Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-17
COCKTAILS IN DEFENSE
Lock Canal and Gatun Dam
Right Idea, He Contends.
SLABS BACK AT CRITICS
"Fakers." His Name for Uncompli.
mentary Commentators.
PROBLEM OF CHAGRES SOLVED
No Way to Estimate Cost of Sea
Level Waterway-No Basis
for Speculation.

\ strong defense of the present plan Of
building a lock canal at Panama, not
only because it is deemed more desirable
than canal built on sea level but be-
cause of the saving in time and money,
is contained in a special report of Lieut..
Col George w. Goethals, chairman and
chief engineer of the isthmian canal COM
mission. made public today.
The report, which is exhaustive, deals
with every phase Of the canals construc-
tion Col. Goethals handles without gloves
those critics who, he says, are predicting
nothing but disaster and failure to the
enterprise.
Col Goethals reviews the whole history
of proposed canal construction on the
isthmus and calls attention to the fact
that after the subject had occupied public
attention for upward of four centuries
1T was not until the nineteenth century
that any definite action was taken look
ing toward its accomplishment.
The United States" he says, " not I'M
mindful of the advantages of an isthmian
canal had from time to time made in
vestigations and surveys of the various
routes"
He adds that with the view to govern
ment ownership and control, Congress
directed an investigation of the Nicara-
had been granted to a private company.
The report of the commission to look into
the subject was adverse to the Nicara-
guam route. he says. and favorable to the
Panama route and the lock type of canal.
Gatun Dam Defended.
Much attention is given to the subject
of the Gatun dam. This. Col. Goethals
says. is to consist of two piles of rock
1000 feet apart and carried up to sixty
feet above mean tide. The space between
them and up to the required height is
to be filled by slected material deposited
in place by hydraulic process He speaks
of the slip which occurred last November,
which, he says, amounted TO practically
nothing.
This Slip says he, probably would
have passed unnoticed, as did the former
| ones. but for the fact that at the time
flood in the Chagres river had attained
SUCH proportions as to cover portion
OF the Panama railroad tracks just south
of Gatun. A newspaper correspondent,
going from Colon to Panama, saw his
opportunity for sensational story. and
attributed the flood to the dropping of the
Gatun dam into the subterannean lake
under the dam and locks, which anothe
| faker had previously 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 side Of the rock pile.
1t was entirely local." he says, land
did not in any way interfere with the
work. AS a result, however, the public
| is told that dire disaster will follow the
undertaking unless the present plans are
abandoned and the straits of Panama
constructed: that is, a sea-level canal
To accomplish this. however, a lock canal
must be built first and subsequently,
widened and deepened until the ideal is
reached.
There is no data available for such a
canal With mountains instead of hills to
be removed estimates are. of course, i'm
possible, so the most optimistic figures
suitable alone to the ideal are offered as
a bait. In any event. it is claimed also
that BohiO should have been selected for
the site of the dam in lieu OF Gatun."
Col. Goethals points out that at Bohio
me gorge in its lower strata is filled with
Water-bearing gravel. and that fact alone
he says, removes it from consideration
Il venture the statement. without fear of
ontradfction, he says that the site OF
no public or private work of any kind
has received such a thorough and eX-
haustive examination and investigation
as the foundation of the dam and locks
at Gatun. There is no longer a doubt
concerning any of the underlying strata.
Neither the impermeability nor the abil-
ity Of the foundations to bear the loads
that will be brought upon them can be
questioned If the data be carefully and
impartially examined.
THE Investigations fail to disclose any
Water-bearing strata or the existence OF
that underground stream with a dis
charge equal to the Chagres river itself
which was recently asserted as a fact on
the floor of the Senate
Chagres River Problem Solved.
According to the report the Gatun dam
satisfactorily solves the problem of the
control of the Chagres. and there should
be no doubt in the mind of any one who
impartially examines the data. it says,
that the solution is not only feasible but
absolutely safe.
Reverting to the subject of a sea-level
canal Col. Goethals says:
TO be sure, the paftisans of the sea-
level type are now proposing to eliminate
both the GAMBIA dam and the tidal lock
by making the channel so wide to re-
duce the currents that result from the
discharge of the Chagres and the differ
ence in tides but fail to explain how they
propose to control or divert the Chagres.
the bed of which will be fifty feet above
the water surface of the canal at the
juncture. AS data is not available for
preparing accurate estimates for even
such sea-level type was originally
offered. neither they nor any one else
can offer any figures as to time and cost
for<1he construction of such a canal as
they now advocate.
In any comparison Col. Goethals
adds. I'VE must confne our attention to
the lock type as now building and sea-
level canal as offered by the board of
engineers and not by the idealist."
The risks to ships i'm such a narrow
waterway proposed for the sea-level
canal at Panama. Col Goethals adds, far
outweigh all hazards in the proposed lock
canal. provided the latter is built so as to
minimize the chance of accident to the
locks.
This is met he says. by providing
every possible safety device by building
the locks in duplicate and by the install
laton of system by which the vessels
will be controlled by power electrical ma
chinery on the lock walls. thus avoiding
mistakes on the part of the vessels crew
or engine room staff. which once led to
an accident at the Manchester ship
canal
1t is pointed out that the present lock
designs provide intermediate gates dfvid-
ing the locks into lengths of 600 and 400
feet About 9S per cent of all these ships
Including the largest battleships now
building says Col Goethals. can be passed
through the 6OO-foot lengths, and the total
lock strength will accommodate the larg-
est commercial vessels now building
which are 1000 feet long and Ss-foot
beam.
ut is true he adds. that ships may
increase in size so as to make the present
locks obsolete, but the largest ships now
af1oat cannot navigate the Suez canal or
the proposed sea-level canal at Panama.
1t must also be remembered that the COM
MERGE of the world is carried by the me-
diminished vessels. the length of only one
of the many ships using the SueZ canal
being greater than 800 feet
He says that the general board of the