The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-03-17
.GOE 7 HAL 5
T A y 0 RS
LOCKS
1t Represents Great Saving
of Time and Money Over
Sea Level Plan

Washington, March 16.-"A lock
canal at Panama according TO the pres
ent plan. is plainly the most desirable
Not only this, but 1t represents a great
saving Of time and money over the
sea-level plan"
Lieutenant-C Colonel George NJ. Goeth-
ais, chairman and chief engineer or
the Isthmian canal commission, thus
defends the lock plan of constructing
the canal, in a special report 10 the
commission, made public today. He
ridicules the predictions of disaster
made by government officials and
others and challenges them to produce
arguments to back up their claims.
Last November's slip in the Gatun
dam, Col. GoethalS declares, unimpor-
tant.
This Slip" says he, probably
would have passed unnoticed but for
the fact that at the time food in
tho ChaGres river had attained such
proportions as TO cover a portion OF
the Panama railroad tracks just south
of Gatun, A newspaper correspondent
saw his opportunity for a sensational
story and attributed the flood to the
dropping Of the Gatun dam in the sub
teTanean lake under the dam and
locks, which another fakir had pre-
vioulv 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 any one who impartially examines
the data, 1t says. that the solution Is
not only feasible but absolutely safe.
Reyerting to the sea level canal
Col Goethals says:
"To 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 10 reduce the currents that
result from the discharge of the Chag-
res and the differences in tides. but
fail to explain how they propose to
control or divert the Cbagres. the bed
of which will be fifty feet above the
water surface Of the canal at the juno
ture. Neither they nor any one, else
can offer any figures as TO time and
cost for the construction of such
canal as they now advocate"
Regarding the estimated cost Of a
lock and sea level canal. Col. Goethals
SAYS:
THE estimated cost by the present
commission for completing the adopted
project, excluding the items let out
by the board OF consulting engineers.
is placed at $2O7 766, 900 II to this
be added the estimated cost of SANTA
tion and civil government until the
completion Of the work and the $50,-
100000 purchase price. the total cost
to the United States of the lock type
Of canal will amount to S375,201 900.
In the preparation of these estimates
there are no unknown facts.
"The estimated cost of the sea level
canal for construction alone sums up
to SAT- Col 900. and II to this be added
the cost OF sanitation ard civil gov
eminent up to the time of the compile
ton Of the canal. which will be at leas.
six years later than the lock canal,
and the purchase price. the total cost
to the United States Will aggregate
$563 900 600"
Concerning the probable effect OF
states that the last earthquake of any
Importance in Panama occurred In the
seventeenth century and that existing
ruins IN Panama demonstrate clearly
that no shock Of any violence could
have occurred during the eighteenth
or nlntoenth centuries.
Col. Goethals concludes:
II assure You that several years
hence. no later than Jan. / 1916. even
the most ardent sea level advocates
will in making the voyage through the
canal admit that the ability TO nav
igate battleship at high rate of
speed through the lake and wide chan
mel from Gatun to Pedro Miguel far
outweighs the small Inconvenience Of
the safe lockages up to and down from
the summit level"