New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-01
Sc says an Inxesffso1oT
EIybo Has Been Locking
Ir Ox,er tgff6 q
Critical Eye.

Although q was generally known that
splendid progress had been made by the
ernIy engineers In digging the Panama
Canal a statement in The Canal Record
"a ether day that ali the excavation which
vas contemplated in the original project had
been completed caused considerable sur
Prise Under the original plan los, az, 600
cubic yards Of material were 10 be removed
and that has been done But subsequently,
in order 10 accommodate naval vessels OF
he Dreadnought type and the giant liners
now under construction, the President OF
,iored the widening and deepening Of the
canal That involved the removal of "a
81 % additional yards OF material, and
thar IS all of the task of excavation that
now confronts the engineers.
refreshingly unscientifiG and non
technical description Of the canal has
been written by Gerald Mygatt who has
recently returned from making a first hand
investigation of the big ditch fer the
Columbian Magazine BY consulting the
accompanying diasrammatic map, from
fine to time, as one peruses Mr.. Mygatts
account, the lay reader may gain a clearer
idea OF this vast engineering feat than he
has probably ever had before Among
other things the investigator says:
The Panama Canal. TO all intents and
purposes, will not be a canal at all, but
q -lake-a broad fresh water lake, thirty-two
miles long. and with area Of 164 square
miles, lake which Will food the country
tn some places far beyond the ten-Illife
limits OF the Canal Zone, from within seven
miles of the Atlantic TO distance Of but
nine from the Pacific side Of the isthmus.
Most persons do not realize that They
picture the waterway az a big ditch. which
q Is not For only nine miles, through
s-,ulebra cut, win the work be very much
like what the average mind seems to have
conceived. And when ii IS finished even
that Culebra section will form part of the
lake itself. Provided you're going from
New York TO San francisco by boat five
years from now, this is what will happen
when you get TO Panama
AT Colon, on the Caribbean side, sou
pill run into 6 broad, deep channel. which
has already been dredged out of the soft,
rea-lcvel swampland for seven miles, in to
G5stun. There you will see ahead of you a
low gentle sloping hill stretching for full
mile and half from one side Of the valley
90 the other. That will be the Gatun dam
but it won't look like dam at all, be-
cause the whole slope will be as easy as
that Of a sea beach. At the left is a triple
night OF locks-part OF them is built al
ready-to lift your steamer up to the level
OF the lake, eighty-five feet above the sea-
You may pass another boat going down,
for the Jocks are IN pairs, to permit of traf-
&c in both directions at once
Now you're on Gatun Lake. and the cap
lain gives the full speed jingle, because it's
q wide, clear channel, with but an easy turn
here and there, and long, clear straight
Rways In between, and the ship keeps on
thus for twenty miles or more. Then hills
loom up ahead. and the channel narrows
from 1000 feet 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 Continent-Culebra cut, If
You choose-where the channel gets down
10 it's minimum width of 800 feet, enough
for two vessels 10 pass in comfort and with
lots TO spare, but not enough for twenty
knot clip.
You are through before you know it.