Show BIG DITCH 11 HOW ing OW ALMOST COMPLETE COA E removal of gamboa dike means end of work Is near WATERS DF WOMB MEET first steps are ara taken toward destruction st of big embankment which holds galun gatun lake out of culebra cut colon panama oct I 1 the climax of nine years of untiring work on the part of the men who have been building the panama a canal camo came today when tho the waters of gatun galun lake wore were permitted to run for the first time into the culebra cut this simple operation marked the virtual completion of the great isthmian waterway the water was permitted to flow into the cut today through four ag inch pipes extending through the gamboa dike which has held the waters of the lake back from the ilia cut this was done in order that there may bo be enough water in tho the cut to prevent any dannage daj nage when the dike Is hanify rem removed ovod the final destruction of the big dike is ie scheduled leI tor for october 10 when charges of dynamite placed in holes already drilled in the dike will bo be exploded the the explosion of these charges will not noe completely destroy the dike but will weaken it and loosen tho the dirt so BO that the force of the waters from gatun galun lake will carry it away steam shovels will remove the remnants of the dike leaving an open passageway from ocean to ci ocean ean canal really complete now although the canal will not bo be officially declared completed for some time and the formal opening of the waterway to the commerce of the world more than a year distant the canal engineers look upon the tha destruction st of the gamboa dike as dziark ing the real completion of the canal the big engineering teats feats have all been accomplished the excavation work practically has been completed A al A v va this picture gives a view of the great expanse of water now gradually gradual ly filling the panama canal which la Is almost ready for the admission of the big ships to look ut at the picture one would think that the canal was finished the embankments that flank the channel the broad expanse of water and the miraflores locks inthe distance are just as they will be when the 0 pening opening of the canal takes place this la Is the only photograph received up to the present time which shows the canal as it will appear at the opening of the big waterway connecting the atlantic and pacific oceans and the great locks have been constructed ted the work that remains to be done is largely detail and Is but childs play as compared with that which has been done more afore dirt Is to be removed from the channel but this will be done with auction dredges floating upon the waters of the canal there still remain some finishing touches to be placed upon the locks but this work will take comparatively little time and presents no engineering difficulties such as have been encountered in the past the fact that the canal stands practically complete more than a year before the time originally set as the date for its completion Is IB one of the remarkable features ot of the work when count do de lesseps Lee the great french engineer abandoned his efforts to build the panama canal after eight years of labor he had scarcely made a beginning upon the tha gigantic task in nine years the american engineers starting almost at the same point as de lesseps Les Leso sepa eps for the batters lat work was of little value to the americans americana have virtually completed the undertaking when the work was started the world scoffed at the idea that it could be completed within the time limit set but hats are now off to the american Amerl cn army engineers who have more than kept their word de spite unforeseen difficulties that have besot them at every hand goethals to make final tet test the first vessel to pass pasa through the canal probably will bo be a boat of the ethl canal commission col george NV goethals Goot hals chairman of tho the comm comin aslon and chief engineer of the canal and his principal assistants tho the final voyage through the canal Is scheduled for sonic some time during this month within another month it Is expected t the he waters in aartun gatun lake will have risen high enough to bring the waters in the entire canal up to the deep water level required tor for the passage of the largest ships it Is said that as long ago us na the early part of august assurances were given washington officially that if tho the emergency should arise the entire atlantic battleship fleet could be put through the canal into pacific waters within GO 60 days daya from that abat date tile the work has been hurried with ith that end in view it Is said eald as no emergency emergence emer genc has existed but this assi france Is an indication of the belief of the engineers that their work Is now practically finished culebra cut caused trouble the excavation of the culebra a cut into which tho the water has just been turned has been one of the origin engineering ear feats connected with tile the building of the canal and has haa caused the engineers more trouble than any other portion of the big ditch to col D D gaillard Gall lard the engineer of the central division Is given the credit for carrying this portion of the work byg ak through to a successful termination tormina the disastrous slide in the cut were discouraging to the engineers nullifying in a few hours tho the work of many weeks but colonel gaillard Gall lard and his assistants have kept untiringly at their work and at last have conquered the tha treacherous banks of the deep cut the engineers believe that the danger of slides elides will be eliminated now that the water has haa been turned into the cut A little more than a month ago the giant steam shovels shove finished their work in the culebra cut since that time the workmen have been busy removing the shovels the railroad tracks and other machinery used in the excavation work there Is still some dirt to be removed from the cut before the channel is finished but this work will be done by suction auction dredges floating on the waters of the canal and will not interfere with navigation of the waterway by such boats as way may be allowed to pass through immense artificial lake created I 1 gatun galun lake the waters of which are now flowing into the culebra cut Is the pivotal point about which the entire canal system revolves and the creation of this lake together with the construction of gatun galun dam constituted another great engineering feat in the construction of the canal canala galun gatun take lake Is ie an artificial body of water covering about square miles of territory and was created by the building df at the immense gatun galun dam and the impounding of the wild waters of chagres chagares river beneath the waters of gatun galun lake lies what a few months ago was the valley of the chagres chagares Ch agres dotted with native villages and plantations the channel of tho the canal passes through this lake tor for a distance ot of 24 miles with a width varying from to 1000 feet at the northern end of f the lake Is the gattin dam which is in reality an artificial ridge more than a mile and a half long figures alone give an adequate idea of the magnitude of this dam nearly halt a mile wide at its base about feet wide at tho water surface and feet wide at the top the dike which many engl nears predicted would never withstand the rush ot of tho the Clia chagros gros waters wafers la Is admitted now to bo be so BO strong that nothing short of an earthquake such euch na as has never known in tho the central american region can harm it it the gatlin dam gatun galun lake laho and the h e culebra cut so gigantic are the proportions of each dwarf tho the other engineering works of tho the canal that hat lav in thenis themselves elves have challenged the admiration of tho the world world gives goethals goethal credit to col georgo george goethals chairman of tile the Uth isthmian nilan canal commission chief engineer of the commission and governor of the canal zone tho the world will give the ho credit tor for the successful completion of tho the panama canal colonel goethals could not havo ills hla task without tho the assist ance of such men as col 11 II fa r hodges col david du II 11 gait lard and col william L sibert army engineers who havo have had charge of various phases of tho the work but colonel goethals Goot loot hals is recognized as thoi real builder of the canal under colonel Goa goethals thaIR tho the greater part of tile the which tho the canal will have cost when it Is completed has been ident it has been by far the ahe costliest cost liest engineering project in the world nearly three fifths of a billion dollars has been spent in digging a 40 mile ditch title this means that the panama canal has cost tho the united states a nit allo 1 a over ot of tho the total amount spent has been used to make the canal zone habitable and sanitary it has been suggested that bat this Is nn an enormous amount of money to spend in cleaning up a place in ili which fo few w people will reside permanently but tho the engineers say that the sanitation of the canal zone was the chief factor in making the canal a reality the failure of the french has been attributed to a large extent to tho the fact that the workmen could not survive in tho the fever and pest ridden country the building of the great locks which raise a vessel to a height of 87 foot feet above sea level at one ona end of the canal and lower it the same distance at the other end has been in charge of two of colonel goethals assistants colonel hodges and lieutenant colonel sibert colonel hodges work in installing the immense lock gates that form so important a part of the tha operating machinery of tile the canal and his ability to overcome all obstacles had led colonel goethals to call him a genius the building poising and operation of the lock gates constitute one of the delicate problems of lock canal construction and tho the proper handling of this problem has been colonel hodges contribution alo to the work of construction of tho the canal lieutenant colonel sibert has had charge of the building ot of the great nand Tar locks at gatun galun in addition to other duties he saw long active be service frico in the philippines and he la Is known in the army as a fighter as aa well as an engineer ilia his fighting qualities have enabled him to carry through the great work of w which he be has had bad charge in tho the canal zone realize dream of centuries through the work of these men all of them members of uncle sams fighting body the united states has been able to attain what has been in truth the dream of centuries in nine years these men have carried through an undertaking that was first thought ot of several hundreds of years ngo there Is evidence that the idea of an lath isthmian mian canal was born as early as the sixteenth century tor for history records tho the fact that the inquisition declared such a project to alter the tha face ot of the earth to be impious and further discussion of the matter was forbidden by philip 11 II of spain whose reign began in 1656 more afore than a century later a scotchman named patterson revived the scheme established a colony on the shores of the isthmus and made a crude survey of the route the united states government first took definite action looking toward the construction of an lath isthmian mian canal in 1834 when the senate voted for the building of a nicaraguan canal an expedition wits was sent to nicaragua to make an investigation and reported that tile the canal could be constructed for hardly one eth of the amount that the panama canal will have cost when completed do de lesseps first to dig the matter rested until after the civil war when negotiations for a canal commission were entered into by tho the united states government before anything had been accomplished the concession for a panama canal had been given to lucien napoleon Uana linna parte Darte wyse a frenchman ile ha organized a company which sold out later to the financiers associated with ferdinand do de lesseps the company organized with de lesseps at its head was the first one to actually begin operations erat ions on the isthmus for eight years de lesseps struggled manfully against the grea greatest iest odds that man ever was called upon to face such was waa the history of the isthmian canal project for some or years until the day in 1904 when uncle sam undertook the task in nine years the dream of the centuries has been realized |