GREAT PROGRESS WITH PANAMA CANAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 59, 3 April 1909, Page 4

GREAT PROGRESS WITH PANAMA CANAL.

I JLUAV ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC WILL UK UNl'im "Ou NiiW Year 6 Day, IUIS, ships will be passing through tliu Panama Canal." Tliis boast is attributed to Colonel Gauthals, th c chief army engineer oi" Lho United States, who is, of course, largely responsible i'or the tarrying out oi' this gigantic enterprise. Aa all the world Knows, the cutting oi.' a canal uniting the Atlantic and l'aciiic Oceans ia now a United State* (Jovemnient project, which, wheu completed, will radically alte r her position towards the worlds commercial problems. Croat progress has been made with thc cuttings. But the most dillicult of the enormous engineering problems have not yet been dealt with. The United States engineers, however, approach the task h an optimistic spirit, and not the least doubt is entertained that the enterprise will be carried to a successful conclusion. Attention is now drawu to thc stage which the canal has reached by the visit of Mr. Tait, President-elect, to the rjcene of operations. The Presi-dent-elect iis ,aying:~

"1 am more than delighted with the progress of the work. The plans a)v working out just as they should, and the work is going ahead as it ought to. Thc engineer* t»"ll me there i» nothing to be oritieised." An n<>w being emiMmeteil, the Panama Canal the N.'W York Herald) will be a lock canal about oO miles lo;ig from the Atlantic terminu«s in Limon Hay. near Colon, to the Pacific terminus in Panama Hay. Hegin7iing«on the Atlantic shore line. th e canal has a width of 500 ft for three miles to (Jatun. At the hitter point a duplicate ilight of tlmv locks, each having a lift of 28 l-.'fft, will lift vessels up to a lake to be formed by a dam which is to be built at that point. The lake thus formed will contain 118 square mile*, is 30 miles long, and at various places nearly eight milcts wide. Prom Gatun locks the steamer channel will be through this lake for about •>'•) miles, and jor 10 miles it will have a minimum width of lUOOffc. Prom San Pablo to Juan (li'ande it will be narrowed to 800 ft, then to 300 ft to Has Obispo, then to 300 ft to Las Cascades, and then to 200 ft to Paraiso. This carrier; it through the Cuiebra cut. Prom Paraiso to iSan Miguel it has a width of 300 ft. Here a lock with a lift and descent of 30ft forms the connection with Sosa Lake, 55ft above sea-level. Here again vessels are to have lake navigation for live miles to Sosa, Hid, in which are contemplated two locks, each of a lilt or descent of which are to carry vessels down to the ggalevel of Panama Hay section of the canal. Sosa Lake is to be formed by a system of dams across the Rio Grande near La Boca. One of the chief difficulties to be dealt with is in relation to the projected dams at Gatun. If the reader will imagine the light arm of a gigantic V as representing the canal, extending from Colon to its point oF intersection with- the Chagrcs river at (Jatun. the toft arm will represent the latter river in it«s How from Gatun to its mouth in the Caribbean Sea. At Gatun this river makes its way through a deep depression in a- high range of hills, and the quc*tion arises whether the dam will be able to withstand the river "when it is swollen to a raging llood. TJi 0 pton that has been so vigorously criticised contemplates the buildin" - up of a monster earthen dam at the point where the river winds through the depression. Sheet piling is being driven to the eor c oi the dam to help it in averting the effects of tho violent action of the"river. The 'opponents of tin* scheme favor a sea-level canal. Hut ihe lock-canal plan linally approved of. • ,