The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, May 21, 1910, Image 6
(Ml P W \M \ CAH M
Ii Will bo a <.rmt Lake With Mtflfcei
\t Kltlier Knd.
New York Tribune.
Although It was generally known
that spUn-li 1 progress had been made
by the army engineers In digging the
Panama canal, a statement In "The
Canal Record" the other day that all
the excavation which was contem?
plated In the original project had
been completed caused considerable
iurprn.v I nder tb.? original plan,
103.79S.000 cubic yards of material
were to be removed, and that has
been done. But subsequently. In or?
der It accommodate naval vessels of
the Dreadnought typo and the giant
liners now under construction. the
President oidered the widening and
deepening of the canal. That Invol?
ved 70.871.5?4 additional yards of
material, and that Is all of the task
of excavation that now confronts the
engineers.
A refreshingly unscientific and non?
technical description of the canal has
been wrlten by Gerald Mygatt. who
has recently returned from making a
first hand Investigation of the ditch
f ?r the "Columbian Magasirfl."
Among other things the investigator
says:
"The Panama canal, to all Intents
snd purposes, will not be a canal at
all. but a lake?a broad, fresh water
lake, thirty-two miles long, and with
an area of 164 square miles, a lake
which will flood the countiT In some
places far beyond the ten-mile limits
of the canal sone, from w thin seven
miles of th* Atlantic to a distance of
but nine from the Pacific side of the
isthmus. Most persons do net realize
that. They picture the waterway as
a big ditch, which It is not. For only
nine miles, through Culebra cut, will
the work be very much like what the
average mind seems to have conceiv?
ed. And when It Is finished even that
Culebra section will form part of the
lake Itself. Provided you're going
from Now York to San Francisco b\
boat five years from now, this is what
t .
GOING SOME
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Wise people are replacing their
worn out, shabby pieces with se?
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while it is complete?and also
taking Mlyaatagc ol the excellent
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Our stock is "going some"?if
you need some pieces of porch
furniture it will pay you to see us
pretty soon.
Witherspoon Bros.
Furniture Co.
Are You Lookinq
for a Position?
Wc can offer you good
Paying Employment
that you will enjoy and
at home. Write to-day
laWM
The Bntterick Publishing Co.
Battcrlck Building. New York. N. Y.
PATENTS
eaocueco and ocfcndco. ?f"*"* !?,,?
(Irmwiitir ? t- |^>i. it??. f'?r . ?[>rrt " Hri fi *n<l *r?'?- report.
Yr+* *!? r hi>w t" obtain |?*t? nt?, trat!?' mark*,
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? U Rlaia fttrwt. opp T7alW<1 Statt? fat.nt Offlce,
WASHINGTON, O. C.
Xk?i ^ 60 YEARS'
?V EXPERIENCE
Patents
I RAOC IV1 AR?5
DtStQNS
Copyrights Ac.
Hnfnn^ ? ? Hue a ???!'!' w'"l 6***ttlptt)nm fir.
(|ill>'kly n- '? <""" 1,1 1 fo'O ? i . m,, r
Invention h !?!?? i.at.'r i Hi i ?nii'n i ? mmoi i
||?.n?.rrii Or .?... rMr ? I HiJMWflOK 1 '???? ? ' ?
?Milt Iff*. I 1 <t H,' ? . f f H < lliltf I itCMlM.
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*pHuM n?Hi ?, ?rirh.tut ehwryw, lit ihn
SciciiMic JJmcrlCittK
A hanrl* ??? ' '? llli?.?riio.1 \t. if. !..?.-???>?? ri- .
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mm M'v.-"^-NcwYc:.
Uran, n < . ? ". K HI., Wn?hlt>H<?>ii, I ? ? .
will happen when you get to Pana?
ma.
"At Colon, on the Caribbean side,
JTOV will run Into a broad, deep chan?
nel, which has already been dredged
out of the toft BOO level swamp land
for seven miles, In to Gatun. There
you will see ahead Of you a low gen?
tle sloping hill, stretching for a full
mile and a half from one side of the
valley to the other. That will be the
Gatun dam?but it won't look like a
dam at all. because the whole slope
?rill be as easy as that of a sea beach.
At the left is a triple flight of locks
part of them is built already?to lift
yoaf steamer up to the level of the
lake, eighty-five feet above the sea.
You may pass another boat going
down, for the locks are in pairs, to
permit of traffic In both directions at
once.
"Now, you're on Gatun lake, and
the omptftifl gives the full speed jingl*.
because it's a wide, clear channel,
with but an easy turn here and there,
and long, clear straight-away in be?
tween, and the ship keeps on thus
for twenty miles or more. Then hills
loom up ahead, and the channel nar?
rows from 1,000 to 800, and then to
500, and then at last you ease along
foff the nine-mile passage through the
backbone range of the American con?
tinent?Culebra cut, if you choose?
where the channel gets down to its
minimum width of 300 feet, enough
for two vessels to pass in comfort and
with lots to spare, but not enough for
a twenty-knot clip.
"You are through before you know
It. and into the Pedro Miguel lock,
which lets the ship down 30 feet into
a little lake or basin a mile long, at
the far end of which are the two twin
locks of the Mlraflores, completing
the descent to the sea. And then it's
a run of nine miles through a straight,
broad, lowland channel?most of
that, too, has alerady been dredged?
and you are out in the Pacific. That's
all. The bulk of the canal length lies
in Gatun lake, right through Culebra
cut to the Pedro Miguel lock, a dis?
tance most of which can be covered
at full steaming speed.
"The canal work itself may be di?
vided into three parts?the sea level
entrances, the cut through the divide
of the Cordilleras at Culebra and the
dam and lock construction at Gatun,
Pedro Miguel and Mlraflores. Each
of these brings In work of a differ?
ent character.
"On the Atlantic side the canal will
consist of a sea level channel 500 feet
broad and 41 fet deep, extending from
deep water in the Cribbean to Gatun,
seven miles Inland. This portion of
the work has already been practically
completed and is put to daily use by
the tugs and cement barges running
Into Gatun. Although the rest of the
canal will have a minimum depth of
45 feet, the Atlantic channel has
been given only at 41-foot depth on
account of the fact that the average
oscillation of the tide is only one foot
?ll Inc hes above and six Inches below
mean water, with a maximum varia?
tion of 18 Inches. Should a deeper
channel ever become necessary by
reason of a much greater Increase in
the draft of ships than Is now antici?
pated, It would be a simple matter to
dredge to any further required depth,
and that without any Interruption of
canal traffic. Two breakwaters will
be built off Colon to protect the ca?
nal entrance and to make passage
possible even during the violent
"northers" which sweep In many
times during the winter months.
"The nine-mile sea level channel at
the Pacific end has also already been
mainly completed, and in much the
;irto> way as the Atlantic division, by
dredging through the swamps and
bogl of the coast lowlands. On both
tndl together, however, between 12
and 14 dredges are still at work, some
of them old French machines and two
Of the present suction form?bitf
ocaaa steamers, they look like?now
in use in New York harbor.
"A tour-mile breakwater Is being
thrown out to one of the small off?
shore Islands, not on account of
st'?rms, for they seldom blow on this
? oaal and nevr with any violence, but
to prevent shoaling of the channel
from silt-carrying cross currents. That
bfeakarator is Wall toward completion.
'The most peculiar thing of all
about the Pacific ?>nd of the canal, as
compared with the Atlantic, Is *h<t
h' re thfl tide h:is ? daily rise and fall
of from twenty to twenty-two feet,
elcv? n feet above, eleven feet below
mean water. That means nothing, as
far as a lock canal Is concerned, ex?
cept that the Itt-foot channel will be
given a depth four feet greater than
that of the Atlantic entrance, to a I
low for the passage of deeply laden
vessels at ebb lido,
' The real ditch digging part of the
work Is at what has come to Imp
known as the Culebra cut, extending
for the nine ml lei from Has Oblspo to
to Pedro Miguel, Here the range of
the Cordilleras, which la the connect*
Ina Uns between the Andes and the
Itockles, runs down to only a little
more than three hundred feel above
m m le> el. (In the |*a< Iflc side the
slop,. l-< sudden, on the Atlantic rath* i
more gentle; bul In the nine-mile
thickness of the range there was In
the first place ? wind, lot i r material
to b?> taken.
"The proposition of taking n three
hnndr. d foot hill and cutting a pie
shaped pier .' out of it down to forty
feet Above the sea?the water surface
is to be at elghty-flve feet, but the ca?
nal wi l be forty-five feet deep?and
to have the bottom of that slice a full
300 feet wide, that is a good deal of a
Job, One hundred million cubic yards
of rock and dirt, to i>e exact. One
can hardly realise the magnitude of
the work without seeing it with his
own eyes.
"The French made a deep, narrow
cut at Culebra, and took out some
11,000,000 cubic yards of material.
When the Americans took hold their
operations weren't quite so spectacu?
lar. Tiefere going any deeper they
extended the out to practically Its full
width. That took several years. Then
they started down. They won't make
any official statements on the isthmus
now as to any probable dates of com?
pletion, but the unofficial statements
??and they are usually as accurate?
give only four years for the entire
completion of the Culebra work. And
that and the Gatun dam and lock
work are the two points which will
be finished last.
"Between the cut and the Gatun
dam there will have to be little ex?
cavation?merely the lopping off of a
few knolls here and there near the
rise of the continental slope. For the
first eight miles in from Gatun there
will be no digging at all; in and near
Bas Oblspo, at the foot of the hills,
the French did a good deal of exca?
vating which will prove most useful.
But for all of the twenty-three miles
of what will be open lake, the work
Is to all intents finished. The hardest
digging here was simpler even than
the work on several canals which
have been built In the Eastern States.
There were a couple of rivers to con?
trol, rivers which would rise higher
than the canal excavations, but it was
only a matter of two or three feet,
and that was simple.
"The key pieces of the whole canal
are the dams and locks?the dam and
double flight at Mlraflores, the twin
slngle-llft lock at Pedro Miguel and,
more than both of these, the great
dam and triple flight of locks at Ga?
tun. The locks throughout the line
of the waterway will be uniform; the
two minor dams are but little out of
the ordinary. And so a general de?
scription of the work and progress at
Gatun should give a fair idea of the
who'e work.
"Gatun is the Atlantic water gate?
way of the isthmus. Here it is that
two or three good sized rivers?the
Chagres and Gatuncilla and several
others?pour In together and swirl
out between two low-lying ranges of
bills Into the Caribbean. Back of
Gatun the country spreads out for
miles of bog and swamp and soggy
morass, the territory which will form
the bed of the new lake. Nature could
hardly have designed a better place
for a gigantic dam and spillway and
a flight of locks.
"Across the 7,500 feet between
those two low ranges the dam is be?
ing thrown?a dam 115 feet high and
nothing more or less than a big, easy
hill squarely across the valley. It is
neither the largest nor the most spec?
tacular dam ever constructed, but
when you stand there and look it over
it seems like a pretty big proposition.
That pile of rock and earth will have
a head of only 85 feet of water
against it and that for about 500 feet
Of its length, but It will hold a lake
the area of which will be over 164
square miles.
"Right In the middle of the valley
and Incidentally, the dam, rises a
small hll of rock?Spillway hill, they
call it, because here a concreto lined
rock cut will take care of the surplus
water which the rivers pour down
during the rainy season. The Spill?
way Is to have a channel 300 feet
Wide designed for a run-off capacity
of 140,000 cubic feet a second. That
is about finished; the cut has been
completed, the concrete floor is down,
and the walls themselves are well un?
der way.
"West of Spillway hill little work
on the actual dam constructed has
been done; that's because there has
got to be some place for the rlevrs to
run until they can be turned through
the Spillway itself. But on the east
side a good deal is going on. They
started out by dumping two parallel
lines of rock, about twelve hundred
feet apart, from the lock side at Ga?
tun over to the hill in the center of
the valley. On the outside of the rock
was dumped indiscriminate stone and
dirt. They got those two lines pretty
Well lip, like two separate dams and
then began filling in the space be?
tween with impervious material pump?
ed in by dredges, The rock 'toes* of
the eastern half of the dam are about
up to their full height, but the pump?
ing work is still going on? --continu?
ous streams of watery mud pouring
In day and night, The wafer drains
off and the sandy clay settles, drying
slowly and packing Itself so hard by
its own weigh! thai it becomes al?
most as solid as concrete.
"When thev gel thai finished?-and
it won't be long they'll level things
??ff rind riprap the surface where
wave netlon will come, and then the
work will be rend) for business. The j
dam will stand ::?> feel above water.
It top w ill I lim ft el w kle. AI the
lake surface it will be 398 feel thick.!
aid down at the bottom more than!
2,<. feel through. The slopes are
so gentle that-the water pressure will
practically all be down, not out.
"Although th ? dam at Gatun Is no
particular record breaker, except in
the one point of '? eing safer ;m<l more
heavily built for the work it will be
Called upon to do than any similar
construction ever attempted, the
locks?and they are the same
throughout the can ?.1?are the largest
ever designed. Toe work on these
Gatun lifts, which 1? the most com?
plicated on the whole canal is well
under way. The excavation, most of
It rock cut, has practically been com?
pleted?SO per cent, at the end of
January?and 21 per cent of the con?
crete work on the upper lock had also
been put In at that time. That means
that at the present rate the locks
should be finished in three and one
half years. And with their comple?
tion the whole canal can be consider?
ed done.
"There will be three flights of locks
at Gatun, arranged in pairs, each hav?
ing a usable lengtfr of 1,000 feet and
a width of 110 feet. They will be
built of concrete throughout, thick,
solid concrete, the water level being
regulated by valves in the heavy side
and centre walls, which permit the
water to flow in and out of the cham?
bers through openings in the lock
floors. For safety in operatbn there
will be double steel gates at each end
of each lock, with a heavy protective
chain in addition, to arrest the move?
ment of any vessels. But, more than
that, no ship or boat will be allowed
to pass through any of the locks un?
der her own power. Most locks ac?
cidents hive happened from lack of
control or misunderstood signals.
Electric '.owing locomotives will be
used on the Panama lifts, four to a
vessel?one at each corner, so to
speak?and not a steamer will be al?
lowed to turn her own propellers
while going through. That wi'l mean
efficiency, speed and safety.
'The Gatun flights is situated in a
bed of soiid rock at the extreme left
of the valley, as you approach the
dam from the Caribbean side of the
isthmus. The whole work, dam and
all, is being built on solid rock, or
on hard, impervious material much
like that of the dam itself, overlying
the rock stratum.
"Picture a long deep cut with sheer
vertical sides, a cut as broad as two
or three city blocks, stretching from
the shade of its high, rocky walls at
one end for a long three-quarter of a
mile toward the sea. Picture Jt
swarming with negro workers, and
white foremen, the lower end tilled
with rough laid tracks and switches.
Steam shovels, locomotives, rock
trains, all working and jarring and
squealing together.
"At the upper end by the dam,
where the banks rise high, four tower
lifted seats of cables stretch across'
the gulf, busy moving cables, with'
^great buckets sliding out to the cen?
tre, dumping masses of wet concrete
to the floor far below and then snap?
ping back for load after load. Down
in the bottom pygmy men are work?
ing on the giant, collapsible steel
forms into which the concrete falls,
settles down and hardens?for the
whole fabric of the locks, floor, walls
and what \yJ|ills they are!?culverts,
drains and all, is being moulded as a
child moulds mud pies. Parts of the
sides of the upper lock are but huge
monoliths hardening in raw, red cas?
ings of steel. The floor of that lock
is finished. It's all bustle and hurry
and rush, whistles blowing, iron
clanking, men shouting, all in a great,
gaping cut out of the body of the
earth.
Modest Dan Hayes.
An old playbill of the Kilkenny
Theater Hoynl for May 14. 1793. was u
few years ngo reprinted in the West
em (England) Mail, and the following
is an extract from it:
"The tragedy of 'Hamlet,' originally
written and composed by the celebrat?
ed Dan Hayes of Limerick and insert
ed in Shakespeare's works."
The playbill concludes with the in?
teresting notice that "no person what?
soever will be admitted into the boxes
without shoes or stockings." It is
probable that this Irish claimant to
the honor of the authorship of "Ham?
let" is not so won known as his as?
tounding claim might warrant.
The Order Fleased the Cook.
The following story is told on a mis?
sionary of the China inluud mission, a
bachelor keeping house lor himself in
the southern pnrt of china: One morn?
ing in ordering his dinner he wished
to tell his cook to buy a chicken, in?
stead of Buying "ye" for chicken he
aspirated the word, saying. "Buy me a
?che.'" His cook thought that was an
eminently pr ?per command and went
about his marketing in high good hu?
mor. At noun the missionary found
no chicken cooked In fact, no dinner
nt all, for his cook had not returned.
About dark the man came back, say?
ing: "This was not a good day for buy?
ing wives, mid l have beeu all day
looking for one. but at lasl 1 fouml
Otto for you. She is rather old and n<?t
pretty, bul y- u can have her cheap. 1
have promised $40 for her.*'
Two messenger boys were before
Ihe R.rder Wednesday for racing
..n Main street. These little fellows
wore racing for a living, n ; they arc
rowarded for punctuality. Tin record?
ed took this into < ?.nsi leratlon and
su Jpended sent* nee.
ALL BISHOPS CHOSEN.
METHODIST CONFERENCE FIN?
ISHES EPISCOPAL ELECTION.
Rev E. I). Mouzon is ? Native of This
State and a Graduate of Wofford?
The Others Choeen.
Asheville, X. C, May 17.?With the
selection of Rev. James if. McCoy, D.
I>. of Birmingham, via., as the sev?
enth bishop on the sixth ballot, the
quota of 15 bishops of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, was filled.
The old bishops in active service are:
Bishop A. W. Wilson, with light
vork; E. R. Hendrix, Warren A. Can
dler, Henry C. Morrison, with light
vork; E. E. Hoss and James Atkins.
Bishop Fitzgerald was continued on
the superannuate list and Bishop Jo?
seph S. Key added thereto upon his
own request. Seven was the largest
number the church ever selected at
one conference.
South Carolina fared splendidly in
the elections getting two native sons,
Dr. James C. Kilgo, born at Laurens,
and Dr. Mouzon, born at Spartanburg.
Out of the seven men chosen an in?
teresting feature was that only one
was not connected with some educa?
tional institution and only one came
from west of the Mississippi, although
that Is strong Methodist therritory.
The new bishops in the order of
their election are: Dr. Collins Denny
of Baltimore, a professor at Vander
bilt university; Dr. John C. Kilgo,
president of Trinity college, Durham,
N. C; Dr. W. B. Murray, president of
Millsapps college, Jackson, Miss.; Dr.
Lambuth, secretary of the church
board of missions; Dr. R. G. Water
house, president of Emory and Henry
college, Emory, Va.; Dr. E. D. Mou?
zon, dean of Southwestern university,
Georgetown, Texas, and Dr. James H.
McCoy, president of Birmingham col?
lege, Birmingham, Ala.
The selection of Bishops Water
house, Lambuth and Mouzon on the
fourth ballot came as a surprise this
morning.
A total of six ballots were taken
for the seven bishops, two resulting in
I no choice.
Arthur Philips contributed $2 to
the paving fund Wednesday for
failing to provide a lantern for his
hack. He could have bought two new
lanterns for what he had to pay.
The Ladies Aid Society of St. James
Lutheran church will serve on the
church lot, ice cream and cake each
evening the band plays, provided ,the
weather permits.
Winthrop College
SCHOLARSHIP and ENTRANCE
EXAMINATION.
The examination for the award of
vacant scholarships in Winthrop Col?
lege and for the admission of new
students will ho held at the County^
Court House on Friday. July 1, at 9
a. m. Applicants must be not less
than fifteen years of age. When
Scholarships are vacant after July 1
they "viii be awarded to those making
the highest average at this examin?
ation, provided they meet the cond4^
tions governing the award. Applfl
cants for scholarships should write
to President Johnson before the ex?
amination for Scholarship examina?
tion blanks. ?
Scholarships are worth $100 and
free tuition. The next session will
open September 21, 1910. For furth?
er information and catalogue, address
Pres. D. B. Johnson, Rock Hill, S. C.^
Harry Alexander, a bright negro
boy claiming to be from Oklohoma,
was before Recorder Hurst Wednes?
day for sttaling a pair of pants from
one of the Georgetown ball players^
who was here Tuesday and the day
before. The boy is a mere lad, but
Is a typical hobo. He will spend thirty
days in Mr. Pitts' good roads class,
and maybe he will shake the dust of
this place off his feet and go to
pleasanter pastures. ^
KEEP THE KIDNEYS WELL.
Health is Worth Saving, and Some
Sum tor People Know How to Save
Many Sumter people take theii^
lives in their hands by neglecting the
kidneys when they know these organs
need help. Sick kidneys are respon?
sible for a vast amount of suffering
and ill health, but there is no need to
suffer nor to remain in danger when
all diseases and aches and pains due
to weak kidneys can be quickly an^j
permanently cured by the use of
Doan's Kidney Pills. Here is a Sum?
ter citizen's recommendation.
Mrs. Willie Bultman, 5 E. Calhoun
St., Sumter, S. C, says: I found
Doan's Kidney Pills to be an excellent
remedy. My back ached for some*
time and I was in almost constant mis^
ery. I finally saw Doan's Kidney Pills
advertised, procured a box at China's
Drug Store and used them. They re?
lieved the pain in my ion\s and
strengthened my back and I have not
been troubled since. I gladly recom?
mend Doan's Kidney Pills." |
For sale by all dealers. Price 5^
cents. Fosi-er-Mllburn Co., Buffalo,
New York, sole agents for the United
States.
Remember the name?Doan's and
take no other. No. 29.
It.
THE SOUTHS
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The Progressive
Farmer
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RALEIGH, N. C, .jJ
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