The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-05-13
Is One of the Features Of
the Jamestown Ex-
position.
DITCH IN MINIATURE
Greatest Engineering Project of the
Age viii Be Shown Moulded in
Clay at the Big Fair.

Norfolk, va, May 18-Looking over
the parapet wall of concrete foot
thick and breast high one may see in
miniature al the Jamestown exposition
the Isthmus of Panama, as it will ap-
pear after the great ditch has been dug
by Uncle Sam. a civil engineer, c. II.
Johnson, who is in the employ Of the
Panama canal commission is superin-
tending the construction of the great
relief map, fine piece of typographical
work which covers a sixth OF an acre
near one of the government buildings.
There is a popular fallacy that the
Pacific ocean is four feet higher than
the Atlantic at the Isthmus. but there
Is no scientific data to substantiate
that proposition. The fact is that in
that latitude the moon fails to make
It's impress on the Atlantic. ocean while
1t gives the Pacific a tide of twenty
five feet.
If one, starting out to comprehend
the situation would get his bearings
Ii is necessary that he should under
stand at the outset that the Isthmus
does not extend north and south as
he may suppose though its hills are
a continuation Of the mountain range
which in South America is known as
the Andes and in North America is
known as the Rocky mountains. Nor
does the Isthmus run east and west as
some maps seem to indicate. The gen
eral direction of the canal extends
from Panama on the Pacific northwest
erly to Colon on the Atlantic. People
In Panama instead of looking land
ward to see the sunrise and out over
the Pacific to see it set, really look
eastward to see the sun rise in an
estuary of the Pacific and see it set on
the land horizon of the west
Right here it may be said that the
topography of the country Will seem
greatly changed after the canal has
been built, for it is part of the scheme
to build two great dams, one near
either end. which will result at the At
lantic end in the formation of lake
covering about a hundred square miles,
flooding a country of that area, to take
up the waters of the Chagres, and
turning countless hills into islands,
while at the Pacific end another lake
will similarly take care of the waters
of the Rio Grande.
The Typographical map shows the
work of the French company. Their
canal started at Cristobal on the At
lantic and extending to point near
Cation locks. nearly six miles, is barely
four feet deep now. There We're
other bits Of excavation also, including
some work at Culbera nearer the other
SHE.
The American canal may be briefly
described thus: Starting at the At
lantic there is a dredged channel some
four and a half miles through Limon
Bay from deep water to the shore line
hol lac
of moderate cutting through low or
swampy land to Baton Hill where there
are three locks each 81 Is feet high
that lift ship to the summit Level
of the canal once above the locks
ship finds herself in the great arti-
fcial lake through which channel is
buoyed. This is Lake Cation. She fol
lows the buoys for twenty three miles
until she reaches Gamboa, the point al
which the Chagres, coming down from
the mountains meets the lake. Just be-
yond this point she meets the next hare
cut the beginning of the Culebra This
is eighty-two feet above the sea level
the canals summit The whole length
Of the canal from deep water is 40 i
miles, while the length from shore line
to shore line is Al miles.
The heaviest cutting in the CuIebrs
cut Is between what is known as tn,
Sc and 3S mile points. but there ar,
three miles of deep cutting This ex
cavation is through an indurated CLAY
The deepest part of the cut is 290 fee
and millions OF cubic yards Will hay
to he taken out.
Passing through this a vessel will
find itself at Miguel lock Of p l.
feet and S1h miles from the entrance
She is dropped into the lake formed b
another lock of 81 2-S feet at the Pa
cihc which forms the lake into whic
the Rio Grande flows. This last loc
IS called LaBoca (the mouth). TIL
trip across the lake Is of several mile
and this ends the journey.
All this is shawn in the relief MAJ
hills. valleys, water courses, lakes, is
lands and even the ships themselve
the largest that are contemplated mad
TO scale, as the chart is, win be see
in the locks and in the lakes and
the canal, and actual water Will con
plete the realism of the scene.
The scale is about one foot to tw
thousand, saving that the vertical d
mensions are exaggerated. otherwis
the hills, some of which are as niue
as 500 feet high, would not show u
at all in a map 122x60 feet.
The canal where cut is 200 feet wiC
and has a depth of 40 feet. In IL
lakes it has a varying width and dept
but never less than 40 feet.
An important meeting of St. Agn,
Guild will he held this evening in RI