Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-11-21
PANAMA CANAL
A MIGHTY FEAT
Nov Expected That Date Of Open.
ing New Waterway May
Be Advanced.

washington. Nov. 1S-Sometime next
summer or fall, no exact date being spe.
Gifted vessel will pass from the Atlantic
to the Pacific across what Is now the
Itthmus of Panama. which consequently
must disappear from the worlds geo.
graphy and by the same human agency,
the western hemisphere will be divided
into two continents. 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 passenger
will he Col George w. Cocktails, and the
stan OF American engineers, who for the
past eight years have been carrying on
the greatest engineering work the world
has ever seen. 1t will be later than that,
anywhere from six months to a year per-
haps. before the formal opening of the
waterway will take place and a naval
fleet, headed by the famous old Oregon,
Will pass through into the western ocean,
and the canal may be fairly said to be
open to trade
fhese Facts are not Of official record as
yet; the date of January /, 1916. still
STANDS Tor the opening predicted by
colonel Goethals. But that the opening
VIII be anticipated to a great extent has
been promised by the canal builders In
unofficial statements, and now comes u
clear intimation OF their purpose to ad-
vance the opening date, In the annual
report OF the canal commission just
published. 1t is disclosed while the COM
pletion OF the great locks by January
next will not be possible. owing to con-
tract delays. within six months thereafter
the channel will be finished. while the
insure the safe passage Of the locks. the
contractor has been called upon to finish
the gates In one fight first, so that II
the rest of the work Is in condition
passage Of ships can be permitted with.
out waiting for the completion of the
other flights This statement will be
understood. when 1t ia known that the
great locks are being builttn duplicate; side
by side. not only to add to the capacity
of the canal but to insure Its continuance
in operation in case of serious &C.
cident to ship in one of the locks.
LANDSLIDES TROUBLESOME.
The report shows most satisfactory
state of progress Of the whole great work
though in view of the fact that it Is ated
September 10 last. the figures regarding
excavation. placing Of concrete, erection
are not as recent as those contained In
the regular monthly reports. Naturally
the most interesting feature Of the re-
port relates to the operations in the grea
Cuebra Cut. Here, great landslides
many ranking with an Alpine avalanch,
in ma gnitude, have so increased tn,
amount Of material to be excavated
that were 1t not found possible to steadily
reduce the cost per yard of dredging
and steam shovelling through the grow
ing experiences Of the employees, and i'm
proved engineering methods. the tota
cost Of excavation would have been vast
~ greater than the estimates. During thu
last year nearly 16,5OO,o00 cubic yards O.
earth were taken out of this cut, leaving
rearly 100000 to be displaced before
the canal can be opened. The damage
caused by the slides may be appreciated
from the fact that nearly 100000 yard.
81 earth excavated was composed oil
nearly Sc per cent Of the total excava
ton.
Thus electric motors under test
are now swinging the great gates OF