Washington State journal and Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1906-1907, 1907-10-30
WIDEN
CANAL
PANAMALOCKSARETOO
SMALL AS PLANNED.
OPINION OF NAVAL Member OF
CANAL COMMISSION LATE
FROM THE ISTHMUS.


canal must be made wider than they
were originally planned, in the opinion
of the naval member of the canal COM
mission, Lieutenant and Civil Engineer
H. H. Rosseau, who arrived in Wash
ington direct from the isthmus. 1t
is presumed that he bore this mes
sage from the commission itself, al
though that fact could not be de-
termined, owing to the departure of
the officer from Washington for New
York only a few hours from the time
of his arrival in Washington, just suf-
ficient time here, in fact, to enable him
to lay his message before Secretary
Metcalf.
Undoubtedly naval exigencies, sup
plemented by the building of the giant
Cunarder Lusitania, were the basis for
the projected change of plan, which
will involve the expenditure of many
millions of dollars, and perhaps the
extension of the time estimated for
the completion of the canal project.
Il is also probable that the mere sug-
gestion of such a considerable change
of plans as that proposed by Lieuten-
ant Rosseau would precipitate a gen.
eral debate in congress and reopen the
whole issue of sea-level versus lock
canal. which was believed to have
been finally settled by President Roos-
evelt and Secretary Taft when they
gave the order for the beginning of
work on the lock canal plan.
The fact is that when congress was
SO warmly discussing the two projects.
about two years ago, the sea-level
canal advocates made the point that
theirs was the only plan that would
have sufficient elasticity to meet the
needs of rapidly growing tonnage in
marine construction.
Their plan involved the use of but
one lock, merely to Offset the tidal
difference between the eastern and
western seas, one comparatively low
and insignificant lock which could be
easily widened when required. But
they made a strong point of the diff
ficulty, expense and loss of time in
the use Of the canal that would fol-
low the attempt to widen the compli.
Gated and massive locks required for
the hight level calan.
Possibly foreseeing the force of that
argument the canal commission appar-
emily feels that it would be wise to
make the locks of the canal wide
enough in the beginning to accommo-
date the giant ships, not only of the
navy. but Of the merchant marine, that
are sure to be constructed in the near
future.
Must Revise Many Plans.
The three commissions which have
dealt with the detailed plans of the
canal have each in turn been impress
ed with necessity for charging the
capacity Of the projected waterway,
and each commission has not hesitat-
ed to- increase the width of the canal
prisms and the size of the locks from
those planned by it's predecessors.
Now the last commission goes even
beyond this by revising its own plans
before they have gotten beyond that
point in execution where it Is feasible
to do so without actual waste OF
money.
For up to this point substantially all
of the work that has been done upon
the isthmus has been upon the canal
prisms in the great Culebra cut, on
the 20-odd miles of lowlands and in
the bottoms of the harbors. Only the
ground has been cleared and the holes
dug for the great flights of locks in
cident to the plan, so that 1t is merely
q matter of widening these founja-
tions that is involved in the last prop
osition.
Fortunately the canal prism itself,
as projected in the plans now under
execution, will probably be wide
enough at the narrowest point-Cule-
bra section from Las Cadas to near
Paradise, distance Of AZ miles, where
the minimum width is 200 feet, through
rock. But the locks themselves, origi-
nally planned by the last commission
to be 200 feet long and 100 feet wide
at Gatun, were subsequently increased
by the engineers in their plan to a
width of 600 feet and a length Of 1000
feet. It is simple engineering task
to increase the width and depth of the
canal prism at any time while the
canal is in operation, but the locks
cannot be broadened without seriously
interfering with the operation Of the
canal and at great expense, owing tn
their duplicate character.
Too Narrow for Big Ships.
Already the dimensions of these
locks are being closely approached by
naval ships actually built or building
and it is regarded as certain that the
Atlantic lines will IN the near future
build great turbine ships which could
never pass through the locks as here
tofore planned. and so would be we'll
nigh useless as naval auxiliaries In
time of war. The famous British bat
tleship Dreadnought, now afloat
measures SO feet in beam, and our owl
Delaware class, two ships of which
class are building. will measure S.:
feet beam. The 25,000-ton ship which
our naval designers are talking o.
suggesting to congress will measure
So feet in the clear, which would
leave only six feet clearance at the
sides of the locks under the existing
designs.