Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-18
QUAKE MIGHT
DESTROY CANAL
RECENT DISASTER IS TAKEN
INTO CONSIDERATION
Many Senators Argue That a Sea
Level Waterway Would Be
Less Liable TO
Damage
Br Assec,ated Press.

BY Associated Press.
WASHINGTON, D. c., May 17.-That
the earthquake which destroyed San
Francisco was an important factor in
determining the vote of the senate COM
mittee on interoceanic canals in favor
Of a sea level type, is apparent from
the fact that feature of the majority
report is q discussion of the effect such
earthquakes might have on locks and
dams.
The majority report in favor Of a sea
level canal was submitted today by
Senator Kittredge. on the subject Of
danger from earthquakes on the 18TH
mus and the possible effect on the two
types of canals proposed, the report
says:
The recent calamity that overwhelmed
one of our great cities has caused many
forebodings. Assertion that any par
tfcular spot in the tropics is exempt
from all danger from such convulsions
of nature as recently visited California
or wrought great havoc near Charles
ton, S. c., in 1886, or changed the face
of nature in Southeastern Missouri, near
the beginning of this century, will not
be hazarded by any wise man.
lsthmus Not Exempt
That the lsthmus of Panama is not
exempt conclusively appears and we
can have no guaranty that the canal
such disaster.
The canal structures that would be
most exposed to injury by the passage
OF an earth wave or violent movement
of the earth's surface are the locks
proposed by the minority, whose walls
many hundreds of feet, or even two or
three thousand feet long at Gatun,
would, at least some of them, be more
that seventy-five feet high and en-
tirely 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 In their leaking and so prevent the
closing of the gates--an injury for
which a suggestion of extra gates on
guess the extent of such movement.
Would Fracture Locks
But the most likely effect of such
shock would be the fracture of these
locks in repairing of which much time
months or years-night be required,
and thus cause interruption of traffic
or the abandonment of the canal.
The minority suggests that the dam
at Gamboa, included in the plan of the
board, would be as likely to sustain
injury from such convulstoi as the
structure above mentioned.
This is not the fact. The Gamboa
reinforced with strong walls and but
tressed at either end with walls of
rock.
1t is a structure the least likely to
be affected by any superimposed on the
earth's surface and no record is found
in any similar structure being per-
manently injured under similar cir
cumstances.
The side slopes of the culebra cut
would be no more likely to be disturbed
than are the early vertical slopes near
the divide that have never been af-
fected.
Earth Dam Not Feasible
An earth dam on an alluvial base, as.
proposed by the minority, might be fis-
sured if the earthquake passed the To-
cality and If a crack in the dam or it's
base, or its base should open, the dam
would go out the lock and the canal
be ruined.
At San francisco, where the water
pipes were broken, the disaster was
greatly augmented by this cause, for
the water could not be held in the
pipes and directed on the flames. What
would happen to the aqueduct, con-
duits, pipes and valves buried in the
concrete walls used for filing and emp
tying the locks, cannot be we'll con-
jectured.
After reviewing the legislation and
the messages of the president on the
subject of the canal and the reports
that it is due to the executive branch
of the government that the uncertain
tiles confronting the president as to his
powers in the premises be settled and
disposed of affirmatively, once and for
all by the only national authority COM
petent to pass upon the questionable
national legislature.
Favor Sea Level. Canal
The division among experts as to the
best type Of canal is treated by the
report which says that the conclusion
has been reached that the engineering
propositions are irrefutable.
fho