Evening star., 1912-09-01
In Tn LOCKS At NIRAILoREs 1lGEsE EUGE BucKEEs
fEANp1E h1E CoNcRLTI.. 1fr STENoGRAPAER IN CENTER

of water held back by the dam, and this
in addition to the regular flow of tho
Chagres We shall also have something
like two square miles Of water in the
Mrafores lake.
Engineer Rousseau SAYS that the water
supply will amount To more than su.ss,-
Hn tons per annum and Col Goethals
says that there will he plenty To accom-
nlodate fifty-eight vessels a dav. going
through the canal. and that this would
be more than could pass through in tina
space of twenty-four hours In is doubt
full whether such a traffic will ever arise.
Even forty vessels day on the average
for 500 DAYS of the year would mean
1900 vessels. and this is about three
times the number which is now going
through the Suez canal The number
there amounts to something like i.0D
and the tonnage is I'm the neighborhood OF
aD00o.N0 ner annun. which is just about
half the gross tonnage passing through
our canal al Sault Ste. Marie
And just here l would like Ia say
something about Uncle Sans new lake
which is now rising out of the jungle.
The Gatun dam will soon he finished aud
ii will hold back the Chagres. forming
one of the most beautiful sheets OF water
on earth. The steamers will enter IL from
the verdurc-clad mountains at Culebra
cut. or from the massive locks at Gatun.
and will move for twenty-odd miles
through scenery as beautiful that or
the inland sea of Japan or Of the Thou
sand Islands of the ST. Lawrence. TIE
canal channel runs in and out among
islands, covered with tropical plants and
trees which will then be the home OF
monkeys, birds. deer and other wild game.
for the idea is to drive man from the
Canal Zone and make It one great game
preserve. These islands are well fitted
for that far aquatic creatures are
concerned. Wild ducks are already be-
ginning to come. and We shall have par
rots and paroquets and possibly the gor-
geously plumed macaw of the Amazon.
The Gatun lake will drain a basin big
ger than Rhode Island. 1t will have an
area equal to 200 quarter-section farms,
and over this the water is fast rising.
Much of the bed is still covered with
vegetation and with forests half sunken
in the waters.
One of the interesting features OF maxi
ing this lake is Uncle Sans attempt to
play Noah. He has warned the inhabi-
tants Of the basin to come out. and has
asked them to get on his ark, by which
he means the highlands outside. The
natives, however. refuse to believe In the
deluge. They say that the French threat
ened them with the same fate. and that
nothing came. Some of them have stayed
in their homes until the steam shovels
have lifted their front door steps. and
others until the water has covered their
floors. Now they ali have boats tied to
their houses and there will be no loss or
life as the flood comes.
The government has already torn down
and carried away all the heavy canal
structures out of the lake bed. \ num-
Der of the towns have disappeared, and
masses of ruins lie along what was once
the main railroad track. Old Bohio has
been swallowed, and the same is true OF
other towns. In tearing down the houses
one was found which was built of solid
mahogany. The lumber of this has been
saved and remade into furniture.
FRANK G.. CARPENTER