Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1915-09-15
CHANGES IN NATURE.

phy of their continent through kale
idoscopic jig, the final adjustments o
magnificent change in the physics
geography in Central America brought
about by United States engineers ars
taking place. The interesting features
connected with this man-conducte,
metamorphosis in the Isthmian worlds
surface, the creation Of an inland sea
the drowning of a tropical jungle, and
the enforced migration of swarm o!
Jungle life from the valley bottoms to
the hills-as depicted by George Shi-
ras, 3rd, in a communication to the
National Geographic Society-is told in
the following bulletin:
"Gatun Lake is not only the largest
fresh water lake ever created by man
"a navigable viaduct almost bridging
the two oceans and reached by term
inal elevators in the form of locks
but, in addition, vast reservoir for
the adjoining watersheds; assnrin G
throughout the year a sufficient wate'
supply for the operation of the locks.
for electric power, for the establish
ment of inland fisheries, and for pot
able and other domestic uses. The lake
much larger than the one that the
French intended to construct, also
allows greater freedom and speed to
the vessels using the canal, and per-
mits local navigation of many of the
jungle valleys.
when the long embankment at the
north end was closed, thus stopping
the only gap that nature had left in
the rim of hills, the inland waters be-
gan covering the lowlands, creeping up
the wild tangled valleys, drowning the
mighty forests and the rank tropical
jungles, flooding out native village
and destroying scattered plantations,
wild creatures like the
monkey, ocelot, peccary, armadillo, an
the sloth on hill-tops Unexpectedly
converted into permanent islands, sub
merging the mud-fats of the heron and
the ibis, driving the deer, the jaguar
the tpir, iguanas, and monster snakes
through the rising waters oless ham
pered retreats, and opening up new
and larger home for the swamp alli-
gator and the stream-confined fish.
Here all the centuries long process;
of the sinking of the land and the
rising of the waters was enacted in 9
fascinating nature-drama Of a few
months. Gatun Lake, at surface ell
ovation of 85 feet, is estimated to covel
164 square miles, and extends not
merely over the previously swampy
ground of the Chargers Valley, but il
has risen so far above the floor of tht
lowlands as to extend for miles be
tween the hills, forming estuaries, la
goons, and ponds, turning rapid un
navigable streams into deep, sluggish
rivers, and converting hilltops int
beautiful islands, some of them mile
in length, while thousands OF acres o
flooded and fallen timber Into which
stretch or circle narrow necks of land
practically defy any accurate estimat,
of the so-called shore-line of the new
lake.
mo one yet accurately knows thu
size and shape of the new lake. Mucl
of its far-reaching, irregular surfac,
is yelled by whole forests which breal
through its waters, a dying jungle
barrier to a knowledge of the inlant
sea. When these obstructing forest.
and bushes are at last destroyed b!
the warm waters of the food and per
manent fringes of bamboo and othe
semi-aquatic growths mark the thu
lines of the shore, then the Heretofore
half-shrouded lake will glisten, nea
and far, in the tropic lights, while tht
surrounding shores, each bay ant
promontory, and the islands, big an.
little, will stand out sharply defined I
will then be difficult to realize tina
this lake is the work of man.
las the lake swelled a pond int,