THE PANAMA CANAL

Hokitika Guardian, 22 February 1932, Page 2

THE PANAMA CANAL

DROUGHT AND FLOOD

mechanical marvel,

Two fears haunt those who daily control the Panama Canal. One is a possible drought, the oilier a possible flood. Too little or too much rain would wreck tin' opera-linn of this tremendous engineering feat, says a writer in the "Daily Mail”

’llie water -which carries the slips through the canal is supplied by Gatun Lake, with a watershed area of 13z0 square miles, the largest artificial lake in the world. If -the lake fell too low there, would not lie enough water to eary through the traffic, and when it rises precip.tousl.y, as it 'has done this month, the electric machinery operating the locks is in danger of being flooded _'iiid -still more dangerous is the likelihood that the channel of the Gailbird Gut. the narrowest section of the canal, might be filled in by a sudden fall of earth from the surrounding sides.

By a curious coincidence, these twin fears have followed one anoiher in quick succession. The dry period of 1929 and 1950 threatened a drought—indeed, the canal zone experienced the dr-est period in 40 years. Engineers surveyed lugubriously the great lake as its level slowly sank beneath the ever-absorbing sun. In 1920 the discharge from Chagres river fell 23 per cent below of the previous year. To supplement the water supply of Gatutt Lake a reservoir is being constructed by making a dam at AJhajueltt, above the level of Gatun Lake, Madden dam, as it is already named, should remove the chance of water shortage caused by prolonged drought. MORE 'PROBABLE. An 'a matter of fact, floods are more probable than drought. The canal zone enjoys perennial summer, hav.ng -wo seasons only, a wot and a dry. 'I he thy begins in Janaury and continues until April. The wet season, as in other tropical areas, is largely intermittent showers, but showers Mich as England never knows. Ip the recent rains the twin towns of Colon and Cristobal were so darkened by the descending waters that motorists had to light their lamps, although it was still early afternoon. One visitor described the fall as unbelievable m its steady and overwhelming persistence. Shipping at the ‘ i.orld's Crossroads" was halted as the sullen rains, fanned by a 38-inile-an-hour wind, poured down On November Bth it he- level of Gatun Lake had risen 12 inches to 86.55 feet. At an 88ft level the motors opera-ting the Gatlin Lake would have been flooded. No wonder the engineers became anxious. The great gates which re'ease the waters into the Pacific- and Atlantic Oceans were opened -enabling 170,000 cubic feet of water per second to sweep away into the sea Still the lake's accumulation arose as the Chagres poured in its overflow at a rate of -220,000 cubic feet per second.

The ever-trouble-some Gnillarri cut, more familiarly known as the Culelmi cut, gave way. More than 259,000 square yards of earth slipped slowly into tins narrow channel until the depth was only 30 feet, insufficient for the ships eager to pass through. For a time 12 vessels on the Atlantic and fixe on the Pacific side of 'the canal were held up. But when the dredges got busy and the ram abated the canal was saved and re-opened on November 11th

But tin so grim pictures of threatening disaster convey little of the real impression gained by a trip through the Panama Canal. Early in 1931, I made the trip when the dry season had begun. The canal zone, lying bathed in daylong sunshine, appeared like a bit of Utopia dlopped to earth. Perfect order, a strange stillness broken only by the steady chock-chocking of electric-driven '■’mules’’ as they drew a ship through a lock, suggested a modern version of Elysium where mechanical devices have- supplanted the busy hum of human labour.

FIFTY .MILES. ‘Everything is in stteii perfect order ateng tiie canal that one trip is suilieient for enjoyment. A second trip is apt to he monotonous, This strip of country, 50 miles long, is bordered by jungle, and it lies, a ribbon of concrete', grass, and water, as neat as a. Dutch garden Mi id of this quietude and order is due i.e the minimum use of labour, lor wh.rii elect) ical inventions have been siu>stuuted. The method of regulating in.(he is an entrancing example of modern engineering ingenuity, Small model rep.icas of the canal reveal at a glance everything taking place within it, as .-.hips move in and out of the lock chambers, There are three locks, (iatuii, •Pedro Xfiguel, and .Mirallores, (iatun Lake was lilleil by the aid of (}atun dam, which caused bills to become little islands peeping out of the water, The dam is a long, low, broad ridge built across the va I lev of the (Jhagres.

Xot far away is the ‘ .Million Dollar' golf ’Course, which has a setting as l,i: nit i fill as any i nurse in the world. It. has one unique foil lire. Toe ('liagre.-, spillway which relieves dam ■waters, .lams tlirougli the course, forming one. ol the most di|)icii|t hazards in the worbl. \\ lieu I jduv 'd the. c I hit o.ie null into the middle of tlm ncdiing waters. Biu. it wa s iiot lost. Negroes earn a livelihood by .sein-hing lor -such stray balls, and tossing them back to their owners. HAD TIM K, Just now tile canal is passing through a, period of depression. Tie liscal year 1930-31 cleared .something over £3,060,000, or 1809,000 loss (.ban in 1929-30. The canal opened on August loth, 1911, and up to July 81 li id' this year 65,000 ships have passed through, carrying cargoes amounting to 300,000,000 tons.

The tolls taken amounted to £50,000,000. the British battleship Hood having the unenviable honour of paying the largest single toll of £4,-<u<J when she passed through in 1924. Some statistics are; Durations of passage. 8 hours. , Length of canal, 50.76 miles. Length of lakes, cuts, locks, 35 miles. Number of lock gates. 46. 'Employees, 8.500, When one (Stands at either side of the canal, looking on the Pacific or the Allan tin, the wonder of this little link in world trade grows on the mind. It a!! seems so far from -.ie hustling 'world, ye,; each ship as it conics slowly into view supplies some story of trade activity. First there is the faint smoke on die horizon, then the ship emerges, and you seek her name and port of build, She mav he :> vhaler from -Australia, or a freighter from Shanghai, or perhaps she lias wandered over from the Pliiilipiner carrying cocuanut oil, Again, .dm may have conn*, not so far away, front the west, coast of South America, bringing ns icargo the rich nitrates of Chiii Whence ver sue conics from, and wherem her destination, that ship plays her part; ill creating the 'United Slates as we. know it, to-day, .for it is a common saying that the successful construction of the Paiiaiii.a canal is largely responsible for America’s foremost position in the world. SHORT (JUT, How much limit* it. saves! Front Liverpool to San Francisco by way of the Strait, of .Magellan is 13,502 miles ; through tlm canal |t is only 7836, a saving of 5666 miles. Tlm distance saved on a v ivage from ITverpool 'to Valparaiso is 1310 miles, to Uni ho 4043, tc Honolulu 4403, ami to Wellington, Now Zealand. 1366 miles. Ships needing coal can i’i..'lll t|ie:r bunk.'vp a| a i- [,< al 15J1 (ruiß an li r 'i;r ; fresh water tillered and piirilied can ho drawn from (laim Lake; the canal oil 'tanks store more than 2,000.000 tuuTcts.

Tlm canal is a 'world by itself, controlled from ''Washington, but 'with its own governor and administration, <ln -- in'imr Burgess said rorenily Hint the iinuil s capacity is suiiru i'*"! to handle el! trallic f ir the nevl. 40'years. ’I he couslnictioii of another lock is rontompho<c*(|, which would enlarge tin* cauai s iisctfuliiess ieJelinitcly. or, say, Milo nexl century. As (o the years alter, that, .says Oov rnor Burgess, i s for fa!ure gem orations to 'Worry about.