Evening star., 1911-06-06
THE PANAMA CANAL.
XIII LsYel Canal
Impossible.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

Usually when there is a choice Of two
or more plans for great engineering
work there IL little chance Of demonstrat-
| ing to the satisfaction Of everybody-lay
and professionalism the one plan adopt
ed il the best. But no one goes to the
Isthmus OF Panama today and goes over
the work without agreeing that sea-
level canal would have required more
patience than is possessed by the Ameri-
can people, and that the engineering DIFF
ficulties involved would have been vastly
greater than those encountered in the
building Of the lock canal.
The reason for this unanimity Of opin-
ion lies In Culebra cut. Any one who sees
the vast slides that slip like glaciers into
the cut-one of them having an area Of
more than forty-seven acres-and who
observes the hills on either side Of the
cut slowly sinking down and forcing up
tho bed Of the canal-exactly as water
in q curved pipe will 1ind its level-can
understand. even though he be no en-
gineer, that it would be next to impossible
to go eighty-ffve feet deeper than at pres
ent Is planned. Two good sized mountain
peaks would have to be removed, and
nobody knows how much more.
The engineers frankly admit that Guile
JIG SNs Ano OCCu 1Qll VI SURPRISES E5l1O6
after slide has come down into the cut;
some moving 50 slowly that their progress
is imperceptible. and others so rapidly
that their motion has caught steam
shovels and disarranged every track lead
to check them: They are simply allowed
to slide In and are then taken out with
steam shovels and dirt trains.
The rock formation in the Culebra hills
is peculiar. The underlying stratum is
of q sandstone which
Peculiar Rock disintegrates as soon
r.-o4:. as 1t Is exposed to the
air, and Is SO soft
and weak that 1t is not able to support
a heavy load. Above this Is kind Of
volcanic rock which was deposited cold
and never united firmly with the sedi-
mentary rock The result is that there
is nothing in the geological formation
of the hills to hold stable the weight
above when the pressure becomes un-
equalized and the earth breaks loose
and slides into the lower level of the cut.
1t is such a convincing sight that every
original sea level advocate who looks
into the cut goes away thanking his
stars that Congress decided against his
contention and for the lock canal.
No one thinks the sea level canal would
have presented any engineering problem
that might not have been met in time.
but the amount Of material which would
have to be moved Is so great that the
canal never could have been finished by
the same generation that began 1t. The
amount of money 1t would have required
the engineers all admit today-would
have been past estimation and the length
Of time beyond prediction.
What would have been the result II
such a canal could have been built within
the limits Of American patience and
Uncle Sans pocketbook? For the great
er part OF the distance the width Of the
and any ship that had chosen to do so
could have scuttled herself in the big
ditch, as effectually blocking traffic for
the time being as II Culebra mountain
had reared its head again. Experienced
seamen say that in such q narrow chan
nel-winding around like mountain road
1T would have been extremely difncult
to navigate. One ocean captain de-
clares that he has always found that
when a ship begins to "go hunting 1t
invariably makes for the nearest bank,
and that without the possibility Of MAX
ing enough speed to hold her true to her
course It would have been most difficult
to take the curves involved. He says
vessels could pass in the l50-f0ot chan
mel that was proposed for q part OF the
distance.
In the light OF present day conditions
and discussions with reference to the