Therefore it would be necessary, under the sea-level type of canal,
to construct a series of embankments and dams that would be far more
expensive to build and keep in repair than would be one great dam over
the course of the Chagres river. Besides, the safety of the lock system
would be much greater than that of the sea-level type. These were the
reasons which finally controlled the determination of the engineers to
construct a lock system of canal.
After the type of canal was decided upon, the next step was the
assemblage of the force of laborers and the mechanical appliances
necessary for the physical operations. In order to carry out this
scheme, a commission was originally appointed, composed half of
civilians and half of military officers. The first engineers were
selected as being the most eminent of their profession, and taken from
civil employment.
But great difficulties were encountered in perfecting the proper kind
of an organization to successfully complete this stupendous project.
The engineers taken from private life and entrusted with the work,
after a little experience on the Isthmus, would be offered greater
inducements to abandon their Governmental employment and take some
other position, generally far more lucrative, in the United States. And
so, either through accident or design, the Canal Commission lost the
services of such men as Wallace, Stevens, Shonts, Grunsky, and other
noted engineers, and again it seemed as if canal operations would be
badly crippled for want of the right kind of men to direct the work.