The Washington herald., 1913-10-04
OCEANS union
mere SENTIMENT
Army Officials Shatter the
"Mingling of Waters" on
Canal Phrase.
LOCKS REST ABOVE SEA
Gatun Lake, Midway of Construction,
Eighy-Five Feet Higher
Than Level.
LOCKS REST ABOVE SEA

In anticipation of the blowing out Of
the Gamboa dixie on the Panama Canal
next Friday. by which water is to be
let into Culebra Cut. officers of the War
Department yesterday endeavOred 10
clear up popular misapprehensions re-
garding the canal.
1t was explained. first, that the blowing
out OF the dixie would not tear a gap
through which the waters would rush,
rapidly filling the cut from end to end,
and, second, that the waters of the At
lantic and Pacific oceans will never meet
in the Panama Canal
1t was explained that the GambOa dixie
is a mass OF earth in the form of a dam
which has been thrown across the canal
prism to separate the water of Gatun
Lake from the Culebra Cut, 1t being es-
sential that the waters be kept out OF
the cut until the operations with steam
shovels were over. Now that II has been
decided to complete the excavation in the
cut by dredges il becomes necessary TO
remove this dixie. The explosion set for
October 10 will merely loosen the earth
in the dixie and probably will not form
any passage. The material after loosen
ing will have TO be dredged out.
Water Enters Cut.
In the meantime. and preparatory to
the blowing up of the dixie, water is
being permitted to enter the cut through
pipes installed in the dixie, this for the
double purpose of forming a cushion to
prevent damage from the blasting, and
also TO allow the waters in the cut to
rise to nearly the level of the waters in
the lake. in order that there will not be
a rush from the lake which might cause
considerable damage.
Since ii was decided to finish the ex-
cavation by dredging. the material whicn
has slide into the canal from the CuCa-
racha slide has not been taken out and
now has formed an additional dixie across
the canal prism. which will prevent the
water from Gatun Lake, after the re-
mOval Of the Gamboa dixie, from reach
ing all the way through the cut
As a matter of fact, there probably
will he about two miles of the cut which
will be damned OF from the waters by
the Cucaracha slide, this portion being
between Cucaracha and Pedro Miguel
locks.
In brief, Therefore. the blowing up of
the Gamboa dixie will not permit passage
from one ocean to the other for even a
shallow-draft vessel or even a rowboat.
and such connection will not be estab-
lished until the Cucaracha slide has been
dredged out.
In this connection II is noted that va
rtOus people throughout the country are
using an expression TO indicate the union
OF the waters OF the Atlantic and the
Pacific through the canal. To those who
know the engineering features this is
rather amusing, as so far as the canal is
concerned the waters OF the Atlantic and
Pacific will never mingIe.
The Gatun Lake, which is midway of
the canal. will have an elevation of
eIghty-fve feet above the oceans, ana
water from this lake will merely flow
each way to the two oceans, the water
in the lake being fresh and derived from
the drainage of the area surrounding tRe
dixie.
Col. Goethals Yesterday confirmed the
reports received Yesterday that the
earthquake OF night before last had
caused no damage to the canal works.
He said that not only were the locks alb
sOlutely uninju~cd. but that the shocks
had not even augmented the slides.