PANAMA CANAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 38, 9 February 1912, Page 7

PANAMA CANAL.

An ESTIMATE OF LOSS. It appears from a recent speech by President Taft that he does not share the belief of Colonel Goethals, the builder of the canal, that it can be made to pay interest on the copL of construction. He said that as soon as the canal is opened it will be possible to- pass through it 50,000,000 tons of merchandise a year, but that “there is no probability we shall begin with more than 7,000,000 tons yearly.” He added: “And we must not expect for years and years that the canal will pay any adequate income on the 400,000,000 dollars that are really represented in the investment.” Mr Taft’s speech was further notable as containing a succinct description. of the canal a,nd a method by which it will be worked that has yet been put into words. It has the merit of being understandable by reason of its freedom from technical jargon. The description is worth quotation, and here it is:—

“I want to give you a short description of what the canal is. It is 50 miles long from a point five miles out in Limon Bay, on the Atlantic side, to a point five miles out on the Pacific side. From shore to shore it is forty miles long. From the point on the north—on the Atlantic side, in the sea, five miles out—there is a channel protected by a breakwater 500 ft. wide,, that.!runs eight miles-p-five miles in the 'sea' and three miles in the Gatun.dahi.’ • The Gatun \ ' I L)*' I dam is 7700 ft. long anq, ,1,15 ft. hign, its'supports half a' mille > thick at the l bottom, 400 ft. thick at the water’s edge, which is 85ft. above the bottom, and rise's to 115 ft. high, wita a width of 100 ft. at the top. That encloses a lake 135 miles square :n surface, and furnishes a channel 1000 ft. wide for 16 miles, 800 ft. wide for four miles, 500 ft. ( jfur fouii miles, and until it reahlfbi Clio Culcbra. cut. The Culebra cut is nine miles long, and the canal has, a d.'pth across the bottom throng'll that cut of 300 ft. The canal is 45ft. deep through the lake as you get to the Gatun dam. Thres Double Sots of Locks. “The vessel is raised by three steps of 28.jft. each—throe double sets of locks. Tito vessel is raised to the level of the lake, 85ft.; it continues’ oh that level until it reaches the end of the Culebra cut at Pedro Magill, where it is lowered again 30ft. to a small lake, through which there is a mile and a half of channel 500 ft. wide. Then at Mirailores it is lowered again to steps of 28jft., into a channel 500 ft. wide, that goes out into the Pacific Ocean five miles, and that is protected by a breakwater on that side. lA vessel will take throe hours to go up the steps and to go down again, and will consume in going through—according to how it steams with its own steam—from 10 to 12 hours in its passage.”

So far as the excavation work is concerned, 79 per cent of the entire undertaking was completed on September last. President Taft told his hearers in some of the locks as much as 86 per cent of the concrete work is completed, but in others there is a greater percentage to be performed. If the undertaking is pushed forward at the rate at which it is now progressing it will be finished between January Ist and July Ist, 1913, Mr Taft said. This is materially ahead of schedule time.