The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-10-10
IlANOC AND PACIFIC
! MEET IN PANAMA CANAL

> - DSUUu ~ -
around the horn during the Spanish
American war From deep-water in
the Caribbean sea on the east to deep
water in the Pacific ocean on the west
the canal measures length of SO
miles. Vessels will reach It's summit
elevation by flight OF three locks To-
Gated at Gatun, on the Atlantic side,
and by one lock at Pedro Miguel and
a flight OF two at Miraflores. on the
Pacific side. These steps in the great
waterway vary in height from Al to 50
feet, and those at Gatun, the largest
ever designed, can be mounted by the
greatest OF vessels in less than half
an hour each. The locks at every
point have been built in duplicate the
better to accommodate traffic. The
canal has been designed to take care
OF 80,000.000 tons of traffic year, OF
four times the amount OF commerct
now passing through the Suez canal
and twice the amount now passing
through the American 800" Canal.
Uncle Sam began the construction
OF the canal nearly seven years ago,
Back Of that time runs period OF four
centuries, during which time men
were talking of the Panama canal, q
peric4 frightened by big dreams, and
darkened by the lost fortunes OF those
who sought to make these dreams ma
| terialize. Since the first hardy adven-
turers of the old world began seeking
western passage to the riches In the
| far east, the thought of a canal across
! the Isthmus of Panama has been fixed
| In the mind OF the world. Spain, Eng
land, Portugal and France have all at
some time embarked on the undertak-
ing, only to fail. 1t was President Grant
who first gave official utterance to the
policy of IAN American canal under
American control; and it was Prest
dent Roosevelt who substituted the
1 work for the words.
Balboa, driven from home by his
creditors, landed on the Isthmus In
1900. To him belongs the credit for
/, first conceiying the idea Of a canal and
being the first to transmit the thought
! to the world after having organized an
Jsexpedition which crossed afoot to the
Pacific over what Is now known among
the multitude of canal lines that have
i been proposed as the CaledonsEn route.
4 Al survey was undertaken but the re-
| port was made that the scheme was
i impracticable. In 1857 Philip II sent
engineers to survey the Nicaragua
route, but their report likewise was un-
i favorable. Spain in 1914. feeling the
need Of restoring her waning prestige
I in Central America, entered upon con-
i struction by decree. Before any actual
work could be started. however the
4 Central and South American colonies
i obtained their Independence England
i took hand in the proposition in the
!, latter part of the eighteenth century
Il and early In the nineteenth, when she
i, had Lord Nelson and Baron Won Hum
boldt make surveys of various routes.
1 President Bolivar Of the republic OF
/, New Granada in 1925 gave franchise
i for a canal at Panama to Baron Thier-
4 ry, a Frenchman, and then commits
stoned j. A. Lloyd, a British engineer
to survey the isthmus for either q
, road or a canal.
The year 1895 really marks the en-
trance OF Uncle Sam into the history
OF the canal 1t was In that year that
, Henry Clay introduced in the senate
resolution which resulted in President
! Jackson commissioning Charles Biddle
to visit the isthmus and report on the
availability Of the various routes pro
posed. Biddle had just obtained a
franchise to build railroad as a sub
stitute for canal, when the panic OF
1887 in this country caused the whole
project to fall through 1t was not un
/, til the close of the Mexican war which
brought us California and the problem
of establishing communication through
:, the dangerous territory Intervening
between the east and the west, that
, the project of trans-isthmus communi
cation was revived. Otherwise the in
: tercourse must be overland or by Wa!
: of Cape Horn. 1t was this problem
: that gave birth to the line of steam
!, ships established by American capita
: from New York to the isthmus ant
from the Isthmus to California and
= Oregon, its promoters having con
!, structed railroad across Panama as
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