Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-21
FLOODING Of CULEBRA
CUT MARKS END Of TASK
Ditch in Which Major Portion of Work in Zone
Has Been Done Will Be Flooded October 5.
Labor Worlds Most Remarkable Engineer
ing Feat.

The greatest diggers the world has
ever known have laid aside their
shovels. The biggest ditch on this
earth of ours has been dug. Culebra
Cut is about to be filed with the
waters through which vessels in a few
short months will be steaming on
voyages between the Atlantic and the
Pacific via the Panama Canal. AL
ready a test has been made Of the
ability Of the locks to stand the water
pressure. The experiment was sue
cessful.
The work of the army of steam
shOvels which for nine years have
been eating their way through the
vitals of the lsthmian mountains
came to an end a week ago. Work
men are now engaged in taking out
of the nine mile Culebra Cut the
machinery, tracks and other equip
ment preparatory to the letting in Of
the waters. This will begin gradually
on October 8, and five days later the
sole barrier between the waters of
the vast Gatun Lake and the cut viii
be demolished by dynamite. With the
blowing out of the Gamboa dixie there
will disappear the last obstruction
with the exception of the canal locks
themselves between the waters of the
two oceans.
To be sure there remain in Culebra
Cut few million cubic yards of earth
and stone which must be taken out
before the job can be declared COM
plete. But what is this task COM
pared to the removal of the 100, 900,
GOO cubic yards of material already
taken out of the cut. especially when
any one of the fleet of dredges which
are to do the work can get away with
6S5 cubic yards of material an hour?
The force which has to its credit
marvellous succession Of worlds rec
ord breaking performances in digging
can be counted upon to make short
work of the finishing touches to the
big job
Biggest Job of Digging.
To the mind of the engineer there
are many features of the work OF
building the Panama Canal which
presented much greater difficulties,
much more intricate problems than
the digging of Culebra Cut. But to
the lay mind the making of the canal
has always presented itself as a JOB
of ditch digging the biggest job of
it's kind ever known. to be sure, but
still essentially work for diggers. And
even the engineers who have worked
out all the niCetieS of the task of lock
construction are obliged to admit that
the digging has been the fundamental
of the great canal now so near COM
pletion. that it has been the body of
which locks and dams and other fea-
lures have been but the limbs.
That is why the practical compile
ton Of Culebra Cut is an event 50
thoroughly worthy of notice by the
American people for whose benefit It
fnp ig in,
that the bulk of the canal digging has
been done. 1t is also the cut which is
making the Panama Canal possible.
What is Culebra CUT 1t is simple
enough when expressed in figures,
quickly spoken. 1t is a great ditch,
nine miles long, avera ging 120 feet in
deDth not less than 300 feet wide at
the bottom, and from a quarter to a
half mile wide at the top. Its bot
tom lies A. feet above the level OF
the sea, and will soon be covered with
water TO a minimum depth of 40 feet,
and thus will great part of the
work which has been done there be
cbscured.
100000 Yards Moved.
The cut represents the removal of
more than 13O,O00,0O0 cubic yards
of earth, counting what both the
French and the American diggers did.
The Americans alone viii have spent
about 100000, 600 n the cut when 1t
is all finished.
Passing through the canal from the
Atlantic side. Culebra Cut lies at the
distant end of Gatun Lake, that arti
fetal body of water, "a miles long
with a surface area of 1914 square
miles, which has been created at Pan
ANA. Gatun Lake will be S. feet
above the level OF the sea. and with
the blowing out Of the Gamboa Dixie
rext month vessels will be afforded
continuous passage from Gatun Dam,
across the lake and through the cut
without encountarlng any locks.
The cast difference between the
estimates Of the amount of work nee
essary to make Culebra Cut and what
actually has been done shows with