The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-27
CANAL CONSTRUCTION
FIRST DEFINITE PLANS BY THE
 ENGINEERING COMMITTEE.
Cost is Estimated at e230,o00, ,00o--Be- lieved That Work Can Be COm-
 plefed In from Tea to Twelve Years.

Washington, Feb. 26. The first def mite engineering plans for the con- struction of the Panama Canal have just been laid before the Isthmian Ca- nal Commission by the Engineering Committee of that body. consisting of Commissioners Burr Parsons and Davis.
 The principal accommodations are summed up in this resolution:
 Resolved. That this Committee ap- prove and recommend for adoption by the Commission a plan for a sea-leveI canal with a bottom width of 150 feet and a minimum depth of water of G5 feet and with twin tidal locks at Miraftores. whose usable dimensions shall be 1000 feet long and 100 feol wide at a total estimated cost of $780, so0.ooQ., Such estimate includes an all iowanco for administration, engineer ing. sanitation and contingencies amounting to sSS,45O.o00, but without allowance for interest during construc- ton. expense of zone government and collateral costs and water supply sewers or paving of Panama or Colon. which last items are to be repaid by the inhabitants of those cities"
 The Committee estimates that a sea- level canal can be completed within ten to twelve years from the present time.
 These recommendations are the con clusion of a report to the Commission prepared in the canal zone under date of February 14 last and based on com plete engineering reports on all of the problems involved.
 The Committee decided that under no circumstances should the surface ot the canal be more than sixty feet above the sea and estimates that at this level Ia l. 4 A III. ty foot level is estimated to cost SEA- 213.4o6.
 It Is recommended that the ChaFgres river be controlled by dam at Gam boa. built to crest height of 200 feet and the waters of the lake thus creat- ed disposed of through tunnels. The work on the foundation of the dam will require from one to one and a half years and the committee reports should begin at once. The dam at this plan 1t Is said involves no formi- dable obstacles which Is not the case of the Bohio location.
 Actual work with the new Amert- can steam shovels in the Cu1ebra cut nas demonstrated that the entire ex- cavation can be done at a. cost of fifty cents cubic yard The former fsthmian canal commission estimated this cost at eighty cents. This reduc- ton amounts to a total of S15,0Qo, 900 and is given as a Justification of the recommendation of the sea level canal. Immediate work Is recommended at Colon in constructing q safe .harbor- To this end an outer breakwater is suggested as the construction of an inner harbor at the entrance to the canal It is recommended that bids be invited for this work. Other minor features of canal construction recom- mended included completing the Ga tunciils division channel begun by the old canal company to divert from the l canal the waters of the Gatuncillo and Mindi rivers and other smaller streams. In connection with this three small dams must be built two across the Changress near the Mindi and one across the Roca Mindi. All of this work Is independent of the decision as the level of the canal and it's in- 1 mediate execution Is recommen3- ed.
 Other subsidiary features depend on the level determined on and are not discussed.
 The committee makes these obser- vations In summing up:
 The practicability of certainly and satisfactorily controlling the floods of the ChagreA by so simple and eoo-
 
 and it's outflow channels and the re- ducing cost of excavation as actually demonstrated by the work of the com mission in the Culebra cut. makes the construction of the sea level canal at a reasonable cost far more available than has heretofore appeared possible. These recent developments in the con- ditions attending the construction of the canal are so important as to be almost controlling, in character.
 The remaining element Is that of time required to make the great sum- nit excavation. It is to be carefully observed that the rises thus far ob- tained in the Culebra cut have been reached under as advantageous condi- tiops of both organization of plant and force. The railroad tracks serving the excavators are yet fragmentary and tentatively placed to serve the pur- poses Of investigation. In both re- speets the disposition of the plant is far more unfavorable. both as to econ- omy and celerity of operations, than will be the case when a complete track system has been arranged and, laid down to serve a large number of steam