The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-02-09

a very little. We aim just o to
keep q thirty foot channel lou -ee'
wide, n our working schedule Il
based on doing that. Inc dreuSes
work nearest the bank on the Cucur-
racha side all the morning n toward
10 o'clock the surveyor goes through
and sounds for depth and bumps;
that is, for masses on the bottom,
missed perhaps by the dredges- He
NAV report a clear depth Of twenty
eight feet. save a lump or two. The
dredges remove the bumps n then
the whole 1000 feet of the slide from
is dragged.
THE waiting ships are held on
either side of the slide until noon. and
then they are permitted to pass IT
the order the officials designate. 1t
may be necessary to hold a certain
steamer for an extra day, but SO far
they are all getting through pretty
regularly. At 4 p. m passage Is sus-
pended for the day and night. Dreds-
ing is at once resumed and continues
without remission.
No Hitch With Locks.
EVERYTHING is working well. The
locks operate without a hitch. The
lake has e~ighty-five feet of water. The
trees that looked SO melancholy as
the rising water gained on them have
| nearly all disappeared. Our first trou-
! BILE there was from floating islands,
In certain places as the waters rose
| they dragged up from the bottom
growthS of interviewer shrubs which
attracted yagrant logs and trees. anu
these, becoming the sport of the
| winds. drifted hither ana thither. with
q fresh vegetation, springing cheerful
~ up on them.
I'VE dealt Summarily with them,
pushing them to the spillway, and
over they went. OF course they DO
not reappear. We have had some
water lettuce and water hyachinthS.
but they have given no trouble Some
marsh land has formed, but generally
it may be said hat we have a fine
sheet Of water there. Many visitors
was of us to take advantage of the
fine lake we found so nearly across
the isthmuS.
Spillway Stands Test.
s"The spillway, which was the cause
Of so much critical miSgiving, has
stood the test and the pressure mag
nificently. There was one small Seep-
age that at the highest stage Of the
water discharged about as much as
would pass through a tWo-inch pipe
but when the lake lowered a few feet
even that disappeared. One amusing
thing about it is to have visitors stand.
ing on the spillway and asking 'Wher.
is it, anyway"
For tourists and visitors generally
Panama remains the attractive end o.
the canal. The cool air and mOrnins
breeZes of Colon are of course de
lightful and the new hotel is attractive
and we'll kept, but the old Spanist
town at the Pacific side keeps it's su,
perior attractiveness, and the Tivol
Hotel at AncOn is as taXed as ever t,
accommodate the visitors The It'd,
Of tourists is not as great this year
the war and the Tightening of spen,
5 ing money operating perhaps in tina
direction"
A CLEAN Of pleasure lit up Col
Cocktails face when l spoke Of tn
Van Ingen pictures or the building .
E the canal, their superb force, vita
color and rare combination of the rea
and the ideal.
Yes" he said, "I think them yer
] fine. You know l thought it woul,
: be we'll to let posterity know wha
/ we have been doing there. SO I had
concrete building with a dome nut w
and Van Ingen's pictures are to ,
there. 1t is a hobby Of mine"