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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THE CUSTOMARY LABORERS MESS, BEFORE AMERICAN CONTROL 



the work has since been carried on along 

 these lines. 



This conclusion was not generally ac- 

 cepted as satisfactory ; the plan was 

 again vigorously attacked after the set- 

 tlement and slip in a part of one of the 

 toes of the Gatun Dam in the latter 

 part of 1908, and the "Battle of the 

 Levels" continued well into 1909, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the then 

 President-elect, with a party of eminent 

 engineers, after a personal inspection of 

 the work advocated no change. 



WISDOM OE CHOICE OE LOCK CANAL NOW 

 GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED 



Since then, as the work has advanced, 

 the wisdom of the choice is clearly 

 shown and there is no doubt as to the 

 ultimate success of the project. Devel- 

 opments within the last year in the form 

 of slides have brought more prominently 

 to the front the excellence of the judg- 

 ment which accepted the minority plan 

 in lieu of the sea-level plan as advocated 

 by the majority, and show more clearly 



the greater difficulties that would be en- 

 countered in an attempt to construct a 

 sea-level canal. 



An English scientist, who has kept in 

 close touch with the work since the 

 Americans took charge, and who at first 

 was skeptical as to the Gatun Dam, said, 

 after a recent visit, that he was con- 

 verted to the present plan because it is 

 not a dam at all that is building, but a 

 veritable hill. He also thought that the 

 expressed opinion of the Board of Con- 

 sulting Engineers with reference to the 

 Gatun Dam, namely, "that no such vast 

 and doubtful experiment should be in- 

 dulged in," was now applicable to Cu'le- 

 bra Cut. There are probably some who 

 still believe a wrong choice was made, 

 but a visit to the Isthmus is a sure cure 

 for such cases, provided always that 

 they are open to conviction. 



In the present plan the control of the 

 Chagres is also effected by a lake, but 

 greater in extent, because the dam is lo- 

 cated at Gatun instead of Bohio. This 

 solution was first proposed by Godin de 



