The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
AT pANAMA-By Frank C. Carpenter

cut and the Gatun laks before if comes to the Gatun dam and the three series o1 locks which drop 1t down to the level or the Atlantic.
 The matter is simpdle enough. It is nerely like putting a block of wood Tn tub and pouring in water to make It rise to the top or like opening spigot Tn the bottom and letting it drop as the water runs out. The only difference Is that the block Is small and 1t weighs but tew pounds, while the ship which will go through these gigantic lock tubs may be as long as was the Titanic or longer, and it may weigh tens of thousands Of tops. The Olympic, for instance. has a gross tonnage of G0.00 tons, and I am told that It could easily pass through. The actual dimensions of each of the ehalnbers are 1eOo feet long, f10 feet wide and more than so feet high.
 Gates Which Cost S500,000
 The gates to these chambers are even more wonderful than the chambers them selves. The chambers are of concrete. The gates are of steel and that in thous- ands yes, in millions of pieces, put to- gether that they will hold these huge 'vats of water, and raise and lower within them vessels worth millions of dollars I
 But first as to the cost. I have said $5.0O0.0O0 The actual sum is more than that The contract was let for maklnSi them by competitive bids in which the United States Steel trust and four others of the chief steel manufacturing comra- nes of the United States submitted offers Each had to put up checks for several hundred thousands of dollars as suaran- tee that 1t would carry out its Ahcs put these sums were returned to those who failed The lowest bidder was the Me Clintic- Marshall Construction company of Pittshurg and it's offer was so,375. 900. Tor T. of rafpS heinz on an average almost s117.0O0 apiece.
 The sum seems great until one realizes just what it covers. It includes altogether something like 5S,000 tons of steel made up of tens of thousands of pieces. some so big that 1t takes mighty steam crane to handle them and others as small as a pin or a needle For instance there are more than 400 coo pounds of steel bolts and nuts and a half million pounds of nickel steel pins. There are millions of pounds of riveted structural steel, over three million pounds of carbon steel cast ings and hundreds of thousands of pounds of Venadium steel made up in an infinite varietysof pauts.
 Some Interesting Items
 have before me the items which formed a part of the bid. They include twenty gates for the Gatun locks, twelve for the locks at Pedro Miguel, and fourteen for those 1eTe at MlTa0OTeS. SOIHe ol tHe gates are twenty-seyen feet feet high, and some as low as forty-seven feet four inches. Each is made in two leaves or doors which swing back and forth. Think of door as tall as an eight story house, Make it about fifty-five feet in width and you may get some idea of these mighty doors each containing it's mirad parts of steel, put together like watch. which have been made at Pittsburg and shipped in pieces down to the canal. The weight of the biggest leaves is something like 500 tons, or enough to form a good load for a dozen freight cars.
 Think of hanging gates of that kind In such a way that they can swing back and forth at a speed that will not effect the water which flows in and out and at the same time quickly enough to allow ships to go through these locks within eight or ten minutes. and you have some idea of the difficulties of their construction
 The Locks in Miniature
 The government has made a work ing model of these gates In the shops at Gorgona, and it will be on exhibition at the great fair at San Francisco It Is made on a scale of a half inch to foot, and 1t shows not only the con struction of the lock chambers, but the method of operating the gates and oth- CT machinery. This model Is only six feet four inches long, and eight and one half feet in width. It looks exact ly like a lock in miniature with the gates at the end. The gates are perfect limitations, having pins for every rivet and in all about 10000 pins on the sheet copper which covers them. They are operated by 8 ne-fifteenth horse power motor, and are equipped with such devices that the operation Is auto matically controlled just as 1t will be in the great locks here at Mirafiores and elsewhere