740 THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE PANAMA CANAL. 



first cuts the line of the canal as it flows toward the sea, considerable 

 rock was found, some of it being dense and hard. In addition to 

 this work of actual excavation, the French companies, especially the 

 New Panama Canal Company, accumulated a large amount of avail- 

 able information regarding the subsurface material and depth of 

 bed rock at many points along the line. The examinations, includ- 

 ing jet borings at the proposed Bohio and Gamboa dam sites and for 

 the proposed dam at Alajuela higher up the river, are included in 

 this portion of their operations. The performance of this large 

 amount of excavation work and the investigations disclosing infor- 

 mation regarding the subsurface materials have largely revealed 

 with certainty the character of the greater part of the w^ork to be 

 done in completing a ship canal. In other words, they reduce 

 materially those exigencies of such a great work which consume 

 time and add to the cost. 



Of the total excavation hitherto made and amounting to about 

 80,000,000 cubic yards, probably not more than one-half will be avail- 

 able in the construction work to be planned by the present Commis- 

 sion. This, however, constitutes an available asset of much value. 



There is another asset, available to an uncertain extent, in the im- 

 mense (luantity of material and plant, left largely in well-kept ware- 

 houses but otherwise spread along the entire line in an exposed 

 condition. The a])parent book value of all this material, as shown 

 in the records of the New Panama Canal Company, is about 

 $29,000,000. By far the greater part of this value is now imaginary 

 only. A considerable part of the plant and a large amount of the 

 material in the warehouses can, however, be l)rought into condition 

 of much value as the work progresses. Indeed, several of the old 

 l)U('ket di-edges, a large number of dump cars, and various other 

 plant, including a most useful machine shop at Matachin, have 

 already been repaired and put into service by Mr. John F. Wallace, 

 the chief engineer of the Commission. The present Commission has 

 thus come into control of a great ship-canal work, a small portion 

 only of which has been performed, and with the greater part of the 

 data required for the ultimate solution of all its problems yet to be 

 determined. These problems include, first of all, the answer to the 

 main question, whether the canal shall be a sea-level canal or of the 

 lock type. Whether (me type or the other be adopted, they cover also 

 such great features of the work as the interior harbor at the Colon 

 or Cristobal entrance to the canal and possibly the exterior harbor 

 lying outside of it; the control of the Chagres Eiver in times of flood, 

 involving the construction of probably a great dam at Bohio or at 

 Gamboa and possibly a tunnel through the Cordillera to divert the 

 waters of the Chagres River toward the Pacific Ocean; additional 

 harbor facilities at the Ancon or Panama end of the canal; the eleva- 



