The Panama Canal Part 7

is in itself one of the many precautions taken against accidents at the locks. There are no locks in the world where these precautions are so minute and numerous. It is all of course in the interests of the owners to inspire the maximum of confidence in maritime circles. Complete efficiency in the operation of the ca.n.a.l, absolute safety for the vessels and cargoes entrusted for ten or twelve hours to its keeping, are the elementary conditions of success. Each lock through which the vessel pa.s.ses is equipped with two pairs of mitre gates--that is, double swinging doors--the biggest lock-gates in the world; but in all cases the uppermost locks have a second pair of gates, so that if some unruly vessel were to ram open one set of gates there would still be another set ready to receive it. But even this is not all. Heavy chains are stretched across the channel with the ends attached to hydraulic paying-out machinery. These chains and their attachments are capable of bringing to a dead stop a vessel of 10,000 tons moving at the rate of five miles an hour. And still the precautionary devices are not exhausted. Let us suppose that all these barriers were broken down, though such a disaster is almost beyond the bounds of things possible.

At the head of each flight of locks there are provided great cantilever swing-bridges which can be thrown across the channel in case of accident. From these bridges a series of nickel-steel wicket girders could be let down. The lower ends of these girders would drop into a sort of sill at the bottom of the rus.h.i.+ng waters. The girders would then act as small perpendicular runways, down which large steel sheets on rollers would be let down, gradually damming back the escaping waters.

And lastly, in order to avoid all recourse to these emergency contrivances, it is ordained that no vessel shall enter any chamber of any locks under its own steam. Nearly all the accidents that happen in locks are due to the vessels being worked independently of the lock authorities when pa.s.sing through. Captains may be as anxious as possible to avoid mistakes, but there is many a slip possible between an order and its fulfilment. So the lock operators are not going to be responsible for the safety of a vessel which is not entirely under their own control. None will be allowed to negotiate the locks under its own motive-power. A series of electric towing-stations will be set up on the side walls of the locks. When a vessel approaches it will be brought to a standstill outside the locks. Then four of these towing engines will be fastened to it by means of hawsers--two at the stem, in order to draw the vessel into the locks, and two at the stern, to check its speed and bring it to a standstill when necessary. And this control will of course be exercised all through its pa.s.sage to the upper or lower levels. We should certainly not hear of any accidents in the lock-chambers of the Panama Ca.n.a.l.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gatun Locks, looking South-West, showing North End of the Locks.]

It is expected that a vessel will be pa.s.sed through the three locks at Gatun in about fifty minutes, though some delay may be caused in the approach. On the Atlantic side the water of the ca.n.a.l will be smooth, and the s.h.i.+p will be in some degree sheltered from the winds, so that there should be no difficulty in the approach from that direction.

Coming from Lake Gatun to the locks the vessel may experience a little rough water, though there is seldom a great force of wind there, and the lake will be free from currents. As regards the Pacific side, the ocean there fully corresponds with its name. It is always calm, and not the slightest difficulty may be antic.i.p.ated from either winds or waves or currents.

Over thirty miles away at the southern extremity of the Culebra Cut the vessel in transit will be lowered from the high-level lake 30 feet down to the surface of another artificial lake much smaller in content, held at a surface-height of 55 feet above sea-level. These are the single-step duplicate locks known as the Pedro Miguel or "Peter Magill."

The construction of these locks required 770,000 cubic yards of cement.

On the west side of these locks is the other dam which, with the mighty Gatun dam at the other end, holds up the waters of Lake Gatun. This smaller dam is also of earth, and is about 1,400 feet long and 40 feet wide at the top. It is subjected to a maximum "head" of water of 40 feet, but the average is from 25 to 30 feet. The length of the lake, which is known by the pretty name of "Miraflores," between the Peter Magill and the next set of locks, is about 2,000 yards, and the lake itself covers about 1,200 acres. Its waters are held up at 55 feet above sea-level by two dams at the Miraflores locks.

These are the third and last set of locks for a s.h.i.+p proceeding from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They are in two steps, or, to use the more technical expression, "two in flight," and they drop the vessel from the Miraflores Lake at 55 feet elevation down to sea-level. It must be noticed, however, that the fluctuations in the tide of the Pacific end are about 20 feet, and that the height of the lake is given for mean tide. In other words low water during "spring" tides is 10 feet below the average sea-level. The maximum lift for these locks therefore will be 65 feet. There are two dams holding up the waters of the Miraflores Lake, one to the west of earth, and one to the east of concrete. The former is 2,300 feet long and 40 feet wide at the top. The average "head" to which it is subjected is 30 feet, the maximum 40. Its construction is similar to that at Gatun. The concrete dam is about 500 feet long, and is provided with regulating works similar to and of the same dimensions as those at Gatun, the crest in this instance being 39 feet above mean tide-level, with seven openings, allowing a discharge of 7,500 cubic feet per second. The locks themselves will require 1,312,000 cubic feet of concrete. I should add that these dams at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores are, unlike their big brother at Gatun, founded upon the solid bedrock. There has, therefore, been no question as to their permanence and stability. Moreover, as will have been noticed, the pressure of water is only about a half of that at Gatun.

The relaying of most of the old Panama railroad was proceeding _pari pa.s.su_ with the construction of the ca.n.a.l. Two sections of the old line, one from Colon to Mindi at the Atlantic end, the other from Corozal to Panama at the Pacific end, could be used for the new. All the rest had to be built. The greater portion of the old track was, indeed, submerged beneath the waters of Lake Gatun. The line is also being doubled throughout almost its entire length. It was originally intended to carry the line through the Culebra Cut along a berm 10 feet above the water surface, to be left for this purpose during the excavations of the channel; but the "slides" interfered with this project, and a new line to the east of the Cut was selected. The heavy embankments along the railway were among the most useful and convenient "dumps" for the material taken out of the Culebra cutting. As a great part of the railroad pa.s.ses through the lake, culverts of reinforced concrete are provided to equalize the water on both sides of the embankments. South of Miraflores the new railway pa.s.ses through a tunnel 800 feet long, and a striking feature of the ca.n.a.l is a steel bridge across the Chagres River near Gamboa, almost a quarter of a mile long. We need not dwell on the excavations of the tidal stretches of the ca.n.a.l on the Atlantic and Pacific ends or through Lake Gatun. A good deal of the French work was available at the tidal levels, but a vast amount of excavation had still to be done by steam-shovels as well as dredges, rocky elevations being found in both channels. Below the Miraflores locks a million and a half cubic yards of rock had to be removed. There will be some tidal current at the Pacific end, but as the sea-level section here will be 500 feet wide, the current will never run faster than about one foot per second.

The sea is practically tideless at the Atlantic terminal, the variation being only 2.5 as a maximum, whereas at the Pacific it is 21.1.

CHAPTER XIV

THE COMPLETED Ca.n.a.l.

We may now begin to consider the ca.n.a.l as a whole and in its completed state. From deep water in Limon Bay, 41-foot depth at mean tide, to deep water outside Panama, 45-foot depth at mean tide, is just about 50 miles. The greater part of the ca.n.a.l is at high elevation, only 15 miles of it being at sea-level. We shall note the varying depths and widths of the channel when we take our imaginary journey along it. Here it is enough to say that the minimum width will be 300 feet, the minimum depth 41 feet, the breadth and depth being, however, for the greater portion of its course, greater than these dimensions. Its highest point above sea-level, as the reader already knows, is 85 feet--that is, 85 feet at the surface of the water, and 40 feet at the ca.n.a.l bottom. The depth along this stretch is therefore 45 feet. The Panama Ca.n.a.l, though not so long as the Kiel and Suez Ca.n.a.ls, is very much broader and deeper.

Suez is 108 feet wide and 31 feet deep as _minima_; Kiel, 72 feet and 29- feet. The Manchester s.h.i.+p Ca.n.a.l is 120 feet by 26 feet. In length Panama, with its 50 miles, comes third, Suez being 90, Kiel 61, and Manchester 35- miles long.

During the building of the ca.n.a.l the department of construction and engineering was arranged in three divisions--the Atlantic, embracing the engineering construction from deep water in the Caribbean Sea to include the Gatun locks and dam; the central division, extending from Gatun to Pedro Miguel; and the Pacific division, from Pedro Miguel to deep water in the Pacific Ocean. For the ordinary student, however, the channel divides naturally into four sections, the Atlantic level, the lake, the cutting, and the Pacific section (in two levels separated by locks).

The invisible channel of the waterway begins at the mouth of Limon Bay, about eight miles from Gatun locks. Limon, also known as Colon or Navy Bay, is about three miles wide and three and a half miles long from north to south. It is shallow, from three to seven fathoms deep, and seems to be steadily growing shallower. This is not surprising, as it is fully exposed to the "northers," which blow with terrific force from the Caribbean, and no doubt carry into the bay a good deal of detritus from the bottom of the sea. The heavy rains of the isthmus must also scour the land perpetually down into the bay. On the east side of the bay is the flat Manzanillo Island, a mile long by three-quarters broad, on which stands the city of Colon. This town, which was once known as Aspinwall, owes its existence to the Panama Railway, of which it is the northern or Caribbean terminus. Its position on the railway gave it an advantage over the old town of Chagres, a little distance along the coast to the west, which, though once a flouris.h.i.+ng port, has now fallen on evil days. Near Colon is Cristobal, the new Atlantic terminal of the ca.n.a.l.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gatun Upper Lock, looking North from Lighthouse.]

Without some protection the entrance to the ca.n.a.l would have been exposed to the extremely violent storms which occur in the Caribbean during the winter months. During these storms vessels cannot lie safely in Colon harbour, and could not safely enter or issue from the ca.n.a.l.

So a breakwater two miles long has been run out from Toro point in an easterly direction, covering the extremity of the ca.n.a.l. A glance at the map will suggest a thought that this barrier will not provide sufficient protection, and that another breakwater will have to be run out from the eastern sh.o.r.e. Such a further protection will be provided if the need should arise.

At this point then, west of Colon and at the mouth of Limon Bay, our vessel enters the buoyed submarine channel of the ca.n.a.l and speeds onwards along the first section of the waterway, 500 feet in bottom-width and 41 feet deep, towards the locks at Gatun. But the locks are not yet visible. It is not until the fifth mile--that is, at Mindi--that a bend of the ca.n.a.l opens that gigantic structure to view, and by that time the vessel has left the broad waters and is enclosed within banks. The experience which awaits the traveller who has looked forward with some excitement to see the world's greatest wonder of to-day has been vividly imagined by Mr. Bryce. Our late American Amba.s.sador writes:--

The voyager of the future, in the ten or twelve hours of his pa.s.sage from ocean to ocean, will have much variety. The level light of the fiery tropic dawn will fall on the houses of Colon as he approaches it in the morning, when vessels usually arrive. When his s.h.i.+p has mounted the majestic staircase of the three Gatun locks from the Atlantic level, he will glide slowly and softly along the waters of a broad lake which gradually narrows toward its head--a lake enclosed by rich forests of that velvety softness one sees in the tropics, with vistas of forest-girt islets stretching far off to right and left among the hills; a welcome change from the restless Caribbean Sea which he has left. Then the mountains will close in upon him, steep slopes of gra.s.s or brushwood rising two hundred feet above him as he pa.s.ses through the great Cut. From the level of the Miguel lock he will look southward down the broad vale that opens on the ocean flooded with the light of the declining sun, and see the rocky islets rising, between which in the twilight his course will lie out into the vast Pacific. At Suez the pa.s.sage from sea to sea is through a dreary and monotonous waste of s.h.i.+fting sand and barren clay. Here one is for a few hours in the centre of a verdant continent, floating on smooth waters, shut off from sight of the ocean behind and the ocean before--a short sweet present of tranquillity between a stormy past and a stormy future.

The Gatun locks, each chamber of which is a sort of "canyon of cement,"

will almost oppress the imagination with the sense of immensity. At the foot of the locks the vessel will surrender its own volition and entrust itself wholly to the ca.n.a.l operators. It will be attached to the electric apparatus ash.o.r.e and gently towed into the lock-chambers. In less than an hour it should have climbed the three gigantic steps and be afloat on the surface of the lake, 85 feet above sea-level. The traveller might fail even to notice of himself the great dam which abuts on the locks to the west. He may be surprised to hear that the whole being of the ca.n.a.l depends upon that earthwork, and that with the Culebra Cut it absorbed the greater part of the labour and skill and solicitude of the ca.n.a.l-builders. The Gatun dam has indeed been so adopted and transfigured by Nature that it appears only a part, and not a very conspicuous part, of the landscape. Nor would our traveller, without previous information, guess the history of the great expanse of water which stretches to right and left up many a distant arm or loch and round many a picturesque island, and over which his vessel, once more resuming its own power and control, begins to advance. The buoys alone indicate that the channel, the true and well-wrought link between the two oceans, still holds its course through the bed of the lake. Mr.

Bryce has pointed out what a pleasant interlude in a long ocean journey will be afforded by this placid glide of 22 miles over the inland lake from Gatun to Gamboa. The bottom widths through the lake are 1,000 feet for 16 miles, 800 feet for 4 miles, and 500 feet for about 3 miles.

At Gamboa the vessel enters the eight-mile section of the Culebra Cut.

Here again, though the traveller in future days will need no reminding of the enterprise represented by this tremendous trench driven through the backbone of the isthmus, he will have to imagine the busy scene during the days of construction which will then have disappeared. He must try to reproduce what was little less than a manufacturing town at Gorgona, just near the entrance to the Cut, where stood the machine shops, boiler shops, smith shops, car shops, pattern shops, where repairs of all kinds were made and machines of all sorts and sizes constructed. He should think of that model residential town to the west of the Cut where the chief engineer and his a.s.sistants lived, surrounded by the quarters of the men, each dwelling protected with its fine wire netting to exclude the mosquitoes, the whole settlement scrupulously clean and bright with well-kept lawns and flowerbeds. All this will have pa.s.sed away with the crowds of workers who interrupted for a dozen years the stillness of the primeval forest. Nature and silence will in a large degree have resumed their sway, but the world will not forget the debt it owes to that conquering industrial army which divided the land here in order to unite the nations.

Through the cutting the bottom width of the ca.n.a.l is 300 feet. Having accomplished the eight or nine mile pa.s.sage through the deep gorge, the vessel reaches the end of the high-level section at the Pedro Miguel locks. Here she is gently lowered 30 feet down to the bosom of little Miraflores Lake, held at 55 feet above sea-level. The length of this subsection is about a mile and a half, and it ends at the Miraflores locks, where the s.h.i.+p is lowered by two steps to the level of the Pacific. Then follows the last stage of this eventful transit--the eight-mile tidal section along which the vessel glides between low swamps to her own element of deep sea-water beyond the new port of Balboa, west of Panama, whose wharves are being constructed from the waste material of the inland excavations. The new breakwater which runs out from Balboa to Naos Island suggests wind and storm. But eternal calm reigns along these sh.o.r.es, and the object of the breakwater is to protect the line of the ca.n.a.l, not from heavy seas, but from the silt-bearing currents from the east which set at right angles to the channel. Constant dredging was necessary to prevent the bed of the ca.n.a.l becoming filled with this sediment. The d.y.k.e has proved very effectual for this purpose.

Such is the Panama Ca.n.a.l which has for so many centuries been the desire of the nations, and which is now one of the permanent geographical features of the globe. It is so well and truly constructed that nothing short of an earthquake could ever seriously damage it. The question naturally arises whether this ultimate danger needs to be seriously considered. Panama is rather suspiciously close to a region where geological conditions are not remarkable for stability. The earthquake at Kingston a few years ago was as destructive a calamity as those of Messina and San Francisco. Costa Rica, too, almost an isthmian country, enjoys a very bad reputation for this kind of friskiness. Panama, however, seems happily to lie outside the zone of such disturbances.

Slight earthquake shocks have been felt, probably only the reflections of severer shocks elsewhere. But there is no record or tradition of a really serious convulsion. There is, indeed, one visible and rea.s.suring evidence of the self-possession of the earth's surface in this region.

To the east of the modern city of Panama is the site of old Panama, of which the lofty tower of the old cathedral--a pathetic and picturesque object--is still standing. This shows that there has been no serious earthquake here for the greater part of four centuries. Still, the danger--great or small--does exist, and it threatens a high-level ca.n.a.l, with its elaborate lock-machinery and masonry, far more than it would have affected a ca.n.a.l at sea-level. No very severe convulsion might be necessary to throw one of these locks out of gear, and the entire ca.n.a.l, therefore, out of operation for a considerable time. But against such perils there is no guarding, and every precaution having been taken against foreseeable and preventable dangers, all else must be left to the disposal of that Providence "which by his strength setteth fast the mountains," "who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gatun Upper Lock--West Chamber.]

It seems incredible that the ca.n.a.l should ever be in danger of injury or destruction from the attack of any civilized Power, because all nations are apparently interested in its preservation. What, then, is the meaning of these slopes which are being prepared for forts and batteries at either end of the ca.n.a.l? "With the two great forts at the two ends of the ca.n.a.l," writes Mr. Showalter, "fitted with four 14-inch guns, six 6-inch guns, and twelve 12-inch mortars, with twelve companies of coast artillery, one battery of field artillery, four regiments of infantry, and one squad of cavalry, there is not likely to arise a time when these fortifications, backed up by the American navy, will fail to command a proper and wholesome respect from other nations." Yet if the object were simply to maintain the neutrality of the ca.n.a.l, the best course would seem to have been to leave the ca.n.a.l entirely unfortified, as is the case at Suez, and trust to the moral influence of the great Powers and their common interest in keeping the ca.n.a.l free and open to the world's traffic. Obviously the idea of making the ca.n.a.l zone a big military camp and a.r.s.enal is not so much to "police" the pa.s.sage as a great international waterway, but to defend it and the zone as a position of immense strategic importance to the United States. President Hayes, in a message to the Senate in 1880, spoke of the ca.n.a.l as "the great ocean thoroughfare between our Atlantic and Pacific ports, and _virtually a part of the coastline of the United States_." The words I have italicized seem to show that the United States regard the new pa.s.sage rather as wholly proprietary, like those of Kiel and Corinth, than as international in status, like the Suez Ca.n.a.l.

In the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty there is no specific reference to fortification. The only allusion to the defence of the ca.n.a.l occurs in the second subsection of the third clause: "The United States shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the ca.n.a.l as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder." The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is rather more specific in its provisions on this subject, though even that instrument seems scarcely to have contemplated an armament and garrison on the large and permanent scale intended at the isthmus.[17]

England has, however, acquiesced in the proposed fortification. The decision is not likely to be challenged in any other quarter. The United States have built the ca.n.a.l with their own money and enterprise. They are more closely and immediately interested in the pa.s.sage than any other Power, and so long as they fulfil their undertaking to afford equal treatment in tolls and other respects to the commerce of all nations, n.o.body is likely to protest against the presence of American men and guns at the isthmus.

Indeed, there is some force in the plea that the complete neutralization of the ca.n.a.l would be inconsistent with American control and operation.

In time of war the Americans would have had either to refrain from using the ca.n.a.l for their wars.h.i.+ps (an unthinkable proposition) or to permit their enemy or enemies to use it on equal terms. This would have meant a rather painful experience for the American engineers, managers, workmen, and others on the isthmus. They would have been obliged to put the enemy's vessels through the ca.n.a.l, and thus commit a sort of legalized treason against their own government by giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy. So it comes to this--that the ca.n.a.l will be neutral at all times except when the United States are themselves a belligerent. Then it will become part and parcel of the sovereign dominions of the great American Republic.

But the United States will have to stand all the ulterior possibilities of this position. If they were at war the ca.n.a.l would be at once liable to attack. In fact it would invite attack as a very vulnerable point in their armour. It has been truly said that the ca.n.a.l zone will have all the disadvantages, without any of the advantages, of an island. It will be entirely dependent on imported supplies and isolated from the centre of American power. If the American fleet lost the command of the sea even for a short time, the enemy could land troops at any part of the isthmus, march them against any point of the extended ca.n.a.l line and inflict on the United States a wound in a very sensitive, if not a vital region. So that instead of simply doubling the efficiency of the existing American fleet, by enabling it to be transferred swiftly and bodily from the western to the eastern coast, it may rather add to the naval responsibilities of the States and compel a considerable increase in their sea-power. To Englishmen, however, this development of the power and resources of the United States ought to bring no feelings but those of pleasure and satisfaction. In view of the great secular struggle between East and West for supremacy in the Pacific, which some people think will fill the pages of future world history, anything that strengthens the position and prestige of Anglo-Saxondom as the main guardian of Western ideas and principles should be welcome to all the members of that race.

It is estimated that the fortification of the ca.n.a.l will cost about $12,000,000. This added to the $375,000,000, the estimated cost of construction, will bring the entire bill up to the round and goodly sum of $400,000,000 or 80,000,000. This puts all other expenditure on artificial water-channels into the shade, as the Suez Ca.n.a.l cost only 19,000,000, the Manchester s.h.i.+p Ca.n.a.l 15,000,000, and the Kiel Ca.n.a.l 8,000,000. As regards this expense and the possibilities of revenue returns, Colonel Goethals has written an interesting pa.s.sage:--

Much has been said and predicted as to the commercial value of the ca.n.a.l to the United States. In this connection it must be remembered that the commercial s.h.i.+pping of this country never required the ca.n.a.l. The trip of the _Oregon_ in 1898 settled the question of the advisability of constructing an isthmian ca.n.a.l, and had the ca.n.a.l been built at that time, thereby saving that trip around the Horn, there is no question that it would have been agreed generally that the ca.n.a.l, even at an expenditure of $375,000,000, was worth while.

In whatever light the Panama Ca.n.a.l is viewed, it will have paid for itself if in time of war or threatened war a concentration of the fleet is effected without that long, tedious, uncertain route followed by the _Oregon_.

It will practically double the efficiency of that fleet, and, notwithstanding the fact that we are a peaceful nation, our outlying possessions make the Panama Ca.n.a.l a military necessity, and it must be so recognized. From this point of view the debt should be charged to the account which necessitated its construction, and whatever revenues are derived from other sources are so much to the good. The traffic that will utilize the ca.n.a.l depends upon the tolls that will be charged, and the President has asked the Congress for legislation which will enable the establishment of rates.

There is another policy which, if adopted, will have a material bearing on the revenues of the enterprise. Through the Panama railroad a large expenditure of money has been made for providing the present working forces with supplies of all kinds. Though the railroad has been reimbursed for this plant through fixed charges on sales, it should not be abandoned, but utilized for furnis.h.i.+ng s.h.i.+pping with its needed supplies. Suitable coaling plants should be erected for the sale of coal to vessels touching at or pa.s.sing through the ca.n.a.l. In addition, since oil is now used on a number of s.h.i.+ps plying in the Pacific, such fuel should also be on hand for sale by the ca.n.a.l authorities.

The extensive machine shops now located at Gorgona must be moved before the completion of the ca.n.a.l, and they should be established in connection with a dry dock that will be needed for commercial purposes, and utilized as a revenue producer for the ca.n.a.l. This policy also needs Congressional action.

With properly regulated tolls, and with facilities for fully equipping, supplying, and repairing s.h.i.+ps, the Panama route would offer many advantages and bring to it a sufficiently remunerative return to pay, not only the operating expenses, but to gradually absorb the debt which the United States has incurred by its construction.

We shall return to the question of tolls in a later chapter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pedro Miguel Locks, from Hill on East Bank.]

FOOTNOTES:

[17] See _ante_, page 71.

CHAPTER XV.

PANAMA AND THE ISTHMUS.

It may be convenient to deal here with a few detached questions before inquiring into the commercial and maritime changes likely to be produced by the ca.n.a.l. The reader understands the position of the United States at the isthmus. They control a zone of territory ten miles wide running across from Panama to Colon. These two towns are, however, not included politically, though they are geographically, within the zone. This narrow strip of territory with its precious ca.n.a.l runs right through a foreign country in which the social and political conditions existing must be a matter of importance to the ca.n.a.l-owners. One cannot help wondering how long this state of things is likely to continue. Panama, the youngest of the South and Central American republics, is no better than the rest in its governmental principles. Indeed, the republic had scarcely got into being when it was threatened with a military revolution. A pompous and polysyllabic self-importance, coupled with a levantine standard of business and financial ethics, scarcely promises a long continuance of the present political relations with a great republic which is not likely to see its achievement at the isthmus in the smallest degree prejudiced or endangered.