The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-05-18
SHOWS THE PANAMA CANAL
Mammoth Relief Map at the
Jamestown Exposition

| NORFOLK, Va, May 1S.-Looking
over a parapet wall of concrete foot
thick and breast high, one may see in
miniature at the jamestown exposition
the Isthmus of Panama as it will APP
pear after the great ditch has been dug
by Uncle Sam. civil engineer. c. H.
| Johnson who is in the employ of the
Panama canal commission, is super
intending the construction of great
relief map. a fine piece of topogra phical
work which covers 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 alta to substantiate
the proposition. The fact is that in
that latitude the moon fails to make
it's impress on the Atlantic ocean while
it gives the Pacific tide of % feet.
If one starting out to comprehend
the situation, would get his bearings
it is necessary that he should under
stand at the outset that the lsthmus
does not extend north and south as he
may suppose. though it's 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
general direction of the canal extends
from Panama on the Pacific north
westerly to Colon on the Atlantic. Peo-
pie in Panama instead of looking land
ward TO see sunrise and out over the
Pacific to see the sun set really look
! eastward to see the sun rise in an es-
tuary of the Pacific. and see it set on
the land horizon to .he 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 country of that area. to take
ND the waters of t''e Chagres. and
| turning countless hills into islands,
while az the Pacific end another lake
will similarly take care Of the waters
of he Rio Grande.
ne tODPSTaD Hltdl Iildp S'Io"S thN
work of the French company. Their
canal started at Cristobal on the At
lan-ic and extended to q point near
| Cation locks. nearly six miles. is bare
| ly four feet deep now. There were
other bits of excavation also, including
some work at Culebra nearer the other
! side
| The American canal may be briefly
described thus: Starting at the Atlantic
ocean there is a iredged channel some
| four and half miles through Iimon
| bay from deep water to the shore line
Then there are two and a half miles
of moderate cutting through low or
| swampy land to Cation hill, where
| there are three locks each q 1-3 feet
| high that lift a ship to the summit lev
ell of the canal. Once above the locks.
| a ship finds herself in the great arti-
| fetal lake through which a channel is
buoyed. This is Lake Cation. She fol-
lows the buoys for % miles until she
| rea ches Gamboa. the point at which
| the Chagres coming down from the
| mountains mee+s the lake. Just beyond
| this point she meets the next hard cut
| the beginning of the Culebra. This is
| SO feet above the sea level. the canals
summit. The whole length of the ca
nal from deep water to deep water is
1912 miles, while the length from
| shore line to shore line is Al miles
The heaviest cutting in the Culehra
cut is between what is known as the
So and SO mile points. but there are
three miles of deep cutting. This eX-
cavation is through an inGurated clay.
| of ic
and millions of cubic yards will have
! to be taken out.
Passing through this vessel will
| finI itself at Miguel lock of q 1-3
feet and 81 IL miles from the entrance.
She is dropped into the lake formed
by another lock of "a 2-3 feet at the
Pacific which forms the lake into which
the Rio Grande flows. This last lock
is called La Boca (the MOUTH. The
trip across the lake is of several
miles. and this ends the journey.
| All this is shown in the relief map,
| hills. valleys, water courses, lakes.
islands and even the ships themselves.
| the largest that are contemplated
made to scale. as the chart is, will be
seen in the locks and in the lakes and
| in the canal, and actual water will
complete the realism of the scene.
| The scale is one foot to two thou
sand. saving that the vertical dimen-
sions are exaggerated, otherwise. the
hills. some of which are as much as
500 feet high, would not brow up at all
in a map 122 by 60 feet.
| The canal where cut is 200 feet wide
! and has a depth of 40 feet In the
lakes it has varying width and depth
but never less than 40 feet.