The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-02-06

proportion. The oil French rails hav,
been largely used for such reinforcing
and there seems to be no end to them
They make excellentI- beams for thu
sides Of dump and other ears and arc
also largely used In reinforcing con-
crete structures in many places, ever
including the edges of curbing fol
street sidewalks. Bridges Of short
spans have also been built of these
rails and they have been put to more
uses than can be mentioned offhand
Whoever bought Them bought with
great liberality, to put the matter
mildly.
Everything about the whole canal Il
on big scale, even though the sue
proper working out Of the smaller de-
tails. The locks at Gatun will lift the
vessels IS feet from the sea level to
that of the lake, which is formed by
the huge Gatun dam. The lake win
cover 1G4 square miles and flow the
water from the locks at Gatun through
the great Culebra cut and to the locks
nn the Pacific side at Pedro Miguel.
The locks will accommodate vessels
1000 feet long by 100 feet wide and
drawing As feet Of water But as the
under GOO feet long. auxiliary or in
termediate gates are provided so that
40 per cent of the water for locking
vessels can be saved unless the vessel
exceeds 600 feet.
The Gatun locks are about ! 1-3
miles long, of solid concrete and form
the largest concrete structure in the
world They are double, to allow the
passage of vessels in both directions
at the same time If necessary. Elec-
trio locomotives ahead, behind and on
both sides will tow the vessels through
the locks, both to save time and to
prevent damage to the locks themsel-
YES.
The overflow of the Gatun dam will
provide electric power for the locomo.
tives and probably for all the uses Of
power along the canal zone.
The lock gates are steel structures
each leaf weighing about $50 tons
They are about - feet high. 81 fee
wide and feet thinck. There are 9.
caves, for there are 46 pairs of gates
An idea of their bulk may be had by
acting that If they were laid flat, one
On top of the other, the pile would be
higher than the Singer tower The
'iveting problem is also interesting
Counting 800 rivets as good days
work for a single gang of riveters II
would take them a year to rivet up Q
single leaf, or 80 years to complete
he lot.
The whole administration Of the
hop and storehouses is under the
lrmy in its various branches The |
stores come under the quartermaster's |
department., and the storehouses are |
kept in every way. EN- |
'loyes all have q brass check or tag |
mlar to baggage tag bearing their |
lumber This tag is the open sesame
0 all commission stores Here the |
Employees can buy anything at cost
sually much cheaper than the same
hing can be secured in New York or
ny northern city.
At Cristobal are the main store
ouses, the government ice factory
,e cream factory. bakery and laun-
ry Early every morning the supply
rain, usually of II cars, starts out t.
npply the smaller storehouses and
points along the isthmus
nd there are very few of the necessi-
es and even Injuries which can not
2 secured from the main stores and
mt to you at short notice,
These seem strange when we think
; the canal digging. but show con-
usively that it is the attention to de-
Ills that brings success no matter
wv large the enterprise. Men would !,
IT stay until the surroundings were
,althy and congenial. This meant
quarters for their wives +,
Id children. This in turn necessitat
the adoption of complete school
stem, including a high school which :,
nks second to none as a prepare
ry school for college. 1t also meant ;,
creation centers and Y. M. c. A.
ildings for the men and women's !.
lbs for the women. All strangely
[ of place and seeming eXtrava-
nee in tropical climate and for
nporary job, but all absolutely ne
,sary to the successful building of
, canal in record time as has been :,
ne. =,
This same thing has been carried
[ in the details of shop management
d the buying of proper materials to T..
rk with We go into large or small -
chine shops and pay all our atten- =.
n To the machines and never see
belts that drive them and without a.
ich they would be of almost no use
d the belt problem is one of the
rst that comes up, especially In e
,ps In tropical countries. 49,
he ideas of heat in the canal zone .
ant to be exaggerated as the tenn
allure rarely goes over ~ degrees a.
sunstroks are unknown. But heat 4,
aot the only factor In these clim~ A.
!.