The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-20

tCopyrighted, 1914, by Frank G. Car
penter.)
WASHINGTON HOTEL, Colon,
Panama.-The Panama Canal is prac-
tically completed. The waist Of the
new world has been sliced In two at
the middle. and North America and
South America have been changed
from pe~ninsulas TO islands With the
exception of the gates of the locks,
there Is now a clear stretch Of water
from ocean to ocean,, and within a
month or SO after this letter is pub
IIshed the mighty steamers of the
Atlantic and the Pacific will be climb
ing up and down this waterway from
one great ocean to the other.
1t is difficult to realize that the
great job is almost done. Still. this
conviction fills tire air. and with it
comes the thought that the people OF
the future will never appreciate the
enormous labor and cost Of the work.
That for which we have spent hun
dreds of millions Of dollars is now
under the water. The Culebra cut
looks much like an ordinary river
flowing between the banks Of living
green, and Lake Gatum seems to have
been there since the subsiding of the
waters of Noah's food. h only
real work going on in the canal just
now is the dredging of the hanne
at Culebra and the putting on the
frills at the locks. The centerS OF in
dustry have been transferred from
the canal itself to the terminals. where
docks, machine shops and warehouses
: OF enormous dimensions are being
constructed.
About the busiest part of the 18TH
mus, compared to that OF the past,
Is Balboa, the new port on the Pa
otAc unrn fhoy oro oxN0NatinO the
mighty dry dock which will hold the
largest ships that loaf the seas. They
are constructing foundries n ma.
chine shops, covering acres. and are
putting up mammoth planning mill!
that are already filed with lumber
from Puget Sound and our eastern
coast. At this point there are ten!
OF thousands Of men working. Trains
OF cars go flying along loaded Will
spoil as they did in the days Of tn
active excavation OF Culebra. A larg'
force is erecting the framework o
structural steel and glass. and farthe
out near the ocean they are buildin,
the piers and docks at which tn
will lie. These piers will b
1000 feet long. and have slips 80
feet wide In which ships can anchor.
The new railroad across the 18th
nus has been completed. IT wind
it's way around the enlarged Lake o
Gatum and takes the passengers ia
away from the line OF the canal. ]
is now run by oil-burning engine:
and in passing from one side Of tn
isthmus to the other one travel
through a tropical garden withoU
cinders or dust. From the Pacific en-
of the railroad, about half-wa
across. the structural steel arms Of
great transmission line have bee
put up on both sides Of the tract
These arms are, l judge. thirty fe.
high. They are boited to cement CO
umns. and are joined by bridges ruI
ming across the track from post
post far overhead. On ach end
these bridges are appliances for ca,
rying the cables of copper wire tn
will conve the current of electrici'
generated by the overflow of the G.;
tun dam. n electric plant for tn
current as now being installed, at
the buildings are almost complete
They are made OF concrete and stes
At this electric plant there will
developed by the water falling on tn
bires a wee OF 5000 kilowatts, viii,
will be sent by cables to the locks,
the range towers and to the 9th
electric light plants.
The current will be strong enou;
To furnish ali the power needed I
operating the canal. for lighting t
towns at either end and also for I
machine shops, foundries a
other works connected with the can
The electric cranes of the docks a
piers will be moved by it and the
will be enough electricity left to k
ali the rolling stock OF the PanaI
railroad i'm action. The transmissi
line To which l ave referred IT.
above the tracks and 1t Is So &C
structed that a trolley could easily
connected with the bridges THAT j.
the steel postS. IL an extensive ira