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774
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PROJECT
FOR
THE PANAMA CANAL
BY
LINDON wºres
WITH
GENERAL PLANS AND PROFILES
OF
T H E W A T E R W A Y
THE REGULATION WORKS
AND
THE TERMINAL HARBORS
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS IN ORIGINAL PROJECTS AND DESIGNS ARE RESERVED,
COPYRIGHT 1905, BY LINDON W. BATES.

Peoication
To My FATHER, WILLIAM W. BATEs.
\
§
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wººd
‘. . 2 S 44-
A TS &
INTRODUCTION.
The Panama Canal is an undertaking of the vastest meaning to America,
commercially and nationally. Its construction should be so correct as to leave
nothing for present regret or future challenge.
It becomes in some measure the duty of every engineer who cherishes his
ideal for this great public work to break his silence and reserve if he perceives
that in any vital degree or at any remediable point the Canal seems failing of
the highest that it can achieve.
No. one knows more intimately the elements, no one knows more profoundly
the difficulties, inherent in this vast problem, than the eminent men, French and
American, who, from the inception in 1879 all the way to to-day, have studied
and planned by the best in them to solve its perplexities. Let praise go to them
unstinted, for this is their Smallest due.
Believing profoundly, though reluctantly, that the announced methods of
solution are not such as to Secure to the American people the best, the safest and
the most enduring Canal, the writer feels that he would be faithless to his citizen-
ship did he not state SO. Knowing further that there exists a more scientific
method, it has become his duty, as well as his privilege, to Set it forth.
I N D E X
PAGES
IsTHMUs OF PANAMA— -
Factors and Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Character and Description of the Present Favored Projects. ... 7
Tides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
LIN DON BATEs’ PROJECTs—
Primary Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Prism Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - I 4
Lake Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 7
Summit Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 8
Disposition and Regulation of Rivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 8
Location, Alignment and Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Utilization of Excavation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Berm and Spoilbanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Dams and Barrages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Alternatives or Modifications of Lindon Bates' Projects. . . . . . 27
Power and Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Sanitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . © tº ſº e º e º e s e º s e º e º e º e s = e º e . . 28
Disposition of Silt and Currents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Turning Basins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * * * * 29
Times of Transit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Unit Prices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3O
Estimates and Program of Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Financial Aspects from a Governmental Standpoint. . . . . . . . . . . 32
Summary of Elements of Lindon Bates' Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Special Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
P L A N S A N D DIA G R A M S
I. General Map and Profile of Project A.
II. & 4 & & & 4 & 4 { { { { B.
III. Types of Dam and Barrage.
IV. Cross Section Diagrams.
V. Financial Diagrams.
IST H M US OF PANAMA.
FACTORS AND CONDITIONS.
The physical factors existing and the conditions appertaining to the Isthmus
of Panama appear in the many published Official Reports of the various Isthmian
Commissions appointed by the United States; in the debates of Congress; in the
studies of the Comité Technique of the old and new Panama Companies; in the
numerous scientific articles which have been contributed to the Engineering
Press, notably those by Gen. H. L. Abbot, by the late George Morrison, by
members of the existing Commission, and by the Minister to Panama.
In view of the copious available authoritative literature, it is deemed un-
necessary to epitomize or recapitulate here those elements or to present, except
incidentally, the results of the most recent surveys, borings, and explorations,
on which are based serious commitments looking toward a Sea-Level Canal with
Tunnel Diversions of the Chagres River.
*
CHARACTER AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT FAVORED PROJECTS.
I. Project of the Comité Technique. This plan is set forth in the Official
Report of the last Commission (Pages 85-86). It has been ardently advo-
cated, and particularly by Gen. H. L. Abbot, long associated with the French
companies as one of their consulting engineers.
The summit level of this scheme is 62.5 feet mean height above sea level.
It is to be created by a dam at Bohio, supplemented by One at Alhajuela to
assure an adequate water supply for lockage, evaporation, Seepage and percola-
tion. The Gigantè Spillway is likewise an integral feature.
II. Isthmian Commission Project of 1901. This, the 85-foot Summit Level
Plan, is fully described in the same Official Report (Pages 91 to 99). It was
the basis of the treaty with the Republic of Panama and of the purchase from the
new Canal Company in 1904. The Gigantè Spillway is here also an essential
feature.
III. 3 o–Foot Summit Level Project. Recently a Two-Lock, 30-foot level
plan has been mooted, but no details have yet been set forth. It involves prob-
ably a dam and lock on the Atlantic side at Bohio, as well as a lock near Pedro
Miguel or Miraflores close to the Pacific end, and also dam provisions similar to
those of the French project. The topography of the Bohio Lake Basin precludes
any surface spillway and some other provision is indispensable.
7
An alternative “30-foot level” plan might propose that the summit level be
between a lock at Obispo and one between Miraflores and Pedro Miguel. This
level would involve a feeding reservoir behind a Gamboa or Alhajuela Dam and
auxiliary works at a level hardly compatible with the main regulation offices of
the great dam.
IV. Sea-Level Project. This historically disastrous, much discussed, much
sought and much idealized scheme has recently been resuscitated. It now pro-
poses a canal at mean ocean-level with a tide lock at Miraflores, a gigantic dam
at Gamboa creating a large lake, and long “Diversion Tunnels (or several up-
river dams and several tunnels) to carry the impounded waters of the Upper
Chagres” through the broken volcanic formations which encircle its watershed,
and down valleys into the Pacific Ocean or Carribean Sea.
- The Tunnel idea was considered by the French Engineers and was rejected,
not because their examination did not reveal sites, but because the tunnels were
too hazardous an expedient technically and financially.
RE MARKS.
As thirty to thirty-three feet is rightly recognized as the safe limit of lift
for a great ship-lock, the first three projects mentioned naturally embody the
Six-Lock, the Four-Lock and the Two-Lock systems in relation to Bohio, Gamboa
and Alhajuela Lake Solutions. All these schemes include high impounded lakes
of great depth, area and volume subject to torrential additions to their already
imposing levels. It is one thing, and a simple thing, to catch and regulate a
Chagres deluge by adequate and empty lake basins, but it is quite another
venture to receive it in a high, full lake where it can jeopardize an investment
of $300,ooo,000, and the commerce of a hemisphere. The Sea-Level Plan brings
the Atlantic to Miraflores, where a tide-gate is located.
The tide-gate is necessary in each instance because of the difference in the
tidal régime of the two ocean terminals, as to which the following table is pertinent:
TIDES AT PANAMA.
At Naos Island. At La Boca.
High water at full and change of moon. . . . . . . . . . . . III h I 6 m III h 16 m
Low water at full and change of moon... . . . . . . . . . . IX “34 “ IX “ 27 “
Corrected establishment for high water . . . . . . . . . . . III “o 2 “ II “ 59 “
Corrected establishment for low water. . . . . . . . . . . . IX “I 2 “ IX “ oé “
Mean height of high water at Spring tide above
plane of reference... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I4.90 ft. I 5.90 ft.
Mean height of low water at Spring tide below
plane of reference.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.o8 “ 4. I2 “
TIDES AT PANAMA.—CONTINUED.
- At Naos Island. At La Boca
Mean height of high water neap tides above plane
of reference... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Io.35 ft. Io.40 ft.
Mean height of low water at neap tide above plane
of reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.45 “ 2.43 “.
Mean range of tides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 2.85 “ I3.47 “
Mean range of spring tides. . . . . e < * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 16.98 “ 20.o.2 “
Mean range of neap tides... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.8o “ 7.97 “
(The plane of reference is mean low water level.)
Mean Sea-level appears to be about 6.16 to 6.41 feet above the plane of reference,
and with respect to mean ocean level the range may be considered between + Io
and —Io.
TIDES AT COLON.
Mean Tidal Variations at Colon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I.43 ft.
Maximum Tidal Variations at Colon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.07 “
Minimum Tidal Variations at Colon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o.62 “
LINDON BATES PROJECT.
This conception is new. It is radically and fundamentally different from
all the previous plans and alternative projects which have been published here-
tofore or are now under consideration. No critical or comparative analysis of
the various projects is now made, but the evolution and the character of the new
design is first described, with only such references to others as may seem
necessary to its understanding.
PRIMARY CONSIDERATIONS.
RELATION of EARNING Power to cost.
The interrelations which exist between the cost of the design definitely
adopted and the Canal’s future business and profit as a national enterprise are of
Supreme importance.
Since the Panama Canal is to be used as a highway for the shipping of the
world, from which a net tonnage toll is to be collected for each passage, it follows
that this work should be treated as a business undertaking and a forecast should
be made as to its probable outcome as an enterprise with the federal government
as investor.
From this standpoint such forecast becomes imperative, since it defines the
permissible capital expenditure.
85’ suMMIT LEVEL PROJECT U. S. COMMISSION 1901.
COST OF CANAL.
To Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $144,222,358
To Purchase P. C. Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4O,OOO,OOO
TO Purchase Zone Strip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IO,OOO,OOO
To Purchase Outstanding Ry. Bonds. . . . . . . . . . 3,ooo, Ooo $197,222,358
Total Cost (Round). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $197,000,ooo
PRESENT INVESTMENT.
TO Purchase Zone Strip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $IO,Ooo,ooo
To Purchase P. C. Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4O,OOO,OOO 5O,OOO,Ooo
Difference to be spent in Io years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I47,ooo, Ooo
CAPITAL TO BE PROVIDED.
To Total Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $197,ooo,000
To Interest Io years Const. period 2 per cent. Io
years, $50,000,ooo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IO,OOO,OOO
2 per cent. 5 years, $147,ooo,ooo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . I4,7OO,OOO
To Deficit operation (1915–16–17). . . . . . . . . . . . . I 2, OOO,OOO
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $233,700,ooo
EARNING AND EXPENSES I 9 I 5–1 6–I 7.
EARNINGS.
The Commission Report of 190I gives the probable available canal tonnage
for 1914 as 6,843,805 tons. With the decade increment of 25.1 per cent, therein
accepted, the available tonnage in 1917 will amount to 7,279,000 net tons, all of
which at this time—it is assumed—will pass through the Canal. The tonnage
for 1915–16, which represents the beginning of operation, will naturally be less.
The actual increase in traffic resulting from the opening of the Canal is taken
to begin in 1917. w
The Commission Report of 1901 adopted 62% per cent. as rate of tonnage
increase for the first decade (after beginning of traffic) and derived this by taking
50 per cent. Of the tonnage increase of the Suez Canal from 1880 to 1890. In
188o the total net tonnage of the Suez Canal was about 3,000,ooo tons, but the
Panama Canal (it is considered) will begin operation in 1917 with the above
IO
7,ooo, ooo tons, and for this reason, the decade 1893–1903 of Suez operation,
which begins with the above 7,600,ooo tons, provides a better analogy as to
character and quantity of traffic than the 1880–90 decade. The 1893–1903
decade shows an average increment of 45 per cent. beginning with 7,645,ooo
tons and this figure is used for the 1917–1927 decade of Panama Canal.
The Suez and Panama Canals will also be competitors for a large amount
of tonnage and this condition may reduce the above rate of tonnage increase.
At the accepted rate of $1,00 per net ton the earnings become
1915 (assumed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,000,ooo
1916 (assumed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,ooo, Ooo
1917 from above discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,279, Ooo
O PIE RATING EXPENSIES.
FIXED CHARGES-PER YEAR.
$233,700,ooo. Capital to be pro-
vided by issuance of 2 per cent.
bonds or use of Treasury Sur-
plus on which at least 2 per cent.
should be calculated. Interest
at 2 per Cent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,674,Ooo
Sinking Fund and Extraordinary £3
Contingencies # per cent. . . . . . I,752,750
OPERATION.
By Report of Commission 1901 . . . 2,OOO,OOO
Deficit I915. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,426,750
1916. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,426,750
I917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I, I 47,750
Provided for in Capital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12,001,250
FOR I 918, FIRST YEAR OF FIULL OPERATION .
With 45 per cent, per decade increase in traffic,
The Income becomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,606,555
Total Operating Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,426,750
Deficit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$8,426,750
$820, 195
Time, until total operating expenses equal income at 45 per cent, decade
rate beginning 1917, is 2.5 years from 1918 or 53 years after opening of Canal.
TABLES.
The results of above steps for the Summit Levels of 85 ft., 60 ft., 30 ft. and
Sea-Level Projects are tabulated below. -
CONSTRUCTION.
Total cost (construc- Interest during oº:: Total capital
tion cost plus ...? Year. of operation, required.
$53,000.o.o.o.). construction period. 19 r 5-1 6- 17.
85 ft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $197,ooo, Ooo $24,700,ooo $12,000,ooo $233,700,ooo
60 ft. . . . . . sº º e º ºs e º e º a 23 I,o I 3,OOO 28, IoI,3oo I 5,385,700 274, 5oo,ooo
30 ft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247, 2 I 3,OOO 29,72 I,3OO I6,965,700 293,900,ooo
S.-Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . 283,500,ooo 33,35o, Ooo 20,55o, Ooo || 337,4OO,Ooo
OPERATION.
- • A ſh;’ Sinking fund and Total Income for
Interest 2% per extraordinarv yearly, expenses | loſs from ton-
th annum on total contingencies at , including age at $1.oo
capital. % $2,000,opo "net ton
for operation. e
85 ft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,674, ooo $1,752,750 $8,426,750 | $7,606,555
60 ft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,490, Ooo 2,058,750 9,548,750 7,606,555
30 ft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,878, Ooo 2,204, 25O Io,082,250 7,606,555
S.-Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,748, ooo 2,532,500 || II,278,500 7,606,555
OPERATION .
Years after t Income for 1927 g
: 4. 2 t opening: When from tonnage St.oo Difference between
Deficit in 1918. operation ex- net ton expenses and income for
pensesr=income. | end 1st decade. I 927.
85 ft. . . . . . . . $820, 195 5.5 IO,554, 55o 2, I 27,750 Surplus.
60 ft. . . . . . . . I,942, I 95 8.9 IO,554, 550 I, oo 5,8oo Surplus.
30 ft. . . . . . . . 2,475,695 II. 6 IO,554, 550 47 2,300 Surplus.
S.-Level. . . . . 3,671,945 | Not in decade | Io,554,550 723,950 Deficit.



From the above, the effect on the results of increasing the Construction Cost
is apparent. For each case $50,000,ooo is considered as having been already
invested, while the remainder of the Total Construction is to be paid out at a
uniform rate during the ten year construction period. -
I 2
The revenue from tonnage toll at $1.oo per net ton is the only source of
income considered.
The fixed charges and operating expenses will remain constant for the
scope of these calculations, regardless of the tonnage passing through the Canal.
Increase or decrease in the toll per net ton effects in direct proportion the
amount of annual earnings and therefore the amount of the surplus or deficit;
and finally the amount of capital that can be advisedly expended in the under-
taking.
Following diagram indicates the several results in the table plotted to scale.
A scale for yearly earnings based upon $1.25 per net ton as tonnage toll is
also given.
Assuming a total capital outlay of $337,400,ooo in ten years to Secure a
sea level canal with a tunnel from the Chagres Watershed:—
There will be a large annual deficit running for many years.
At tolls of $1.25 per ton this deficit still persists, gradually diminishing as
traffic increases.
CON CLUSIONS.
This outlook means that, if possible, consistently with its highest good,
no more than 145 millions construction cost should be dedicated to this
enterprise by the Government of the United States, in addition to the present
investment.
There is nothing which warrants now a sea-level canal requiring $230,500,ooo
additional, and returning for it a channel too small at any price. There
is, however, every warrant in commercial outlook and in military necessity
for a canal costing an outlay, aside from interest, of the 145 millions of the money
allotted by Congress in the Spooner Act.
The undersigned submits that his projects can be executed for less than this
sum, that he has the relations which will enable the whole work to be respon-
sibly undertaken for a definite amount, to be finished in a definite time of eight
years, and to be successfully operated and maintained.
RECENT ESTIMATES.
The first definite engineering plans for the construction of the Panama Canal
have just been made public.
The principal recommendations are summed up in this resolution:
“That this committee approve and recommend for adoption by the com-
mission a plan for a sea-level canal, with a bottom width of 150 feet and a mini-
mum depth of water of 35 feet and with twin tidal locks at Miraflores, whose
usable dimensions shall be I, ooo feet long and Ioo feet wide, at a total estimated
cost of $230,500,ooo.
I 3
Such estimate includes an allowance for administration, engineering, sani-
tation and contingencies, amounting to $38,450,000, but without allowance
for interest 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 present time.
The committee decided that under no circumstances should the surface
of the canal be more than sixty feet above the sea, and estimates that at this
level the cost would be $178,013,406. A thirty-foot level is estimated to cost
$194,213,406.
PRISM DIMENSIONS.
Primarily the Panama Canal is desired as an aid to navigation. As such
it must technically serve the peace and war vessels of to-day and those of at
least the next generation. It is not enough that this costly waterway shall admit
the passage of ships simply; it must make practical their safe transit. The dimen-
sions, therefore, of the ships to be served and of the passage to be traversed
become of vital and primary importance, entirely aside from problems of drain-
age and of excavation volume. .
What are the minimum dimensions which will enable the largest merchant
or naval vessels of say—forty years hence, to traverse in security the narrow
straight reaches or to negotiate the curves of the canal at a safe Steering Speed,
and what 1s that speed? No first real effort has been made anywhere to deter-
mine these fundamental questions in their relation to even the largest vessels of
to-day. - *
The water section planned in 1901 for the Culebra division is too small and
and is of the wrong shape. Its channel was designed 150 feet wide at the bottom
and only 164 feet at the water surface for some seven or eight miles. A “Deutsch-
land” or a “Baltic,” for instance, could not safely negotiate it, as she could not
maintain steerage way and avoid sheering against the masonry walls first one
side and then the other. Yet despite the facts involved, we have this month
an authoritative announcement: -
The Engineering Committee of the present Commission has just favorably
reported a sea-level project. It proposes a waterway only thirty-five feet deep,
at a further outlay of $230,500,ooo. The following language is used:
“The advantages of a sea-level canal across the Isthmus are most obvious.
It would be a waterway with no restriction to navigation, and which could be
easily enlarged by widening or deepening at any time in the future, to accom-
modate an increased traffic, without any inconvenience to the shipping using it,
I4.
whereas a lock canal is in reality a permanent restriction to the volume of traffic
and size of ships that use it. Although it is possible to design and construct
locks adapted to the future transformation to a sea-level canal, that transfor-
mation cannot be made without serious inconvenience to navigation and at a
cost so great as to be excessive.”
To such premises the writer does not subscribe. A long, narrow waterway
having a section of only 7, 150 square feet in “firm earth,” and far less in the
Culebra division, cannot be either so safely or so quickly traversed by large
craft as a canal with lake navigation and locks.
Restricted underwater sections restrict navigation and endanger vessels.
Such a sea-level channel cannot “be easily widened and deepened without
any inconvenience to the shipping using it.” To deepen such a canal the five
feet necessary to accommodate the vessels of even 1917 involves the excavation
of vast quantities from the bottom and slopes in which the spoil must be mostly
moved long distances longitudinally. -
A two-lock canal, if the locks be suited to taking 1,000-foot vessels, is not
a permanent restriction to the volume of traffic. More ships can be put through
and at an average higher rate of speed that in the sea-level channel, whose dimen-
Sions are permanently confined and fixed from the outset by the tremendous
cost of further enlargment and the inevitable annual deficits which such Outlay
entails.
A year has passed and the investigation imperative to reaching a Safe Con-
clusion as to dimensions has not even been started. The observations of the
writer and studies based upon extensive experiences in connection with many
canals lead him to the conviction that from the standpoint of the Science of
. Navigation:
Ist. The basis of speed in the most restricted channel tangents should be
set at 5 knots per hour.
2d. The underwater slope should rarely be steeper than 2.5 to I. This is
not because of the geological formation, but because to steer safely the water
divided and displaced by a steadily advancing vessel must readily reach the void
astern. In certain soft underwater strata this slope of course may best be 3 or
4 to I or even flatter. Surface width is a prerequisite for safe steering.
3d. The ruling depth for the ships of ten years hence should be at least
40 ft. -
4th. The bottom width should be at least 150 ft.
The above factors give a water surface width of 350 ft. These dimensions
mean a minimum water section of Io,000 sq. ft. in tangents. If one takes the
Steepest slope in the Suez 2 to I at El-Guisr, he has 8,000 sq. ft. as an irreducible
minimum at the narrowest point in the canal.
I 5 - ---
As evidenced by the constantly increasing size of vessels, one may expect to
see even within a decade steamers I, ooo ft. long and Ioo ft. beam, drawing 40 ft.
of water. We are already to leviathans 780 ft. long and of 88 ft. beam—the new
Cunarders. (Vide Diagram.) The business of the Pacific will be done in ships
of the largest size. Battleships will not be so long, but they will be as wide as
the I, ooo ft. Steamers. Such craft may need for safety a canal 50 ft. wider
than even this new proposal and Io feet deeper.
Though actually correct minimum dimensions and speeds on tangents and
curves therefore remain to be finally determined, yet, for the purposes of this pres-
entation a minimum water section of 8,000 sq. ft. at the initial reaches from the
Obispo Basin is taken as the smallest allowable starting point of calculations,
and the writer makes full reserves. • -
Slopes above water will naturally be determined by the formation, having
regard for stability and weathering. The slopes of the Culebra Section above
water will vary from 1% to 2 to I according to the ground, and must be properly
terraced, tunnelled, and drained.
The wider the section at the water surface the better can ships be con-
trolled. It follows that the longer lake navigation of the canal can be made,
the safer it will be for shipping.
One of the fundamental objections to a sea-level canal at Panama is the
fact that such a channel must be fatally narrow unless the quantities excavated
are to be too appalling to contemplate. -
A vessel draws more in a fresh than in a salt water channel. Canal dimen-
Sions are Ordinarily such that a large vessel must push a great Swell of water which
cannot get astern or to one side. Thus it happens that the large vessels literally
Settle by the stern sometimes several feet. Hence security demands an adequate
excess of canal depth over loaded draft. Vessels plying around the Cape of
Good Hope to Australia are permitted by their Plimsoll marks to load 33 or
34 feet, which becomes 34 or 35 feet in fresh water, and a margin of five feet is
not too great even for the present requirements.
DIMENSIONS IN CULEBRA SECTION.
The great depth of the Culebra Section makes a berm too expensive,and the
only recourse is to select a form of section demanded by vessels and rates of slope
under and above water which will be permanent, and then make the sides proof
against erosive currents induced in the transit of large ships.
The minimum sectional area should be not less than 8,000 sq. ft. If then a
batter of 1 in 4 is given to the walls, there will have to be a channel bottom width
of 190 feet, and a surface width of 21 o feet. With such a shape of section,
fenders along the sides will certainly be advisable to prevent the enor-
mous sheering blows which a great vessel is liable to strike at any moment that
I 6
her bow gets to one side of the canal's axis and upsets the equilibrium of forces,
If the bottom width is I60 feet and the underwater slopes I to I, we have a sur-
face width of 240 feet which, while far from ideal, is much fitter to negotiate,
although it means 15 ft. more slicing along the imposing terraces above water.
The best navigable dimensions to this cut approximate probably the last
figures having regard to the vast increase of excavation which greater width at
water surface involves. (Vide Diagram.)
LAKE SOLUTIONS.
All the projects enumerated contemplate the creating of high, deep and per-
manent lakes.
+. FEET.
I ſ Lake Bohio. • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38.5 sq. M. 89/90 deep at Dam.
l Gigantè Spillway. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lake Bohio and. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 sq. M. 57/68.5 deep at Dam.
II Gigantè Spillway and
| Alhajuela Lake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Io Sq. M. I. 3 o deep at Dam.
Lake Bohio (very Small). . . . . . . . . Sq. M. 3o deep at Dam.
III A { Lake Gamboa or Alhajuela. . . . I6 sq. M. 85 deep at Dam.
No spillway—perhaps tunnels
- ſº Gamboa or Alhajuela. . . . . I 6 Sq. M. 85 deep at Dam.
Obispo Locks
III B Pedro Miguel or \
Miraflores Locks ſ
Lake Gamboa or several small
IV. lakes aggregating. . . . . . . . . . . . 20 to 30 Sq. M. I 45 deep at Dam.
Diversion Tunnels through Divides.
The Gigantè Spillway of I and II avowedly may discharge 140,000 c. f. per
Second into a channel parallel to and many feet above the Canal for eight miles
from Pena Blanca to below Gatun. -
These permanent high-level lakes, the Gigantè Spillway and the Tunnels are
very dangerous and as mechanical expedients wholly unnecessary.
Project II, that of the Comité Technique, is the least objectionable.
Project IV, the rejected and revived Mean Sea-Level scheme of de Lesseps,
is experimental technically, and extravagant financially. The absence of an
acceptable spillway site also condemns No. III. The many locks of No. I are
universally deprecated.
Viewing with such well-founded apprehension the high, full lake projects, the
Gigantè Spillway and the Tunnel schemes, the writer has felt impelled to show a
feasible and reasonable alternative.
17
LINDON BATEs’ PROJECT.
SUMMIT LEVEL.
A summit division shall extend from the vicinity of Mindi to the vicinity of
La Boca. At each end of this Division shall be twin-locks. The waters at the
locks shall be regulated to about 20 ft. above mean sea-level, which the writer
deems preferable to a lower or a higher plane. At both the Atlantic and Pacific
ends low-level lakes shall be formed—by broad suitably constructed banks con-
necting the hills east and west of Mindi and by a Barrage across the Chagres as
indicated. •
The northern lake—Lake Chagres—29.5 sq. miles in area and over II.8 miles
long, extends from Mindi to several miles above Bohio. It will incidentally cover
all the lower Chagres Swamps except Pena Blanca, which will be flooded to a
higher level, as hereafter mentioned.
The other—Lake Panama—about 5.5 miles long, will be similarly formed
from Miraflores to La Boca with an area of 7 sq. miles. It will submerge per-
manently all of the festering swamps around Panama. Each lake will be entered
and left by locking, and the level of each will be adequately regulated by a suit-
ably located Insubmergible Under Sluice Barrage. Such a barrage in its latest
and most perfect design has demonstrated its complete success working on a scale
much vaster than is required and without foundations upon rock.
For alternatives Gatun may be elected as the site of the Atlantic Lock and
Barrage, or Miraflores as the location of the Pacific Lock with a Diversion Channel
above the lock leading to a Barrage. Such selections would reduce Lake Navi-
gation to I2 miles—the extent of Lake Bohio.
There will be thus created a total of more than 1.7% miles of what for speed
and navigation purposes is practically lake navigation between Mindi and Buena
Vista—and between Miraflores and La Boca. Tentative locations for the locks,
barrages, and levees are shown on the map. Manifestly topographical and geo-
logical considerations may modify slightly the actual locations indicated, but the
principles, above set forth, will hold. This lake navigation will be nearly six
miles longer than that afforded by the Lake Bohio Projects.
Lake Bohio measures I 2 miles in 1ength and at the
65.6 foot level covers 23. o8 sq. miles.
82 . o foot level covers 36.78 sq. miles.
85.2 foot level covers 38.48 sq. miles.
DISPOSITION AND RE GTJ LATION OF RIVERS.
CHAGRES.
LOWER EAST SIDE.
All tributaries of the Chagres on the east side between Mindi and Bohio will
flow into the new Lake Chagres. -
I 8
LOWER WEST SIDE .
The western tributaries between the Dam and the Gigantè will also empty
into this Lake. The waters of the drainage basin of the Pena Blanca Swamp
and the Rio Gigante will be led to the submerged Agua Clara Swamp.
There will be a wide, impermeable and insubmergible bank between the
Canal Channel and the Pena Blanca Swamp. The level of the water in the latter
will be raised to +3 o ft., which will cover its foulness to a depth of 7% ft. This
height will be readily regulated by a spillway in the Channel between the two
swamp areas. No appreciable currents in the track of vessels will be produced
by the streams entering the east and west sides of the lake.
CENTRAL WEST SIDE.
MOUTH OF CANO TO CULE BRA.
All the tributaries in this section, except the Rio Cano, are small and can be
led to the Canal Channel with only the works necessary for insuring that neither
silt deposits nor objectionable local currents shall occur at Junctions with the
Canal Channels.
The Rio Cano has a large watershed, a recorded maximum discharge of 1640
cu. ft. per second, a mean discharge of 335 and a minimum of I7 ft. per Second.
At a suitable site, as indicated, an Insubmergible Under Sluice Dam shall
be built capable of perfectly regulating the discharge of the Cano Basin.
CANAL CHANNEL AND UPPER CHAGRES REGULATION WORKS.
JUNCTION BASIN.
It will be noted on inspection of the map that at Bas Obispo the axis of the
Chagres Valley makes a right angle bend, and the Upper Valley lies between
Atlantic and Pacific serrated Coast Ridges.
Obispo is almost exactly half-way between the inner ends of the new Lakes
“Chagres” and “Panama.” The topography admits the excavation of a trian-
gular Junction Basin in form like a railway “Y.” Waters entering this Junction
Basin (which will likewise be a convenient turning area for large vessels) will
naturally flow north to Lake Chagres and the Atlantic, and South to Lake Panama
and the Pacific Ocean.
CHAGRES DISCHARGE CHANNELS.
In effect therefore the Chagres will have two discharge channels, both running
from the Junction Basin to a large lake, each channel with an initial minimum
water section of 8,000 sq. ft., as before mentioned, or 16,ooo sq. ft. in all. The
Commission stated in 1901 that there would be required to pass the Chagres
floods without injury a Channel I 5,ooo sq. ft. in area, (Page 88.) But under
this Project there can be no freshets from either the watershed above or below
Gamboa.
I9
CHANNEL COMPENSATION.
From the Junction Basin to Lake Chagres and to Lake Panama the water
section widths will expand at a small coefficient rate to take care of the Central
Valley Drainage which is allowed to enter the channel. Practically the same low
velocity of flow at all points can be thus scientifically assured as in the regulation
of tidal rivers like the Weser, Scheldt and Brisbane.
CENTRAL EAST SIDE.
The few creeks between Bohio and Obispo will be led into the Canal Channel,
each with Suitable Small auxiliary works, channels, dèbris-dams, or weirs and
aprons to prevent erosion and the carrying of silt.
DAMS,
At Gamboa and at Alhajuela, across the Valley of the Chagres will be built,
“Insubmergible Under-Sluice” Dams, as shown in section in plan.
The Gamboa Dam will control, regulate and discharge:
A. The drainage of the Gamboa Basin Watershed, shown on Plan No. 1.
B. The regulated outflow from the Alhajuela Basin.
The Alhajuela Dam will control, regulate and discharge:
A. The drainage of the “Alhajuela Basin,” a name bestowed for con-
venience on the Chagres Watershed above this dam. -
The undersluices of these dams will be operated to maintain the determined
level of the Obispo Basin, which is the Governor.
In principle there will be permitted the smallest possible accumulation of
water behind the two dams, which nevertheless can safely impound 9oo,ooo, ooo
cubic meters, which may be doubled by additional dams higher up river.
A head of a few inches above +20 in the Obispo Basin will give a discharge
of 40,000 c. f. per second from the basin, 20,000 c. f. through each outlet, and will
occasion a velocity of only 2% ft. per second, or 1% knots per hour. This is less -
than frequently prevails in the Suez Canal between the Little Bitter Lake and
Port Tewfik due to the Red Sea tides. Hence the sluices of the Gamboa Dam
can be allowed to pass such large volumes of water that under the worst condi-
tions the catchment basins above could not be nearly filled, and they will possess
factors of Safety against any fresh contingency. There need be no cascade into
Obispo Basin from the Gamboa Sluices—and if there were, it could do no harm—
being only picturesque.
There will be no great, high, permanent lakes, no tunnels, no experiments.
There will be, instead, merely large and, always, nearly empty catchment basins,
capable of perfect discharge control, which can be effected without the slightest
inconvenience to navigation. The currents in the navigated channels need never
exceed 3 ft. per second and normally they will be much less. * *
2 O
The present conception is not then that of a “canal,” but of a canalized river
with two diverging outlets, each leading to a large, easily controlled lake and
discharging, one into the Atlantic, the other into the Pacific.
The Dam designs shown with this Project are substantially those of the Assuan
Dam, which has been perfectly successful in impounding 1,065,000,ooo cubic
meters. It controls and safeguards the Nile, whose flood-discharge is 804,ooo
second feet or nearly six times the greatest known flood of the Chagres at Bohio.
The height of these Dams can be kept down if desired by supplementary Dams
on the main tributaries above Alhajuela.
WATER SUPPLY AND CONTROL.
It will be observed that the minimum daily discharge of the Chagres Water-
shed affords an ample Supply of water for lockage, Seepage, evaporation and other
losses; between Gamboa and the two oceans. On account of the low head,
ground seepage will be everywhere immaterial.
By manipulating their sluices the levels of Lakes Chagres and Panama can be
raised and lowered. They can be reduced to a sea-level plane or even below.
The ruling depth, on the other hand, can be increased to some 45 ft. without a
cubic yard of dredging or other material expense and without impairing the safety
or efficiency of a single element of the Project.
All this is simply a matter of Original design and of Dam and Sluice Control.
The currents likewise are always under perfect—if one wishes it, electric—
regulation, through flood or drought. “Unimpeded navigation during all floods
not exceeding 75,000 cubic feet per second'' was claimed for the Project of 1901.
Under this new Project even the 140,000 cubic feet per second of 1879 need not
occasion a velocity of two and a half feet per second, because the waters are
harnessed, and not let run wild.
WATER REQUIREMENTS.
The lockage water of the 90-foot six-lock Project of 1901 was estimated to
require 35,127,960 cubic feet (I, ooo, ooo meters cube) per day for “Io lockages
equivalent to an annual traffic Of Io, ooo, Ooo tons.” This requirement is esti-
mated to equal 406 cubic feet per Second, Chagres flow. For two locks of 20 feet
one may reckon */, of 409 or 91 cubic feet per second.
The lock-gate and sluice leakage, taking into account the diminished head,
would be less than 50 per cent. but figured at 50 per cent. of the Commission's
allowance of 25o c. f. One gets I 25 Second feet.
2 I
One may summarize, therefore, the water requirements as:
Lockage. . . . . . . . . . . 9I c. f. per second Chagres Flow
Leakage. . . . . . . . . . I 25 (C (& (C. (( (&
Contingencies ... . . . 200 “ “ (& (ſ {{
Evaporation, ... . . . “207” “ “ (ſ (ſ (&
623 (& (( (( {{ (C.
This is about 60 per cent. of the water required by the Commission Plan of
I90I. It is about the minimum of 6oo c. f. s. recorded at Bohio besides which the
new Lake Chagres has contributions below Bohio of at least 150 c. f. S. in the
dryest seasons.
From the above it is evident that there need be anticipated no shortage of
water under any circumstances, especially as Lakes Chagres and Panama and Pena
Blanca are great reservoirs. It is certain therefore that though no water what
ever were impounded by the River Dams at the outset of the dry season, there
would yet be an ample natural supply.
CAPACITY OF BASINS, LAKES AND CHANNELS.
That of
Lake Chagres, per meter depth is
Lake Panama “ * * *
To the above one may add the storage capacity of the Pena
Blanca Swamp Lake. This for its two meters depth is
75, ooo, ooo mº
(&
e tº e º ºs e e s e e º e s is e º e º e s e º 'º e º s
I8,ooo, ooo
* e e º e 4 g º º e º e º e º e º e º & & © & 8 & 9
3,400,ooo “
gº e º e º s
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96,400,ooo “
Discharge Capacity. c. f. per second.
Chagres Lake Sluices o to Ioo, Ooo
Panama “ (ſ o to I oo, Ooo
Cano Dam. “ {{ O to 5,000
Gamboa “ {& o to I oo, Ooo
Alhajuela Dam Sluices o to Ioo, Ooo
Under no conceivable circumstances, therefore, is it possible to have either
too much or too little water.
O BIS PO GATES.
This provision, made in order that the Culebra Section can be unwatered in
case of exigency from great slides, is of doubtful utility to the +2 o Project, but
may be retained for any level above +40.
22
LOCATION, ALIGNMENT AND CURVATURE.
The foregoing gives a general idea of the Salient features of the scheme.
It is in order to direct attention to the changes of location inherent in it.
ALIGN MENT.
At Bohio the present curve may be modified. No other changes in alignment
are now proposed, except the accepted new location from the 45 ft. Sea-contour
to the mouth of the Mindi River. The total curvature of the Canal is reduced
somewhat below the 771° of the 1901 Plan.
The length of the Canal between Oceans will be 4.1% miles exclusive of the
submerged channels in Limon and Panama Bays. -
It is possible that the Mindi and La Boca Lock sites, when definitely selected,
may necessitate other slight changes in alignment.
ATLANTIC TERMINAL CITY.
The location through the Bay of Limon, made possible by the favorable borings
lately reported, brings the Atlantic Terminal Harbor close to the present mouth.
of the Mindi River. The locks will be on the slopes of the Cerro Jaramillo (or
Quebrancha)—an eminence rising to a height of 375 feet, on whose more health-
ful site can be erected a new Colon.
On One side will be Lake Chagres, drowning the miasmic swamps, and below
the locks will be disposed the Reception Basin, Coal Depot and Wharfs.
The Upper end of Limon Bay, enclosed by suitable concrete breakwaters,
must be converted into a harbor of the first class with a wide and deep approach
from the 45 ft. contour line. In view of the exposure of Limon Bay to Northers
the alignment and position of the Breakwater Arms must be such as to completely
protect the Canal Entrance and enable the Harbor area to absorb great waves just
inside the Harbor Opening. In other words, the Arms of the Breakwater should
leave not over a 700-ft. entrance. A mooted scheme to run the East Breakwater
from Mindi Point and the Western one from Point Toro will permit waves to
round their ends and make in the area, they are supposed to protect, a jumble
dangerous to Small craft and a nuisance to large vessels—Colombo Harbor before
the North Arm was built was a sufficient example of such a defect.
RETAINING BAN KS.
Material excavated from the lock-site and its approaches, either side, will be
utilized to make a very wide retaining bank 30 ft. high, connecting the hills which
will, with the Barrage, create Lake Chagres. The Panama Railway embankment
will require raising. Material for this is convenient at Monkey, Tiger and Lion
Hills.
~ 23
OTUTLET DAM.
The site of the Outlet Dam is tentatively shown. It remains to be finally
selected.
DAM AND BARRA GE SITES.
All the French and American Commissions are on record as stating that
no dam-site exists below Bohio. Their conclusions were correct from the stand-
point of a dam subjected to such highhead duty as their Projects imposed. In-
deed, after another year of borings, whose results indicate less favorable conditions
than formed the basis of the French and former Commission's designs, the present
Commission and its corps of engineers deprecate the Bohio Dam and seem bent
upon descending to the sea-level at any cost.
A low head Barrage can be put anywhere on the Chagres below the old West-
ern Gatun Diversion, using principles of construction established by several
illustrious examples, notably the One at Assiut in Egypt. -
At Bohio a dam with a net head of 30 ft. is also practicable within a reason-
able limit of cost. Reference will be made later to such a feature in connection
with the Lake Chagres of this Project.
MAZANILLO BAY DIVERSION.
While it is practicable to turn the waters tributary to the East side of Lake
Chagres into Mazanillo Bay, it will entail relatively little expense to allow them
to enter Lake Chagres by suitable openings through the Panama Railway
embankment. \,
UTILIZATION OF ExcAVATION.
MINDI TO LA BO CA.
From Mindi to La Boca in order to attain the 40-ft. channel depth, dredging
will need to be carried only to —20 below mean sea level.
This insures the greatest possible utilization of the cuttings which were made
by the French. The actual quantity remaining to be excavated may be readily
estimated from recorded data, but these are not accessible.
Dredges can work and distribute hydraulicly, where material is suitable, from
the +2 o-level cheaper and faster than from sea-level.
MIND I TO B O HIO .
As shown by Diagrams, nearly all of the canal excavation made by
the French—about 20 to 22 million cubic yards—will be utilized. Of this the
sea-level scheme can utilize only half. - .
24
BOHIO TO OBISPO.
The French excavated from this Section 12,350,000 cubic yards, of which
probably over II,000,ooo c. y. will be utilized.
OBISP O TO THE PACIFIC.
All the excavations heretofore made here will be utilized. In the section
between Pedro Miguel and La Boca the new amount of excavation will be but
a fraction of that hitherto contemplated. Much rock-work below sea-level will
be eliminated.
EXCAVATION AT JUNCTION BASIN.
The sides of Junction Basin will be about 1150 feet long. The Chagres
Entrance Channel and the outlet opening will be 4oo to 500 feet broad at the
water surface. Its basin will include about 20 acres. -
B ERM AND SPOIL BAN KS.
There are many lessons to be learned from the intimate knowledge of work-
ing conditions in a great canal like the Suez.
One of the most important is that the berms on either side should be very
wide. The swift currents and eddies which invariably accompany the passage
of a large vessel at a speed of only 3 or 4 knots per hour, continually undermine
even firm earth. It has come to pass at Suez that now, no berm is left on either
bank—and every underwater slope has been flattened by erosion and the opera-
tions of maintenance so that 1% to 1 and 2 to 1 slopes have become from 2% to
4 to I.
The Suez Canal at its completion was supposed to have anticipated
the need of centuries. Its sanguine eulogists ranked it among the en-
during, finished products of that land of monuments. Yet, after a lapse of
only thirty years its dimensions have proved so inadequate that the larger
ships have ceased to essay it and are reaching Australia by the old weary
route around the Cape.
With the demand for enlargement pressing hard upon the dividends, the
French regret now the short-sighted imminence of the spoilbanks and their
high crest line. .
Another most important precaution is to secure low, wide, spoilbanks
instead of high, narrow ones. The crestline of a ship canal spoilbank should
be always kept low—otherwise the expense of removing silt deposits, and of
maintaining or deepening the cross section will be greatly enhanced.
25
Through Lakes Chagres and Panama especially it will be feasible and cheap-
est to spread the dredgings over very wide submerged spoil areas beyond a berm
Ioo feet or more wide, and this should be done.
GAMBOA AND ALHAJUELA DAMS AND BASINS.
Typical sections of these dams are shown on Plan No. II. Obviously
similar dams can be put on each of the two main tributaries above the Alhajuela
if it be deemed desirable to have larger catchment capacity. It will be noted
that no heads are contemplated of the great heights required by the engineers of
the other schemes.
These dam heights are:–
Bohio Project I, Bottom to Top, 165 + Ioo = 265 ft.
Project II, Bottom to Top, 165 + 78 = 243 feet.
Project III, Bottom to Top, 165 +4O = 20.5 feet.
Gamboa Project IV, Bottom to Top, 45 + 155 = 200 feet.
Project Bates, Bottom to Top, 45 + 92 = 137 feet.
Alhajuela Project, Bates Bottom to Top, 62 + 92 = 154 feet.
Project Bates II, Bottom to Top, 62 + 171 = 233 feet. (Comité Technique.)
LAKE PANAMA.
This lake will be 20 feet above mean sea-level and 30 ft. above low water
The grade of the Panama Railway will need to be raised a few feet along the east
and south shore of the Lake. All the swamps near the City will be submerged.
The level of the Lake will be controlled by the Sluices of the Barrage.
LA BOCA BARRAGE.
The barrage will be thrown across the entrance to Rio Grande Bay above
the La Boca Pier, connecting Sosoa Hill and the Hill West of the Mouth. This
appears at first a venture, but it is one eminently feasible of design and
execution on safe precedents. The sluice discharge will be on the west side of
the center.
LA BOCA LOCK.
The Locks, on account of the expensive and valuable La Boca Pier, are placed
above it near the axis of the present cutting instead of on the slope of either hill.
The site must be coffer-dammed. While special provisions regarding founda-
tions are required, the difficulties of safe construction are easily surmountable.
26
LA BOCA APPROACH.
The present approach must be widened and deepened so as to present safe
conditions to navigation at low tide. Provisions against constant silting occa-
sioned by litoral drift ought to be part of the detailed plan.
PANAMA RAILWAY. LINE DIVERSIONS.
Between San Pablo and Paraíso for 12% miles the railway should be ultimately
located on the east side of the Canal, although during the early stages of construc-
tion few changes will be required, except grade-raising at Lake Chagres and Lake
Panama. -
For this diversion it is probable that construction tracks can be utilized in
part. A bridge may be essential between Obispo Basin and Gamboa Dam, as
the crest of the dam should not be utilized.
ALTERNATIVES OR MoDIFICATIONS OF LIN DON BATEs’ PROJECT.
The foregoing constitutes an outline of the Project preferred by the author.
Lakes Chagres and Panama would be formed if one fixed on levels anywhere
from + 25 to +7, although descent below plus 20 renders the lakes smaller in
area and involves greatly increased quantities, which in turn increase cost of exca-
vation and spoil distribution. If one fixed upon a level below + Io the Pacific
Ocean could be impressed into service as the Feeding Reservoir. All lockage
water necessary might be taken in during the last hour of the higher Spring tides.
One could therefore easily make a project for a practicable Mean Sea-Level
Waterway with a combined Barrage and Lock near Miraflores, but the enormous
amount of excavation required to construct a safe transit channel for the largest
ships would run the cost to figures and to duration of execution which are practi-
cally prohibitory. Further, the time of transit of a large vessel in a sea-level
canal would be longer than in this lock canal, because the vessels would have to
proceed slowly and with much caution in a narrow channel for 41% miles in the
former; in the latter they would have 1734 miles of free lake navigation and
Only 2034 miles in a waterway, nowhere less than 8,000 sq. ft. in section. The
currents of the north and South channels would offset each other, and several
hours would be saved by reason of the open lake sections.
By making Dams, Lock and Spill near Bohio and a lock at Pedro Miguel in
connection with Lakes Chagres and Panama, One may arrange a net head of only
30 ft. at the former place. * , , -
This would give two levels, Lake Chagres from Mindi to Bohio at +2c ft. to
26 ft; Lake Bohio from Bohio to Pedro Miguel at + 50 ft. to 52.5 ft. The length
of the open lake navigation thus obtained may be increased to 30 miles. The
27
V
quantities of excavation under this plan will be greatly diminished and the time
of transit will be scarcely altered—as time lost at the new locks interposed, will
be regained in passing through the extra 9 miles of lake. - . . .
The feeding of this higher summit level becomes a matter of vital moment,
and it would be prudent to have reserve storage above Gamboa before the inset
of dry seasons. f - - . - … -
POWER AND LIGHT.
Electric Power can readily be provided for the service of the Canal, for its
Terminal Cities, for its Public Utilities and Industries. -
Pilots, however, responsible for the safe transit of vessels at night will vastly
prefer the system of placing a large searchlight on the stem of the ship, 20 ft.
below their positions on the bridge, to any system of canal lighting which only
blinds their vision. - -
During the construction period the writer does not advocate the use of elec-
tric power except for light and in shops. It will take too long to instal such a
system, and few, if any, land-excavating machines are yet through the experi-
mental stage in trying to use electric motors as prime movers. .
Likewise he takes emphatic exception to the use of coal. In these tropics,
coal burning requires too many laborers—men to unload vessels, to load and
unload and transport cars, or barges, to load and unload wagons, to fire boilers,
and to remove ashes.
Instead the writer proposed to instal an oil-pipe line from Colon to Panama
with tanks and pumping Stations, with branches to Alhajuela and to all points
where fuel will be necessary.
SANITATION.
Lakes Chagres and Panama drowning the swamps adjacent to the Terminal
Cities must have most beneficial effects upon the health of the engineering and
construction forces, and upon the residents of the cities for all time. There will
be no more wading in Saturated stifling jungles, there will be mučh 1ess vegeta-
tion, and the mosquito as a pest could be more easily controlled. In connection
with the oil pipe line from which every breeding area can be reached the larvae
can be exterminated. The roads and embankments can likewise be relieved in
good measure, by oil, from the plague of rnud, which must so greatly handicap
economies of construction. - •
DISPOSITION OF SILT AND CURRENTS.
The Chagres above Gamboa is a clear water, not a silt bearing stream. Provi-
sion, however, will be made to trap silt deposits above each dam. Accumulations
above the Gamboa can be readily removed by using hopper dredges in the Obispo
28
3.
Basin. The Obispo Basin is inherently a silt trap but this does not interfere with
its navigation. -
Deposits may be expected in the upper ends of Lake Chagres and Panama or
Bohio, whence they are easily removed by hoppers.
In the Sea-Level Project there are no silt traps where removal operations can be
Centered. With very heavy flood making rains in the Chagres Valley below Gam-
boa, silt will be distributed for twenty-five miles along the bottom of the channel
necessitating more expensive removal. As the current debouching into the At-
lantic Harbor may reach a high velocity much silt may be expected there also.
When a “norther” blows it piles the water up at high tide in the Bay of Limon,
six feet above mean sea-level. Naturally, the water will back up, running rapidly to
probably, beyond Culebra. Now should a flood rain fall in the watershed of the
Canal below Gamboa, coincidently with the usual swift recession of the sea, there
will be induced in the sea-level canal, for perhaps thirty miles, torrential currents,
dangerously erosive, and detrimental to navigation.
Against such likely contingencies there is in the Sea-Level scheme no protection
whatever. This phenomenon may be seen between Port Said and Lake Timsah
in rainless, hurricane-free Egypt, where the writer has observed currents of 1.5
knots per hour due to on-shore winds. Only a few weeks ago the streets of Colon
were under water owing to a “norther.” -
TURNING BASINS.
The Bates Projects provide several turning basins in the Lakes and at Obispo.
Such facilities are desirable for both commercial and military needs.
TIMES OF TRANSIT.
The relation of the various projects to the time of transit can be observed in re-
viewing the actual steps incident to the passage of a ship through the Canal. The
procedure would be that which has developed at Suez and which is, in general, as
follows:
Ist. The ship arriving at either terminal port would be brought to the mooring
berth designated by the Harbor-Master.
2d. The Captain would go ashore with his ship papers, including his Canal-
Tonnage certificate, and Canal officers would come aboard to verify these. Pas-
sengers, mail, express matter and freight, if any, would be landed at a wharf or by
tender and lighters.
3d. The vessel would take on coal or stores if such were needed.
4th. Passengers, mail, etc., would embark.
5th. The Captain, having paid his dues and gotten his despatch order, would
29
*
place the ship under the sailing direction of the appointed pilot. She would cast
off and proceed through the Canal, getting despatch signals by flag or lights from
stations every five or eight miles along the route,
6th. Arriving at the other terminal the pilot would be relieved. Passengers,
mail, etc., would embark, the ship would receive her sailing orders and would leave -,
for her Ocean journey. -
It is thus inevitable that several hours are spent at the terminal ports. It is
not unusual for a day to be consumed there. -
If the locks are at the end of the Canal it follows therefore that time need not
actually be lost in passing them, because the ship can make the transit during
her necessary stay in port. The length of this stay at these end harbors will be
the same whether the Canal be Sea-Level and tide-locked, or be terminal-locked.
If, on the other hand, the locks are in the Central reaches of the Canal, the time
of passing through, does count materially because it must include not simply the
transit duration, but also the time for slowing down and for getting back to speed.
With these premises and explanations the following approximate table will
show the duration of transit under the various projects.
- TABLE.
SHOWING TIME OF TRANSIT FOR VARIOUS PROJECTS. For A VESSEL TYPE “D’’
65ox7 ox32 FT, REPORT I90I.
TIME PROJECT
Sea Level. Bates “A.” Bates ‘‘B.”
Time without allowance for lockages and
meetings . . . . . . . • ? • * * * * * * * * 9.96 7.08 5.87
Lockages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 I ... O O I.68
Meetings in Canal Sections . . . . . . . . . . - 2.3O I.33 I. Og
Meetings at locks or gates . . . . . . . . . . . I 7 .O.O .34
Total hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 3. I.4 8.4I 8.98
The time of transit in the Commission Report of 1901 (-|-85) was estimated
at I 4.27 hours which is approximately correct. For the +60 and +30 Projects
the time will work out longer than for the Sea-Level scheme.
In actual experience therefore the time of transit is, under the Bates' Pro-
jects, from 4 to 5 hours shorter than under any of the proposed alternatives.
UNIT PRICES.
The several committees in estimating and comparing the probable costs of the
Various projects have, one and all, based their computations upon unit prices
which they call identical for each proposed design, i. e.—the same unit prices
3O
were used in 1901 in comparing the total costs of Nicaragua and Panama and just
lately in comparing the +60 and +30 and Sea-Level Schemes. The writer submits
that this principle is radically and perniciously fallacious. The local conditions
created and the methods of execution applicable to the different designs or Canal
levels, have everything to do with varying the unit costs of construction. No
two projects will work out at the same unit rates at Panama.
A schedule of unit prices identical for each instance, and some announced as a
recent “revelation” from work extended over a month on the use of three of four
new steam shovels, has been applied to the 60 ft., the 30 ft., and the Sea-Level
estimates. - . *
Consider a few axioms. A sea-level cut includes, for instance, an excavation
in the section from Obispo to Miraflores of some 14,000,ooo cubic yards below the
high-tide plane. This excavation must necessarily be done “in the dry” by
steam shovels, trains, etc. An item of allowance for pumping and lifting these
and other tens of millions of tons from a vast saturated pit is surely in Order.
The material will not carry itself away on wings. It must be lifted mechanically
and at great cost. But the steam-shovel Schedule quite ignores such facts. The
factors of lifting, pumping and transporting will be manifestly higher for the sea-
1evel than for any other project.
Again, in the sea-level cut from Mindi to Tavernilla, some 30,000,ooo or more
cubic yards of earth are to be dredged and placed in adjacent spoil-banks. This
quantity weighs over Io billion pounds. Each of these pounds has also to be
lifted an average of 15 feet above water in order to be distributed. This, inter-
preted, gives 150 billion foot pounds of work. But it takes eight pounds of water
to distribute one pound of material hydraulicly, hence the lift calls for 1,350 billion
foot pounds of work. If, instead, the dredges operate on the +20 foot level nearly
all of this vast extra work, entailing great waste of money, time and life, is
obviated. -
The same principle and facts hold through Lake Panama.
In any rational and searching analysis it becomes self-evident that the unit
prices of excavation in the Lindon Bates Projects must work out lower than in
any of the other projects. And likewise that in the Sea-Level scheme they must
be higher than in all the rest.
It is further incontrovertibly true that the fewest men by far and the least
plant will be needed to execute the Lindon Bates designs, and contrariwise that
the Sea-Level must demand, of all the plans, the greatest equipment, the largest
labor force, the longest time, the highest cost in money and life, and the farthest
future of deficits. * - -
A further point concerns legislation. A Sea-Level scheme entails an additional
large appropriation from Congress. Incidental to securing this, months must
elapse and the whole subject of a canal be thrashed out anew in both House and
3I
Senate. The proposal of an added hundred million must turn men's minds back
to Nicaragua with surmises if, perhaps, after all, that might not still prove the
better route. These pregnant questions have all been met, been discussed thor-
oughly and been settled well. The legislation already secured and the appropria-
tion heretofore considered adequate should be permitted to insure to the world
this needed waterway.
EST IMATES AND PROGRAM OF EXECUTTON.
As much excavation as is practicable should be done with dredges working
On the new lake levels, because these lakes enormously simplify all the problems
of labor, of excavation, lift and distribution of spoil by floating plant. This
means that the lakes should be created as early as possible, together with the
auxiliary works necessary for maintaining their levels and for regulating the
Chagres.
The computations of quantities are possibly only under detailed plans, which
full survey data must precede. Manifestly, however, under either the +20 or
the combined +20 and +50 Projects, the remaining excavation and works to be
accomplished will cost materially less in time and money than under any other
design which gives at all equal navigation facilities. Comparison is challenged.
FINANCIAL ASPECTS FROM A GOVERNMENTAL STAND POINT.
First under the heading of Primary Considerations the past analysis has
embodied a forecast as to the probable outcome of the Canal enterprise con-
sidering the federal government as a business investor. Government finance,
however, does not ordinarily treat such matters from the standpoint of a corpora-
tion or of a business man.
Accordingly a supplementary analysis of the financial situation is here
presented, dealing with the bearings of the several projects in line with what may
be held to be a governmental attitude.
PAN AMA RAILWAY.
This railroad property should belong wholly to the Government. Both its
stock and bonds should be all owned by the United States, and the present
corporation should cease to exist. As to its $3,000,ooo of Outstanding bonds,
the Government has, in effect, now to pay very high interest charges. Four and
one-half per cent. and 6 per cent. interest is paid, while the Government can
borrow all the money it may wish at but 2 per cent. per annum. Until the policy
of acquiring and retiring these bonds is adopted, one may consider that the
road's commercial earnings take care of the interest and sinking fund required
and other fixed and operating charges, and that no surplus is turned into the
United States Treasury. Such a course is reckoned in the following computations.
32
In a wide view, the terminals, equipment, track, etc., should be now im-
proved so as to give the most efficient service to foreign, local and canal traffic,
and the recent dividend might well have been applied to this purpose.
As the Government has made its internal canals and water highways free of
tolls, so it might make the Panama Railway free to Coasting Trade between our
Atlantic and Pacific seaboards and to export and import trade into Atlantic and
Pacific ports carried in American vessels. Such a policy would vastly benefit the
whole people and especially the American Marine, which needs it. It would be
identical in principle with the assumption of Suez Canal dues by several European
Governments. Suez dues work out about one dollar per ton weight, and this rate,
with proper plant and equipment, would practically cover the actual cost of
transferring cargoes across the Isthmus.
This principle applied at Panama would assure active competition and the
carriage of canal supplies at low rates in American vessels.
TOLLS.
The fixing of future canal tolls at one dollar per net registered ton is believed
to be wise. The Panama will be wider and deeper than the Suez; it will surely
attract much Suez business and may force the improvement of the latter to
similar dimensions. This would terminate the commercial monopoly which
withholds the Orient from benefitting by having its commerce transported in the
largest and most economical vessels which cannot utilize the Suez route. It
Imakes no difference to the stockholders of the canal whether a vessel be loaded
or light, and sums devoted to improvement would act to limit or reduce its present
26 per cent. dividend.
The Suez Canal, permitting a draft of only 27 feet 5 inches, continues a real
bar to the best navigation, and fails to serve the highest economic interests of
Europe and the East. It will be ultimately obliged to deepen and widen its
waterway and reduce its tolls, remaining always, however, one of the finest com-
mercial investments in the world.
COMPARATIVE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK FOR AUTHORIZED AND SEA-LEVEL PROJECT
Congress has authorized the issue of $130,000,ooo in bonds for the Panama
Canal. The recommendations of the Committee for a sea-level canal estimates
a construction expenditure of $230,500,ooo, which, as per schedule, will require
the authorization of $85,500,ooo bonds additional, or a total of $215,500,ooo.
These sums represent the bonded indebtedness for two projects of the under-
taking.
33
TABLE SHOWING GOVERNMENTAL MONEY PROVISIONS

Appºſion
Project. OT ZODe Appººfton fº tºº. autº Or Unappropri-
purchase. purchase. bond issue required. ated.
I9 O I . . . . . . . . . . . . IO, OOO,OOO 4O, OOO,OOO Io, ooo, Ooo I 3o, Ooo, Ooo 5, ooo, ooo
+ 6o . . . . . . . . . . . . Io, ooo, ooo 4O, OOO, OOO Io, Ooo, Ooo I 63, or 3, ooo 5, ooo, ooo
+ 3o . . . . . . . . . . . ...] IO, OOO,OOO 4O, OOO,OOO IO, OOO, OOO I 79, 2 I 3, Ooo 5, ooo, ooo
S-level . . . . . . . . . . . . Io, ooo, ooo || 4o, ooo, ooo IO, Ooo, Ooo 2 I 5,500, Ooo 5, ooo, ooo
It is to be assumed that all other expenditures such as the $50,000,ooo
already paid for Panama Canal Co.'s interest and for the zone strip and what
will have to be paid out in future for interest on bonds issued during the con-
struction period, for purchase of Panama Railway Bonds, etc., is to come out of
the Treasury, and against which no interest charges will be considered.
The fixed charges of the undertaking become the interest on the bonds
issued as above described, plus the operation costs which have been stated at
$2,000 ooo, and which will be figured the same for any project.
With the Irrigation Act as a precedent, it is assumed that the United States
Treasury will provide funds for starting the exploitation, will meet all deficits
(such as will result from the first and second year of operation) and will receive
all surplus above operating expenses, debiting and crediting the same to the
Canal account without any interest charges whatever.
The following method is assumed for purposes of comparing the results of the
authorized canal and the sea-level project, along the lines described.
Referring to the diagram:
a—The deficits would be paid.
b—The first surplus earning would be applied to refunding the cumulated
deficits. - -
C—The surplus earnings after the deficits are made good would be applied
to a Reserve Working Fund of $10,000,ooo.
d—The surplus earnings after the above fund is complete would be applied
in any manner prescribed by Congress, but always with the provision that any
draft on the Working Reserve Fund due to contingencies or new construction
shall be restored before the surplus is used for any other purpose.
With the above premises the estimates which are embodied in the diagram
work out to the following results:
34
A UTHORIZED CAN AL FOR BOTH SEA-LEVEL PROJECT
YEARS $130,000,ooo BOND SISUE PROJECTS $215,500,ooo Bond issue
Remarks. | Difference. Expenses. Income. Expense. Difference. Remarks.
1915 || Deficit $3,600,ooo $4,600,ooo $1,000,ooo $6,310, ooo $5,310,000 || Deficit
1916 Surplus 4OO, OOO 4,600, ooo 5, ooo, Ooo 6,3 Io, ooo I,3 Io, ooo || Deficit
1917 | Surplus 2,679, ooo 4,600,ooo 7,279, Ooo 6,31 o, ooo 969, ooo | Surplus
1918 Surplus 3, oof,6oo 4,600,ooo 7,606,600 6,3 Io, ooo I,296,600 Surplus
1919 Surplus 3,334,200 4,600,ooo 7,934, 200 6,3 Io, ooo I,624, 200 Surplus
1920 Surplus 3,661,800 4,600,ooo 8,261,8oo | 6,3 Io, ooo I,951,8oo Surplus
1921 | Surplus 3,989,400 4,600,ooo 8,589,4oo 6,3 Io, ooo 2,279,400 | Surplus
1922 | Surplus || 4,317,ooo 4,600, ooo 8,917, ooo 6,3 Io, ooo 2,607,ooo | Surplus
1923 || Surplus 4,644,600 4,600,ooo 9,244,600 6,3 Io, ooo 2,934,600 | Surplus
1924 Surplus 4,971,200 4,600,ooo 9, 57 I, 2 Oo 6,3 Io, ooo 3,261,200 Surplus
1925 | Surplus 5,298,8oo 4,600,ooo 9,898,8oo 6,31 o, ooo 3,588,8oo | Surplus
1926 Surplus 5,626,400 4,600,ooo | Io,226,4oo 6,3 Io, ooo 3,916,400 | Surplus
1927 | Surplus 5 954, ooo 4,600,ooo | Io,554, ooo 6,3 Io, Ooo 4,244, ooo | Surplus
REMAIRES Authorized Canal. Sea-Level Project .
Total Deficit... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,600, ooo $6,520, ooo

Total Deficit Refunded in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$Io, ooo, ooo Reserve complete in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Available accumulated surplus end I 927. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I 917–1918
I 920–I 92 I
$34,283, ooo
I920–I 92 I
I923–I 92.4
$12,053, ooo
Not E : No contingencies or extra expenditures which would involve drafts on the reserve
working fund have been considered.
The foregoing calculations do not consider interest on bonds issued during
the construction period of ten years, which may be for the authorized Canal
$13,000,ooo and for the Sea-Level scheme $21,550,000.
This exhibit confirms the fact that from the standpoint of government
financing, as well as from a business view, the canal should cost no more
than the amount already authorized by Congress.
SUMMARY
OF
ELEMENTS OF BATES! PROJECTS.
PROJECT A.
I. Atlantic Harbor Approach.
2. Atlantic Harbor Breakwaters.
3. Atlantic Harbor Excavation and Reclamation.
35
.
9.
IO.
II .
I 2.
I 3.
Lake Chagres. -
Lake and Railway Embankments.
Atlantic Locks.
Chagres Barrage.
Pena Blanca Lake, Embankment, Spillway.
Rio Cano Dam.
Canal Waterway with Expanding Section from Obispo to Lake Chagres.
Obispo Basin.
Canal Waterway Obispo Basin to Lake Panama, with expanding section,
Miscellaneous small watershed works adjacent to Canal, between Lakes
Chagres and Panama.
I4.
I 5.
I6.
I7.
I8.
I9.
2
IO.
II.
I 2.
I 3.
I 4.
I 5.
I6.
I7.
I8.
I9.
Lake Panama.
Pacific Lock.
Pacific Barrage and Discharge Channel.
La Boca Approach.
Gamboa Dam and Basin.
Alhajuela Dam and Basin.
PROJECT B.
Atlantic Harbor Approach.
Atlantic Harbor Breakwaters.
Atlantic Harbor Excavation and Reclamation.
Lake Chagres.
Lake and Railway Embankments.
Atlantic Locks.
Chagres Barrage.
Pena Blanca Lake, Embankment, Spillway.
Lake Bohio and Dam.
Gigantè Spillway.
Obispo Basin.
Canal, Obispo Basin to Pedro Miguel Locks and Spillway sluices.
Obispo Gate. -
Lake Panama.
Pacific Lock.
Pacific Barrage and Discharge Channel.
La Boca Approach.
Alhajuela or Gamboa Lake.
Alhajuela or Gamboa Dam.
36
SPECIAL FEATUREs.
PROJECT A. - -
Of the elements summarized further remarks are added as to the character
and duty of the works numbered 5, 6, 7, 9, 15, 16, 18 and 19.
5. Chagres Lake Embankments. If these embankments are given ample
width, volume and height, and are provided with rip-rapped slopes where they
are exposed to wave motion, and sheet piling be driven which will form a
Septum to prevent underflow, there can be no possible danger of failure.
The banks may be built cheapest by combined train and hydraulic-
dredge operations. The head of water is small and the lake is without currents.
The levee will be much more substantial and more safe than that for instance
which protects New Orleans. *
6. Atlantic Locks. The only question possible in regard to these works
relates to the foundation which may or may not be upon rock. It is altogether
probable that at Mindi, on the slopes of Jaramillo Hill, or at Gatum, a rock site is
available. But the architectural art of making foundations is unquestionably
equal to providing a solid and immovable base for this work even in earth.
7 and 16. Chagres and Pacific Barrages. These low head, Insubmergible
Under Sluice Barrages present conditions which are completely paralleled in far
greater works in Egypt. If the foundations are simply earth we have only to
look to the Assiut Barrage; if rock, to the Assuan Dam. The Pacific Barrage
may be on the slopes of West Rio Grande Hill. There are no unsolved problems
here.
9, 18 and 19. The Regulating Dams are founded on rock, and in height, in
head and in form they are substantially the same as the Assuan Dam. The
dams and barrages may be designed in masonry, “béton armèe ’’ or
“ribbed concrete ’’ to suit local conditions. Their sluices have to deal with
but a tithe of the flood waters of the Nile. There are no experiments here.
15. Pacific Lock. Firm earth or rock sites are to be found on the
lower slopes of Sosoa or West Rio Grande Hills at La Boca, but, because of the
location of the La Boca Railway Pier, it is best to consider first a site above, where
positive data as to the character of the formation are not accessible. If it be
unfavorable, a plan which conserves La Boca Pier for some useful purpose and
permits the Lock to be located on the west slope of Sosoa Hill should be adopted.
La Boca Pier would make an excellent and needed coal station if equipped with
modern appliances, or it could be converted into a naval depot. Its present
use can, in any case, continue during the construction period.
37
PROJECT B.
9 and Io. Lake Bohio and Dam and Gigante Spillway: The Project
of the Comité Technique may be intervened in Project A, the Lakes Chagres and
Panama being raised to 22.5, and the Lake Bohio level fixed at their minimum
of 52.5.
This reduces the net head of Bohio lake to 30 feet, greatly simplifying all the
problems presented by the formation disclosed at the Dam-Site. A core-earth
dam becomes free from hazard. Seepage and percolation are minimized.
Io and 12. Pedro Miguel and Gigantè Spillway. In this project
the French plan may be adopted. It becomes also feasible and desirable to pro-
vide a Diversion and Sluice-Way in connection with—but to the west side of—the
Pedro Miguel Lock, to feed Lake Panama and to act as an extra run off. None
of these works present any construction difficulties. The flow from the Gigantè
Spillway into Lake Chagres becomes harmless. It will not overhang the Canal
in a rushing torrent, as it must under either the Commission Plan of 1901 or that
of the Comité Technique. *
The inevitable conclusion is that as to Project A there can be no reasonable
objection, and as to Project B, with its 26 miles of lake navigation, reduced
quantities of excavation and reduced net head in Lake Bohio, there is far less
ground for criticism than must attach to each and all of the Projects I, II, III, or
IV heretofore considered.
Tunnels. While one or more tunnels can, presumably, be run from either
the Gamboa or Alhajuela Basins, they are unnecessary and are unjustified except
as an academic increase in the factors of safety incorporated in the Undersluices
of the Dams.
In the Nile valley, 5oo miles above Cairo, where the rugged hills have closed
in to bar the desert, a dam has been built. Below it stretches to the far sea the
Old World granary, the land whose soil has been a treasury. The destruction of
this dam would project upon Egypt a catastrophe unparalleled in all history.
Johnstown extended to a nation; Atlantis engulfed in an hour—Such would be
the tale that would appall all after ages. But under this dam, holding back its
36,000,ooo,0oo cubic feet of river, the Nile people are as safe and untroubled as
though it were their very granite hills. Through its gates come measured and
controlled the fertilizing waters, and nine millions of Egyptians live under the
warrant of the Assuan Dam. -
In the experience of its success no further word is needed in defense of the
safety of a project incorporating not a full but an empty-basin principle for its
central feature.
38
SY NO P S I S
OF
N E V P L AN
F O R T H E
P A N A M A C A N A L
Terminal Locks, Lakes, and Barrages. Dividing Obispo Basin. Low-Head
Regulating Dams. Transit Time Largest Vessels Under
Nine Hours. Cost, $145,000, OOO.
P R O J E C T
g-Z
OF O &
L IN DO N wºg A Tes
74 B Road way
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1905, by Lindon W. Bates
Prep a red by
L IN DO N W. B A T E S, Jr.
INDEX
The Key to the Canal.
New Features of the Project Proposed by Lindon W. Bates
Features of the Other Projects
Alternative Projects.
The Canal in Operation.
Tabulated Comparison of Projects.
Map Showing Features of Project
PAGE
IO
• I 2
THE KEY TO THE CANAL
The project that solves three problems holds the key to the canal:—these are
tne problems of the Dams, Chagres Floods, and Excavation.
THE DAMs. The crux is that no sure foundations for high head dams exist
at Gamboa or Bohio. Every project includes such a dam and involves the risk
of a disaster, save only that of Lindon Bates. This latter contemplates low-head
sluice barrages (creating the terminal lakes) such as can be safely built on foun-
dations other than solid rock, and dams of moderate height on rock to govern
the catchment basins and the Chagres.
THE CHAGREs in flood has discharged up to 136,790 cu. ft. per second past
Bohio, the normal discharge being about 4,000 cu. ft. per second. At Gamboa
its low water elevation above sea-level is 45 ft., but it has touched 85 ft. in flood.
This is what some projects attempt to solve by a Bohio or a Gamboa dam nearly
as high, from crest to foundation, as the Flatiron Building, and fourteen times as
long, by diversion and spillways, and by three or four mile tunnels through vol-
canic conglomerate. This new plan proposes to hold surplus water temporarily
in Basins, one beyond the other, feed it out gradually, and in addition halve the
volume of water, sending part of the river to the Atlantic and part to the Pa-
cific Ocean with very reduced currents.
THE ExcAvATION required for the Sea-Level Canal is upwards of soooooooo
cubic yards, yet withal the dimensions proposed will not admit the most modern
vessel types when fully laden. A large part of this excavation must be made
through marshes where unconquered malaria reigns. The resulting cost is not
only very great, but far exceeds the authorized expenditure. The new
plans by artificial lakes at the Canal termini will submerge the swamps and
render unnecessary most of this deadly excavation.
NEW FEATURES OF THE PROJECT
PROPOSED BY
LINDON W. BATES
“A Superior canal for the least money.”
Terminal Locks, Lakes and Barrages. Dividing Obispo Basin. LOW-
Head Regulating Dams. Transit Time Largest Wessels ~"
Under Nine Hours. Cost, $145,000,000. /~
PROJECT * A "
TWO LAKES AT TERMINI OF CANAL, TWO LOCKS, 2d FT. LEVEL.
RESULTS.
I. Greatly reduced excavation where lakes extend; easiest spoil distribu-
tion; plant and labor minimized.
2. Terminal sections completed early ; sheltered inner fresh water harbors.
3. Fever Swamps submerged; sanitary location for new terminal cities.
4. I 7% miles lake navigation, gaining nearly three hours on sea-level transit.
Time of transit largest vessel 8% hours.
5. Atlantic storms cannot produce detrimental currents by piling water
into Canal; no menacing currents in Chagres diversions higher than canal level.
6. Little disturbance of Panama Railroad.
7. Full lockage supply of water.
Low HEAD BARRAGES AND DAMS.
RESULTS.
I. Not experimental, but many successful examples; safer than high dams.
2. Complete lake level control with possible raise to 25' level, making 45'
channel practicable at least extra outlay.
5
3. Earthquake ruptures would cause least devastation.
DIVIDING O BISPO BASIN.
RESULTS.
I. Flood waters of Chagres controlled, diverted to Atlantic and Pacific.
2. Complete control of Summit and Canal Level. Compensated low velocity
currents in Canal proper. -
3. No problematic tunnel necessary.
PROJECT “B”
AS PROJECT “A” witH ADDITIONAL Low HEAD BOHIO LAKE ;
2O-FOOT AND 52.5 FT. LEVEL.
RESULTs.
1. Nine additional miles lake navigation—26 in all.
2. Two additional locks and greatly reduced excavation.
3. Time of transit, largest vessel—nine hours.
FEATURES OF THE OTHER PROJECTS
THE SEA-LEVEL PLAN
“AN INFERIOR CANAL FOR THE MOST MONEY.”
Mean Ocean-Level, Gamboa Dam, Three and a Half Mile Tunnel, One
Lock. Cost, $230,500,000.
CHANNEL TO A DEPTH OF ONLY THIRTY-FIVE FEET BE LOW SE A-LEVEL.
RESULTS.
I. The excavation of Some 3oo, ooo, ooo cubic yards of material, yet dimen-
sions barely allow passage of latest war vessels and newest liners.
2. A constricted lakeless channel the whole distance in which possible
speed is necessarily restricted.
3. “Northers” will pile waters into Atlantic entrance, occasioning detri-
mental currents in rainy Season
DAM AT GAMBO A.
RESTULTS.
1. A gigantic 200 foot core-earth structure very difficult to maintain during
construction of dam and tunnel.
2. Great head of water permanently impounded up to 180 feet above canal.
Earthquakes might be ruinous.
3. Rock foundations not suitable for core two hundred feet high.
TU NNEL THROUGH VOLCANIC CON GLO MERATE.
RESULTS.
1. Disaster in case of cave-in or earthquake.
2. Problematic in construction and operation.
A
7
HISTORY.
In 1881 Ferdinand de Lesseps began work on a sea-level canal across the
Isthmus of Panama to be completed in eight years at a cost of $127,600,ooo.
In 1891, when a receiver was appointed for his bankrupt company, ten years
had elapsed, $253, ooo, ooo had been spent and the smaller canal then proposed
was but two-fifths finished.
In 1901 the Isthmian Canal Commission reported as follows:
“The quantity of excavation required for such a canal has been roughly
computed, and is found to be about 266,228, ooo cubic yards The cost of such
a canal, including a dam at Alhajuela, and a tide-lock at Miraflores, near the
Pacific end, is estimated at not less than $240,000,ooo. Its construction would
probably take at least twenty years. The commission concurs with the various
French commissions which have preceded it since the failure of the old company,
in rejecting the sea-level plan.”
On February 26th the present Isthmian Canal Commission made public
the following resolution: -
“That this committee approve and recommend for adoption by the Com-
mission a plan for a sea-level canal, with a bottom width of 150 feet and a minimum
depth of water of 35 feet and twin tidal locks at Miraflores, whose usable
dimensions shall be I,000 feet long and Ioo feet wide, at a total estimated cost
of $230,500,ooo.”
SUMMARY OF SE A-LEVEL DISADVANTAGES.
& 4 y 5 § { y 7
COMPARED WITH NEW AMERICAN PROJECTS A AND B
I. Greatest outlay, Smallest canal.
2. Least Sanitary.
Greatest expense of maintenance.
Most outlay to deepen or widen.
Highest unit cost of execution
.
Most plant, most labor, most loss of life.
Most Lower Chagres Diversion Work.
8. Channel section areas not compensated.
9. Greatest curvature affecting navigation
Io. Most bank length to be eroded.
II. Highest spoil banks.
12. Most excavation, 1east utilization of French excavations.
13. Most submerged rock excavation Panama end.
I4. Greatest consumption of fuel in construction.
I 5. Fewest turning basins, most passing stations.
I6. Most pumping during construction.
17. Greatest difficulties in distributing spoil.
18. Highest deficits, least net earning capacity.
to Longest transit time. Least average Speed.
20. Additional legislation.
ALTERNATIVE PROJECTS MODELLED ON FRENCH PLANS.
The 85-foot level was adopted by the Commission of 1901—following the ideas
of the French, after the failure of the Sea-Level Project. On this basis the pur-
chase of the Canal was made. It is, however, discredited by the present Engi-
neering Committee.
The 62.5 foot level was adopted by the Comité Technique. It involves a
problematic high dam at Bohio, another on good foundations at Alhajuela and
a Spillway at Gigante, five locks and a network of diversion cuts.
-** ==º-ºº-- *-* –-
The details and estimates of the 3 o' level plan have not been made public.
It necessarily involves great dams, only a few miles of lake navigation, is very
costly and has all the disadvantages of the Sea-Level plan, with two more locks
and the certainty of a very deep cut at Gigante or a tunnel for a Spillway.
THE PANAMA CANAL IN OPERATION
LINDON BATES PROJECT
(See Map.)
Passing Colon and the forts commanding the channel, a vessel will steam into
the Atlantic entrance to the Canal at the head of Limon Bay.
The first lock close to the entrance will lift the vessel 20 ft. into Lake Chagres
(artificial), losing no time since transit papers can be meanwhile secured and other
necessary business transacted. Here there will be a sheltered inner fresh-water
harbor, and on the healthy hills nearby will be a new and flourishing American
city.
Through the lake for I 134 miles the allowable speed will be double that
through a constricted channel. Bohio, where channel navigation begins in Proj-
ect “A” or Lake Bohio in Project “B” will be reached in one hour and 20 min-
utes after leaving the lock.
At Obispo will be passed the Basin where the regulated waters of the Chagres
are to be diverted, half flowing into the Atlantic and half into the Pacific, while
comparatively low dams at Gamboa and Alhajuela feed the Chagres gradually
into the Basin with diverging outlets.
At Pedro Miguel, Lake Panama (artificial) begins, through which nine miles
an hour can be made. During the ships' necessary stay in port she can pass the
Second lock, take on coal, passengers, etc., at La Boca. The total time of actual
canal transit being, for the largest type of vessel, 8% to 9 hours and several hours
shorter than under any alternative plan. -
IO
TABULATED COMPARISON OF PROJECTS
FNGINEERING FIBATURES
Lindon Bates’ Plans
Sea-Level. 6o Feet 3o Feet
Project A
The D a m, Huge Dam at High Dam at High Dam at Low Barrage
H e i g h t Gamboa 2 oo' Bohio 245’ Bohio 2 I 5" at La Boca
Foundation a n d Alha- and Alha- 4o' and Min-|
to Crest in juela 233' juela 233' .di 3 o'. Dams
feet. at Gamboa
I 2 o’, Alha-
juela I 2 o’,
Cano I 2 o’.
Chagres Floods 3% mile tun-|Bohio Lake|Small Bohio Chagres sent
nel Gamboa G i g a n t e Lake. Sp1,1- to t W. O
Dam. Spillway. way or Tun- oceans.
Inel. Floods caught
i n tº w o
Basins.
Project B
Low Barrage at
La Boca 4o’
and Mindi
3 o' and Bo-
hio 75". Dam
at Alhajuela
I 20" or Gam-
|boa I 2 o’.
Chagres sent
t O t W. O
O C32,1].S.
Bohio Lake Gi-
gante Spill-
way. Pedro
Miguel Di-
version.
Excavation |Involves maxi-Four 1ocks and Involves great Two terminal|Three lakes re-
mum exca-| Lake Bohiol excavation. lakes reducel duce enor-
vations. reduce some- greatly. mously.
what.
Lake Naviga-None. 1134 miles 5 miles 17% miles. 26 miles.
tion.
Locks I Sea - Lock|Five Three TWO Four
Sanitation Maxim u ml E. x t e n si v. el E. x t e n sive|Minimum un-Minimum un-
excavati o n swamp ex-| swamp ex- healthy ex-| healthy ex-
in f ever cavation. cavation. cavation. cavation.
Swamps. M a r s h e s at M a r s h e s at
termini sub-l termini sub-
- merged. merged.
Large Vessel I 3. 14 hrs. About I 4 hrs. About I 4 hrs. |8.4I hrs. 8.98 hrs.
T i m e o f
transit... . . .
Year Complet- 1916-18 I9 I 5-I 6 I9 I 5-I 6 I9 I 3 I9 I3
ed . . . . . . . .
FINANCIAL FEATURES
Interest — Io
yrs. On nec-
essary bond
issue. . . . . . .
Total capital
regarded as
business in-
Vestment. . .
$230,500,ooo
2 I, 55o, Ooo
337, 4oo, Ooo
$178, or 3,406
I 6,300,ooo
274, 5oo, Ooo
$194,213,406
I 7,900, Ooo
293, 9 oo, Ooo
$145, ooo, ooo
I 3, ooo, Ooo
233, 7 Oo, Ooo
$145, ooo, ooo
I 3, ooo, OOO
233, 7 oo, ooo
II
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PROJECT FOR PANAMA CANAL.
Financial Diagrams, Plate V

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 O7505 8126


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