The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1907-09-20
Steamship Lusitania.
- Orleans PitaNnne.

The great steamship which has Just
mad a record-breaking voyage across
the ocean creates problems in con-
nection with the Panama Canal that
must result in changing the plans
which were so hastily made, contrary
to the advice of the highest authori-
ties on ship canals in the known world.
Going back to the great ship in
question, it is TO be noted that she is
$50 feet long, IS feet broad and draws
81 feet 6inches when loaded, and then
siOns are TO be the guage of the width
and depth of the canal and of the six
locks by which it is proposed to raise
such a ship over a hill nearly 100 feet
above sea level.
There are TO be six locks, three on
each side of the ridge; three are to
lift the ship up to the summit and the
other three are to let her down on the
other side. Each lock chamber must
hold depth of water sufficient to
float two of the ships, since two ships
may meet, one coming from each way.
{ sum d AOCh tildilAbC-A must TX wv
I feet long, 25O feet wide, and have
depth of water of 10 feet. There win
be 200 900 tons of weight of water, or
of water and ships. in such lock cham
ber when in use, and there are to be
three of these on each side of the
ridge.
These locks are to be built of CON
crete and in the light of the recent
I serious failures of concrete structures.
that material for such enormous and
important works is to be decidedly
+ distrusted. Concrete is good when it
is properly made of the right sort of
material, and particularly the cement,
/ all correctly proportioned and thor
oughly mixed, but can all these pre-
cautions be assured in building two
mountains of such material? As the
I lock construction will have to rest ON
bed rock and rise to the heighth of at
/ least 100 feet above sea level, it viii
/ be a veritable mountain, two noun
tains, OF concrete, each chamber car
rying 200, 900 tons of water and ships.
AS to the lock gates, they cannot
/ be less than 100 feet wide and so feet
high to admit a ship of IS feet beam
/ and to hold back the water in every
I case of two lifts. The problem of
making these gates of sufficient
strength and at the came time of suf-
fcient mobility, is a most serious one.
/ Thus it is that there is always an
enormous risk in attempting to carr
such a ship, with its corgo, over a hill
which is composed of clay and soft
rock, which can be easily dug out and
carried away with the greatest ease
/ by machinery.
The lesson conveyed by the great
/ ship, which Is to be the measure Of
/ ships henceforth, points most conclu-
I sively 10 the necessity tor a sea level
channel or, at the most, To adopt
/ Lindon Bates proposal to have one
t lock which will raise ships up thirty
/ feet to the surface of a lake, which
will cover large area of swamp and
/ convert it from a malarial, mosquito
! breeding tract to a salubrious body Of
/ fresh water.
A story has been told that the lock
plan was the result of Vaccinations
+ by the transcontinental railroads that
have always been opposed to the ca
nal. Be this as it may, it is well
known that a majority of the distin-
/ guished enaineers who formed the
Board of Consultation and Advice
fully declared a verdict in favor of
sea level canal.
The advent of the great steamship
Lusitania into the merchant marine
of to-day cannot but arouse thought
full persons to the necessity for hay
ing a canal that will carry in security,
from sea to sea, the greatest ships
that float, and it may be that there
will be, in the next Congress, Sena-
tors or Representatives who will
bring up the subject and expose the
weakness of the plans that have been
adopted.