The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-11-19

Washington, Nov. lS.-Some TIM
next summer or fall, no exact dat
being specified, a vessel will pas
from the Atlantic to the Pacific
across what is now the Isthmus o
Panama. which consequently mus
disappear from the worlds geogra
ply, and by the same human agen'
cy, the Western Hemisphere wi!
be divided into two continents. Tn,
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 passengers will
be Col. George w. Goethals and the
staff of American engineers who
for the past eight years have been
carrying on the greatest engineer
ing work the world has ever seen.
It will be later than that-any
from six months to a year, per-
haps-before the formal orening Of
the waterway will take place and
a naval fleet, headed by the famous
old Oregon, will pass through into
the Pacific Ocean, and the canal
NAV be fairly said to be open TO
trade
These facts are not Of officia! rec
ord as yet The date Of Jan. |, 1915,
still stands FOR the opening predict
cd by Col. Goethals Bul that the
opening will be anticipated to a
great extent has been promised by
the canal builders in unofficial
statements, and now comes clear
intimation of their purpose to ad-
vance the opening date in the an
nual report OF the canal commission,
Just published. 1t is disclosed, while
the completion Of the great locks by
Jan. | next will not be possible, ow-
ing to contract delays, within six
months thereafter the channel will
be finished, while to insure the safe
passage Cf the locks the contracto.
has been called upon 10 finish the
gates in one flight first, so that ii
the rest of the work is III condition
passage of ships can be permitted
without waiting for the completion
of the other flights. This state"
ment will be understood when it Is
known that the great locks are be
ing built in duplicate, side by side
not only to add to the capacity ol
the canal, but to insure its contin
uance in operation in case of a
serious accident to a ship in one
! of the locks.
Report Very Satisfactory.
/ The report shows am ost salts
factory state Of progress of the
whole great work, though in view
of the fact that it is dated Sept
10 last, the Figures regarding eX-
tior of daasm Md the Pemeta etc
ton of dams and locks and subsidi-
airy works 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
great Culebra Cut. Here great land
slides. many ranking with an Alpine
avalanche in magnitLde have so in
creased the amount of material to
be cXCavatcd that were it not found
possible 10 steadily reduce the cost
per yard Tor dredging and steam shoy
oling through the growing expert
ness of the employees and improved
engineering methods the total cost
Of excavation would have been vast
ly greater than the estimates. Dur
ING the last year aearly l6,5oO,OOO
cubic yards Of earth were taken out
of this cut leaving nearly l2,OOO,OOO
to be displaced before the canal
can be opened The damage caus-
ed by the slides may be appreciated
from the fact that nearly 100000
yards of earth eNcayatcd was so
composed. or nearly 36 per cent OF
the total excavation
There is only one way to deal
with these slides and that is to die
them out as they occdr, though some
help is gained by terracing the
upper banks. That is because the
geological formation changes so
frequently and suddenly that no 9th
er effective treatment has been
found. So unstable g the earth that
the material in one pant of the cut
begins to move on an inclination MS
l.,,,- o, ,ra ~ Spypn owing tn the