456 The National Geographic Magazine 



for the canal through the continental 

 divide, the Commission decided to fix 

 this height at 85 feet above mean tide, 

 and to make the spillway a fixed weir 

 2,000 feet long. The area of the lake at 

 this height is 38.5 square miles. 



Above the Bohio locks the canal en- 

 ters the artificial lake formed by the dam 

 and known as Lake Bohio. For the 

 first 7 miles it will become a broad, deep 

 body of water, affording room for an- 

 chorage as well as navigation. The 

 length of the channel in Lake Bohio is 

 about 12% miles from the locks to the 

 point where the canal leaves the Chagres 

 River or 13^ miles to the point where 

 it enters the cut through the mountain 

 divide which separates the Atlantic and 

 the Pacific slopes. 



Near the entrance to the summit cut 

 at Obispo will be placed a pair of gates 

 100 feet wide, so that if it should be 

 necessary to draw off the water from 

 the summit cut the level of Lake Bohio 

 would not be affected by it. 



It should be noted that the Commis- 

 sion's plan to increase the height of Lake 

 Bohio from 32 to 90 feet gives it the 

 increased area by distributing the im- 

 pounded waters over a large section 

 which would not be covered by the lower 

 level. The higher level also allows a 

 great saving in the excavation of the 

 canal prism in this section, and should 

 it be used will probably reduce the total 

 amount of cost for excavation. At all 

 events, as it will not take much longer 

 to raise the vessels the additional height 

 in the locks, but will allow for a greater 

 speed in the lake, the time of their pas- 

 sage through the canal must be short- 

 ened. 



The summit of 11 Culebra Cut," as it 

 is called, is nearly 8 miles long from the 

 Obispo gates to the Pedro Miguel locks. 

 The highest point of the divide is about 

 5 miles from the Obispo gates, where 

 the canal axis is 286 feet below the 

 natural surface of the ground. 



The Pedro Miguel locks, the begin- 

 ning of the next section of the canal, 



will be similar to the Bohio locks, the 

 aggregate lift varying from 54 to 62 feet. 

 The level of this section is therefore 

 about 28 feet above the sea, and it ex- 

 tends for a distance of 1.33 miles to the 

 last lock, which is at Miraflores. 



The Miraflores lock has a lift varying 

 from 18 feet at high tide to 38 feet at 

 mean low tide. 



For a little over 4 miles beyond the Mi- 

 raflores lock the canal extends through 

 a low, swampy country through which 

 the Rio Grande flows. This brings the 

 canal to a point known as La Boca, 

 where the Panama Railroad Company 

 has constructed a large and substantial 

 wharf. A dredged channel 200 feet 

 wide will extend from this point for 

 about 4^ miles to the 6-fathom line in 

 Panama Bay. 



COLON HARBOR 



One of the most important questions 

 in the canal problem, which heretofore 

 has received practically no attention 

 from any of the companies which have 

 had to deal with the canal, is the con- 

 struction of a harbor at its northern en- 

 trance. A committee has recently re- 

 ported to the Commission a solution for 

 this problem which contemplates the 

 construction of a breakwater at Colon at 

 a cost of $6,500,000. Indeed, this de- 

 cision has come none too soon, for already 

 material for the construction of the canal 

 is arriving at Colon, which must be the 

 main depot for the reception of canal 

 supplies, and the difficulties for trans- 

 shipment are great. There is a small 

 harbor which has been made by widen- 

 ing the canal prism at Christobal Colon, 

 but it is too small and too dangerous 

 of approach for vessels of any size in 

 stormy weather, and as Limon Bay is 

 at the present time an open roadstead, 

 almost any weather may be considered 

 stormy there. 



THE TERRIBLE NORTHERS AT COLON 



Naval officers who have had for the 

 past half century to police the Isthmus of 



