Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1913-10-11
BLOWING UP OF
THE GAMb0A dixie
Discharge Resembled Heavy
Artillery Firing at a
Distance.
OCEAN WATER IS IN
Was the Final Step in the COmplet.
ion OF the, Panama Canal
Is 10 Niles Long.

several thousand pOuHuS VI uyHdHiltC
in thirty charges, were today exploded
in the Gamboa dixie, allowing the
| through Culebra cut.
| After the smoke and spray OF the
heavy charge had cleared away.
steam dredges We're Immediately put
to work dredging out the channel.
When this work is completed, and the
! water IN Gatun Lake has risen to a
sufficient height to flood Culebra cut
to the forty-f4se foot level the Pana-
ma canal will be ready for navigation.
Although the blowing up of the
| Gamboa dixie today, might be termed
| the final step in the completion Of the
canal, in that it removed the remain
ing barrier with the exception of the
locks, it was devoid of any spectacu-
lar setting Five days ago the first
water from Gatun Lake was led into
Culebra cut through several pipes.
g
explosion today The charge sof dy
Mantle were distributed in such a
manner as to merely loosen the ma
terial composing the dixie, allowing
the water to trickle through and cut
it's own channel
While the waters of Gatun Lake
now flow north into the Atlantic and
south into the Pacific. much work yet
remains to be done before heavy
draught vessels can be sent from one
ocean to the other. The rank trOpi-
cal Vegetation has grown up in many
places in the giant Culebra cut and
some of it still remains in the bottom
of Gatun Lake, the immense artific-
canal system. This will have to be
removed by the steam dredges and
scoops before the canal can be de-
clared complete.
With more work to be done, it
would not be consistent, according to
Col. Cocktails, to make a spectacle OF
the joining of the waters of the At
|; ntic and the Pacific. So everything
Was quietly prepared and just as
quietly executed. The spurts of mud
and silt thrown up by the explosion
OF giant blasts are so common on the
canal especially in the neighborhood
of Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake, that
no particular attention is paid them.
This nearing of the end Of nine
years of toll on the part of the engi-
neers and workmen on the isthmus is
has been accomplished in building the
canal The Chagres River has been
turned into lake, 16l acres in eX-
tent by impounding it's water back OF
the Gatun Dam. This dam is a mile
and half in length and 100 feet high.
united the high hills on either side of
the river. Without considering the
other features of the canal, the con-
struction of the dam alone was feat
of ongineeeing to test the skill of the
American technicians.
Then the digging of the Culebra Cut,
ditch nine miles in length. 300 feet
to 500 wide at the bottom, and from a
| thousand feet to half a mile wide at
! ~, hn icf y,
which approach mountains in size
was a task of gigantic proportions
| Fully three-fourths of all the rock
and soil taken out of the entire canal
was removed from Culebra cut. In
addition to the actual digging of the
ditch. the slides on the banks of the
cut increased the amount TO soil taken
out about fifteen million cubic yards
Another dam was constructed at the
lower end of Miraflores Lake. This
lake lies between the lower end OF
| Culebra Cut and the channel leading
into the Pacific. At the upper end Of
the lake is the Pedro Miguel lock anG
at the lower end mile and hall
away are the two Mraflores locks.
A ship passing from the Atlantic tc
the Pacific will enter the cana
through the deep waterway dredgeG
in Limon Bay, on which Colon is sit
uated. Passing into the canal chan.
mel it will steam for seven miles a,
sea level until it reaches Gatun.
Here it will enter the:series Of. three
locks and be lifted 81 feet to the sur
face of Gatun Lake. Across the lake
to the entrance of Culebra cut is q
distance of about "A miles. At Bas
Obispo the vessel will enter the Cut
which is really an arm of the lake
a. pread.--Model paKcrysi - z
: 49, Y tonef is'n'