The number of commercial ships passing through the Panama Canal has
increased from 3,967 in 1923 to 5,475 in 1927. The total amount of tolls
turned into the Treasury is over $166,000,000, while all the operations of
the canal have yielded a surplus of about $80,000,000. In order to provide
additional storage of water and give some control over the floods of the
Chagres River, it is proposed to erect a dam to cost about $12,000,000 at
Alhajuela. It will take some five years to complete this work.