Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-30
THE PANAMA CANAL
Mr.. Bunau Varilla Explains
His Plan
ATTHE RIFLES ARM0RY
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GEO
GRAPHIC SOCIETY.
Differences Between a Lock and Sea-
Level System Shown-What the
Waterway Should Be.
ATTHE RIFLES ARMORY

Members of the National Geograp hie So
ciety and their friends were entertained at
the National Rifles Armory last night by
an address on the Panama canal delivered
by NJ. Bunau Varilla. who presented a new
and rather unique plan.
Mr.. Buneau Varilla said in part:
Public and technical attention have here
tofore been limited to the contest between
the lock canal and the sea-level canal
Neither of them answers completely the
conditions of the problem.
The lock canal is easier and quicker to
build than the sea-level canal. According
to the estimates of all those who have stud
led during long time the problem, accord
ing to the old Panama Company and to
the new Panama Canal Company, the ex-
perience of both of which covers twenty
years of effective and practical work, ac-
cordng also to the first isthmian canal
commission. the excavation of the sea-level
canal by dry process by steam shovels on
rail served by railroad transportation of
the spoils of the dumps, will necessitate
twenty years or more, when lock canal
can be built in ten years or less.
The higher is the summit level created
across the isthmus; the smaller is the cube
of the Culebra cut which controls the time
of construction
With a summit level at IS feet above the
sea the first isthmian canal commission de-
clared that eight years would be necessary
to excavate the 100000 cubic yards of
the Culebra cut, plus two years of pre-
paratory work They declared also that
twice as much time would be required for
the sea-level canal
With summit level at 100 feet the ex-
cavation of the central cut is reduced to
20,00000o cubic yards and the time of ex-
cavation reduced to four years. The other
subsidiary works, such as locks and dams,
can also be executed within four years If
the proper methods of construction are en-
ployed.
Same Power of Transit.
Now all lock canals, whether with high
summit level. such as the one 1 propose.
100 feet above the sea, or such as was pro-
posed by the isthmian canal commission.
IS feet above the sea, or as since proposed
GO or so feet above the sea, have identically
the same power of transit, the same con-
sumption of water. The only difference be-
tween them is the time of transit for ships,
which will be one and one-half hours more
for every lock added on each side of the
summit.
All lock canals suffer from the same evil;
their power of transit is limited to 50.G00,-
900 tons owing to the limited supply of
water furnished by the Chagres, and the
will be dangerously narrow, of we think
that the Sault Ste. Marie canal will reach
this year more than 40G00,000 tons when
thtrty-flve years ago 1t 1t did not exceed
half million. All suffer also from the
same evil of being weak from a military
standpoint, as locks can be easily crippled
by bombardment or otherwise and the tran
sit stopped for many months on account OF
acts OF war.
The sea-level canal remedies the first of
these evils, but not the second. 1t will
always necessitate a lock on the Pacific
to prevent the tides of this ocean from
entering the canal and from generating
there currents of three knots which can
not be admitted in a narrow and shallow
canal $50 feet wide at the bottom and
thirty-five feet deep
No engineer has ever proposed nor will
ever propose a canal of such dimensions
without tide locks the Pacific, and this
not because the mean levels of the oceans
are different but because the Pacific tides
rise a Panama ten feet above and the ten
feet below this mean level when the At
lantic level at Colon is practically constant
and does not rise or fall more than one
foot.
and military interests attached to the secure
and constant communication between the
oceans In time of peace and in time of war
we are led to conclude that the so-calIed
sea level canal. far from being the perfect
solution, is generally believed, is only
an improved form of a lock canal but re-
mains after all a lock canal and is not fit
to be termed a solution of the Panama
problem.
The complete and perfect form of the
Panama waterway must be nearer than
canal TO the form of communication which
nature has provided between the Black sea
and the Sea of Marmora by the Bosphorus;
between the Sea of Marmora and the Aeg-
yam sea by the Straits of Dardaenelles; be-
tween the Mediterranean and the Atlantic
ocean by the Straits of Gibraltar.
IF we want such free and ornr, NM
nication between the oceans we must aban-
don the conception of the shallow (35 feet)
narrow $50 feeD tide locked canal, that
is to say, the sea level canal, and con-
template waterway forty-five feet deep at
the lowest tides. 500 feet wide at the bottom.
freely open on both sides 10 the waters of
the two great oceans of our planet
In such a waterway. the Straits of Pan
anna, the greatest ships of actual and flu
ture times will not be troubled by current
of three to four knots because they will
have an ample mass of water on their sides
and below their keel and will therefore
be free to steer easily at any moment OF
their passage through the straits.
The freedom Of passage will no more de-
pend on any artificial works such as a
lock. No explosion, no bomba rdrnent can
paralyze for any length of time the pas
sage. An entire fleet will pass from one
ocean to the other in five hours.
If this conception has not yet been trans
formed into a project. IT is simply due to
the fact that It's realization is chimerical
by the system of works usually admitted;
the excavation by steam shovels on rails
and the transportation by trains of the
spoils to the dumps.
Work and Cost.
With this system the narrow shallow tide
locked seaIevel canal will necesstate
twenty to twenty-five years OF work at
least for the removal of the 200 100000 to
1900 600 cubic yards and about $500 CO.,
COO
The Straits of Panama with their co.,
600 coo cubic yards OF excavation would by
the same process require the two-thirds of
a century before one ship could pass and
nearly one billion exclusive of interests
In this question like in many others all
depends on the system employed.
If the weak and cumbersome excavation
and transportation on rails is substituted
by the powerful and simple excavation and
transportation on water, IL the old system
OF works is thereby superseded by new
one three times more powerful and three
times more economical within the space
of time necessary for digging the sea level
canal and for the same amount of money
n /.