The Ordway new era., 1911-03-10

, ~
by water power developed at tho Mira.
flores dam.
Docks on the Atlantic.
The docks to be erected at the At.
lantic side are not so extensive. a.
they are intended merely for the
berthinE of steamers while waiting
to enter the canal and for tho han.
ding OF such supplies and material
a. arc necessary for that end. Never
thelsss these piers will be worthy Of
admiration.
template the dredging out Of an an.
chorage basin q mile long and 3.626
feet wide and the construction Of four
concrete piers of the same size As at
the Pacific docks. The basin will ad-
Join tho canal channel. which 10
dredsed out to Limon bay.
The improvements at the Atlantic
end II 10 estimated will cost In the
neishborhood Of 100000 and those
at the Pacific end Sl0.000.000. This
will come out Of the general canal
fund.
When those improvements arc com.
pleted It will be possible for a ship to
load at New York. for example. with
freight for the Pacific coast and also
with freight for Central and South
America. Tho former class Of freight
would be put In the hold and the lat.
ter between decks. She would then
sail through tho canal to tho great
docks at tho Pacific end. whore await.
ing her would be perhaps some Of the
twin screw oil.burnins barges de-
scribed by Mr.. Baker.
Freight Easily Transshipped.
They would make fast to her inside
tho slip and by means OF tho escala-
tors would take her between.deck
cargo intended for Central American
points. Possibly her terminus might
be these Pacific docks and the cargo
In her hold Intended for Peru and
Chile. In that case great electric
cranes would transfer this cargo to
the docks. moving II at tho rate Of
900 tons an hour. From the docks II
would be put aboard regular west
coast steamers. OF which there Is al.
TeAuy one uHo TuuuiuS " EcTu. WHICH
will probably be extended to Chile.
Once empty such a vessel would
load UP with cargo brought from the
east or from South America. While
Of course these docks are to be opened
to all ships. their advantage to this
country lies in the fact that such facil.
tiles for transporting American goods
means the Opening of a trade door
which has heretofore been shut. giving
our Atlantic coast ports for the first
time a chance to compete with and
even to outstrip the European ship
ping concerns which have been sup.
plying South America and Central
America by regular steamers running
through the Straits OF Magellan.
To understand the possibilities
which this will open up one should
draw line from some OF the Atlantic
ports down to Valparaiso. making It
go through the canal. BY reason OF
the peculiar bend OF the isthmus such
line would be almost straight
north and south line. Freight may be
shipped from New York by n 16knot
boat through tho canal to Valparaiso.
transferred there to the railroad
across the Andes and delivered at
Bucnos Ayres six days ahead Of
freight carried In the same boat from
New York down the east coast Of
South America to the Argentine cap
Ital. II could be transshipped at
Buenos Ayres and taken up to Rio
Janeiro in two days quicker time.
As was brought out at the confer.
ence in Washington. the total foreign
commerce Of the Central American
countries Venezuela and Ecuador in
1909 amounted to $l35.00O.0 900. OF
this amount only 327 1000. 900 was with
this country. In other words these ma.
tions bought here 81 cents worth OF
the products when they spent $3.50 in
tho European markets. Chile and
Peru imported Sl5.oo0.O0o Of com.
modies from this country out Of their
total imports of sl25.0oo.ooo. This
was by reason Of the control Europe
has had Of their trade through tho
Strait OF Magellan.
What Is confidently expected to fol-
low the projection Of these docks and
facilities at Panama Is the esta blish.
ment Of number Of new American
steamship lines. It Is said that plans
are already being made by certain In.
terests for distributing freight from
the canal.