The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-05-21

Will happen when you get to rama
ma.
"At Colon, on the Caribbean side,
you will run into a broad. deep chan
mel, which has already been dredged
out OF the soft, sea level swamp land
for seven miles, in to Gatun. There
you will see ahead OF you a low gen.
tie sloping hill, stretching for a full
mile and a half from one side of the
valley to the other. That will be the
Gatun dam-but it won't look like a
dam at all, because the whole slope
will be as easy as that of a sea beach.
At the left is a triple fight Of locks
part of them is built already-to lift
your steamer up to the level Of the
lake, eighty-fve feet above the sea.
You may pass another boat going
down, for the locks are in pairs, to
permit Of traffic in both directions at
once.
Now, you're on Gatun lake, and
the captain gives the full speed jingle,
because it's a wide, clear channel,
with but an easy turn here and there,
and long, clear straight-away in be-
tween, and the ship keeps on thus
for twenty miles or more. Then hills
loom up ahead. and the channel mar
rows from 1000 to 500. and then to
500, and then at last you ease along
for the nine-mile passage through the
backbone range Of the American con-
tinent-Culebra cut, If you choose
where the channel gets down to its
minimum width of 800 feet, enough
for two vessels to pass in comfort and
with lots to spare, but not enough for
a twenty-knot clip.
You are through before you know
It, and into the Pedro Miguel lock,
which lets the ship down 80 feet into
a little lake or basin a mile long, at
the far end Of which are the two twin
locks Of the Mirafores, completing
the descent to the sea. And then, It, 8
run of nine miles through a straight,
broad, lowland channel-most Of
that too, has alerady been dredged-
and you are out in the Pacific. That's
all. The bulk Of the canal length lies
In Gatun lake, right through Culebra
cut to the Pedro Miguel lock, a dis
tance most Of which can be covered
at full steaming speed.
"The canal work itself may be di-
Vided into three parts-the sea level
entrances, the cut through the divide
OF the Cordilleras at Culebra and the
dam and lock construction at Gatun,
Pedro Miguel and Mirafiores. Each
OF these brings in work Of a differ
ent character.
"On the Atlantic side the canal will
consist of sea level channel 500 feet
broad and Al fet deep, extending from
deep water in the Cribbean to Gatun.
seven miles inland. This portion Of
the work has already been practically
completed and is put to daily use by
the tugs and cement barges running
into Gatun. Although the rest of the
canal Will have a minimum depth Of
40 feet, the Atlantic channel has
been given only at 41-foot depth on
account of the fact that the average
oscillation of the tide is only one foot
six inches above and six inches below
mean water, with a maximum varia-
tion Of Is inches. Should a deeper
channel ever. become necessary by
reason of much greater increase in
the draft of ships than is now antici-
pated, 1t would be a simple matter to
dredge to any further required depth,
and that without any interruption Of
canal traffic. Two breakwaters will
be built off Colon to protect the ca
nal entrance and to make passage
possible even during the violent
"northers" which sweep in many
times during the winter months.
THE nine-mile sea level channel at
mainly completed, and in much the
same way as the Atlantic division, by
dredging through the swamps and
bogs of the coast lowlands. On both
ends together, however, between IL
and IA dredges are still at work, some
of them old French machines and two
OF the present suction form-big
ocean steamers. they look like-now
in use in New York harbor.
"a four-mile breakwater is being
thrown out to one of the small Off
shore islands. not on account Of
storms, for they seldom blow on this
coast and nevr with any violence, but
to prevent shoaling Of the channel
from silt-carrying cross currents. That
breakwater is we'll toward completion