THE TYPE OF THE PANAMA CANAL 423 



absence of the data necessary to reach a final conclusion on this point, 

 and in view of the fact that no endjarrassment would I'csidt from a de- 

 libeiate weighing of all the facts, the writer, though with a pronounced 

 leaning toward the sea-level type, could not see his own way clear to an 

 immediate concurrence in the conclusions of the committee. There 

 was nothing convincing either in the report of the chief engineer nor 

 in the report of the committee relating to quantity of material to be 

 excavated nor in relation to probable cost. Th.e writer did not then 

 believe, nor does he now l)elieve, that the steep slopes where the cut is 

 deepest, as suggested liy the committee, nor as incorporated in the plans 

 now being carried out, can be adhered to.^ There will have to be taken 

 out ultimately very much more material than heretofore assumed at 

 Culebra. This fact coupled witli the concentration of the great mass 

 of the excavation in a relatively short central section of the canal, which 

 rendered preliminary estimates of time and cost of the removal of this 

 material uncertain, was a factor tliat could not be ignored. When, 

 therefore, at a meeting of the commission in March, 1905. it was pro- 

 posed by Major Harrod that the recommendation of the committee be 

 adopted and that the commission decide in favor of the sea-level canal 

 the writer was not prepared to go so far and the committee report was 

 referred to the committee on engineering plans, of which he was a 

 member, for further consideration. 



From these facts, as recorded in the printed proceedings of tlie 

 canal commission, it might be inferred that at that time Major Harrod 

 was in favor of the sea-level type of canal and that the writer favored 

 the lock type. But the writer's stand was taken, as explained, to pre- 

 vent action based on inadequate data, while Major Harrod is found 

 eight months later among the members of the second canal commission 

 who determined that the lock ])lan of canal, as recommended by the 

 minority of the board of consnlting engineers, is the one that should 

 be carried out. And now the writer, after having had several years 

 more time for reflection, and in the light of such additional informa- 

 tion as has come to hand, is not yet convinced that the wisest course 

 was pursued b}^ the later commission, by the secretary of war, by tlie 

 president and by congress when the findings of the majority of the 

 board of consulting engineers, eight to five, were disregarded and the 

 plans for a lock-canal project, as recommended by the minority, were 

 ado])ted. 



Before the committee on engineering plans made a report the 

 Walker commission was superseded by the commission of 1905, whose 

 powers were concentrated in an executive committee of three, at the 



^ Since this article was written information has been received tliat tlieie has 

 been much flattening of slopes. The standard section as shown in the illustra- 

 tion elsewhere presented is therefore no longer strictly typical of the section to 

 which the canal will be finished. 



