Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-18
DEFENDS LOCK CANAL PLAN
Chief Engineer Goethsls Flags Critics
of Present Enterprise.
FLOODS FORBID SEA LEVEL TYPE
Danger TO Navigation Less In Lock
Type Than In Tide LeVcl--
Earthquakes Not "a
Real Menace.

WASHINGTON, March ia strong de-
tense of the present plan of building a
lock canal at Panama. not only because It
is deemed more desirable than a canal built
on sea level, but because Of the saving in
time and money, is contained in a special
report of Lieutenant Colonel George w.
Goethals, chairman and chief engineer Of
the Isthmian Canal commission, made pub
lie today. The report, which is an ex-
haustive one. deals with every phase Of
the canals construction, and in it Colonel
Goethals handles without gloves those crit
les who he says are predicting nothing but
disaster and failure to the enterprise.
Much attention is given to the subject
Of the Gatun dam. This. Colonel Goethals
says. is to consist of two piles of rock 100
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 selected 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 a flood
in the Chagres river had attained such pro-
portions as to cover a portion of the Pan
anna railroad tracks just south of Gatun.
A newspaper correspondent, going from
Colon to Panama, saw his opportunity for
a sensational story, and attributed the
flood to the dropping of the Gatun dam into
the subterrsnean lake under the dam and
locks which another faker had previously
discovered, and the news of the destruction
of the dam was cabled to the states
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 anyone who i'm
partially the data, It says, that
the solution is not only feasible. but abso-
lutely safe.
Changes Fatal to Sea Level.
Reverting to the subject of a sea level
canal, Colonel Goethals says: ITO be sure,
the partisans of the sea level type are now
proposing to eliminate both the GAMBIA
dam and the tidal lock by making the
channel so wide as to p re the currents
that result from the dist. sc of the Cha
gres and the difference i'm tides, but fail
to explain how they purpose to control or
divert the Chagres, the bed of which will
be fifty feet above the water surface of
the canal at the juncture.
LAS data is not available for preparing &C
curate estimates for even such a sea level
type as was originally offered, neither they
nor anyone else can offer any figures as to
time and cost for the construction of such
a canal as they now advocate" In any
comparison, Colonel Cocktails adds, I'VE
must confine our attention to the lock type
as now building, and a sea level canal as
offered by the board of engineers, and not
by the idealist."
The risks to ships in such a narrow
waterway as proposed for the sea level
canal at Panama. Colonel Goethals adds,
far outweigh all hazards in the proposed
lock canal, provided the latter is built so
as TO minimize the chance of accident 10
the locks. This is met" he says, 'by pro-
viding every possible safety device, by
building the locks in duplicate and by the
installation of a system by which the yes,
sells will be controlled by powerful electric
machinery on the lock walls. thus avoiding
mistakes on the part of the vessels crew
or engine room staff, which once led tc
an accident at the Manchester ship canal
Cost of Types Compared.
On the subject of the estimated cost of a
lock and sea level canal, Colonel Goethal.
says:
THE estimated cost by the present com.
llilSSiOh W. NpA'liNNhb NV "NSbNNd piOJNSN
excluding the items left out by the Board
Of Consulting Engineers, is placed at 1921.
T66, 900. If to this be added the estimated
cost of sanitation and civil government un-
til the completion of the work, and the $50,
900, 900 purchase price, the total cost to the
United States of the lock type OF canal will
amount to $S75, 9O1 900. In the preparation OF
these estimates there are no unknown fac.
tors.
The estimated cost of the sea level cana
for construction alone sums up to SAT-, col, 900
and II to this be added the cost of santa.
ton and civil government up to the time
of the completion of the canal, which will
be at least six years later than the loci
canal. and the purchase price, the tota
cost to the United States will aggregate
1868, o ,OOO."
Concerning the probable effect of earth.
quakes on the canal, about which Colone
Goethals says much has been written, the
report states that the last earthquake OF
any importance in Panama occurred In
the seventeenth century, and that existing
ruins in Panama demonstrate clearly tina
no shock Of any violence could have oc.