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The Commoner
VOL. i3, NO. 32
22
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Landslides May Delay Opening of the
Panama Canal
An Associated Press dispatch,
dated Washington, Nov. 24, says:
No dellnito dato for the olllcial
opening ot the Panama canal is set
in tho annual report of Colonol
Georgo Goethals, chairman and chief:
engineer of the canal commission,
which has just been submitted to
Secrotary Garrison. Nelthor is there
any prediction of when the ships
may first pass from ocean to ocean.
Tho first day of the canal's actual
oporation still depends upon the
treachorous slides of Culebra cut and
how well the dredges can keep the
channels open.
"It has beou the general belief that
the effect of the water in tho cut
would tend to retard slides and ox-
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perience below the Gatum locks fully
justifies this belief," said Colonel
Goothals. "On the other hand the
geologist is of the opinion that the
water may to some extent develop
new slides. Again much ado was
made in 1009 over the seamy char
acter of the rock on the isthmus,
through which water flows quite
rapidly, in consequence of which tne in brief, these were based on the ap-
question was raised that tho laue prehension that Gamboa dike would
mining on the. JPaqinc coast, we're
brought into play to wash away the
treacherous hills from the rear, carr
rying the material into unused valleys
distant from the canal.
PICKED WET METHOD
A great engineering problem was
involved in tho solution of the ques
tion of continuing the excavation of
the canal by steam shovels or by hy
draulic dredges and Colonel Goethals
for the first time makes an official
statement of the reasons which im
pelled him to choose the wet method.
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crevices.
SOONER THE BETTER
"If these things are liable to occur,
the sooner the better, if the official
opening of the canal is lo occur Jan
uary 1, 1915; for if water was not
admitted this fall, but were deferred
until May 1, 1914, tho full height
could not be reached until October,
1914, leaving little time for the de
termination of these questions. These
considerations led to the conclusion
that the water should be turned into
the cut at the eailiest date practic
able for getting the dredges to work
on the slides.
"The present plans, therefore, are
based upon the blowing up of Gam
boa dike on October 10, iti removal
by dredges immediately therafter,
the transfer of two suction dreiges
and a ladder dredge to the Cucaracha
slide, the smaller dipper dredges to
work on the other slid J until tho
full width of the channel is attained,
and the passage of vessels through
the canal as soon as channels of full
depth and of sufficient width have
been secured.
"Before boats can be passed it will
be necessary to remove the Gamboa
dike by dredges and to remove the
slides as already outlined. The pass
age of commercial vessels is depend
ent, therefore, upon the time when
proper channels can be dredged
through the slides; should additional
ones occur, they will necessarily ad
vance the date when this will be oc-complished."
DELAY BY SLIDES
The canal proper, exclusive of the
approaches, the machine shops and
warehouses and great ocean docks at
either end, would have been com
pleted during the last fiscal year, but
for the extensive slides in the Culebra
cut. And to deal with the great
problems Involved in the removal of
the slides no effective way was found
except the bodily displacement of
vast hills. The slides and breaks in
creased as the cut was deepened.
"No treatment has proven effective
for slides when once developed ex
cept that of excavating and hauling
away material from the moving mass
until the slide comes to rest or until
the angle of repose for the particular
material in motion is reached," said
Colonel Goethals.
Last year It was predicted by geolo
gists that the slides had been con
quered and that little more activity
could be expected because all the
loose surface soil and stone had al
most slid off, exposing great ridges
of solid basalt rock which wruld act
as barriers to further earth move
ments. Yet, when all was most
promising and the canal excavation
had gotten within sixty feet of the
bottom of the cut on the east side,
the rocks broke under the tremen
dous pressure and 2,000,000 cubic
yards of material slid into and closed
up the cut. Since then, the canal
workers have been digging away that
material and though there have been
several slides, steady progress was
made, for not only did giant dredges
work on the face of the slides but
powerful hydraulic monitors, such as
were extensively used in hydraulic
not bo strong or high enough to keep
the water out of the cut as the Gatun
lake rose in the wet season. Also,
steam shovel operations would be re
tarded by the seasonal rains which
would not affect the operation of the
dredges and finally the measure was
one of economy. It would have been
possible with the shovels to have re
moved all of the slides by January 1,
1914, next except tho Cucaracha slide
which could not have been entirely
carried off before April, 1914.
The financial operations of the
canal are told in big figures: The
disbursing officer has paid out $20,
524,705 on pay rolls alone. Congress
so far has appropriated $349,505,223
for canal construction of which $10
676,950 went for fortifications ''
. HOW THE LOCKS WORK
In great detail Colonel Goethals
tells the story of the engineers' work
during the last year and with par
ticular satisfaction it is reported that
the mechanism of the vast locks aud
dams was tested with perfect success.
The gates at Gatun were swung in
one minute and fifty-one seconds for
each leaf. The heavy iron chains
which are depended upon to prevent
an unruly vessel from crashing into
the locks were raised and lowered in
ample time to meet any emergency,
and demonstrate their ability to
check or stop any vessel unless of
very great size and moving at exces
sive speed. The locomotives which
will tow the ships through the locks
were tried out and proved their
ability easily to handle the largest of
vessels and the electric installation
which will involve the use of a cur
rent of 44,000 volts was completely
successful.
Altogether the technical sections
of the report seem to demenstrate
the accuracy of Colonel Goethal's
statement that practically nothing
but the great slide at Cucaracha re
mains to prevent the successful
operation of the canal.
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