The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-09
sDeeiJ cable Ds,Dateh 10 THS Sun.

VarillR has presented to the French Aoade-
ME des Sciences a note on the Solution OF
the Panama Problem" In this he says:
Thanks 10 the enormous amount OF work
already done the lock canal can be com
pleted at once and easily. II can he opened
within four years with a summit level forty
meters above the level Of the sea, II IL
perfect for the beginning, and until the
transit through II exceads thirty or forty
million tons. (The Suez trafflc, after the
canal has been In use thirty years.) After
that Il will no longer meet requirements.
The sea level canal, which Is the idea
for the cut across the Isthmus, requires
operations Of great extent, the duration
Of which IL set by optimists at ten or twelve
years, but which will probably take fifteen
or twenty. Between the opposing demands
Of the present and Of the future there is a
solution that will be satisfactory to both.
This con ,ists in transforming the lock
canal into sea level canal while II i being
used without inco the canal
any more than il the works were going on
In another hemisphere instead Of the same
cutting On March p submitted to Presi-
dent Roosevelt the plans which will bring
about this apparently paradoTical result.
These are the essential conditions for OBJ
tanning it
The work ~ transformation must not
interrupt for a moment international navi-
CATION. This result may be- attained by
the following arrangement Of the locks
let us consider a summit level enclosed
by locks lnnt according to the usual model.
IL is clear that the level Of the water cannot
he lowered while preserving the draft
reduired without touching the wall which
supports the upper gate. that Is TO say,
without paralyzing the lock and stopping
navigation.
In the type which propose the bottom
Of the reach is made Independent Of the
lock II may therefore be dug with the
dredge without touching the lock. When
the reach has been deepened by a fixed
amount, let VA say three meters, the level
OF the water may be lowered three meters.
The draft required for navigation is
preserved and the altitude Of the summit
level above the sea is thus reduced by three
meters.
The same operation is cont nued until
the level Of the lateral reaches il attained,
then the lock gates are removed. The
new summit level is thereupon made up
Of the former summit level and Of the two
lateral reaches. the gateless locks which,
are now in the new summit level have no
further part to play; they are merely masses
OF masonry which will be removed like other
masses Of rock.
with the nsw summit level the same
series Of operations as before will be EN-
ployed, until the lateral reaches joins
10 the upper reach are at sea level. At that
moment the TRANSFORMED is completed
If the summit level !, enclosed, not by
q single lock, but by a chain OF two locks,
q plan will be made for the lower lock that
takes into consideration the same reasons,
which do not go into now in order not
20 prolong this note The work OF
Transformation must not borrow an inch
from the channel, IS meters wide at the
bottom, which IL devoted TO international
navigation. s..
1T will suffice to point out that the enor-
nous transit, which will demand that the
channel be brought to the sea level. will
also demand that the width OF the bottom
which will BE- As meters at the beginning
Of the employment Of the canal, shan be
increased 70 at least % meters when IL
reaches sea level.
Under these conditions it will be easy 20
excavste. by dredging, a Channsl by the
stde Of ths nagivatiOn channel then TO
urepsn this nav igati)n channel 10y three
metenS, for instance, while int irrational
navigation makes Use OF the ether. When
the second free channel has been e1ca-
waited vessels will be turned into that.
Then the level Of the water will be lowered
10 a point equal TO tbs increased depth.
aAy three meters. Then the first channsl
will be deepened and it will be used like
the other.
Thanks 10 the two channels alternately
used for navigation and for work. these
two Incompatible elements will remain
constantly and completely Independent
during the whole period Of tnnsp ortAtion.
The works must not take up minute Of
time Of the locks devoted to international
navigation nor cause the expenditure Of
q drop Of the water supplying the central
level
As all the rubbish IL dredged in the
CENTRAL reach and loaded on So VS.. and as
II u impossible without violating The two
Conditions. 10 send il % the sea or to the
Lowell reaches, propose 10 join by a double
chain ~ locks the oentrnl reach, which
will extend from KilometsT 40 10 Kilometer
81 with the Lake Of Gambia, WI len will
he formed by dam across the Nhagres, I
opposite Krometer 5 Of the canal and to
usa the lake, whOss level at most will be
90 meters, a. a dspOt basin.
1T will contain many times the mass
which II will be necessary to eNcavate in
order to transform the lock canal into a
aea level canal Its surface at the Axty
the 10000 600 cubic meters which would
have to be eXoavated below the forty meters !
mark In the central mass for the trans |
formation II spread over the surface Of |
the lake at the sixty meter mark would /
only form a thickness Of seventy-fve |
centimeterS. The lake, moreover, is forty |
FIVE meters deep.
Near the dam the chain Of locks will be /
prolonged gradually as the level Of the |
central reach Is lowered. This arrange !
ment insures the minimum Of transporta- |
ton and the total avoidance Of handling /.
the rubbish, which will be deposited by 1
merely opening the slides Of the soows.
1t b clear that the water used to raise /
the scows flows into the central reach |
consequently nothing IL taken from what /
International navigation demands.
The works should not cost much more /
than for the cutting OF the sea level canal |
directly. To-day we may say that rock |
eGoavated under water does not cost mate /
rally more than II II IL e1cavated In the |
open air, thanks TO the great progress /
made In the last twenty years In this mat |
ter. On the other hand the excavation |
Of earth and hard olRys Ia much cheaper,
and that will be the most important ele- |
ment in the excavation that must he done |
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