Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-10
THE PANAMA CANAL.
To be Great Lake With D.tches at Each
End

Although it was generally known that
splendid progress had been made by
the army engineers in digging the PAN
anna canal. a statement in Tine Canal
Record" the other day that all the cx-
cavation which was contemplated in
the original project had been completed
caused considerable surprise. Under
the original plan 103,795,0O0 cubic
yards of material were to be removed,
and that has been done. But subSe-
uuently, in order to accommodate ma
val vessels of the Dreadnought type
and the giant liners now under con-
structiOn. the president ordered the
widening and deepening of the canal.
That involved the removal of 70.S71 ,594
additional yards of material, and that
is all of the task of excavation that
now confronts the engineers.
refreshingly unscientific and nom
technical description of the canal has
been written by Gerald Mygatt, who
has recently returned from making a
first hand investigation Of the ditch
for the Columbian Magazine" Among
other things the investigator says:
THE panama canal, to all intents
and purposes, will not be a canal at all,
but a lake-a broad, fresh water lake,
thirty-two miles long, ard with an
area of 164 square miles, lake which
will flood the country in some places
far beyond the ten-mile limits Of the
canal zone, from within seven miles
of the Atlantic to a distance of but nine
from the Pacific side of the isthmus.
Most persons do not realize that. They
picture the waterway as a big ditch,
which it is not. For only nine miles,
through Culebra cut, will the work be
seems to have conceived. And wnen
it is finished even that Culebra section
will form part of the lake itself. Pro-
vided 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. ycu
will run into a broad, deep channel.
which has already been dredged out of
the soft, sea level swampland for seven
miles. in to Gatun. There you will
see ahead Of you low, gentle sloping
hill, stretching for q 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 flight Of locks-part of them is
built already-to lift your steamer up
to the level of the lake, eighty five feet
above the sea. You may pass anotn-
er 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, be-
cause it's a wide, clear channel, with
but an easy turn here and there, and
long, clear straigntaways in between,
and the ship keeps on thus for twenty
miles or more. Then hills loom up
ahead, and the channel narrows from
/ 900 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 to it's minimum width of
300 feet, enough for two vessels to
pass in comfort and with lots to spare,
but not enough for twenty-knot clip.
You are through before you know
it, and into the Pedro Miguel lock,
which lets the ship down 80 feet into
little lake or basin n mile long, at
the far end Of which are the two twin
locks of the Miraflores completing the
descent to the sea. And then it's q
run of nine miles through a straight,
broad, lowland cnannel-most of that
too, has already been dredged-and
you are out in the Pacific. That's all.
The bulk of the canal length lies in
Gatum lake, right through Culebra cut
to the Pedro Miguel lock. distance
most of which can be covered at full
steamins speed.
"The canal work itself may be di-
vided into three parts-the sea level
entrances, the cut through the divide
of the Cordlleras at Culebra and the
dam and lock construction at Gatun
Pedro Miguel and Miraflorcs. Each of
these brings i'm work Of a different
character
"On the Atlantic side the canal will
consist of a sea level channel 500 feet
broad and Al feet deep, extending from
deep water in the Caribbean 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
As feet, the Atlantic channel mas been
given only a 41-fOOt depth on account
of the tide is only one foot six inches
above and six inches below mean wa
ter. with q maximum variation of Is
inches. Should a deeper channel ever
become necessary by reason of a much
greater increase in the draft of ships
than is now anticipated, it would be q
simple matter to dredge to any further
required depth, and that without any
interruption of canal traffic. Two
breakwaters will be built off Colon tC
protect the canal entrance and to make
passage possible even during the vio-
lent "nOrthers" which sweep in al
times during the winter months.
"The nine sea level channel al
the Pacific end has also already been
mainly completed, and in much the
same way as the Atlantic division. by
dredging through the swamps and bogs
Of the coast lowlands. on b0tn ends
together. however, between twelve and
fourteen dredgcs are still at work, some
of them old French machines and two
of the present suction fOrm-biS ocean
steamers they look like-now in use in
New York harbOr.