The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-04-23

80" 1hS Az dynamic ruler.
\ Sea-LeVei Canal Impossible.
our conversation covered a wide
range. Colonel GOethals knows the
canal so Well that he could talk most
interestingly for an hour or more
about any of its features. have
room here for only a part Of our chat.
We had been discussing the mighty
locks at each end of the waterway
which will lift the ships TO the level
of the great cut which lay there be-
low US, and | asked whether. after
all. 1T would not have been better to
have made the cut deeper and have
created q sea-level canal.
Colonel Goethals replied: "No. the
lock canal is by far the better, and it
Will prove 70 be the more permanent
and the more economical in its OPP
Grafton. If the government had de-
cIded upon a sea-leVel canal that
great gorge below US would have had
to be cut eighty-five feet deeper than
1t is now. Besides. | do not believe
that the people Of the United States
would have stood for the additional
time and cost which would have been
necessary to make it, and that is sup
posing it We're at all possible to have
made it. When | came here had a
pretty we'll tiAed idea that the sea
level canal might be the better, but
my experience has changed that opin-
vi ~ ~ IL ( ltidl u
nave constructed it on account of the
immensely greater slides which, We
would have had if We had ~deepened
the cut. AS it is now we shall be able
TO control the slides, and | do not APP
{ prehend that they will cause any
5 great damage to the completed ca
t nal
5 The Slides of the Future.
Tell me something about these
slides. colonel. What makes YOU
think they will disappear when the
1 canal is cOmpleted?'
know because we have studied
e the geological structure Of this part
/ of the mountains We have studied
e the pressure Of the earth. and how
! the land moves. We have expert
: mented and know that when we have
@ given the sides of the canal prism a
natural slope that the earth Will be as
6 firm as that of the hills all about, us
Such slides are caused by the great
n weight of earth above and back o.
S the excavation which forces these
bodies of earth dow into the cut and
G at the same time presses 1t upWarC
It from the bottom Of the canal. 81
r the right slope this great pressure viii
h be removed and when that is done
there seefS to be no reason Why the
ground should not be firm for al
time to come. Besides slides of thi:
kind move very slowly and the. prop
y ability is that any that may occur cal
IS easily be n by the dredges 81
- as to keep the canal clear. | wOult
~ say also a We are strengthening tn
l walls by earth binders in the shape Q
II various grasses and plants. The,
al will 500 be covered with jungle am
81 this will further lessen the danger.
~ No Fear OF Earthquakes.
IA Put how about earthquakes:"
asked.
n w have also considered that pos
a sibility,' replied Colonel Goethal:
re We have seismographs here b
N which we keep records of the earth
" tremOrs and we also have reports {
he such machines the world over. "
re have records of the earthquake {
he San Francisco. and Of the shake
which occurred then at ST. Louis an
es ot~herwheres. We find that We han
u here about the same trembling Of TT
earth as occurs AT such times
Washington city. and I have decide
that it is only when [ hear that II
National Capitol has fallen that
a shall need to a any great Altar
lal about the canal NO, the earthquake
ne are not frightening me at all
'es But are YOU not in the esrthQual
ny belt?'
in We have never had any great di
Dse turbance at Panama, although Il
TX belt seems Very pronounced in COS
IV 1tlCt just uOItn OF mere. AS dH eN
OF dence of the stability Of constructs
ell on the isthmuS you must have SCI
the arch in the old church at Panam
OF 1t is the widest, lowest and neare
IN horizontal of any arch known TO q
chitecture. 1t is, perhaps, forty fe
les long, and consists Of one spa wit
out any support except at the enc
he That arch is 200 years old and it
fly, still hrm otWlths'andlns most OF |
churcn is IN RUNS. L "ould say no
ever, mat the TahHnlaHS nave q u
ms dition that that arch fell twice duri
its construction, and that at last
ion despair, the monk VINO was me {
ito, chltect got down on ms knees q
all prayed TO the Lord 70 help nun:
,ry- his prayer ne Salu mat ne "oulu oi
job. the arch once more. ana ne bess
ern the Lord to cause it TO stand, althOu
gid the rest OF the church might crufh'
"a otAmc NanN- Of the natives [