The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-09-01

to tho bed or noor of the lock- cham
her. and which are so arranged tina,
when tho water is let in {; PUSHES
up through the openings and nns tho
chamber. tho water being held in by
the gates.
Hni-ins the ships From the Pacific.
There are only two locks here at
Mirahores. The steamer comes
straight in from the Pacific when the
water in the lock is at sea level. This
water Is salt Then the gate al the
racine end is closed. and in from the
tunnel comes the water from the Ga
irn Lake. having passed through the
Culebra Cut and Airanores Lake 1t
nils the lock raising as It does so
the ship to the level of the water in
! the lock above.
The vessel then Passes into that
Jock. through the gate facing the Pa
cinc. and IL is raised to the level OF
the hiranores Lake and steams
through 1t until Il reaches the lock OF
Pedro Miguel Here. in the same way.
II Is boosted thirty feet higher, to the
eishty-nye-foot level of the Culebra
cut The ship now has a clean, clear
steaming WAY OF thirty-one miles. in
Guiding the cut and the Gatun Lake.
before II comes TO the Gatun Dam and
70 the three series OF locks which drop
| II down to the level Of the Atlantic.
The matter - simple enough. II Is
merely Ike putting block OF wood
IN tub and pouring IN water TO make
u rise 70 the TOP. OF like opening q
spisot IN the bottom and letting Il
drop as the waite. runs out The only
difference Is that the block Is SINAI!
and It weighs but few pounds. while
| the snip which VIII 20 through these
lgigantc lock tubs may be es long q S
Was the Titanic or longer, ana IT may
weigh tens OF thousands of tons. The
! Olympic, for instance. has Il gross
tonnage of $4,000. and. / am told. =
could easily pass through The actual
dimensions OF each OF tho chambers
more than so feet high.
Gates Which Cost s5,oOO.O0o.
| The gates TO these chambers arc.
even more wonderful than the cham
bers themselves Tho chambers are OF
concrete. The gates are OF steel, and
! that IN thousands, yes. in millions. Of
! pieces. put together so tightly that
( tney viii hold these huge watts Of wa
ter and raise and lower within them
vessels worth millions OF dollars
! But hrst as TO the cost. l have said
100000 Tho actual sum is more
than that. The contract for making
them was let by competitive bids in
which the United states steel Trust
and four others OF the chief steel man
ufactrrinE companies OF the United
States submitted offers. Each had to
put UP checks Tor several hundred
thuosand dollars as guarantee that
it would carry out It's bids but these
sums were returned to those who
failed. The lowest bidder was the Nc
tClintic Marshall Construction Com
lpany. OF Pittsburgh. and its OFFER was
s5.375.ooo This was for the making
| of forty-siX gates. being on an aver
age almost Sli7.ooO apiece.
The sum seems great until one rea-
lizos just what il covers. 1t includes
altogether something like $4,000 tons
Of steel made UP of tens of thousands
OF pieces. some so big that it takes
mighty steam crane To handle them
and others as small as Il pin or
needle. For instance. there are more
than 100000 pounds Of steel bolts and
nuts and half-millon pounds OF
nickel steel pins. There are millions
Of pounds OF riveted structural steel
over three million pounds of carbon
steel castings and hundreds of thou