El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-31

, the water from the Gatun lake, having
passed through the culebra cut and the
Miraflores lake. 1t fills the lock, rails
ing as it does so the ship to the Level
Of the water in the lock above.
The vessel then passes into that lock
through the gate facing the Pacific,
and il is raised to the level of the
MiraHores lake and steams through It
until it reaches me lock of Pedro Mi
guel. Here, in the same way, 1t is
boosted so feet higher, to the S5-foot
level of the Culebra cut. The ship now
has a clean, clear steaming way OF 81
miles, including the cut and the Gatun
lake, before it comes to the Gatun dam
and to the three series of locks which
drop it down to the level OF the At
lantic.
The matter is simple enough. It is
merely like putl'--g block of wood in
a tub and pouring in water to make ii
rise to the top, or like opening a spigot
in the bottom and letting ii drop as the
water runs out. The only difference is
that the block is small and il weighs
but a few pounds, while the ship which
will go through these gigantic lock tubs
may be long as the Titanic or longer,
and it may weigh tens of thousands OF
tons, The Olympic, for instance, has
it could easily pass through. The actual
dimensions of each of the chambers
are 1000 feet long, 10 feet wide and
more than 80 feet high.
Gates Which Cost $J,OOO,OOO.
The gates to these chambers are even
more wonderful than the chambers
themselves. The chambers are of con
crete. The gates are Of steel, and that
in thousands, yes in millions of pieces,
put together to tightly that they will
hold these huge watts of water, and raise
and lower within them vessels worth
millions of dollars.
But first, as TO the cost. I have said
So 900, 600 The 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 manufacturing
companies Of the United States submit
ted offers. Each had to put up checks
for several hundred thousand dollars
as a guarantee that it would carry out
its bids but these sums were returned
to those who failed. The lowest bidder
was the McClintic-M Marshall Construc-
ton company, OF Pittsburg, and its Of
fer was $5,375. 900. This was for the
making of 46 gates, being on an aver
age almost Sly, 900 apiece
The sum seems great until one real
ICES just what il covers. It includes
altogether something like $4,000 tons
of steel made up of tens of thousands
of pieces, some so big that it takes a
mighty steam crane to handle them,
and others as small as a pin or
needle. For instance, there are more
than 400, 900 pounds of steel bolts and
nuts and 100000 pounds Of nickel steel
pins. There are millions of pounds of
riveted structural steel. over 5000, 900
pounds of carbon steel castings and
hundreds of thousands of pounds Of
vanadium steel, made up in an infinite
variety Of parts.
Some Interesting Items.
have before me the items which
formed a large part Of the bid. They
include 20 gates for the Gatun locks II
for the locks at Pedro Miguel, and II
for those here at MirSflores. Some of
the gates are II feet high, and some as
low as AZ feet 4 inches. Each is made
in two leaves or doors which swing
back and forth. Think Of a door as
tall as an eight story house. Make it
about So feet in width, and you may
get some idea of these mighty doors,
each containing its myriad parts of
steel put together like a watch, which
have been made at Pittsburg and
shipped in pieces down to the canal.
The weight of the biggest leaves is
something like 500 tons, or enough to
form a good load for a dozen freight
cars.
Think of hanging gates Of that kind
in such a way that they can swing back
and forth at a speed that will not af-
feet the waterswhich flow in and out,
and at the same time quickly enough
to allow ships to go through these locks
within eight or 10 minutes, and you
have some idea of the difficulties of
their construction.
The Locks in Miniature.
The government has made working
model Of these gates in the shops at
Gorgona, and it will be on exhibition at
the great fair at San Francisco. 1t is
made on a scale of a half inch to a
foot, and it shows not only the con-
struction of the lock chambers, but the
method of operating the gates and
other machinery. This model is only
six feet four inches long and eight and
One-half feet in width. 1t looks exact
" like a lock in miniature with the
gates at one end. The gates are per-
feet limitations. having pins for every
rivet and in all about 10000 pins on
the sheet copper which covers them
They are operated by a one-fifteenth
horsepower motor, and are equipped
with such devices that the operation is
automatically controlled just as it will
be in the great locks here at Mira
flores and elsewhere.
How the Ships Go Through.
The vessels are not allowed to move