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The National Geographic Magazine 



railroad tracks serving the excavators 

 are yet fragmentary and tentatively 

 placed to serve the purposes of investi- 

 gation. In both respects the disposi- 

 tion of plant is far more unfavorable, 

 both to economy and celerity of oper- 

 ations, than will be the case when a 

 complete track system has been ar- 

 ranged and laid down to serve a large 

 number of steam shovels operated by an 

 experienced force. 



"In the face of these disadvanta- 

 geous conditions the cost of excavation 

 has been reduced far lower than was 

 anticipated, and it has been demon- 

 strated that each steam shovel may be 

 counted upon to yield an average record 

 of at least 1,000 cubic yards per work- 

 ing day. The chief engineer estimates 

 that with 100 steam shovels installed, 

 with a complete system of tracks serv- 

 ing them, a yearly record of 30,000,000 

 cubic yards of excavation may be 

 reached without requiring a greater 

 output per shovel or greater speed in 

 working than has already been attained. 

 The rate of working could probably be 

 reached within two years from the pres- 

 ent time. 



' ' With the rate of progress which 

 now appears reasonable to anticipate, 

 this committee believes that a sea-level 

 canal, with a tidal lock 1,000 feet long 

 and 100 feet usable width at Miraflores, 

 can be completed within ten to twelve 

 years from this time, the bottom width 

 of the canal being 150 feet and the mini- 

 mum depth of water 35 feet. 



' ' These considerations have induced 

 this committee to express to the Com- 

 mission its unanimous judgment that 

 with the contemplated system of work- 

 ing and with the rate of development 

 which appears to be justified by the 

 work now being performed at Culebra, 

 a sea-level canal, free from the restric- 

 tion of locks, should be adopted. This 

 committee believes that such a canal, 

 with terminal harbors, can be con- 

 structed for a sum not exceeding 

 $230,500,000. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF A SEA-LEVEL 

 CANAL 



' ' The advantages of a sea-level canal 

 across the Isthmus are most obvious. 

 It would be a waterway with no re- 

 striction to navigation, and which could 

 easily be enlarged by widening or deep- 

 ening at any time in the future to ac- 

 commodate an increased traffic without 

 any inconvenience to the shipping using 

 it, whereas a lock canal is in reality a 

 permanent restriction to the volume of 

 traffic and size of ships that use it. Al- 

 though it is possible to design and con- 

 struct locks adapted to the future trans- 

 formation to a sea-level canal, that 

 transformation cannot be made without 

 serious inconvenience to navigation and 

 at a cost so great as to be excessive. 



' ' The additional cost of a sea-level 

 canal over that of a canal with locks, 

 with a summit level of 60 feet above 

 mean tide, is $5 2, 462, 000, or $79,742,000 

 more than the estimated cost of the 

 lock canal, with a summit level 85 feet 

 above mean tide, proposed by the former 

 Isthmian Canal Commission, after al- 

 lowing $6,500,000 for the Colon break- 

 water and direct entrance not previously 

 estimated. This committee considered 

 this additional expenditure fully justi- 

 fied by the advantages secured." 



From this latest report from the canal 

 zone it would seem that there is a pos- 

 sibility of the Commission going back to 

 the first plan of the old Panama Canal 

 Company, and this seems to me, and 

 indeed it has always seemed to me, to 

 be a most desirable outcome of the vast 

 amount of work, thought, and intelli- 

 gence that has been given the matter. 

 The sea-level canal will surely cost 

 more than if it be constructed on the 

 lock system, but it is more than prob- 

 able that enough will be saved for main- 

 tenance during, say, a fifty-years' serv- 

 ice of the canal to pay for the increased 

 cost, and the saving to the 10,000,000 

 tons of shipping which it is expected 

 will use this great highway of commerce 

 in demurrage will more than compen- 



