196 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AlAGAZINE 
to appreciate what the brave army at 
Panama is doing. 
IN THi; home; stre;tch 
In order to appreciate fully how 
rapidly the canal army is moving down 
the home stretch in its race against time, 
let us refer to the map which is pub- 
lished as a supplement to this number 
and make an imaginary journey across 
the Isthmus, from Toro Point. Atlantic 
side, to Naos Island, Pacific side. First 
we pass the huge two-mile-long Toro 
Point breakwater, now being built out 
into the Caribbean to protect the mouth 
of the canal and Colon harbor from the 
violent "northers" which sweep down 
over that region during the winter 
months. It is now far out into the ocean 
and will be finished many a month be- 
fore the opening date. On the east side 
of the canal line a second breakwater 
has been laid out, but it will be built only 
in the event that the Toro Point break- 
water is unable to baffle the destructive 
seas single-handed. 
We next enter that part of the canal 
which is being dug from deep water to 
Gatun, a distance of seven miles, at sea- 
level. When completed it will carry the 
ocean in to Gatun through a channel 41 
feet deep and 500 feet wide. Already 
this channel is navigable to the light- 
draft vessels of the material-carrying 
fleet from Gatun, and the first five miles 
is practically completed. By the end of 
the calendar year it will be deep enough 
to accommodate the majority of ships 
which pass by way of Colon. Six months 
thereafter it will be completed and ready 
for even so huge a craft as the Olympic. 
We next come to Gatun, where the 
great dam of the same name and the 
Atlantic-side locks are located. By the 
coming April the dam will be ready to 
hold 50 feet of water in check. Within 
12 months thereafter it will be completed 
and ready for the maximum head of 
water, 87 feet. The work of the locks 
is being pushed forward so that they will 
be completed by the end of the calendar 
year, except for the installation of the 
operating machinery, and that will be 
completed five months later. 
Passing through the locks, we next 
come to the channel through Gatun 
Lake. We find this now all but com- 
pleted for a distance of 26 miles. By 
the first of May there will be nothing 
left to do with this stretch of more than 
half the total length of the canal but to 
put in the lighting equipment and other 
aids to navigation. Already the water 
is spreading over the bottom of the 
lower part of this section of the big 
waterway. Already Colonel Goethals is 
serving notice on the people who wish 
to see the canal while the magnitude of 
the work is still apparent that they had 
better visit the Isthmus soon. He says 
that belated visitors will wonder where 
all the work could have been done. 
This 26-mile section carries us past 
Las Cascades and two miles into the 
great Culebra Cut. The next four miles 
represent the very backbone of the work 
yet to be done. In a comparatively few 
months there will be only about three 
miles of the cut above the requisite 
depth. Thirty steam shovels will be con- 
centrated on that, and, if their present 
gait is maintained, within 16 months 
proud old Culebra Mountain no longer 
can bid defiance to the age-long desire 
of men for a shipway through its vitals. 
The only thing that might possibly 
happen to delay this work further would 
be unexpected slides, but they are pro- 
vided against from the fact that by that 
time the water in Culebra Cut will be 
deep enough to float the big 20-inch 
suction dredges, which would be brought 
up through the locks and set to work. 
Before them the slides would disappear 
as a snowbank on a balmy day. 
Passing through Culebra Cut, we next 
come to the Pedro Miguel lock — called 
"Peter Magill" by the Americans on the 
Isthmus. Here the work is all but com- 
pleted, except for the installation of the 
machinery, and that task is going for- 
ward in such a way that it will be in 
readiness before Culebra Cut is com- 
pleted. The dam here — which is a small 
one, comparatively speaking — will be fin- 
ished at an early date. 
The next 2,000 yards or more of the 
canal will be a small lake between the 
single flight of locks at Pedro Miguel 
and the double flight at Miraflores. This 
