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M . A aR Vy N E R E V | E W a1 fected by four locks, disposed on the Atlantic side in two flights of two locks and on the Pacific side in one flight of two lIccks and two single locks. The locks are all double with two parallel. chambers each 82 ft. wide and having a serviceable length of 738 ft. Their greatest lift is 2015.7 it, The Atlantic level whose tides from the bay of Limon are insignificant extend to Boko where is encountered a flight of two jocks. = he Pacific level, 98.5 ft.; and in the channel through the bay of Panama, 164 ft. The minimum draught of water throughout the canal is 29.5 ft. increased to 32.8 ft. at the middle line of the lock chambers and to 31 ft. at their side walls. In this plan the bottom of the summit level is fixed at 68 ft. above mean tide, the depth which it was believed could be reached in the time which would be required to complete the rest of the work. second level con- Sists: Of a Great lake into which the Chagres river discharges and from which -- the canal forms a sub- merged channel extending to Obis- po ending in a flight of two locks. The normal level of the lake is 55.8 it. above << mean tide; but it may fall. to sen Ttoin seasons: "of Vex- treme low water, or rise, rarely, at the moment of an exceptional flood of the Chagres tiver,. {0.65.07 it. The next level, that of the sum- mit already de- scribed, extends to the single lock of Paraiso. Its water may vary between O75. and 102.5. it. above tide. The fourth level ter- minates at the flight of two locks at Pedro - Miguel, having a water height which may vary between 73 and 76 ft. above tide. The fifth level ends at the single lock at Mi- raflores. Its water plane may oscillate between 17 and 20 ft. above tide. Beyond the lock the Pacific level is reached. Here allowance is made for a tidal range of 9.8 above and 3 below the main level. The summit. level will be supplied with water by a feeder conveying water drawn from the Chagres at Alhajuela, about 9.5 miles from the canal. The needful reserve will be re- stored by a masonry dam established on rock in a gorge of the valley. This dam will form a great reservoir, intended in part to store the reserves needed in the season of low water and in part to co-operate with the lake of Bohio in holding back a portion of the volume in great floods and thus controlling them. : The normal width at the bottom of the canal will vary in the different levels. For that of the Atlantic it is 98.5 ft. with two great passing stations where it is 197 ft. In the channel through Lake Bohio it is 164 ft.; in the summit level, 118 ft.: in the next two levels and in the land part of the CULEBRA CUT, LOOKING NORTH. [Copyrighted, 1904, by W. H. Rau. In consequence this plan appeared to _ the new company to. present the ad- _ vantage of equal- izing the delays of the work of. exca- vation on the one : hand and of those fee oof permanent con- m struction on the "other, but the ¢x- perience acquired by the company at the central cut as to its geological consistency and stability combined to induce the be- lief that 'the cen- tral cut could be securely carried to a greater depth if it were possible to accomplish it with- in the time de- manded by the concession to com- plete the rest of the canal. The plan of the canal as projected by the new com- pany. exactly fol- lows that adopted by the old com- pany. and thus util- izes the extensive excavations made by the latter. The essential difference between the two plans lies in this: The old company sought to achieve a canal at the ocean level but near the end of its existence it decided to avail itself provisionally of a plan with locks which subsequently was to be transformed into a canal at the original ocean level. To reach such a solution the old company had to overcome two considerable difficulties--the excavation of the great central cut to a depth of 129.5 ft. below the sea level and the creation of a new bed for the Chagres outside of the canal which for a long distance occupied the natural bed. This was the state of affairs when the Spanish-American war broke out and changed entirely the political aspect. At that time Senator Morgan was eloquently urging the con- struction of an Isthmian canal along the Nicaragua route. It would, of course, be impossible for any private company to compete with a nation so rich and powerful as the United States in an enterprise of this character, and overtures were accordingly made by the French company to sell its proper-