The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-24

inent engineers stationed at the isthmus, and those at Washington who have looked over the ground carefully. Former precedents have great weight in the de- Alterations of these men, and the results o fother enterprises are being considered in the light of their applicability to con- ditions at Panama. The actual work on the canal, in fact is waiting only upon this decision, and when it is rendered, the American people will doubtless see the dirt fly.
 Depth of Canal.
 In this connection there is another se- rous problem confronting the engineers, and that Is the depth of the canal and it's approaches, which has not been positive ly determined at this writing, this being a matter concerning which there is much variance of opinion. There are very few vessels in the world drawing over 30 feet of water when fully loaded and no vessel would reach the isthmus with full load, because the voyage would de- plete the store of coal Therefore at first sight 30 feet would seem a sufficient depth. But-and this is an extremely large bnt-when the Nicaragua canal was proposed in 1850, the depth laid out In the survey was IT feet, the reason being that this was the limit of draft of the great vessels of that period. If fifty years have shown an increase of 13 feet In the draft of ocean freghters. what will be the increase in the next fifty, seventy five or 100 years? work of this mag nitude, requiring from ten to fifteen years for completion, according to the most sanguine estimates should be de- signed to accommodate the traffic of the future.
 Many engineers think that 35 feet is sufficient for the next fifty years growth In vessels; others say 40 or more, and, as a matter of fact, 1t is mainly guesswork and one mans guess may be as good as another. As the expense increases very fast with the depth, it is probable that the commission will be satisfied with 35 feet, but will try to so build the canal that it can be deepened later without stopping traffic. or without too burden some expense The Suez canal had to be deepened in 1s95 to 31 feet, with bottom with of 10S feet and a top width of 420 feet. The series of canals at the Great Lakes, of which the Sault Ste. Marie Is the best known, and through which passes the principal Iron ore supply of the country, has been subject to con tinuous deepening and improvement bein gnow % feet. The famous Manche- ter canal is 26 feet, and the Kaiser Will helm 29A feet.
 If 30 feet is to be the depth of the Pan anna canal, with 150 width at the bottom as proposed, this will require a width at the top of not less than 300 feet. The width of cuts Will increase as the canal passes through high ground and this brings to mind the Culebra difficulty. There is a section of elevated territory, the remnant of the Corderilla range, hav- ing for some eight or ten miles aver age height of 130 feet, and at Cuebra having an elevation of about 320 feet for a half mile. If this Is cut down to sea level the top of the cut would not be less than a quarter mile across, and probably more. This will be the largest ditch ever dug. but the engineers are agreed that, though the labor involved Is enormous ow- ing to the quantity of earth to be re- moved, yet it does not present any ini- possible problems.
 The board of consulting engineers voted November IS in favor of recommending sea-level canal, and it Is unofficially re- ported that they prefer a depth of 45 feet; these conditions, if carried through, will involve cost of sl0O,000,000 more than q lock canal