New-York tribune., 1907-12-28
PANAMA CANAL CHANGE
Dams And LOCKS MOVED.
Goethals Upheld in Locating Them
Four! Miles Further Inland.
rFrom The Tribune Bureaul

Washington. Dec. 27-The President has ap-
proved the recommendation of Colonel Goethals.
chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission
that a radical change be made in the Panama
Canal. and work the new plans will begin to-
morrow. This change consists in the Telocatlon
of the dams and locks which it was purposed TO
place at La Boca. They will now be placed at
Mirafores four miles further inland from the
Pacific.
BY this change saving in cost of s1O000,ooo
will be effected with great saving IN time lor
completion; better sites. from military stand
point for the locks and dams will be gained
and a more satisfactory foundation can be at
tanned The change completely eliminates Sosa
Lake Instead there will be channel hVe
hundred feet wide at sea level. from La Boca
to the foot of the Mirafores locks.
It will be recalled that when the President
submitted his Panama message to Congress last
year he reserved the right to change the location
of these locks, have also the chief engineer
and the Secretary of War in their annual re-
ports The original French plans contemplated
locks at Mirafores. and the accuracy or the
Judgment of the French engineers has been
demonstrated while the strategic advantages of
placing these important locks four miles further
from the Pacific strongly appeal to the military
experts now in charge of the construction of
the canal.
1t will be remembered that according to the
plans finally adopted for the canal the So-foot
level to be maintained the greater part OF
the distance across the isthmus-that is. from
the Gatun locks. near the Atlantic. to the PEDRO
Miguel lock, where the surface of the canal
would drop to the 55-foot level and con-
tinue at that elevation to La Boca, or Sosa'
where two locks would lower ships to sea level
The Pedro Miguel lock is about seven miles
from the Bay of Panama. while the Sosa locks
were to be located at the junction of the canai
with the bay. The new plan contempiates the
location of these two locks at Mraf1ores, which
is practically three miles beyond Pedro Miguel
and four miles back from the bay.
A comprehensive series of test pits in Mira
flores has demonstrated that under the changed
plan these two important locks can be con-
structed on solid rock foundations which would
not have been possible at La Boca. The exten-
sion of the sea level portion of the canal VIII
greatly facilitate the excavation.
The seagong dredge Ancon, which has been
AT work for some time on the Atlantic end of
the canal. excavated 10000 yards of material
last month. Her sister dredge, the Culebra,
which was also built at Sparrow's Point, was
obliged to go around Cape Horn. last
ported from Callao and is due at Panama this
week. AS soon ss 1t arrives it will be set to
work excavatng the 50O-foot channel up to
Mirafores and will add materially to the rate
of excavation.
1t Is confidently expected that by late next
summer the excavation of the canal prisn
which has already exceeded the 100000 cubic
yard mark will have reached the 5000 600
mark. The reasonableness of this expectation
may be from the fact that in addition 20
the added services of the Culebra. thrty-two
more steam shorels have been contracted for
OF this number, seven are already the 18TH
way. and the remaining twenty are in various
stages of construction. There sixty
five shoveIs in commission. and when the thlr-
ty-tWo contracted for have been commissioned
the excavating force on land Will be increased
approximately so per cent. apart from the in
creased facilities for excavation with dredges
which will be afforded work on the sea
level portion goes on. together with the greatly
Gatun locks begin the creation of Gatun Lake
The news of the Presidents approval Of the
change the site of La Sosa locks from La
Boca to Miraiores has been sent to the isthmus.
and tomorrow the excavation OF the dam sites
at that point Will begin.
On the new site the locks will be wholly be-
yond effective gun range of battleship in Pan
anna Bay while the surrounding country is more
susceptible of effective defence than is that
around La Boca.