Semi-weekly herald., 1913-10-13

lne waters OF the Atlantic and those
of the Pacific were welded today and
the breaking in two of the backbone
of two continents finally was COM
pleted, the United States had ach-
ieved what for two centuries had been
dreamed of, attempted and abandoned
as too gigantic feat for human ef-
fort. Americas triumph in the
building of the canal will be written
down in history as one of the great
est achievements of mankind. 1t will
stand up as a Sphinx and the Pyra-
minds of the modern era, and just
as the ancient Egyptians overcome
what would seem to have been we'll
night insurmountable obstacles in
their task, the United States has un-
dertaken and accomplished in less
than seven years what four other ma
tions of the world tried and despair
ed of from the early part of the six
teenth century.
1t has thrown across the isthmus
an army of men, and these men have
clawed the dreamed of passageway
through mountains of rock. 1t has
opened its purse and poured into the
undertaking flood of nearly 4OO,.
100000 dollars.
1t is hard for those not here on the
scene to appreciate the vastness Of
this work, despite the volumes that
have written about it. but the figures
are staggering. Imagine wall of
earth and tough rock, three feet high
and three across, wrapped five times
around the earth at the equator and
you may get an idea of what is
meant by 2S2,353,OO0 cubic yards of
excavation which the canal work has
called for Or reduce to the picture
of solid block the 4,476,850 cubic
yards of concrete that have gone in
to the construction of the locks and
dams and the spillways. Imagine a
river, varying in width from 300 to
1000 feet and with minimum depth
of Al feet, climbing in great steps
from sea-level to height of So feet,
passing through a nine mile cut in
= mountain, and descending by stairs
again to sea-level, and you have a
glimpse of the Panama canal as it
has been created by hauman hands.
| 1t will be possible to go through the
canal, from ocean to ocean in eleven
hours. 1t took the battleship Oregon
six weeks to pass around the Horn
during the Spanish-American war.
| From deep-water in the Caribbean
sea on the east to deep-water in the
Pacific ocean on the west, the canal
measures a length of so miles. ves-
sells will reach it's summit elevation
| by flight of three locks located at
Gatun, on the Atlantic side, and by
one lock at Pedro Miguel and flight
of two at Miraflores, on the Pacific
side. These steps in the great water
way vary in height from Al to 81
feet, and those at Gatun, the largest
ever designed, can be mounted by the
greatest of vessels in less than half
an hour each. The locks at every
point have been built in duplicate, the
better to accommodate traffic. The
canal has been designed to take care
Of 8O,000,O00 tons of traffic a year,
or four times the amount of COM
merce now passing through the Suez
canal and twice the amount now pass
ing through the American $500
canal.
Uncle Sam began the construction
of the canal nearly seven years ago
Back of that time runs period OF
four centuries, during which time
men were talking of a Panama canal
a period frightened by big dreams
and darkened by the lost fortunes Of
those who sought to make these
dreams materialize. Since the first
hardy adventures of the old world be.
gan seeking western passage to ths
riches in the far east, the thought o1
a canal across the Isthmus Of Pana.
ma has been fixed in the mind Of ths
world. Spain, England, Portugal ant
France have all at some time embark.
ed on the undertaking, only To fail
1t was President Grant who first
gave official utterance to the policy
Of IAN American canal under Amer,
lean CONTROL" and it was Presiden
Roosevelt who substituted the worl
for the words.
u Balboa, driven from home by hi,
creditors, landed on the Isthmus il
1900. To him belongs the credit fol
first conceiving the idea of cana
and being the first to transmit tn,
thought to the world after having or
ganized an expedition which crossed
afoot to the Pacific over what is nov
known among the multitude Of cana
, lines that have been proposed as tn,
Caledonian route. A survey was un
dertaken but the report WAS mad
! that the scheme was impracticable. Ii
1867 Philip II sent engineers to sur
vey the Nicaragua route, but thei
report likewise was unfavorabls
| SDain in 1914. feeling the need O