Omaha daily bee., 1912-04-07

NatCt way Ath hAsAN
mfH at what will be the great por;
lS on the Pacific, the new town
OF Balboa. 1t is now made up OF shops
and the homes Of employees. but rivers
Of earth and rock are pouring down into
the flats to build up the space for the
wharves. and q mighty hreakwater Il
moving out from the coast TO the island
of Macs. distance OF more than three
miles. This breskwater is almost com
pleted. II runs parallel to the axis Of
the canal prism, and rises above sea
level to the height OF three or four
story house. l can see the cars running
out upon II and dumping their great
masses Of rock as write.
A Mighty Wall.
The breakwater has almost reached
Naos island. and It now contains millions
OF cubic yards of earth and rock. all OF
which have come from the crest of the
mountains at the Culebra cut. To give
you some idea of the amount Of rock ami
earth which it has taken TO make II.
will say that when completed It will con-
tain about 100000 cubic yards. This is
enough to make a wall almost twice as
wide as Pennsylvania avenue In WASH
inston. taller than the tips of the feath-
ers which crown the head Of the God
dess on the dome of the national capitol.
and long enough to reach from the
White House clear down Pennsylvania
qvenue all the way TO the Library build
ing. 1t would make wall coo feet
IL e. L..
These quantities are so vast that they
amaze me. They seem too big for my
little red head | would say. however.
that the estimate is based on the figures
Of Engineer Rousseau, who states that a
million cubic yards OF earth and rock
will equal cube measuring 800 feet on
each side.
This great breakwater is necessary. 1t
protects the canal from an ocean current
which here whirls around through the
sea, sweeping up the eastern shore Of
Panama bay and then coming down the
western shore, so that 1t crosses the ca
nal from east to west. The current lie so
strong that it carries quantities OF silt
and refuse. and this is liable to clog the
canal channel. Therefore the engineers
have put in the breakwater. which shuts
the current out from the low portion OF
the canal and forces II TO run north and
south in the channel. The tides here rise
as hlgh as twenty feet, and a part o.
the land near the breakwater Is bare at
low tide. although when the tide ls high
eighteen or twenty feet Of water flows
over Il.
A Civilian Engineer.
But come with me and let US take a
trip through the canal as It runs In and
out Of the Pacific ocean. / made such a
trip today with Mr.. w. @. Comber. the
engineer in charge OF this part OF the
work. He is a man who understands his
job and who has won his way to the
top OF this work as civilian. The most
OF the engineers here belong to the
army. They are graduates OF West Point
and they have been on government work
all their lives. On this Pacific division
there are many civilians. Colonel Cocktails
uses the best men he can get whether
they he military or civil and he seems
TO have punched the civilians into this
man Of fifty or more. He is an English
man by birth, but he ran away from
home to this country as a boy OF u and
three years after he began work with
the Mississippi river commission In 1877
He started In there as an AK man for a
term Of three months and stayed on the
job eighteen years. AT the end of that
tt,,a he areantaa ,.asitian w.aiAa.s
engineer with the isthmisn canal com.
mission, and he has been here ever since
He has had much to do with making the
marine plans for this Pacific end Of thu
canal and has also had charge OF carry.
ing them out.
A Trip ON the Canal.
Engineer comber VIII go with US on our
trip through the canal. We take steam
launch at the wharf near the shops ant
are soon out in mid-channel. We are OF
the only part Of the canal which Is &c
tually completed. or. as Mr.. comber says
the only all-wool. yard-wide canal this
we now have. The dredging opposit.
where we start Is all done and this is .,
of great part Of the channel from her
to the locks at Miraflcres. From thos
locks out TO the sea the canal is min
miles in length. II Is 200 feet wide q
the bottom and for the greater part o
the way $50 feet wide at the top. II i
now only about thirty feet deep for tn
stretch which runs from the wharf +
the locks, but that running out to IN
Pacific is forty-five feet deep and is q
wide as a good-sized river.
IL Looks Like Jsrssza.
The canal here Is lined with low forest
clad hills which rise on each eide of u
a thousand feet or more back from 80
shore The banks ard this fhoussnd-od
feet are covered with q thick vegetatio
consisting Of plants which will live In sal
water. They are mostly msngroves, an
INN told they will die II they cannot b
Nd by the sea They are for the mos
part bushes ten or twenty feet in heign
/and they look Just like the vesetstio
= which covers the valley Of the Jordan OF
posite Jericho and the alkaline soil run
ming from there down to the Dead Sea.
Riding up the canal we seem to be 90
ing through river In from the oceaI
The scenery is beautiful and the waite
which is salt mixed slightly with the u
flow from the Rio Grsnde. is that Of u
Pacific ocean. Our launch takes US
the canal until we are stopped by dai
OF culebra spoil and the mud from n
dredges which is now being built acros
the channel. Were II not for this dal
we could go clear to the first locks. an
Mr.. Comber tells US that he could With
a few months open the canal for ord
IA ~ shlns 10 that point.