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

so gentle that. the water pressure will
practically all be down, not out
Although the dam at Gatun is no
particular record breaker, except In
the one point Of ieing safer and more
heavily built for the work it will be
called upon to do than any similar
/ construction ever attempted, the
locks-and they are the same
throughout the canol-are the largest
Gatun lifts, which is the most COM
plicated on the whole canal is we'll
under way. The excavation, most of
it rock cut, has practically been COM
pleted-S0 per cent. at the end of
January-and 21 per cent of the con-
crete work on the upper lock had also
that at the present rate the locks
should be finished in three and one
half years. And with their compile
tion the whole canal can be consider
ed done.
There will be three flights of locks
at Gatun. arranged in pairs, each hav-
ing a usable length of 1000 feet and
a width of 10 feet. They will be
built Of concrete throughout, thick,
| solid concrete, the water level being
regulated by valves in the heavy side
and centre walls, which permit the
water to flow in and out Of the cham
bers through openings in the lock
floors. For safety in operation there
will be double steel gates at each end
of each lock, with a heavy protective
chain in addition, to arrest the move
ment of any vessels. But, more than
that, no ship or boat will be allowed
to pass through any of the locks un-
der her own power. Most locks ac-
cidents have happened from lack Of
control or misunderstood signals.
Electric towing locomotives will be
used on the Panama lifts, four to a
vessel-one at each corner, so to
| speak-and not d steamer will be al
lowed to turn her own propellers
while going through. That will mean
efficiency, speed and safety.
| THE Gatun flights is situated in a
bed Of solid rock at the extreme left
of the valley, as you approach the
dam from the Caribbean side of the
isthmus. The whole work, dam and
all, is being built on solid rock, or
on hard, impervious material much
like that Of the dam itself, everything
the rock stratum.
| Picture long deep cut with sheer
vertical sides, cut as broad as two
or three city blocks, stretching from
the shade of it's high, rocky walls at
one end for long three-quarter of a.
mile toward the sea- Picture It
swarming with negro workers, and
white foremen, the lower end filled
| with rough laid tracks and switches
Steam shovels, locomotives rock
trains. all working and jarring and
squealing together.
"At the upper end by the dam,
where the banks rise high, four tower
lifted seats of cables stretch across
the gulf, busy moving cables, with
great buckets sliding out to the CEN
tire, dumping masses Of wet concrete
to the floor far below and then snap
ping back for load after load. Down
in the bottom pygmy men are work.
ing on the giant, collapsible steel
forms into which the concrete falls,
settles down and hardens-for the
whole fabric Of the locks, floor, walls
and what walls they are!-culverts,
drains and all, is being moulded as a
child moulds mud pies. Parts of the
sides of the upper lock are but huge
monoliths hardening in raw, red cas-
ings of steel. The floor of that lock
is finished. It's all hustle and hurry
and rush, whistles blowing, iron
clanking, men shouting, all in a great,
gaping cut out of the body Of the