Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-11
GATUN DAM ALARMS
Colon Apprehensive After the
Shifting of Earth Under Lock.
ENGINEERS DENY DANGER
Movement Going on a Year-Four
Months Delay on the
Work Caused.

COLON, Panama, October 11.-While
the American public is rejoicing in the
prediction of President Taft that the
Panama canal will be open in July, 1913,
alarm has been occasioned here by the
fact that earth around the great Gatun
lock is sliding. So far the slide has not
occasioned any great amount of damage.
but many persons in Colon fear danger
for this city. The canal commission ad-
mits that the slides have caused four
months delay in the construction of the
cofferdam, but the engineers scout the
theory of grave danger on the great gov
eminent works.
1t has long been a moot point upon the
isthmus as to whether the ground under
the Gatun dam is strong enough to Sus-
tain the tremendous weight put upon II,
and whether the dam itself will be pow
erful enough to withstand the pressure of
a lake 10 square miles in extent and 80
feet deep, and what would happen to
Colon should one or the other give way.
News of the floods in Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin serve to increase local fears.
Shifting of the Earth.
The official organ of the canal COM
mission prints the following:
Part of the earth bank behind the
east wall Of the lower lock at Gatun
sank on the morning of September 20,
and rose few feet away. The move
ment apparently was caused by the rock
fill which carries the tracks on which the
galloway towers run, and only a few
hours before the sinking occurred one of
the towers was on the section which fell.
THE lock-wall has been constructed
at this point to sufficient height to
keep the moving earth from sliding into
fhn lnnIy oh Nt,ar
experienced from this source, but the
work of repairing the track fall took
four days, and the concrete lying in the
lower locks was delayed by that much.
Only week before a similar sinking
under the galloway occurred on the west
side of the locks.
Movement a Year Old.
These movements of the earth at the
lower locks began above year ago. They
are due entirely to the nature of the
soil which overlies the firmer earth and
rocks upon which the locks are founded.
1t is singularly lacking in cohesiveness
and moves on a very fiat slope. AS a re-
suit the excavation in the lower locks was
continually hampered by sections of the
banks falling or sliding into the pit The
in this manner is probably not over
fifty thousand cubic yards, yet it has
retarded excavation, and, consequently,
the laying of concrete.
Four Months Delay.
THE most serious consequence has been
that it has caused a four-month delay
in the completion of the cofferdam across
the lower end of the locks, behind which
suction dredges are to excavate for the
north forebay and the wing wall. The
piers for this bulkhead are now nearing
completion. In the laying of concrete the
slides have had the effect of limiting the
space in which the cableways can operate
over the lock chamber and thus of re-
stricting the amount that can be placed.
1T was believed that when the walls
were completed to a height to keep the
banks from sliding into the lock cham
Der all the trouble would be past, but
the movement of the light soil under the
fills Necessary for the galloway tower
tracks has introduced a new difficulty
which, although not serious, may con-
tinue' to retard the work in the lower
locks"