The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-01-28

| end to them. They make excellent
| I-beams for the sides of dump and
other cars and are also largely used in
reinforcing concrete structures in
many places even including the edges
of curbing for street sidewalks.
Bridges of short spans have also been
| built of these rails and they have been
! put to more uses than can be men
| toned offhand. Whoever bought
| them bought with great 1iberality, to
| put the matter mildly.
Everything about the whole canal
! is on a big scale, even though the
success of the largest may depend on
| the proper working out of the small
er details. The locks at Gatun will
| life the vessels SIS feet from the sea
level to that of the lake, which is
| formed by the huge Gatun dam. The
lake will cover 164 square miles and
flow the water from the locks at Ga
tun through the great Culebra cut and
to the locks on the Pacific side at Pc
dro Miguel. The locks will accommo-
date vessels 1000 feet long by 10 feet
wide and drawing As feet of water.
But as the average vessel in the trop-
zeal trade is under 500 feet long, aux
iliary or intermediate gates are pro-
Vided that 40 per cent of the wa
ter for locking vessels can be saved
unless the vessel exceeds 500 feet.
The Gatun locks are about + 1-S
miles long, of solid concrete and form
the largest concrete structure in the
world. They are double, to allow the
passage of vessels in both directions at
the same time if necessary. Electric
LOGON olives ahead. behind and on both
sides will tow the vessels through the
locks, both to save time and to pre-
vent damage to the locks themselves.
The overflow OF the Gatun dam will
provide electric power for the Iocomo-
tives and probably for all the uses of
power along the Canal Zone.
The lock gates are steel structures,
each leaf weighing aDout $50 tons.
They are about II feet high, z feet
wide and feet thick. There are go
leaves, for there are IS pairs of gates
An idea of their bulk may be had by
noting that if they were laid fiat, one
on top of the other, the pile would be
higherlfhan the Singer tower The
riveting problem is also interesting.
Counting 800 rivets as a good days
work for a single gang of riveters, it
would take them year to rivet up a
single leaf or 90 years to complete the
lot.
The whole administration of the
shop and storehouses is under the ar
my in it's various branches The
stores come under the quarterma ster's
department, and the storehouses are
splendfdly kept in every way. EN-
pIoyes all have a brass check or tag
number. This tag is the open sesame
to all commission stores. Here the
employees can buy anything at cost,
usually much cheaper than the same
thing can be secured in New York or
any Northern city.
At Cristoba1 are the main store
houses. the .Governm emit. ice factory,
ice cream factory, bakery and laun-
dry. Early every morning the sup
ply train usually of 21 cars, starts out
to supply the smaller sIorehouses aud
distributing points along the Isthmus
And there are very few of the neces-
stiles and even 1uxuries which cannon
be secured from the main stores and
sent to you at short notice.
These seem strange when we think
OF canal digging, but show conclusive
ly that it is the attention to details
that brings success no matter how
large the enterprise. Men would not
were healthy and congenial This
meant comfortable quarters for their
wives and children. This in turn ne
cessitated the adoption of a complete
school system, including a high school
which ranks. second to none as a
meant recreation centers and z NJ
G. A. buildings for the men and wo-
mems clubs for the women. All
strangely out of place and seeming
extravaganza in tropical climate and
for temporary job, but all absolute
~ necessary to the successful build
ing of the canal in record time as has
been done.
This same thing has been carried
out in the details of shop manage
ment and the buying of proper mater
ials to work with. We go into large
or small machine shops and pay all
our attention to the machines and
never see the belts that drive them
and without which they would be of
almost no use. And the belt problem
is one of the worst that comes up, es-
pecia11y in shops in tropical countries
The ideas of heat in the Canal Zone
perature rarely goes over SO degrees
is not the only factor in these, CHI
mates.
Imagine sitting down at the table on
a damp, rainy day and pressing with
your knife on the salt in the salt cell
lar and see moisture stand in drops
on the knife. Salt shakers are out
of the question, and envelopes are
made without gum to prevent their
being accidentally sealed when not
wanted. This gives you some idea. of
the dampness in the atmosphere.
1t is not so hot as you expect. but
you perspire at the slightest provoca-
ton and sometimes without any prov
ocation at all. Your clothes NAV be
fact, unless you put them in the tight
wardrobes usually provided And
your boots insist on getting nnouIdy
unless they are wiped dry when put
away. and even this is not sure pre-
ventative.