PANAMA CANAL.


 2. CRISTOBAL.

 The town of Cristobal consists largely of the quarters of canal
employees, standing in a coconut grove planted by the French and
facing on the bay. The town terminates in the De Lesseps house
with a statue of Columbus in front of it. Cristobal is being com-
pletely inclosed with wharves upon which it is planned to erect con-
tinuous sheds, entirely cutting off the view of the town from the
water. (See Isthmian Canal Commission plan Cristobal coaling
plant and docks, Exhibit No. 8.) It will make the town more agree-
able to live in and will enhance the appearance from the bay if the
space now open at Dock 15, between the end of the present shed of
Dock 11 and the southeast end of Dock 16, immediately opposite the
statue of Columbus, can be kept permanently open and free from
sheds. The desirability of this is undoubted if it is found to be
practicable.

 3. ENTRANCE FEATURE.

 The commission is impressed with the desirability of marking with
some dignified architectural feature the point at the Atlantic end
where the canal enters the land, sharply accenting the transition from
the buoyed channel in the open bay to the canal proper, and marking
a definite entrance. This impression is strengthened by the fact that
the plan for the lighting of the canal (see Exhibit No. 2) shows at
this point a pair of lights for which the design of the beacons already
in place at the Pacific entrance would probably be used (see photo-
graph. Exhibit No. 9, and plan of beacon from report for 1912 of
Isthmian Canal Commission, Exhibit No. 10). Structures of this
kind certainly would not accomplish the desired effect. Unfortu-
nately the shores here are very low, and it was learned that they are of
so loose a formation that they are at present worn back by the water
several feet a year, so that anything built here would be in danger of
finding itself surrounded by the sea within a few years. It was
stated, moreover, that there would be serious foundation difficulties
on account of the deep soft mud. We understand, however, that if
the other breakwater, which is projected opposite the present one, is
built this erosion at the head of the bay will probably cease. In that
case it certainly would be advisable to determine the exact conditions
as to foundations at this point since rock was encountered at a depth
of from 20 to 40 feet at several points in the vicinity in dredging the
canal, and, if the foundation difficulties are not too serious, to erect
a monument in the form of a lighthouse specially designed for the
purpose at either side of the canal, approximately in the positions
now marked for beacon lights 1 and 2. (See Exhibit No. 2.)
 If it is found to be impracticable to mark this point monumentally,
we would recommend that beacon lights 1 and 2 be reduced to low
structures comparable with the illuminating buoys used to mark the
channel through Limon Bay. We would further recommend for con-
sideration the possibility of building lighthouses or some other form
of monument at the first high solid ground encountered in entering
the canal from the Atlantic, at the Mindi Hills, where the Gatun
Locks first attract attention. The chairman of the Isthmian Canal