Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-05
Some Insignificant Work Will Be
Needed to Let Large Vessels
Through, but the Huge Task
Will Really Be Completed Then.
Arrangements Made for the Link
ing Of the Two Oceans and the
Ending of Gigantic Nine-Year
Project of the United States.

COLON, PANAMA. Oct. Next
Friday the Panama Canal will become
a reality On that day the great
Gamboa dixie. the last obstruction
separating the waters OF the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans, viii be blown
up, and the two bodies will be united.
Then the canal will be truly COM
pieted. There will be some work too
be done before heavy draft vessels
can be sent from one ocean 10 the
other but that WORK consits merely
Of the removal of distractions from
the channel and is relatively inslg-
nificant.
Already four 26-inch pipes have
been inserted IN Gamboa dixie. through
which the waters OF Gatun Lake NAV
flow into Culebra cut The flow. prob
ably, will be started tomorrow.
But next Friday will come the real
union OF the two oceans. when the
Gamboa dixie will be dynamited. The
engineers in charge viii allow the
water to tricllle through the pipes in
the meanwhile to settle in the Guile
bra cut, and to form thus a cushion
to receive something Of the force of
the shock that comes when Gamboa
dixie is dynamited Already workmen
are drilling 3O-foot holes in the dixie
to take the charges OF explosive.
Jungle Must Pc Removed.
But these charges Will not demoIish
the dixie. They win merely loosen the
material so that the water will be
able to trickle through and cut it's
own channel. The steam dredges will
complete the work OF opening the
channel. and once this is done, clear
passage from the Atlantic to the Pa
cifc will result
Then there is work to be done in
removing the dense tropical vegeta-
ton from the channel. where it has
grown since the cutting was done.
The canal flora grows rapidly. Guile
bra cut is covered in many places bv
trees and rank underground and much
vegetation there is in the bottom Of
Gatun Lake
And because there is work yet to
be done. Colonel Goethals has put his
foot decisively on all projects for a
great celebration II will all be done
quietly. said the Colonel. without fuss
or feathers. Even when the great ex-
plosion comes that will demolish
Gamboa dixie, there will be no DEM
onstration. nor any crowds to watch,
nor any notice taken, it Is believed.
Explosions are common enough in the
Canal Zone to warrant that this one
should go unnoticed.
Climax Truly American.
So the union Of the Atlantic and
the Pacific VIII be secret nuptial,
and the end Of nine years work, OF
so years of great visions. will be eff
fected quietly. in a manenr typically
American
It is expected that by December tho
waters in Gatun Lake will have risen
high enough to bring the waters ia
the entire canal up to the deep water
level, when the large ships can be
sent through
Gatun Lake IS the keystone OF the
entire canal. the one secret Of its
being 1t is a large artificial body OF
water made by impounding the wa
ters of the Chagres River in the vaI-
ley. Without its construction, the en-
tire canal system would be failure.
Gatun Lake is the feeder for the ca
nal. At one end is the Culebra Cut,
leading down through the Mirafiores
locks into the inlet from the Bay OF
Panama At the other end of the
lake the canal leads through a series
of three pairs Of locks into the chan-
mel which has been dug to Linon
Bay. The water level in Gatun Lake,
when the full supply is accumulated.
will be 81 feet above sea level.
II is he wall between Gatun Lake