The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1913-12-05
The Wonder Story
Of the Panama Canal.

tBy Frank p. s.cckbridee in the December
Popular Mechanics uiagaztne)
For more than 400 years the vision
OF canal across the 1sthmus Of Pan
anna has fired the imagination Of the
world. The vision became a reality
on October 10, 1913, when President
Woodrow Wilson, in the White
House at Washington, pressed
button which sent the electric current
1000 miles 10 explode 40 tons Of
dynamite which blew up the last
barrier 10 free waterway across the
isthmus.
Gamboa $ busted" exclaimed
the President, as he pressed the tele-
graph key. The casualness Of his
remark was tribute to the engin-
GERS Of the United States army, to
whom the digging of the canal has
been simply another job" in the
routine Of their regular work, and
one that called Tor no brass bands or
special ceremonies to glorify it.
With the same simplicity, the first
vessel to pass through the famous
Culebra cut, after the breaking Of the
Gamboa dixie had let in the water,
was an ordinary rowboat, while a
humble but useful tugboat was the
first craft Of any kind to make the
passage through the great Gatun
Locks.
While the work at Panama is still
far from completed, yet the canal
which the first Spanish explorers
visualized is today an accomplished
fact. For the first time since the
mountains rose from the sea, there
is continuous water passage across
the isthmus. Ships as large as most
Of those Of Balboa's day can already
be foated from ocean to ocean.
On September Is, 1913, Vasco
Nunez de Balboa climbed the peaks
of the Continental divide and discov-
the Pacific ocean, which he named
The South Sea-" From where
Balboa stood his new ocean lay
directly south, because Of the S.
shaped twist Of the isthmus, which
brings the Pacific entrance to the
canal not only southwark but east
ward Of the Atlantic terminal. When
Balboa's report of his discovery
reached Spain, it was accompanied
by the recommendation that a canal
be Immediately dug across the
isthmus. What the explorer had in
mind was a sea-level canal, for
although Leonardo da Vinci, the
great Italian painter-engineer, had
recently invented the hydraulic lock
now generally used for lifting vessels
over elevations, it had not become
widely known. However, alluring
as it seemed, the canal project was
dismissed.
The discovery Of gold in California
in l848, was followed by a tremend-
Gus volume of traffic between the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts and for IS
years practically all of this traffic was
by way Of the isthmus, over the
Panama railroad, opened in 1855 by
Americans TN der concession from
the republic CT New Granada, now
known as Colombia. The explora-
tons and sur veys for the railroad, a
work that is said to have cost the life
OF man for every tie, led to much
more accurate knowledge Of the to-
biography and geology Of the isthmus
than had previously been available.
President Grant. in 1869, asked Con-
gress to take up the matter of a
canal. The only action was resolu-
ton providing for an exploration by
officers Of the = avy and the creation
of a commissio.a. in 1872, to consider
their reports. Then, in May, 1876,
the republic Of Colombia granted
fer the construction of
canal from, Colon to Panama, the
terminals of the Panama railroad, to
Lieut.. Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte
Wyse, an officer of the French army.
In 1894, new French company
voS OrOay,izoA - ~ ,,ori, ,yoc roc,,,