The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-09-18
So there is something in a mama
after all, especially when one of tho
letters is written indistinctly.
PANAMA CANA WILL SOON RP
"
Small Boats VIII Probably Pas.
Through This Wonderful PASSAGE
Way by October 10.

Way by October 10.
Completion of dry excavation on
the Panama Canal just ten davs
ahead of schedule time. advanced the
work on the great waterway almost
to the final stage Much digging and
cleaning out remains to be done in
Culebra cut and at other points along
the route, but all of this will be ae.
complished by mammoth dredges
floating on the surface of the canal
An army of men will be busy DURING
the next four weeks removing Steam
shovels and other equipment and ma.
terial, including thirty-six miles NJ
railroad track from the nine-m1a
channel in Culebra cut between Gam.
boa dyke and Pedro MIGUEL locks
This is preparatory TO turning wate,
into the channel from the Gatun Lake
on the Atlantic side on Oct. s. five
days in advance of the date set for
the dynamiting of Gamboa dyke. The
water will be introduced through four
forty-two-inch pipes extending under
meath the dixie, and although the five.
day period hardly will suffice to fill
the channel to one-third the canal lev.
i, enough will be let In to act as a
cushion against the explosion when
the dyke is destroyed.
While the cut is being cleared of
railway and equipment, drilling and
blasting will be going on at the bot
! tom of the channel, loosening I'd
rock and earth for the dredges that
soon will be clawing away through
water. On Aug. /, $4,000 cubic
yards remained to be taken out of
he theoretical canal prism" and
since that time the steam shovels
have reduced the amount to approx
mately 100000 cubic yards, which is
left for the dredges. Six of the shoy-
els will be retained, however, for the
work of removing material from the
East and West banks near Cuebra
to lessen danger.
The destruction of Gamboa dyke
will leave only one such obstruction
along the canal Ioute, the dyke over
which the railroad crosses at Gatun
locks and which can be removed at
any time. The last barrier on the
Pacific side, the Mira0Ores dyke, was
dynamited just a week ago, turning
Pacific tide water into channel 5000
feet long, 500 feet wide and Al feet
deep. Dredges are now navigating
this channel, and on the Atlantic side
big suction dredge steamed on Ga
tun Lake up to a point near the Gam
boa dyke ten days ago.
Small vessels probably will be able
/ to pass through the canal from end
to end by Oct 10, and the waterway
should be ready for shipping proper
early in December.
United States Army officers have
begun to prepare the special tackle
and machinery which will be needed
to handle at the piers in New York the
big guns which will be sent on a ship
of the Panama Railroad & Steamship
Company this month to the fortlfica-
tons at the entrances to the Panama
Canal The guns for the Pacific forts
will go first They are one fourteen
inch gun and several six-inch rifles.
The other fourteen-inch gun and the
sixteen-inch one, will not be ready
for several months.
1t has been found advisable to
send these guns by sea from New
York, even though they are intended
for the forts at the Pacific end OF
the canal. At Christobal they will
be put on cars constructed specially
for them and taken across the 18th
mus. The cradles and carriages for
the larger guns have been cast in the
shops at Gorgona and have been
ready for more than month.
Fertilization of the Panama Canal
has in view two points: First, max
ing it impossible for an enemy IN
time of war to take possession of the
waterway. and second. making 1t I'M
possible to injure it to such an eX-
tent that it could not be used by the
navy of the United States. There is
one other way in which the canal
could be made useless as an instru-
ment in the hands of the United
States, and that is by blockade, The
/ forts cannot prevent this, the author
tiles say Nothing but a strong navy
can be of avail in such a case, they
assert.
1.-The forts at the Pacific entrance,
an army officer who returned from
Panama last week said, "are being
constructed on three islands IN
Panama Bay at the very beginning
of the canal-Flamenco, Perico ana
Naos. These islands are great
masses of volcanic rock. BEHIND
/ these rock walls, safe from the fire
of any ship, no matter how near the
forts stand. A whole fleet within
mile of these islands could keep up
steady fire and not injure the i0rtS
or the men in them. In short the
forts themselves and all their APP
purtenances are absolutely safe from
/ injury Meanwhile. however, they
can keep up steady fire, covering
the bay for fifteen miles.
FROZEN FRESH EGGS ENDORSED