The Panama Canal 



455 



were to be constructed on both sides of 

 the canal from this lake to the sea. 

 With a carefully designed system of 

 sluices and controlling works, the vio- 

 lence of the floods was to be checked 

 by impounding the water both above 

 the Alhajuela dam and I^ake Bohio, so 

 as to keep the flow below the Bohio 

 dam within the capacity of the two di- 

 version channels. It will be seen that 

 in brief this second plan of the new 

 company simply does away with the 

 upper level at Culebra and leaves but 

 one continuous stretch on the level of 

 about 32 feet above the sea from Bohio 

 to Miraflores, a distance of 22 miles. 



THE PLAN RECOMMENDED BY THE 

 FIRST ISTHMIAN CANAL, 

 COMMISSION 



The plan prepared by the first Isthmian 

 Canal Commission,* which was made be- 

 fore the transfer of the property to the 

 United States government took place, 

 seems to follow this general plan very 

 closely, except that it raises this section 

 to an elevation of about 90 feet above 

 the mean sea level. This plan was only 

 tentative and depended upon further 

 investigation, which is now being car- 

 ried on. There can be no question but 

 that for such a stupendous scheme this 

 investigation cannot be too exhaustive, 

 and time used in it will save many 

 months in the final completion of the 

 canal. The Commission is, however, 

 going ahead with such work as must 

 be done in any scheme that may be 

 adopted. 



The canal as thus projected may be 

 described as follows : Beginning at the 

 6-fathom curve in L,imon Bay, a channel 

 500 feet wide at bottom is excavated, 

 curving to the left until it reaches a 

 point just inside the jetty constructed by 

 the old Panama Canal Company. Here 

 it changes direction to the right and is 

 then conducted in a straight line to a 



* See map of the Panama Canal region pub- 

 lished as a supplement to this number. 



point about 2 miles from deep water in 

 the bay. For about a mile this wide 

 channel is inside the low shore line, form- 

 ing a narrow but well-protected harbor. 

 Near the apex of this second curve the 

 bottom width is increased to 800 feet for 

 a length of 800 feet to provide a turning 

 basin. From the inner end of the har- 

 bor the bottom width of the canal is 150 

 feet and the level of the water is main- 

 tained at sea level for a distance of about 

 14^ miles to the Bohio locks. This sea- 

 level section is cut through low land or 

 swamps until it reaches Gatun, 6 miles 

 from the initial point, where the first 

 high land is met. In fact a cross-section 

 of the canal prism here is so high as to 

 make it possible to construct the first 

 locks — a contingency which is still an 

 open question. 



At Bohio is located a double flight of 

 locks, having a total lift varying from 82 

 feet at the minimum level of the lake to 

 90 feet at the maximum, 41 to 45 to each 

 lock, the normal lift being 85 feet. 



ARTIFICIALLY CONSTRUCTED LAKE 

 BOHIO 



While there is some question about 

 the feasibility of locating locks at Gatun, 

 the Commission was of the opinion that 

 no location suitable for a dam existed in 

 the Chagres River below Bohio, and, 

 while this location is not without diffi- 

 culties, it has the great advantage that 

 about 3 miles southwest of the dam, near 

 the head of the Rio Gigante, the tribu- 

 tary of the Chagres, there exists an ex- 

 cellent site for a spillway, by which the 

 discharge from the lake can be kept away 

 from the dam and accessory works, even 

 when extremely large, without incon- 

 venience to the canal itself or to the 

 country below the lake. The height of 

 this spillway would regulate the height 

 and area of the lake. After careful con- 

 sideration of the requirements for flood 

 control and for storage against deficiency 

 in the dry season, and also of the effect 

 upon the amount of excavation required 



