Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-08
THE PANAMA CANAL AT WORK
Ocean to Ocean
By Frederic ]. Haskin

you. Because it has not occasioned
as much struggle and worry as other
features of the canal, the Importance
of Gatun Lake has been overlooked;
while its unique character as a ply
Biographical phenomenon has never
been appreciated.
Gatun Lake is a waterway from
thirty to eighty feet deep across
mountain range, reached by ship-lift-
ing elevators in the form of locks.
In addition to this, it is the mex
haustiVe water supply, fed by hun
dreds of square miles of watershed,
which insures the regular daily op-
Grafton of those locks. Again, 1t is
the pent-up force that turns the tur-
bines of Gatun powerhouse, and gives
light and power to the Panama Canal
incidentally, it is the greatest artificial
lake in the world, created by damn
ing tropical river and flooding a
jungle, making islands out of noun
tains, creating a drowned forest with
a strange life of it's own, and reaching
long, navigable arms of deep water
far up mountain canyons where white
men had never been. AS an opportun-
ity for the scientist, bent upon study
ing the wild life of the tropics, Gatun
Lake is without rival.
AS you sail through it, you see a
long, narrow lake of deep blue wa
ter, fringed with the gray skeletons
of the dead jungle. Some of these
trees are bare silhouettes. Others,
though dead, are decked with or
chids and vines and creepers. Now
and again, you pass floating islands,
which are green masses of detached
vegetation that will sail about the lake
for months, menacing the propellers
of steamers, to finally anchor and
| become a part of the land. In some
places, mountain headlands thrust far
out into the lake, and you get a
splendid glimpse Of the jungle, with
its tangled, impenetrable under
growth and tall tropical hardwoods,
lifting red trunks hundred feet in
the air, festooned with great rope-like
creepers. You may catch a f1eeting
glimpse of a flock of parrots, or hear
the weird shouting of a black howler
monkey, foretelling rain.
Sometimes you will pass the mouth
of what was once a jungle-filled can
| yon, and is now a ford, reaching far
back into the mountains, vastly allur-
ing to the spirit of adventure. Both
| soldiers and civilians in Panama have
fully appreciated the opportunities of
adventure and exploration offered by
Gatun Lake. The chugging motorboat
| has appeared beside the native cayuca,
and the restless Yankees have killed
| u6eT anu ldplT anu rare VI
| chids UP the farthest winding inlets
of the lake.
Beyond Gatun Lake are the locks
of that name, the greatest of ALL In
| three giant steps they let you down
eighty-five feet. Here more than any,
where else upon the canal do you get
vivid impression of waterway over
mountain, of climbing a continental
divide in a steamer chair. Your YES
sci stands at the top of a steep hill.
Behind you are the blue-green tropi-
cal mountains. Far below is the fiat,
coastal plan and the canal widening
| into the placid blue waters of Limon
Bay. Yet in twenty minutes your YES
sci has dropped from the summit,
| and once more you are sailing into
salt water, this time the Atlantic.
Your steamer ride from ocean to ocean
through ancient Panama is complete.
| You have lived the dream of Colum-
bus.