Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-03-18
SEA LEVEL TYPE TOO COSTLY.
APPROVED ONLY BY
iDEALIST
GATUN DAM SAFE, SANE AND
TICAL-CRITICS
ANSWERED.


than a canal built on sea level, bu
because of the saving In time AM
money, is contained in a special re
: port of Lieutenant Colonel George "
GOethals, chairman and chief engin
eer OF the Isthmian canal comrnis
sion, made public yesterday. The re
port, which is an exhaustive one, deals
with every phase of the canals con
struction, and in it Colonel Goethals
handles without gloves those critics
who he says are predicting nothing
but disaster and failure to the enter
prise.
Colonel Goethals reviews the whole
history OF proposed canals construc
ton on the isthmus, and calls atten
ton to the fact that after the subject
had occupied public attention for up
ward Of four centuries, it was not I'm
! til the nineteenth century that any
definite action was taken looking to
ward its accomplishment. THE
United States" he says, mot unmind
full Of the advantages of an isthmian
canal, had from time to time made in.
vestigations and surveys of the vari
Gus routes" He adds that with the
view to government ownership and
control congress directed an investi-
cation Of the Nicaraguan canal for
which a concession had been granted
to a private company. The report OF
tn int
ject was adverse to the Nicaraguan
route, he says, and favorable to the
Parma route and the lock type of
canal.
Much attention is given to the sub
ject of the Gatnu dam This, Colonel
Goethals says, is to consist of two
piles Of rock 1900 feet apart and car
ried up to 60 feet above mean tide.
The space between them and up to
the required height is to be filled by
selected material deposited in place by
hydraulic process. He speaks OF the
slip which occurred last November
which, he says, amounted to practic-
ally nothing. "This slip" says he.
probably would have passed I'M
noticed, as did the former ones, but
for the fact that at the time a flood
in the Charges river had attained such
proportions as to cover a portion of
the Panama railroad tracks Just south
of Gatun. A newspaper correspond
ent, going from Colon to Panama, saw
his opportunity for a sensational story
Fri 1Jfn cd -
ping of the Gatun dam into the sub
terranean lake under the dam and
locks, which another faker had pre-
viOusIy discovered, and the news OF
the destruction of the dam was cabled
to the states" The slip, he declares,
did not affect the south slope or slide
Of the rock pile. ct was entirely To-
CAL he says. land did not in any way
interfere with the work. AS a re.
suit, however, the public is told that
dire disaster will follow the under.
taking unless the present plans
are abandoned and the Straits OF
Panama constructed; that is. q
sea level canal across the 18th
mus 500 to 600 feet wide. TO ac
complish this, however, a lock canal
must be built first and subsequently,
widened and deepened until the idea
is reached. There is no data avail
able for such a canal With noun
tains instead of hills to be removed
estimates are, of course, impossible:
so the most optimistic figures, suitable
alone 10 the ideal are offered as {
bait. In any event it is claimed al
so that BOhiO should have been Sc
lected for the site of the dam in IieI
of Gatun.' Colonel Goethals points GU
that at Bohio the gorge in it's lower
strata is filled with water-bearins
gravel and that fact alone, he says
removes it from consideration. {"
venture the statement, without fear o.
contradiction" he says, that the site
of no public or private work of any
kind has received such a thorough anC
= exhaustive examination and investiga
; ton as the foundation of the dam anC
| locks at Gatun. There is no Longer
, a doubt concerning any Of the under
lying strata; neither the impermea
bility nor the ability of the founda
| lions to bear the loads that will be
, brought upon them, can be ques
toned if the data be carefully and i'm
partially examined. The investigations
fail to disclose any water bearing
strata or the existence Of that under
ground stream with a discharge equa
to the Charges river itself, which wa:
recently asserted as a fact on the
floor Of the senate"
According to the report the Gatm
dam satisfactorily solves the problem
of the control of the Chagres, anC
there should be no doubt in the MIND
of anyone, who impartiaIly examine:
the data. it says, that the solution is
not only feasible but absolutely safe.
I Reverting to the subject Of a Sc;
level canal, Colonel Goethals says
TO be sure, the partisans OF the Sc;
level type are now proposing to elm
mate both the Gambia dam and the It'd
al lock by making the channel so wide
as to reduce the currents that resul
from the discharge Of the Chagres ant
the difference in tides. but fail TO ex
plain how they propose to control o
/ divert the Chagres, the bed of which
: will be 30 feet above the water SUI
face. for preparing accurate estimate
for even such a sea level type as wa
a originally offered, neither they no
q anyone else can offer any figures a
! IN time and cost for the construction