Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-02-01
4 s.a-ls,., Cana, !. pa.a...

the Panama Canal and in the water
shed of the Chagres River have
raised the question as to whether it
would not be more to the ultimate
advantage of the United States, and
of sea-goiDg commerce in general, to
build Tue canal on broader scale to
meet the rapidly growing dimensions
of steamships, and also whether it
would not be wiser to build it With a
lower summit level, or abolish the
lockage system altogether, and cut
the canal through at one level from
ocean to ocean. Mr.. Wallace, chief
engineer of the Isthmian Canal Com
mission, has recently given testimony
before the House Committee on
Inter State and Foreign Commerce,
in which he discussed the relative
advantage of four distinct plans for
building the canal. Incidentally, it
was shown by his testimony, that the
engineering difficulties at the site of
the Bohio dam would be greater than
was formerly estimated, the more
elaborate borings that are now being
made having shown that the rock
bottom is much lower than was sup
posed, the later borings having been
carried down to an average depth of
163 feet without reaching bedrock.
The first plan is the one favored by
the former Canal Commission, which
calls for dam at Bohio and high
level canal with an elevation of 90
feet above sea level.
The second plan calls for 60-foot
summit level, with dam 60 feet high
at Bohio, or else the construction of
a dam of the same height at Gatun,
about half way from Bohio to Colon,
the Atlantic terminus of the canal.
The adoption of 6O-foot level will
involve constructing dam at Gam
boa to furnish water for the summit
level. The Gamboa dam would con-
troll the Chagres River; but it would
necessitate the provision of a spillway
in the shape of a tunnel eight miles
in length through the divide, to dis
charge the surplus water of the Cha
gres into the Pacific, or tunnel four
miles long to carry these waters to
the Atlantic. The four-mile tunnel
would involve the construction of an
auxiliary channel for the Chagres
from Gatun to the sea, in order o
carry its flood waters away in safety.
The third alternative plan contem-
plates 80 foot summit level, with a
single lock at Miraflores, near the
Pacific, and single lock at Bohio.
This plan would also involve the con-
struction of the Gamboa dam above
referred to.
The fourth plan contemplates the
construction of sea-level canal with
tidal lock at Mirafores, this lock
being necessitated by the fact that
there is an extreme range in the tide
of twenty feet on the Pacific side,
whereas the fiuctuation is less than
two feet on the Atlantic side. If no
locks were built on the Pacific end,
the variations in tide levels would
produce strong currents in the canal,
which would render navigation diff
cult.
The 90-foot level canal would cost
$200,000,000 and take about ten years
to complete; the 60-foot level canal
would cost 1926, 100000, and it could
be opened for traffic in ten years and
completed in twelve years; the 30
foot level canal, which would cost
$250,000,000, could be opened for
traffic in twelve years and completed
in fifteen years; while the sea- level
canal would cost $30O,0OO,00O, could
be opened for traffic in fifteen years,
but would take twenty years to COM
plete. In all these estimates the
controlling factor, both as to cost and
time of completion, is the great cut
through the mountain divide at Guile
bra, the amount Of material that
would have to be removed increasing