The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-10-17

Boca, at The entrance, Tie distance be.
tween Pedro Miguel and La Boca,
eight miles. to be second artificial
lake. The CuIebra cut was to be 300
feet wide for five miles and 300 feel
wide for four miles.
Chief Engineer Stevens and all but
one member Of the commission con
cured in the minority report. Secre.
tary Taft's visits to the isthmus had
converted him to the lock tyne. and
President Roosevelt consistently had
favored 1t.
The situation was one where the
choice would be decided by the weight
the president should throw to either
report. To reject the majority report
favoring a sea level canal and to ad.
vocate the minority report for a lock
type canal was Il responsibility Of un.
usual magnitude for an executive who
profesSed to have no technical engi-
neering knowledge. Yet President
Roosevelt made the momentOus deci-
sion without hesitation, sending
strong message recommending the mi
nOrity report.
Congress debated the issue until June
q, when the senate by the close vote
of 81 to II decided for Il lock type, and
on June - the house concurred, the
bill becoming law ON June %, 1906
Two years and two months had pass
ed from the time the Americans came
to Panama in May, 1904, to July l.,
1906, before this decision was made
and mt last the commission knew what
plan Of canal WAS 10 he followed. InI
September, 1906 Mr. Stevens started
the excavations in the sites for the
Gatun locks, the Pedro Miguel lock
and the Gatun dam SpiIway. Surveys
We're begun for relocating the Panama
railroad which for Il considerable dis
lance woUId be swallowed up by the
completed canal. The fifteen months
preparatory work was beginning to
tell in the increased excavations in the
Culebra cut, as the organization was
getting its stride. tUmmiSSarieS, which
sold everything the canal employee
needed, were in operation in the prin.
cipal towns, the hotels for the bache- |
Tors Were well organized, quarters had |
been erected until all We're housed. |
though at times rather crowded; ma
chinery, supplies and equipment were
on hand or ordered to the extent of so |
per cent of what would be needed to |
complete the canal health conditions
were admirable. and the whole Situa- |
ton was shaping for the real work of
building the canal
President Roosevelt paid the canal
zone Il visit in November 1906 1t was
a trip Of exploration for him. and the
way he ignored the formal plans for
his entertainment delighted the en-
DlOyeeS. Subordinate officials were
rather anxious that he should inspect
Just the things they had spick and |
'pan'fOr him to inspect but from the |
line he landed at Colon he ate and |
losed in and out Of every part of the
anal and led them n merry chase
The enthusiasm for the daddy" of
he project was boundiess, and the
he noted resulted in bet
ter conditions of employment for the
men.
One evidence of the growing luxury
Of living conditions in the canal zone
was the installation on Jan. /. 1907. of
electric lights in the quarters of the
married and bachelor employees at
Empire and CuleIra. Other towns
soon were furnished with electricity.
The first public school had been open
ed year before this event, or on Jan.
,, 1906. The summer and fall of 1906
and the winter of 1907 saw another
great controversy raging around the
canal. which. like the battle of the |
evels. was to he decided arbitrarily by |
President Roosevelt
Chairman ShontS long had entertain |
ID the opinion that the canal should |