Arizona republican., 1913-10-05
Gamboa Dike Will Be Blown Up, Flooding Cule- bra Cut and Completing Connection Between the Atlantic and Pacific
ONE TOWN TO
 BE COVERED
If Calculations of Engineers Are Correct Diversion of Waters Should Give a Twenty-one Foot Channel Through the Cut
Especial to The Republican,

| (SDoclaI 10 1ne RepuDllcdH-) WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. Ar engagements are practically completed for the blowing up next Friday morn : ing at 9 o'clock of Gamboa dike. which will mean the flooding Culebra l cut and the practical completion of ! the water connection between the At | lantic and the Pacific ocean. Gam i boa dike is a great artificial em- i bankment at the northern end of the l famous Culebra cut. It was erected l to prevent the waters of the Chagree river and of Gatun Lake, created ar officially by impounding the waters ! of the Chagres river. from flowing into the Culebra cut while the ex- cavating work was going on there. This dike is nearly 1000 feet long, 4S.2 feet high, 183 feet wide at the | base and 65 feet wide at the top. ] Gatun Lake, the waters of which 1 will be released by the dynasniting of the GambOa dike, came into eX- istence on April 9. 1910, when the western diversion dam at Gatun was closed and the flow from the Chagres and Trinidad rivers was forced through the artificially constructed spillway channel. Since then the wa ters in the lake have risen gradually and last fall the rising of the lake caused the waters of the Chagres river to back up against the great dike at Gamboa. which protected Culebra cut. The flow and the ris- ing continued and for several months the water backed mp against the Gamboa dike has been higher than the bottom of the finished portion of Culebra cut
 Since the morning of June 27 last the gate of the sluices through the ogee of the Gatun spillway has been closed At that time the surface of the water in Gatun lake was 48.3 feet above sea level having been maintained at that level since Janu- ary 1. 1913, when the sluice gates ! were opened. The spillway has been completed and the sluice gates will not be opened again before the final completion of the canal This means ] that the lake is on it's final rise to i the operating level Under conditions of normal runoff of the Chagres and other streams which are pouring their l flow into Gatun lake, where the wa i ter is held confined, it is believed ! that Gatun Lake will reach it's final tlevel of S5 feet above the level of the
 sea about December l of this year. i If the calculations of the engineers have been correct the diversion of
 the waters of the Gatun lake into | Culebra Cut next week should give twenty one foot channel through the
 cut The town of Gorgona would be 1 covered with water and wiped off the
 map.
 The top of the dike at Gamboa is 1 7S.2 feet above sea level, but even if
 the dike should not be blown up. the Ia x.IN
 that height for some time The wa ters now impOunded in Gatun Lake represent the draining of a basin Icomprising 1920 square miles. When the surface of the water in the lake rises to 85 feet, the level at which it will be maintained for the operation of the canal, the lake will have an area of 164 square miles. It will be the largest artificially created lake in the world. There will be 1S3,- 900. 900, 900 cubic feet of water in the
 lake. When the level of the lake is
 S5 feet above sea level there will be
 a depth of -45 feet in Culebra cut.
 After Gamboa dike has been dyna-
 mited and the water from Gatun
 lake has flooded Culebra cut, great
 dredges will be put to work to dredge
 the channel and to remove the enor-
 nous mass or material that will na-
 turally be swept into the cut by the
 inrushing waters of the lake and any
 masses of rock and soil that may
 slide into the cut, having been shaken loose by the shock of the explosion II Although the flooding of the Cule-
 bra Cut will be an event of great
 importance, highly significant in. its
 bearing upon the final achievement
 of the canal, as it will mean the SUD- plying of the last link connecting the
 Atlantic with the Pacific ocean, the
 blowing up of Gamboa dike will not
 be made the occasion of any exten- z, sive official celebration. There will
 be no elaborate exercises and the
 program for the occasion is extreme
 ly simple and matter of fact
 s Col. GOethals, the guiding genius ot I the canal, clad in the white soldiers
 uniform which has made him a con-
 spicuous figure during the work or
 the canal, will occupy a position just
 beyond the mud of the Gatun dam With him will be a little staff of of . ficers and a small number of civiIi- Il (Continued on Page Eleven)