per diem allowances, method of employee

recruitment, speed limits, the price of moving picture admissions—were taken up at the July meeting, as well as the more familiar subjects such as commissary

prices, housing, civil defense, and Colon

Hospital facilities. As usual, the conference was started with answers to questions raised at the previous meeting and left for further study. Among these were the size of bachelor apartments. In answer to a question which had been raised by the Rev. Philip Havener of the Cristobal- Margarita Civic Council, Lt. Gov. Paxson

answered that the long-range housing pro- gram was still unapproved and that no

final decision had been reached as to what

types of buildings, or how many, are to be

constructed. The additional cost involved

in providing a separate bedroom or underbuilding garage space for the bachelor

quarters would tend to discourage any

such enlargement, he believed. Robert Daniels, of the Railway Conductors, suggested that the administration

consider the assignment to bachelors of existing single-bedroom, four-family quar-

'ters rather than to demolish such buildings

as the program continues.

Lt. Gov. Paxson said that in the quarters program there will be an attempt to keep a balance, provid'ng quarters for

single men and women, as well as for families of various sizes. After a lengthy, general discussion on

civil defense, Lt. Gov. Paxson promised to look into the Army's handling of its disaster control program. He asked the employee representatives to fletermine from

their groups if an educational program of

this sort, started with the administration's

help, would be satisfactory. Funds for

civil defense had been requested by the administration but cut out of appropriations by Congress.

Another long discussion followed Lt. Gov. Paxson's report that the Pure Food

and Drugs Act does not include the Canal

Zone. Daniel P. Kiley of the Pacific Locks

Association expressed the belief that a government agency should be recjuired to maintain standards required of private

corporations. The Lieutenant Governor

Ten Years Ago In July

WAR TALK AND TRAININU were occupying much attention of Canal Zone residents ten years

ago, and an intensive civilian defense program was being carried forward early in 1942. The picture above shows five pretty Canal employees being given instruction in the use of the gas mask. The instructor, Maj. Charles H. Earth, .Jr., later Brigadier General, was then Assistant Supervising Engineer of the

Special Engineering Division and was in charge of the civilian defense program. He later was transferred

to the European Theater whei-e he became Chief of Staff in that Command. He lost his life in a plane

accident in Iceland. The five young women students in the use of gas masks were Miss Regina Quinn, now Mrs. Tristan Enjuto, of Panama City; Miss Katherinc Adams, now Mrs. Robert Lessiack who is employed in the

Personnel Bureau; Mrs. Marjorie Clarke, then employed in the Personnel Bureau who now lives in the

States; Miss Macel Goulet, now Mrs. J. Morton Thompson, of Balboa, whose husband is employed in the General Counsel's Office; and Mrs. Beulah W. Sandford, whose husband, G. H. Sandford, is Supervisor

of the Reproduction Plant at Diablo Heights.

War work and war talk filled the columns of Isthmian newspapers 10 years

ago. There seemed to be little else in the Canal Zone.

The Governor warned that war-working

transportation facilities would have little space for Canal employees and that vacations might have to go hy the board.

Armed forces authorities let correspondents take their first look at barrage balloon

sites. The balloons could then be operated

effectively in local tricky tropical winds,

they said. Unreliable and "capricious creatures" a few months before, the balloons had been

converted into "a smooth-functioning air- plane net of lethal cables that keeps constant watch over vital Canal installations."

A shipment of potatoes, eggs, and vegetables was welcomed by the Commissaries

and Commissary customers, who had been

without several cold storage items for some time.

The Army Engineers also had a pro- nouncement. They said they were far ahead of schedule in hewing out of virgin

jungle and raising from swampy land an

outer ring of powerful defenses—airfields, gun positions, barracks, warehouses, magazine roads, wharves, water supply, etc.,

for the Panama Canal.

Miss Verona Herman, daughter of Captain {now Major and Chief of the Police Division) and Mrs. George Herman, be- came the first Canal Zone girl to be accepted

in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps.

The Tivoli USD was formally opened

with festivities attended by more than

2,000.

And on the civilian front:

Pacific side civilian defense personnel received instruction in the use of gas masks.

The number of Canal oldtimers was

dwindling. According to an account of 10

years ago, there icere only 64 Canal employees remaining of "the small army of American workers employed by the Isthmian

Canal Commission during the first 4 years

of Canal construction."

promised to have further information oh

this question. In answer to another early inquiry, Lt. Gov. Paxson reported that the price of gasoline delivered in the Canal Zone was

12.7 cents. This does not include any

handling, trucking, storage, or sales costs. The Lieutenant Governor reported on

the assignment of quarters in the Morgan

Avenue-Pyle Street area. These will be made from the regular quarters assignment list rather than on priority for resi- dents of Ridge Road and Empire Street. Among the new matters which were

raised was a question by E. W. Hatchett

of the Central Labor Union, who questioned the I5-mile-an-hour speed limit on

Barneby Street and a portion of Ancon

Boulevard. He pointed out that a 25-mile speed limit is in effect on streets parallel- ing Barneby Street. This will be referred

to the Trafiic Committee for further study.

J. J. Tobin, Central Labor Union, asked

why Commissary customers could not have a choice of products, citing especially sugar. He asked that customers be given an opportunity to purchase United States sugar if they preferred, rather than having

only Panama sugar available. Mr. Tobin also requested an increased

subsistence allowance for employees who

are on temporary duty status such as Atlantic Locks workers who will come to the Pacific Locks at (*3 fage 13)
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1,1952

Murals of Construction Era

Attract Universal Interest

Few attractions on the Isthmus have a more universal interest for visitors than

the murals in the rotunda of the Administration Building at Balboa Heights.

The paintings, consisting of four large

panels and a frieze, were done by W. B. Van Ingen, of New York, at about the time the Canal was opened in 1914 and

were placed on the walls of the rotunda

early in 1915. He was a.ssisted in his work by C. T. Beri-y and Ira Remsen. The five pieces of art represent scenes during the Canal construction period. The

four main panels are of scenes of Culebra

Cut at Gold Hill, construction of the Gatun Spillway, erection of a lock gate, and the construction of Miraflores Locks. The frieze is a panorama of the excavation

of Culebra (Gaillard) Cut. The paintings contain a wealth of detail but they are more impressive for their massive scale and the sweeping artistic conception of the modern mii-acle of building the Panama Canal. Muralist Was Noted

Mr. Van Ingen was a painter of considerable reputation before his murals for the Administration Buildmg were painted.

He had done several other paintings of a

similar nature for buildings in the United

States, including the Congressional Li- brary in Washington and the United

States Mint at Philadelphia. Sketches for the murals were made by

the artist on two visits to the Isthmus

during the latter part of the construction

period. The paintings were executed in his New York studio and were shipped to the Isthmus and placed on the rotunda

walls under his personal supervision.

Col. George W. Gocthals, then Chair- man and Chief Engineer of the Isthmian

Canal Commission, took a personal inter- est in Mr. Van Ingen's work and it was

primarily through his initiative that a

contract for the murals was made with

the artist shortly before the completion

of the Administration Building in 1914. The paintings cover nearly 1,000 square

feet of space and the cdiitr^K't price, including the placing of the murals, was

$25 a square foot, or nearly .$25,000. An interesting sidelight of the Canal's

early history is the correspondence concerning the murals exchanged in 1913 by

Colonel Goethals and Secretary of War

Lindley M. Garrison. Secretary Of War Writes

When the question of the paintings was

first brought to Secretary Garrison's at- tention, he expressed some doubt as to the

advisability of spending so much money

for the art work. He wrote Colonel

Goethals, in part, as follows: "The amount is, of course, large to spend for decoration, unless there is some

significant reason why such an expenditure is justified. Even if the Fine Arts Commission has made a recommendation

to this effect, I suppose the responsibility

is ours, so far as justifying the expenditure

of the money.

"It occurs to me in passing that if we

insist, as I am sure we both feel we should, that the Administration Building and

everything else on the Isthmus is second- ary to the operation of the Canal as an

instrument of commerce, it might seem

contradictory for us to expend so large a sum of money in a mere matter of decoration. In other words, since we take the view that everything is subordinate to operation, it might be inconsistent to ex- pond money as if the Zone itself were to be a thing of interest." Opinion Of Colonel Goethals

Colonel Goethals' opinion that the Canal was built for the primary purpose

of benefitting world commerce was al- ready on record and he did not touch on

this point again in his reply to Secretary

Garrison. Excerpts from his reply follow: "For the transaction of the business of the Canal and the Railroad, an administration building is necessary. The site selected and the general plans of the

building were submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, and the location of the

building on the site was fixed to meet

their views. Since the building is a nece.sTHE MAID OF COTTON, Miss Pat Mullarkey, was one of the many thousands of visitors to the Administration Building at Balboa Height.s who stopped to admire the murals in the rotunda. The "Maid

of Cotton" paid a call on Governor .Seybold during her recent visit to Panama to stage a cotton style show at £1 Panama Hotel.

sity for the operation of the Canal, it should be made creditable in every re- spect, not only to the Canal but to the United States. It may be called the Capitol of the Zone. "With the exception of the rotunda,

there will be practically no ornamentation

of the building of any kind and it is ex- pected to make this the feature of the building and to be attractive to all who

will come to the Zone for business or other purpose. The cost of the building

contemplated some decoration of the nature described and follows in this respect the practice of practically all Government

buildings in the States. The advisability

and propriety of this work I have never

doubted. The expense was anticipated

when it was determmed to make this THE building in the Zone."

In his letter, Colonel Goethals explained

further details about the proposed contract with Mr. Van Ingen and a short time later received Secretary Garrison's

full approval of the project.

Canal Receives Thanks

For "Courier" Visit Aid

An expression of appreciation has been

received from the Department of State

for the cooperation of the Canal organization during the recent goodwill visit to the Isthmus by the Voice of America's

floating transmitter, the United States Coast Guard Cutter, Courier. Special mention of the assistance ren- dered by the Canal organization during

the Courier's visit several weeks ago was made in a letter from the Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense.

"It would be appreciated if this ex- pression of thanks for assistance rendered were conveyed to the Commanding

General of the Caribbean Command, the Governor of the Canal Zone, and their respective staffs," the letter stated. The message was forwarded to Governor Seybold by Maj. Gen. F. L. Parks,

Chief of Information of the Department

of the Army. In his letter to the Governor, General Parks said in part: "I want to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of the Department of the Army and to extend my own

congratulations on the accomplishment of a job well done."

Canal Zone School Enrollment This Year

Is Expected To Reach New All-Time High

[Continued from pags I) Junior College.

Enrollment Estimates Given

Enrollment is expected to total 1,630

in the white secondary schools; 1,490 in the colored secondary schools; about 4,370

in kindergarten through grade six in the white schools; and 2,920 in the same

grades in the colored schools. Canal Zone Junior College enrollment

is expected to be about 125 this year as compared with 92 last year. The La Boca

Junior College will enroll 40 this year as compared with 45 last year. White secondary school enrollment last year was 1,611; students in the colored secondary schools totaled 1,411; white

elementary schools, 3,898; and colored elementary schools, 2,775. The apprentice school will have about

65 students in 20 crafts. There will also be an expansion of the extension work for journeymen by the e^tabli-shment of additional seminars for those interested in technical work.
August 1,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

FOR YOUR

A

INTEREST AND

/LML

GUIDANCE

CJL ^

CCIDENT PREVENTION

Shipboard Safety

Safety in the Navigation Division and

Aids to Navigation Section is divided into two categories: The safety of the ship

during its transit of the Panama Canal and

safety of the employees handling the ship. The pilot has more personal responsibility

for the safety of the ship during the transit as a whole than any other employee in the Panama Canal Company. Of course, other

divisions have responsibility, but theirs is more that of a team. The pilot is usually alone on the bridge,

except for the ship's officers. From the minute he sets foot on the bridge until he

leaves at the end of the transit, he must be

constantly on the alert for those dangers,

which not only are typical of those at sea, but for those which he encounters only

while transiting the Canal. Occasionally,

when the ship is tied up to a lock wall he can

relax and have a cup of coffee. Even there, he cannot leave the bridge for he must be ready to proceed when the way is cleared His problems are those of bad weather,

floods, contrary currents, and those re- sulting from a big ship, a heavily loaded

ship, or an unbalanced cargo. Old unreliable

engines, slow to reverse, or rudder mechanism failures at critical moments often make

safety for the ship a matter of how quickly

the pilot and crew can act in an emergency.

In addition to the pilot, a group of local- rate employees are placed aboard to handle

ropes and cables, which are attached to the

ship from time to time to guide it through

HONOR ROLL

Bureau Award For BEST RECORD

June

ENGINEERING AND

CONSTRUCTION BUREAU

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Community Services. 4

I ndus trial 2

Civil AHairs 1 Engineering and Construction 1 Health 1 Marine

Railroad and Terminals

Supply and Service

Division Awards For NO DISABLING INJURIES

June

HOSPITALIZATION AND CLINICS

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE , DIVISION

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR

Grounds Maintenance 5 Clubhouses 4 Hospitalization and Clinics 3 Electrical 3 Storehouses 3 Dredging 2 Motor Transportation 2 Railroad.. 2 Sanitation 2 Navigation 1 Commissary

Locks

Maintenance

Terminals

the locks. The size of the ship determines

the size of this group. A small ship requires

only eight men, a large ship from sixteen to twenty men, all under the direct supervision

of a boatswain.

It is the ship's duty to furnish a pilot's ladder, or an accommodation ladder, which

is a flight of steps with a platform at the bottom. In addition, the ship must furnish

lines and cables to tie the ship up to a pier or

lock wall. There are rules and regulations with which a ship must comply before being allowed to transit the Canal. The pilot has

the authority not to board, or move a ship, which does not in his estimation comply

with these rules and regulations, but more

than likely the ship has been through the Canal before, and unsafe conditions are the

result of unexpected causes, which do not become apparent until an emergency arises

in transit. The pilot has tugs at his disposal and to aid him radio telephone and signal stations along the route. The Aids to Navigation

Section maintains additional aids to navigation such as channel, range lights, and

buoys. Some of these lights are many miles up and down the coast on each side of the Isthmus from the entrances of the Canal. The salvage tug Taboga and craneship Toro

often make trips to sea to help a ship in distress, or service a light belonging to the Coast Guard. Others who give aid to the

pilot, while he is transiting on a ship, are the Assistant Port Captains, Harbormasters, and Dispatchers who control the movement and disposition of ships as long

as they are in Canal waters. There are also launches, which transport pilots, crews,

agents, passengers, supplies, and others having business on board ship. Two of these launches make trips from Balboa to Taboga

daily for the convenience of tourists and

swimmers.

In addition to the training and experience

the pilot and other employees must have in order to insure the safe transit of all ships in their care, there is also the training and

experience all employees must have to protect themselves from the loss of life and

limb. With the sea so near to their daily

DANIEL H. RUDGE

Safety Inspector, Navigation Division

lives, and the sometime hazardous conditions encountered in their regular work, all employees must be taught to recognize these dangers and how to protect themselves. They are also taught first aid and rescue,

for it is important that all employees, from

the lowest to the highest, know and practice

this safety training, since there is always the

possibility that any one of them may be

called upon, to save a life from drowning, or

serious injury.

Also wherever practical, the unsafe conditions on board a ship are removed, or remedied, to insure both a safe transit for the ship and safety for the employees who

navigate the ship. The fact that these

units have consistently improved their safety record, in spite of such hazardous and

dangerous conditions encountered, points to an active and progressi^'e safety program among the employees of the Navigation

Division and .WAs to Navigation Section.

Due to the retirement of Francis F. Hargy, safety

representative for the Marine Bureau, Charles T

Jackson has been appointed to fill the vacancy.

Disabling Injuries per 1.096,000 Man-Haurs Worked

(Frequency Rale) JUNE 1952

Engineering and Conslruclion Bureau

Community Services Bureau

Marine Bureau

Supply and Service Bureau

C. 1. Gov'l-Panama Canal Co.(19S2 lo Dale)

Civil Affairs Bureau

C. Z. Gov't Panama Canal Co. (This month)

C. Z. Gov'l-Panama Canal Co. (Best Year)

Health Bureau

Industrial Bureau

Railroad and Terminals Bureau

Numher of Disabling Injuries 42 Man-Hours Worked 2,S06,590 LEGEND

I I Amount Better Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Government Best Year l^^^S Amount Worse Than Panama Canal Company—Canal Zone Govamment Best Year
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1,1952

1953 Housing Program One Of Many

Problems Slated For Discussion

(Coniinuid from page 1} other CompanyGovernment operations for this fiscal year

are still under study. Final allocation of funds, as approved in the appropriations measure, will be made at an early date, according to an announcement by the Comptroller before his departure for Washington last month.

Alterations Are Required

Alterations in the Canal's fiscal pro- gram this year have been required in part

by the refusal of Congress to approve as "non-reimbursable" items the sum of •$1,676,300 as contained in the budget re- quest. Although the expenditure of this amount was approved. Congress directed

that it be listed with other Canal Zone

(lovernment net expenditures as being

reimbursable to the U. S. Treasury by the

Panama Canal Company.

In view of the many complicated problems relating to the Canal's fiscal policies

and program for this year the meeting of the Jioard of Directors this month was

one of the most important held since the formation of the Panama Canal Company

in July of last year. Most (if these fiscal problems are of a continuing nature al- though their importance was heightened

at the July meeting of the Board by the

necessity of making full plans for the cur- rent fiscal year on the allocation of funds

for various operations under this year's budget.

Officers To Be Elected Among the various items of business at the Board's meeting this week was the

election of two general officers of the Company—the Comptroller and Secretary. The election of the Comptroller

was required by a change in the Company's bylaws at the Board's meeting in April which provided for the establish- ment of the office of the Comptroller as a general officer instead of the Finance

Director. Mr. Noble's appointment as Comptroller was made soon after the position was established. He was formerly employed as Comptroller of the Atomic

Energy Commission. He arrived on the Isthmus early in June after about three weeks of duty in the Canal's Washington

Office. The election of a new Secretary of the Company was required by the recent

resignation of James C. Hughes to accept

a position with another Government

agency. Since his resignation, W. M.

Whitman, Attorney of the Canal Company in Washington, has been acting as Secretary of the Company.

Cardenas Site Work Over One -Third Done

Approximately 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth are being moved in the major

clearing and grading job required in the preparation of the new local-rate townsite

of Cardenas. The work is being done under contract by Macco-Panpacific, Inc., at a cost of

.$1,225,000. It is the second largest

project of the 1952 housing program on

the Pacific side.

The contract was awarded last February in two parts, one for the clearing and

grading of approximately 175 acres of

hilly and heavily wooded land north of

('orozal; and another for the installation

of an access road from Gaillard Highway,

construction of two large water tanks, and

the provision of sewerage and drainage

facilities. The contract completion date of the

project is next May and the work is on

schedule with more than one-third already

completed. The Contracts and Inspection

Division is supervising the administration

of this contract under the direction of C. A. Bchringer, Pacific Area Project Inspector. The other inspectors are Charles

P. Morgan, R. J. Mahoney, and Francisco

A. Lopez.

New Highway To Town

A new reinforced concrete highway is being built to the new townsite from

Gaillard Highway. The new road leaves

the main highway a short distance from

the existing entrance to Corozal Hospital.

Paving of the new road has already been

started and the roadbed has been graded

and ballasted for its full length of about

three quarters of a mile.

Because of the nature of the terrain, a

large storm drainage structure is being

installed. It is slightly over one mile in length. The contractor also is installing a large sanitary sewer, 4,230 feet in length,

which will connect with Cardenas River

north of Gaillard Highway.

Two 250,000-gallon capacity water

tanks, each, are being erected at the new

townsite. 'The footings and foundations

for these tanks have been poured and the

contractor is now engaged in placing the forms for the tank walls.

AERIAL VIEW of the new townsite of Cardenas. Heavy grading is now well advanced as can be seen

in the above view of the new local-rate townsite. The contract work being done under the 19.52

fiscal year program by Maceo-Panpacific, Inc., in- cludes clearing and grading 175 acres of land, contraction of the main entrance road to the area, as

indicated above, ami tln' installiiiiiin uf w.drr tanks and other facilities. The above view of Cardenas is looking toward

Corozal, shown upper center. Some of the principal public facilities planned for the new town, including the main streets, are indicated in the aerial picture

of the area.

The road which formerly ran through the new

townsite joined the Post of Corozal and the CurunduFort Clayton Road. The road has been cut by the grading but the section from Fort Clayton is still in use by the contractor. It can be identified in the

lower right hand part of the picture above with four

cars parked near the grading site.
August 1,1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

J..!^ ^euiJafc^L

Official Panama Canal Company Publication

Published Monthly at BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, CanalZone John S. Seybold, Governor-President

H. 0. Paxson, Lieutenant Governor

E. 0. Lombard, Executive Secretary

J. RuFus Hardy, Editor

Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Oleva Hastings

Editorial Assistants LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters containing inquiries, suggestions,

criticisms, or opinions of a general nature

will be welcomed. Those of sufficient interest

will be published but signatures will not be

used unless desired. SUBSCRIPTIONS—$1.00 a year SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each On sale at all Panama Canal Clubhouses,

Coramtssaries, and Hotels for 10 days afier publication date. SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL—lOcents each BACK COPIES—10 cents each On sale when available, from the Vault

Clerk. Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

Postal money orders should be made payable to the Treasurer, Panama Canal Company, and mailed to the Editor, The

Panama Canal Review, Balboa Heights,

C. Z. TO SUSCRIBERS

Please notify us promptly of any change in your

mailing address. Post Offices everywhere have pre- pared postal card forms for notices of changes of address.

THE EDITOR'S MAIL

Editor, The Panama Canal Review:

May I suggest that you start a movement to

send the Commissary Division calendars to widows of retired employees? Many of them

have expressed their desire for it and feel the

loss of it keenly when the head of the household

has passed on.

After all, the wives of Canal employees played

a very important part during the years of their

husbands' employment on the Isthmus. Is it

not a small recognition of gratitude the Canal

could show them?

A. R. McDaniel

530 East Massachusetts Ave.

Southern Pines, N. C.

This suftftestion was referred to the Commissary Division and the management of that division has replied that the calendars, so popular with retired employees, will be mailed to widows of former employees upon

written request.

The Panama Canai, Rr-;\ii;\v is belnf^ sent by

subscription to nearly 1.000 former Canal

employees. Many letters expressing complimentary remarks from these are being

constantly received and are too numerous

for publication.

Suggestions like that submitted by Mr. McDaniel are very welcome from retired or

active employees. To those old-timers who have taken the

trouble to write and say they like the Review, the editorial staff expresses its thanks for their letters.

OF CURRENT INTEREST

Health Director Visits Gorgas

A VISIT TO GORGAS HOSPITAL was made by Brig. Gen. Don Longfellow, Health Director, facing camera in picture above, soon after his arrival in the Canal Zone. General Longfellow was accompanied

on his trip through the hospital by Col. Clifford G. Blitch, Superintendent of the Hospital (left, above) and Miss Beatrice H. Simonis, Chief Nurse. They visited briefly with various patients during their trip through the wards. They are shown above examining the medical chart of Howard Smith, patient, who

is also an employee at the hospital in the Laboratory.

Assignments to the houses now under

construction in Diablo Heights in the

area between Walker Avenue and Diablo

Road will be made before the houses are actually ready for occupancy to elimi- nate the time lag which has formerly

elapsed between the assignment and

occupancy of quarters.

Applications for these houses—the

duplexes and the cottages—will be ac- cepted up to August 29. The only applications which will be considered in making the assignments

will be those which refer specifically to

this group of houses in Diablo Heights

either new applications or old applications which have been amended to re- quest a specific house or type of house

in this area. The houses are expected to be ready

for occupancy as they are completed,

starting in early October and continuing up to about November 10. It is expected that construction will have

advanced to the point by early September that potential occupants may in- spect the houses and make application

by house number or type.

A total i)f 287 of the 345 chauffeurs in the Motor Transportation Division recently re- ceived safe driving awards for operating

official vehicles without an accident which

caused personal injury or property damage

throughout the entire 1952 fiscal year. Of that number, 109 dri\ers who have

continuDus service received awards fur seven

years of driving without accidents. Many

of these probably have much longer safety records but records have been kept and

awards issued only for seven years.

It is estimated that the average Motor

Transportation Di\ision chauffeur drives about 10,000 miles anuualh' in the Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama.

There were no fatal accidents during the 1952 fiscal year and those that did occur were of a minor nature. Any accident or violation of the law, no matter how small, prevents the issuing of a safe driving award.

will be made only upon the request of the employer for apprentices in craft programs approved by Selective Service headquarters in each State.

A new Selective Service regulation

provides that full-time apprentices in designated crafts are now eligible for occupational deferment, it has been

announced by A. C. Medinger, State

Director of the Selective Service organization in the Canal Zone. Deferments under this regulation

.'\pproximately 175 classified employees of the Company-Government who had been in temporary status because of provisions of the VVhitten Amendment have been con- verted to permanent status. The transfer was possible because of the recent changes

in the Whitten rider which delegate certain

responsibilities to affected agencies, rather than to the Civil Service Commission.

Employees on permanent status are eligi- ble for retirement benefits; those on tempoporary status are not so eligible. The

conversion to permanent status of those employees who were c|ualitied and eligible was started by the Personiiel Bureau in July

and was completed late in the month. In addition 21 employees whose position grades had been held at lower levels because of time-in-grade requirements have been pro- moted to higher grades.

The Whitten .Amendment, which has been

attached to a niunber of appropriations

bills since the outbreak of the Korean

fighting, is designed to keep government

agencies at the force and permanent position

levels which existed in 1950.

Practically all of the coal in stock at the Cristobal Coaling Plant has been

sold and when the present supply is exhausted this once-important phase

of Canal operations will be closed. Notice that the Panatna Canal Company would retire from coaling bunkering operations was issued to shipping

interests at the first of last year. The

plant in Cristobal was closed at the end of last year although the remaining

stock has been made available for sale to vessels or others. The sale of coal was one of the most

important phases of the Canal's operation soon after the opening of the

waterway in 1914 when coal-burning

ships were still in predominance. The

business declined rapidly after the close

of the first World War and the sight of

a coal-burner in Canal waters now is a

rarity.

A limited stock of run-of-mine and

galley coal will be maintained for sale by the Division of Storehouses in the future after marine bunkering is discontinued.
THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1, 1952

The young ones around will be off before long for grade schools, iniixersilies, and high

schools, But before the\' go there'll be tabletsand l\ pcwriters, o.\fords and anklets, books and blouses to bu\'. Since shoes are a must that head many

lists of things to be bought for the school

ci.„.o crowd, the Wholesale Shoe Section Shoes ,.„•_ ,, f , f .„. , for

offers these facts about footwear for School '^'i''''''^'" ^"'' ''if" henelU of the [larents who buy them. Top quality and sturdiest of children's shoes are those of welt construction. The

welt is, in effect, a strip of leather to which

both the shoe upper and the sole are .sewed,

gi\-ing Ihe shoe strength and dnrabilit\- and

holding it in shape.

Children's shoes of this type in Canal

Commissaries range in price from $4.45 to $8.25. They include "I'ro-tek-tiv's," moccasin toe oxfords at $8.25, the best sold in the Commissaries; "Modern .^ge" and

"Trim Foot," moca.ssin toe, saddle, and

plain o.xfords at $5.45 and S5.50; and "Blue Bonnet," tip o.xfords and straps at $4.45. The price \ariations on welt construction

shoes reflect differences in leather and

workmanship.

Shoes of similar quality—but priinarily

for girls because of their lighter and daintier appearance—are those with .soles fastened on with cement. Those of this type in Canal Commissaries,

primarily for girls, are straps and sandals which are priced at $4 to $5.50. The most popular and least costly of

children's shoes are the "stitch-down's," in which the shoe upper is turned out and

stitched down to the sole. Commissary shoe

people guesstimate that 90 percent of the

children's shoes sold, here and elsewhere, are

stitch-down's.

It is a simple t>'pe of construction which

tnakcs a flexible and comfortable shoe. Commissaries have a wide range of styles

in this kind of shoes which range in price from $2.75 to $.5.75.

Golfing demons can work the kinks out of their games with knitted practice golf balls, new in the stores.

Native fresh rhubarb and leeks are now

being .sold in the Cominissaries. Thev were Rhubarb- '•fcently purchased for the first

It's time by the Commi.ssary Divi- Fresh ^'"'^ from a grower in Chiriqui

Province, with whom these

plants are a new crop and a new enterprise.

Nvlon ^'^^^ time since the public first learned Prices '^° '°^^ *'^'^ ^''^^ synthetic "miracle" Down f'''"'''^' there's enough on the market

to push prices down to near their natural level. Soon after nylon made its debut before an

impressed buying public, World War II came along and took it away to help fight the Nazis and Fascists. When nylon came back from its war-time

career the ladies clamored to buy it—for themselves and their husbands and grandpas

and children who had all found a use for the

fabric. The buyers who strain to provide for the

public whatever the public will pay for bid up

the price for the available supply which

never quite caught up with the demand.

Then came the Korean war and manufacturers made more and more nylon to hll, or anticipate, wartime orders. War uses

didn't absorb all the nylon that was made

and a lot of it fell back on civilian markets.

In terms of prices in Panama Canal Commissaries the consequent drop in prices means that nylon dres.ses that formerly sold

for about $8.50 are now priced at $5.50, with similar drops in price on blouses,

lingerie, and hose.

New for automobiles are: Gasometers

which check mileage and gas; auto bottle- warmers which plug into cigarette lighters; uni\-ersal hubcaps which fit any car; window

rattle eliminators; and auto crests and

initials that cost 30 cents for the gold crest and 15 cents for each initial to make your buggy a plutocrat among cars.

.Arriving in the Commissaries in August

will be new blouses, skirts, and dresses in the Back-to-School ^- '" 6- .'"'^ 1- t°. '-i-^j^e Clothes groups—just in time for going-back-to-school girls. And for those who will be leaving for school in the States, the Commis.saries will have coats, sweaters, and hats for girls, and

gabardine topcoats, among others, for boys

in the teen-age group.

The price on nylon is now as nice as its looks, launderability, and wear. For the

"Liquid Smoke," a new barbecue sauce

in the Commissaries, is as good for beans and

other vegetables as it is to give spare ribs and

other barbecues a new kind of zip. Cash Sale System Is Inaugurated In Three

Atlantic Side Local-Rate Commissaries

5212

I. P. No. NAME Limit

The employee may authorize wholly dependent, legal memt)er3 of his immediate family residing with him, such as his wife and minor children, to purchase in his name by designating them in the spaces indicated

For the President:

E. C. Lombard MR 52051—Panama Canal—5-2»-52—50.000 Executive Secretary

Signature of Emoloyee

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The cash sale system in the Commissary

Division retail stores will be extended

today to the three local-rate stores on the

Atlantic side, Camp Bierd, Rainbow City,

and Chagres Commissaries. Cash sales

will be extended to the local-rate commissary stores on the Pacific side about

November 1 , under the present plans.

A facsimile of the new identification and authority purchase card is shown

above. These were distributed to Canal

employees recently and have been in use now since July 1. These cards will be distributed monthly

to Canal employees. Different colored cards are to be'used by various others who

have purchase privileges. These include

civilian employees of other Government

agencies in the Canal Zone, and retired employees.

The new system is expected to prove more effective in the prevention of unauthorized purchases than the coupon

system.

Unused Coupons Cashed

Cashiers in stores have been authorized

to redeem unused coupons for a 30-day

period after the cash sales system is adopted upon proper identification. Instructions concerning these cash redemptions

of coupons have already been furnished the various stores by the Commissary

Division headquarters. As seen in the facsimile above, the new

cards show the name and identification number of the employee; the employee's

signature; the name and relationship of dependents; the expiration date of the

identification-privilege card; and the monthly purchase limit. Only one card will be issued to each

bachelor employee, while two cards will be issued to married employees.

The cards are marked in purchase de- nominations of 50 cents each which will be marked out on the cards with each purchase of a corresponding amount. The change to the cash purchase system

in the local-rate commissaries has been under consideration for several weeks. The plan adopted for the control of unauthorized purchase is the result of experience gained in handling cash sales

in U. S.-rate commissary stores.
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Summer Recreation Program Attracts Many

Youngsters from 5 to 18 wind up this month a summer of fun in the thij-d Summer Recreation Program organized for the

entire Canal Zone. This year, fathers toe, and pets and

dolls and even mothers' hats, dresses, and

high-heeled shoes played a part in the

activities. Fathers and sons pitted skills against each other in father and son hoi'seshoes, one of the special events emphasized in this year's playground program. "Me and

My Dog Day" gave Bowser his place in the fun. Small fi-y sirens modeled their own

creations in feminine headgear in a Little Ladies' Hat Show. Then there have been Hobo Day, on the opening day of the U.S.

rate activities June 16; a pet show; a scavenger hunt and other special activities.

Before the U. S.-rate program closes August 30, there will be more special events in addition to the many arts, crafts, and sports activities which form

the backbone of the program this year as

in the past. Youngsters in local-rate communities

have had their tiaditional scooter derby

and in inter-playground tournaments have played championship matches in basketball, volleyball, swimming, baseball, track, and Softball. There have also been domino, checkers, archery, and

shuffleboard tournaments.

Square-dancing, sewing, hjindicrafts,

weight-lifting, boxing, skating, and even

jacks also provided entertainment and

instruction for children in the local-rate programs, which opened June 11 and

closed August 1. The arts and crafts program, a com- munity Chest function, is directed by the Canal Zone Recreation Committee. Mrs.

G. 0. Parker served for the second year as coordinator of the program in the U. S.- rate communities and E. Stanley Loney

was coordinator, for the third year, of the

local-rate program. The playground program was under the

general supervision of G. C. Lockridge flower making attracts all age groups. Even a few boys lose their timidity and talvo instruc-

^irootrvr nf flio Phvoipnl Vrliifptinn nnH ''""s in this phase of the summer recreation prop-am. The volunteer instructor for this group of fiower- mrector OI me rnysicdl Ji,uucdUon_ anu ^^|.^_,_, ^^^^^^ ^^^^.^ ^^ j^^^^^ Medrick, center, who is showing Violet Reid at her left how to mal<e a Recreation Branch Ot the bChOOlS Division. p^p^^ rose. Many examples of the work of the class are displayed on the table.

NO PH.\SE OF THE SUMMER RECREATION' PROGRAM attraHs more enthusiasm than

boxing. The two young hopefuls above are William Brownie. 9. left, and Randolph Sealey, 8, right, receiving instructions at the Santa Cruz Gymnasium in Gamboa from Phillip Walker. The boxing in- structor is one of many volunteer workers in the summer recreation progiam who give many hours of

theii' time. The gymnasium was crowded with many boxers when this picture was taken.

BIG AND LITTLE FAMILIES OF DOLLS went to a party with their "little mothers" all dolled up in their mothers' clothes in one of the special events

of this year's Summer Recreation Program.

This typical group at the Balboa Gymnasium party featured, in addition to the dolls, combinations of peek-a-boo veils and striped anklets; evening gowns

and pigtails; and ostrich feathers and wobbly ankles above unfamiliar grown-up heels. The doll "children" were judged on the basis of oldest, biggest, smallest, and largest families and the best dressed and best decorated dolls and buggies.
10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1, 1952

Everybody Talks About The Weather—

Some People Do Something About It

Water makes the Panama Canal work

and the Canal's Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch budgets the water so

it will safely transit ships from ocean to ocean, fill Isthmian faucets, light the Canal Zone, and run its hoists and

toasters. The weather and water men -there is not a woman in the unit—also furnish authoritative information for the very

large part of the population who talk about the weather or do something about it. Ringing telephones at the Balboa

Heights headciuarters or Cristobal station may announce a housewife who wants to know if she should hang out her wash; an

Isaak Walton inquij'ing about the water

temperature in Panama Bay; or a ship

captain who asks if there were an eatth- quake at 2:10 a. m. on July 30—if not, his ship must have hit an obstruction, he

explains.

Or the caller may be a Dredging Divi- son official who wants to know about the

tide level in the bay; an obscure fact fancier who is curious about the average humidity at 3 a. m.; or the people after people who seek assurance that it is unusually hot or dry or wet or windy.

Weather Over 1,300 Square Miles

Most of the answers come originally

from ink wiggles recorded on graph paper by instruments at weather recording sta- tions spread over more than 1,300 square

miles of Isthmus covered by Canal

weather work—meteorology, hydrography, seismology, and climatology. There's a lot of water in this area of rainy season tropical downpours and it takes a lot to run the Canal. Just how

much there is and what to do with it to

pre\'ent either flood or water famine are the primary questions for which there is a Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch

to supply the answer. Back in the bush as far as 35 miles from

the Canal channel, hydrographers travel by launch, cayuco, and pack mules or trudge long jungle trails on foot to find out how much water there is and how

much can be expected.

That is the question which hydrographic people labor constantly to reduce

to reliable facts which they must have to beat floods to the draw and at the same

time assure suflicient water for all Canal

needs. Must Meet Water Needs

Among the water expenditures, there

are some fixed obligations that must be met— come high or low water. The first of these is the business of shuttling ships

from ocean to ocean.

It takes 7k million cubic feet (a cubic

foot is about 7'-^ gallons) of water to lock

a ship through the Canal—or 157 million

for an average day of 21 lockages.

When that is used, it is gone forever from Gatun Lake, the main storage basin that forms 28 miles of the ship channel between Gatun and Pedro Miguel Locks

and is the real heart of the lock-type

Panama Canal. Madden Lake serves as an auxiliary reservoir for Gatun Lake. Another heavy water expenditure goes

for hydroelectric power. The Gatun

Hydroelectric Plant at Gatun Dam uses an average of 2,500 cubic feet per second. Water used at the Madden Hydroelectric Plant at Madden Dam—about 1,700 cubic feet per second—runs on down into Gatun Lake, where it is used over again. Losses By Evaporation Heavy

.\bout 47 cubic feet of water every second goes into Isthmian faucets for drinking water and Saturday night baths. Another 700 cubic feet per second dis- appear into thin air by evaporation and

22 more cubic feet per second leak out of the lock chambers. il^ Which all goes to show that there's a

lot of water that doesn't go over the dams.

THIS "WEATHERMAN" at work is James Thompson, Jr., Engineering kiA. again, hitting the

jungle trail that takes him to remote weather stations

to gather the statistics on which the Canal water "budget" is based.

H. J. MILLION, Hydraulic Engineer, kfl, and James Thompson, Jr., Engineering Aid, are shown here using a current meter to clock the current of the Chagres River at Madden Dam. one step in the process

of determining the amount of water coming into Gatun and Madden Lakes from the rivers in the huge Gatun Lake drainage basin.

Between elevation 82 feet (the lowest that

provides a minimum depth of 40 feet in the Canal), and 87 feet, Gatun Lake holds 22i^ billion cubic feet of usable water

enough to supply the entire city of New

York for six months.

Madden Lake holds 28 billion cubic feet when it is full, practically all of which is usable. With that much water to start with, the budgeting of the available supply seems simple enough—the object being to

store the rain that runs into the lakes during the rainy season and use it during

the four or five months of dry season. But

there are complications.

When both lakes are as full as they can,

or should, be at the end of the rainy

season, the rains are still coming and there

is always the possibility that rampaging

rivers may build up a water volume that

couldn't be spilled safely before it damaged the dams and locks. Again, it would seem simple in a case

like that to open the spillway gates and

let some water run out. But that is a

ticklish and technical business that also takes time. If the spilling were delayed

until floods happen it would be too late. Dry Season Needs Urgent

The water budgeters must also consider

first, last, and always the primary necessity of keeping water in storage for the dry season that comes around like death

and taxes and the people who start worrying when Gatun Lake drops notice- ably. They can't just let the water go if there seems to be too much of it. There are emergency measures that could be used to hurry a dangerous

amount of water out of the lake but it would take several hours to get them into
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

W. H. ESSLINGER, Chief Hydrographer in ciiarge of the Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch, and his assistant, T. C. Henterjeft, are shown here with some of the weather equipment in the headquarters

office at Balboa Heights. On the desk is a quadruple register which records wind direction and velocity, sunshine, and rain. The tall old barogi'aph. flanked by two barometers in the background, was inherited from French Oanal

diggers and is known to have been in constant operation since the 1880's.

operation with safety. Only the spillway

gates can be used quickly. In an extreme emergency, about

300,000 cubic feet of water per second

could be poured out of the lake—if all 14 spillway gates were open and if Canal

traffic were stopped and the water were

spilled out through the emergency dams

at the locks and the huge lock culverts which ordinarily supply water for lockages.

When the rains pour and the rivers rage up in the hills of the continental divide, Houston Esslinger, who heads the Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch, the

first-hand observers on the spot and the men who man the gates and valves could wish they had been postmen or bus drivers. Many Floods At Night

Floods have a habit of happening at night and they can't be stuffed in desk drawers until morning. So the midnight

oil burns and telephone messages of in- formation from the field and instructions from Balboa Heights shuttle back and

forth until the danger is past. In the dry season it's just the opposite.

When the water is being used too fast the "budget" has to be adjusted by economy

measures such as short chamber and tan- dem lockages, Diesel operation of power

generating plants, or shifting of the power load from one station to another. The hydrographers certainly think

twice before recommending the Diesel operation of power plants since the increased

cost of Diesel operation pushes electric rates up in proportion.

Another consideration in manipulating

the power generation for the sake of water economies is that the Madden

power plant generates twice as much

power from a given amount of water as the Gatun station because the water falls farther at Madden Dam.

The ammunition used against either

flood or water famine is a battery of statistics. They detail for weather men the

situation that must be met—today and

tomorrow or during that theoretical "1,000-year flood," the maximum eventuality, based on past weather records. Network Of Weather Stations

The statistics come from a network of

rainfall and river gauging stations over a

large piece of the Isthmus. Most of the weather outposts are located within the

confines of the huge oval-shaped ridge that roughly encloses the 1,300 square

miles of territory from which water runs

into Gatun and Madden Lakes—the

Gatun Lake Basin.

Rainfall observations are collected from

50 stations in the Canal Zone and Panama,

34 of which have automatic recorders from which statistics in wiggle form on

graph paper are gathered. There are

eight river stations on the rivers that run

into Gatun Lake.

Trips to gather statistics from weather

outposts start from the Madden Dam sta- tion where Charles Howe, Hydraulic Engineer, is in charge of the field work of the Meteorological and Hydrographic Branch.

He is assisted by Engineers Jim Million and Elmer Kanz, seven engineering aids and 25 local-rate cayuco men, motorboat

operators, observers, and helpers.

Palancamen Are Used

To get to the San Miguel station, for instance, some 9 miles above the upper

tip of Madden Lake, an engineer and

three local-rate "palancamen" (from palanca, the pole used to push a cayuco

through the water) set out by launch

across Madden Lake. They have cayucos in tow and carry food and clothing for three days to a week

(and might need more in event of a flood), a current meter, tool kit, and ink and

graph paper to maintain weather instru- ments at the outposts.

From the head of navigation on the

lake, an hour of poling their cayucos takes them to the Candelaria River Station on

the Pequeni River. A local-rate observer

is stationed here—and also at the Chico

Station on the Chagres River—to keep a

constant watch on the river. At Candelaria the engineer removes the

record of river heights from a recording gauge housed in a little 35-foot perpendicular tower that rests on a level with

the river bottom and reaches up toward

the trees on the river bank. To measure the amount (See page 13)

BALBOA

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A PARAMOUNT PICTURE
12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW AugusH,1952

ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH'S CALENDAR

KniploN'cfs who observed imporlaiU anniversaries diirinj; the month of July are listed alphabeticalh- lielow. The number of years

inchides all Government service with the Canal or other agencies. Those with con- tinuous service with the Canal arc> indicated with (*). 4t YEARS

Joseph C. Hannigan, Lockmaster,

Atlantic Locks.

41 YEARS

*Enrique de la Ossa, Local .Agent, Panama, Terminals Division.

40 YEARS

George H. Cassell, .\ssistant Chief, Housing Division. Eddie Holgerson, Foreman Stevedore,

Terminals Division.

35 YEARS

George W. Smith, Property and Stock

Control Clerk, Pacific Locks. Randolph N. Trower, General Foreman,

Dredging Dixision.

30 YEARS

George B. Smith, Plumber, Mainte- nance Division. Stanley F. Yost, Marine Dispatcher,

(Port and Canal), Navigation Division.

25 YEARS

C. F. Bertoncini, Cartographic and

Compilation .\id. Dredging Division. Nolan A. Bissell, Postal Clerk, Postal. Customs aTid Immigration L^ixision. *Joseph A. Corrigan, Jr., Storekeeper

(Checker), I erminals Division. James A. Driscoll, .Assistant Dredging

Chief, Dredging Division. *Lyman Jackson, Locomotive Machinist, Railroad Division. Russell L. Klotz, Chief, Housing Division. Jacques K. Lally, Postal Clerk, F'ostal, Customs and Immigration Division. Lew W. Mcllvaine, Assistant Supplv

Officer (Housewares—Toys), Commissary

Division. *Herbert K. Peterson, Planning Esti- mator, Industrial Bureau. *Anastasio Sogandares, Boilermaker,

Industrial Bureau. Oscar M. Sogandares, Signalman, Navigation Division, Anthony Tezanos, Chief Towboat Engineer, Ferry Service, Dredging Division. *WelIs D. Wright, .Assistant Designing

Engineer, Engineering Division.

20 YEARS

W. H. Clinchard, Jr., Dental Officer, Hospitalization and Clinics, Health Bureau. Oliver C. Gulp, Supervisor Plumber,

Maintenance Division. Leon V. Heim, Customs Inspector, Postal, Customs and Immigration Division. Caroline Hunt, Xurse, Gorgas Hospital.

Donald H. Spencer, Foreman Painter (Locks Division) and Diver, Pacific Locks. John R. Szima, Operator-Electrician

and Electrician, Terminals Division.

15 YEARS

*Errett R. Albritton, Train Dispatcher, Railroad Division. *Harlan P. Crouch, Telephone Maintaincr. Electrical Division. Philip T. Green, Department Head

(Wicational Subjects), Schools Division,

(Industrial Training Coordinator).

Robert B. Grier, Lock Operator, Pacific Locks. Reed E. Hopkins, Jr., Heavy Truck

Driver, Motor Transportation Division. *Teddy A. Marti, Lock Operator (Machinist), Pacific Locks. *Richard H. McConaughey, Lock Operator (Pipefitter), Pacific Locks. John A. McLain, Jr., Gauger and Fore- man Cribtender, Terminals Division. Sumner E. Parker, Lock Operator

(Wireman), Pacific Locks. William J. Stevenson, Hydraulic Grader, Dredging Division. James G. F. Trimble, Construction In- spector (Electrical), Contracts and Inspection Division. Dorothy Webb, File Clerk, Local-Rate Records Branch, Personnel Bureau. 'William G. Wood, Yard and Road

Locomotive Engineer, Railroad Division.

1st American Legion, Posi .No. (>, (iam- boa Legion Home, 7:M) p. ni. 2d~Track JForemen, No. 2741, B & B

Shops, Balboa. 3d—VFW, Post No. .?857, \eterans' Club,

Cristobal, ') a. m. 4th Pedro Miguel Civic Council,

Conimunitv' House, 7 p. ni. Cristobal- Margarita Civic Council,

Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. VFW, Post No. 727, Fort Clavlon,

7:,«) p. m. VFW, Post No. 3822, Curundu Road,

7:30 p. in. American Legion, Post No. 3, Gatun

Legion Hall. 7:30 p. m.

Postal Employees, No. 23160, K. of C. Hall, 7:30" p. m. 5th~Machinists, No. 811, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 7:30 p. m. Gamboa Civic Council, Community

Center, 7:30 p. m. Gatun Civic Council, Gatun Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. VFW, Post No. 100, Old Boy Scout

Building, Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. 6th—VFW, Post No. 40, Balboa, Wirz

Meiiiorial, 7:30 p. m. 7th —Carpenters and Joiners, No. 667, Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. 8th—Blacksmiths, No. 400. with Boiler- makers No. 462 and No. 471, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. 10th—Plumbers, No. 606, Balboa Lodge

Hall, <)J0 a. m.

Pipefitters, Margarita Clubhouse, 9:30

.1. m. Sheet Metal Workers, No. 157, Bal- boa Clubhouse, 9:30 a. m.

11th—American Legion, Post No. 1, Legion Home, 7:30 p. m. Machinists, No. 699, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m.

12th —American Legion, Post No. 7, Fort

Clayton, 7:30 p. m.

August Sailings

From Cristobal

Cristobal August 1 Ancon August 8 Panama August 15

Cristobal August 22 Ancon August 29 From New York

Panama August G

Cristobal August 13 A neon August 20

Panama August 27

American Legion Auxiliary, No. 1 , B;dboa Legion Home, 7:30 p. m.

Electrical Workers, No. 397, Wirz

Memorial, 7:30 p. m. 13th—Pacific Civic Council, Board Room,

.\dministration Building, Balboa

Heights, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, Post No. 2, Legion Home. Old Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. Carpenters and Joiners, .\o. 913, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m. 17th—CLU-MTC, Margarita Clubhouse,

8:30 a. m. 18th—Truckdrivers, Balboa Lodge Hall, 7:30 p. m.

Electrical Workers, No. 677, Masonic

Temple, Gatun, 7:30 p. ni. 19th — Machinists, .\'o. 811, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 7:30 p. m. Operating Engineers, No. 595, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7 p. m. 20th—AFGE, .\o. 'l4, Balboa Clubhouse,

7:30 p. m. American Legion Auxiliary, No. 3, I^cgion Hall, Gatun, 7:30 p. m.

21st—American Legion Auxiliary, No. 6, Gamlioa Legion Hall, 7:30 p. m. 25th—VFW Auxiliary, Post No. 3822 Post Home, 7:.?0 p. m. Machinists, No. 699, K. of C. Hall, Margarita, 7:30 p. m. 26th—VFW, Post No. 100, Old Boy Scout

Building, Cristobal, 7:30 p. m. American Legion, Post No. 7, Fort

Clavton, 7:30 p. m. Operating Engineers, No. 595, Lodge

Hall, Balboa. 7 p. m. Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, Gamboa Golf and Country

Club, 7 p. m. 27th—American Legion Auxiliary, No. 2, Legion Home, Old Cristobal, 7:30

p. m. AFGE, Lodge No. 88, Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. 28th —Governor's Conference, Board

Room, Administration Building, Bal- boa Heights, 2 p. m. SEPTEMBER

1st —Pedro Miguel Civic Council, Community House, 7 p. m. Cristobal-Margarita Civic Council,

Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. VFW, 'Post 727, Fort Clayton, 7:.W

p. m. VFW, Post 3822, Curundu Road, 7:30

p. m. American Legion, Post No. 3, Gatun

Legion Hall, 7:30 p. m. 2d—Machinists, No. 811, Balboa Lodge

Hall, 1:M) p. m. Gamboa Civic Council, Community

Center, 7:30 p. m. Gatun Civic Council, Gatun Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m. 3d—VFW, Post No. 40, Wirz Memorial,

7:30 p. m. 4th—Carpenters and Joiners, No. 667, Margarita Clubhouse, 7:30 p. m.

June 15 Through July 15

The following list contains the names of those V. S.-rate employees who were transferred from one division to another (unless the change is administrative) or from one

type of work to another. It does not contain within-grade promotions or regradings.

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU

Bruno L. Emanuele, from Security

Guard, .Atlantic Locks, to Fireman, Fire

Division, Joseph L. Sestito, from Security Guard,

Paiilie Locks, to Postal Clerk. Postal Service. Shirley S. Makibbin, from Elementary

School Teacher to Substitute Teacher,

Schools Division. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

BUREAU

Walter E. Marek, from Plumber. Maintenance Division, to Plumbing Inspector, Contract and Inspection Division. Joe W. Crawford, from Junior Foreman,

Ferrv- Service, to .Apprentice Wireman,

T~lectrical Division. James A. Eraser, Jr., from Policeman,

Police Division, to .Apprentice Cablesplicer,

Electrical Division. Joseph G. Black, Sr., from .Armature Winder to Electrical Machinist, Electrical

I^ivision. William J. Turner, Richard Swearingen, Richard C. Scheidegg, from .Apprentice Wiremen to Wiremen, Electrical Div. Philip R. Sanders, from .Armature Winder .Apprentice to Armature Winder,

Electrical Division. Burman S. Spangler, from Planing

Mill Hand to Carpenter Leader, Mainte- nance Division.
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS

HEALTH BUREAU

Dr. John E. Marshall, Dr. Jack D. Summerlyn, Dr. Homer L. Graff, Jr., Dr. William T. Bailey, from Intern to Medical Officer, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Steve R. Maharry, from Hospital Resident to Medical Officer, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Robert W. Bonifaci, Dr. Rodolfo

V. Young, Dr. Douglas M. Hardy, from

Resident to Medical Officer, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Jesse E. Douglass, from Intern, Gorgas Hospital, to Medical Officer, .Atlantic Sledical Clinics. Dr. Joseph G. Sebrand, Dr. Michael J. Takos, Dr. James M. Young, Jr., Dr. Alfred B. Hinkle, from Intern to Hospital

Resident, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Thomas G. Bouland, from Hospital Resident .\o. 1 to Hospital Resident No. 2, Gorgas Hospital. Dr. Russell H. Mitchell, from Intern, Gorgas Hospital, to Medical Officer, Pacific Medical Clinics. Mrs. Mary C. Holmer, from Clerk

Typist, Contract and Inspection Division, to Clerk Typist. Sanitation Division. INDUSTRIAL BUREAU

Daniel C. Zitzmann, from General .Sup- ply Clerk, Housing Division, to Fiscal Ac- counting Clerk, Industrial Bureau. MARINE BUREAU

Mrs. Velma D. Todd, from Clerk-Stenographer, Personnel Bureau, to Clerk-Steno- grapher, Navigation Division. Benjamin R. Brundage, from Second

Assistant Marine Engineer, .Aids to Navigation Section, to Chief Towboat Engineer,

Navigation r)i\ision. Charles T. Jackson, Jr., from .Administrative .Assistant, Navigation Division, to .Administrative Assistant, Office of the

Director. Peter M. Riley, from Clerk (Shorthand

Reporter) to .Administrative Assistant, Navigation Division. Thomas B. Idol, from Physical Science

Aid, Engineering Division, to Guard Supervisor, Dredging Division. Albert L. Taylor, from Dipper Dredge

Engineer to Chief Towboat Engineer,

Dredging Division. Lloyd M. Kent, from Property and

Supply Clerk to Small Tug Operator,

Dredging Division. Frank P. Marczak, from Meatcutter-incharge, Comniissar\' Division, to Senior Foreman, Dredgiiig Division. Herman H. Keepers, from Electrical Assistant, .Aids to Navigation Section, to

Electrical Supervisor, Aids to Navigation

Section, Atlantic. Alexander Watt, from Steam Engineer

(Floating Crane) to Dipper Dredge Engineer, Dredging Division. Norman A. Terry, from Towboat Master to Senior Towboat Master, Ferry Service, Dredging Division. Albert H. Shockey, from Lockmaster to Mechanical Supervisor, Pacific Locks. Frank O. Bryan, from Lock Operator, Machinist Leader, to Lockmaster, Pacific Locks. Ferdinand G. Berwanger, from Lock

Operator Machinist to Lock Operator Machinist Leader, Pacific Locks. Curtis L. Coate, from Wireman, Electrical Division, to Lock Operator Wireman,

.Atlantic Locks. PERSONNEL BUREAU

Billy Gene Mauzy, from Personnel .As- sistant to General Fields Training Officer, Personnel Bureau. Mrs. Shirley L. Cozzens, from Clerk- Stenographer, .Administrative Branch, to

Secretar\-, Office nf the Director. Mrs. Dorothy A. Andress, from Clerk- Stenographer, Wage and Classification Division, to .Secretary, Office of the Director. RAILROAD AND TERMINALS BUREAU

Arba E. Beck, from Chief Stevedore Foreman to Marine Terminal Superintendent, Terminals Division. John W. B. Hall, from Principal Steve- dore Foreman to Chief Stevedore Foreman,

Terminals f^ixision. David S. Brown, from Head Stevedore Foreman to Principal Ste\edorc Foreman,

Terminals Division. Peter A. Tortorici, from Stevedore Fore- man to Head Stevedore Foreman, Terminals

Division. SUPPLY AND SERVICE BUREAU

Carleton F. Hallet, Jr., from Lifeguard,

Lt. Gov. Paxson Meets Civic, Labor

Leaders At Monthly Conference

Everybody Talks About The Weather—

Some People Do Something About It

(Continued from page S) overhaul time. Mr. HofTmeyer questioned what he termed the "unofficial recruitment" of employees for certain types of work. They

come to the Canal Zone at their own ex- pense and are hired here. They fail to understand why employees recruited in the United States are entitled to provisions of Public Law 600 while employees

hired locally are not. Edward A. Doolan, Personnel Director,

and Forrest G. Dunsmoor, Administrative

Assistant to the Governor, pointed out

that personnel for certain types of work is available locally; the administration has no authority for States recruitment of this group. The administration, they said, is not responsible for paying the travel ex- penses of someone who hab been told by a friend that there are jobs which he might

get if he comes to the Isthmus.

Lt. Gov. Paxson agreed to take up with

the Health Bureau the question of the copra bugs which are believed to come

from ships and are a nuisance in towns

along the Canal. He will also discuss with

the new Health Director, Brig. Gen. Don

Longfellow, the matter of facilities at Colon Hospital. Just before the meeting adjourned,

Charles W. Hammond, Chairman of the General Committee of Civic Councils,

asked for a later answer on the future of Corozal and the disposition of the present town of Pedro Miguel and its residents. Employee representatives attending the conference were: Andrew Lieberman of the Marine Engineers; Walter Wagner,

Owen J. Corrigan, Mr. Hoffmeyer, Mr.

Tobin and Mr. Hatchett of the Central Labor Union-Metal Trades Union; Mr.

Kiley of the Pacific Locks Association; Rufus Lovelady and H. J. Chase of the AFGE; Mr. Daniels of the Railway Conductors; Mr. Hammond, of the General

Committee of Civic Councils; Mrs. Bronson Rigby of the Pacific Civic Council; Rev. Havener of Cristobal-Margarita;

Raymond Ralph of Gatun, and William H. Ward of Gamboa.

RETIREMENTS

IN JULY

Employees who retired at the end of July,

their birthplaces, titles, length of .service at retirements, and their future addresses are: Harry A. Comley, Pennsylvania; Sur- veying Officer; 39 years and 17 days; Washington, D. C. Grover C. Gravatt, New Jersey; Truck

Driver and Hea\\- Craneman, Motor Transportation Di\ision; 31 years, 9 months, and

13 days; Canal Zone. Mrs. Jewell W. Hobby, Georgia; Property and Stock Control Clerk, Balboa Store- houses; 12 vears, 1 month, and 1 dav;

Balboa, C. Z". John H. Schneider, Penns>lvania;

Secretary to the Governor; 23 years, 6 months, and 9 days; probably Florida. George B. Smith, Texas; Plumber,

Maintenance Division; 22 years, 9 months, and 16 tla\s; Browns\ille, Tex. Wilbur A. White, Tennessee; .Assistant Superintendent, Terminals Division; 29

years, 2 months, and 13 days; Houston, Tex.

Schools Division, to Student .Assistant, Commis.sary Division. Grady G. Galley, from Utility Operator,

Maintenance Division, to .Automobile Ser- viceman, Motor Transportation Division.

(Continued from page 11) of water in the

river, he raises himself up to the cable car that runs across the river and from this perch takes soundings of the depths at

five or ten-foot intervals across the river. How Streams Are Measured

Then he dons headphones, lowers his current meter into the water and clocks the clicks made by a certain number of revolutions of the windmill-like cups of the meter. The current is then clocked at two different depths at each of his meastired intervals across the river. From computations of the size of the

blocks of water measiu-ed oflt in the river and the speed of the current, the amount

of water passing a certain point is figured.

Then, using the recorded gauge height

and the slope of the river, so-called dis- charge curves are drawn by weather statisticians in the headquarters office which

show the amount of water in the entire range of the river. Then, when the measurements are made

and the curve plotted, a flood shifts the sand and rock and changes the .shape of the river bottom so the computations must be started at the beginning again.

And this is a continuous process. Floods Are Measured

To measure a river at flood stage, the engineer must get up the river before the

flood happens (you can't pole a cayuco in a flood) wait until it occtu-s, get the measurements, and get out when the water

goes down.

Back to the engineer at Candelaria. He and his palancamen stay there over- night and start out in cayticos the next morning for a two-hour trip up the Pequeni. They tm-n at the San Miguel

River and follow it to the beginning of the climbing trail on which they walk for several hours to the San Miguel Station,

1,700 feet above sea level. There, they remove from the rainfall recorder its graphed statistics and put it in good order for the month ahead and hit the trail back for Candelaria, where they

stay overnight before rettu-ning to the Madden Station. Other weather information comes into the Balboa Heights headquarters from

larger regular stations. Meteorological Aid Raymond Osman,

in charge of the Cristobal station, looks out for rains and storms coming off the Caribbean and keeps tide records and

other weather data. Another tide station

in the one-time jail building at Dock 17 in Balboa keeps tab on the Pacific. Seismological Equipment

In a darkened spooky room in the base- ment of the Administration Building at Balboa Heights, a tiny light beam records on a revolving drum more wiggles on a photographic sheet that tell the weather- men the distance and intensity of earth- quakes. This is a seismological observatory.

Then there is more weathei information

recorded on instruments in the headquarters office, .some of which were in- herited from the French canal builders,

whose weather records starting in 1S81 formed the basic data for the original

American hydrologic studies for the construction of the Canal. A "Division of Meteorology and River

Hydraulics" was created by the American

canal diggers in June 1905 about a year

after the United States acquired the

interests of the French New Panama

Canal Company.
14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1, 1952

Cricket Holds High Place In Sports

Calendar Of Local Rate Communities

The grand old British game of cricket is dear to many hearts in the Canal Zone. Those who play the game and line the

field for matches at La Boca Ball Park and

Mount Hope Stadium include both the

old time Panama Canal diggers who

brought cricket from the West Indies to the Canal Zone and the younger generation who have also caught the American

enthusiasm for baseball. In recent years the younger group has taken more and more to baseball but

cricket holds its own as one of the major

attractions on sports calendars in all local-rate Canal communities.

The Canal Zone version of the "gentle- man's game" differs from the British version only in a few of the traditional trimmings. All in all, it's the same old game that has been played since the Middle Ages.

The white cricket uniform of flannel trousers and silk shirts, that has come down from its blue blood originators, has

given way in the Canal Zone to clothing more fitting for strenuous e.xercise in the

tropics.

The local umpire also often adds an

"elephant hunter" hat to his traditional white duck "duster." In the British and traditional game,

there is tea between the long-drawn-out

innings (after ten men on a team have

been out). At the end of the two or three- day matches, of the type played in inter- national competitions, there is a gathering

at which there are speeches and toasts honoring both winners and losers. When opponents fraternize after a match, it's a gentlemanly gathering of

friends, just as it was in early times when

cricket was first played on castle grounds.

Cricket hospitality, Canal Zone style, omits the traditional tea. It's more of a banquet plus a family reunion when local cricketers get together.

When the La Boca eleven play at Mount Hope, they are met with to-do at the station, to be escorted to the playing

field—the pitch. After the match, dinner

is laid out at the home of a home-town

team member. Then a party follows to

B.\TSMAN RONALD ASIIUOW.N, from the HMS Sheffield, is shown here making a forward

stroke in a game with the La Boca Cricket Club, in one of three matches played by teams from the

Sheffield when the British cruiser visited recently in Canal waters. Behind the batting crease is .James Lord, wicket keeper for La Boca. The visitors drew

one and lost two of their matches with Canal Zone

cricket clubs.

T?IE LA BUC'A CKICKKT C'Lt'B, three-time Canal Zone champions, is shown here with Umpire

.John Tudor (back left). The team members who played in the match with the team from the HMS

Sheffield, are left to right, back row: Van McLeod, Kenneth Brathwaite, E. Belgrave, Alfred Bowen,

Christopher Greaves, Leonard Roberts, A. Williams. Front row: M. Forde. Captain; Marcus Grannum,

James Lord, Edgar Roberts, and E. Wiltshire.

make anyone forget the most wicked

battle at the wickets. Canal Zone cricket aficionados say the

local game has benefited from the influ- ence of baseball —particularly in the quality of the fielding. This view, however,

has been questioned warmly by visiting British cricketers. But whatever the

eflFect on cricket skills, many young men

on Canal Zone cricket teams are also out- standing in baseball. In one respect, cricket is the same—in Gamboa, Oxford, or Sydney. The umpires call the plays and what they say

goes without boos or bouquets from the grandstand. It isn't cricket to question

a decision or show undue feeling about the game or its outcome. The ethics of cricket are a most revered

tradition with followers of the English

national game. There are small points of etiquette that might seem strange to followers of baseball. When a bowler bowls a very good

ball (like the pitcher, in baseball language)

or a batsman smothers a "yorker," he is politely applauded by his opponents, in and out of the stands. On the other hand,

if he's hit "for a six," the crowd and players keep still. When the captain of a team comes up

to bat—be he a "William Tell" or just

awful—the crowd and the players note his position with a good rousing ovation. This isn't to say cricket competition

isn't keen or that spectators find it dull. When a slugger of a batsman comes up

to the crease in a hotly fought match at La Boca, the crowd and the players react the same as they do for Ralph Kiner in the Series.

If he "snicks" a four across the boundary—"over the tanks" at La Boca

everyone can relax while four points are scored automatically without any baseball-type runnmg around bases. Cricket in local-rate Canal communities

is played under the sponsorship of the

Atlantic and Pacific Cricket Leagues, or- ganized five years ago. The Atlantic and

Pacific Championship Series have been

played for three years under the sponsorship of the Physical Education and Recreation Branch of the Schools Division.

On the Pacific side, 98 players on six teams fight it out on Sunday afternoons from January to May. The teams are the La Boca, Clovelly, Ancon, Red Tank,

Spartan, and Gamboa Cricket Clubs

(usually called just "C. C.'s"). There are 171 players in eight cricket clubs on the Atlantic side, that sound like Merrie Olde England. They are the

Excelsior, Fenwicks, Midland, Surrey,

Moreland, Rainbow City, Wanderers, and

Sussex C. C.'s. They play from January

to July.

The Atlantic Cricket Board of Control

serves as the regulatory body for that

side of the Isthmus. The members are: Sidney Anderson, President; Charles

Davis, Vice President; B. Clarke, Secre- tary-Treasurer; S. Cross, Assistant Secre- tary-Treasurer; and George Newton and

Harold Clarke. The Pacific Cricket Council, in charge

of cricket on the Pacific side, consists of Hilton D. Perkins, President; William

Griffith, Vice President; and Roy Best, Secretary-Treasurer.

The playoffs for the Canal Zone championship will be held this month, with

matches at both La Boca and Mount

Hope. The Excelsior C. C. again will try

to down the three-time top team, La Boca. AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES

INSTALLED AT LOCKS

Work has been started by Electrical Division forces on the installation of an auto- matic telephone system for Pedro Miguel

Locks, similar to that recently placed in operation at Miraflores Locks. Both of the systems, which will be separate, will operate through automatic equip- ment installed in the Pedro Miguel telephone

exchange. It will be sexeral months yet before the new system is ready for use at Pedro Miguel Locks since the necessary re- wiring is being done in connection with the general rehabilitation program of the electrical system at all locks. Work on the modernization program at Gatun Locks was recently begun and instal- lation of aTi automatic telephone system is a part of that long-range program which

probably will extend over the next two years. Mimeographed lists of the new telephone lumibers at Miraflores Locks were distrib- uted last month to various Canal offices. The

information luimber of the automatic ex- change at Miraflores is 4-833.
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

STATISTICS ON CANAL TRAFFIC

For the purpose of comparison between pre-war and post-war traffic through the Panama Canal, statistics for the fiscal year 1938 are used in this section, as being more nearly normal for peace time than those for 1939. Most Former Canal Traffic Records

Are Broken In Past 1 2-Month Period

Although many new records were set in commercial traffic through the Canal

during the past fiscal year, which ended June 30, total traffic failed by more than

450 transits to equal the all-time high of 9,586 transits established in the fiscal year 1946. The chart on this page shows the fluctu- ations of Canal traffic, both of commercial

shipping and total traffic during the past

14-year period. It was during this period

that ocean-going commercial traffic reached its lowest and highest levels since the close of World War I. Last fiscal year was the fourth time in the Canal's operating history that ocean- going commercial traffic exceeded 6,000

transits and the second time when total transits exceeded the 9,000-mark.

The heavy traffic in the fiscal year 1946,

composed chiefly of tolls-free vessels, re- sulted from the mass movement of shipping in the Pacific to the Atlantic after the close of World War II. New Records Last Year

Several new traffic records were set by

commercial shipping through the Canal

during the past year. A new monthly

record of 613 ocean-going commercial

vessels was set in March, only to be broken two months later by the 622 transits in May. New monthly records also were established on the amount of tolls, cargo shipments, and net tonnage of

vessels.

Yearly records were established in the number of transits, net tonnage of vessels, and cargo tonnage.

The new record in cargo tormage last year was established as the result of heavy

commodity shipments from the Atlantic

to the Pacific. The tonnage of commodity

shipments in this direction in the past

fiscal year was 15,129,000 tons, as compared with 1 1,132,000 tons in the previous

fiscal year, an increase of almost 40

percent.

West-East Shipments Drop

There was a slight decrease last year in the amount of cargo shipped from the

Pacific to the Atlantic from the previous

year's figures.

The amount of mineral oil shipped

through the Canal last year from the Atlantic to the Pacific was more than

double the tonnage of the iSee page iS)

CANAL TRANSITS-COMMERCIAL AND U. S. GOVERNMENT

FISCAL YEAR

1952 1951 1938

Atlantic

to Pacific

Pacific to Atlantic Total Total Total

Commercial vessels: Ocean-going __ ._ 3,184 3,340 6,524 5,593 5,524

Small 725 676 1,401 1,113 931

Total, commercial _ _ __ 3,909 4,016 7,925 6,706 6,455

**U. S. Government vessels; Ocean-going .. _. ._ 409 365 774 693 ]

[ 441 Small 237 192 429 315

Total commercial and U. S. Government. _ 4,555 4,573 9,128 7,714 6,896

* Vessels under 300 net tons Panama Canal measurement (or under 500 displacement

tons on vessels assessed on displacement tonnage).

** Vessels on which tolls are credited. Prior to July 1, 1951, Government-operated

ships transited free.

NUMBER

jQE

SHIPS

10000

1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August!, 1952

Canal Celebrates 38th Anniversary

August 15 - Early Transits Listed

The Panama Canal will observe its 38th

birthday on August 15 as an interoceanic

link for commercial ship traffic. The inaugural voyage for the new channel was made August 15, 1914 by the Panama Railroad steamer Ancon with a cargo of fi'eight for transshipment at Balboa and about 200 specially invited

guests. The Ancun made the voyage from

deep water in the Atlantic to deep water

in the Pacific, the trip requiring the entire day. The ship discharged its cargo at Balboa and leturned through the Canal

eight days lati^r. Although the Ancoiis trip was listed as the first commercial transit, it was not the

first self-propelled vessel to make the trip nor the first cargo to be shipped through

the Canal between the two oceans. The first transit by a self-propelled vessel was made by the craneboat Alex

LaValley on January 7, 1914. The crane- boat had been in use at the Atlantic entrance, but was moved to Culebra (now

Gaillard) Cut for some work. After completing the woi'k there, it was sent to the

Pacific side rather than back to Cristobal. Many Inquiries Received

Many inquiries are received from time

to time concerning the first trips through

the Canal by various types of vessels. A

summary of this information was compiled and printed in The Panama Canal

Record in the September 15, 1933 issue. The summary, except for the description

of the Alex LaValley's trip, follows: "On February 1, 1914, the tug Reliance,

passing through Gatun Locks, completed

a voyage around South America; it had

sailed from Colon for Balboa via the

Strait of Magellan on February 11, 1912,

and arrived at Balboa on June 17, 1912. "On May 18, 1914, three barges loaded

with sugar transferred to them at Balboa

from the steamer Alaskan were towed as

far as the lower end of Pedro Miguel

Locks; and their transit, after a change of towboats, was completed at 9 p. m. on May 19. This was the first handling of cargo through the Canal. "On May 19, 1914, the tug Mariner

towed two empty barges through the Canal from Cristobal to Balboa, arriving

at 6:40 p. m. This was the first direct or continuous voyage of a vessel through the Canal from ocean to ocean. "In anticipation of the opening of the Canal, a test voyage from Cristobal to Balboa was made by the steamship

Cristobal of the Panama Railroad Steamship Line on August 3, 1914, and a return

trip was made on August 4. The Advance

of the same line was sent from the Atlantic

to the Pacific and back as far as Gatun

Locks on August 9, 1914, completing the

return transit on August 10. The Panama

made a similar trip on August 11, completing the return transit on August 12. Guest passengers were carried on these

trips but no cargo was handled.

S. S. "Ancon" Led Procession

"The Ancon of the Panama Railroad

Steamship Line was sent through the Canal from Cristobal to Balboa on August

15, 1914, carrying cargo for transshipment

at Balboa and about 200 passengers who

were invited by direction of the Secretary

of War. This is considered the first transit of an ocean steamship in commercial

service. The ship discharged cargo at Balboa and returned through the Canal

to Cristobal on August 23. "On August 15, 1914, following the departure of the Ancon, transit of the Canal was begun by the steamship

Arizonan of the American-Hawaiian Line,

leaving Cristobal at 10:23 a. m.; this vessel completed transit on the following

day, passing Balboa at 4:10 p. m., August

16. The Arizonan carried cargo. The

yacht Lasata, owned by Morgan Adams,

started transit through the Canal apparently about 1 p. m., August 15, and completed transit at 5:35 p. m. on the 17th. The steamship Missourian of the American-Hawaiian Line, carrying cargo, left Cristobal at 2 p. m. on August 15 and

passed Balboa at 11:05 a. m. August 17.

First Northbound Transits

"The Pleiades, of the Luckenbach

Steamship Company, transited the Canal

on August 16, 1914, from Pacific to Atlantic. She left Balboa at 6:.50 a. m. and

arrived at Cristobal at 5:30 p. m. the same

day. The Pleiades was followed by the Pennsylmnian of the American-Hawaiian

Line, which left Balboa at 9:40 a. m., August 16, and arrived at Cristobal at 8:50 a. m., August 17. "These early transits of seagoing merchant vessels may be summarized as

follows: Test Transits

Atlantic to Pacific- August 3, Cristobal; August 9, Advance; August 11, Panama.

Pacific to Atlantic - August 4, Cristobal; August 9-10, Advance; August 11-12,

Panama.

Opening Voyage

Atlantic to Pacific—Steamship Ancon,

August 15; return through Canal, August

23.

Normal Commercial Transits

(Atlantic to Pacific) Arizonan, began transit August 15 at 10:23 a. m.; arrived at opposite terminal August 16 at 4:10 p. m.

Lasata, began transit August 15 at 1

p. m.; arrived at opposite terminal August

17 at 5:35 p. m.

Missourian, began transit August 15 at 2 p. m.; arrived at opposite terminal August 17, 11:05 a. m.

Pacific to Atlantic

Pleiades, began transit August 16 at 6:30 a. m.; arrived at opposite terminal August 16 at 5:30 p. m.

Pennsylvunian, began transit August 16

at 9:40 a. m.; arrived at opposite terminal August 17 at 8:50 a. m. "From the foregoing it may be stated that the first self-propelling, ocean-going

vessel to pass through the Canal was the LaValley, completing transit on January

7, 1914; the first passage of commercial

cargo was on May 18-19, 1914; the first vessel to make a direct, continuous voyage from ocean to ocean through the Canal was the tug Mariner on May 19, 1914; the first regular merchant vessel to

transit the Canal in commercial service was the Ancon on August 15, 1914; and

the first merchant vessel to use the Canal on a voyage between ports beyond the Canal terminals was the Arizonan on August 15-16, 1914." Other commercial vessels which transited during the first few days the Canal was open included the Arizonian, Kentuckian, and Montanan, of the AmericanHawaiian Steamship Company, and the Santa Catalina, of the W. R. Grace and

Company, all northbound; and the Missourian, American-Hawaiian Line, the Isabella, Luckenbach Line, and

Admiral Dewey, of the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company, all southbound.

SEVERAL TEST RUNS were made in the operation of the Panama Canal Locl<s prior to the opening

of the Canal on August 15, 1914 by the S. S. Ancon. These early tests generally attracted large crowds

from the employees who had helped in the construction of the waterway and the gigantic locks. The

picture above shows a test operation of Pedro Miguel Locks on October 24, 1013, when part of the dredging fleet was moved from the Pacific entrance to Culebra Cut after the new channel was flooded.
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 17

Panama Canal Traffic Figures Show

World Changes During Past 25 Years

Some of the vast economic and politi- cal changes which have taken place in the world dui'ing the past quarter century are

indicated in comparative statistics on Panama Canal traffic for the fiscal years 1929 and 19.52, the two peak years in its 38 years of operation.

Most of the Canal records for commercial shipping established in the fiscal year

1929 were broken during the past fiscal year. New records were set last year in the number of large, ocean-going commercial vessels, the net tonnage of commercial

shipping, and the amount of cargo shipped

through the Canal. Comparative figures on transits, ton- nage of vessels, amount of cargo and tolls are shown in the accompanying chai't at the bottom of this page for the two peak

years. The amount of tolls collected on oceangoing commercial vessels using the Canal

last year was nearly $200,000 under the

tolls for the fiscal year 1929, even though

the number of vessels and the aggregate

net tonnage of these vessels were higher

last year. This variance was caused by

the change in the rules of measurement and rate of tolls which was made in 1938. Economic and Political Changes

Although most of the principal statistics on Canal traffic for the two years are within a comparative range, the changes

which have taken place in the world's economic and political pattern are re- vealed in more detailed statistics for the two years on cargo shipped over the

various trade routes, commodity tonnage

figures, and the nationality of vessels using the Canal. Some of the major changes in the movement of cargo over the principal trade

routes as shown in the comparative statistics for 1929 and 1952 are the following:

The cargo shipments in the United

States intercoastal trade last year were

less than half of those in 1929; Shipments of commodities between the

east coast of the United States and the Far East last fiscal year were almost triple those of 1929; Cargo tonnage moved over the trade

route between Europe and Australia in 1952 was more than double that of 1929.

South American Trade Doubles

And, the South American trade has almost doubled within the 23-year period over the routes through the Canal to the East Coast of the United States and to Europe.

The following shows the relative posi- tion of the ten leading (Continued on page If) MONTHLY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC AND TOLLS

Vessels of 300 tons net or over By fiscal years

Month

Transits Tolls

(In thousands of dollars)

1952 1951 1938 1952 1951 1938

iiilv 463 513 457 $1,981 $2,373 $2,030

490 453 505 2,103 2,093 2,195

516 446 444 2,189 1,982 1,936

October . .- . 544 480 461 2,230 2,068 1,981

November 502 446 435 2,053 1,845 1,893

December 550 452 439 2,347 1,886 1,845

522 452 444 2,121 1,854 1,838

507 444 436 2,082 1,853 1,787

March.-. .__.__ 613 474 506 2,512 1,943 2,016

April 601 470 487 2,423 2,007 1,961 May . 622 485 465 2,481 2,020 1,887

594 478 445 2,401 1,982 1,801

Totals for fiscal year 6,524 5,593 5,524 $26,923 $23,906 $23,170

1929 1952

TRANSITS

1952

COMMERCIAL

30,674,302

P. C. TONNAGE

LARGE COMMERCIAL

1952

30.647.768

CARGO TONS

LARGE COMMERCIAL

1929 1952

. . .

, CREDITS

$3,413,726

^

SMALL AWD

M

SMALL AND = ocean-goisj:, OCEAN-GOING:; COMMERCIAL lomme:r^.(al i

$27,128,893 $26,995.772|

TOLLS COLLECTED
18 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1, 1952

Panama Canal Traffic Figures Show

World Changes During Past 25 Years

{Continued fnm page 17) Commodity shipments, in total tonnage, for the two years: ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

1929 1952

1. Mfg'res of iron and steel Mineral oils 2. Mineral oils Coal and coke

3. Cement Mfg'res of iron and steel

4. Cotton Phosphates

5. Phosphates Sugar

6. Tinplate Paper and paper products

7. Automobiles Automobiles

8. Railroad material Machinery

9. Sulphur Sulphur

10. Coal and coke Cement

PACIFIC

1929

1. Mineral oils

2. Lumber

3. Nitrate

4. Wheat

5. Various ores

6. Canned goods

7. Sugar

8. Various metals

TO ATLANTIC

1952

Various ores Lumber

Wheat

Nitrate Carmed food products

Sugar

Bananas

Various metals

9. Cold storage food products

Cold storage food products

10. Dried fruit Mineral oils

The number of nationalities represented

in the commercial shipping moved thi-ough the Canal increased from 24 in 1929 to 34 last year. Flags in Canal traffic last year which were not listed in 1929 in- cluded those of Brazil, China, Ecuador,

Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Iran,

Eire, Liberia, Nicaragua, Philippines,

Portugal, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Among the flags listed in 1929 which

were not represented in the 1952 traffic were those of Belgium, Cuba, Danzig,

and Yugoslavia.

The major shift in the nationality of vessels was indicated by the number of ships under flags last year which were not

listed in 1929. Of the 6,524 transits by

ocean-going commercial vessels last year, more than 800, or more than one-eighth

of this traffic, were under flags not listed

in the 1929 Canal transit records.

Most Former Canal Traffic Records

Are Broken In Past 12-Year Period

(Continued from pag; 15) previous year. Coal and coke shipments also were more

than double the 1951 figures.

There was a substantial increase in the tonnage of most of the 15 leading commodities listed in the Atlantic-Pacific

trade. These included phosphates, sugar, paper and paper products, automobiles,

machinery, sulphur, cement, tinplate, and

various ores. The shipments of raw cotton, ammonium compounds, and canned

food products were all lower in 1952 than

the previous year. Wheat Shipments Heavy

Two of the most notable increases in commodity shipments from Pacific to the

Atlantic last year were in the tonnage of bananas and wheat shipments. Wheat

shipments through the Canal increased from 1,404,000 long tons in the fiscal vear

1951 to 2,105,000 long tons last year. The

shipment of bananas from the Pacific tc the Atlantic, which has been constantly

increasing during the past few years be- cause of the development of new banana

plantations in Ecuador, amounted to

758,000 long tons last year, as compared

with 505,000 tons in the fiscal year 1951. Increased cargo tonnage was reported

last fiscal year over the previous year's

totals on all of the piincipal trade routes through the Canal with the exception of the t.Inited Stat<\s intercoastal trade, which dropped from 5,731,000 long tons

in 1951 to 4,279,000 tons last year. The heaviest gains in cargo shipments

last year were shown on the trade routes

between the east coast of the United

States and the Far East; the United

States and Canada east coast and Australasia; Europe and the west coast of the United States and Canada; and Europe

and Australasia. Lesser gains were shown

on the routes between the east coast of the United States and Central America;

Europe and South Ameiica; and the east coast of the United States and South

America.

TRAFFIC MOVEMENT OVER MAIN TRADE ROUTES

The following table shows the cargo shipments, in thousands of long tons, of large, lunimercial vessels (300 net tons or over) segregated into eight main trade routes:

FISCAL YEAR

1952 1951 1938

United States I ntercoastal 4,279 5,731 6,395

East Coast of V. S. ami South America 5,098 5,063 2 652

East Coast of U. S. and Central America-- _. . . 528 389 46

t2ast Coast of U. S. and Far East 6,146 4,900 4,850

I'. S./Canada East Coast and Australasia 1,634 962 992

Europe and West Coast of U. S./Canada 5,970 4,096 4,237

Europe and South America 1,706 1,642 2,974

Europe and Australasia _ . 2,478 1,611 1,251

All other routes. _ 5,772 • 5,679 3 989

Total Traffic. _. . 33,611 30,073 27,386

Principal commodities shipped through the Canal

(All figures in thousands of long tons)

Figures in parentheses in 1938 and 1951 columns indicate

relative positions in those years ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC

Commodity

(in thousands of long tons) M ineral oils Coal and Coke

Manufactures of iron and steel Phosphates

Sugar

Paper and paper products

Au tomobiles Machinery

Sulphur

Cement

Raw cotton

I'inplate .\mnioniuni compounds

Canned food products

Ores, various

All others

Total

FISCAL YEAR

1952

3,704

2,061

1,635 777 476

453

345

312 309

296

271 246

135

12180

3,908

15,129

1951

(1)

(-3) (2)

(4)

(7) (5)

1,759 867

1,600 502 354

370

286 (10) 223 (11) 296 (9) 174 (15) 362 (6) 218 (13) 210 (14) 130 (17) 71 (26) 3,710

11,132

1938

907 (3) 137 (15) 1,859 (1) 328 (6) 57 (31) 423 (5) 208 (9) 168 (10) 297 (7) 154 (11) 142 (13) 238 (8) 71 (11) 133 (16) 104 (18) 4,463

9,689

PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC

FISCAL YEARS

(in thousands of long tons) 1952 1951 1938 .

Ores, various 3,574

3,466

2,105

1,239 1,127 955

758 659

612

481 227 280

198 166

144

2,491

3,722 (1) 3,575 (2) 1,404 (4) 1,371 (5) 1,164 (6) 941 (7) 505 (9) 632 (8)

462 (10) 1,664 (3) 219 (12) 209 (13) 140 (17) 149 (15) 127 (19) 2,657

2,1 '7 (3) 2,851 (2) Wheat 706 (7) Xitrate 1,401 (5) 991 (6) Sugar _ - 1,487 (4) 53 (29) Metals, various

Refrigerated food products (ex- cept fresh fruit) . . -

698 (8)

335 (10) Mineral oils Wool

2,875 (1) 175 (16) Coffee

F"resh fruit (except bananas)

123 (21) 348 (9) 127 (20) Dried fruit All others . ..

291 (12) 3,109

Total 18,482 18,941 17,697
August 1, 1952 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 19

Intercoastal Traffic Through Canal

Decreases 25% in Past Fiscal Year

A 25 percent decrease in the amount of cargo shipped through the Panama Canal

over the United States intercoastal route from the previous fiscal year was one of the most significant factors in the shipping

statistics of the fiscal year 1952, which

ended June 30. The intercoastal trade has been the most important of the Panama Canal

traffic in peacetime operation since the waterway was opened. In most years it has led all other of the trade routes in the cargo tonnage figures.

The heavy decrease in the inteicoastal trade was reflected in comparative statistics with cargo tonnage moved over

other routes. During the past fiscal year

the tonnage moved o\'er the intercoastal route was the fourth highest, being ex- ceeded by the tonnage on routes between

the east coast of the United States and

the Far East; Europe and the West Coast

of the United States and Canada; and the East Coast of the United States and South

America.

Only 12' c Of Total Tonnage

The amount of cargo moved over the

inter-coastal route during the past fiscal year represented only 12 percent of the

total shipped through the Canal on all routes. During the late 1920's cargo tonnage

over the intercoastal route was approximately one-third of the total. In the five- year period immediately preceeding World

War II the cargo shipped between Pacific ports and those on the Gulf and Atlantic seaboard constituted slightly more than

25 percent of the total. Throughout both

of these periods the cargo tonnage over

the intercoastal route was the highest of any major trade route through the Canal. This intercoastal trade—on a commercial basis—was practically eliminated during the past year when the War

Shipping Administration early in 1942

requisitioned all American flag vessels of more than 1,000 tons burden. The trade was gradually revived after the close of the war with the release of both dry cargo vessels and tankers for commercial shipping. By the fiscal year

1949 cargo tonnage moved over the inter- coastal route amounted to 3,091,000 long tons out of a total of 24,306,000, or ap- proximately 12 percent. The percentage figures increased to 26

percent during the fiscal year 1950 but

dropped to 19 percent in 1951, when the cargo tonnage figures were 7,376,000 and

5,741,000 tons, respectively. During the past fiscal year the amount of cargo

totaled only 3,704,000 long tons, or

slightly less than 12 percent of the

3.3,661,000 total. Drop In Oil Shipments

The comparatively high tonnage figures for the intercoastal route in the fi.scal year 1950 were attributed primarily to •heavy oil shipments made during that year from the west coast to Atlantic ports. The shipments dropped over 2,000,000

tons during the fiscal year 1951, but dry

cargo shipments maintained a steady

pace. The decrease this year of more than

2,000,000 tons represented chiefly a loss in dry cargo shipments.

The major decrease in traffic over the

intercoastal trade route was reflected in the comparative number of American flag

vessels using the Canal in the fiscal years

1951 and 1952. There were 2,084 American flag ships listed in last years Canal

traffic, as compared with 2,203 in the

fiscal year 1951. The total amount of cargo shipped on these vessels was ap- proximately 1,200,000 tons less in 1952 than the previous fiscal year.

Inspect Miraflores Diesel Plant

AN EXPLANATION of the work involved in the overhaul of one of the big Diesel power generators

at Miraflores Power Plant is being given to Colonel Craig Smyser, new Engineering and Construction

Director, left, in picture above, by Walter E. Benny, Mechanical Supervisor of the Power Branch on the

Pacific side. The visit to the Miraflores power station was one of many inspection trips Colonel Smyser

has made since his arrival early last month. He was accompanied on this trip by Col. Ceorge K. Witliers. (facing camera), whom he succeeds as head of the Engineering and Construction Bureau, who is scheduled

to leave today for his new assignment in Omaha, Nebr., and J. Hartley Smith, Electrical Engineer, right.

Canal commercial traffic by nationality of vessels

FISCAL YE.^RS

Nationality

1952 1951 1938 Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of transits

Tons

of cargo

Number of

transits

Tons

of cargo

Argentinian 2

7

18,507

Brazilian 6,319

Belgian . _ 1 1,00452

6

75

3

8,489 6,414,452

252.0.S6 49,024

76,863 9,994

British-. . 1,2674924

109

10

7,967,866 209,541

211,855

115,389

,S6,370

1,2819

2

6,417,016

28,787

13,113

Chilean. Chinese . Colombian

Costa Rican

Cuban.. . 2 Danish.. 206 223

143 978,969

98,104

191 247

708,735

98,358

865,235 Ecuadorean. ._ Estonian . 2

1 4,695 Finnish 2 A 091 13430

289

7,680 559,073

105,632 3,152 814,429

i 1084196 584,476

4,994

French . 105 ^fi7'^SH German 357 1,518,593 Guatemalan

Greek 103 814,064 94

5 22

525,351

24,411 8,478

Htingarian. Horiduran

Icelandic .. .. 476

3

1 26

86

105

575,457 746

9.220

13,164 462,451

696,794

346

3 546,821 346

Iranian,

Irish Italian 7040

353,177

317,796

52 300

3

153 417 Japanese

Latvian

1,877^502 4,900

Liberian 106

7 106

2 830

352

17 27

5

337,271

19,916 506,607

1,027 3,067,799

1.858.041 13.788

l.S9,299 21,167

23

9

115

8 513 220

26

25

9

96,595

34,359

492,295

1,751 2.090,632

1,270,909 64,770

141,972 30,089

Mexican.

Netherlands Nicaraguan

285 749,642

Norwegian

Panamanian

Peruvian

Philippine

Portuguese .

667

182

53

3,433.571 415,561

7,151 8,441

Soviet 5

2 10 419Spanish 22

165

11 2,084

19

130,992

761,701 58,567

13,693,521 30,095

23

148 86,752 15,280 625,179 ; 119 763,049

Swiss - . I'nited States Venezuelan

2,203

17 14,881,540

16,338

1,7804

14

9,892,619

3,971 73 413

Total... 6,524 33,610,509 5,593 30,073,022 5,524 27,385,924
20 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW August 1,1952

Yacht Club Provides Fun For Seagoers ^m^

ABOUT 75 BOATS belonging to members of the Balboa Yacht Club anchor here in the Club's moorings on the east side of the Canal channel

The Balboa Yacht Club of some 125 members is founded on the near-universal appeal of fishing and faraway places and

the feeling for skippering your own good

boat to your choice of destinations. On the Isthmus of Panama, nearly

sun'ounded with water and busy with

seagoing business, it is not suiprising the

genera! fascination of boats has fostered

several such organizations.

Home port for the Balboa Club extends from Navy Pier 2, reaching out toward

the Panama Canal channel from Fort Amador, to the wartime mine dock just

mside the anchorage for ships entering the Canal from the Pacific. There, in the Club's moorings on the

east side of the channel, the members' 75- odd boats lie at anchor, using only about

half of the waters assigned for their use by the Panama Canal Marine Bureau.

Biggest of the boats that bob up and

down as the big ships stir the waters in the channel is the Tondelayo, a 46-foot

sailing ketch owned by a Navy employee,

Walter E. (Wally) Pearson. The Tondelayo raced to first place in the Club's 1952 racing season and was

flagship last year when her owner was

the Club's Commodore.

"Waif" is Flagship

The flagship now is the Waif, a 16-foot

.sailing sloop owned by a Balboa High

School instructor, Charles R. (Bob)

Bowen, who is now Commodore.

The former Navy Officers' Club at Fort Amador has served as clubhouse for the Yacht Club since 1946, when it was transferred by the Navy to the Yacht Club

and the Pacific Sailfish Club. Now the

building is occupied jointly with the American Legion, whose members fish off the Yacht Club pier and receive other

small friendly considerations in return for which Yacht Club members use some

American Legion facilities. Smallest of the sailboats in the Yacht

Club fleet are the centerboard sloops from

about 18 to 25 feet long.

The power boats start at about that size—those with little inboard motors- ~ and go up to the cabin cruisers, topped in

size among the Yacht Club boats by

Kyle G. Bishop's 42-foot twin-screw

cruiser, Martha.

In between, craft of many shapes and

sizes add their individualities to the Yacht Club's boat collection. Big or little, trim or tublike, one or more owners love them—or at least look on them with

mixed pai-ental feelings for the cost, care and time they consume. Although most Yacht Club boats

usually stay close to home, the members

get the feel of faraway places from yachts

from all parts of the world that put into

their hospitable pier. Some visitors like the place so well

like Lee and Ann Gregg off the ketch

Novia, and "Buzz" and June Champion

of the ketch Little Bear all of whom came

from San Diego—that they come ashore and go to work and stay in the Canal Zone.

It sometimes works the other way. Yacht Club members catch the fever of faraway places and take their own boats

or join the crew of a visiting yacht bound

for a faroff atoll in the Pacific. For instance, Mr. and Mrs. John W.

Litton and their small daughter left re- cently in the ketch Cah/pso for the Society

Islands to visit the Kim Powells (Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Litton are sisters), former

Yacht Club members who now make

their home in Tahiti. Listed in Lloyd's Register

The Balboa Yacht Club enjoys full recognition by other such clubs through- out the world and is listed in Lloyd's. It also is a member of the North American

Yacht Racing Union, and the International Game Fishing Association. Among the visitors who use the Club's

facilities on a reciprocal basis are members

of the Panama Canal Yacht Club of Cristobal and the Pedro Miguel and

Gamboa Boat Clubs, who visit most often during the red snapper and corbina sea- sons when they come to try their luck in Panama Bay.

Fishing members of the Balboa Yacht

Club receive timely tips in a bulletin issued monthly by the Club's Fishing

Committee, whose chaii'man is Sam R. Moody. For instance, this month the committee advises that sailfish and marl in come into the inner bay in August and

that marlin are best baited with whole

bonita. When the dry season winds blow strong

and steady, the Racing Committee goes

into action, scheduling races and cruising

picnics (luaus) and an annual treasure hunt on Taboga or Taboguilla Island.

Bill Clark is Chairman of the Sail Yacht

Racing Committee.

Winners of Sail Races

In the last racing season, the Tondelayo

placed first; Bill Clark's Kelpie, second; Lee Gregg's Novia, third; and Bill Wymer's Kon Hiro, fourth. The Balboa Yacht Club burgee has

flown in several ocean races off the United

States coasts. Tucker McClure's ketch

Chiriqui, with his local manager, George

Bobbitt aboard, last year won the Class "B" trophy, and was second on corrected time for the Time Prize in the Los

Angeles-Honolulu Yacht Race. Ed Mcintosh's Starcresl has also competed in winter races around Florida, the most notable being the St. PetersburgHavana Ocean Race in 1950, in which

Stareresi placed third in Class "C." The Balboa Yacht Club was organized

in 1946 from the remaining interested members of the former Balboa Boat Club,

which operated before the war from the

present home base of the Yacht Club and

the Panama Bay Yacht Club, which

operated in Panama during the war.

.\T THE HELM ill' 1 111: liALBuA \ Al'HT ( 'lA li au- thi'M- nii-nil.i-i^ ..[ ihf l;,,anl c.f (inuTnors

Ueft to right): Edwin F. Rigby, Secretary; Charles K. Bowen, Commodore; Captain Clinton Baverstock Mooring ^laster; James L. Harned, Treasurer; Frank C. Stockton, Railways Master; and John L. Haas,

Vice Commodore. The seventh Board Member who is not shown in this picture, is Kyle G. Bishop,, House Officer.