Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-12-27
VESSEL TO CROSS
PANAMA lS1HMuS
SOMETIME IN 1918
Commission Purpose to AID
vance Opening Date Official
~ January 1, 1915.

Washington-Special: Some time
next summer or fall-no exact date
being Specified vessel will pas from
the Atlantic to the Pacific across what
is now the isthmus of Panama, which
consequently must disappear from the
worlds geography, and by the same
human agency the western hemisphere
will be divided into two continents.
The vessel will not De the Oregon or
any other famous ship, but n of
the many small craft in daily use by
the canal builders; and probably the
only passengers will be Col. George w.
Cocktails n the staff .of American
engineers who for the last eight years
have been carrying on the greatest
engineering work the world a ever
seen.
It will be later than that. anywhere
from six months to a year perhaps.
before the formal opening of the wa
terway will take place and a naval
fleet, headed by the famous old Ore
gon. will pass through into the west
ern ocean and the canal may be fairly
said to be open to trade.
These facts are not of official rec
ord as yet: the date of January 1,
1915. still stands for the opening pre-
dicted by Colonel Cocktails. But that
the opening will be anticipated to a
great extent. has been promised by the
canal builders in unofficial statements,
and now m a clear intimation of
their purpose to advance the opening
date In the annual report Of the canal
commission, just published.
Great Locks In Duplicate.
1t is disclosed that while the COM
pletion of h great locks by January
l next will not be possible. owing to
contract delays, within six months
thereafter h channel will be finished,
while. to insure the safe passage of
the locks, the contractor has been
called upon to finish the gates in one
flight first. so that if the rest of the
work is In condition passage of ships IAN
be permitted without waiting for the
completion of the other flights. This
statement will be understood when it
is known that the great locks are be-
ing built in duplicate. side by side.
not only to add to the capacity of the
n u to insure its continuance in
operation in case of q serious accident
to a ship in one Of the locks.
Inc report shows a most satisfac-
tory state of progress of the whole
1act that 1t is dated September 10 last,
the figures regarding excavation. plac-
ing OF concrete, erection of dams and
locks and subsidiary works are not
as recent as those contained in the
regular monthly reports.
A>"suAdily, Tic mOSC interesting fea-
ture of the report relates to the opera
ton IN the great Culebra Cut. Here,
great lands!ides. many ranking with an
Alpine avalanche in magnitude. have
SO increased the amount Of material
TO be excavated that were it not found
possible to steadily reduce the cost
per yard of dredging and steam shovel
ing through the growing experiences OF
the employees and improved engineer
ine, methods. the total cost of excaya
tlson would v been vastly greater
Damage Caused BY Slides.
During the last year nearly 1s. 400 :
GOO cubic yards of earth were taken
out OF this cut. leaving nearly 12,0Oo,-
be opened. The damage caused by the
slldes may be appreciated from the fact
that nearly 5000. 900 yards of earth
excavated was SO composed. or nearly
80 per cent Of the total excavation.
Ihere Is only n way to deal with
these slides, and that is to dig them
out as they occur, though some help is
gained by %terracing the upper banks