Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-11-20
YOUR UNCLE SANS BIG DiroH.
1t VIII Soon Be Navigable for Yes.
sells Of the World.
(Dispatch from Washington

some time next summer or tall--
no exact date being specified YES
sci will pass from the Atlantic 30 the
Pacific across what is now the 18TH
mus Of Panama, which consequently
must disappear from the worI6's
geography, and by the same human
agency, the Western Hemisphere
will be divided into two continents.
The vessel will not be the Oregon
nor any other famous ship, bui Will
be II Of the many small wa craft
IN daily use by the canal h~u'idrrs;
and probably the only paSSrrIgcrs
Will be Col. Geo. w. GoethaIS. and
the staff of American ~enginecrs, n.Ho
for the past eight years have haGn
carrying on the greatest engiuaafluE
work the world has ever sec. II
will be later than that-.auywlerg
from six months to a year, perhat3-~
before the formal opening of the va
terway will take place, and q naval
fleet, headed by the famous oij ore
gon, will pass through into the west.
ern ocean,, and the canal lury be
fairly said to be open to trad.
These facts are not Of omy,af roe
ord as yet. The date of Jane. l..
1915, still sands for the opa.tnn
predicted by Col. Cocktails; lDi ha,
the opening will be. anticipate ID a
great extent has been promisaI by
the canal builders in %unoficia state
ments, and now nj a Gle A. ttri-
nation Of their purpose, in D. an
nual report OF the Cana T)mrUis.
sion, just published, to advance the
opening date.
1t is disclosed that wail> tho rou~
pletion Of the great loci ~ tauuAvy
LIST next will not be posslbl2, owing
to contract delays, within six months
thereafter the channel will be Grt&h.
ed, while to insure the safe r2ssng&
of the locks, the contractor has h0un
called upon to finish the gates IN one
flight first, SO that if the rest % the
work Is in condition passage OF yhtns
can be permitted without Whiting
for the completion of the olhGr
flights. This statement will ho nm
derstood when it is known that she
great locks are being built in dtpli-
cate, side by side, not only to a&1' t,
the capacity Of the canal, but d, Ma
sure its continuance in operatiti "a
case of a serious accident to & snap.
in one of the locks.
Slides Have Retarded WoIIl
liz lSpOll SHO"S d IlOSJ 81. .LS' 70
tory state Of progress of the Wht lie
great work, though in view O. 10
fact that it Is dated Septembeh 1hth
last, me figures regarding e&cava"
ton, placing Of concrete, erectiou az
dams and locks and subsidiary Wotlis
are not as recent as those cor ilred
In the regular monthly reports >ut-
urally the most Interesting fea, .Te a:
the report relates to the operations
in the great Culebra Cut. Here ~reat
landslides, many ranking with Hn Al.
pine avalanche in magnitude, he 50.
increased tfn amount Of mater 81. e.
! be CNetydt"G that. were il not EouIJ.
POSSIBLE 70 steadily reduce thu aUss
: per "ard OF dvul&in~ ana Rteala she,
>iln3 through The &rOWing ,eXIntt-
iuC## OF the "mpiorra& ana improved
engineering methods, the tcttl c1st
Of excavation would have bern Vastly
greater than the estimates. Dur,ng
the last year nearly 16,50O 600 ca
bic yards Of earth we're taken Oui OF
this cut, leaving nearly 1900, 800 20
be displaced before the canal can DC
opened. The damage, cause by the
slides may be appreciated from the
fact that nearly 100000 yards Of
earth e%xcavated was so com goaaH or
nearly SO per ent of the totaI etca.
walton.
There is only one way to deal wlln
these slides, and hal Is to Cfg thuu.
ont as they occur, though sc 40 hGlp
is gained by terracing the upper
banks. That is because the arOioEI
cal formation changes so ~fr,ilcntly
and suddenly that no other .Ioctiye
treatment has been found. s. ,msia-
Bile IS the earth that the mataUalin
one part OF the cut begins 10 move
on an inclination as low as on e,
owing to the mass Of stratiI'g,i rock
sliding over a layer Of light one
slide now in motion, near tn Jridge
Of Culebra, covers an area ot IS
acres, from which 2,710,00C Yards
have already been removed, leaving
800, 900 still to be handled
Then there is another slid ID, me
opposite side OF the canal o. 20 !u5s
than so acres
Cost of Canal.
Already the appropriation m,do
by Congress for the canal |. o. .f.u.
into big figures, the total up lbs Jr1e
goth last being $293, 564,4t aa0
since that date there have been Idii-
tional appropriations, eXclu,r Of
those for Notifications, amou'.jnn4 10
$2S,9S0,00O, making the grs .l total
$322,541,468. On June 90 81 all
these appropriations the u~&iucoHa
had expended 60 per cent of .no to.al
estimated cost OF the canal.
or even greater interest .-nI IN
engineering point Of view, than tie
vast but commonplace work o. eNcd
walton in Culebra Cut, was the trU-k
Of constructing the great lc.tS at
Gatun, and Mirallores and pcdro
Miguel, for there many now prob
lens have been solved, and lock- lua
chinery constructed Of specig} de-
signs OF a magnitude ,nevel bufura
| heard of. For Instance 90 ~ ~,