Bert Wilson at Panama Page 8

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE GREAT CANAL

  On a glorious afternoon, a few days later, the boys sat on the upper deckof the liner, as it drew near the city of Colon, on the Atlantic side ofthe Isthmus of Panama. With the quick rebound of youth, they had whollyrecovered from the strain of the preceding days, and were looking forwardwith the keenest zest, to the opening of the great canal, now only twoweeks distant. They gazed with interest at the Toro lighthouse, as thesteamer left the gleaming waters of the Caribbean Sea, and threaded itsway up the Bay of Limon to Cristobal, the port of Colon.

  "And to think," Dick was saying, "that it's four hundred years almost toa day, since the isthmus was discovered, and in all that time they nevercut it through. To cover that distance of forty-nine miles from theAtlantic to the Pacific, ships have sailed ten thousand, five hundredmiles. It almost seems like a reflection on the intelligence of theworld, doesn't it?"

  "It surely does," asserted Bert, "and yet it wasn't altogether a matterof intelligence, but of ways and means. In every century since then,lots of people have seen the advantages of a canal, but they've beenstaggered, when they came to count the cost. It's easy enough to talk ofcutting through mountains and building giant dams and changing the courseof rivers. But it's a long jump from theory to performance, and they'veall wilted until your Uncle Samuel took up the job. Even France, themost scientific nation in Europe, gave it up after she'd spent twohundred million dollars."

  "It's a big feather in our cap," said Tom--"the very biggest thing thathas happened in the way of engineering, since this old earth began. It'sthe eighth wonder of the world. The building of the pyramids waschild's play, compared to the problems our people have had to meet. Butwe've met them--health problems, labor problems, political problems,mechanical problems--met and solved them all. The American Eagle hascertainly got a right to scream."

  And their enthusiasm for the American Eagle grew with every hour thatpassed, after they drew up to the docks and went ashore. Everywherethere were evidences of thrift and progress and law and order, to be seennowhere else in Central or South America. After the slovenly towns andcities of Mexico, it was refreshing to note the contrast. For five mileson either side of the canal--the Canal Zone--it was United StatesTerritory. From being the abode of fever and pestilence, it had beentransformed into one of the healthiest places in the world. Mosquitoeshad been exterminated and the dreaded scourge of "Yellow Jack" wiped outcompletely. It was a cosmopolitan district, where all the nations of theworld met together and all classes were to be found, from the highest tothe lowest. But over this mixed and often turbulent population, thecivil and military arms of the United States, ruled with such strengthand wisdom, as to make it a model for the world's imitation. The citywas bright, clean, animated, abounding in amusements and diversions; butlawlessness and disorder were unsparingly repressed. The boys weredelighted at the novelty of what they saw and heard, and it was late whenthey went to their rooms, with an eager anticipation of all that awaitedthem on their trip across the isthmus.

  For this trip from end to end of the canal was one of the most cherishedfeatures of their general plan. They wanted to study it at theirleisure--the dams, the locks, the gates, the lakes, the feeders, thespillways, the attractions--the thousand and one things that made it themarvel of the twentieth century. And they vowed to themselves that whattheir eyes did not take in would not be worth seeing.

  Colon, itself, held them for two more days, and during that time theylost one of their party. Wah Lee--for that they had discovered to betheir Chinaman's name--had justified his statement that he had "flendsin Panama." They had rather suspected that these alleged friendsresembled the mythical Mrs. Harris, whose chief claim to fame was that"there wasn't no such person." They were agreeably surprised, therefore,when, before they had been twenty-four hours in the city, he told themthat, through one of his "flends," he had found employment in thehousehold of a wealthy Japanese residing in the suburbs. He would havegladly stayed with the boys, to whom he had become greatly attached. Butalthough they were fond of him, and got a good deal of amusement from hisquaint ways, they had really no need of him, and he was a clog on theirfreedom of movement. They wanted to be footloose--to go where theypleased and when they pleased--and they were glad to learn that he wasso well provided for.

  "Me clome and slee you melly times," he assured them, benignantly.

  "Sure thing, old boy," answered Tom. "We're always glad to see you."

  "Me play you back," said Wab Lee.

  "Pay back nothing," responded Bert. "You don't owe us anything. You'veworked your passage, all right."

  "Me play you back," he repeated, as calmly as though they had notprotested, and pattered off, after including them all in his irresistiblesmile.

  "And he will," affirmed Dick, despairingly. "We're just clay in thehands of the potter, when we come up against that old heathen. If hesays he'll pay you back, paid back you'll be, as surely as my name isDick Trent."

  Which proved to be true enough, although the payment was made indifferent coin and in an other fashion than they dreamed of at themoment.

  Two days later, bright and early they took the train on the littlerailroad that runs from Colon to Panama. Their first stop was to be atthe Gatun Dam and Locks, the mightiest structure of its kind in theworld.

  As they came in sight of it, the boys gasped in amazement and admiration.What they had read about it in cold type, had utterly failed to givethem an adequate idea of the reality. Here was a work that might havebeen hammered out by Thor. There were the mighty gates, weighing each,from three hundred to six hundred tons. The locks each had four gates,seven feet thick and from forty-seven to seventy-nine feet high. Thegates were operated by electricity and open or shut in less than twominutes, and absolutely without noise.

  In these locks were three chambers, lower, middle and upper. Each was athousand feet Long, one hundred and ten feet wide and eighty-one feetdeep. As the vessel enters the lower chamber, it finds there a depth ofover forty feet. The gate is closed and the water pours in, lifting thevessel as it rises. In fifteen minutes, the water rises overtwenty-eight feet. Now the ship has reached the middle chamber, andagain the gates are closed and the process repeated. The upper chamberis the last stage, and then the vessel reaches the artificial lake ofGatum. It has climbed eighty-five feet in about ninety minutes.

  "Just like climbing a flight of stairs," exclaimed Dick.

  "Precisely," said Bert. "Where a train climbs a mountain by a steadygrade, the vessel leaps up to the top in three jumps."

  "Think of trying to lift one of those enormous vessels with a derrick ora crane," murmured Tom; "and yet how gently and easily the water does itby pushing up from underneath."

  "Look at the width of those concrete walls," pointed Bert. "Fifty-twofeet thick!

  "Well, twenty-five million dollars will do a lot, and I've read that itcost that much for these locks alone. And that's only a fraction of theentire work."

  At every turn, they came across something that evoked their wonder andadmiration. Most of the figures and statistics connected with thecolossal work they were already familiar with, but the information thusgained was, in a certain sense, hazy and unreal. It was seen through themirage of distance, and not until their eyes actually saw the work incourse of construction, did the knowledge lying in their minds, take asharp and clearly cut outline.

  As they moved about the dam, they came in contact with many of theengineers connected with the work. These were picked men, Americans likethemselves, and of the very highest class of skilled engineers. Theywere glad to meet the young fellows from the States--"God's country," asthey named it to themselves, in moments of homesickness--and theintelligent interest of the boys, in marked contrast to many of the "foolquestions" put to them by the general run of tourists, made them eager toimpart to them all they wanted to know. They grew "chummy" at once, andby the time the boys had spent a half a day in their i
nspection, theyknew more about it than they would have gained in a month of reading.

  Among other things, they learned that the locks were the greatestreinforced concrete structure in the world. They had been built insections, thirty-six feet long, and these had been joined together so asto make one gigantic rock, thirty-five hundred feet long and threehundred and eighty-four feet wide. This reached down fifty feet undertide, and towered one hundred and fifteen feet above the level of thesea. The concrete necessary was brought in barges that if strung alongin one tow would have stretched from Colon to the southern coast of theUnited States, a distance of fifteen hundred miles. Great masses ofsteel were first erected, and then the concrete was poured into these bygiant mixers.

  The wall at the west wing held back the waters of the Chagres River.This was allowed to spread out into a lake, covering nearly two hundredsquare miles, at a level of eighty-seven feet. From this the water wasdrawn to feed the locks, and even in the dryest season would provesufficient for that purpose.

  Then there was the great spillway, in the hill that forms part of GatunDam. Here one hundred and forty thousand cubic feet of water can bedischarged every second. The waters made a magnificent picture as theypoured through the gates. As Dick remarked, it was "an abridged editionof Niagara Falls." At the east of the spillway, was the power plant,where the water, dropping seventy-five feet, developed enough electricpower and light to operate the canal from end to end.

  At Bohio, the southern end of Gatun Lake, they came to the place wherethe canal enters the foothills of the mountain range. Up to this point,there had been but little digging, but here the real work of excavationhad begun. The earth and rock that had to be removed here was equal tothat involved in cutting a ditch across the United States, ten feet deepand fifty-five feet wide. The dirt would load a train that reached fourtimes around the earth.

  "Only a little matter of a hundred thousand miles," exclaimed Tom. "Gee,these figures are enough to make your head ache. Everything is inthousands and hundreds of thousands and millions."

  "Yes," said Bert, "it's simply inconceivable. We mention figures, but wecan't really grasp what they mean. It seems like the work of giants,rather than men."

  "Right you are," assented Dick. "Why, even the blast holes drilled forthe dynamite, if put together, would stretch from New York toPhiladelphia."

  At the great Culebra Cut, where at one point the depth was over fourhundred feet, the wonder grew. Twenty million pounds of dynamite hadbeen used in this cut and the cost of the excavation was over eightymillions of dollars. Yet with such care and skill had this been managedthat very few men had lost their lives; not as many as are killed in theerection of an ordinary office building in New York.

  And here, at Culebra, the problem had been harder to solve than anywhereelse. There had been enormous landslides, that made it necessary to dothe work over and over again. Twenty-one million cubic yards of earthhad fallen from the mountain side, in many cases covering the engines andshovels engaged in the work of excavation. One slide involvedsixty-three acres. At another place, forty-seven acres moved entirelyacross the Canal at the rate of fourteen feet a day, and rose at onepoint to a height of thirty feet. Over twenty times, these avalanchescame down the sides of the cut. It seemed as though Nature were angeredat the attempts of man to change what she had ordained, and weredetermined to drive him to despair. But the attempts were renewed withdogged persistence, and now the course of the Canal had been fullyprotected, and baffled Nature could rage in vain. It was heart-breakingwork, but when Uncle Sam puts his hand to the plough, he doesn't turnback. Science and pluck, working hand in hand with splendid audacity,had come out triumphant.

  Part of the excavation had been made by hydraulic action. Where theground was soft, tremendous streams of water played upon the banks,washing the dirt away. In other sections, there were enormous steamshovels, some of them weighing ninety-five tons, and scooping up theearth, a carload at a time.

  "Nice little toys," remarked Dick, as he gazed into the maw of one ofthem.

  "Right you are," responded Bert, "but they're toys that only giants canplay with."

  On the third day of their trip, they reached the Pedro Miguel Locks,forty miles from the Atlantic. In its general features, it was patternedafter those at Gatun. Here, the vessel, which had been sailing along ata height of eighty-five feet above sea level after it left Gatun, wouldbegin to drop toward the Pacific. It would descend thirty feet, thensail across an artificial lake for a mile and a half, until it reachedthe Miraflores Locks, the last place where it would be halted on its tripto the Western Ocean. Here there were two chambers, each lowering theship twenty-seven and a half feet, making a drop of fifty-five feet inall. From there, for a distance of eight miles, it would pass through achannel, five hundred feet wide and forty-five deep, until at last itreached the sea.

  And now the whole stupendous plan lay before them as clear as crystal.As in a panorama, they saw the vessel, as it left the Atlantic andprepared to climb the backbone of the continent. It would come up theBay of Limon to the entrance of the Canal, and there the sailing craftwould fold its wings, the liner would shut off steam. On the wideexpanse of Gatun Lake they would again proceed under their own power.Through the Canal proper they would be drawn by electric tractionengines, running upon the walls. At Gatun, they would climb, by threesuccessive steps, to a point eighty-five feet above sea level. CrossingGatun Lake, they would pass through the Culebra Cut to the Pedro MiguelLocks. A downward jump of thirty feet here, another of fifty-five feetat the Mirafiores Locks, a level sail for eight miles more, and theywould emerge on the broad bosom of the Pacific. Then the sails would bebroken out, the engines begin to throb, and away to the western coast orManila, or Australia, or China and Japan. The dream of four hundredyears would have become a glorious reality.

  In ten hours, the largest steamship could ride in safety from ocean toocean. The distance from New York to San Francisco by sea would beshortened by over nine thousand miles. Liverpool would be brought seventhousand miles nearer the Pacific Slope. From New York to Manila, fivethousand miles were saved. The commercial supremacy of the sea would betaken from the maritime nations of Europe and put in the hands of theUnited States. That shining strip of water, fifty miles in length, wouldprove the "path of empire," and mark a peaceful revolution in the historyof the world.

  "And it's time that we came into our own again," declared Bert, as, theirtrip finished, they sat on the veranda of the hotel at Colon. "Eightyyears ago, our flag was to be found on every sea. But we've been so busywith our internal development that we've let the control of the oceanpass into the hands of others, especially England. It's a burning shamethat most of our commerce is carried in English ships. I hope that, nowthe Canal is ready for use, there'll be a big upbuilding of our merchantmarine, and that it'll be no longer true that 'Britannia rules thewaves.'"

  "I think that the British already see the handwriting on the wall,"remarked Dick. "Perhaps that explains their unwillingness to take partin the San Francisco Exposition. They've made a big fuss because wedon't make our coastwise vessels pay any tolls for going through theCanal. But I think the real reason lies deeper than that."

  "Germany and Russia are none too cordial, either, I notice," said Tom."When you come to think of it, we haven't many friends in Europe, anyway."

  "No," mused Bert. "About the only real friend that we have over there isFrance. As a rule, she's been on pretty good terms with us, ever sinceshe helped us in our Revolutionary War. We had a little scrap with heron the sea, once, and we had to warn her to get out of Mexico, when shetried to back up Maximilian there. But our republican form of governmentappeals to her, and, on the whole, she likes us.

  "But Russia feels a little sore, because she thinks we sympathized withJapan in her recent war. And Germany has always kicked like a steerabout our Monroe Doctrine. If she felt strong enough, she'd knock thatdoctrine into a cocked hat. She wants to ex
pand, to establish coloniesfor her surplus population. She's especially keen on getting intoBrazil. But wherever she turns, she finds the Monroe Doctrine blockingher way. She says it isn't fair: it isn't reasonable; it isn't based oninternational law."

  "Well, isn't she right?" asked Tom. "It's always seemed rather nervy tome, for us to say that no other power shall acquire territory in North orSouth America. By what right do we say so?"

  "By no right at all," admitted Bert. "We fall back on the law ofself-preservation. We've simply figured out that we want to keep theocean between us and the nations of Europe. Otherwise, we'd have to keepan enormous standing army. If they had territory near by, where theycould drill and recruit and establish food and coal depots, so as to beready to attack us suddenly, we'd be on edge all the time. As it is, wecan go to sleep nights, without any fear of finding the enemy in ourbackyard the next morning when we look out of the window."

  "Well," remarked a Californian, named Allison, whose acquaintance theyhad recently made, and who now drew his chair nearer and joined in theconversation; "we don't need to worry about Europe. The real enemy liesin another direction." And he pointed toward Asia.

  "You mean Japan?" queried Bert.

  "Exactly," was the answer.

  "Aren't you California people a little daffy on the Japanese question?"chaffed Dick.

  "Not a bit of it," replied Allison, with marked emphasis. "As sure asyou're alive, there's going to be a tremendous fight between Japan andthe United States. Just when it's coming, I don't know. But that it iscoming, I haven't the slightest shadow of a doubt. I'd stake my lifeupon it."

  His deep earnestness impressed the boys in spite of themselves.

  "But why?" asked Tom. "There doesn't seem any real reason for bad bloodbetween us, as far as I can see."

  "Then, too, we opened up Japan to modern civilization in 1859, andbrought her into the family of nations," added Dick. "She's alwaysprofessed the greatest friendship for us."

  "'Professed,' yes," answered Allison, "but, for some time past, thoseprofessions have sounded hollow. There's the immigration problem.There's the Magdalena Bay concession. There's the California schoolquestion and the alien land bill. Have you read of the mass meetings atTokio, and the passionate harangues against America? Wasn't that prettynear an ultimatum that the Viscount Chenda put before the WashingtonGovernment a little while ago? I tell you, gentlemen, that many a nationhas been plunged into bloody war for reasons less than these."

  "But, after all," objected Tom, "if anything of the kind threatens, we'llhave time enough to see it coming, and get ready to meet it."

  "Will we?" cried Allison. "Did the Russians have any warning, before theJapanese smashed their fleet at Port Arthur? Do you know that for twoyears past, her arsenals have been working night and day? With whatobject? When Japan is ready, she will strike as the lightning strikes.She may be ready now. Perhaps at this very moment, her fleet may be onthe way to San Francisco."

  In his excitement, he half rose from his chair, and his voice rang outlike a clarion.