The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-18
PANAMA CANAL
WILL Be OPENED
WITHIN YEAR
The Great Engineering Feat
Will Connect Oceans and
Divide Continents.
C0lNA G0ETHMs WILL Be st.,.
FIRST MAN TO PASS THROUGH
Formal Opening Of Canal Will not
Take Place for Year After FIRST
Vessel Passes Through-Stupendou
Size of Work.

Washington. Nov 1s.-Sometme
next summer or fall. no exact date be-
ing specified. vessel will pass from
the Atlantic to the Pacific across what
Is now the 1sthmus of Panama, which
consequently must disappear from the
worlds geography and by the same
human agency. the western hemis-
phere will be divided into two con.
ttnents. The vessel will not be the
Oregon nor any other famous ship.
but will be one of the many small
water craft in daily use by the canal
builders; and probably the only pas
sengers will be Col. George w. Goeth-
ais and the staff of American engi.
ncers, who for the past eight years
have been carrying on the greatest
engineering work the world has ever
seen. It will be later than that. any
where from six months to year per-
haps. before the formal opening of
naval fleet headed by the famous old
Oregon. will pass through into the
western ocean and the canal may he
fairly said to he open to trade.
These facts are not of official record
as yet; the date of Jan. 1. 1915. still
stands for the opening predicted by
Col. C;oethals. But that the opening
has been promised by the canal build
ers in unofficial statements. and now
comes a clear intimation of their pur.
pose to advance the opening date. in
the annual report of the canal conf
mission. inst published. 1t is dis
closed while the completion of the
great locks by January | next will not
be possible. owing to contract delays.
within siS months thereafter the cham
mel will he finished. while to insure
the safe passage of the locks, the con-
tractor has been called upon to finish
the g;ltes in one flight first. SO that If
the rest "f the work Is in condition
without waiting for the completion of
the other flights. This statement will
be understood. when 1t is known that
the great locks being. built in dupli-
cate. side by side. not only TO add to
the capacity Of the canal hut to in
sure it's continuance In operation in
case of serious accident to ship
in one Of the locks.
Satisfactory Progress.
The report shows n. most sattsfac-
tory state of progress of the whole
great work. though in view of the
fact that it 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. Naturally
the most interesting feature of the
report relates to the operations in the
great Culehra cut. Here. great land
slides. many ranking with an Alpine
avalanche in magnitude. have so in
creased the amount Of material to be
eXcavated. that We're 1t not found pos
sible to steadily reduce the cost per
yard of dredging and steam shoveling
through the growing eXpertness of the
employs. and improved engineering
methods. the total cost of excavation
would have been vastly greater than
the estimates. During the last year
nearly l6.50O.000 cubic yards of earth
were taken out of this cut. leaving
nearly 100000 to be displaced be-
fore the canal can be opened. The
damage caused by the slides may be
appreciated from the fact that nearly
100000 yards of earth excavated was
SO composed or nearly thirty-six per
cent of the total excavation.
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
formation changes so frequently and
suddenly that no other effective treat.
ment has been found. So unstable is
the earth that the material in one
part of the cut begins to move on an
inclination as low as one on seven.
owing to the mass of stratitied rock
sliding over Il layer of ignite. One
slide now in motion, near the bridge
three acres. from which 2.710.OOO
yards have already been removed,
leaving 100000 still to be handled.
Then there is another little slide of
no less than fifty acres on the opposite
side of the canal. The result of these
earth movements. which are quite ex-
ceptional in engineering practice. has
been to leave the canal in its deepest
portions. with very fiat slopes. The
encouraging feature of the heavy work
at that point found in the statement
in the report that none of the slides
which occurred during the year would
have interfered with the passage OIL
ships had the canal been in opera
ton"
Heavy Cost.
Already the appropriations made by
congress for the canal have run into
big figures the total up to June 30
last being $293,56l. .46S. and since that
date there have been additional APP
propriations. exclusive of those for
600. making the grand total $322.64l.-
4ss. On June 80 of all these appro-
priations. the engineers had expended
sixty-nine per cent Of the total esti-
mated cost or the canal.
OF even greater interest from an
engineering point Of view. than the
vast but commonplace work Of ex-
cavation In Culebra cut, was the work
of constructing the great locks at
Gatun and Minadores and Pedro Mi
guel. for there many novel problems
have been solved. and lock machinery
constructed of special designs of a |
magnitude never before heard Of. For
instance. SO big are the valves at the
side Of the locks that a test showed
that II required a pull Of over ten
tons on the stem to open one Of these
valves All this work is done elec.
trically. and here again the engineersl
were confronted with new difficulties.
Owing to the peculiar climatic con-
ditions on the isthmus. with tropical
heat and extreme humidity. and the
deteriorating effect Of these condi-
tions on the insulation Of electrical
machinery. the ordinary Insulation
proved unreliable. and the engineers
found 1t necessary to make q great
number Of experiments. no less than !
sixteen sample motors being pitted
against ono another. 1t WAS an awful
tA1t for dynamo and motor huildara IA