Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-14
Map of Canal.

wide so these dams will be comparatively small
and according to the engineers easy to build.
But on the Atlantic side the conditions are quite
different lies the heart of the whole lock canal
project If Gatun Dam should fail the plan for lock
canal would fail and the great ditch would have TO be
dug to depth of fortyone feet below sea level from
ocean to ocean Gaun Dam is to lie the valley
OF the Chagres River, its ends supported by two hills
Its foundations lie the dirt formation of the
river valley as there is no rock within $50 feet Of
the surface.
Gatun Dam has been and probably will continue to
be until it is finished abandoned, the subject OF
more controversy than all the other canal problems
combined Skilled engineers have written arguments
that would fill many newspaper pages In efforts TO
show that the dam never can be built and tnat even
If it is built the seepage of water through the soft
soil under it will be great that the dam VIII De
useless Other skilled engineers have written just as
long arguments to show that the dam can be built.
and that the seepage of water will be so small as to
be hardly worth considering Meantime the engineers
for the government going ahead with the building
of the dam.
Gatun Dam is to be by far the largest structure OF
the kind in the world largest being the San
Leandro Dam in California, and this is only one
third the length width of the great pile that is to
harness up the Chagres. In making comparisons the
engineers find the best example in the Japore Dam in
India, which, like Gatun Dam, has dirt foundation
But in bulk it would take fifty Japore dams to make
the at Gatun.
Compared with Broadway
At the eastern end of the dam will be the system OF
locks, flights of three side by side, six in ALL
Each single lock will be 1000 feet long, ITO feet wide
fand will have minimum water depth of forty-hve
feet Slice Madison Square Garden in half engthwise
and the two halves placed together end to end would
fit easily In of the locks and leave only the upper
half of the tower showing above the edges. one
double gate from lock of the Panama Canal set down
in Broadway would close that thoroughfare from
building to building and up to the seventh story WIN
dows. Although the locks are to have minimum
water depth of fortyive feet, the lifting depth OF
two in each fight is to be thirty feet each, while the
other is to have lifting depth of twenty-five feet
making eghty-ve feet in ALL just the difference be-
tween the sea level and the canal level
In the building of Gatun Dam hundreds OF tnou-
sands Of piles will be driven into the gound 70 sup.
port the vast foundations and millions OF barrels OF
cement and millions of of rock will be used to say
nothing the earth that will be required The cement
while the rock and most of the dirt must be hauled
some twenty-five miles from Culebra- cut. So during
the remaining years of canal building large part or
the material taken from Culebra cut Will have to be
handled and again until 1t Is packed soidy
in the great structure at Gatun
When this is done there will come the finishing
touches: the cementing of the bottom and walls OF
certain partsof the canal the equipment of the locks
with machinery for handling the massive gates and
then the first filing of the reservoirs And all goes
well there will come about January 1915 the formal
opening of the canal and celebration In which the
nations of the world will join.