The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-09-04

rocks and dirt fall as one after another
the explosions ROAR down the v
We are told of the slides, and We see
small ones coming down the noun
tainside. A particular hill We are
passing has moved forward 50 feet;
here before us the ground buckles
ais the opposite banks crowd toward
one another. Such industry never be-
fore fell beneath the sight of human
eyes; it would seem that those great
walls, hundreds of feet high on either
side, would tumble in upon us, yet our
car pushes on and on, down through
the nine miles of the cut, and were
not most of it finished, and We're not
most of the slides dead" the final
accomplishment would seem impOssi-
BILE. 1t is a seething, moving kaleido-
scope-moying too fast to watch it all;
beside the hill and the deep eXcava-
tons these steam shovels seem like
children's toys, though we realize that
this immensely has startled modern
engineering enterprises; the trains
seem ridiculously insignificant, yet We
know they represent the heaviest i'm
plements of transportation. My hat
has been forgotten. Someone says:
And Gothals bosses all this?" The
reply is: God Almighty is the power
here" Yes, it is too big, toe colossal
for human hands, for even Yankee en-
deavor-truly this is the undertaking
of God Almighty-and He directs His
children at Panama.
I've got this thing through my
head today" one of our party con
fessed, and confidentially | remarked:
land so have l." Again and again /
was to hear this confession from those
who were for the first day on the
Isthmus. So then why describe in de-
tail-it is so hopeless. Suffice to re-
late:
Water seeks its level, and the At
lantic and Pacific are of exact height;
the tides rise twenty feet on the
Pacific, twenty inches on the Atlantic.
The surface of the water elevation
in the canal will be 50 feet above the
sea.
The Gatun locks on the Atlantic
side lift the water the entire So feet,
while the Pedro Miguel and Mira
Flores locks divide this same task
lifting ships the am 50 feet; but the
depth of the Culebra cut (inside the
locks), is but 45 feet.
To understand the canal imagine
sets of locks ove thirty miles apart.
Between them lies a high stretch of
land, parts of which are mountainous.
There is a ditch part of the way, and
over a great portion a lake, called
Gatun. A mighty river, the Chagres,
pOurs into this lake, and water find
ing it's level, backs it's way through to
the locks. Forget the 'spillway,"
which though important, carries away
all the waste water. That's the canal.
This canal will cost $4,000, 600.
Boats will pass through the canal
in eight to ten hours.
The area of the canal zone is 436
square miles. It's width 10 miles.
Work commenced by United States
May 4, 1904. Gates and cement work
are practically complete, and the fall
rains of the coming season, beginning
in october are expected to fill Gatun
Lake by January l, 1914.
The formal opening of the canal is
set for January !, 1915. Small craft
will, however, pass through the canal
a full year ahead Of this.
Fertilization work is being placed
at both ends of the canal.
All the buildings in the canal zone
have been built by the United States
government, and every employee is
comfortably housed, surrounded by
every modern convenience