Show mm G DIKE is RENT IN T A LAST BARRIER TO communication BETWEEN ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC IS DESTROYED all the heads of canal department and members of president porras e cabinet were present for Epoch MakIng event panama tho tile gamboa dike the last artificial barrier to actual communication muni cation between tho the atlantic and pacific oceans by way of tho he panama canal was rent in twain at friday afternoon october 10 between and persons from the cities of panama and coon colon and the various sections ot of the canal zone witnessed tho the demolition of tho the barrier and while tho the destroying of tho the dike was spectacular and successful borne some disappointment was evin evinced ced bo be ause tho the entire dike was not do de st etroy royed cd utter demolition friday was not followed because of fear that the concussion might damage the railroad trestle crossing the cut near san ban miguel locks two remaining sections will be dynamited at some future date As the hour approached when president wilson in the white house in washington would press the button and send tho the electric spark over the wires to explode the numerous charges ot of din amito in the dike a hush bush of expect expectancy aticy ft ml 11 over all then suddenly cane the muffled roar of the discharge of sixteen hundred pounds of dynamite which sent a shower of water mud and rock high into the air spreading out as it went upward tho the whole heavily veiled in a cloud of smoke it was considered among local dynamite experts as a remarkably clean explosion A section ot of the dike sixty feet wide was lifted bodily from its bed and its component parts scattered tar far and wide As water began to pour through the rent made toy by the explosion whistles were tied down and the crowd sent pp a great cheer not an obstruction was left in the opening except some iron pipes which stuck up here and there at the hour that president wilson set off the blas blast the water in the cut was exactly six feet below the level lenel 0 of lake gatun galun and the inflow of water afterward was in such volume that the cut was filled to lake level iciel within an ait hour and a halt half all tho the heads of the canal departments were present for the epoch making event as also were the members ot of the cabinet ot of president dent forras porras the president was unable to be present it was colonel goethals Goeth aVs day and the chairman of the canal commission was the recipient ot of a shower of congratulations half an hour before the blabe ua was set off oft colonel goethals took his stand well up toward the dike but as the time neared for the explosion ho he drew back a short distance but still well out in front and in an unprotected position there he was nas when the mass of earth and water shot skyward philippe bunau varilla who was engineer of the panama canal company when the french were trying t to tn n flig the great ditc was an interested spectator of the event |