New-York tribune., 1913-10-11
PRESIDENTS FINGER
LEVELS CANAL BARRIER
Electric Spark, Travelling Four
Thousand Miles. Blows
Up Great Dixie.
CEREMONY A SIMPLE ONE
ncamboa Is Busted, " Wilson
Says-The Last Material
Obstacle Has Now
Been Removed.
fFrom The Tribune Bureau.

fFrom The Tribune Bureau;
Washington, oct. l0.-Almost the last
onstruction in the Panama Canal was
renoved this afternoon, when the Presi-
ANT messed a button at the White House
ord exploded immense charges of dyna-
rnite which blew up the Gamboa dixie.
TbA electrical current travelled more
,bsn four thousand miles over land and
under water In about four SECONDS, ac-
riding 10 the estimates of experts in
charge Of the wires.
,.u.le Wlre was used from Washing
con 70 Galveston. d distance OF 1906 miles
The current was instantaneously trans
,n,tted on a cable along the bottom of the
cu,f Of Mexico 10 CoatzacOalCos, Mexico.
,1 miles further. From there it shot
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec TO a
cable station at Salina Cruz. Then 1t was
carried on a cable in the Pacific 100 miles
20 san Juan del Sur. Nicaragua, and then
1s miles further 10 Panama.
The last lap was over the wires of the
Panama Railroad Company 70 Gamboa
Aike Immediately following the sending
Of the spark. the single word Success
hiT" was flashed back from the isthmus.
How "Gamboa Was Busted"
Practically no ceremony accompanied
the giving Of the signal. Chief Operator
: ". smithers tested the line just before
o'clock. and sent four dots flashing
through to Panama as the signal that the
President was ready.
rH
hands of the White House clock touched
the hour and pressed the button. Well
that's all there is TO it" said the Presl-
dent with a smile. as he turned away.
"Gamboa is busted.
While celebrations on the Pacific Coast
were numerous, there was none in Wash
,ngton. it being the wish of Colonel
Goe,hals that the government await the
actual opening OF the canal. Besides the
vreckage of the Gamboa dixie. there are
Two earth slides 10 be cleared away be-
fore boats can pass from ocean TO ocean.
There was a touch OF pathos in the
simple ceremony at the White House
when It was learned that Lieutenant Colo
mel D. D. Gaillard. a member OF the
Isthmian Canal Commission. who had
charge Of the construction work at Guile
bra Cut, was lying in a hospital at Balti-
more unconscious that the President was
virtually celebrating the completion Of the
big task he had engineered. Colonel Gail
lard has suffered nervous breakdown
from oveTwork
Last Big Obstacle Removed.
The blowing up Of the Gamboa dam, ef-
tscted by the electric spark released by
President Wilson to-day, removes the last
material obstacle TO navigation between
the two oceans. If the debris from this
dam and the earth precipitated by the
Cucaracha slide may be regarded as i'm
material Furthermore. the removal Of
the dam will merely raise the level Of the
water in the Culebra cut-not food it, as
has been frequently asserted.
The flooding Of the cut began some days
ago, when the sluice gates TO conduits
under the dam were opened and the water
from Gatun Lake was permitted to fow
into the cut. This dam. near the little
town OF Gamboa, at point where Gatun
Lake narrows into the Culebra cut, was
erected TO keep the water Of the Chagres
River, which forms Gatun Lake, out Of
the cut as Ions as II was deemed wise 10
carry on excavations there with steam
shovels
Meanwhile the lake has risen until II
is approximately thlrty-fve feet deep at
the slide TO have blown up the dam and
permitted thirty-hve-foot tidal wave to
rush into the cut might have caused
serious damage, and therefore conduits
were provided in the base Of the dam
whereby the cut could be gradually flood
90. II was estimated that the surface of
the water in the cut was only five feet
below the surface of the lake when the
dam vas blown up to-day.
Whether this increased height OF the
water in the northern end Of the cut vii.
's sufficient 10 cause Il TO flow over the
spoil from the Cucaracha slide Is not
known here. Il It does not, it cannot be
said that the canal is flooded for its en-
ufs length.
Every effort has been made. however.
10 break up the material Of this slice In
ADVANCE Of the flooding, and as soon as
the debris OF the dam itself is dredgei
70 sufficient extent 10 permit the
passage Of floating dredges they will
attack the rapidly softening material OF
Inc slide so that the flooding of the canal
ior us entire length is at most matter
Oi days only, although 1t may be some
lime before vessels OF any material draft
can hoat through from the Gamboa end
OF ;he cut 10 the Pedro Miguel locks.
which form its opposite terminus.
Oceans Will Not Meet.
W course. all references TO the meet
ing Of the waters Of the Atlantic and
racine are merely long stretches OF 70
eue license, for the reason that they VII!
never meet by way of the Panama Canal.
lie canal is merely a waterway across
Ae watershed, its northern end widening
0ut into Gatun Lake. its southern mar
VWlng into the Culebra cut. its surface
oeing s. feet above sea level and It's
mean depth 20 feet above the sea.
Is approached on the northern END
.! Hight Of three locks. at Gatun, ana
al The southern end by a single lock, at
AHahores, and two more at Pedro
Miguel Between the two last named the
waterway widens out somewhat into what
% known as Mirafiores Lake.
Ihe total length of the canal is fifty
miles, Of which all but fifteen, constitut-
ing the Atlantic and Pacific approaches