Show A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL T by jack T francis a man well known on the reservation and who is now in the employ of the government iq the panama canal zone I 1 size and topography T op raphy of the fla ca casl I 1 the canal banal is about 50 miles long though the distance in a straight Str dight line from terminal to tem terminal is less than 40 miles the rhe reason is that there are in the canal 22 angles of a total of 51 of which I 1 10 is measured rnea sued to the right going 1 south and 41 to the left the culebra cut has eight angles or about one to the mile after the Cucura chua slide will anvill have been removed the minimum bottom width of the canal caa will be of feet at a depth of from 42 to 45 feet the width of t the he channel in galun lake is of 1000 feet decreasing to feet near gamboa the clI channel annei I 1 is plainly marked r its entire length by tion stations and buoys the r stations consist of range lights built of cont crete on oil the order of a light house and present a curious dicht in some locations being wt set amidst a jungle from which f nothing noth but the light proper is visible hundreds of feet from t water 1 iti any direction the I 1 buoys aie ae operated lay by ae tylene ggs by sun dials J kh sch automatically automatic aliv lv open and clasene close clo sene lichti smog ships lilie like Ral troad trains if ia j evident that ships cannot lie fallowes fallowed fall 4 owed 1 to navigate canal awatar a teri mst when it best suits sits I 1 fic ni they ar dispatched tigh the he canal much like 1 I oh on a railroad rail rond line owina to a system of signals by telephone wireless telegraph and in d semaphores chores tle the movement of every every shin is reported to the y officers of the captains of the f ports of christobal and balboa 4 as s wel as to the office of the superintendent of transportation balboa the captain of the port of cristobal controls the movements of ships from the at clintic entrance to gamboa the captain of the tort port of balboa has the same jinis jurisdiction diction from gamboa to the pacific entrance at each of these offices an operator has before him a dispatch in ing b 66 oard aid and a i map of the f canal oai on which are marked the numbers of every buoy and light ei eit ship in canal waters is represented on that by a little fins I 1 bearing her name which is moved from point to brint af pf nt as information concep concerning ning tiei her moye movements ments arrive orders concerning g the movements of i shins are transmitted by signal stations along the line of the canal so that from the time a ship enters to the time a ship leaves Canal waters water sany any error leiber in her no movement may easily be rectified in time the lockage s atter after the run of about seven miles from the atlantic entrance toG atun locks the vessel must stop and tie up at the foot of the first of the three flights of gatun galun locks lockri j from that moment ani an responsibility i of her master ceases and the canal authorities assume entire responsibility lov every movement of the ship she is entirely in in the hands of lock employees and the control I 1 may even as far as in m taking charge of odthe ahe en engines ties all orders are given fro from the f ii bridge adee lv by the e official in charge of means of an exceedingly cee simple code of sema thore signals communicated communicate dby by movements of the arms supple ante by Ar similar hilar semaphore n s transmitted by two flags by oneff the ships I 1 quartermasters As a rule no ship is passed through the locks on her steam but all but the smallest vessels are moved by means of towing electric locomotives running on two adhesion and a strong cogwheel rail on each side of the lock chambers A very few revolutions of the screws are occasionally made to give her a start once a momentum has been obtained two towing locomotives are powerful enough to move any ship through the locks it will seem strange to the layman that while two towing locomotives are sufficient to tow even the largest ship four of them are used to hold it back w when en needed and to prevent it from moving in the th weng direction safety appliances six towing locomotives govern the movements of each ship two on each side made fast amidships do the towing with two forward and two aft on each side to maintain the ship in position in addition to these the capstans on board are maintained in readiness and every ship is followed by men carrying hand lines ready to make last fast at any moment it would seem that these precautions cau eions would be sufficient to maintain ai rishi gp at hily any time under complete control yet the designers and builders of the canal have not taken any risk fender chains each weighing 24 P pounds whose links are three inches in diameter are stretched in front of lock gates to prevent the lock gates being rammed into As a further measure of safety all lock appliances are interlocking that means that certain motors cannot be started until other motors are operated in a proper manner and in the proper order to obtain consistent consi stant 0 operation pe ration of the whole and to avoid any undesirable or dangerous combinations in the position of valves gates or fender chains everything must be opened before fender chains can be lowered these and other protective devices have not been designed to prevent tany any material damage to ships or to locks but above everything their purpose is to prevent accidents which may cause a loss of water it Is is evident a one half of the canal would be put out of commission should leaks occur simultaneously on both sides of a flight of locks the entire canal would have to cease operations ebery precaution which may humanly be devised has been taken to avoid waste of water should an exceptionally dry season occur the lock chambers are 1000 feet long by feet wide and a large volume of water is displaced each time a c chamber amber h is filled or emptied in order to waste as little as possible instead of letting the water flow down by gravity a system of sluices has ben devised so that water may mav be passed from one lock chamber to another furthermore intermediate gates emergency dams and even floating caisson gates are available the latter when towed into position may be sunk where needed nee ded to stop an anace accidental outflow of bf water canal navigation there are three flights of paral lellock chambers at gatun galun which a ship negotiates inless in less than an hour she then enters gatun galun lake cli channel annel which may navigate under her ber own power W r in all canal waters except in the locks the pilot is co considered to be on board solely in inn an advisory capacity however the regulations say that masters of vessels must abide by the rules and regulations of the canal as interpreted to them by the pilot and that if any master or officer disregards the advice of the pilot he wil be strictly responsible for any damage that maybe may be done the vessel itself may be held on a lien by legal process until settlement in full has been made to cover any loss or damage passing culebra cut the northern entrance of the eight miles long culebra cut is at gamboa where the famous dyke was blown up last october thus far the banks of the banks of the canal and of gatun galun lake are only slightly higher than the water surface but now the ship runs at places between the perpendicular cular sides of artificial gorges which have cost millions gold hill contractors hill Hag AnHill and rio grande hill have n not t put great difficulties in the way of the canal build builder erg on the other hand Cucura chua the word means cockroach or something creeping unlike its neighbors is not a mass of solid rock but a huge pile pila of loose loosa material which slide sinto the canal prism as bastas fast as support from below is removed for some time a channel about feet wide and 35 feet deep has been maintained there it is sufficient for the bassage nassa ge of ships unto un to about gross tons to widen and deepen the channel to and 42 feet respectively ively and two most power ful dipper dredges floating steam shovels ever built the gamboa and the Pa paraiso ralso and one of the large suction dredges as well as several smaller craft are working on the side iri in two night shifts they are towed toed aside during the dayta day to to permit uninterrupted traffic atthe south end of culebra cut is the only bridge crossing the canal the paraiso swinging pontoon bridge to the branch railroad between pedro miguel empire andaas cascades cascadas Casc Case adas A little further are the single flights of pedro miguel locks the one mile long miraflores Mira florea lake at the southern end of which are two flights of locks at miraflores from whence a seven miles channel leads to the pacific tern terminal ninal port of balboa west of the city of panama entering and navigating the canal in spite of many curves and angles the navigation of the canal is hot difficult A very 1 complete system of aids to navigation elaborate rules of the road and signalling sign alling methods render canal navigation easy to 0 those who are familiar wit with h them however it is evident that no ship is allowed to navigate the canal without the assistance of a licensed pilot substantially the mode of operation of the canalis as follows the owner or masters of a vessels which are to use the canal are requested to announce the date of the arrival of ofa a ship to a terminal port as far as alpos pos sible in advance the vessel arrives at the bar or of the terminal port nort it is boarded by the port physician and deputies of the port and it submits to the formalities mali ties of entrance if sh she has a clean bill possesses a certificate of measurement nt at pays continued on page eight A brief history of the panama canal from page one tolls or her owner has an account with the canal administration tra tion she takes on a pilot and she may proceed on her voyage through the canal subject to orders of the dispatchers the canal authorities may deny any vessel the of passing through the canal the cargo machinery or equipment which is of such nature that it ma may endanger the locks or any par of the canal or its equipment everything working smoothly it is difficult to speak af o f the workings of a great undertaking as the panama canal in a strictly objective manner the people of bf the united states have at all times felt confident of its ultimate success they never for a moment doubted that its operation would be accomplished without a hitch bitch yet those who have been in charge of the making of the canal and are charge of its operation have not at all times been so confident they ar enow arenow themselves surprised thit that everything works almost as smoothly 0 athly asif as if the canal had been used for forthe the last twenty years canal force had had lafi long experience in its operation aaion every detail has thus far worked io sowell that not a rope has ha s been smashed and not a bit of paint from a ships side has been scratched ed and so to say not a minute of unavoidable de lay has occurred everything seems to have been thought out in advance that thus fars far herdly any deeo of change of the methods or regulations have been felt the passage of ships has been affected with the punctuality of a train service the supreme erne test having been made already dur inythe first day of bf operation of the canil canal by sending rending five ships simultaneously simultaneous lv through the new waterway ma no difficulties have been found manou maneuvering vering big ships such hs as the panama railroad steamers ancon and cristobal or the large boats of the american hawaiian and W R grace lines I 1 safety first in further improvements prove ments the transi transportation or tation department at the head of which is captain hugh Rod manUS N has no intention to attempt to break its own record of speed and everything in the operation is subject to the rule safety first however later it is hoped that time maybe maya be saved by simplifying rules and eliminating possible causes of dely delpy if als is probable that the average time of passage may be reduced induced from 12 to 10 hours to 10 to 8 hours and even less I 1 A cause of delay has been found in thi the application of the yules for the measurement asu remen t of ships before being allo allowed we to enter the canal the tonnage of every vessel is determined by measurement every feet of cargo or passenger carrying space being considered as one t angross on gross tolls aredus are due on the entire net conage of a ship even if she should cary only a few tons tone tons of cargo on the other hand a deduction of 40 per can cent is made to ships sailing through the canal light that means without any cargo at all or in ballast in order to fa ciliate shipping and to avoid delays the canal administration adepts the of measurements made according to canal rules by the beritich board 0 strade lloyda register the bureau veritas in paris and similar institutions however the canal administration has reserved the right to th object to these measurements a ants any time and to throw out any certificates which does not conform to the rules difficulties encountered thus far only slight anfor seen hinde rances to navigation have ben found it was not expected that the mixing of the sea and the fresh water at the lower gates at gatun galun and miraflores locks would cause any troublesome eur currents renti when operations begun it was discovered that eddy currents of a velocity of from three to four miles an hour were we formed reformed thus lecessi necessitating i the holdin holding of ships for several minutes until the waters had become thoroughly mixed and had come to i a rest it was wag found later that upon opening the lock gates the fresh water remained for some time on the surface causing a current seaward the heavier salt water below running toward the locks lighter draft ships are more affected than heavier vessels this slight inconvenience will be remedied b by a widening of the chann elto the fhe lock approaches the difference of density between fresh and sea water is of about 5 per cent on the ancon and cristobal it made a difference of draught of about 9 inches expenditures conform to estimates now the canal is in full operation and ready to take care of all the th e traffic which may present itself it is well to give here a few figures showing how near the provisions of the engineers who have haiie planned the work have been aaen realized first it is necessary to convey an idea of the enormous amount of excavation necessary in building the canal the taj french companies excavated cubic yards of which only cubic yards were useful to the present canal the ameria americans ans from date of occupation may ath 1904 to 1914 have bave ecca bated cubic yards leaving cubic yards remaining to be excavated according to the revised estimates of august 1914 jil in 1899 american engineers 1 estimated th thatis atit would co cost t 80 cents i cubic yard to dig culebra cut the actual co cost st was 76 16 16 cents it avid was estimated that the cost of laying th the e concrete on locks and spill ways would be a duble cubic yard the ahe actual cost at galun gatun wis was lia at pedro miguel and miraflores anly and respect respectively i vel y in the sea level portions of the canal the average cost of the excavation was 24 cents a cubit cubic yard against an estimate bf 20 cents the international commission which studied the american project estimated the total cost of the canal at aar A detailed summary of the expenditures expenditure s from the beginning of the work to the end of the year 1913 makes the total this excess over the estimate is comparatively very small it is yet reduced in bi fact it as the latter sum includes the cost of the plant of permanent work done thus far |