462 The National Geographic Magazine 



agement of the great enterprise which 

 should cut the western continent in two 

 he laid great stress on the fact that prob- 

 lems that seemed insolvable at the time 

 would become simplified by the growth 

 of engineering knowledge developed in 

 the course of the construction work. 

 No engineering scheme has ever been so 

 exhaustively studied as that for building 

 the canal. Immense sums of money 

 have been spent to study the don Hs of the 

 problem and still larger amounts have 

 gone to eliminate the misjits of the per- 

 sonnel who should control its destiny. 

 No value can be set on this accumulation 

 of knowledge which the Commission can 

 use as a powerful weapon in weaving 

 together the new plans which are to 

 bring our work to a successful issue. 



But aside from these " consequential 

 damages," as they might be called, and 

 which would have cut a large figure in 

 the beginning of operations in any new 

 field, the visible assets turned over to the 

 United States are well worth the price 

 paid for them. The popular mind is 

 rather apt to estimate the property de- 

 livered to us by the French company as 

 consisting of but little more than the 

 partially dug canal and the Panama 

 Railroad, but a study of the schedule of 

 equipment will show scores of machine 

 shops, some 2,500 houses built of wood, 

 stone, and metal, for all conceivable 

 purposes, and which will accommodate 

 from 1 5,000 to 20,000 people; hospitals, 

 extensive in numbers and in size, which 

 represent an investment of a vast sum of 

 money. These buildings not only ac- 

 count for a good slice of the purchase 

 price, but as they would all have to be 

 built before work can be systematically 

 carried on, the government is saved the 

 expense of these preliminaries. The 

 labor question, always a serious one, 

 here becomes vital. The loss by sick- 

 ness alone, before the people who are 

 required to work on the canal could be 

 comfortably housed, would greatly aug- 

 ment the total cost of construction. 

 This expense account would be a large 



factor in any original operations, say at 

 Nicaragua. 



One of the greatest benefits that has 

 accrued to us and on which no money 

 value can be placed is our power to abso- 

 lutely control the 10-mile strip bounding 

 the limits of the canal zone. No one 

 who has not had to deal with the deli- 

 cate questions which constantly arise on 

 the Isthmus with reference to our gov- 

 ernment's guarantee to keep open the 

 transit and to safeguard the sovereignty 

 of the country through which it passes 

 can realize the difficulties and expense 

 which this sacred obligation has en- 

 tailed. 



A SEA-LEVEL CANAL 



The first definite engineering plans 

 for the construction of the Panama 

 Canal have just been submitted to the 

 Isthmian Canal Commission under date 

 of February 14 last by the engineer- 

 ing committee of that body, consist- 

 ing of Commissioners Burr, Parsons, 

 and Davis. The principal recommenda- 

 tions are summed up in this resolution : 



"Resolved, That this committee ap- 

 prove and recommend, for adoption by 

 the Commission, a plan for a sea-level 

 canal, with a bottom width of 150 feet 

 and a minimum depth of water of 35 

 feet, and with twin tidal locks at Mira- 

 flores, whose usable dimensions shall 

 be 1,000 feet long and too feet wide, at 

 a total estimated cost of $230,500,000. 

 Such estimate includes an allowance for 

 administration, engineering, sanitation, 

 and contingencies amounting to $38,- 

 450,000, but without allowance for in- 

 terest during construction, expense of 

 zone government and collateral costs, 

 and water supply, sewers, or paving of 

 Panama or Colon, which last items are 

 to be repaid by the inhabitants of those 

 cities." 



The committee estimates that a sea- 

 level canal can be completed within 

 from ten to twelve years from the pres- 

 ent time. 



The committee decided that under no 



