The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-18
ng the a

is one that the officials here refuse to
discuss. They will not allow photographs
to be made near the forts and SO far but
little accurate information has been given
outside that I'm the proceedings of Con- !
gress OF what will be necessary to pro- =
tect the canal.
The evidence, however. is that the work
is going rapidly on. The Pacific Islands
have been cut into shape and the work
of installing the big guns at the Ats
lantie entrance will soon be under way.
Congress has already appropriated mora
than S2,500.000 for the Qualifications, and
ii has been decided to erect them on the
Islands of Flamenco. Perico and Naos.
out in the Pacific. facing Balboa: and on
Toro point and on Margarta Island. in
the Atlantic. There will also be forts
on the mainland. There will be coast
defense camp on the Naos breakwater not
far fro mthe shore, and there Will be
other camps scattered over the isthmus
along the line of the canal
The land forts will be made that tho
locks will be amply protected. and so
that any invading army could be keps
away from them i'm case of war. As a
protection against invasion the whole OF
the canal zone Is to be made military
reservation. The greater part of this Is
a jungle, which along the edges of Gatun
lake and at the approaches thereto is
composed of swamps filed with trees. so
bound together with lianas that it would
be impossible for troops to make theft
way through them except with the ak
and the saw. Any one going over the
line of the Panama railroad can see how
difficult Ii would be for an army to ad-
vance through this Jingle, under fire, or
to make any kind of an attack ON this
locks.
The plans so far include the use of the
largest of the disappearing guns on ths
island fortifeations and also of big guns
and mortars the shore. At Fort
Grant. which is the general name given
to the fortiflcation on Perico, Flamencp
and Naos islands. there will be one 1c-
inch gun and six 14-ineh guns, besides
a number of 6-inch guns and howitzers.
The biggest of the guns will carry a
proiectile weighing a ton, or as much
as two horses could haul a wagon for
a distance, for over 20 miles at shot.
and they Will be deicately hung that
they can be aimed as accurately as tho
mountaineer aims when he shoots out
the eye of squirrel with his rifle.
The 14-ineh guns will carry shells
weighing over 1000 pounds each, and
these viii fly forth from the muzzle at
speed so rapid that IL 1t We're kept up
one could go from Washington to Phil.
adelphia In less than minute and clear
around the world In less than four hours.
1t will talte a65 pounds of powder for
each charge. and the projeetlles Will go
through flee feet of wrought iron. There
will be 20 rounds of ammunition ON hand
or enough for each gun to keep 1t firing
steadily for two hours. provided a She.
could be made every two minutes. II
is doubtful whether this could be done,
the guns would be too hot from the
friction. The big guns and mortars ar.
intended to defent the canal from attack
by water, although they will also cover
he fnn tbo Daa
island VIII amply protect Taboga, AMI
those on the Atlantic will keep the naval
vessels of the enemy eight or ten miles
away. A single one of their shots would
destroy a battleships, which represents
a cost of 100000 or $4,000, 900. and
which 1t would take years TO replace
Another feature of the 1ortifications
will be searchlghts with reflectors as big
around cart wheels. There will be
IA of these. each five feet in diameter.
They are being made at a cost of s20,0o1
apiece. and the lights thrown by them
will reach as far as the range of the
guns Indeed. the electric lighting II
the isthmus. including the searchlights,
is one of the wonders of the construc.
ton.
The searchlights can be seen for from
u to IS miles off at sea and the ranse
lights will be from $500 to 1900 candle
have $50 candlepower. Each light has its
own Characteristic and there are combl-
nations of flashes which will tell tho
canal operators just where each light il.
on the locks themselves Tungsten bulbs
of 800 watt power will be used and in
the operating tunnels there will be nv-
merous lights and refleetors. There will
be $50 such reflectors at Gatrn and 1,6
at Pedro Miguel and Mirafiores.
Speaking of the defense of the locks [
recently aslSedj Colonel Goethals whether
they might not be destroyed by charges
of dynamite dropped from flying ma
chimes. He replied that the dynamite
would have to be carefully located to d.
any damage and that such a thing was
impossible Colonel Goethals says that
the dynamite charges would have to Re
placed between the gate and the lock in
such way that the man would need to
he on the ground to do 1t and that II a
dynamite charge We're dropped from 4
flying machine upon the locks or on the
lock walls. 1t could not do much damage
II would have to be placed behind the
locks to be effective Indeed. every
thing of this kind has been carefully
considered in the protection and fortssi-
cation of the canal The work is very
comprehensive and II will include the
caring for 10000 troops In case of war
am told that the chief experts of QUE
army and navy believe that the arrange.
ments Will be ample to protect the canal