Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-08-03
WRITES PARENTS
ABOUT BIG DITCH
Interesting Letter Received by
MIR. and Mrs. G. L. Hansen
From Son.

Tho following letter has been re-
ceived by Mrs. G. l.. Hansen from her
son, who is a student in the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis,
Maryland, but now is aboard the U. S.
steamship Ohio off the coast of Lower
California. The letter is dated July
25th, and is az follows:
1--WE will arrive at San Diego We'd
nesday, the 25th, after a ~twelve-day
run up from Panama. We arrived at
Colon on Thursday morning, the 10th,
and stopped long enough to transfer
some men and then steamed up the
canal to Gatun locks, where we were
raised IS feet through three locks to
Gatun Lake. Here we anchored and
waited for the Missouri That after
noon we all went ashore at Gatun to
inspect the loc4s there. At Gatun,
which is about three miles from Colon,
there are two series of locks making
three lifts. A little to the west Of
these locks are the dam and spillway
which controls the level Of Gatun
Lake. Here all the electric ltwer for
operating the locks aVl lighting the
canal zone is generated. The dam
keeps the level Of the lake from IS
to 81 feet above sea level. Gatun
Lake is an artificial lake and covers
an area of about 1854 square miles.
"On Friday morning we went in
swimming before breakfast. Nearly
every n went in because they want
ed to try the fresh water in the lake.
At ten o'clock we weighed anchor and
started on through the lake. On
either side Of the channel You could
see the tops Of dead trees sticking out
of the water. At moor all the ships
fired a salute. l guess because Of the
first battleship going through the
canal. About 900 o'clock we entered
Culebra Cut, and here we were steam
ing among the hills. You couldn't see
from there the tops of the hills on
either side of the canal. We were
towed past the place where they we're
working on the slides. At this place
they had to eXcavate about 400 feet
down.
"At the southern end of the cut we
passed through the Pedro Miguel
locks to Miraflores Lake, which is So
feet above sea level. This lake is
about two miles long and then we
passed through the Miraflores locks
again. From here it is about seven
miles out to sea and we left the canal
about 3 o'clock in the evening. Ships
going through the locks are lowed by
small electric locomotives. 1t took six
of these for our ship. They are oper-
ated by electricity and controlled
from a tower at the lower end of the
upper lock. It takes two minutes t.
open one of the gates and about an
hour and a half for a ship to pass
through Gatun locks, which are the
largest.
"We have had nice weather all the
way up from Panama. There is a
heavy ground swell which makes the
old ship roll and pitch as though she
were in a heavy sea. I have gotten
my sea legs long ago though, and
don't notice the roll or pitch very
much. We lost a propeller blade since
we left Panama and will probably.
have to go into dry dock for a few
days when We get to Frisco; probably
at Mare Island. At San Diego we are
going 10 take part in parade. Ex-
President Roosevelt will review us.
After the parade there will be a bar
becue. I think the barbecue will be
the best part of it. It isn't so much
fun to march a few miles when you
can't look around and see the sights.
Many of the midshipmen living in the
west have been granted leave to visit
their homes. They will leave us at
San Diego and join the squadron at
Los Angeles, giving them about 10
days leave. We leave Los Angeles
the 18th of August and will arrive at
Annapolis about the Sth or 9Th Of
September. The time that we made
up on the trip over will be spent at
San Francisco.