The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-21

other appliances or gigantic exca-
waiting undertaking.
The construction railroads run lot
miles in different directions over tile
low-lying country on elthe[ sue %
the mountain range, and the Dump
ings have raised the surface OF the
land many feet. In all something IKE
80 600 900 cubic meters have been re-
moved by the French, leaving ABOUT
AZ 600. 900 cubic meters, with the sum-
nit level at fifty feet, to pc eXcaNateu
by us. Just now the French are
working only about 800 men at the CUT
taking out 1000 cubic meters month";
and the work is progressing with d
hideous lack of alacrity
Down to Sea Level Again.
What we shall be able to do at Gu
Zebra can only be guessed at. NOBODY
sunposes. however, that we will fail TO
oop5nIota This norton of the task in
about eight years, as with the mooerh
machinery we shall introduce, the
greater facility resulting from the use
Of electricity, the possibility through
the use of electric lights OF prosecuting
the undertaking with three shifts OF
men working eight hours each' ana
the generally energetic manner IN
which We will undoubtedly grappie
with the undertaking, we can easily
X
French ever dreamed of making.
From the deepest part of the Guile
hra cut through which the waters or
Lake Bohio will flow without restric-
ton to Pedro Miguel, the southern eX-
tremity of the lake, is a distance or
only about two miles. AT Pedro MI
guel will be another double set of
locks to lower or raise the ships. These
locks will have a lift of about fifty
feet. and that they can be constructed
so that their successful operation Will
never be a matter of doubt is freely
admitted.
From Pedro Miguel to Mirafiores
will be a short level-the distance Is
less than two miles-necessitated by
the excessive tides on the Pacific side
of the isthmus. Water for this level
will be furnished by overflow from
Lake Bohio, but at the foot of the Pc
dro Miguel locks the sea-level section
on the Pacific side actually begins.
The Pacific tide has an average flow
of about eighteen feet, ranging from
fourteen to twenty-five feet ordinarily,
and reaching twenty-six feet with the
spring tides. 1t becomes necessary,
therefore, to introduce tidegates at
Miraflores to simplify the transit of
ships and to protect the Pedro Miguel
dam and locks from the tidal action.
Nothing More Serious Than Digging.
The lift at Mirafiores will not be
more than eighteen feet at high tide,
and from that point to the ocean there
will be a perfect sea-level section,
which has only to be dredged to the
REQUIRED width and depth to be ready
for commercial use. On this sea-level
section there is no engineering problem
except that of keeping the channel
open, the rush of the tides forming a
silt-carrying current which will have
to be guarded against. This will be
done by constant dredging, just as will
the similar condition on the northern
end
On this route, which has been entirely
traversed in the foregoing description,
the shortest radius of curvature will be
about $500 feet, giving almost entire
freedom in the handling of ships along
the entire line, and reducing the prob
lem of navigating the canal to a mini
mum. Through Lake Bohio, except in
the Culebra cut, it will be possible for
ships to sail practically at full speed,
while the great width of the canal in
the sea-level sections, and it's freedom
from distractions, will make possible
nearly full speed in those portions. BY
submerging the country between the
Boho dam and Culebra the work of
excavation over good portion of the
route will be largely done away with.
The lake Will form channel, 1t be-
ing necessary. Instead Of cutting along
the entire route, merely to take off the
top of the ground at such places as
present elevation will interfere with a
depth of thirty-five feet of water.
Drilling and blasting will have to be
done under our management of the en-
terprise, as now, at Culebra, but every
where else the excavation will be in
soft mud or soil, so that the work of
making the canal itself is reduced to
simple question of digging. Within the
lake will be ample room for ships to
anchor during storms, securing all the
advantages of a protected harbor, and
the lake itself will make it possible by
dredging in future years to bring the
waterway along it's entire route down
to the sea-level, should that be deemed
advisable, without interfering with it's
commercial usage.
1t is, as l said in the beginning,
project free from any grave engineer
ing difficulties. The French, had they
been sane and settled in their plans
and honest in their execution, should
have completed it a decade ago. That
we can complete it and open it to COM
merce in less than a decade seems en-
tirely reasonable; that we will do so is
halfauod INtya