The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1913-10-10
EARTH TREMBLED WITH
GAMBOA DYKE BLOWOUT
PRESIDENT WILSON TOUCHED THE BUTTON
GIVING THE SIGNAL FOR THE EXPLOSION.
PANAMA CANAL NOW REALITY
Two Oceans Meet the Final Barrier is Blown
Away--Smaller Vessels Will be Pushing Through
The Canal Before Fortnight.

times around the earth at the equator
and you may get an idea of what is
meant by 232,353,O cubic yards of
excavation which the canal work has
called for. Or reduce to the picture
of solid block the 4,476,850 cubic
yards of concrete that have gone into
the construction of the locks ana the
dams and spillways Imagine a river,
varying in width from 300 to 1000 feas
and with minimum depth of Al feet,
climbing in great steps from sea-level
to height of S5 feet. passing through
a nine mile cut in a mountain, and des-
cending by stairs again to sea-level.
and you have Il glimpse OF the Panama
canal as it has been created by human
hands. 1t will be possible to go
through the canal from ocean to
ocean in eleven hours. 1t took the
battleship Oregon six weeks to pass
around the Horn during the Spanish
American war. From deep water 4
the caribbean sea ON the east to deep
water i'll the Pacific ocean on the west
the canal measures a length of so
miles. Vessels will reach its summit
elevation by flight of three locks 10
Gated at Gatun, on the Atlantic side,
and by one lock at Pedro Misuel anl a
flight of two at Mirafores on the Pa
cific side. These steps in the great
waterway vary in height from II to So
feet, and those at Gatun, the largest
ever designed, can be mounted by the
greatest vessels in less than half an
hour each. The locks at every point
have been built in duplicate the better
to accommodate traffic. The canal has
been designed to take care of 80000,-
600 tons of traffic year, or fouRtime5
the amount of commerce now passing
through the Suez canal and twice the
now passing through the
American 500" canal.
Started Seven Years Ago.
Uncle Sam began construction of
the canal nearly seven years ago. Back
of that time runs a period of four CEN
turtles, during which time men were
talking of a Panama canal, q period
frightened by big dreams, and darken.
ed by the lost fortunes of those who
sought to make these dreams mater
alize. Since the first hardy adven-
-urers of the old world began seeking
4 western passage to the riches in the
'ar east, the thought of a canal across
he Isthmus of Panama has been fixed
n the mind of the world Spain, Eng
and, Poatugal and France have all at
some time embarked on the undertake
ng, only to fail II was President
Grant who first gave official utterance
o the jolicy of IAN American canal
lnder American CONTROL" and it was
President Roosevelt who substituted
he work for the words
Balboa First There.
Balboa, driven from home by his
reditors. landed on the Isthmus in
500. To him belongs the credit for
rst conceiving the idea of canal and
eing the first to transmit the thought
0 the world after having organized an
xpedition which crossed afoot to the
'acifc over what is now known among
he multitude of canal lines that have
cen proposed as the Caledonian route.
survey was undertaken but the de-
ort was made that the scheme was
npracticable. In 1867 Philip ii sent
ngineers to survey the Nicaragua
Spain in 1914, feeling
lie need of restoring her waning pres
ge in Central America, entered upon
by decree Before any
ctual work could be started, however,
lie Central and South American colo
les obtained their independence. Eng
nd took hand in the proposition In
e latter part of the eighteenth CEN
ry and early nineteenth, when she
Id Lord Nelson and Baron Won Hum
,ldt make surveys of various routes.
resident Bolivar of the republic OF
ew Granada in 1926 gave franchise
+ a canal at Panama to Baron Thier-
!, a Freedman, and then commission
]. A. Lloyd British engineer to
rvey the isthmus for either road or
canal
Some Early History.
The year 1885 really marks the en-