Webster City freeman., 1914-02-17
BIGGER FEAT
THAN THE PANA-
Ma CANAL
Kaiser's Waterway From Baltic to
North Sea Has Larger
Locks.
WILL BE OPENED IN APRIL
Is an Enlargement Of Kiel Canal,
Made Necessary by Larger
Vessels.
WILL BE OPENED IN APRIL

liam expects to steal little march
on President Wilson in canal cele-
brations by opening the enlarged
waterway connecting the Baltic and
North seas probably as early as
which has cost more than the build
ing of the original canal in 1887,
will enable the passage of the big
gest battle ships. The emperor
probably will accomplish this for
the first time by personally COM
manding the main German battle
fleet through the inland waterway
Such worldwide attention has
been directed by the American en-
terprise in connecting the two
oceans that it is scarcely realized
that the German engineers have
been building locks even bigger
than those at Panama. The emper-
or, who is fond of making compari-
SoAo uCI"CSu lis Cdudl anu Ilt
American enterprise, is never weary
of pointing out that American bat
tie ships now under construction
can barely squeeze through the Ga
tun locks. and that the As 900 ton
superdreadnaught which is already
in sight, will have to follow the
path of the Oregon around Cane
Horn to get from the Atlantic to
the Pacific coast.
The German canal wall have locks
eighty-two feet longer, thirty-sev-
en- and one-half feet broader and of
four feet greater draught than those
of Panama and will accommodate al
$4,000 ton battle ship, should naval
future. There is room and two hun
dred feet to spare in them for the
newest and biggest ocean liners of
the Imperator and Aquitania class,
so that ample provision has been
made for possible developments of
commercial navigation as we'll.
The existing canal was opened in
1895, the cruiser Brooklyn, COM
manded by Captain Evans, repre-
senting the United States in the in
ternational naval pageant on that
occasion. 1t runs from Kiel, on the
Baltic, to Brunsbuttel, on the Elbe
estuary, a short distance from the
sea, and cuts off the long and rather
hazardous passage through the Cat
tegat and around the northern end
of Denmark. 1t jumped into i'm
portance Immediately as a maritime
highway and was used by about 20,-
600 vessels during it's first year. The
traffic steadily grew, the canal be-
ing trayersed in 1912 by 57,366 {
ships of 9,824.237 total net tons,
traffic larger than that of the Suez
canal.
To the German navy it was Of
inestimable advantage, enabling a ,
commander to throw the entire fleet I
from one sea to the other in a few
hours and to menace, for example,
an opposing British fleet from points
several hundred miles apart. With
the advent Of dreadnaughts, how
ever, this advantage was lost, as the
old locks, 500 feet long, SO feet wide
and 80 feet deep, were too small to
accommodate the naval monsters,
and it was determined to provide !
larger locks and double the width
of the canal
The new locks, which lack the
height Of those at Pana
ma but are bigger in every other re-
spect, are 1882 feet long panama
1000 feet). 1471s feet wide (Pana-
ma 10 feet, and have mean
depth of As feet of water panama
Al feet) over the sills The new |
canal is 400 feet wide at the sur {
face, $50 feet wide at the bottom of i
the excavation and has been pro-
v'ded with eleven "sidings.'' at f
which vessels may pass. New har- t
bors have been built at each end, a
several sharp curves have been elm S
mated. two new railway bridges $50 t
feet above the canal have been pro- h
vided and other details have
brought the cost of the improve f
ment up to $55.560,000, whereas Il
The original canal cost was only p
s39.218.00e. The enlargement in
volved the excavation Of 100000 p