El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-13

big abutments, which divide the dam
into "A openings, each Of which will
be opened and closed by giant gates.
Digging the Canal.
Almost every method OF excavating
known TO the engineering world is
brought into use in digging the Pana-
ma canal At the entrance on each
side OF the Isthmus giant seagOing
suction dredges collect the material
and carry 1t out to sea. On each side
OF one OF these dredges are huge 20
inch suckers, operated by centrifugal
pumps, which work with such ire
mencous suction power that they pick
up such things as pieces Of anchor
chains.
In the Culebra CIT the steam shovel
IS king, and dynamite by the carload
is used More than a million pounds
OF explosives are fired off every month
in the canal works, the major portion
Of which is used at Culebra- In some
OF the big blasts 20 or more wells are
dug by machines operated by the larg-
est air compressor plant in the world
and into each Of these holes the ma
JOr poruon OF ton OF dynamite IS
placed, and then the whole thing is
touched off BY pressing an electric
button
In another place hydraulic excavation
Is resOrted TO- Here one sees a great
pumping station capable Of forcing
30, loo gallons Of water a minute
through a pipe which tapers from 40
10 16 inches in diameter. To this are
attached four or five flexible water
nozzles through which are forced
streams of water from TO inches
In diameter, with a pressure Of 80
pounds to the square inch. These
streams Of water literally eat the dirt
away.
Giant Marine stairways.
The canal would be Of no use were
there not a method Of getting ships
from the sea level to the lake level
s. 1eet above, and vice versa To
accomplish this purpose giant marine
stairways are being built These are
constructed like a dOubletrack railway,
SO that one ship may be going W
while another IS going down There
are three steps in the stairway at
Gatun on the Atlantic side On the
Pacific side there is one step at Pc
drO Miguel and two at MiraflOres. At
each step a ship is lifted up or down
slightly more than % feet The two
side by side locks, including the out
side walls, are approximately $50 feet
wide. They are separated by an IN
side wall or partition, which is 60
feet thick Running lengthwise /
through the outside walls and the mid
die partition are great culTerts on
pine lines, which are almost
large enough to serve as tunnels Tor
q dOubletrack railroad Connecting
with these three huge tunnels are
series OF smaller ones, feet in dia-
der their floors These open through
the floor Of the locks in a series Of
holes, each 2 feet in diameter.
The water is first admitted into the [
big tunnels, and passes from them In ]
TO smaller ones beneath the floors OF I
he LOCKS. ana from then. Ihc" TIE j
ock itself. When q ship seeks to pass 1
put Of the Gatun lake to the sea |
evel. the upper gates are opened and /
electric towing locomotives pull 1t I
INTO the first lock Then the gates /
are closed behind it, and the valves In !
he tunnel are so arranged that the 4
water passes out of the upper lock, |
Town through the holes in the floor, !
hen through the small tunnels, then
through the large ones. and then into
he next lock below. AS soon as the
water in this lock rises to the level OF
he water in the lock above the gate
between them is opened ana the snlp
S tOWed into the lower lock- This
peratiOn is repeated until the vessel
fnds itself IS feet lower than 1t was
Yhen the process OF lockags began
Operated by Electricity.
The lock machinery is operated BY
Electricity generated at Gatun dam.
'he worlds most elaborate system OF
protecting the locks from injury has
cen resOrted to. When snip ap-
reaches the upper lock II encounters
huge steel chain, each end fastened
o a giant hydraulic jack After the
essel is stopped It viii be met by
our large towing locomotives on mar
owguage racktracks. Two Of these
iii hitch to it's bow and two TO its
tern, the two in front pulling It for
rard and the two behind preventing
from moving too rapidly.-COpy-
light 1911, by Frederick J. Haskin-
CThis IS part of a chapter on The
anama Canal from the book The
merican Government" by Frederick
Haskin which now is offered to the
aaders of the FL PasO Herald on
lost advantageous terms. See notice
Isewhere on this page Incidentally, |
rank c. Carpenter viii this week /
agin q series of articles in the Week /
nd FL Paso Herald on the Panama
anal and its greatness. The first
-ticle viii appear this week.