The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1911-02-02
GATES FOR PANAMA
Canal Will Require Ninety-Two
of Them.
Giant Portals to Be az High az Six.
Story House, IS Feet Wide, 2 Feet
Thlck-The Cost Will Be
$5,5o0,0oo.

would not in the widest nightmare
imagine such enormous gates as are
being made in Pittsburg for the Pan
m Canal. They will be the largest
gates in the world.
Any n Of the 90 of them-for
there are to be 46 pairs in all-will
be about as high as a six-story build.
ing, as wide (65 feet) as many city
buildings, and Z feet thick.
The structural steel that will 30 to
make them with weigh 10000 tons, or
over eight times as much as was used
to build the Eihel Tower in Paris.
The mighty portals. designed to ad-
nit a worlds commerce from one
ocean to another, must Withstand q
tide OF criticism as well as a tremen.
dous pressure Of water and possible
commissions of the earth. For years
the controversy over gates or no
gates, locks or sea level, has been the
dividing issue of the canal problem.
In the face Of fear In some quarters
that the foundations on the Isthmus
are not sure enough for locks, that
earthquakes or water pressure would
dislodge them, and that an enemy's
mines or accidental explosions might
easily destroy them, the government
has begun to build the gates.
The cost of the gates will be $5,000,.
600. OF the $4,000 tons Of steel re.
quired the heaviest single pieces will
weigh about Is tons. These will be
the base Orders, which are seven feet
long and which will be placed much
like the first floor Orders Of a sky
scraper. The series of Orders above
them will range from 3.8 feet apart
near the bottom to 5 feet apart at tho
top, and over the skeleton structure
thus formed a sheathing Of water
tight armor plate will be bolted much
after the fashion of %clapboards on a
house.
The thickness Of the plates will
range from an Inch at the base to
seven-sixteenths of an inch at the top.
The weight of a. single gate will be
about 600 tons and the dimensions
are II to 50 feet high, 60 to 65 feet
wide and Z feet thick.
The thousands of individual pieces,
numbered and fitted to go together
as easily as children's blocks, will be
shipped by steamer via Baltimore and
with them will go over 400 skilled
structural steel builders to set them
up. The advance guard Of experts
leaves here in December and the first
work will probably begin early in
1911. 1t will take three years to com
plete the job.
The location of the 46 pairs Of gates
will be: Twenty at the Gatun dam On
the Pacific side, ~ at Pedro Miguel
and IA at Miraflores, near the Atlantic
entrance. The gates are designed to
hold back water 47.4 feet deep in a
channel 10 feet wide, which means
a pressure of a million pounds.
Engineers assert that even II . ire
mendous explosion or earthquake
should damage or destroy one or more
sets Of gates, no great disaster would
ensue. for all locks are to be made in
duplicate to accommodate traffic in
both directions at once, and . the
wreckage of one set of locks would
only necessitate the diversion of COM
merc into another set. But really
violent earthquakes have not occurred
In the Panama region for more than
two centuries, and 1t would require a
mighty siege for an enemy to destroy
the locks. i
Each lock will be ample for a ship
so per cent. larger than any vessel
now afloat, and it has been estimated
that as many as 100 ocean ships may
be handled in a single day.