PROGRESS OF THE PANAMA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14453, 20 August 1910, Page 5 (Supplement)

PROGRESS OF THE PANAMA CANAL.

OFFICIAL DATE OF OPENING.

FIVE YEARS HENCE.

■i»j interesting account is given in the London Daily Telegraph by Mr. W. H. jjagee of the progress which is being made with the great task of cutting the Panama C'anal. In the course of his article flie. author says : — an engineering feat, the Panama Canal must and will stand first in the world's history. I have seen the Great. Pennsylvania and New York tunnels which c;DfS the Hudson and East livers of \ e w York, and watched the harnessing ~{ the waters of Niagara Falls, and the building of the Sault Soo and Wellard jocks; i have passed through the impresE ive monotony of the Suez Canal, and inspected the great works of your London jrni, 8. Pearson and Sons (of which Sir Weetman Pearson, just raised to the peerage, is the head), via., the port works at Dover, Colombo, Vera. Cruz, C'outzaeoalc0 = and Salina- Cruz, and the vast drainage works of Mexico. All these triumphs of engineeiing were colossal tasks, but in none of these great instances is the mind 50 impressed as it. is in the case of the Panama Canal, with the ''immensity of the undertaking." and the thoroughness and completeness of the organisation necessitated in its consummation from the smallest detail to the largest.

GIGANTIC DAMS. The principal points of interest are the Gatun Dam and spillway, and the locks on the Atlantic side, which will form the Gatun Lake by impounding the waters of the Chagres River. It will be approximately one and a-half miles long by halt a milo wide, with an elevation of 115 ft above main sea-level.. The water level of Gatnn Lake extends through Cnlebra Cut, and will be maintained at the so mil end by an earth dam connecting the locks at Pedro Miguel with the high ground to the westward. This dam will be about 1700 ft long, with its crest at an elevation 105 ft above mean tide. A small lake between the locks at Pedro Miguel and jUiraflores will be formed by clams connecting the walls of Mirafiores locks with high ground on either side. The dam to the westward will be of earth, about 2700 ft long, having its crest about 15i't above the water in Mirafiores Lake. The east dam will be of concrete, about 500 it long, and will form a spillway for Mirafiores Lake, with crest gates similar to those at the spillway of Gatun Dam.

There will be twelve locks in the canal, all in duplicate ; three pairs in flights at Gatnn, Atlantic division, with a combined lift of 85ft ; ono pair at Pedro Miguel, Pacific division, with a lift of 50 l-3ft; and two pairs at Miraflores, Pacific division, with a combined lift of 54 2-31't at main tide. The dimensions of all are the same —a usable length of 1000 ft, and a table width of 110 ft. Each lock will be i chamber with walls and floor of concrete, and water-tight gates. The side walls will be 45ft to 50ft wide at the surface of the floor. They will be perpendicular on the face, and will narrow irom a point 24 l-3ft above the floor until they are Bft wide at the top.

The middle wall will l;e 60ft. wide, approximately 81 ft high, and each face will be vertical. At a point- 42 l-3ft above the fop of the middle culvert, this wall will divide into two parte, leaving a space down the centre much like the letter U, which will be 19ft wide at the bottom. In this centre space, which will be 44ft wide at the top, will he a tunnel divided into three storeys, or galleries. The lowest gallery will be for drainage; the middle tor the wires that will carry the electric current to operate the gate and valve mcVmn'v, which will bo installed in the centre wall; and the upper will be a passageway for the operators. The lock chambers will be filled and emptied through lateral culverts in the floors, connecting with main culverts, 18ft in diameter, in the walls, the water flowing in and out by gravity. The lock gates will be stout structures 7ft thick, 65ft long, and from 47ft- to 82ft high. They will weigh from 500 to 600 tons each. Ninety-two leaves will be required for the entire canal, the total weighing 57,000 tons. Intermediate gates will be used : n the locks, in order to save water and time, if desired, in passing small vessels through, the gates being so fixed as to divide the locks into chambers 500 ft and 400 it long respectively. Ninety five per cent, of the vessels navigating the high seas are less than 600 ft long. In the construction of the locks, it is estimated that there will be used approximately 4,500,000 cubic yards of concrete, requiring about same number of barrels of cement

Ki.ECTRICAL TOWING. No vessel will be permitted to enter or pass through the Jocks under its own power. Electricity will be used to xow all vessels into and through the locks, and to ope:ate all gates and valves, power king generated by water turbines from the head created by Gatun Lake. The time required to pass a vessel through all the locks is estimated at three hours: one. hour and a-halt in the three locks at Uattin, and about the same time in the three locks on the Pacific side. The time of passage of a vessel through the entire tanal ir> estimated as ranging from ten to twelve hours, according to the size of the ship anrl the rate of speed at which it can travel. The total cost of the tanal (including the appropriation of 1910, viz., 33,638,000 dollars—nearly £7,000.000) w ill l>e about 42J, million pounds sterling. !he subsistence department, i.e.. commissary and hotel., does a business of about 7,000,000 dollars per annum. It feeds, dothes, and provides with necessities, approximately 50.000 people, and is selfsustaining. Every morning a supply train distributes ice and foodstuffs to the various towns along the line, the perishable goods being conveyed in refrigerated cars. liquors are sold by the department. An i' person or family needing them can procure them from Panama or Colon. lo give a broad idea of the immensity 0l this undertaking, and the many and complex cares involved in making this Waterway across the Panama isthmus. J append a. lew statistics gleaned from the report of the Canal (,'ominission for 1910.

CANAL STATISTIC?. kngih fji in (iff, water I<. (irpn wotcr .SO I milt-. 2 „„ 1..u.1...40-V iniif-. Qit"in tvithli or cli:i j j 11»■ I, maximum. ..ICOOfi. fttom v.idrli i,i channel (uiiixiinuii! 9 <nilcsCulel.ra ci;.>...;'.oCit in pair.-. ..lift. ,°'y. n.--nl.:c l-n','ih...loooft. ;;'*ks, >i .il.lt- "a jii»!i... 11Cft. f , at "" I/iio', ;it( .i... 164 ~<i 11 :i to miles. p at,! » Lako. ciiiimi'-l dcpl to 45ft. «e*vatii lff . teta!...174.666,534 fui.it v ; ' 3! ! - •MavataiLT. .'uuoMnt. accompli-livi] to Apiil 1, » l-10...103.iCr),066 cubic yar<l-\ sea done I> v I' tvneh... 74,146,060 cubic. J'ards. "WJVatiiiy, .;.11 r- i,v French, tw>ful to present f. '' 5 »a!...a.C!0;;,Ct:0 cubic vanls. lot.:! r-timate for canaI...O.OCj,COO cubic, .van!,. •"ip of 11an sj t through roniploted canal...lo (<i hours. '*nc ot pas>,i.i'p t hrotiL'li 10ck?...3 liour.-. 1 "catir,,, is .is. 1cti";1i...46.i mile.-. p° st of ?.2i'5.0G0 'l"ll:irs. zonr ;ma owned by I'nitcil out p ?nc Ji Imildini;s, number iuv|iiin»il...2lso. £ such number a-ci1...1537. ,h act. value \\ hen ac'iairc'l... v 1,353.203 .1011.,-,. , "f uti!i ~i■ ■ l French fitiinil ipii 1 ...1 .OCO.OCO « -"Mai -. Caiv! '. ort ''-' actually now at work...about. 33,0C0. t'd-t t' !w (America,,.-)...about 0500. iVn'rt t ' ur!a !- c.-tua.ilr-(i...i75.G00.C00 dollars. Dot, '*K« Americans...Mav 4. 1904. ''' C 'jnjplctiuii —Tiiimary I,' 1915.

tin 1 great task will be comrued in time is questioned by many, 'he transcontinental raildod In^e "' s ' s - v -11 o would give- a great a"'. tw I'Ji'event or delay the undertaking. .i ' w "ile it would appear to a casual -erver that the work has barely conitij)/ 11 , ', y f t ' fin assured that there is ter tl ( ' 011 ' 1 " " 10 "dnds of the engin-■-ala • ' ' jnn '"g accidents or some great iat« **' l ' le w ork will be finished at the set - for its opening, January, 1915.