The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-27
PANAMA MADECLEAR
WHY THE PRESIDENT WENT DOWN
 THERE.

WHY THE PRESIDENT WENT DOWN
 THERE.
 Building . Great Fresh water Lake
 Eighty-Fivc Feet Above the
 Sea Level.
 Washington Correspondence New York
 Tribune.
 When President Roosevelt completes his visit to the Isthmus of Panama he will have enjoyed the distinction of having overseen the preliminary prep- arations for several of the most mar vellous feats of engineering ever done by the hand of man and some of the most wonderful artificial changes In physical geography ever wrought on the, globe. The Kings of Egypt who saw the complexion of the, pyramids that their predecessors had begun in dynasties long before their reigns new CT looked upon half the task that President Roosevelt will see all plan ned and well on the way to successful accomplishment when he inspects the stupendous ditch at Culebra. The Colossus of Rhodes, the hanging gar dens of Babylon, the Chinese wall and any other of the many ancient achieve ments that writers have described from the dim ages of the past to the pres ent would look weak and small when compared with the Gatun Lake, which American engineers are building on the isthmus that now connects the two Americas. Think of great sheet of fresh water measuring 1l0 square miles and large enough to float or fight all the navies of the world. with room to spare, to be made where now are vil- lages. swamps and even mountains, Think of carrying the largest battle ships ever built up precipices higher than many modern 'sky-scrapers," and conveying them mile after mile along an artificial watercourse 500 feet wide, and then dropping them over preei- pices without even scratching their paint, into another ocean. These are but hint of the things that are to be done on the canal strip, and the man who IS to see that they are done and done right is now on his way to the scene of what will be Hegarded by history as his greatest work.
 Like Nicaragua.
 When the advocates of the Nicaragua route were making their fight In Con- gross they pointed to the Lake of Mica raEua as their chief asset. You will save millions by digging your canal there." they said to the statesmen who were to decide the question. for there arc miles of navigable water already dL Nfs IF SeFNlCG. II gUu Sb py W1J Ct Panama you will have to dig dirt every inch Of the distance from ocean to ocean
 They were wrong They never dreamed that President Roosevelts en- glneers would duplicate in a practical way the Nicaragua lake in Panama. But it is exactly what the engineers are pre- pairing to do, and when Mir. Roosevelt makes his second trip to the canal
 IL. l.. es.aff his battleship through Gatun Lake for nearly a third of the way from the Att antic to the Pacific across the bisected sthmus. Perhaps when he goes again he will start from the other side by way of change and do what no man has yet done in all history-sail from Pa Tpma to Colon. When the time comes to open the canal, whether Pres- ident Roosevelt is in the White House or not, the men at the helm of things can do no more graceful act than in- vite him to be on the ship that makes the initial trip. If the invitation is ex- tended, as it will undoubtedly be if he IS still ip the land of the living, he V III just asAsurely accept. The ditch is to all intents and purposes the Roosevelt canal" and he will have be- come a different man if he is not eager to see the waters of the ocean clasp tn ir briny hands for the benefit of hu- m tn progress.
 Magnificent Figures.
 The Canal Commission has just issued | comprehensive descriptive pamphlet for the benefit of contractors who may wish to bid upon the various sections of the work. These are to be without doubt the largest contracts ever of- fered The figures are simply stunning in their magnitude, and after one reads over the items and stops to think for a minute or two the tremendous charac- ter of the job that the Canal Commis- 'sion has in hand begins to dawn upon the brain. For instance, the contrac- tors who move the earth will be ex- pected to dig out about S4,33S, ,00O cubic yards of material which is now in the way of the ships that are to pass through the canal; more than 3,000,000 cubic yards of concrete are called for in the construction of the dams and locks; more than 42.000 cubic yards of brick will be built into the walls, and the giant gates. which will be raised and lowered to fill or empty the locks, will be made of more than S5,900. 900 pounds of steel. Much of the material that is to be dug out of the canal route will be dumped into the dams that are to make the Gatun Lake, near the Atlantic. and tRe Sosa Lake. near the Pacific. Were they not planning for the Gatun Lake, with it's 110 broad miles of surface. the Sosa pond would be considered well worth bragging about, for when it is done 1t will have an area of more than eight square miles-quite large enough, in fact. to support several good sized summer or winter resorts upon It's shores. But when we become familiar with large figures we are so likely to despise small on1s that little Sosa Lake. formed by tlap,ming up the Itio Grande, is almost forgotten.
 An Inland Sea.
 Gatun Lake will be made by stopping the Chagres River with an immense dam, reaching from the Gatun hills, S,5CC feet westward to another hill, and thence some 42OO feet further to the high ground which will form the per manent bank of the inland sea. Were mere nothing else to be done at Pan amf beside the building of this dam a mile and a half long and half mile thick al it's bottom, Uncle Sam would I,e Justified in doing some handshaking w:lh himself wien 1t was finished. The great regulating works which are to take care of the water that is stored In the Gatun Lake will be built in the hill winch lies nearly midway Of the E,,re wal. These will consist of q system cf gates constructed on founda- DV the