New-York tribune., 1909-03-17


and the conditions which obtained when the United
States engineers began their task.
Outlining briefly changes in the original plan
Colonel Goethals said
Certain changes have been made in the orisinalI
~ - 7'-.-s from So 10 Nfrafiores which
recommended and adopted in December, ls''- IN, llS
resulted in change ia the direction oI tHe ci'ar ~
ne in Panama Bay. \ aTeakwateT Is beng con
strucIed from Sosa 10 Aaoz Island WfAcLl' 10y 80 80
ting Of the st-baaIiuS cross current "-'isL 5t.l a
aiRavs 5eeu troublesome, protects the cAaHIiei
A second Change is the widening Of the four and
ons-Iaif miles ~ Culehra cut 10 d Wldih OF '5
the bottom This was done by eNecuAEe 9tCyls I
and was not made on the recoIAIilei'oa 1io4 u 1o
-E1rj Change = The location Of the breskwaters
81 Colon fIarbor. The necessity Tor these bI."A
waters made apparent in the 5 lalleI pa -; -
o1sly irrerfered with shipping As originally pro
posed for both the sea Level and lock types, the
breakv5aters we're parallel TO the axis OF the
chanuel eNcavated il Lnon lay - II - - g3. 5Is-
s,ructed sufficient area would not be gwen 20 , o
siTate the waves entering head on nio lle ci.'.L ~
nel and they would not anoId iI.L-., - q - = fo
built OUT from Msnzanillo Island and Ioro fohlt,
50 as To- give a sheltered anchorage anu '-tSo an a.
opportunity Cor such expansion 10 lAe "7'es a
~ fc5r- nj, Tre {s in the dimensions OF the locks
a Pleoo - 1Itti,e "a, ana widths These dinen-
= - eet, t,,l.ge-17e1--f changed 10y the commis-
sion Al the instigaJion Of tie Presoehl 70 olls
- -. ;,,o-e-ses 10 40 feet the recon-
mendatlon Of the general board cI lle "a "a -, q
70 accommodate any possible increase IN Deail o
future baItleships- H. - rool,
The GaJun dam is consist OF two pies & o. % 1eeK
$50 feet apart and carried up 10 90 ieel a'. % ~ a
tde The space between them and up % 1l'T teIs
deposited M place by the hydrauAc process
THE SLIP At GATUN-
F5z exr,slned in detail the effects Of the slip in
The Css7T.n Dam construction which occurred last
fan at crossing Of the French canal saying that
It was entirely local and did not in any way m
terfere with the work He continued;
result however the public is tod ,rass thai diFe IRE
present plans are abandoned and the Straits OF
Panama c9nstructed-that IS sea leVeI cana 1.
vida TO sccomplish this however. Ioct canal anal
must he brfit first and subsequently, wiaenea anu ~
deepeued until the ideal IS reached There IS no
data available for such canal With mountains 5
course impossible: so the most optimistic figures
suitable alone 70 the ideal are CHeTe1 a. ~ d -il
n any event il IS also claimed that Bono sq@uld @
have been selected for the site OF the dam IN leu
As 6etveen C:atun and Bohio at both places the
distance the natural surface to the rock IS 80
"a li.si any ~, 2 t1eIdeG h.. enorInoi
expense. A. Bohio the gorge IN its lower strata IS
dan safe the under7Ow through these strata would
nave 20 be cut of 10y some means EXTENDING Gown WI
1C- feet No such strata exist at 6atuft 80, lof
- I.-soa @-oilT c-7tT,l of fbe Chagres River
Of AXE siatun offers the better site.
Both tht raa ,ority and minority Of the Board OF
Consulting Engineers considered Gatun a suitable
location for dam; the former adopted ~ IoI ll's
typical lock canal used for comparison with me seo
level canal the latter for the eightyiEe-IOoL sum
init level canal The majority, however feared
tie existence o an underground flow IN case OF the
higher dam. investigations have failed 10 MS
clcse The great mass OF Underlying l-fei Ia
posed. but . mixture OF these materials so firmly
ceTneled together with clay as 10 make the STRAIT
IN which tneN occur lmperNlODs 20 water
venture the statement. without fear Of contra
Cicticn, that the site OF public private work
q ans kind has received such q thorough and eX-
aIstiKe examination and investigation the foun-
carfGn 0f the Dam and locks at Gatun There is no
strait neither the iIpermeabitN. nor the ability
o. IN touue4 lions 10 bear the loads that viii be
brought upon 5ilcln. he questioned If the data
II carefully and iluparIlaliy examined The inves-
NS2Ji'nS Fan 20 disclose any water bearing strata
o he existence Of that Underground stream with
: discharge eIua 10 the Chacres River itself which
- recently asserted as q fact the floor OF the
Discredit. be said lad been thrown on the Gatun
oan because there has been desire to reduce the
ieighi from 80 10 1o5 feet. The original height
N1s arbitrarily fixed 10 secure excess of weight
- as 10 fully compress the underlying material.
ealIosed 10 be large silt. deposited by the river
subsequent Investigations had shown that the sup
posed cofapTessiblity did exist: that a marine
aot river deposit IS encountered The greater
ne height q the dam the greater the difficulty OF
constructing the upper portion. ana the greater the
cosi beth IN time and money From present avail
e4e oata, II the Jake should take the total dis
rAafge II the Chagres River. the water surface
Nsoid tot exceed &c feet; the top the locks 90
.sti above sea level would permit escape OF the
wafer long before could reach the crest Of