The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-04-02

The Channel 10 Gatun Almost ooih-
nlet..I-Uow the Dredging Il Done.
u,,e Wonders of the Roll
cr-Coa,,er Ride Through the LOCKS
and Across the Dam In "A Notof
1ar-Ouecr Features OF ConetruC-
,inp-What Colonel Sibcrt Says
About the Engineering Problems
IY,,. Canal sure for Next Year as
Far a, Thi, Part i, Concerned
Graphic Description OF the LOCKS
and Gates. Etc.
OC,yvright, 1912, by Frank CT. Car
penter.)
GATUN. Canal Zone. Panama.
want to give you a picture OF the
great work going on at Gatun. fiere
i the mighty dam which now holdS
back the Chagres, making q reservoir
seven times as great as that OF INC
Nile above the dam at ASSOuan. fleio
are the mighty locks which Will III
the biggest Of the ocean greynouhuS
from the Atlantic to the lOWeSt leFei
AT the end of this chain or the An
d.s. So that they may shoot across
it and go down other water steps
into the Pacific. Here is where our
canal and the old French canal cross,
and where the mightieSt Of the con-
struction work Of the Panama canal
egins Gatun is. in some Respects
the heart Of this greatest engineer
ing work Of all times. the gangllOnlc
center from which its nerves radiate.
came here this morning from my
hotel at Ancon on the Pacific. l rose
at ) o'clock and rode with the work
men on the railroad along the canal.
b.t oy,nnt oil 6aV in going over
the dam and locks with Col. Slbert,
the hydraulic engineer who has
charge OF the Atlantic division Of the
cs,nai. and am now writing these
notes on the SECOND floor OF the
Gatun administration building, in
piain view of the Atlantic ocean.
which is rolling up it's surf in Limon
Bay.
\ Day at Gatun.
All day | have been flying over the
dam and the works. | have gone up
and down the locks in a car run by a
gasoline engine. l have even ridden
under those mighty chambers forty
feet and more below the level Of the
sea. and under the basins which.
when filled with water. will some day
lift ships as big az the Olympic on
their way from ocean to ocean. !
have been inside the mighty concrete
pipes. edcl dS Us IL IL tuUO ALL
through which the Pullman rains 80
on their way under the river from
Jersey City to New York. and have
seen the holes as big as a hogshead
which will admit the waters of the
Chagres into the floors Of the locks.
| have visited the Atlantic ocean
whore the canal ends or begins
have flown across the spillway, and
with my life, it seems to me. eve
- 49, o;~ - ~
my heart in my throat. have bee
carried in and out and over thi
mighty maze Of machinery which
lifts mountains in its fingers and car
rirs the earth and the waters in tn,
palm of its hand.
Brain Hacking Scenes.
The scenes are indeScribable. EVel
noW my head buzzes as l loo at tn
lying steel cables which are carrying
steel h~ossheads loaded with stOn
through the air as though they Wer
balloons filled with the lightest 0
gas; at the rivers of cars piled hig
with the blue rock from Culebra GU
and ut the vast mo.ing network Q
steel wires, railroad trains and hu
man beings which owe the Gatu
locks and the dam.
Thu impressions which com
through the ear here are almost &
terrifying as those through the ey
Th- drums OF my head are vibratir
al something like a thousand move
mcntS a second. A boiler factor
w"Hld y" a rest cure in comparison
and the Shrieking OF the steam. an
tttr exploding of the dynamit
aud tn. hammering Of steel upC
steel. and the thousand nOireS
m!sitr machines arc combined int
a raSNing din that makes ones merry,
tho. ~ ~ - 80; III =
inG. II is under such conditions tn;
ana giving YOU my impressions ar
recording some of the notes whit
were made here today at Gatun.
\ ilyin@-Machine View.
1t me first make a rough dray
ing oi the scene as it looks from II
roof Of his office building on the t.
OF tn hill lust over the dam. Y
gni.nt ie in q flying machine, f
the waters of the ocean and those
C4tun lake and the canal. which lie
ia them are spread on below us