The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-03-31
The Atlantic End Of Uncle Sarn's Great Waterway
By FRANK @. CARPENTER.


III WANT to give you n picture of th'
IA great work going on at Gatun
"a ~ Here is the mighty dam which
moW holds back the Chagres. making n
reservoir seven times as great as tina,
orfthe Nile above the dam at Assouap
Hero arc the mighty locks which will
lift the biggest Of the ocean grcyhounds
from tho Atlantic TO the lowest level
at the end OF this chain of tho Andes.
so that they may shoot across II a1d
so down other water steps into tho
Pacific Here is where our canal and
the old French canal cross. and whore
the miEhtiest of the construction work
of the Panama Canal begins Gatun
is, in some respects. the heart of this
greatest engineering work OF all times.
the gangltonic centre from which Its
nerves radiatc,
came here this morning from my
hotel AT .Nncon on the Pacific. rose
at 9 O'Clock and rode with the work.
mon on the railroad along the canal
have spent all day in going over the
Dam and locks with Colonel Sibcrt the
hydraulic engineer who has charge
OF the Atlantic division OF tho canal
and am now writing these notes on
the second floor OF tho Gatun admins
tration building. in plain view of the
canal and the locks, and of the ATTAIN
tic ocean. which is rolling UP Its surf
IN Limon Bay.
Day Mt GRtuu.
All DAY ] have been dying over the
dam and the works. l have gone up
and down the locks in a car run by
Easolene engine. l have even ridden
under those mighty chambers forty
feet and more below the level OF the
sea, and under the basins which. whom
filled with water, Will some day lift
SHIPS as big as the Olympus on their
way from ocean to ocean. ! have been
inside the mighty concrete pipes each
as big as the tube tunnel through which
the pullman trains go on thoir way un-
der the river from Jersey City to New
ork, and have seen the holes as big
as hogshead which Will admit the
waters of tho Chasres into tho doors of
the locks.
have visited the Atlantic Ocean
where the canal ends or begins; have
flown across the spillway. and. with
my life. II seems to me, ever resting
on the balance of n hair and my heart
in my throat have been carried in
and out and over this mighty maze
OF machinery which lifts mountains in
its fingers and carries the earth and
the waters in the palm of its hand.
Hrnin-HnckinE Scenes.
The scenes are indcScri bablc. Even
now my head buzZes as i look At the
lying steel caolcs which are carrying
steel hogsheads loaded with stone
through the air as though they were
balloons filled with the lightest OF gas;
at the rivers OF cars piled high with
the blue rock from Culebra cut. and
at the vast moving network OF steel
wires railroad trains and human be-
ings which covers the Gotun locks and
the dam
The Impressions which come through
the ear here are almost as terrifying
Rs those through the eye. The drums
of my head are vibrating at something
like thousand movements e second.
A boiler factory would be a rest cure
in comparison. and the shrieking OF the
steam. and the exploding of the dyna-
mite, the hammcring of steel upon
steel and the thousand noises of mighty
din that makes ones nerves the only
perceptible part of his being 1t Is
under such conditions that l am Civ
ing you my impressions and recording
some OF the notes which were made
here to-day at Gatun.
a FlyinE-MnchInc View.
Let ne iirst make Il rough drawing
Of the scene as ii looks from the roof
OF this office building on the top of
the high hill just over the dam We
might be in flying machine, for the
waters OF tho ocean and those of Gatun
Lake and the canal. which lead. TO them,
arc spread out below us rs though on
i map. Looking to the north. you can
follow the limo OF the canal from
iAmon Bay right up TO the locks. y
score OF great dredges are now work.
ing in II, and there IS only small
amount Of excavation. comparatively
speaking, yet to be done.
Al the end of this channel Is the
masonry OF tho locks. now almost com
pieted, and beyond them the dam where
the waters OF the Chagyes are rising.
There Is neW. only about twenty feet
OF water ia Inc LAKE, hut it "a II beau
t'iul sheet, with many Islands spotting
The surface. Later on 1t will be seven
y feet higher, and will cover such a
vast extent that sitting on the steam
ers some parts OF II extend beyond the
range of tho eye.
The Locks at Gntun.
Now take a rapid view of the locks
They lie below US in thrce pairs OF 81
6ant!c stone chambcrs, one above the
other. covering distance OF moro than
MALT mile, and Containing material
enough to build little city OF sky
scrapers. The material is concrete and
IT LOOKS like stone, Connected with
mat in the dam It's amount IS alto
Eether more than TWO million cubic
yards, or more than enough 10 make
q wall six feet wide and six feet high
oi solid concrete from New York 10
Washington. Tho dam alone contains
more than 81 100000 cubic yards az ma
teFiai and enough earth mas been mn,
mere TO build roadway foot ;hick
ana nine feet wide. II earth ana rock
could be laid on the wgi,r fro,n