The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-09-04

rocks and dirt fall as one after another
the explosions roar down the cavern.
We are told of the slides, and We see
small ones coming down the noun
tainside. A particular hill We are
passing has moved forward 50 feet;
here before us the ground buckles
ais the opposite banks crowd toward
one another. Such industry never be-
fore fell beneath the sight OF human
eyes; it would seem that those grea;
walls, hundreds Of feet high on either
side, would tumble in upon us, yet our
car pushes on and On, down through
the nine miles of the cut, and were
not mo of ii finished, and were not
most of the slides dead the final
accomplishment would seem impossi-
bic. 1t is a seething, moving kaleido.
scope-moying too fast to watch it all;
beside the hill and the deep eXcaVa-
tons these steam shovels seem like !
children's toys, though we realize that
this immensely has startled modern
engineering enterprises; the trains
seem ridiculously insignificant, yet We
know they represent the heaviest i'm
plements Of transportation. My hat
has been forgotten. Someone says:
And Gothals bosses all this" The
reply is: God Almighty is the power
here" Yes, it is too big, too colossal
for human hands, for even Yankee en-
deayor-truly this is the undertaking
of God Almighty-and He directs His
children at Panama.
I've got this thing through my
head today" one of our party con-
fessed, and confidentially | remarked:
And so have l." Again and again /
was to hear this confession from those
who were for the first day on the
lsthmus. So then why describe in de-
tail-it is so hopeless. Suffice to re-
late:
Water seeks its level, and the At
and Pacific are of exact height;
the tides rise twenty feet on the
Pacific, twenty inches on the Atlantic.
The surface of the water elevation
in the canal will be 50 feet above the
sea.
The Gatun locks on the Atlantic
side lift the water the entire 50 feet,
while the Pedro Miguel and Mira
Flores locks divide this same task
ships the same 50 feet; but the
depth of the Culebra cut Gnside the
locks, is but 45 feet.
To understand the canal imagine
of locks Over thirty miles apart.
Between them lies a high stretch of
land, parts of which are mountainous.
There is a ditch part of the way, and 8
a great portion a lake, called |
Iatun. A mighty river, the Chagres,
pours into this lake, and water find
-ng its level, backs its way through to
he locks. Forget the "spillway,"
which though important, carries away
Ill h waste water. That's the canal.
This canal will cost 1915, 1000, 900.
Boats will pass through the canal
n eight to ten hours.
The area of the canal zone is 436
square miles. Its width 10 miles.
Work commenced by United States
Nay 4, 1904. Gates and cement work Z
ire practically complete, and the fall .
aims of the coming season, beginning !.
n October are expected to fill Gatun /
AXE by January l, 1914.
The formal opening of the canal is
et for January /, 1915. Small craft
will, however, pass through the canal
full year ahead Of this.
Fertilization work is being placed
t both ends Of the canal.
All the buildings in the canal zone
ave been built by the United States
government, and every employee is
omfortably housed, surrounded nv
very modern convenience.