PANAMA CANAL

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14829, 21 November 1913, Page 5

PANAMA CANAL

GAMBOA DYKE BLOWN UP.

PRESIDENT'S ELECTRIC SPARK

(IROU OCR OWN CORBESrONDENt.) LONDON, October 15

The Gatnboa dyke, thp last obstruction in the Panama Canal channel between the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, has been blown up, President Wilson having pressed a button in White House, Washington, which fired th© many tons of dynamite encased in the dyke. Thirty minutes after the President had sent the electric spark, a cable message was received at White House from Colonel Goethals, engineer of tho Canal, stating that the explosion had occurred without a hitch. As the President pressed the switch in the White Houre the current threw a small spark. Electricians said this showed that the current to Panama was direct and without breaks.' The course of transmission wan from Washington to Galtreston, 1656 miles. From Galveston the spark went direct to Coatzacoakos, in Mexico, a distance of 793 miles. From there it sped across the Isthmus _of Tehuantopec to Salina Cruz, 188 miles further; from there to San Juan del Sir, Nicaragua, 766 miles; and from there to Panama City, 718 miles. It was taken overland by the telegraph to Gamboa from Panama. Thus, what Mr James Bryce called "the greatest liberty man has ever taken with Nature" is to all intents and purposes accomplished. Despatches from Panama describe ' how tie Gamboa dyke was blown skyiTiigh. Thousands of persons had .journeyed to fhe scene in special trains, and a great cheer went up as the earth shook, and a huge black billow of smoke rushed towards the heavens. As tho debris fell and the mud settled it was seen that only a portion of the barrier had been removed and there were small rivers of water making their way into the Culebca cut. A few hours later the tiny streams grew into a , volume, and tho force of t£is flow is calculated by Colonel Goethals, with the assistance of dredgers, gradually to remove the last traces of the barrier.

The Gamboa dyke was a quarter of a mile long, 50ft wide, and 75ft high. For the past year any break in its walls would have admitted the waters of tL« artificially created Gatun lake to the Culebra cut, flooding the. big ditch and delaying its completion indefinitely. Gamboa, therefore, acted as the key to Culebra, and the engineers will be universally congratulated on the quality of their work, which successfully withstood the terrific pressure placed upon

it. It is pointed out that the blowing up of the dyko occurred nearly 400 years after the" first actual steps were taken for the construction of a waterway across, the Isthmus of Panama, for it was in October, 1534, that Charles V. of Spain had a survey made. Canal engineers of that time,, working both ways from the spot where the Gamboa dyke stood, laid out a line which the engineers of to-day are following exactly.