PANAMA CANAL. The Panama Canal was opened to navigation Aug. 15, 1914. It was a colossal work and the difficulties met in its construction were pleted and the Canal opened for traffic in 1914.
The Canal crosses the Isthmus of Pan ama at very nearly its narrowest point. From deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific is 43.8 nautical miles. The minimum depth of the Canal is 41 feet. Starting on the Atlantic side at Limon Bay, the sea-level extends 5.7 miles to Gatun. Here there are three pairs of locks that lift the vessel to Gatun Lake, 85 feet above sea-level. The vessel proceeds along this through the famous Culebra Cut to Pedro Miguel Lock and Dam, where it is lowered to Miraflores Lake, which is 55 feet above sea-level and about a mile long. At its southern end are the Miraflores Locks, almost insuperable. The project of join ing the Atlantic and Pacific had existed for centuries, and it was one of the com panions of Balboa who first broached the idea. The plan first took tangible form when the French began actual work on Jan. 20, 1882. The work was under the direction of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had achieved fame as the builder of the Suez Canal. A terrific scandal arose, however, when the work had only gotten fairly under way, fraud and em bezzlement were charged, and the com pany went into the hands of a receiver in 1889. The receivers resumed work in 1894 and continued until May 4, 1904, when the United States Government undertook to complete it. The rights of the French were bought for $40,000,000. The Republic of Panama ceded to the United States a strip of land five miles wide on either side of the Canal in con sideration of $10,000,000. After ten
years of work and the expenditure of over $300,000,000, the work was corn which lower the vessel to the level of the Pacific, and from there a channel seven miles long carries the vessel past Balboa and into the ocean. The locks are miracles of engineering construction. Their chambers have a width of 110 feet and a length of 1,000 feet, which makes them capable of handling the largest ships yet built. In connection with the building and operation of the Canal, there are great terminals at both en trances, with docks, warehouses, foun dries, repair shops, and all the adjuncts of great commercial ports.
Receipts from tolls average over $6, 250,000 annually. The Panama railroad practically parallels the Canal from Colon to Panama on the east side. There was more traffic through the Canal in 1919 than in any year since it was opened, and the receipts for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1919, ex ceeded operating expenses by $241,822. Two thousand, three hundred and ninety six ships with a total tonnage of 7,128,000 passed through the Canal. These were, according to nationality: United States, 786; British, 602; Bel gian, 1; Canadian, 2; Chilean, 93; Chi nese, 4; Colombian, 1; Costa Rican, 12; Danish, 79; Dutch, 19; Ecuadorian, 1; French, 104; Greek, 3; Japanese, 87; Mexican, 1; Panamanian, 128; Peruvian, 65; Russian, 3; Spanish, 5; Swedish, 29; Salvador, 1. The entire investment of the United States in the Canal up to June 30, 1919, was $365,416,000. The governor of the Canal Zone in 1921 was Colonel Jay J. Morrow.