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Show WHEN THE PANAMA CANAL IS OPENED. The date of the opening of the Panama Pan-ama canal Is a subject of great Importance Im-portance to the Chamber of Com mercp of San Francisco, and that Is wh that commercial club wrotp Col onel (joethals. seeking Information which might b a guide for shippinc to and from the port of San Fran clsco. One of the papers quotes the head of the canal work as saying that before be-fore commencing operations with the dredging fleet he estimated that with earth of average quality the dredgers would be equal to 1,500,000 cubic yards I month That there must be a larger proportion of bowlders than was expected Is seen In the revision of the figures to a monthly capacity of nOO.OOfi cubic yards, in cutting the amount to one-third, afier a month'! work the Colonel may be erring on the side of caution, but even at this reduced rate ne is connaent ma tne channel will be completed at th In test in February and Is hopeful that It may be ready for deep draft vessels In January A month one way or the other Is merely a trifle In so great an undertaking, and the vital thing Is the assurance that the canal will be open to the commerce of the world early in the new year The San Francisco Chronicle says "With such an Impetus felt in ad-1 vane of the celebration we will bf In a position to make that world eent even more magnificent than we had hoped If will also afford assurance, If any were needed, that there cannot can-not possibly be any reaction following follow-ing the prosperity of 191", because both the people and the trade that come before the exposition will re main after it, and will pave the way for still greater trade In the carl) future.'' All the coast cities are expecting big things to follow the opening of the canal. Ther will be some di3 appointment, as no one who has carefully care-fully studied the possibilities of the canal expects to see a sudden and enormous shift of ocean traffic by reason of the cutting of a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama. The Interior points, such as Og den. ma never directly feel the effects ef-fects of the new ocean route |
