REPORT OF BOARD OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS, PANAMA CANAL.


 VARIOUS SUGGESTED PLANS.

 The principal problem is the removal and disposal of a determined amount of material by modern appliances and methods, under efficient management and organization, and conducted on business principles.
 The low-level, intermediate-lake plan suggested by Mr. Bates only saves a small amount of work due to the last 20 or 30 feet of excavation. In lieu thereof, however, there is substituted a large amount of dam and dike construction resting largely on alluvial formations, and expensive breakwaters exposed to the open sea.
 The plan suggested by the first Walker Commission is objectionable, first, on account of the fact that it would be impracticable to provide a sea-level canal in the future; second, that the principal feature in this plan (the Bohio dam) would have to be constructed at a point where the bed rock is at a depth of 167 feet below sea level, overlaid with material of a freely waterbearing nature, and which, while not impractical of construction, involves the use of experimental methods, the cost and result of which are undetermined quantities.
 While it might be wise to consider this plan if-the accomplishment of the result depends thereon, its adoption would hardly seem justifiable in comparison with others under consideration.
 The various high-level, multilock plans are objectionable for the reason that they render the construction of a future sea-level canal impracticable, except by the expenditure of a larger amount than present or possible future conditions would seem to warrant, although the plan of Mr. Bunau-Varilla for deepening and enlarging the canal is certainly entitled to consideration and is ingeniously devised.
 It is possible that some modification of this plan might be practical in connection with a lock canal of comparatively low elevation, in case Congress should decide that it did not care to commit itself at the present time to a sea-level canal on account of its cost and the time necessary to construct, and on the other hand does not wish to adopt any plan which would make the sealevel feature impossible in the future.
 The writer in his study of this question has been more or less controlled by what he considered certain fundamentals:
 First. That no high dam should be constructed that could not be founded on bed rock or to which an impervious curtain wall could not be carried.
 Second. That the construction of any high dam should be avoided the destruction of which would prevent the operation of the canal until the dam had been replaced.
 Third. That if it became absolutely necessary to construct'dams on alluvial foundations, the plan should be selected necessitating the smallest amount of construction of this character, and subject to the least possible head of water retained thereby.
 In considering the statement which has been oft repeated of the advantages of intermediate lake navigation, it should be borne in mind that even with the idea carried out to its fullest extent there will yet remain 10 miles of ordinary canal section through the continental divide. It should be remembered that the 10 miles on the Pacific slope west of Pedro Miguel can be easily made to any width by dredging without going to any extraordinary expense, and that the 12 miles from Matachin to Bohio, on the Caribbean side, will not involve an excavation in excess of 100 feet depth, even for a sea-level canal, with the possible exception of one or two points a few hundred feet in length.
 The 15 miles from Bohio to the Caribbean Sea is composed entirely of alluvial or sedimentary deposits, and while some of the latter approach the character of soft rock, there is nothing that can not be handled by ordinary submarine methods. Additional width of section can be obtained without extraordinary expense except through the Culebra section, which is common to all plans.
 The mere comparison of the quantities of material to be excavated should not be used as a measurement of the difference in time and cost necessary to complete a sea-level or low-level as against a high-level canal.
 First, the time required for sanitation, organization, and preparation would remain practically the same with any plan that might be adopted. It is also self-evident that the maximum


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