The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-10-11
President Wilson Sent Elec-
trio Spark 1000 Miles
Over the Wires
THE GAMBOA Dixie
WAS DESTROYED
Removing the Last Practical Obstacle
/ in the Great Inter Oceanic Water
'way--Waters of Gatun Lake Now
Flowing into Culebra Cut

Flowing into Culebra Cut. "
PANAMA, Oct. 1l.-At 2.o2 o 'eIockI
eastern time4 yesterday afternoon, |
President Wilson, pressing a button in /
the White House, sent an electric cur
rent hashing more than 1000 miles |
overland and under seas and blew up I
the Gamboa dike in the Panama Can |
al, removing tie last practical obstacle |
in the great sinter-oceanic waterway. |
Ibe1 Atlantic sand acifc oceans were
hot actually united when the alike was
destroyed and the waters of Gatun
lake were allowed to flow into Culebra
cut, as lake and cut are. at the nor
mai surface of the water, 50 feet above
the level of the sea. BY the destruc-
ton of the dixie, however, the last
obstruction to the navigation of the
greater part of the canal by light
| draft vessels is possible, and it opens
| mp direct connection between the great
! Gatun lake, which already is practi-
| cally ready to discharge vessels into
| the Atlantic through Gatun locks, and
| the Pacific division. The waters of
the lake rushing through the broken
dixie at Gamboa sweep through the
| Culebra cut until they reach the great
locks at Pedro Miguel, which Iuark
the beginning of the descent from the
top level of the canal to the Pacific
Electric experts calculated that
within four seconds after President
Wilson pressed the button in Washing
ton the current threw a small switch
on an apparatus at the Gamboa dixie
which in turn set in motion other
apparatus that furnished the current
for exploding the charges. Elaborate
preparations had been made by the
Western Union Telegraph company
and the Central and South American
Telegraph company for the practically
instantaneous Transmission of the
President s signal. From Washington
to Galveston, 1856 miles, a single wire
carried the spark. There it was taken
, up instantly by sensitive transmitting
instruments and sped over the cable
along the bottom. of the Gulf of Mex
= leo to Coatzacoalcos, Mex, 1913 miles
5 farther. From that point it sped over
land across the Isthmus of Tehaunte
= pee, over wires on the line of the TIE
hauntepec National Railway, 1SS mile:
more on it's Journey, to another cable
station at Salina Cruz, on the Pacific
n ocean, where other sets of sensitive
r telegraph instruments snatched it VI
f and hurried it 76G miles over anothe
cable along the bottom of the Pacific
I ocean to SAP Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Il cable station, where other delicat
machines transferred it along to an
: other cable and shot it along us mile
more to Panama. There the sparl
emerged from its long submarine jour
ney to the overland telegraph wires 0
the Panama railroad company an
completed its mission at the Gambo
dixie Hours before the time set, eX
Iperts of the telegraph and cable CON
: kpanies were busy perfecting their al
II rangements so the President s : flas
II might have an unobstructed passage
II The Gamboa dixie, like Gatun LAKE
II is an artificial thing, created by tn
II canal engineers. 1t was built to kee
II the fresh water brought down by tn
II Chagres river from flowing into tn
= Culebra cut and thus hamper dry e.
: cavation. 1t is o quarter of a mil
~ long, fifty feet wide at the top an
sevcnty-five feet high. With the clo
Hing Of the -Gatun dam gates and tt
TT filing up of the great basin the Gan
boa dixie became more of vital n
II lcessitv than ever, and a break in i
walls at any time in the last We;
would have brought great disast'
! to the work in Culebra cut, hoodiI