PANAMA CANAL.


section of the canal on the Atlantic side and with the Panama Rail-
road; (2) Gatun, chiefly for those working at the Gatun locks,
spillway, power plant, and features auxiliary thereto; and (3) Pe-
dro Miguel, and (4) Miraflores for those working at the locks of
those names. At the Pacific end of the canal the new town of Balboa
is to be created, containing the general administration offices and
provision for those working in them in the navy-yard shops and
docks, and in connection with the port and the sea-level section of
the canal.
 A tentative preliminary plan for the town of Balboa had been pre-
pared by the architect of the Canal Commission and was discussed
with him by the committee at length upon the ground. The control-
ling feature of the plan is the administration building. The site for
this was selected by the Canal Commission upon the hill, about 100
feet high, forming a spur on the northwesterly side of the imposing
mass of Ancon Hill, which lies directly between the old city of
Panama and the canal. (See general map of Balboa terminals Trom
Report for 1912 of Isthmus Canal Commission, Exhibit No. 13.)
The plan showed the main avenue of the town on the lower ground
extending from this site (.t the existing road between the base of
Sosa Hill and the site of the navy-yard shops, the axis of the admin-
istration building coinciding with that of the avenue. Even from
the height of the lofty terrace of the administration building the
view of the canal when looking down the avenue would be cut off by
the roofs of the navy-yard shops, and the actual terminus of the vista
would be a foundry, set at an awkward angle with the town and
backed by a decidedly unattractive series of other shop buildings.
The architect agreed with the committee as to the unfortunate
orientation of the main axis, and after considering other alternatives
it was decided to recommend a general preliminary plan embodying
the following features (see diagrammatic plan kindly furnished by
the architect, Exhibit No. 14) :
 The administration building to be placed, as previously planned, on Lone
Tree Hill, but facing directly toward the knoll on the southeasterly side of Sosa
Hill, with its court open to the northerly breeze.
 The main avenue of the town to be placed on this same axis, to be flanked by
the public buildings of the town, connected so far as practicable by continuous
arcades, which would serve both as porches and as covered sidewalks; the
avenue to be not less than 120 feet wide between buildings, with an open parked
vista in the center, flanked by n row of trees on each side shading the roadways,
which would be next to the arcaded sidewalks.
 The quarters for employees in the shops to be arranged along the slopes of
Sosa Hill above the southwesterly end of the avenue, on curvilinear roads fol-
lowing the contours of the hill :is far back as the topography of the hill allows,
and to extend southward on the high part of the dump as far as may be neces-
sary-the space between the drainage ditch and the present low level of the
tracks across the dump to be reserved for this purpose.
 The quarters for the employees in the administration building to be arranged
In a similar informal manner on the slopes of the Ancon Hill to the eastward
and northeastward of the administration building.
 The quarters for silver employees in the shops to be located south of Sosa
Low Hill.
 The trolley tracks from Panama to be carried on the south side of Sosa Hill
from about their present terminus at the drainage ditch through the end of
the space reserved for silver employees to the navy-yard boundary.
 This recommendation met with the approval of the chairman of the
Isthmian Canal Commission. In submitting it, however, the com-