Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . ist until the great dam itself is reached. The simplest way of reaching the Gatun dam isof course by train from Colon, a ride of perhapstwenty minutes. But a more spectacular one is bylaunch, either up the Canal, or around by theChagres River from its mouth. The latter is adifficult trip however and seldom essayed. Oneadvantage of taking the Canal is that it gives amuch clearer idea of the construction of the damthan can be derived by approaching it by first signihcant fact forced upon your attentionin thus coming upon the dam is that
Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . ist until the great dam itself is reached. The simplest way of reaching the Gatun dam isof course by train from Colon, a ride of perhapstwenty minutes. But a more spectacular one is bylaunch, either up the Canal, or around by theChagres River from its mouth. The latter is adifficult trip however and seldom essayed. Oneadvantage of taking the Canal is that it gives amuch clearer idea of the construction of the damthan can be derived by approaching it by first signihcant fact forced upon your attentionin thus coming upon the dam is that it does notlook like a dam at all, but rather like a long andgently sloping hill pierced at one point by a sortof masonry gate which upon closer approach revealsitself as a system of mighty locks. Not very long ago there was a wide-spread appre-hension in the United States, bred of a rather shallownewspaper criticism very widely republished, thatthe Gatun dam would prove inadequate to the pres-sure of the waters impounded behind it and might. Plwto by Underwood <S: Underwood SOUTH APPROACH WALL, GATUN LOCKS collapse, or topple over. If all who have beenimpressed by that gruesome prophecy could see thedam itself their apprehensions would be speedilyquieted. One might as well talk of toppling overthe pyramids, or Murray Hill, New York (not thestructures on it, but the hill itself) or the TreasuryBuilding at Washington. Elevations, natural orartificial, the base of which is eight to ten timestheir height, cannot topple over while the force ofgravity continues to operate. Now the height of
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Keywords: ., bookauthorabbotwil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
