Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-11-21


tons and as tall and broad as . great
sky scraping building in the remark
able time Of one minute and forty
eight seconds. Incidentally II appears
that to make these gates, the iron
workers must drive and head $3.50, 900
rivets. The pivots of these great locks
are being made Of a special grade of
steel and bronze. not only for strength
but to protect them against corrosion.
very necessary precaution In view
OF the fact that they will always be
| submerged in sea water after the
canal Is open To guard against gal
vanic action, zinc rings are also
placed on the bronze bushinss.
POWERFUL TURBINES USED.
| To supply the power to operate the
gates and sluice valves in the locks and
furnish current for the monster electric
locomotives which are to tow the stearn-
ships through the locks. a great hydro
, electric station ia being erected adjacent
to the splllway in Gatun dam. There are
three $3.50 kilowatt water turbines, and
three 1900 kilowatt generators With suit
able exciters and other auxiliaries. There
will be enough available water from the
storage in Lake Gatun to warrant the
installation Of 5000 kiowatts. though in
the dry season II will be necessary to
draw upon the storage Altogether It Is
figured that for this electric work seven
per cent. of the minimum water system
Of the canal will be required. A part OF
the electricity Is to be used for lighting
the line of the canal. There will be con-
crete lamp-posts 100 feet apart through
out the entire length of each look wall
Altogether 1000 lamps will be installed at
the locks.
Outside of the canal proper. the re-
port shows that work has been going
on rapidly in preparing harbors for
the shelter Of ships at each end OF the
waterway. The work Of fertilization
has also been progressing we'll. nearly
half a million yards of concrete having
been placed in the mortar pits AMI
gun emplacements during the las.
year. The sanitation of the isthmus
also has been maintained at the high
level set by Col. william c. Georgss
the chief sanitary officer, from the be .
ginning
Contrary to the common impression
the sanitary work in the way Of clear
: ing land, does not extend over the en- =
tire zone but less than 1900 of the
27S,S4S acres In the tract are kept
clear for sanitary purposes and almost
the entire zone is In its original con-
dition as regards brush and Jungle.
There is only one 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. That is because the geological
fnry t.,y, hon fro md
suddenly that no other effective treat
ment has been found So uns table is
the earth that the material in one part
Of the cut begins to move on an in
clination as low as / on 7. owing to
the mass OF a stratified rock sliding
over a layer of Ignite. One slide row
In motion, near the bridge OF Culebra
covers an area OF SO acres. from
) which 2.IO,OoO yards have already
, been removed. leaving 100000 still
: to be handled.
Then there Is another little slide OF
no less than SO acres on the opposite
. side of the canal. The result of these
3 earth movements. which are quite ex-
3 ceptional In engineering practice, has
, been to leave the canal in its deepest
: portions. with very flat slopes. The
: encouraging feature OF the heavy work
at that point Is found in the state
ment in the report that none Of the
slides which occurred during the year
would have interfered with the pas
. sage Of ships had the canal been In
T operation"
EXPENSE ENORMOUS.
Already the appropriations made b,
Congress for the canal have run into
. big figures. the total up to June 8
last being. $293,5sl .4es. and since that dat,
there have been additional appropriations
exclusive of those for Notifications
amounting to $2s,9s0, 0Oc, making the granc
. total 1922, Gal ,46s. On June 30 Of all these
appropriations. the engineers had ex
. pended 50 per cent. of the total estimated
cost OF the canal
OF even greater interest from an en-
cheering point Of view. than the vas
but commonplace work of excavation II
Culebra Cut. was the work of construct
, ing the great locks at Gatun, an
Miranores and Pedro Miguel, for Their
many novel problems have been solved
and lock machinery constructed OF specia
' designs Of a magnitude never before hear
o. For instance. SO big are the valve
at the side of the locks that ties
. showed that It required pull OF owe
10 tons on the stem to open one Of thes
| valves.
All this work is done electrically. AM
here again the engineers were confront
ed with new difficulties. Owing to tn
peculiar climatic conditions on the 18TH
. mus. with tropical heat and extreme hu
mildly. and the deteriorating effect
. these conditions on the insulation OF cleo
tT1cal machinery. the ordinary insuiatio'
proved unreliable, and the engineer
-, found It necessary to make great mum
Der OF experiments. no less than ID sam
a pie motors being ptted against one an
y ether. 1t was an awful test for dynam
and motor builders to have their ma
II chimes required to operate for peHo
q of 10 days In a building with steam AT
" temperature Of 30 degrees centigrade an
having the motor ases filled with wate
y for five hours at 30 degrees. But nnai
E the American motor builders responoe
and suitable apparatus is being installed
SUSPECT ARRESTED.
n Eugene DelsrKe In Custody ON Charg