Bisbee daily review., 1921-07-13
Copper Mines Of South America And Recent Trip To Chile Are
 Described By Warren Engineer

A talk on his recent trip to South America, where he is in charge ol the erection of a smelting plant for the Cepro de Pasco Copper Corpora tion, was made last night by A. G.. McGregor, prominent lengineer and expert in the construction of metals reduction plants, before the meeting of the Bisbee Chapter of the Amer ican Association of Engineers.
 McGregor told the interesting fea- lures of his trip from the time he iess the port of New York until he return ed. His audience was composed of numerous engineers, technical and mining men of the district, and others who came to hear an interesting talk.
 The speaker said that the first tnIns one. learns in making a trip to- the west coast of South America is some thing about geography. It would ap- pear that San Francisco would be the logical starting point for such a trip, but New York is 2,1OO miles from the south coast where San Francisco Is $500 miles, The west coast of South America is approximately due south from New York.
 McGregor sailed from New -orK and entered the canal port of Colon. This is a typical tropical town. situ- ated in tropical scenery. Cristobal is the new town and possesses the won derful docking and shipping faciTities erected by the government, and mod egn government and commercial Of fices. Hindus, Japanese and Chinese handle large part of the local mer- cantile business.
 / Locks Are Described
 Frcm Colon is it about seven miles to the Gatun locks, which are in three flights. The ships are raised or low cred S5 feet in passing through these ! locks All the locks are double, 50 that ships may pass through them both coming and going. The ships steam to the Gatun locks under their own power and are hauled through [ the locks by electric motors fE
 From Gatun the ship proceeds .Ie Culebra. where it passes through two more flights of locks and reaches it's | highest point, $50 feet above the sea level The slides at Culebra Cut are pretty we'll cleaned up, and no more i trouble is looked for there for years to come. McGregor said that at the ] time the canal was planned there was much discussion concerning a sea | level canal, but explained that the tide on the Atlantic side is about q i inches, and on the Pacific side about 21 feet, and that some locks would have been necessary in any event to take care of this difference in height. l /The scenery. along the canal is mag bnificent and the government posts and settlements well built and cared | for. On the Pacific side the steamer comes to Balboa where there are more elaborate docks and shipping facili rites. The canal administrator build
 ings are located at Ancon, which alsC
 boasts of the finest hospital in the { tropics. Panama. a typical tropica ,town, with a.polyglot population, low buildings and narrow streets, come:
 next The three towns of Balboa, An
 con and Panama are adjoining.
 The west coast of South America il cool, even. on the equator, on accoun
 of the Antarctic. stream that border
 the coast After leaving the cana
 several hundred miles behind, tn !, coast is remarkably barren on accoun of the extremes aridity of the country
 It rains once in 15 years or more. c