The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-12-05
THE PANAMA CANAL.

Dispatches recently from the canal zone have
told of difficulties in the engineering problems
which have arisen. Though these rumors of diff
culties have been denied, semi-offciaIly their APP
pearance is disquietng to those who have placed
their confidence in the ability of Uncle Sans
gneers to carry the work through on lines already
laid down. The reports of the trouble say the
tanning wall of the Gatun dam will not be as safe
substantial as they ought to be. The Gatun dam
is the keystone of the arch in the accepted plans
for making the dam. If that cannot be made to
do what it was intended to do the whole project as
at present devised must fail. On the other hand,
if the reports not true, no doubt the present
plans will be successfully carried through.
The Gatun dam is to be placed on the Gatun
HILL the first steep high hill on the canal route
from the Atlantic coast. On the Pacific coast, the
distance between the ocean and the mountains
which for mthe divide is very much greater than
the Atlantic side, and the slopes are more grad
ual, which condition gives the engineers compare
lively little difficulty in making the western APP
proaches to the mountains. On the Atlantic side,
however, according to the present plans it is
essary to raise the level of the canal distance of
eightyfve feet in practically one lock. In brief,
the present plan is to make sea level canal ON the
Atlantic side up to the Gatun hill; to build there
the dam which is the cause for the discouraging
reports to impound the waters of the Chagres and
form immense lake, and to build series of three
locks to life vessels total of eighty-fve feet into
this lake
This plan was disapproved by majority of the
international board of consulting engineers when
the senate held hearings the proposition on the
ground that there not enough room on the hill
for the three locks. Further. it was said that if
for any reason, the gates to the top lock should
meet with any, accident such as a severe bump by
unmanageable vessel, the breaking of those
gates would result in the whole Atlantic and of
the canal going out thus wrecking the whole thing
and putting the canal out of commission for an in
definite period. At the senate hearing it was vir-
tuay admitted that the tests of the foundation for
the structure at Gatun hill were hardly sufficient
to justify going ahead with the work and it may
be that further investigation of the strata of the
earth has shown the present plans infeasibe.
The engineering problems on the great canal
upon which the United States government is ex-
pending $400000,00O are no doubt of the gray
est character presented to the experts and if
they need to be changed it is bitter that thew be
ii
The building of the Panama canal is probably the
greatest engineering feat ever attempted and for
this reason the plans should be such as to receive
the sanction of at least majority of the engineers
of the world. 1t would be far better to delay the
completion of the work for ten years than to have
the thing to build over after it is once completed
because of some technical defect which would rem
der the whole thing unsafe. 1t would SEEM there
fore. that is the time to make haste slowly.
The news from Panama, of course is not official.
but there is an ominous hint that all is not we'll
with the great canal However, the work is we'll
under way, and the United States government is
behind it, which gives to every citizen of the coun
try personal interest in the great work With
such backing, and every citizen placing confidence
in the ability of the government to- carry ON the
work, at least the canal has the moral support of
8O,0O0000 people, and the financial backing of every
of them. The canal will be built if not under
present specifications then according to other plans
which will be approved later by those in charge of
the work.
R0E1O rFMrFHanN