The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-11
ny FRANK 6. CARPENTER.


Z AM WRITING this letter Mt the close
of long days Journey through the
4 Panama Canal. / have Travelled over
ii from the Atlantic to tho PACING, ana
today rode more than thirty-hvc
miles in n steam launch through the
,.,,lobra cut and over the windings OF
The channel in Lake Gatuu Rear Ad-
miral II. H. Rousseau. of the canal com
mission, furnished the launch, ana ne
WAS in command of the party. consist
iug OF Mr.. w. Ii. Mullins, the Costa
Riran MANAGER Of the United Fruit
Company the managing editor OF one
of the New York dailies and several
others. ii was early in the morning
when we started out from Gamboa, ahd
il WAS long after noon when We ehdeu
our trip mt the locks at Gatun, having
spent eight hours in steamins In ana
out of the great channel which, WITHIN
a few months from now, VIII be
traycrsed by the steamers OF the united
oceans.
have visited the canal again and
again in the several stages OF It's max
ing. | saw il late in the nineties, when
the French We're in charge, ana again
in 1905. when our first chief enElhSsl,
MIR. wallace, was dragging the ola
French machinery out of the jungle
ana setting our first steam shoNeis To
working ! have been on the ground
several times during tho administrator
of Colonel Goethals, when more IMAM
10 600 men were employed. and | have
seen the mighty dredges and the Two
score of steam shovels, each of which
does the work of SEQ men, gougins out
lilo beds OF the oceans and lifting thc
rock from the great cut through the
Andes.
The work has been SO great that 1t
has drawfcd all past undertakings II
has changed the makers OF the pyra
mids to pyEmies. and has made 'he
great Chinese wall seem no bigger IMAM
the rail fence round your farm. But
shall not write of the immensely OF
the construction. That has been pc
t,lred &eain and again. TINS lettcf
deals with the canal at its completion,
when the evidences OF the labor ana
hr,ins which have cost the United
states more than $500, 900. 900 have been
largely buried ny the waters OF the
Chaprcs IT deals with the great wa
terway as il looks now and much as II
VIII look for all time to come
An the pictures YOU have seen of the
canal have represented IL as mighty
ditch through the mountains. 1t has
been ragged and rough. and has looked
,s though ii We're Sougcd out over
nirht Now that the water is in. the
ola The Secretary of WAR whch ne
was here the other day could not
realize that the green sides OF Inieprt
had been made by steam shovcls. II
seemed To him like Il natural valley
and he said il looked Ii him like the
hanks OF certain rivers in Maine The
tropical vegetation has already COY
..red the sides of the cut and IN timc
cvery bit OF rock will be rs green as
the mountains which slope back from
M. canal The vegetation now reaches
almost 10 the water. and there AZ"
vines which hanr down and natho
themselves in the channel. There are
enormous masses OF green IN h"'uh
Lake and the Gatun dam Is last nu'
ding ON a coat of emerald green WIN
IN = few wears the canal Viii be lined
ltv masses of tropical vegetation from
one. end 10 the other. II Will he ilhc
:: great botanical garden. and viii be
The scenic canal OF the world.
have gone through the Sue% tanai
1T is n ditch through the desert with
ragged gray towns here and there. Now
and then one sees a caravan of camcls
moving along ON the banks. and there
are sometimes niirascs IN the air over
head Othtrwfse. everything save tn"
canal itself is thirsty and dry. Here
at Panama everything is the grcencst
of green. There arc palm trees ana
farm trees. wild bananas and all the
plants OF the jungle.
But le, mo take you with mo on our
trip or TO day. our steam launch makes
about nine miles au hour and wc have
FRITZ Marti n pilot and guide. lie un-
f derstands Lake Gatuu ana the canal
from one end 10 the other, He is far
better posted than the man who took
the first tug through the locks into the
lake and tried 10 cross to Culehra This
man drifted about this way ana that
and finally lost himself In the Trinidad
River, from where he was brought
back by AN exploring party INTO The