Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-02-28
WIN New Markets Be Opened
Through This New Avenue
Of Transportation?

Washington, Feb. 27.-Lieut. Col
William M. Sihert. u. S. A., the build
er Of the Gatun locks, the Gatun dam
the breakwater at Colon harbor and
the excavation Of the channel be
tween the Gatun locks and the At
lantic ocean, has written an inter
esting article on the Panama canal,
his first contribution on the subject,
for the National Geographic society
at Washington, D. c. In his article,
Col, Sibert asks this significant Qucs-
ton; g.,
2 "Now that the canal is essentially
finished, what are the American PEG
pie going to do with il? Shall the
new markets brought into existence
on the Pacific shores Of Central anu
South America by this new cheap
transportation route be supplied by
the United States or by foreign cOun-
tries? In my judgment, that de.
ponds, more than anything else, up
on whether the congress of the Unit
ed States enacts such laws as Will
bring into existence a United States
merchant marine engaged in foreign
commerce."
If there are any people who yet
hold the idea that the waters OF the
Atlantic and Pacific will mingle' in
canal, Col Sibert dispels that idea
with tile two statements that for
about 80 miles the canal is 81 feet
above the level of the oceans and
that water will not flow uphill"
"A little to the north of the Gatun
locks the American and French ca
nails intersect," continues Col. ST.
bert. "Had the FRENCH canal been
completed it would now be out of
date, for its locks would not be of
sufficient size to pass the boats that
would now offer. In 1912 Gatun had
probably the greatest influx Of mala.
rial mosquitoes in It's history. The
sanitary department determined to
locate all the breeding places for
mosquitoes near Gatun, catch mos.
quitoes at each place. and, afte paint.
ing them turn them loose, and deter
mine from the color of the nlOsqui.
toes caught in Gatun from what point
they came. ! went down there II
morning to see how theySwere caught
and painted. Mosquito bars were
suspended from limbs tied up at the
bottom. They had thousands of
mosquitoes in them ready to be
sprayed with a colored liquid, and
the sanitary inspector was asked how
he caught them. He said, We have
a more scientific way, but this had
to be done in a hurry. We simply
let the mosquito bar down, as you
open a bed, left one side of it open,
and put a Jamaica negro in there for
bait As soon as the mosquito lar
was full the bait was removed and
the end tied up. l saw a Jamaica
negro standing there. John, we're
you the bait in that bar?' ! asked.
and he replied, Yes, boss! that Is the
easiest money I ever earned-ten
cents an hour for sitting there and
doing nothing but just inviting the
mosquitoes in
In case a ship should break the
upper lock gates and the Gatun lake
should start to flow through tie
fight of locks to the sea, a swing
bridge is provided for each upper
lock, by means of Which" an efner,,.
ency dam can be built across The
locks. It is purposel to allow no
ship to so through the locks under
its own steam. Towing locomotives,
four of them, will run down the guide
walls, pass lines to the ship, two for.
ward and two aft, and will then tow
the ship into the locks. hold it during
the time it is being raised or low.
cred, an finally oliver it alongside
the guie wall at the other end. This
is a %precaution that has never been
taken before in operating locks.
TN the beginning but very little
provision vas made for quarters for
families of canal employees. 1t soon
became evident that order could not
be maintained, contentment prevail,
and a permanent force kept unless
the wives of the men were there; so