1901)] The Americans and the Panama Canal. 6<S7 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 

 Friday, June 18, 1909. 



Sir Francis Laking, Bart., G.C.V.O. K.C.B. M.D. LL.D., 



Vice-President, in the Chair. 



A. Henry Savage Landor, Esq., M.R.I. 

 The Americans and the Panama Canal. 



In the year 1876 the French directed their attention to the possibihty 

 of catting a waterway connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. 

 They selected the Panama route because it was the best. 



In 1878 a concession from the Columbian Government was 

 obtained. 



The Panama Canal Company, with l)e Lesseps as its President, 

 was organised in 1879 and floated in 1880. The Company was to 

 cut a sea-level canal without locks. A tidal lock near the Pacific 

 was subsequently added, in order to control the flow due to tidal 

 differences of the two Oceans. The tide rises 9 inches above, and 

 falls 9 inches below, mean sea-level in the Atlantic, and 9 to 11 feet 

 above and below mean sea-level in the Pacific. 



The construction of a dam was further proposed, in order to con- 

 trol the troublesome waters of the Chagres River. In 1887 a change 

 to the lock-type of canal was made. 



The Company became bankrupt in 1889. The New Panama Com- 

 pany resumed the work in 1894. 



On May 4, 1904, the United States Government took possession 

 of all canal properties on the Isthmus. There were then some 600 

 West Indian labourers engaged in the Culebra Cut. A few dump 

 trains and shovels were in use. 



By glancing at the map, representing the Canal as it will be when 

 completed, with its artificial lake filled and held up by the dam and 

 locks, the undulating character of the country will at once strike the 

 observer. 



Here is what the latest plan of the Panama Canal adopted by 

 the Americans provides. 



Starting from the Atlantic, there is to be a channel 500 feet 

 wide at sea-level, leading from N. to S., from deep water in Limon 

 Bay to Gatun, a distance of 6 "76 miles. Here the Gatun Dam, 



