The daily tribune., 1908-02-25
REPORT OF 1sTHMIAN
CANAL COMMISSION


The following statement gives in
formation relative to the Panama
caual on points which inquiries are
being constantly received from many
sources, as we'll az to the progress of
the work:
The canal will have a summit ele-
vat,on Of S5 feet above the sea. to be
reached by flight of three locks at
Gatun, on the Atlantic side. and by
one lock at Pedro Miguel and flight
of two at Mirafores, on the Pacific
side ;all those locks to be in duplicate,
that is, to have two chambers, side
by side. Each lock will have
usable length of Que thousand feet
and width Of one hundred and ten
feet. The summit level will be
maintained by large dam at Gatun
and small one at Pedro Miguel,
making the great Gatun lake which
will have an area of 1874 28 square
miles. A small lake. about two
square miles in area, with a surface
elevation OF 55 feet will be formed ON
the Pacific side between Pedro Miguel
and Mirafores. the valley Of the
Rio Grande being closed by small
dam and the locks at Miraflores.
The canal is to be about SO miles
in length from deep water in the
Caribbean sea to deep water in the
Pacific ocean. The distance from
deep water to the shore line in Limon
bay is about four and half miles, and
from the Pacific shore line to deep
water is about five miles; hence the
length of the canal from shore to
shore will be approximately 40 and
a half miles.
The bottom Of the canal will vary
from 200 feet III CuleDra out ~ an in
definite width in the deep waters Of
the lakes. The approaches from deep
water to land on both sides of the
canal are to be 500 feet wide, and the
cuts in the shallow parts of the lakes
from 500 to 1000 feet wide. The
canal will have a minimum depth Of
Al feet.
The amount Of material excavated
by the Old aud New Panama Canal
companies WAS 81. 548, 900 cubic yards.
1t WAS estimated In the report of the
commission for 1901 that 80, $50, 900
cubic yards Of the prism excavated
by the French would be useful in the
main line Of the new canal, to which
must be added the prism excavated
by the company since the date Of that
report, 3.6i0.28l cubic yards, making
total Of 40, 400. 1876 cubic yards.
This amount will be reduced by the
submergenoe Of the channel between
Gatun and Bohio, which would have
been utilized by the plan Of the com.
mission of 1901, but not in the pres.
ent project.
For purpose Of comparison, 1t may
be stated that the estimated amount
of excavation required in the canal
prism for n sea level canal, as recon.
mended by the majority Of the Board
Of Consulting Engineers, was 81, ,026,
ATT cubic yards.
Thirty-two 95.ton. twenty eight
20 ton, three 40 ton and one 3S ton
steam shovels. or total Of sixty
four steam shovels (of which three
have been assigned to the Panama
railroad), are now in commission
six 90 ton, fourteen 20 ton, and
seven 45 ton steam shovels are eth.
or enroute or have recently been
delivered, and will soon be In use !;
and In addition, ton 10 ton steam
shovels will be delivered In the
near future.
In the month Of December, 1907,
there were approximately 5000
employees on the hthmus on the rolls
Of the commission and Of the Panama
railroad, about 5000 of whom were
Americans. There were actually ut
work on December 8lst. 20.0ii-23,-
76S men for the Commission aud 9, i4S
for the Panama railroad.
In addition to the $40, 900, 900 paid