East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-05-22
EARTHQUAKE WON
THE CANAL FIGHT
SEA LEVEL CANAL ADOPTED
TO AVOID DESTRUCTION
Senate Committee Reported for Sea-
Level Canal After Seeing the Havoc
Wrought by Earthquake at San
Franclsco-Less Damage Would
Come From Shock II Canal Were on
Sea Level.

That the earthquake which de-
stroyed San Francisco was an import
ant factor in determining the vote of
the senate committee on inter-oceanic
canals in favor of a sea-level type is
apparent from the fact that a feature
of the majority report is discussion
of the effect such as an earth wave
might have on locks and dams, says
a Washington dispatch.
The majority report in favor of
sea-level canal was submitted by Sem
ator Kittridge. On the subject Of
danger from earthquakes on the 18TH
mus and the possible effect on the two
types Of canal proposed, the report
says:
THE recent calamity that over
whelmed one OF our great cities has
caused many forebodings. The asser-
ton that any particular spot in the
tropics is exempt from all danger
from such convulsions of nature as
recently visited California or wrought
great havoc near Charleston. s. c., In
1885, or changed the face OF nature
in southeastern Missouri, near the be-
ginning of the century, would not be
haZarded by any wise man. That the
isthmus OF Panama is not exempt, con-
clusively appears and we can have no
guaranty that the canal zone will in
the future be exempt from such dis
aster.
THE canal structures that would
be most exposed to injury by the pass
ing of an earth wave or violent move
ment of the earths surface are the
locks proposed by the minority,
whose walls, many hundreds of feet,
or even 1000 or 5000 feet long at
Gatun, would. at least some of them,
be more than rs feet high and entire
ly unsupported on one side save for
a part of the height by water.
"If these walls should be moved at
all the natural and probable result
would be their leaking, which would
prevent the closing Of the gates-an
injury for which a suggestion Of
extra gate on hand would be useless,
for no one could guess the extent Of
the movement. But the most likely
effect OF such shock would be the
fracture of these locks, in the repair
ing OF which much time-months or
years-might be required. and thus
cause interruption of traffic or the
abandonment OF the canal.
"An earth dam on an alluvial base,
as proposed by the minority, might bo
locality, and II a crack in the dam or
its base should open, the dam would
go out, the lock drain and the canal
be ruined. At San Francisco, where
the water pipes were broken, the dis
aster was greatly augmented by this
cause, for the water could not be held
in the pipes and directed on the
flames"
Discussing the advantage of the sea
level canal to the country controlling
It in time of war, the report says:
"If free from all obstacles to quick
transit 100 warships of average size,
moving in one direction, route clear,
could be passed from ocean to ocean
in less than a day. All naval COM
manders and commercial masters Of
the great national and private vessels
of the world are almost to man op-
posed unalterably to the introduction
of any lock to lift vessels over the
low summit that nature has left for
us to remove"
The majority argues that an enemy
could destroy lock canal much
easier than a sea level canal with ex-
plosives.
The ultimate final cost of the sea-
level canal as estimated by the ma
jority is s25O,0O0,0O0, while the cost
of the lock canal is regarded as un-
certain. The minority of the board of
consulting engineers estimated the
cost at s139,7O5,20O, and to this, the
majority say, should be added the in
terest on the extra cost of mainte-
nance. the expenses of clearing the
titles to. the 11S,O0O acres of land that
wouldIbe submerged by the central
lake proposed by the lock plan,
which. It is estimated, would make the
total cost at least $3.50, 100000. The
cost of transforming the lock plan
into a sea-level canal after the for
mer is completed, is estimated at