Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-05-27

end. 1t reminds me of the days when
as school boy | studied physiology.
The Panama canal looks like the IL
lustration of the human stomach with
the alimentary canal and the
duodenum attachment. The stomach
part is Gatun lake, the great artificial
body of water bottled up in the in
terror of the isthmus where ocean
going vessels will steam along for
twenty-four miles, 85 feet above sea
level.
GATUN LAKE.
Approaching as we did from the
Atlantic side we will follow the canal
first to Gatun by channel 500 feet
wide at the bottom. Here a flight of
three locks rises to the summit level
of IS feet. This brings you into
Gatun lake which is an artificial body
of water formed by damming Chagres
river. Through the "a miles of
this lake the channel will be from
1000 to 500 feet in width. Boats
will go ahead here at full speed. AS
the lake becomes settled and cleared
of deposist and decayed vegetation I
can forsee that this part of the
journey will in the future prove very
interesting. At present the lake is
covered in places with moss and
vegetation which have torn loose
from the bottom and the dead palms
standing partly submerged look ghost
~ in their solitude. Covering as it
does 1874 square miles of land former
" covered by the jungle and forest,
and in some cases even towns, it is
reasonable to suppose that as the
waters kill the vegetation and loosen
the boys, timber and MOSES, that the
surface will become covered with all
kinds of floating things. Even now
there are vast patches of floating
islands resting here and there upon
the lake. But in time this will be
minor factor and as the trop1c
vegetation adapts itself to the shores
of the new lake, which in this lati-
tude will be but short time, the ap-
pearance will be suggestive of
permanency, as though it had always
been. Out upon the broad surface of
the lake the ships will steam, over
town sites wiped out by rising waters,
across the bed of the old Panama
railroad, leaving the locks behind a
bend in the channel. The scene will
be one of idyllic grandeur.
A SCENE OF TROPIC BEAUTY
In the distance the blue foot hills
of the children of the Andes-the
Cordilleras, slope gradually away
from the shores of the lake. The
ship will move smoothly under her
own steam at this point and with
every mile of travel new vistas will
open before the eyes of the beholder.
Tropical foliage, the tall graceful
cocoanut palm, banana trees and
thousands of tropical plants in full
bloom with hundreds of colors to
dazzle the eye. Occasional orchids
will be espied clinging to some trunk
or branch and strange water fowl
will add a touch of life to the scene.
All this will be attended by the bril-
lance of the tropic sun shedding
down its splendor on a scene temper
ed by the spice-laden breezes which
at this altitude and on this open
stretch of water will be a factor in
adding to the comfort of the journey
Imagination plays with reality.
Out here in Gatun Lake one finds it
difficult to realize that we are
traversing a continental pathway.
Where the Great Divide looms
straight ahead and the mountains
take on majestic heights, it seems
incongruous that a ship of commerce,
or perchance great battleship should
be floating over the waters of this
inland sea, penetrating the heart of
the tropics at an altitude of 85 feet.
Were we assured that we were in
some landlocked lake in the Adiron
dacks it would seem more real and we
look around for the familiar birch
bark canoe to carry out the simili-
tude. But in looking our gaze is
once more held by the Autographed
landscape and the comparison van
ishes.
Again we find the illusion destroy
ed as we sight the light houses of
glistening concrete tucked away land
ward as range lights to guide the
mariner over the waters of the lake
at night. The route leads directly
over the site of the abandoned town
of Gargona where the top of the base