THE PANAMA CANAL

Hokitika Guardian, 10 October 1931, Page 3

THE PANAMA CANAL

DE LESSEPS AND THE FRENCH f ATTEMPT. SUCCESS OF UNITED STATES’ SCHEME. (By A. G. THOMPSON, in P.L.A. Monthly). As long as four bunded years ago the idea of a short cut from the At lantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean was ocenupying the minds of the seafarers of European countries. Christopher Columbus had a firm belief that there was in the vicinity of Panama a strait through which he could sail and reach the Orient. On his fourth voyage in 1502 he explored Limon Bay and sailed into Porto Ikdlo, which place lie so named, and he died in the belief that he had accomplished his task and had actually sailed through the straits to Asia. in 1529 Alvara de Saavedra, a companion of Balboa during his discovery of the Pacific, crossed the Isthmus by a route about a hundred miles south east of the line of the Canal, and reaching tin* Pacific Coast on Michaelmas Day, nanjed it the Gulf of San Miguel. To Alvara de Saavedra belongs tbe honour of preparing the first plan for an Isthmus Canal. In 1550 a Portuguese navigator, Antonio Galvno, wrote a book suggesting a canal at Tehuantepec or, alternatively, at Nicaragua, Panama, or Darien. The following year, a Spanish historian sub mitted a memorial to Philip IT urging t'"> y.'ovk to be undertaken but the plan was discouraged bv the Spanish Government. Two hundred years later the Spanish Government ordered a survey of the Tehuantepec route and the scheme was found to he impracticable.

In 1823 the Central American Republics acquired their independence and. having received applications foi concessions from Great Britain and from the United States, made overtures to the latter, but nothing materialised. In 1830 a concession was maw to a Dutch corporation and subsequently numerous concessions were made to the United States, France, and Great Britain. Following the successful completion of the Suez Canal, interest >« the proposed Isthmus Canal again became keen, and in 1875 the United States made serve vs of the suggested routes and came to the conclusion that

| the only possible lines were those through Panama and through Nicaragua. In 1879 an International Congress under the auspices of Fermand de Lesseps, met to consider the best situation and plans for the Canal; and this resulted in the formation of a French company under his presidency. The French started work on January 20th 1882, with the excavation of the* Culebra Cut. Operations continued until 1889, when insufficiency of funds and the .ravages of fever obliged them to relinquish the task. The company was reorganised and resumed operations in 1894, but made little headway. Finally in 1902, on the advice of tin* Isthmusian Canal Comniission, the United States bought out the French company for 40,000,000 dollars. Treaties were made with Colombia and with Panama, and the United States took occupation of the Canal Zone on May 4th; ! 1904. No satisfactory tender for the construction of the Canal being offered, President Roosevelt ordered the work to he carried out by the Corps of Engineers. The first ocean steamer maae the transit on August 3rd, 1914. and on August 15th. 1914, the Panama Canal was opened for traffic. The building of the Canal was a stupendous task and involved the excavation ot 380,210.950 cubic yards of material and the expenditure of £375,000,000 dollars.

The Panama Railway, which runs alongside the Canal, was originally con structed between 1850 and 1855 by the United States.' It was subsequently acquired by the French Canal Company, but reverted to America with the other French property on the Isthmus, The Railway still operates as a. separate Corporation, but all the stock is Gov-ernment-owned, and the Governor of the Panama Canal is President of the Railroad Company.

The Panama Canal connects the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean through the Isthmus of Panama, where the Continental Divide. a range ot mountains which extends from Alacka to Magellan, drops to one of its lowest points, 312 feet above sea level. The distance between shores is oniy 34 miles, although the course of the Canal from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific is 43.85 nautical miles. The- Canal runs in a north-west to south-west direction, almost at right angles to the Tstlimus of Panama.

Vessels enter the Canal from the Atlantic by a channel in Limon RftV and proceed a distance of 5.77 nautical miles to Gntun Locks. There they pass through a series of three locks end arc lifted 85 feet to the level of the Gatun

Lake which was formed by the damming of the Chagres River. The passage through the dredged channel of tile Gatun Lake is 20.55 miles, and ai, Gamboa vessels enter the Gailiard Cut which extends for 6.97 miles to Pedro Migual. Here they enter a lock and are lowered 31 feet to Miraflores Lake. At the farther side of the lake are two more locks, lowering the level again by 51 feet to that of the Pacific Ocean. About seven miles from its mouth the Chagres River passes through a gap in the hills the centre of which, in some swampy ground, was a rocky island. This island was connected to the riverbanks by two-wings, the whole forming the Gatun Dam. Some 23,000,000 cubic yards of material was dumped to form this dam. which at its base is half a- mile wide, and at the top some 20 feet above water-level, is 100 feet wide. The” total length is 8,400 feet and the wings are used as a golf course. The Gatun Locks consist of three flights of twii/ locks, enabling two lines of shipping to be dealt with simultaneously. Each of the six chambers is 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide ana lias intermediate gates to conserve the water when the full length of lock is not required. Ships are moored by steel ropes to electrically-driven “mules,” which run on cog and ratchet tracks on both sides of the lock and tow the vessel through. For a small vessel, four of these electric “mules” are used, one on each how, towing, and two astern, holding hack. For larger vessels one or two additional pairs of locomotives arc used amidships. . At Gatun is a hydro-electric station of 13,140 kw. capacity, which generates and distributes the electric current throughout the Canal "Zone. The limiting depth of 'tile canal at mean low water is 35 feet. Tidal currents of a knot or more are found in many places, but as they are parallel to the Canal they present little or no difficulty to navigation. There is, however a. strong cross-current at Gamboa whore the Chagres River is higli. Pilotage by United States Government pilots is compulsory, and in addition special pilots arc taken on board at the locks. \\ bile it is possible on the basis of a twenty-four-hour day, it is not at present economic to do so, and ships are not despatched unless they can pass through the Caillard Cue during hours of daylight. A vessel passing through the Canal is limited to’ a speed of from six to fifteen knots and takes between six and seven hours to pass through. Ships carrying fifty or more passengers have a priority in transit over other vessels. The- administration of the Panama Canal is under the Governor, whose office is at Balboa Heights in the Canal Zone. While the Governor is directly responsible to the President of the United States, as a matter of executive arrangement, the Secretary of State for War is responsible for Canal , Zone matters in Congress. Apart from the. operation of the Canal, the United States maintains all public services in the Canal Zone and employs a staff of about 15,300 persons. Of these, 3.300 are American “gold” employees, and the remainder are “silver” employees, being in the main West Indies. This classification has its origin in the custom of paying Europeans in tropical countries on a gold basis’ and natives in local silver currency. >

' There are ample facilities for shipping using the Canal: there is coaling plant of a total of 700,000 tons capacity. oil tanks with a storage capacity of 2,433,792 barrels, and a fresh-water supply which is pumped and filtered from the Gatun Lake. It is interesting to note that the “Hororata,” London to New Zealand was tbe first boat going through the Canal to use pulverised coal for fuel, and that she bunkered a-t Christobal on January 17th, 1929. Supplies of all kinds are available, both for shipping and for the inhabitants. The Canal Administration has 40,00.0 acres of pasture land, and some 8,500 head of cattle from these reserves are consumed annually. There is an abattoir, packing house, cold storage mul two large ice plants. For ship-repair work there are dry docks, foundries/ floating cranes, tugs, and a- salvage steamer. The larger dry dock is 1,000 feet long, 110 feet wide and 43 feet deep; the smaller dry dock, built by the French, is 316 feet long, 50 feet wide and 13 feet deep. The floating cranes each have a lifting capacity of 250 tons at a minimum radius of 50 feet. The jibs are 143 feet long, and at the highest angle of elevation are 206 feet above deck.

The principal ports of the Canal are Balboa and Christobal. Balboa is the port of Panama, and vessels anchor in the roadstead outside the Canal entrance to await the visit of the port sanitary officer. From the entrance of the Canal to the wharves is a passage 45 feet deep, and, at the quays, vessels of any length or beam can be berthed. Christobal', on the Atlantic Coast, is the port lor the town of Colon, and its piers are under the control of the Panama Railroad Company. There is sufficient berthing accommodation for twenty-nine steamers, and vessels ol 15,000 tons are using this port regularly. At neither of these' ports are there any harbour dues for vessels making the transit of the Canal, provided they do not disembark passengers or discharge cargo. The principal exports are bananas, and the imports consist mainly of supplies for the Canal Zone. At both of these terminal ports are transit sheds, in which can be housed goods “forwarded for orders" pending re-shipment. The opening of the Panama Canal coincided with the outbreak of the European War, and in consequence much of the shipping which the-Canal might normally have expected to -deal with was diverted to other routes. Countries on the west coast of Central and South America lost their European trade, but in the later years of the War this traffic was, to a certain extent,

compensated for by the shipment <>t Ch.lean nitrate for the manufmture », explosives. Ihe Governor of th Panama Canal, in 1923, sta.eJ th-t -but for the nitrates that were cunv.ii rap’dly -from Chile to the American aim European factories in 1916-1018, the Allies .might have lost the World Lai-." J “The Straits of Panama” are still within the bounds of possfbiity. A canal at sea revel coulu be constructed by deepening the Gailiard Cut by 85 feet; but difficulties of landshi. s and controlling ihe Chagres River and other streams when in flood Would present enormous engineering prooierns i/and the cost .might be prohibit.ve.