The Republic of Panama 



7 



age on the Panama canal a lock full of 

 water, representing a volume nearly 750 

 feet long, 84 feet wide, and 45 feet deep, 

 would be used in the Bohio locks and 

 about two-thirds as much in the Pedro 

 Miguel locks. This requires a large 

 supply of water, which the Isthmian 

 Commission computed for all purposes 

 to be 1,070 cubic feet per second for an 

 annual traffic of 10,000,000 tons passing 

 through the canal. This water supply 



automatic control it has been changed 

 from a sinister agent to a friendly power. 

 Furthermore, while the average dis- 

 charge of the Chagres River is nearly 

 three times the quantity required for 

 feeding the canal, there are times in the 

 dry seasons when the discharge of the 

 river is not more than two-thirds of the 

 quantity required for that purpose. This 

 deficiency is abundantly made up by the 

 storage in Lake Bohio until the traffic 



Cutting the Canal through Morasses, Chagres River Region 



is afforded by the Chagres River, and 

 without it or its equivalent the canal 

 would not be possible. 



In view of the complete system of self- 

 control of the Chagres floods by the 

 Gigaute Spillway, the Chagres River, 

 instead of being an insurmountable ob- 

 stacle to the construction and mainte- 

 nance of the canal, as has at times been 

 apprehended, is actually a gracious feat- 

 ure of the canal environment, and by that 



exceeds 10,000,000 tons annually. At 

 that time the storage in the Alhajuela 

 reservoir wall give an additional supply 

 for an increase of traffic three or four 

 times as great as the volume which can 

 be accommodated by the storage in Lake 

 Bohio. 



ABOMINABLE SANITARY CONDITIONS 



The sanitary conditions of the Isthmus 

 are at the present time wretchedly bad. 



