THE PANAMA CANAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXiX, Issue 7727, 22 February 1909, Page 4

THE PANAMA CANAL.

Among the British engineers who 1 consistently argued against the " lock and lake" scheme, which was adopted in the construction of the Panama Canal, was Mr Archibald Colquhoun, who visited Central America on 1895, and made a thorough examination of the proposed route of the canal. Mr Colquhoun has contribated a most informative article on the subject to the ! North American Review, and makes no secret at all of his opinion that the scheme in process of construction will •bo found impracticable, and will have to be abandoned sooner or later, in favour of the plan recommended by the majority of the engineering experts who were consulted. Ever since the present route was decided upon it had been recognised that the Chagres River, which is subject to frequent and violent floods, wa sthe chief source of danger. The canal was to proceed for some distance along the bed or this rher, thus reducing the, actual excavations of a new bed, to a distance, according to the scheme, of about five miles. But Mr Colquhoun explained that in order to keep the Chagres River under control it was necessary to construct a colossal dam and regulating lake. This dam, under the existing plan, was being built ot earth at a place called Gatum. "By means of this," wrote Mr Colquhoun, "the Chagres would be spread out during the greater part of its course into a huge lake about 32 miles in length, and reaching to within a few miles of the Pacific, at an elevation of 85ft above sea-level. From this lake a giant flight of locks would descend on either side to the ocean level. The Gatum dam would extend for 7700 ft on the crest; its foundations, as is admitted by its projectors, would be on earth and other, uncertain and unreliable materials, since the rocky foundation of the subsoil was from 260 feet to 000 feet below the surface. . . . It was modelled originally on the Wachusett North Dyke, completed in HK33. Tin's dam partly collapsed in April, 1907, when subjected to a much less pressure of water than it was designed to hold, and about two-fifths of that which the Gntiim dam may have to bear. Since then, and even prior to the disaster, there has been a doubtful note even in the opinion of the most optimistic with regard to the Gatum dam." The mere possibility, let alone the likelihood, of a collapse of the Gatum eh.m might well scare the ship-owner from trusting to the Panama Canal.