The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-01-08

can port on the Atlantic side OF the
isthmus. Every inch Of the 501s
miles to the extreme point Of the
canal breakwater at the Pacific en-
trance was seen before the president
sailed for home on December 26.
At Cristobal the president saw .
mammoth new concrete dock. 1000
feet in length nearly completed; also
a modern concrete hotel, four stories
In height. for Uncle Sans employees
and visitors.
As the canal looks Imagine
the waters Of the Atlantic almost lap
ping the edges of the Gatun locks, q
lake 13 miles long entirely artificial
Ito the Culebra cut; then stagger-
ing, dizzy abyss of the cut" another
lock at Pedro Miguel, another lake a
mile long two more docks, muddy
channel teeming with dredges and
/. steam shoyels, and then four miles or
completed canal, filled with the emer~
ald-blue waters of the Pacific That
,, Is the canal as 1t is today, from At.
lantic to Pacific.
Seventy-five feet below the Gatun
locks three steam dredges are such
! ing out mud from the last brief bar
! rier Of earth to the Atlantic ocean.
| Thanking this last cut is the old
French canal, almost filled in with
| vegetation by the magic hand OF ma
ture in the tropics. The dixie of dirt
between the locks and the channel
! leading to the Atlantic is barely a
quarter of mile long. Beyond the
dredges, the canal is completed for
| Its entire distance OF about three
miles to Cristobal.
| A network OF overhead tramways,
! transporting mountains Of rock and
concrete, are the guardians Of the
! Gatun locks. These locks-three pairs
and donble-are nearly completes
/ Long inclined concrete runways for
/ electric engines to mount the extreme
I pinnacle of he locks, in towing yes
4 sells, are nearly finished. A small har,
Dor with abutment walls, to nestle
/ the merchant fleets OF nations before
entering, are almost completed. A
mammoth concrete wall, 100 feet IN
! height and 1000 feet IN length, is
being finished 20 divide the entrances
! to the double row Of locks. Installa-
/ ton Of steel buffers. operated with
! springs of high tension to protect the
! delicate sides of vessels, only remains
to be done.
Interior work of the locks, each l.
4 900 seet in length and 40 feet wide
! and each elevated like giant steps OF
! a mighty marine ladder, is practically
finished The steel gates. Hike the
sides of a skyscraper, are all installed
!. Electrical machinery, hidden beneath
the concrete abutments at the sides
is in operation. President Taft saw
them slowly swing open and shut
Il all in three minutes. Only the buffers
4 remain to be Installed, and the bot
!. tom of the locks, where men viewed
from the crest. appear like pygmies
. is to be cleaned Of debris
Above the three pairs of locks, jeal
ously guarding their mighty but den
cate mechanism, Is another harbol
and abutment wall of 1000 feet, di
z viding the upper entrance. Range
!. lights have been erected at night tt
, guide canal mariners to the mouth o
the Atlantic side.
Like mammoth steel bridge, SHIN
} mering red in the tropic sun above
the locks, is the emergency dam, al
most completed. This dam is in twt
sections, like drawbridge, to swim:
/, is mighty bulk before the uppe
J mouth of the locks in case The ma
, chinery of the locks should be broker
: and the locks left open. The emery
I ency dam is intended to be swunl
! out and dropped--a powerful shiel'
: of steel plates, 100 feet high, and 90
! feet in width.
) Ranking only next to Culebra Gu
t at the west side of the locks is tn
Gatun dam. This great mountain ha
9 been built to harness the turbulen
D Chagres river and form great lake
. of 1874 acres. For, contrary to genel
8 al belief. the water In the canal is t
. be entirely fresh. Hardly drop Q
n salt wafer will enter its portals. TIL
entire canal is IS feet above sea leve
{ This height is maintained Throughout
y almost its entire length, except wher
n the dips to the ocean level are mad
i by means of the locks.
AS there are three locks at Gatul
raising vessels IS feet, so are Their
9 three locks at the Pacific end-one 9
i Pedro Miguel and two at Miraflore
s to lower vessels S5 feet. All of th
h water to float vessels will be obtaine
Il from the artificial lakes, one a. Gatu
8 and the other at Miraflores. But til
p Gatun lake, manufactured literally b
man, is the result of the Gatun dar
II The dam is one in name only. Toda
n 1t appears to be the crest of ii
g small mountain, reaching from tt
Y western range OF mountains into tt
A valley whore the Gatun locks lie
o was built almost entirely with ear,