The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-06-30
INTERESTING LETTER
FROM J. d. ARTHUR. JR.

Pacific Railroad company, the
gllmpses he gets # the canal must
be disappointing. Imagine Broad rIv-
er-just about as muddy, just about
as undermining along in the midst
of tropical jungles, with hills rising
on every side, and you have an idea
what the canal, as such, looks like
Then, too, in places, you'll see water
lilies floating on the water, and
where it traverses the low land you'll
see dead trees sticking up, and an
occasional island, but that island is
probably floating. Not very pre-
possessing sight, eh?
But, of course, you realize that this
first view is purely superficial. Now,
let us look closer; let us see what
there is here that makes this canal
the greatest engineering feat of the
world, and something of which every
American has the right to be proud.
Let us go first to Miraflores Dump.
Here we see pile of earth about the
size of the town of Union and about
20 feet deep. All of this came out of
the canal. Go to Fort Grant, one
of the strongest defences of the
canal, you'll see quite large town,
and it will be hard to believe that this
space was once the ocean-land that
has been built from earth taken from
the canal.
Go to Gatun, where we have built
a dam that encloses the largest arti-
fetal lake in the world. But when
you get there you'll have to look
closely to see the dam, it seems as if
1T might be just big hill that Ma
ture put there. But all that earth
came out of the canal also and mil
lions of cubic yards dumped in mid
ocean. So much for the digging,
which aside from the necessary or
ganization for handling all this earth,
was small part of the job. And, by
the way, all this may give you an
idea of the dimensions in which the
heads of this work learned to think.
For example, it was necessary to have
more track space near some of the
pieces. A hill happened to be in the
way, so they put the steam shovels
to work and cut it away. There was
no appropriate site for an administra-
ton building, so they built a good
sized hill and erected the building on
that.
There's no use in detailing the sys-
tenn of the canal, that's common
knowledge. Just short sketch of
the main scheme. When a ship enters
Colon harbor, on the Atlantic side to
pass through the canal, it proceeds
along at sea level to Gatun,
some eleven miles. There it enters
Gatun Locks, and is lifted to the level
of Gatun Lake, an artificial lake fed
by the Charges river. Here let me
mention that it has been accurately
determined just how much the depth
of this lake, under minimum rainfall
and maximum lockage, will vary.
This knowledge of course necessitated
a thorough study of the water basin
years of work and study.
From Gatun Locks the vessel pro-
cesds through Gaillard cut to Pedro
Miguel. Here it again enters the
locks, and is dropped to the level of
Miraflores Lake. Then it reaches
Miraflores it is again lowered, this
time to the level of the Pacific, and
from here it can steam directly out
to sea. There were two reasons for
this system of locks. First, to have
made sea level canal would have
more than doubled the amount of dig
ging in crossing the Continental Di-
vide, and second, the level Of the At
lantic and Pacific oceans is not the
same. In the Atlantic, the tide
the Pacific the tide has variance of
as much as thirty feet. Imagine the
varies by only few feet, while in
current that would have been pro-
duced had these two been united.
Some scientists go SO far as to say
that it would have changed the Gulf
Stream enough to actually change the
climate of the United States.
That about explains the canal it
self, and it would require too much
Tspace to explain all of it's adjuncts. AS
you know the Panama Railroad COM
pany is also run by the government
as vital part of the canal itself.
Then there is the commissary depart
ment which feeds, practically at cost.
every one who lives on the zone, and
in addition, all ships that touch at
either end. This department has its
stores, it's steamships, its farms, its
dairies, it's purchasing agents in all
part of the country, it's hotels, it's res
taurants. And this is only part of
the whole.
Then there are the schools, the
hospitals, the insane asylums, the po-
lice department, the fire department,
the doctors, the shops; in fact, every
thing that you'll find in city govern
ment, except on a vastly larger scale.
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