normal lake level. Rising above the dam are 13 concrete piers, with their crests 115.5 feet above sealevel, and between these piers have been placed regulating gates of steel sheathing, with water-tight devices. By raising these gates by electrical machinery the water from the lake is permitted to flow to the sea through the spillway channel; and by closing them the flow is stopped. By their use the normal lake level of 85 feet above sea-level is maintained. In the rainy season the lake level would often rise above the normal level except for the regulation by the spillway.

Through the heart of the lake runs the channel of the canal, varying from 500 to 1,000 feet in width, and following largely the submerged bed of the Chagres River for 24 miles to Bas Obispo, where it enters Culebra Cut. Through this lake channel vessels can move at ocean speed. Through the Cut, a distance of about nine miles, the lake waters extend to Pedro Miguel with a bottom channel width of 300 feet and a depth of 45 feet. At Pedro Miguel there is a lock flight wherein the lift is 30 1-3 feet. Continuing, the canal extends from Pedro Miguel through a small lake at an elevation of 54 2-3 feet above mean sea-level for a distance of 11⁄2 miles to Mira Flores. At this point are located two more flights of locks, with an aggregate lift of 54 2-3 feet. From the foot of these locks the canal channel passes at sea-level into the Pacific Ocean for 81 miles, with a bottom width of 500 feet and a depth, at mean tide, of 45 feet. The mean sea-level of the two oceans is the same, although there is a

marked difference in tide variations, that at the Atlantic entrance being about 26 inches, while that at the Pacific entrance is about 21 feet. The locks at Pedro Miguel and Mira Flores are also in duplicate, making three flights, or a total of six locks on the Pacific side, to balance the like number of flights and locks on the Atlantic side. It requires about 30 minutes to pass a vessel through a single lock. Lighthouses and buoys mark the channel of the canal throughout its length.

Anyone familiar with the process of passing a steamboat through the locks of our Kentucky rivers will readily understand how ships will be moved through the locks of the Panama Canal, and climb to, or descend from, the 85-foot surface of Gatun Lake. It requires about ten hours for a ship to pass from sea to sea. No vessel is permitted to pass through any lock under its own power; but it is towed through by specially devised electric locomotives, or "mules," moving on the two lock walls on cog-wheel tracks, one "mule" on each wall ahead of the vessel with cables from the vessel's nose or bow, hitched to these "mules" which pull the craft forward, while two rearward "mules," one on each lock wall, by means of similar cables, hold the vessel steady in the lock chamber. In the navigation of the canal every precaution for safety is taken.

In this connection, as being of special interest to Kentuckians, it may not be amiss to state that the engineer in charge of the construction of the Gatun locks and dam was Col. Wm. L. Sibert, U. S. Army, a member of the Isthmian

Canal Commission. Like Col Gorgas, Col. Sibert is an Alabamian by birth, and for several years was a resident of Kentucky, in charge of Green and Barren rivers, with residence at Bowling Green; and was afterwards in charge of the Louisville section of the Ohio River, with residence in Louisville. Col. Sibert served his apprenticeship in lock and dam work in Kentucky, and thereby became eminently fitted for the greater work of the same general character in Panama. He is one of the most eminent hydraulic engineers in the world today-perhaps the most eminent and his achievement at Gatun is a splendid monument to his ability.

PLAN OF ORGANIZATION. Space will not permit detailed descriptions of the various phases of the canal work, though brief references thereto will give some insight into the extent and character of canal operations.

There were three grand divisions of the canal organization, viz.: Engineering and Construction, Sanitation, and Civil Administration. The chairman of the Commission was in direct charge of the first division, with general supervisory powers over all canal activities; the member of the Commission of the Army Medical Corps was in charge of the second division; and the the civilian member of the Commission was in charge of the third division.

The Quartermaster's Department constructed and cared for buildings necessary for the canal work, including residences and quarters for those engaged in canal construction; had charge of prop

erty and buildings, and performed a number of duties. Also, there was the office of the Examiner of Accounts, which audited all canal accounts, and the Disbursing Office, through which were paid out every year several millions of dollars to employees for labor and on accounts for material and supplies.

The Panama Railroad, the effective right hand of canal construction, indispensably aided the work. The Commissary Department, operating under the Panama Railroal Company, furnished clothing and supplies throughout the Zone to the employees engaged in canal construction and railroad operation, at reasonable cost. The Panama Railroad Company has, also, for years operated a line of steamships between Colon and New York. These ships were of great value to the canal operations in carrying, at reduced rates, canal employes to and from the Zone, and in transporting material and supplies for the canal work.

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During the height of the construction period there have been between 35,000 and 40,000 employees on the pay roll of the canal and railroad, of which about 5,000 were "gold" employees (payable gold), that is to say, white Americans, officials and skilled laborers; and all the others, unskilled, "silver," employees (payable in silver). The population of the Zone has run as high as 70,000. At no other time and at no other place in the earth's history has skilled labor received so high a wage, or so many benefits, as during the canal construction period in Panama. The chief reason for this is the fact that in the