New-York tribune., 1906-05-25
EXPERT FOR SEA LEVEL.
Manchester Ship Canal Engineer
Writes to Senate Committee.

Washington, May 24-w. Henry Hunter. CHIEF
engineer OF the Manchester ship canal ana one Oh
the foreign engineers engaged by the President 70
investigate the Isthmian waterway project mas
written letter to Senator Kittredge, saying tn4'
after reading the report presented by the minority
of the board Of consulting engineers he Is con-
frmed in the opinion he had formed In TaVoF OF
the construction of a sea level canal
The paramount consideration in the discussion as
to the type OF Panama canal said MI huhte['
should be the provision Of a waterway Whlch WILL
so far as human effort can secure such result
be absolutely safe to navigation and thereIore
shall not include any inherent features which may
make for disaster vessels in transit and for the
destruction Of the works when completed. He
saws II is impossible to deny that the employment
OF locks great sze particularly OF Lfts OF height
beyond all precedent IN engineering practice, will
mean that the canal will be encumbered by OBJ
structions which can neither be avoided nor re-
moved land which will put every battleship and
every large commercial vessel into peril each
casion upon which any such vessel will traverse
the isthmian waterway"
Mr. Hunter reviews at length accidents OF daily
occurrence in lock canals, and the collisions In the
Manchester ship canal resulting in the destruction
and carrying away OF gates. In nearly all the
accidents It was shown that they from causes
impossible to guard against. So far as the double
locks proposed by the minority concerned, Mr.
Hunter says the probability IS that the result
would be that not only two pairs OF gates would
be wrecked instead Of but that the vessel her
self would be sunk in the lock-"
| He says It IS on the experience he has had that
he bases his opinion that. in the case OF the I'm
mense locks proposed by the minority OF the board
Of consulting engineers "if the gates are carried
| away by a downward bound vessel no power on
earth can stop the rush Of water; that the velocity
Of the stream through the lock Will be such that
any vessel will be carried on thereby. and that, Il
the occurrence takes place in the flight Of locks
proposed at Gatun the vessel will be plunged from
step to step to destruction while the group Of locks
! will probably be wholly wrecked and the canal
rendered imperative"
| Concerning the GatUn dam proposed by the MI
| norty Mr.. Hunter says he Is convinced it can be
built safely with effective cutoff arrest per-
collation. and stop erosion. The advantages OF the
so-called lake navigation, provided by the lock
plan. are characterized by Mr.. Hunter largely
sentimental imaginary and he Gays real dan
of wind which sweep down suddenly from the
| Caribbean Sea He closes his letter as follows:
It cannot be denied that a lock canal, OF what
ever type could be constructed at less cost in
money than level canal, but when the esti-
mates of cost contained in the report OF the board
and in the minority report are compared and when
quired for removing the kinks from the line OF the
channel through the Gatun Lake. increasing the
locks the dimensions called for by the SpOoner
act, for adding cut-offs and core walls to the
to be submerged. the difference between the two
projects will be reduced to a capital sum- which
will be insignificant when compared with the Tela-
tive advantages and disadvantages OF the projects