The chronicle=news., 1913-11-22
The Wonder Story of
the Panama Canal
AfulnA0

The effect of this rcpOr, MAS to offer
Tor Sio.ooO.ooo. in January. lso:.
The isthmian canal commission ad-
Nised the purchase aud eonsrsss att
thorised the president to buy all the
property oft he Panama company. in,
eiudins ID majority Of the stock of
TN. Panama Railroad company. and
TO obtain from Colombia p.rp.i usi
control Oi . strip Of land six miles
wide. through which Ia build III.
.anai, Colombia refused To grant
this concession. hut IN November.
1908. ten months later. the stat. of
Panama declared itself independent
within .aouth y treaty had b"~a
negotiated with III. new repubii. b.
which ihs United States Mas xi,en
control of a "trip of land ten miis>
wide forth. purposes Of canal. The
French soniAsny's property Mas
bought and. IN February. 1904. u
commission for In. construction Of
canal Was appointed, IT, May of
that year. work was begun where
the t'r.nch sol,,uany had abandoned
u. In Iu0s. 1885, u beard ~ con
suisin1 rnEincers was appointed so
sonsl'i-r whether the canal should be
u, s-a level or with .iaNs'ins locks.
The greatest aud mo.I difficult
-r. Of in- canal had to solve ~a. not
on- OF engineering. but Of health.
Under the French eonii.aa!'s opera
iions mos- than &" per sras ot the
~orkmen ~-s- continually ineapsri-
ias-J by .,isesse. In one year III.
death rate among them s-srh.d 60
p-t cent. To Colonel ". 4. GofEas.
ofth- army medicsi eosf,.. ~a. ia-
trusted the sanitation Of the cana,
son-. W--eai medical research had
proved that yellow fever aud malaria
alike ~-s- transmitted only by mo.-
quito. snd Colonel Gossa. organized.
a sanitar, .ofl-e. the main object al
which Was lo -sl.rnitnat" every nis-s.
quito sai ever, ny oa the is'htnus.
IA a r-s,il th. canal son- death rat.
is lower than IN mo., American
cities,
Having made III. canal 1on" = SAT.
place in which to @ork.i he commits.
sion vent farther aud made IL u .on,'
ior,abi. place in which io live
Quart-ss tor the working Iotr- ~cre
constructed at a number VI soaven.
lent iuinss and for the married m~u
.asntoss aSi- houses We're provided.
rarim-ni arranged for regular chip.
m~ai. of food suprii~>. which ~-r-
sold Gu the smpiotr. at cost Sas
Was tn. social life Of the ~"fh-f.
over riook--i club hou.~. were bull,
ahs furnished at th. principal settle
mcnts along the route af III. caasI.
.,o.liy operated under the direction
Of the v. ~. 4. a. and = little later
women. clubs were ORGANIZED it, the
principal towns.
The canal itself. ftun. deep water
,o deep water. I. tiity nii.s long. Il
s-a-tai direction tromth- Atlantic
-ntra.- To the Pacific end IL from
northeast To southeast. the northern
terminal i.rinE ABOUT '~enS-i~e
aud on--hait miles farther vest than
the southern entrance tssAr the Pa
cite. The first seen miles of the
canal. beginning at the Atlantic end
arc at sea level. Five miles Of chan
mel. 500 feet wide. have been drciE-
cd to a depth Of fort; -onc feet direct
~ south through L,nioa bay. and two
miles oI this SEQ level section has
been cut through n,-,yins lsnd 4"
The entrance To the Gsiun locks.
where the SHIPS are raised. in three
II. ps. to a height of eisaty.fiTc feet
above r-s level into the great bUiy
of fresh water taii-'l Ga,an lake.
These Gatuu locks are not oui,
the largest Of their kind. but togr,h-
or comprise the largest ,nonolithic
concrete structure ever built. CN-
,ccdinx in volume the great Asso'ian
dam andobuikins two-thirds "a large
as the great pyramid. which Is sii''
the world. largest masonry struc-
turc. These locks. like the ones at
the Pacific end. are built IN patrs.
So that the danger from accidents lie
halvcd and the efficiency doubled.
since as per cent Of occan.gotnE
shiI- are les. than con feet long. AMI
II would be waste Of water and oI
time to usc the entire 1000 foot lock