Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-04
The Panama Canal at Work.
From Ocean to Ocean.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

PANAMA, September 24.-The Pan
anna canal is a unique thing to behold.
In the days Of its making it was one
Of the most impressive spectacles in
the world. The great red cash through
Culebra mountain, the stealthy slides,
the swarms of men, the titanic fea-
lures of construction all contributed
to make picture that men went thou
sands Of miles to see.
With the exception OF the slides the
battle between man and nature is over.
Jungle and mountain are beaten, and
quickly the scars have healed. The
waters have come up from the sea and
down from the mountains to fill the
cuts and channels. The quick-spring-
ing jungle has crept over bank and
dam and fill. The great waterway lies
serene as tropical river. with peli-
cans fishing along its banks and water
lilies rocking on its bosom.
Especially unimpressive is the en-
trance to the canal at either end Sup
pose you are going from Balboa, the
Pacific port, to Colon. Your ship enters
what might well be wide inlet in the
sea. surrounded by mud flats at low
tide and tapping the roots of the forest
when the tide is in. Here and there is
lighthouse or tide mark: otherwise,
70 sign of work or improvement. AS
fyou sail up this inlet it narrows sud-
denly. and the first of the locks, Mira
flores. is before you. Here you first
feel the grip of the great canal. The
towing engines. crawling along the
lock walls like great black beetles, pull
your ship past the huge gates. The
rumbling culverts disgorge their wa
ters, and quietly, easily and quickly
the giant lifts your liner.
This operation is directed from the
bridge by the lock pilot, who gets off
sides him. however, there is canal
pilot, who helps the captain to see the
ship all the way through.
Across Miraf1ores lake, a pretty bit of
blue water set in the jungle-clad hills.
Greatest Artificial at Pedro
Canyon in the World. M a.anns tn. .ae
in the ascent of the continental divide
Here the process of locking througKis
repeated; you sail along a bit of placid
channel with grassy banks. round a
turn, and see before you the greatest
artificial canyon in the world.
This is the point where the battle still
RACES. Here Culebra mountain, cut in
two. strives night and day to pinch the
canal out of existence by pushing it's
tons of earth together from either side.
Culebrd cut today suggests the Grand
Canyon. The sheer rock walls of Gold
and Contractors hills rise hundreds Of
feet high on either side. Beyond, where
the two Culebra slides are active. the
banks ar steep, red slopes, raw and
fresh. like the furrow of some titanic
pillow. Down at the bottom of this can
yon is the canal-narrow, muddy and
roubled-crowded with the dredges
that struggle night and day to keep a
clear passage for the waiting ships.
Pass the cut and the atmosphere of
strife and struggle is gone. You sail
between smooth. green banks, where
the wild banana Is coming back, and
where clear streams cascade prettily
down rocky channels in to the canal.
A few miles of this and Gatun lake.
the key. the triumph and the greatest
wonder of the canal. opens before 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 Photographed phe-
Inomenon has never been appreciated.