Part 4

The Gatun dam has aroused more adverse criticism than any other canal feature. Most startling statements have been made concerning it. Its history is worthy of notice. The first study of the Panama route under United States authority was made by an Isthmian Canal Commission of which Admiral Walker was chairman and Generals Hains and Ernst and Mr. Noble were members. With respect to the location of locks, the report of this commission said: “No location suitable for a dam exists in the Chagres River below Bohio”. Hains and Ernst signed this report. In a paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers on March 5, 1902, Mr. George S. Morison, a very distinguished American engineer, said: “All engineers who have examined the route of the Panama Canal agree that the neighborhood of Bohio is the only available location for a dam by which the summit level must be maintained”.

Under authority of the President, by executive order dated June 24, 1905, a board of consulting engineers was appointed to consider the various plans proposed for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus. The minority of the board, as has been stated before, recommended a lock canal with a dam at Gatun. The majority of the board, 8 to 5, opposed the idea of a dam and locks at Gatun on two grounds: first, that the introduction of locks in a treatment of the question was objectionable from many points of view; and, second, that the maintenance of a summit by means of an earth dam of immense magnitude to control the flood waters of this river introduced an element of great danger since the dam, without sheet piling, was proposed to be founded on the alluvial-filled gorges of the Chagres River, where the depth at one point extended 258 feet below the level of the sea.

Of the minority above mentioned one member, Mr. Noble, was a member of the former Commission who had reported that Bohio was the lowest point on the Chagres where a dam was practicable.

The report was reviewed by the Isthmian Canal Commission which included among its members Major Harrod and Generals Hains and Ernst. They all indorsed the minority report, notwithstanding the fact that in March, 1905, Major Harrod was opposed to any lock plan, and that his two associates had said in 1901 that no proper site for a dam existed below Bohio.

It is true that every consideration of the Panama Canal type by any unauthorized body rejected the idea of a dam at Gatun, and its indorsement is confined to a minority of the board of consulting engineers and to three members of the canal commission who had previously either been in favor of a sea-level canal or who had said, in effect, that Gatun was not a proper site for the dam.

The attitude of the majority of the board of consulting engineers upon this most important question is best shown by an extract from its report. “The United States Government is proposing to expend many millions of dollars for the construction of this great waterway which is to serve the commerce of the world for all time and the very existence of which would depend upon the permanent stability and unquestioned safety of all dams. The board is therefore of the opinion that the existence of such costly facilities for the world’s commerce should not depend upon great reservoirs held by earth embankments resting literally upon mud foundations or those of even sand and gravel. The board is unqualifiedly of opinion that no such vast and doubtful experiment should be indulged in, but, on the contrary, that every work of whatever nature should be so designed and built as to include only those features which experience has demonstrated to be positively safe and efficient”.

The remarkable diversity of statement in regard to this dam is shown by the following quotations.

Mr. Teller in a speech in the last session of Congress said in part, “Let me say a word or two about the great dam to be built at Gatun. We were told in the beginning that the engineers would find a foundation upon which they could build a safe dam. The French Government declared they had found such a foundation; our own engineers declared they had found it. It turned out that they had struck some floating pieces of rock in the mud, and when they had gone down 287 feet they found the same conditions practically that they found in the first 50 feet. The place where it is proposed to construct this dirt dam, which will be half a mile wide and 135 feet high (now 115 feet), is a great swamp. No such dam has ever been built in the history of the world, and the engineers of the world, with few exceptions, have declared it cannot be built. The dam at Gatun is to be built upon a foundation of doubtful safety, and there is not an engineer in the country who does not know that it is doubtful”.

Lindon W. Bates, in his “Retrieval at Panama”, says, “The utter indifference to real information as to existing conditions at Panama has been astounding. Despite, for instance, the private knowledge of the Commission in 1906 through their last 15 months that the bores in these Gatun gorges were flowing bores, not one additional test had been undertaken in them. In summary of foundation conditions one thing is certain. First and foremost and indispensibly there must be at the Isthmus, since the underground conditions have been revealed, the safe barring off of permeable strata under the crucial dam. This cannot be done at Gatun for the high dam”.

On the other hand an editorial in the Engineering News of February 25, 1909, says, “We can testify from actual personal observation and study of the dam site and of the borings and pits that the Gatun dam will be as safe and permanent as any structure ever reared by man”.

In the President’s message of February 17, 1909 there is this statement, “As to the Gatun dam itself, they (the board of engineers) show that not only is the dam safe, but that on the whole the plan already adopted would make it needlessly high and strong, and accordingly they recommend that its height be reduced by 20 feet, which change I have accordingly directed”.

In the Engineering News of April 1, 1909 is the following statement, “If a private corporation, not subject to the clamor of public criticism were confronted with the task of throwing a dam across the Chagres Valley at Gatun, they would build a structure which would be not more than one-fifth the size of that which is now being built there”. Farther on in the same article a comparison of the Gatun dam with alluvial dams of India and the levees along the Mississippi is summed up with these words, “Compared with any and all of these the conditions for safe and permanent dam construction at Gatun may be considered ideal”. Is it any wonder that people are confused and disgusted when they attempt to obtain the truth?

The length of the dam is to be 7,700 feet, but the natural surface reaches or exceeds the dam elevation in three places for about 700 feet in all. At the level of 21 feet above the sea it will be about 2,600 feet long in two sections, separated by Spillway Hill. According to the engineer’s report the dam will rest upon brown or blue clay and silt. Under the dam there are two geologic gorges, one 185 feet deep (below sea level) and the other 255 feet deep. These are filled with river alluvium and other deposits, consisting, according to official reports, of silt, soil, brown and blue clay, rotten wood, sand, and gravel--the most, if not all of it water bearing. The cross-sectional area of the shallower gorge is 205,000 square feet and of the deeper one 120,000 square feet.

(For profile, cross-section, and plan see the following page.)

The dam is to consist of two piles of rock 1,200 feet apart and carried up to 60 feet above mean tide with the space between them and up to 115 feet above sea-level filled by selected material deposited in place by the hydraulic process. A slip occurred at one of these rock toes during November, 1908, and caused considerable alarm throughout the country, so much, in fact, that the President sent W. H. Taft with a group of 7 noted engineers to investigate. They reported that “A full study of all the data and of the material, and of the plans that are proposed leaves no doubt in our minds as to the safe, tight, and durable character of the Gatun dam”.

At the close of the fiscal year 1908–’09 three 20-inch suction dredges were depositing material over the area between the rock piles, and the fill had reached an average elevation of 16 feet above sea-level. A total of 2,501,372 cubic yards was placed in the dam during the year.

Excavation through the Spillway Hill was practically completed and 30,464 cubic yards of concrete laid. During the year 359,821 cubic yards of material were removed from Spillway hill by steam shovels and placed on the dam.

The original canal plans provided for a flight of two locks at La Boca, near the Pacific, and one at Pedro Miguel. Steps were taken to construct the former and trestles were built along the toes from which to dump material from Culebra Cut. The trestles failed after dumping began and material overlying the rock moved laterally, the movement continuing for two weeks in some places. After this result these dams were abandoned so that instead of locks at La Boca they will be built at Miraflores. Another reason for the change besides poor foundations is the military advantages of the latter over the former position.

Both the dams at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores will be constructed of two rock piles, the portion between being filled by hydraulic methods. Very little work has been done upon them.

X. SANITATION

At Panama the seasons are divided into two well defined periods: the dry, or winter, and the wet, or summer seasons. By this occurrence of maximum moisture and maximum heat, the health conditions are made the worst possible.

The dry season includes the months of January, February, March and April, the rainy season the remainder of the year. During the dry season the average temperature at Colon for 6 years was 70.5° F, with a monthly maximum of 90.9° F, which came in January, and a monthly minimum of 68.4° in the same month. During the rainy season the maximum average temperature for any month occurred in October and was 91.9° F. The minimum was 66.9° F., for August. A record of 15 years at Colon shows a maximum rainfall of 154.9 inches and a mean of 130.2 inches. Four years’ records at Panama show a maximum of 84.73 inches and an average of 66.8 inches. At Culebra the records for 3 years showed a maximum of 98.97 inches and a minimum of 64.25 inches.

The most common forms of disease on the Isthmus are due to fevers. According to good authority the most sickly period is September, October and November, during which time dysentery and a severe bilious fever are very common. Foreigners seldom acquire the immunity of the natives from local diseases. The Isthmus by various writers has been called, “The Grave of the European”, “The Pest-House of the Tropics”, and one author says that here truly “Life dies and death lives”.

On account of the health conditions the labor question is greatly complicated. For this reason extreme care has been taken by the United States Government to do all in the power of science to make the zone a healthy locality. Sanitation expenses will average at least $2,000,000 per year. The work has been under the direct supervision of Colonel W. C. Gorgas. The war on the mosquito has been continual and unrelenting. For the first two months of the fiscal year 1908–’09, the work in the Canal Zone, consisted of the collection and disposal of garbage and night soil, the cutting of grass and brush, and sanitary drainage and oiling. In the terminal cities the work consists of inspection, fumigation, grass cutting, surface drainage, and oiling undrained areas.

This department also has charge of the hospitals and of the quarantine. As far as possible all the sick are concentrated at Ancon.

Last year’s records show an improvement over the preceding year. The total number of employees admitted to the hospitals and sick camps amounted to 46,194, representing 23.49 as the number of men sick daily as against 23.85 for the preceding year. The number of deaths was 530. According to these figures the Canal Zone is one of the healthiest communities in the world; but it must be remembered that the population there consists of men and women in the prime of life and that a number of the sick are returned to the United States before death overtakes them.

There were no cases of plague or yellow fever originating on the Isthmus during the year 1908–’09. The last case of yellow fever occurred in May, 1906.

A supply of perfectly healthful water has been secured by the construction of reservoir at different points of the Zone, and the Commission hotels and cottages have all the advantages of an excellent modern water system.

XI. SOCIAL LIFE

Those who have endeavored to better the standard of social life at Panama have met with difficulties always connected with an enterprise of the character and magnitude of the great Canal. It is surprising what has been accomplished. Questionable amusements there are, but that is to be expected among such an assemblage of men. Nevertheless, the conditions of living there are gradually approaching what we find in the average community in the United States.

There is a well organized school system in the Canal Zone. Twelve schools are maintained for white children and seventeen for colored children. The highest monthly enrollment was 675 whites and 1,417 colored pupils. There is a superintendent of schools and assistant supervisor of primary grades.

Two high schools are in operation, one at Culebra and one at Cristobal. Children at other points in the Zone requiring high school instruction are given free transportation over the railroad by the Commission. Instruction is given in algebra, geometry, physical geography, general history, botany, English, German, French, Spanish, and Latin. There were but 25 children who took high school work in 1908–’09.

In addition to the transportation given high school pupils, transportation is given to children in towns where no white schools are maintained. Last year children were also carried by wagon from Balboa to Ancon, as were high school pupils from Empire and Culebra. A boat and ferryman were employed in two cases.

Quarters are furnished free to all the men, married and unmarried. Roosevelt, upon his return from Panama said the wives of the employees seemed satisfied with their home life and surroundings. The houses are excellent considering the conditions.

Employees purchase all necessary supplies from government commissaries at about the same prices as are current in the United States. On every workday a refrigerator car runs from Colon to Panama and delivers to the various villages all orders previously placed for supplies such as ice, meat, vegetables and fruit. Payment is made by the use of coupons, their values being deducted from the employee’s salary.

Employees are allowed free medical, surgical, and hospital attendance, including medicines and food while in the hospital.

Employees with salaries fixed on an annual or monthly basis receive no pay for overtime work but if their health requires it, will be granted a leave of 6 weeks absence or less during the year with full pay. Those who are paid by the hour do, of course, receive pay for overtime work.

A number of suitable church buildings has been erected by the Commission. They are two-story buildings, the upper floors being fitted up as lodge rooms and the first floor for religious purposes. Practically every religious denomination is now represented on the Isthmus by the chaplains employed by the Commission.

Roosevelt stated after his visit to the Zone that “It is imperatively necessary to provide ample recreation and amusement if the men are to be kept well and healthy.” To this end four clubhouses have been completed at Culebra, Empire, Gorgona, and Cristobal and several more are contemplated. The four are alike in design, and consist of a front building of two stories connected with a rear building of one story. The front part is 135 feet by 45 feet, and contains a social parlor, a card room, a billiard and writing room on the first floor and an assembly hall on the second floor. The rear building, 100 feet by 28 feet, contains a double bowling alley, a gymnasium, shower baths, and over a hundred single lockers. The Commission, assisted by the Young Men’s Christian Association, manages these buildings. Besides furnishing a library of 787 volumes to each of these buildings provision is made for the delivery of 100 weekly and monthly periodicals.

Last year 1908–’09, 2,140 employees availed themselves of regular membership privileges. The membership rate is 10 dollars per year. The fact that 56,835 games in bowling took place during the year shows the extensive use made of these buildings.

There are various athletic organizations on the Isthmus. Gymnasium activities have consisted mostly of basket ball and indoor baseball. Field sports are sometimes held on moonlight nights and holidays. An athletic park has been built near Cristobal.

During the year there were 81 performances given by lyceum and vaudeville talent from the United States, with an attendance of 18,225. Chess, checker, glee, minstrel, dramatic, and orchestra clubs have been successfully maintained.

“These associations have held a vital relation to the canal construction in promoting contentment among employees, furnishing healthful amusement, effecting greater permanency of the force, and in elevating the standards of living”.

XII. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

The economic importance of the Panama Canal is a fruitful topic for discussion. Some authorities think that a large share of the world’s commerce will naturally and immediately use this new path between the oceans; but the general opinion of those best fitted to decide is that the canal will not be a paying investment, at least for the first years of its operation. As a German paper puts it, “Nobody thinks of remunerativeness any more. The fruits of the enterprise consist in indirect profits; they must be looked for in the military-political field and in the promotion of American commerce. In this lies the center of gravity of the situation”.

From a commercial standpoint the canal will be of little or no advantage to Europe for the way to the whole of eastern Asia and Australia, inclusive of New Zealand via the Suez Canal will remain much nearer. For Europe, then, the only saving is in traffic with the west coast of America. In commerce with western South America England occupies first place, and is followed by Germany, the United States and France, in the order named. It is to be noted that vessels trading with the southern portion of the west coast of South America will prefer to go around Cape Horn rather than pay the tolls through the Panama Canal.

The greatest commercial advantage comes to the eastern ports of the United States, namely 9,531 nautical miles between New York and San Francisco, so that New York on this route gains 2,889 miles more, for example, than Hamburg, Germany. The main fact, however, is that this saving is so large on the route from New York to Eastern Asia and Australia that it changes the present disadvantage of New York into an advantage when compared with many European ports. From Hamburg to Hongkong, via Suez, the distance is 10,542 miles; from New York to Hongkong, via Suez, it is 11,655 miles. The Panama Canal will give nothing to Hamburg but a saving of 1,820 miles to New York so that the distance will be 707 miles less than from Hamburg. In routes to the more northern ports of eastern Asia, as well as to those of eastern Australia, the gain of New York is still greater. From Hamburg via Suez to Melbourne is 12,367 miles; from New York 12,500 miles. Via Panama, however, the distance from New York is only 10,427 miles, so that New York will be about 2,000 miles nearer than Hamburg. In many cases therefore the Panama Canal will give New York a decided advantage over European ports.

There are other than commercial reasons for building the canal. The effect which it will have upon the tropical districts of the west is worth considering. An author on “Social Evolution” in describing this region said that there are only two words which adequately represent the conditions of this country, “anarchy and bankruptcy”, and he suggests removing the anarchy by the substitution of strong and righteous government. Can any one doubt that the construction of an international waterway through the Isthmus will tend to improve administration in the American tropics?

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

The original text was typed, not printed. Consequently, there were more typographical errors than would normally be found in a book, and Transcribers corrected most of them without noting the individual corrections here.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

Transcriber segmented the map at the end of the book into three larger parts for readability, in addition to retaining an image of the original.

“Maratime” was printed that way, twice; “Maritime” did not occur in this book.

Page 3: “concensus” was printed that way.

Page 15: “built on the lock canal” was printed as “built on the sea-level canal”, but “sea-level” was crossed out by hand and replaced by what appears to be “Loc”. Given the context and name of the chapter, Transcribers decided it was intended to be “lock”.