Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-07
ISTHMIAN CANALPl ANS
STATEMENT BY CHIEF ENGINEER
WALLACE.

THE isthman canal commission has not
adopted plans for sea level canal across
the Isthmus of Panama" said Chief En-
gineer Wallace a reporter for The Star
today, referring tC a recent published state
ment. In fact, IL will be a year more
before we can determine the best plans to
adopt for the construction of the canal
continued Mr. Wallace In the meantime,
however. the work of constructing certain
parts of the big ditch will be pushed ahead
In Culebra cut, for instance, there is suf-
hcient work to keep many men going for
some time.
las much as we would like to do SO. the
work of construction cannot be done from
the plans prepared by the French company
The conditions existing at the time those
plans were made. twenty years ago have
entirely changed. and it will be necessary to
make the canal both wider and deeper in
order to accommodate the vessels that will
pass through 1t. and which are built On
much larger lines than was formerly the
case.
have made new surveys of every foot Of the
ground and to determine the character not
alone of the surface, but of the conditions
10 Il depth OF forty or more feet, IN urder
that 1t can be known what to put in the
specifications for the contractors TO bid
upon.
Not Committed to Any Plan.
The present canal commission is In no
way committed to any plan for building
the canal. The old commission which
made Investigations and surveys of all the
trans-isthmian routes, had, for the sake of
comparison with the Nicaragua route sur
veyed the Panama route on the plan fer
locks, with Il ninetyfoot summit level.
This was approximately the same as on the
Nicaragua route. and the great dam at
Bohio. which was to confine the waters Of
the Chagres river, forming a lake forty
miles square and supplying the necessary
Ter he GtIy 1rr1if l.aN~al
Lake Nicaragua
The old commission, however. made no
surveys for the actual work of construc-
ton; they were merely preliminary with n
view TO determining the best of the general
routes. The present commission therefore,
must make its own plans for the work of
constructing. beginning at the bottom.
Surveyors at Work
Surveying parties are now at work along
the entire line of the canal, and ii was
probably the report of one of those parties
finding route in the mountains which
could possibly be utilized to carry off the
waters of the Chagres river that had given
rise to the report that sea-level plan had
or would be adopted. IL ii were practi-
cable to so divert the waters of the Chagres
or otherwise-for instance, by tunneling
through the mountain ridge-it might do
away with some of the engineering diff
culties at the Bohio dam, but II does not
mean that a sea-level plan will necessarily
be adopted. Even after the commission
has collected all the information upon
which to determine the nature of the plan
TO be followed there is the question of in
creased cost for the locbless canal, matter
of possibly $50, OG0, 000."
Mr.. Wallace expects to take up his per-
manent headquarters in Panama shortly
after November I. ~ lf
The commission opened bids yesterday
afternoon for eleven steam shoveis and
large quantity of lumber. needed at Pam
connection nf