River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-10-09
WORK ON PANAMA
CANAL NEAR END
Waters of Gatun Lake Turned
Into the CuIebra Cut.
BIG Dixie is TO BE REMOVED
This Will Mark the Practical Compile
ton of the Big Waterway After
Nine Years of Labor by an
Army of Men.

Colon, Panama, Oct 1.-The Pan
anna canal stands today virtually COM
plete.
The preliminary steps toward the
destruction of the Gamboa dixie, which
until the present time, has held the
waters of Gatun lake out of the Gu
Zebra cut, were taken today when the
valves in four great 26-inch pipes
which pierce the dixie were opened
flowing into the Culebra cut Within
a few days, it is expected, enough wa
ter will have flowed into the cut to
form a cushion and prevent the dam
age that might be done If the dixie
were were blown up and the waters al
lowed to rush into the empty cut.
The final destruction of the big dixie
is scheduled for October 10, when
charges of dynamite placed in holes
already drilled in the dixie will be ex-
ploded. The explosion of these
charges will not completely destroy
the dixie, but will weaken it and loos-
en- the dirt so that the force Of the
waters from Gatuan lake will carry it
away. Steam shovels will remove the
remnants Of the dixie, leaving an open
passageway from ocean to ocean.
Canal Really Complete Now.
Although the canal will not be Off
cially declared completed for some
time, and the formal opening of the
waterway to the commerce of the
world more than a year distant, the
canal engineers look upon the de-
struction of the Gamboa dixie as mark
ing the real completion Of the canal.
The big engineering feats have all
been accomplished, the excavation
work practically has been completed,
and the great locks have been con-
structed. The work that remains to
be done Is largely detail, and is but
child's play as compared with that
which has been done. More dirt Is
to be removed from the channel, but
this will be done with suction dredges
floating upon the waters Of the canal.
There still remain some finishing
touches to be placed upon the locks,
but this work will take comparatively
little time and presents no engineer
ing difficulties such as have been en-
countered in the past.
The fact that the canal stands prac-
tically complete more than year be-
fore the time originally set as the
date for its completion is one of the
remarkable features of the work.
When Count de Lesseps, the great
French engineer, abandoned his eff
forts to build the Panama canal after
eight years of labor, he had scarcely
made beginning upon the gigantic
task. In nine years, the American en-
gineers, starting almost at the same
point as de Lesseps, for the latter's
work was of little value to the Amer
leans, have virtually completed the
undertaking. When the work was
started the world scoffed at the idea
that it would be completed within the
time limit set, but hats are now off
to the American army engineers who
have more than kept their word, de-
spite unforeseen difficulties that have
beset them at every hand.
GoethaIs to Make Final Test.
The first vessel to pass through the
canal probably will be boat Of the
Isthmian canal commission, Col.
George w. Goethals, chairman of the
commission and chief engineer of the
canal, and his principal assistants.