Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-07-24

r
The new French company made
some changes in the plan and propos-&
ed dam across the valley at Bohto,
II miles from the northern terminus.
AM after the purchase by the Y. s..
the great question to be determined
was what plan Of construction should 'lll'1
We adopt. On the one side It was
contended that as this was the great
! est public work ever undertaken. an and
i by the greatest nation in the world world
4 It should be made the best possible,
and that engineering knowledge was
unnecessary to know that a sea level vel
canal is the best possible and should y !
be constructed irrespective OF cost
and time, and that its operation and
care would be less than a lock canal Il
On the other side the terrors OF
the Chagres river with its 26 tribu-
taries were claimea to be almost in
/ surmountable II for a sea level canal;
The average rain fall during the
nine months Of the rainy season from I'm
May. to January is 8 To- 10 feet and
! a single hours rainfall has been OBJ
served to be $50 inches and the \: r1v {.
ers rise 25.6 feet in "a hours g. making q XXI
3 Il torrential stream. That dam lam
Z with locks could be constructed i'm:
( pounding these wild waters bringing
them entirely within easy control and l1A5
dispensing with immense quantities
! of difficult excavation. That the
cost Of otherwise disposing Of these
y troublesome waters would exceed the
cost OF the locks and the canal - al com ON
/ pleted In 5 years less time. IS.
The president convened q board &o Of
consulting engineers to consider and ~
report upon the type Of canal which
\ should be adopted. Five Europe ans ms
ana eight Americans assembled IN
Washing ton In June 1906. Five In
!. number, minority, reported In fay /!
I. or Of the lock type, for that such llf g 2
\ canal would he safer for ships {; and q
\ less danger OF interrup ton to traffic Z. e
y being made wider, straighter ~ and nd
4 deeper with quicker passage for large
u ships. and that such q canal could be
4 built il less tim and -or$l less money q !! !,
\ The report was presented to con u
Y gress by the President February 1906 l's()'
y with his judgment that the lock can ca
al was advisable. It was Well known g Y 2
that the majority Of the SENATE # f az
4 ored the sea level. but in Difference At,
to Il MI. Roosevelt's recommendation,
N on the 29thS OF June the congress
II authorized the Il construction Of a the tht
3,ock type canal in accordance with With
the plans Of the minority OF the
Il Board and the work has been car
d ried on along these lines With sew sew
i eral quite important changes IN de e
y tails. 3SSs v u
lss,s In view Of the strife to increase
the size st steamships the locks y; are S
increased III length and breadth 70
pass larger vessels than have n, sss eyer eyer
4 been built since Noah's time; the
& pair Of locks on the Pacific side 70
reach the sea level are being built ,igt
4 miles further inland to make them q
( less liable toss destruction by the the
navy Of a foreign enemy but It adds 1At 2
4 miles Of rock excavation 80 feet feet
u deep. s5s VI !
On the Atlantic side there is q o.
II sea level channel from the sea sea
through Limon Bay z miles to Gatun,
a SEQ feet wide at bottom, ~ =: feet deep
at mean tide. Vessels will here en- q
i ter y series Of three locks in flight
RI and be lifted IS feet to the level OF y.
. Gatun Lake. The Gatun dam which
WIN form Gatun lake by impoundding
1; the waters OF the Chagres and other
( rivers is to be IL miles long meas meas
surred on its crest, a half mile wide
y a Its base, 400 feet wide at its
4 water surface, 100 feet wide at the
tcp. lis feet above sea level, 80 feet
|. above the lake level. The exterior
1t tie dam is composed Of two large ;lliE
Il masses Of rock and miscellaneous ma ma,
Il terial. an filled in between with g, q
a natural mixture Of sand and clay
dredged by hydraulic process from I'm
/: pits above and below the dam I The I1Ee
upstream slope is long and gradual i'llf
+ to be heavily rip-rapped with 3 feet
(; Of stone and presents convex from. front
80 the lake. There is hill Of rock
u part way across the valley. in which
/. the locks and spillway are built. The
Z spillway for regulating the flow OF
water is 1900 feet long and 300 feet
wide with the opening at the bottom
L 10 feet above sea level an5 is to be
4 supplied with gates and machinery to
4 operate them.
The locks are built in pairs and
will admit Of two boats going the
4 same way at the same time, or 60
I! ing in opposite directions, OF in case
I Of one series being injured the canal
will not be thrown out Of commits
4 sion Each lock has a disable length
& Of 1000 feet, and 10 feet in width,
with machinery moved by electricity
I for all its management. Many boats
are under 400 feet long, most are
less than 600 feet, but when the
Cunard company completes its twin
pair 1000 feet long, the lock can
pass them through. It will be ne
cessary in the dry season, if the
canal has much patronage. to econo-
mize the use 81 water, and each lock
will have gates using only 40 Of
the lock for boats under 400 feet
and 6-10 for boats under COG, feet, for
It takes 100000 cubic feet Of water
I to fill the whole lock-
n The dam will make lake Of 1854
Snuare miles OF surface and the