The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-03-31
to-day. This lovel win DO raised to ctghtyn,e foot


Shanghai IN China across tho Pacific
Ocean to the United States, and across
the United States and the Atlantic to
Eurppe, and n thousand miles farther
on into the heart Of that continent
Looking ut tho dam and tho locks
from here. YOU get n faint conception
! of their immensely and cost This i'm
preston will DO even less when the wa.
ter Is turned in. Then everything Will
be hidden. and 1t will be hard 10 rea-
lie that forty or nifty million dollars
have been spent III making tho con-
struction now lying below us.
The two million cubic yards OF con-
crete alone. SO Colonel Sibert tells mo,
cost something like 81 per yard, or
SlA.00o.oOo. while the excavation cost
upward OF 100000 more. The gates
to all the locks of hefcanal arc to cost
over S5,o00.00o This is u pretty PEN
ny, and II Is only when you see the
mighty doors, rs tall as an eight-story
house. made in hundreds of thousands
OF pieces, fitted together like watch.
that you realize where that money has
gone.
A Look Mt tho Dam.
But Let me give you look at the
dam 1t Is more like tho side hills OF
great field plowed by the gods than
like any kind OF masonry construction.
II is. In fact, mountain OF earth and
rock. which tho slaves of Uncls SANS
Aladdin lamp have lifted UP bodily and
dropped down between two other Iittlo
mountains. shutting in the valley or
tho Chagrcs and making lake which
VIII be l6i square milas in extent. 1t
Is dam OF earth and rock, u mighty
mound of cXcavated material milo
and half long and u half milo wide
at tho base. II will be less han 100
fec high. The ground slopes up yradu-
ally from he lako and slopas gradual
ly down on ne other side. 1t is more
like hill than anything elsa. jjkc u
barrier crented By nature rather tnan
man. At the top II VIII he only loo
feet wide, and the wafer Will como
within perhaps thirty feet o! i. AT
tho back, or facing tho Atlantic, It Wal
probably be smoothcd of and sodded.
and. as Colonel Sibert facet!ously says,
1t might be turned into golf links,
using the spillwny for hazard.
And now just n word about the spill
way. This is tho overflow of the dam.
1t is right in the centre and 1t con
slsts OF a ooncrcte-lined opening. 4 lit
tie more than quarter or Il mile long
and 800 feet wide. which runs down.
through the dam 10 point about ten
feet above sea level. Tho crest of tho
The spillway dam Will DO fitted with
gates; and the machinery which will
regulate the water level OF the lake.
THIS masonry Is Rll in place. Ii is
semi circular in shape and IT. looks as
If it were made OF Barrca sandstone.
Milking n Mountain.
In my trip to-day I was shown how
tho dam WAS constructed. By sue
ccssion of Us the railroad track leads
to Its top and we rode here and there
all over II. There are two great walls
OF eNcavated material made up of the
mighty masses OF rock ana other spoil
from the Culebra cut. These form
reservoir. as 1t We're. which Is being
illcd with clay and sand and otner
stuff dredged from the lake, and also
from tho land outside. 1t Is carried
into the basin or core OF tho dam be-
tween piles OF loose rook dumped out
by tho cars.
During our trip over the works We
rodo out TO whore the suction dredgcs
were gouging out tho sides Of the
mountain, mixing II with water and
forcing IT through Il pipe into the dam
The pipe was as big around ns a -four
barrel and mile or SO long. 1t made
mo think of boa constructor or of
the dragon which guarded the golden
apples of Iespcridcs. This mighty boa
Nomits black earth at the rate OF thou
sands OF tons every day into the core
WIN II Hold the wntcrf
AS We looked ] talked with Colonel
Sbcrt about the darn. and he gave me
a technical description from which /
am convinced II Will hold back tho wa
ters of tho Chagres for all time 10
come. He says that tho earth In the
| core is the same as that which forms
Vino bottom OF tho lake. The engineers