REPORT OF BOARD OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS, PANAMA CANAL.


 There is an obvious misunderstanding on this point. I never thought, as can be inferred from the text of the remarks in the gray pamphlet, that I did not propose to erect immediately the dam at Gamboa up to level 200. I spoke of level 150 because I thought that the only objection to the four years' time limit might be the difficulty of completing the erection of the dam. I wanted to express the idea that the canal could be opened, even if the dam had not yet reached its ultimate height and was at elevation 150 instead of elevation 200. I never thought a moment that the dam would not be completed immediately after the opening, and that it would remain unfinished at 150 feet elevation for the purpose of elevating the spoils into the lake, as it is stated among the remarks of which I speak.

 SUPPLY OF WATER TO SUMMIT LEVEL PERFECT IN THE PLANS I PROPOSE.

 I could not discover what could support the statement to be found on said page of the gray pamphlet, that there is in my plan no satisfactory way of supplying the summit level with water. Whether the level of the lake is at 150 feet or at 200 feet elevation, it matters little for feeding the summit level. It seems useless to enter into details about the possibility of sending water from that lake into the inferior summit level at elevation 130 feet when the water ef the lake comes naturally within a distance of less than half a mile from the extremity of the said summit level.
 There is also in the remarks of the gray pamphlet an evident misunderstanding about the suggestions that I am supposed to have made to feed the summit level with pumps or with a reservoir at Alhajuela. I mentioned the possibility of resorting to such methods simply for the sake of argument in studying the limits put by nature to a lock canal in Panama. I never proposed to feed the summit level that way, otherwise than in a temporary emergency.
 In fact, the objections to my plan as raised in the remarks of the pamphlet relating to the system of feeding the summit level and of controlling the Chagres result from a misunderstanding, for which, perhaps, the too condensed way in which I was bound to expose my views is responsible.
 However, in the explanation which I made of the method of using the lake as a flood controller and as a water storer I have already explained fully these views on this point. The limit of the oscillations of the lake will be 40 feet, and, as I have said, the surface water will always be between 160 to 200 feet elevation, and therefore will secure perfect access of the lake waters to the summit level at elevation 130 or below.
 After answering these objections, let us turn back to the question proper.

WHY LEVEL 130 WAS CHOSEN FOR THE SUMMIT-THE SUMMIT SHOULD NOT BE LOWER IN ANY CASE FOR THE FIRST FORM OF THE PANAMA WATERWAY.

 I may very well be asked, why is level 130 chosen for the summit section of the waterway? Because to excavate to that level will mean to remove a quantity of ground which can be disposed of within the time necessary for the rest of the works, and because the small increase in the depth actually excavated limits to its minimum the risk of slides and the corresponding danger of being stopped some years more by such an accident or by the supplementary works which may be deemed necessary for the purpose of preventing it.
 It may be also added that it is not advisable to place the summit level higher than 130 feet above the sea, on account of the difficulty of having a satisfactory location for the supplementary lock which would be necessary.
 Why would it not be better, might be also asked, to prolong the delay of construction for three or four years in order to dispense with one of the locks ascending to the summit level?
 This question might be difficult to answer if the lock canal were built for eternity. It would be a grave question whether, for the benefit of an indefinite future, it would not be better to sacrifice some years more in construction. But if we build the canal with the well-formed idea that it is only a step made in the road toward the sea-level canal, the answer to the question is obvious. In digging deeper we must accept a certain and definite increase in the time of opening


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