Diario las Américas., 1958-04-16
Know thy
Neishboir
By ANTONIO RUIZ

PANAMA On August 10, ~
IA, the SIS. Ancon, freshly painted
and gaily decorated, with two hun
dred excited and happy pasSeng-
ers aboard, made its way through
the Panama Canal.
In this way, a dream which had
started during the Spanish con
quest at last had come true. Vasco
Nunez de Balboa, thel first white
man to cast his eyes on the Paci-
fic Ocean, hoped for years to see
a canal built across the lsthmus.
Much later, in 1850, a Portuguese
navigator published a book in
which he gave his idea of how
such a canal could be built. AT diff
ferent times, the Spanish Crown
was interested in building a water
way there, and for hundreds Of
years building projects were sub
mitted by many interested per-
sons.
The first serious effort, however,
was not made until the year 1880,
when a French company negotiat-
ed with Colombia for the right TO
build a Canal. Panama was then a
department of the Republic of Co
lombia. Ferdinand de LeSsepS, the
French engineer who was very
famous then because he had built
the Suez Canal, started construc-
ton of the Panama Canal in Feb
ruary, 1881. Enormous sums OF
money we're raised in France for
the work, but mainly through poor
management, the project seemed
headed for failure almost from the
beginning.
Despite their failure, the French
did a lot of work which was of
great value to the Americans when
they came later, and who also be-
nefited by the experience of the
French. The French Company,
which began work in 1881, gave it
up in 1889 and for a short time
another French company tried,
failing also.
The next nation to try, and sue
coed, was the United States, which
started the difficult takes in the
year 1904, and after ten years OF a
great struggle against terrain, ele-
ments, climate, disease, ETC., the
! SIS. Anc6n made the historic trip
which crowned with success all the
work, struggle and efforts put by
extraordinary men into the pro-
ject. Those who had worked so
hard on the Canal, for so long,
and dreamed of this moment, an
xiously waited as the ship came
to the locks. But everything work
ed almost perfectly, as planned,
and this all-important waterway
which cost the United States 375
million dollars to build, was now
ready 10 lend humanity in general
a valuable service.
A great deal of specially made
machinery is used in the opera
ton of the Canal, and the crossing
of the fifty miles from ocean to
ocean is more or less as follows:
On the Caribbean or Atlantic side,
about seven miles beyond the en-
trance, the ship comes to the Ca
tun Locks, which are twin locks
so that ships may pass through on
both sides, like a double track
railroad. The power is cutoff in
the ship, which is connected then
by long steel cables to four small
electric locomotives called "mu-
les" which guide the ship and
keep it in balance. Behind the
ship, two huge gates, each weigh
ing hundreds of tons, slowly and
silently close. Ahead a thick chain
is raised from the water to keep
the ship from crashing into the
closed gates in front. Below, water
is admitted in enormous quanti-
ties until enough has entered to
raise the ship % feet. Then the
gates ahead open and the ship is
pulled into the next chamber or
compartment. Three times this
operation is repeated, until the
ship is lifted at the Gatun Locks to
IS feet above sea level. The gates
are opened again, the ship enters
and crosses Gatun Lake under her
own power.
Continued tomorrow
"a, Spanish Version Page 3