The Washington herald., 1908-07-16
THE PANAMA CANAL.
V-THE CATUN DAM.
By FREDERIC J. HAsKN
Br FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

ssaS corssDoadenoe The Washington Herald
Gatun. Canal Zone. July 5-The Isthmian
Canal project naturally divides itself into
two parts At the two ends they ar.
simply big bitches - feet deep and
900 feet wide. which VIII have the
same surface level as the ocean itself On
the Atlantic side this big ditch starts at
deep water in Limon Bay and extends IN
land seven miles to Gatun- On the Pacific
side it starts al deep water and extends
TO Mirahores, q distance Of i've miles
From this II VIII be seen that approx
uately One-fourth OF the whole canal viii
be a big sea-IeveI ditch For the remain
ing thirty-eight miles Of the canal il is
necessary 70 have the surface Of the water
eighty-five feet higher than that Of the
sea-level ends OF the canal n order TO
get ships safely across the big continental
divide at CUlebra- To get this the eugi-
neers have planned a great dam at Gauun,
on the Atlantic side, ard two relatively
smaller ones at the Pacific side. one at
Pedro Miguel, called by the Americans
Peter McGnl." and the other at Mira
flores These dams VIII make q vast lake
shaped something Ike gourd, with the
little end at Pedro Miguel. the handle be-
ing the Culebra Cut
The topography Of the isthnus lends
itself admirably to the plans OF the engi-
neers- The Chagres River flows more
than half way across the isthnUs, along
the general line OF the canal, crossing
the line OF the big ditch twenty-three
times on its way to the sss, without the
canal ever going out Of its way 70 meet
the river Al Of these crossings will OF
course, be eliminated when the dam is
completed. and with al OF its windings,
the Chagres viii not be able to wind out
Of the big GatUn Lake
The Chagres flows down through
valley. which gradually widsns as it
nears the sea At Gatun this valley IS
about a mile wide. It terminates entire
y here. the hills which form It losing
themselves IN a coastal plain It IS
across the valley at this point that they
are building the Gatun dam and its ac-
companying locks This dam VIII be
q veritable mountain OF mud more than
q nile long and half-Hile wide at the
base II viii be I35 feet high. ready to
dispute the passage OF the grim old
Chagres taking from its murky waters
such toll as Uncle sam and the commerce
OF the world may exact This toll VIII
be big enough 10 i'll the largest arti-
hcial lake IN the wOrld-a lake whose
water surface area viii be about 165
square miles After the Chagres and its
smaller nelghbors have filed the lake 10
the required height. the dam VIII allow
The rest OF the water 70 pass through
its spiIlway a1d on TO the sea, without
further interruption. the only demand
being that it shall not approach the line
OF the canal again In other words, its
Vagrant waters VIII be sentenced 20 the
canal workhoUse. and when that IS filed
70 overlooking they viii be invited 70
leave town al once By the spiIlway
route
After We have the lake, the problem is
TO get ships up into it and down out OF
It. They cannot go over the dam spill
way Ike q piece OF driftwood, neither
can they get up into It as a hsh wiggles
himself over a mill dam Here IS where
the locks come IN. They are nothing
more complex than a sort OF Brobding-
nagian marine stairway for ships TO climb.
At Gatun there are three Of these 81
gautic steps loo feet wide n the clear.
And as ships DO not Ike to pass or q
single stairway. they have put a partition
IN the middle Of the big staircase. so
that they DO rot need TO run into one an
other. This partition IS no small board
ed-Up affair. either II is Of concrete and
IS % feet across at the base and tapers
up . feet Even with this big partition
IN the middle OF the staircase they viii
not have TO rub against the wall. since
they have 10 feet IN the clear.
When & ship comes IN from the Allan
tic and wants TO get into Gatun lake IN
order TO make her way across the 18th
mus. she VIII steam into the lower lock.
The big water gates viii be closed behind
her and water viii be admitted into the
lock from the dam above through IL
nunerable holes IN the floor. When she
has been lifted 10 the level OF the next
lock she goes into that one and the
operation is repeated, until she finds
that she has climbed Up eighty-five feet
IN three steps A ship desiring TO 90
down has the topmost locks gates open
ed and she goes into IT. Then the water
is allowed 70 1Ow into the next one until
thew have q common water level Then
the gate ahead is opened and the ship
goes into this lock, where the perform
snce IS repeated until she finds herself
at sea-level again
II any one has any doubts about the
success OF the Gatun dam project. let
him come down here and see what IS
being done and how they are doing Il
Doubling Thomas would have believed
On less evidence than one sees here
WITH that thoroughness and attention to
detail which has made the army sengi-
neers the peers OF any lot OF engineers
on earth, Col Goethals and Mai Sibert
have indeed eliminated ell the elements
OF chance BY lnnumerable proofs For
instance. they have built q crOss-sectIon
OF Gatun dam on & scale OF l inch to the
foot using identicaIIy the same materials
that are going into the big dam, and IN
the same way. They have put the pro-
pOrtionats water pressure against Il and
are noting the results. Through all tnls
crOss-section only an occasional drop Of
water comes out into the basin thew
have arranged 70 catch It. And when
q drop does come out It IS as clear
as any water that ever passed through
filtration bed Il She water OF the Gatun
Lake IS TO hOneycomo and eat away the
heart OF tie Gatun dam, as critics have
prophesied, It viii have 10 reverse every
law OF experimental engineering 10 do SO.
But even this experimeut-a thorough
enough one for any commercial firm IN
the world 70 accept the deductions from
Il as established facts-6oes not satisfy
the army engineers They have arranged
a large number Of auxiliary experiments.
IN one OF these they have an iron cyIin-
der, some four feet high and some eight
inches n diameter. Into this they nave