Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-12-18

For more than 400 years the visiol
Of a canal across the Isthmus OF Pana
ma has fired the imagination of tn
world. The vision became reality Of
October 10, 1918, when Presiden
Woodrow Wilson in the white hous,
at Washington, pressed a button which
sent the electric current 1000 biles t.
explode 40 tons of dynamite which
blew up the last barrier to free wa.
terway across the isthmus.
"Gamboa'sPusted!" exclaimed Presi'
dent Wilson, as he pressed the tele-
graph key. The casualness of his re-
mark was tribute to the engineers OF
the United States army to whom the
rigging of the canal has been simply
another job" in the routine of Their
regular work, and one that called for
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 hum
BILE but useful tugboat was the first
craft of any kind to make the passage
through the great Gatun locks.
On September rs, 1513,, vasco Nunez
de Balboa climbed the peaks of the
Continental Divide and discovered the
Pacific ocean, which he named 1.-THE
South Sea-" From where Balboa stood
his new ocean lay directly south, be-
cause Of the S-shaped twist of the 18TH
mus, which brings the Pacific entrance
to the canal not only southwark, but
eastward Of the Atlantic terminal.
When nalboas report Of his discovery
reached Spain Il was accompanied by
the Recommendation that Q cana! be
Immediately dug across the !sthmus.
What the explorer had Ia mind was
sea-ievel canal. for although Leonardo
do vinci. the great italian palnter-en-
gineer, had recently invented the ny
draulic lock now generally used for
lifting vessels over elecations, N-had
not become widely known. However.
alluring as 1t seemed, the canal pro-
ject was dismissed. According to some
its rejection was due main
ly to the influence of the church. To
the simple faith of that day it appear
ed clear that If God had intended the
to flow across the isthmus, He
would have created channel there.
The discovery Of gold in California
In 1s4S, was followed by Tremendous
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
opened in 1855 by Americans
under a concession from the republic
Of New Granada, now known as Col
umbia. The explorations 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 O the topography and ge-
DIogy of the isthmus than had previous
" been available. President Grant, in
1859, asked congress to take up the
matter of canal. The only action was
a resolution providing for an explora-
ton by officers of the navy and the Gre
alton of commission, in 1872, to con-
6 der their reports. Then, in May, 1876,
the republic of Columbia granted a
concession for the construction of a.
canal from Colon to Panama, the ter
minals of the Panama railroad, to Lieut.
Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse, an
officer of the French army.
In 1894, a new French company was
organized and work resumed. In 1899,
the United States congress created the
isthmian canal commission, to exam
inc all practicable routes and to re-
port which was the most practicable
and feasible for canal under the
control, management and ownership 81