THE TYPE OF THE VAXAMA CANAL 



427 



Culebra cut at alioiit 170 feet al)ove tlio water surface — thence to the 

 natural surface with a rise of one foot in two. 



In tlie course of its deliberations the hoard of engin'eers passed 

 favorably upon the feasibility of a canal of either the lock or sea-level 

 type. It determined that a lock canal with summit level at 60 feet 

 should be the basis of com})aiison of the lock with the sea-level type. It 

 reached the conclusion that about 10 to 11 ytvirs should be the time 

 assumed to be necessary for the construction of a lock canal, with sum- 

 mit level at GO feet, and about 1';? to 13 years for the construction of a 

 sea-level canal. 



The quantity of material of all kinds to be excavated in construct- 

 ing a sea-level canal was estimated at 231,026,000 cubic yards, and the 

 estimated cost of making the excavation was $183,136,000. 



Among the important considerations bearing upon the selection of 

 the best canal type the board of consulting engineers, as noted in the 

 iiinjority repoit, says: 



The canal will |ii(i\i(lc tlie o\w great iiiaiitiiue lii<ili\\ay, not between seas, 

 but between oceans; not for countries, but for continents. The vastness of the 

 interests to be served by the canal, many of which interests now wait for their 

 development on the construction of tlie waterway, demands that the canal shall, 

 when opened for trattic, be of the type which will mo.'rt perfectly fulfil the 

 purposes which the waterwaj' is intended to accomplish. 



First and foremost it is essential that the Panama Canal shall present not 

 merely a means of interoceanic navigation, but a means of safe and uninter- 

 rupted navigation on which no special liazards will be encountered by and no 

 vexatious delays will be occasioned to the vessels which will traverse it. It is 

 therefore evident that the canal ought to be formed in such manner that the 

 course thereof shall be free from all unnecessary obstructions, and that no 

 obstacles should be interposed in that course, whether temporary or permanent, 

 which would by tlieir very nature be an occasion of ]ii'ril and of detention to 



SlIiEAUlNG MatEKIAL ON THE COROZAL DUJIP. 



