l ' 5 THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: MARCH 31. 1912.
The Atlantic End of Uncle Sam's Great Waterway
0 jQ.fuT . - - m'yi
' "Wit "-v--- ;lm
COLBERT . . ty T tttj'
(Copj-rliht, la br Frtik O. Crpntr.) II I U .Li 0 1 1 I
ATCN. CuuU Zon. Pinama.-! I I If -iX . II I
i o o -o
G
(Copyright, 1M1 br Frank O. Carpenter.)
ATCN, Canal Zone, Panama. I
want to ftv rou a picture of
the (Teat work going on at
Oatun. Hero la the mighty
dam which now holdi back
charcea, making a reaarrolr
even Umea aa great aa that of the Nile
above the dam at Aeeouan. Her are the
nighty locka, which will lift the blggeat
of th ocean greyhounda from the At
lantic to the. lowest level at the end of
thla chain of the Andre, so that they
may shoot aeroea It and go down other
water steps Into the Piclflc. Here Is
where our canal and the old French
canal, cross, and where the mightiest of
th construction work of the Panama
oaaal begins. Ostun Is, In soma respecta,
the heart of thla greatest engineering
work of all times, the ganglionic center
from which Its nerves radiate.
I cam her this m6rnlng from my I
houl at A neon, on the Pacific I rose
at I o'clock and rod with th work'
men on th railroad along th canal. 1
have -spent all day In going over the dam
and locks with Colonel eibcrt, th hr
draullo engineer who has charge of the
Atlantlo division of the canal: and am
now writing these notes on th second
floor of the Oatua administration build
ing. In plain view of the canal and the
locks, and of th Atlantic ocean, which
Is rolling up its surf In Umon bay.
A Day at Gataa.
All day I have been flying over th dam
and the works. I have gone up and down
the loots In a car run by a gasoline
engine I have often ridden under those
mighty chambers forty feet and more be
low th level of th sea, and under the
basins which when tilled with water will
aom day lift able as big aa the Olympic
n their way from ocean to ocean. I
hav been Inside th mighty concrete
pipes, each as big as the tube tunnel
through which th Pullman train go on
their way under the river from Jersey
(CKr to New York, and hav aeen th
holes as big a a hogshead which will ad
mit the waters of th Chagres lnt th
floor of th locka.
- I hav yisltrd th Atlantic ocean where
the canal ends or begins; hav flown
across th spillway, and, aver with my
life. It Mem to me, resting on th bal
ance of a hair and my heart In my throat,
hav been carried In and out and
over thla mighty maa of machinery
which lifts mountains In Its fingers and
carries th earth and th waters In the
palm of Its hand.
Brala-Rarkla eeaea.
The scenes are Indescribable. lDven now
my head busies aa I look at th flying
steel cable which are carrying steel
hogsheads loaded with stone through th
air aa though they wer balloon filled
with th lightest of gas; at th rivers of
car plied high with the bin rock from
Culebra cut, and at th vast moving net
work of steel wire, railroad train and
human beings which covers th Gatun
lock and th dam.
Th Impressions which com through
the ear ner are almost ar terrifying aa
those through th eve. Th drama of my
head ar vibrating at something Hk a
thousand movements a second. A boiler
factory would be a rest cure In compart
, son, and the shrieking of th at earn, and
th expUidlna; of th dynamite, th ham
mering of steel upon steel and th thou
sand notaes of mighty machines ar com
bined Into a rasping din that makes one's
nerves th only pereeptlbl part of his
being. It la under such conditions that I
ara giving yoa my unnrenlona and re
cording some of the note which were
mad her today at Gatun,
A rlylna hlaehla View.
Let me first naki a rough drawing of
the seen aa It looks from tle roof of
thia off to boUdlnc on the top of the
high hUl Just wer th dam. We might
be in a flying; machine, for the water
of the oceaa and thos of Oatua laka
and th canal, which lead to them, ar
spread out below as aa though on a
map. Looking to the north, yen eaa
follow the ha of th canal from Urn
ray right up to th locks, A score of
great dredges ar now working In It,
and there Is only a small amount of ex
cavation, comparatively speaking, yet to
be done.
At the end of thla channel I th ma
sonry of the locks, now almost com
pleted, and beyond them th dam where
th waters of the Chagre ar rising.
There la now only about twenty feet of
water ta th lake, hut It Is a beautiful:
THRQVGJL 1HE XcdES IN .A .CAR. 0
sheet, wltK many lalanda spotting th
surface. Later on It will be seventy
feet higher and will cover auch a vast
stent that sitting on th steamer aom
parts of It extend beyond th rang of
th eye.
The Lorka at Qataa,
Now take a rapid view of th locka
They He below us In three pair of gl'
ganllo i tone chambers, on above th
other, covering a distance of more than
half a mile, and containing material
enouRh to build a little city of sky
scrapers. Th material Is concrete and
it looks like stone. Connected with that
In th dam its amount I altogether more
than IOUO,OOI cublo yards, or mor than
enough to make a wall a1x feet wide
and alx feet high of solid concrete from
New York to Washington. The dam
alone contains mora than 11,000,000 cubic
yards of material, and enough earth haa
been put there to build a roadway a foot
thick and nine feet wide. If earth and
rock could bo laid on th water, from
Shanghai In China serosa th Pacific
ocean to the United State, and across
th United State and th Atlantlo to
Europe, and 1,00ft mile farther on Into
th heart of that continent.
Looking at the dam and the locks from
here, you get a taint conception of their
immensity and ooet. This tropreaatoa will
be even leas when tha water I turned la.
Then everything will be bidden and It
will be hard to realise that Ml0,0M
fSO.400,000 bar been spent In making th
construction now lying below a.
Th 1,000, one cublo yards of concrete
alone, so Colonel Elbert tells me. cost
something Ilk ft per yard, or tHO00,Jo.
while th excavation coat upward of !,-
M,0M mora Th gate to all the locks
of th canal ar t coat over t0W,OMl
This Is a pretty penny, and It I only
when you e th mighty doors, as tall
as sn eight-story house, made In hun
dreds of thousands of piece, fitted to
gether like a watch, that you realise
where that money haa gone.
A Look at th Dam.
But let me give you a look at the dam.
It Is more Ilk th aide hllla of a great
field plowed by the god than Ilk any
kind of masonry construction. It la. In
tact, a mountain of earth and rock, which
the alave of Uncle 8am' Aladdin lamp
hav lifted up bodily and dropped down
between two other little mountain, shut
ting In th valley of the Chagroa and
making a lake which will be 1M square
miles In ex ten U, It I a dam of earth and
reck, a mighty mound of excavated ma
terial a mile and a half long and a half
mil wide at th base. It will b less
than M feet high. The ground slopes up
gradually from th lake and atop grad
ually down on tbo other aide. It Is mor
Ilk a hill thaa anything elaa. Ilk a bar
rier created by nature rather than man.
At the top It will bo only m feet wide.
and tha water wfll aom within perhaps
thirty feet of It At the back, or facta
th Atlantic M will probably bo smoothed
off and sodded; and. aa Cotoael abort
facetiously says. It might be turned Into
golf links, using th alllway for1 a
Aad now Just a word about th spill
way. Thla th overflow of th dam.
It Is light In th center and It con-
ststa of a concrete-lined opening, a lit
tle mor than a quarter of a mile lone
and tut feet wide, whlea run down
through the dam to a point about
ten feet above sea level. The crest of
the dam will be lit feet above that level.
The spillway dam will be fitted with
gate: and th machinery which will
regulat th water level of th lake. This
susonry Is all In place, ft I Semi
circular In snap and It look as If It
were made f Derrea sandstone.
Xafclac Xoaatalau
In my trip today I waa shown how the
dam was constructed. By a snoceaslou
of ta th raMroad track leads ta it
top and w rode here and there all over
It, There are two great walla of exca
vated material made up of the mighty
masses of rock and other spoil from the
Culebra cut. These form a reservoir, aa
It were, which Is being tilled with clay
and aand and other stuff dredged from
the lake and also from the land outside
It Is carried Into th basin or cor of the
dam between plica of loose rock dumped
out by th cars. During our trip over the
works ws rod out to where th suction
dredge wer gouging out th sides of
th mountain, mixing It with water and
forcing It through a pip Into th dam.
Th pip was aa big around aa a flour
barrel and a mile or so long.' It msde
m think of a boa constrictor or of th
dragon which guarded th golden apples
of Hesperldes. This mighty boa vomits
black earth at th rat of thousands ot
tons every day Into th core.
Will It Hold th Water f
As ws looked I talked with Colonel I
bert about the dam, and be gave m
lecnnicai aiscnption from which I am
convinced It will hold back th waters
of the Chagre for all tun to come. II
say that th earth In th cor I th
am a that which forms th bottom of
the lake. The nglneera mad drillings.
but they found that there waa 2St feet
ot such material above th bad rock and
that a concrete dam waa Impossible.
They then tested th earth to see whether
It would hold water, and It did. They
analysed It and found that much of It
contained blue clay, and they hav dis
covered that some of It waa formed by
th silt from th Chaxree, and other
part by th sea, which one cam up
here In th form ot a great bay. As aa
evidence of thla I saw sea shells dug up
by the steam shovel below the locks dur
ing ray trip this morning.
Th blue clay which forma a part of
this earth la absolutely waterproof. In
one place th engineers found th trunk
of a trre Imbedded In It Th log wss
flfty-slx feet below sea level, but It waa
not In th least affected or decomposed
It had evidently lain ther for thousands
and possibly millions of years, and had
th water rot tea to It it would hav
atted away.
When th dam Is completed th central
portion ot It, or core, will be mad of
earth containing material Ilka this, and
th part la front and behind thla will bo
ot th excavated apoll, filled with the
other material mad up ot th silt from
th Cbsgres.
Th dam material haa, as I have said.
been tested, and ther la no doubt but
that It will hold the water, although a
treat eonat ruction could not bo erected
upon It. It is only owing to th rocky
hill In th center of th dam thatt he
spillway could bo created. Th concrete
of th spillway l founded a rock, aad It
looks as though the Lord, when He
crest' d this part ot th earth, dropped
that rocky hill her In order that man
might he able to create a water highway
from ocean to ocean,
Problem One of roaatrwetlaa.
A w went over thla vast work, squint
Ing our eye to keep out th flying sand
from th myrlada of spoil train Which
flew by us, I asked Colonel Blhert If th
dam waa not th most wonderful ever
created, ne repueo mat It waa in targ
sat dam ever planned, but that the prob
lem of making It waa on of construction
rather than of engineering. It was a
question of accomplishing a vast amount
of work within a abort time rather thaa
one ot difficult engineering. Tha prin
cipal problem dealt with the handling of
th material, but In other way the con
strucllon waa no more difficult than that
ot any complicated ptee of big engineer
ing, and not aa difficult a aom.
I her asked Colonel 81 bert when th
dam would bo finished, and as to Just
when the canal would b really opened.
He replied:
"Aa to the canal, th president has told
th people that It will be opened on July
n, 1919. That may be eo. I certainly
know that It will bo so aa ta this part ot
th work, locks, dams aad all."
And Just here I want to aay a word
about Colonel 81 bert H I on of th
best equipped etvll and mechanical en
gineers of his una and he has mad a
reputation a aa hydraulic engineer tor
his work her at Oatun. H has
hsd charge of what I known as the
Atlantic division, Including th Impound
ing of ths waters of th Chagrea and
th construction of th canal from hers
to th sea. Colonel 81 bert I a graduate
of Wast Point, and he began his en
gineering career at the time he left the
academy. He mad aom reputation In
connection with the great locka at th
8oo, which he aided In building, and also
In th rebuilding of th railroad In cen
tral Loxon at the clone of our war with
th Spaniards. After that h had chant
of the construction of th dam on th
Ohio at Pittsburgh and ot the other river
Improvement ther. It la now aver ft
year sloe h cam to Panama. He
a man who should know whereof
speaks, and hi remark that this part of
th canal will be completed on time Indi
cates that It I on ot th sure thing of
th future.
Threaah Laeka aa Holler Coaster.
Tou all know the devlliah roller coaster.
I mean the billowy Utile railway of th
aummer resort whoso tracks run uphill
and down and wind about Ilka a snake
ssndfng th heart of th passenger to th
root of his mouth. This In a feeble way
will give you an Idea ot my lido In a
motor car through th locka Th steps
taken by th steamer In getting over
th mountain from oceaa to oceaa we
ascended and descended on a railroad
track. Wo would climb up and dive
down forty feet at a time, and above t.s
rou!d be machinery carrying Iron and
atone. On both side of the locks rose
great wails of masonry which made one
think of th aid of th Washington mon
ument a he looked above him.
Now the car would take a turn and we
would hoot down through the nuchty
tube which will let In the water, and
now w were at time under th very
bed ot the lock.
Wa went up to the galea, which are now
awarmlng with workmen, and aa I looked
at the nen th engineer told me that
each leaf weighed W0 tons, making 1.3W
tons for each gate. Nevertheless, they
ar so delicately poised that they move
aa easily aa a girl opens a fan after a
hot dance on a Saturday night at the
Tivoll hotel. Each of those gates weighs
l.Ko tons. I laugh aa I think how one
ot them would bavo rattled old Samson,
who bore away th brass gate of daxa
on his bark. A ton la a good wagon load
for two horses. Break those sates Into
pieces and It will tak 1000 horses to pull
them,
From Lock t the Atlaatle.
Leaving the loots we transferred ur
motor car to the construction tracks lead
ing down to the Atlantic and ran along
the hanks ot the canal where It cornea I
up to" the locks. W atopped awhile at
th point where th eld French canal
crosses It, and going on lose Itself In the
dam. Hera tha excavation Is almost com
pleted, although a score of' mighty
dredges can be seen working clear out
Into Umon bay. , Th canal her la about
deep enough tor the most of ths wy, but
dredging hsa to be don tor five mile out
Into the Atlantic and ther I a llttl
batch of something Ilk M.00O.OM cublo
yard of dirt between her and th lorka
Thirteen million cublo yards would Mil a
tunnel three feet wide and three feet
deep running straight through th glob
only a llttl above th equator, but that
I only a email thing hare, where figures
aummlng Into tena of million ara dealt
with. FRANK O. CARPENTER.
FAT VANISHES
ONE ROUND A DAY
BY row MU9LI1S TBWATKZsTT
GET MY FRKE BOOK. IXIMMUNCK RKUICINQ AT OXCK
SiS.OOO.OO IN GOLD IF I FAIL
TSKW OW THOU1AWDS OP O&ATrrVT. PATBOsTS PBOCLklSt TSTB WOaT
DBOOS SKUvUMM PAT TBEATaUBT TBS CUKAX OP BPriCISBCT.
Maa aa Odd Pot.
A mouse two Inches long, with a tiny
red bow about Its neck, wa carried In
th hand of John T. Power Into th
lobby of tbo Van Nuys hotel In Los
Angtlea
When sn Inqulaltlv young woman nv
th mouse was alive there waa a scream
that echoed through the peaceful corri
dors and a swirl of skirts and a hasty
exit.
As a crowd of guests gathered. Power
exhibited his pocket pet and detailed Its
history.
"I procured th mouse In El Paao," he
said, "as he ran through my room on
night. Hlnoe then he ha been my con
stant companion. I have taught him to
atay on my hand whenever I take him out
of my pocket and I feed him three times
a day. ilia chleC diet la milk, cheese and
bacon. 1 have named hlra Billy. He
sleeps at the foot of my bed In a basket.
I have taken him to the opera and th
theater several tlmea. He seems to taks
mor kindly to muslo thsn to th drama."
Powers then prodtioed a spoon and
gave Hilly a drink of water, transferring
him afterward to hi pocket.
I Looked a Pat aa aa Ox Before I Be-
dnced aty Weirht With My Oreat
Brafleea Combination Treatment.
TBB JOT OP tTTIIfO II TBB BSBXT
ABB OP TBB X.BAH I WAS
TOUT, AHD X BBOW.
My frlenda wer charitable and called
II obeeityi others sold I waa rJTOVT.
but know. It waa Just bulky fat. I
waa miserable, and so re you If too
etout To reduce your weight, you muat
uo aa i ain. a rvvnu
TBB kUIB TBB
BIST WAS TA8T. He-
fore I succeeded. 1 tried
everything within and
aome thlnga beyond rea
son. It waa maddening,
dlaruatlng, alarming.
All I had to do wa
to remove the cause, and
I swear under oath, that
by my elmnl treatment,
without druga, medicine,
nerve wracking exer
riaee. or atarvatlon diet,
I reduced my enormous
weight permanently,
quickly and positively
without harm to myself
while taking treatment
or afterwards, and I
guarantee that you caa
reduce as little or aa
murk fat aa you dealre,
with my treatment just
as i oio-
TBTB VOOBa A iAiT.
With my safe, sensible and natural
treatn.vnt quick and permanent reeulia
are pleasantly obtained without strap,
helta, cups, wires. Jacket weal In x. elec
tricity, aoap. salts, pills, oil, cathartic
druga or medicinea of any deaortptlon.
making It positively the greatest treat
ment the world haa ever known. If you
ar Intereated In your bapplnea health
Beret Am After Bedaolnf sty B-aoraov
Ws'ght Quickly and Wlthoat Barm
With aty srugless Bom Treatment
and figure, you will let me tell you how
to reduc fat "Nature a Way," th true
way, my way.
It Is astonishing th thousand of
grateful letter I ant receiving. 4. E,
Holaell Box 111, Oreat Bend, Kan
wrltea he lost fifty pounda with my
harmleaa treatment W. L Bchmlta. Mon
tevideo, Minn., loat w
pounds In thirty days.
Mamie ktcNelly. De
loce. Ma, lost elxry-flv
pounds. Mr Daisy
8mlth. Ia Angel, lost
l4 pounds safely, and
1 can refer to thousand
of aatlafled customer
everywhere.
BBTTZB
OP PAT BBPOBJI PAT
OBTB BIB OP TOP.
1 hav printed a book,
entitled "Weight Re
duction Without Drug"
which I sead fro and
prepaid, so that you
may know of my sue
ressful treatment and
be able to reduc your
weight secretly at homa
without harmful xr
eieea, atarvatlon diet,
drugs or n.edlclnee. Thla
intereetlna book I
free to all fat persona, so writ
this very dy for your copy: don't de
lay. Her Is what you have long sought.
Why seek eleewhereT Write today, later
n ay be too late, t offer in, eaeh
If I fall to pro my groat drfla
ntik aaythtag but safe, uiok aa4
analee la fat-redaetioa. Write todan
for my free book. MABJOB1B stABBfe.
TOB, ftSA a B. Blag Beaver, Colo...
This la th New War th lnt
stop rarest ) I aaile and It
Nourish th bowel-nervea: (don't
purge with salt, aperient and
" Civilized VayW'x
'ar the alsntaed wa .ta sasiefa th bowata M
many attendant VU
BlricRtumY
no aaa weaaan your ay- BBBaBBBBBBBBmmamsBBaammmmana
or OH, nur sulphur, conoon- . . r I 1 RTllA
with Casoartn, Jjlarfc Cherry f 1 nT rll 1 1
linger, etc. in Blackburn VU)vttlUiU UaUj
Royal-Pill makes th on T W TJW " p"lf
jhysl fer ol and youoc.Tbey I I I
VhYnVr' lo. Ma at all drua wE&BtSSSSESWBKtA
(1st
TBB I ACT AaU.T.
Remedies are Needed
War w perfect, which wa ar not, reediciaes weald
ot oft be needed. Rut iae oar rest ens her be
oae weakened, in paired aad broke down through
Mertioa which save fea aa tram th Hy sfei,
throuxa aaaaUms reaereboos, rested ics are needed to
aaa' Nsrer in corrertUf. or raberite aaa otherwhw
T" week. less. Te reach th seat ml stomach
weakneea and ooa.eqo.at digestiv troubles, ther ia
aoiluaf food as Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Dieoov-
wry, a aiyceno eampewad, extracted from astir modi.
i OTr hMty yemrt w1tk l" wiefsetioa to sll mere. P
vt mx at lach, BOiammem, Liver Complaint, Pais m th Stomach after fm,
- . """ "i ot mm, uunai Diarrhea sad t?w Jjtreetmel
Dereafeeaeats, the tHsoevwry" ia a Urnc-prove sad aaast t&emat rwaasoy.
-it
Tbe ienaln hm on Its
ouiMiae wrapper tat
Slimmttirm
can't afford to accrpt a stent nostrum as a soke ti rote lor this asa also
bona, msdisia or vnm covroe -io-, not va though th argent areler mey
thereby make little biJer proat.
Dr. Pwros'i PUaasat Pellet refusal aad iswiforata stomach, tint aaj
owals. Sugar-costcd. tiny (raank, eery to take ta esady.
" Sinm ,
Those drooping " idle ;
hour" lines and that j
"carefully careless" air
which mark the finest
English tailoring mark I
"HIGH-ART" Clothes.
No "stove-pipe " stiffness I
about a "HIGH-ART" Suit. I
IV 8 all curves, instead ot '
cornersit radiates the ele- I
gance of unstudied ease,
Always all-wool,
For sale by clothiers who :
think more of the ' quality r
they give, than of the price ?
a m ooa
they get. ;
Write for "THE HISTORY I
OF MEN'S RAIMENT from 5
the time of Adam to the
present day". It's free, -f
Simply address
Strouse& Brothers J
Baltimore, Md. 2
For Sale by r
Palace Clothing Co.
For Sale in
Omaha by
VJZA d A A d A
J CLOTHING COMrAAT
For Sale in
Omaha by
S S"i,: Jf!"3.
