The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1914-05-22
A COUNTRY EDITOR
SEES PANAMA CANAL
And Tells the Echo Readers of His Trip
And What He Sees and Hears
What does the canal look like7

1t reminds me of the days when as a
school boy I studied physiology. The
Panama canal looks like the illustra-
ton of the human stomach with the
alimentary canal and the duodenum at
tachment. The stomach part is Gatun
lake, the great artificial body of water
bottled up in the interior of the 18th.
mus where ocean going vessels will
steam along for twenty-four miles, IS
feet above sea level.
/ Approaching as we did from the At
lantic 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 set
tied and cleared of deposits and de-
cayed vegetation I can foresee 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 ghostly
in their solitude. Covering as it does
164 square miles of land formerly COW
cred by jungle and forest, and in some
cases even towns, it is reasonable to
suppose that as the waters kill the veg
citation and loosen the Dogs, timber
and moses. that the surface will be-
come 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 a minor factor and as the
tropic vegetation adapts itself to the
shores of the new lake, which in this
latitude will be but short time, the ap-
pearance will be suggestive of perma-
nency, 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, leav-
ing the locks behind bend in the
channel. The scene will be one OF
idyllic grandeur.
In the distance the blue foothills
of the children Of the Andes-the Cor
dilleras slope gradually away from the
shores of the lake. The ship will move
along 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, ban
ana 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 scene tempered by
the spice laden breezes which at this
altitude and on this open stretch of
water will be factor in adding to the
comfort of the journey.
Imagination plays with reality. Out
here in Gatun lake one finds it diff
cult to realize that we are traversing
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 a great bat
tleship should be floating over the wa
tiers Of this inland sea, penetrating the
heart Of the tropics at an altitude Of IS
feet.
Were we assured that we were in some
landlocked lake in the Adirondacks it
would seem more real and we look
around for the familiar birch bark canoe
to carry out the similitude. But in
looking our gaze is once more held BY
the autographed landscape and the
comparison vanishes.
Again we find the illusion destroyed
as we sight the light houses OF glisten-
ling concrete. tucked away landward as
range lights to guide the mariner over