The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1920-04-29
DREAM which for many CEN
turies had possessed the minds of
navigators, ship owners, captains
of industry, admirals of fleets and

IlggWMla of industry, admirals of fleets and
governments of the world, was fulfilled when
the Panama Canal was opened in 1914
Commenced by the French and completed by
the United States Government, this great
waterway between the Atlantic and the Pac-
ifc, serving at once to sever two continents
and unite two oceans, ranks, and will ever
rank, as one of the greatest single engineer
ing feats of all time. On May 18th, 1904,
the Government of the United States enter
miles in width, extending across the Isthmus
of Panama and from ocean to ocean, which
is now known as the Canal Zone. On
August 18th, 1914, few days after the
great war burst upon the startled world, the
Panama Canal was opened to commerce.
The Isthmus of Panama, narrow neck
of land, about thirty miles wide as the crow
flies, connects the two continents through an
elbow which is in the form of segment of
an arc, and runs approximately east and west,
the Canal extending across the Isthmus in an
approximate north and south line. In places
the land is gently undulating, in others, more
billy and picturesque, and at the great Gail
lard Cut, formerly known as Culebra Gut
it passes through the Continental Divide,
which here rises some 700 feet above sea
level. The route follows the valley of the
Mindi and Chagres Rivers on the Atlantic
slope of the Divide, beyond which it passes
through the valley of the Rio Grahde on the
Pacific slope down to tidewater. Sea level
channels were dredged inward from either
end of the Canal as far as practical, that is
from deep water in the Atlantic southwark
to Gatun, and from deep water in the Pacific
northward to MiraAores. The intervening
distance from Gatun to MiraAores consists
of two artificial lakes which were formed by
damming the waters of the Chagres and the
Rio Grande Rivers The first of these,
Gatun Lake, extends from Gatun to Pedro
Miguel on the Pacific side of Gaillard Cut
Then follows MiraAores Lake, which extends
from Pedro Miguel to MiraAores. The ele-
walton of Gatun Lake is IS feet above sea
level, and of MiraAores Lake 81 % feet
above sea level.
In making trip through the Canal, let
us say from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the
first evidence of this vast work will be view
of the great rock breakwater, which has been
built out from .Toro Point into Limon Bay,
or Colon Harbor, for distance of over two
miles. The purpose of this breakwater is to
convert the bay into safe anchorage, to pro-
tect shipping in the Harbor of Colon, and to
shelter vessels which are making the Canal.
To the left, extending from Cristobal, is
great artificial mole, from which six fine
piers reach into the bay. Beyond the end of
the lighthouse commences channel with
depth of IS feet and width of 500 feet
which extends in an almost straight line for
seven and one-half miles to the Gatun locks.
The locks are on the left side of the Chagres
valley, and to the right of them the valley
has been closed by huge~dam one and one
half miles in length, nearly half a mile wide
at the widest point of its base, and about
100 feet wide at the top. This dam cuts
squarely across the bed of the old Chagres
River and serves to impound its waters,
forming lake whose area is 164 square
miles and whose normal elevation is IS feet
above sea level. During the rainy season,
floods of great volume pour down the
Chagres River into the lake, and the surplus
waters are allowed to flow over concrete
spillway, the discharge channel of which is
285 feet wide and 1900 feet long. The
spillway dam is in the form of an arc of a
circle, and measures 808 feet along its
course. The top of the dam is 50 feet above
sea level, and it is surmounted by regulating
gates 20 feet high, the tops of which are two
feet above the maximum elevation of the
lake. The height of water in the lake is
controlled by these gates, which slide be-
tween vertical concrete piers They are
raised and lowered by electric power from
power plant at the spillway, which serves
also to provide power for the electric opera