manufacturing plants which consist of an ice and cold-storage
establishment, a bread, pie, and cake bakery, a coffee roasting outfit,
and a laundry. These belong to the Panama Railroad Company, as, at
the time they were established, money received from sales could be
reapplied, whereas if operated by the Commission it would have reverted
to the Treasury, necessitating reappropriation before the proceeds
of the sale could be utilized. They are, however, under the management
of the subsistence officer of the Commission, who has charge of the
various hotels, kitchens and messes.
There are 16 hotels from Cristobal to Panama which serve meals to the
American, or “gold” employees at 30 cents per meal. There are 24 messes
where meals to European laborers are served, the cost per day being 40
cents; and there are 24 kitchens for meals supplied to the “silver”
laborers (men paid in Panamanian currency), the cost to the laborer
being 30 cents per day. There is no profit to the Commission. The
commissaries and manufacturing plants are operated at a profit so as
to repay the Panama Railroad Company for its outlay in six years from
January 1, 1909, at 4 per cent interest.
The Subsistence Department also has charge of a large hotel at Ancon
for the entertainment of the Commission’s employees at a comparatively
low rate, and of transient guests at rates usually charged at first
class hotels.
The Department of Civil Administration exercises supervision over the
courts, which consist of three circuit and five district: the judges
of the three former constitute the supreme court. The district courts
take cognizance of all cases where the fine does not exceed $100 or
imprisonment does not exceed 30 days. Jury trials are restricted to
crimes involving the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The Sanitation Department looks after the health interests of the
employees. It is subdivided into the health department, which has
charge of the hospitals, supervision of health matters in Panama
and Colon and of the Quarantine, and into the sanitary inspection
department, which looks after the destruction of the mosquito by
various methods, as grass and brush cutting, the draining of swamp
areas, and by oiling unavoidable pools and stagnant streams.
To this Department also belong 11 chaplains employed by the Commission
to attend the sick as well as look after the spiritual welfare of the
employees.
All moneys are handled by the Disbursement Department, which pays
accounts which have been previously passed upon by the Examiner of
Accounts.
The Examiner of Accounts makes the examination required by law
prior to the final audit of the accounts by the Auditor for the War
Department. The pay rolls are prepared from time books kept by foremen,
timekeepers, or field clerks, subsequently checked by the Examiner
of Accounts who maintains a force of inspectors. The time inspectors
visit each gang, generally daily, at unknown times to the foreman,
time-keeper, or field clerk, and check the time books with the gangs
of workmen; the inspectors report to the Examiner of Accounts the
results of their inspection not in connection with timekeeping but all
violations of the regulations of the Commission that may come under
their observation.
Payments of pay rolls are made in cash, beginning on the 12th of each
month and consuming four days for the entire force on the Isthmus.
The last published financial report of this Department was as follows:
_Statement of Receipts, Disbursements, and Balances Available to June
30, 1909._
_Receipts_
Appropriations by Congress $176,432,468.58
Rentals collected and returned to appropriations 264,393.76
Collections account sale government property, etc. 4,235,141.50
Balance due individuals and companies, account
collections from employees 1,856.73
--------------
Total receipts 180,933,860.57
_Disbursements_
Classified expenditures 106,795,058.38
Department of civil administration $2,932,951.06
Sanitary department 8,741,715.40
Hospitals and asylums $4,656,125.99
Sanitation 4,085,589.41
Department of construction
and engineering 54,832,540.14
Canal construction 48,311,622.16
Municipal improvement
on Zone 4,245,913.98
Municipal improvements in
Panama and Colon 2,275,004.00
Cost of plant 40,287,851.78
Rights of way and franchises 49,107,914.89
Rights acquired from the Republic of
Panama 10,000,000.00
Rights acquired from New Panama
Canal Company 39,107,914.89
Payment to New Panama Canal
Company 40,000,000.00
Less value of French
material sold or used
in construction 892,085.11
Panama Railroad Company stock purchased 157,118.24
Loans to Panama Railroad Company for reequipment
and redemption of bonds 4,009,596.03
Paid into United States Treasury for sale
of government property, etc. 3,572,141.50
Services rendered and material sold
individuals and companies 2,764,001.30
Unclassified expenditures 4,877,072.36
Material and supplies 4,813,158.37
Other unclassified items 63,913.99
Advances to laborers for their
transportation 48,783.26
Bills collectible outstanding 517,585.79
--------------
Total 171,849,271.75
Less amounts included in above but
unpaid on June 30 1,694,355.70
Salaries and wages unpaid on
rolls to June 1, 1909 181,291.08
Pay rolls for the month of June, 1909 1,513,064.62
--------------
Net disbursements 170,154,916.05
Balances available June 30, 1909 10,778,944.52
Congressional appropriations 10,114,087.79
Miscellaneous receipts of
United States funds 663,000.00
Collections from employees account
individual and companies 1,856.73
--------------
Total 180,933,860.57
Note.--By an act of March 4, 1909, additional appropriations were made
to continue the construction of the Isthmian Canal, during the fiscal
year 1910, available for expenditures July 1, 1909, as follows:
Expenses in the United States $225,000.00
Construction and engineering 27,388,000.00
Civil administration 630,000.00
Sanitation and hospitals 1,915,000.00
Reequipment Panama Railroad 700,000.00
Relocation of Panama Railroad 1,980,000.00
Sanitation in cities of Panama and Colon 800,000.00
-------------
Total 33,638,000.00
VII. CONSTRUCTION OF THE CANAL PRISM
Excavation throughout the whole length of the canal is being carried on
as much as possible in the dry as this has been found to be the cheaper
method.
Upon the Atlantic Division, during the fiscal year 1908–’09, a dredging
fleet consisting of one sea-going suction dredge, two 5-yard dipper
dredges and three French ladder dredges worked on the section between
Mindi and deep water, removing 6,039,934 cubic yards, of which 427,005
cubic yards were rock. The rock is removed by blasting. Holes averaging
15 feet apart are drilled to a depth of 50 feet below sea level, loaded
with dynamite and fired. At the close of the year nearly 3 miles of the
channel from deep water were completed.
The plans for breakwaters in Limon Bay were recently changed.
Originally breakwaters were planned to extend nearly parallel to the
axis of the channel to protect against filling by wave action. However,
it was found that the northers entering between these breakwaters would
lack room to dissipate and so vessels would be unprotected for a great
portion of the distance to the locks. Accordingly two breakwaters have
been planned which are to be so placed as not only to prevent filling
but also to give shelter to shipping.
On the Culebra section of the Central Division considerable trouble
has been caused by the great rainfall. To carry the rain off quickly
diversion channels have been constructed at a large expense of money
and labor.
Water falling in the prism is cared for by the cut itself. In the
process of deepening pilot cuts are started from either end towards
the summit which is now between Empire and Culebra. Drainage in either
direction is by gravity through these cuts.
The total amount excavated from the canal prism in this division during
the past year was 18,442,624 cubic yards, 12,291,472 cubic yards being
rock. At the close of the year 43,574,954 cubic yards remained to
be removed. The material is loaded on the cars by steam shovels, is
hauled to the various dumps, and unloaded by a huge plow-like apparatus
which is drawn from end to end of the train. Part of the spoil aided
in the rebuilding of the Panama Railroad; the rock from Empire and
Bas Obispo went to Gatun for the dam, and some material was hauled to
Balboa on the Pacific and was there used in reclaiming ground and in
building a breakwater in Panama Bay to cut off silt-bearing currents
which were filling up the excavated channel. It has been built out
about 2 miles by dumping from a trestle built for the purpose. One mile
more remains to be built.
The slides in Culebra Cut have continued. The largest, called the
Cucaracho slide, measures 2,700 feet along the cut, involving an area
of 27 acres. During the year 1908–’09, 670,017 cubic yards were removed
from this slide but it is estimated that 700,000 more are still in
motion. Drainage seems to be ineffectual in these cases.
The original summit at Culebra Cut was 333 feet above the sea; it was
lowered by the French to 157 feet and the lowest point at the summit is
now 143 feet above sea level.
The lake section of the Central Division extends from Gamboa to Gatun.
The Chagres River here crosses the line of the canal 23 times, forming
a series of peninsulas. A portion of the channel 2,700 feet long, 500
feet wide at the bottom and 50 feet deep, was completed May 25, 1909
and the waters of the Chagres turned in. A total of 1,784,459 cubic
yards were taken out, of which 1,350,308 were removed in 1908–’09. From
the remainder of this division 2,625,283 cubic yards were excavated in
1908–’09.
To secure the necessary width and depth between Pedro Miguel and
Miraflores on the Pacific Division 1,279,600 cubic yards of material,
of which 63,600 are rock, must be excavated. The material still to be
taken out between Miraflores and deep water is 13,000,900 cubic yards
of loam and 1,725,000 cubic yards of rock. It has been decided to
remove all rock between the locks and for 2 miles below the Miraflores
locks, in the dry. This will leave 3,600,000 cubic yards of loam and
123,000 of rock to be removed by dredging and blasting.
The dredging fleet in Panama Bay for 1908–’09 consisted of one
sea-going suction dredge, one 20 inch suction and pipe-line dredge,
one 5 yard dipper dredge, and four French ladder dredges. They removed
8,475,931 cubic yards of material during the year. The channel is
completed for about 5 miles from deep water in the Pacific.
The entire present steam-shovel equipment on the Isthmus consists
of forty-eight 95-ton, forty-two 70-ton, ten 45-ton, and one 38-ton
steam-shovels, or a total of one hundred and one steam-shovels.
Dry excavation for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1908–’09, (July
1 to October 1), cost 63 cents per cubic yard for direct charges and 12
cents per cubic yard for general administration, making a total of 75
cents. Dredging cost 9 cents per cubic yard for direct charges and 2
cents per cubic yard for general administration. The average cost per
cubic yard for excavation was 40 cents for direct charges and 8 cents
for general administration, making a total of 48 cents.
VIII. CONSTRUCTION OF THE LOCKS
_Locks_
As before stated there are to be 6 locks on the Panama Canal, 3 at
Gatun, 1 at Pedro Miguel and 2 at Miraflores. All of these locks are
arranged in duplicate, i.e., at any group of locks a vessel may ascend
at one side of the middle wall, while another is descending at the
other side. It is the intention that Pacific bound vessels use one side
and Atlantic bound the other.
The middle wall is to extend 1,600 feet above the upper gates and below
the lower gates as an approach wall against which vessels to be locked
may lie while waiting for the gates to open. The side walls will not
be as long, and will flare out at their ends. The lock chambers are to
be 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet long and will pass vessels of 40 feet
maximum draught in sea water. The upper lock in each flight is to be
subdivided by additional gates into a 600 foot and a 400 foot lock so
that water may not be needlessly wasted in passing small boats. These
smaller subdivisions may be used until vessels of over 550 feet length
require passage.
The lifts will average 28 feet, but will vary with changes in tide,
lake level, and conditions of lockage. The diagram below shows the
entire lock system at Gatun.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--General Arrangement of the Locks, Valves and
Gates at Gatun.
S. V., Stoney valve.
G. V., Guard valve.
E. D. P., Emergency dam pier.
U. G. G., Upper guard gate.
U. G., Upper gate.
M. G., Middle gate.
S. G., Safety gate.
L. G.--U. L., Lower gate, upper lock. L.
L. G.--I. L., Lower gate, intermediate lock.
L. G.--L. L., Lower gate, lower lock.
L. G. G., Lower guard gate.
Ch., Fender chain.
Ga., Gauge.
L., Ladder.
St., Stairs.
Inc., Incline.
I., Intake.
O., Outlet.
In each side of the wall
Between, there will be
A and B-- 3 cylindrical valves.
C and D-- 7 cylindrical valves.
E and F-- 10 cylindrical valves.
G and H-- 10 cylindrical valves.
]
Near the bottom of each wall will be a large culvert for passing water
from the lakes into the upper chamber, and from chamber to chamber, and
then out to the canal below the locks. The intakes (See Fig. 2) will
be located at “I” and outlets at “O”. The water enters and leaves the
culverts through several small openings, the intakes being screened.
The flow of water in the culverts is to be controlled by what is called
the Stoney type of valves. These valves occur in pairs which are
duplicated at each of the lifts so that if one pair is disabled the
other set may be used while repairs are being made. On each side wall,
at the middle gates in the upper lock there will be only one set of
valves, but none in the middle wall. The flow between the culvert in
the middle wall and the lock chamber is to be controlled by cylindrical
valves capable of withstanding pressure on both sides. By using these
valves water may be saved under certain conditions of lockage by
cross-connecting the twin chambers through the middle wall.
In each chamber 11 laterals of 41 square feet cross-section will be
led from the side wall culverts while at the middle culvert there will
be 10 laterals having a minimum cross-section of 33 square feet. Each
lateral will have five holes, each of 12 square feet area, opening
up through the lock floor. The laterals leading from the middle wall
culvert are to be controlled individually to provide for independent
operation of the twin chambers.
The lake levels and the desired lock levels are to be maintained by
large steel miter gates. At the upper and lower end of the upper
chambers of all locks there will be two sets of these gates operated
simultaneously so that a vessel entering the upper chamber will always
have two pairs of gates between it and the lake. At the lower end
of each flight, besides the regular gates there will be guard gates
mitering in the opposite direction. They are intended primarily for
holding back the water in the canal below, when the lock above is
unwatered for repairs but may be operated during lockages purely as a
safeguard.
As a protection to the gates heavy fender chains are to be stretched
across the locks at critical places. They are designed by suitable
retarding devices to bring a slowly moving vessel to rest before it can
strike the gate. While the gates below are being opened the chains drop
into recesses in the walls and across the floor.
Near the upper end of the locks and 200 feet above the uppermost gate,
an emergency dam of the swing bridge type will be provided to be used
in case of accident to the upper gates.
The following precautions against accident are to be observed:
First. All vessels must stop some distance from the gates.
Second. The lock operators here take the vessel in charge and control
its passage through the locks.
Third. If a vessel breaks away from the operators or fails to stop at
the proper place, it comes against the heavy chains stretched across
the locks and is either brought to a full stop or is greatly retarded.
Fourth. In case a chain breaks, the vessel has two sets of gates to
break, if at the upper level, where an accident would be most serious.
Should all these barriers fail the emergency dam can be swung into
place in a very short time.
The floors of the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks will have 1 foot
thickness of concrete on top of the rock as a wearing surface. At
Gatun, however the rock is of a character susceptible to the weather.
It has therefore been considered necessary, in constructing the floor
here, to leave the rock above grade until just before the concrete is
to be placed and then to scrape and wash the surface to be covered. The
floor in the lower portion of the upper chamber is to be of concrete
3 feet thick. The rock here is considered thick enough to withstand
the pressure from the water-bearing stratum below. Above the middle
gate, however, this stratum is too thin, and a floor 13 feet thick of
concrete is provided and anchored by rails set in holes and surrounded
by concrete.
The main floor level will be about 2 feet below the sills, in order
that small objects dropped from vessels may be passed without being
struck.
The sills for the gates are designed as concrete arches in a horizontal
plane, 31 feet thick throughout and of 100 feet radius at the extrados.
The filling system is designed so that, with all valves opened the
chamber can be filled in 8 minutes, but to prevent possible damage to
vessels in the lock the maximum rate will probably not be allowed to
exceed 3 feet a minute which would correspond to less than 15 minutes
for filling.
Most of the foregoing discussion is taken from the Engineering Record
of February 26, 1910.
There has been much criticism of the lock sites, but the engineers now
in charge seem to have perfect confidence in their work.
During the fiscal year 1908–’09 the work of excavating for the Gatun
locks was continued by steam shovels and one 20-inch suction dredge.
Material excavated in the dry amounted to 933,546 cubic yards, and that
in the wet to 479,950 cubic yards. It was decided to construct curtain
walls to stop any underflow; these will extend across the lock under
the sill of the emergency dam and downstream outside the walls to the
intermediate gates. As an additional precaution to making the concrete
floor 13 feet thick as before mentioned a system of sumps under the
floor with telltales in the walls will be built.
The plant for the construction of the locks is practically installed
and ready for work, it being operated entirely by electricity.
At the Pedro Miguel locks 715,726 cubic yards were removed in 1908–’09.
One lock chamber was completed to grade, but 45,000 cubic yards remain
for removal in the other one.
At Miraflores work was done the past year with steam shovels and one
suction dredge. The total amount excavated was 1,147,527 cubic yards
which is one-half of the total estimated quantity.
IX. CONSTRUCTION OF THE DAMS
The Gatun dam has aroused more adverse criticism than any other canal
feature. Most startling statements have been made concerning it. Its
history is worthy of notice. The first study of the Panama route under
United States authority was made by an Isthmian Canal Commission of
which Admiral Walker was chairman and Generals Hains and Ernst and Mr.
Noble were members. With respect to the location of locks, the report
of this commission said: “No location suitable for a dam exists in the
Chagres River below Bohio”. Hains and Ernst signed this report. In a
paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers on March 5,
1902, Mr. George S. Morison, a very distinguished American engineer,
said: “All engineers who have examined the route of the Panama Canal
agree that the neighborhood of Bohio is the only available location for
a dam by which the summit level must be maintained”.
Under authority of the President, by executive order dated June 24,
1905, a board of consulting engineers was appointed to consider
the various plans proposed for the construction of a canal across
the Isthmus. The minority of the board, as has been stated before,
recommended a lock canal with a dam at Gatun. The majority of the
board, 8 to 5, opposed the idea of a dam and locks at Gatun on two
grounds: first, that the introduction of locks in a treatment of the
question was objectionable from many points of view; and, second,
that the maintenance of a summit by means of an earth dam of immense
magnitude to control the flood waters of this river introduced an
element of great danger since the dam, without sheet piling, was
proposed to be founded on the alluvial-filled gorges of the Chagres
River, where the depth at one point extended 258 feet below the level
of the sea.
Of the minority above mentioned one member, Mr. Noble, was a member of
the former Commission who had reported that Bohio was the lowest point
on the Chagres where a dam was practicable.
The report was reviewed by the Isthmian Canal Commission which included
among its members Major Harrod and Generals Hains and Ernst. They all
indorsed the minority report, notwithstanding the fact that in March,
1905, Major Harrod was opposed to any lock plan, and that his two
associates had said in 1901 that no proper site for a dam existed below
Bohio.
It is true that every consideration of the Panama Canal type by
any unauthorized body rejected the idea of a dam at Gatun, and its
indorsement is confined to a minority of the board of consulting
engineers and to three members of the canal commission who had
previously either been in favor of a sea-level canal or who had said,
in effect, that Gatun was not a proper site for the dam.
The attitude of the majority of the board of consulting engineers
upon this most important question is best shown by an extract from
its report. “The United States Government is proposing to expend
many millions of dollars for the construction of this great waterway
which is to serve the commerce of the world for all time and the very
existence of which would depend upon the permanent stability and
unquestioned safety of all dams. The board is therefore of the opinion
that the existence of such costly facilities for the world’s commerce
should not depend upon great reservoirs held by earth embankments
resting literally upon mud foundations or those of even sand and
gravel. The board is unqualifiedly of opinion that no such vast and
doubtful experiment should be indulged in, but, on the contrary, that
every work of whatever nature should be so designed and built as to
include only those features which experience has demonstrated to be
positively safe and efficient”.
The remarkable diversity of statement in regard to this dam is shown by
the following quotations.
Mr. Teller in a speech in the last session of Congress said in part,
“Let me say a word or two about the great dam to be built at Gatun. We
were told in the beginning that the engineers would find a foundation
upon which they could build a safe dam. The French Government declared
they had found such a foundation; our own engineers declared they had
found it. It turned out that they had struck some floating pieces of
rock in the mud, and when they had gone down 287 feet they found the
same conditions practically that they found in the first 50 feet. The
place where it is proposed to construct this dirt dam, which will be
half a mile wide and 135 feet high (now 115 feet), is a great swamp.
No such dam has ever been built in the history of the world, and the
engineers of the world, with few exceptions, have declared it cannot be
built. The dam at Gatun is to be built upon a foundation of doubtful
safety, and there is not an engineer in the country who does not know
that it is doubtful”.