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VOLUME XVI.
GIANT DOCKS
TO BE BUILT
M
Elaborate Plans Evolved
to Make the Canal Aid
American Commerce
—Cost Estimated
at $14,003,030,
ANAMA —Wh i1 e the canal
W/S'Uw builders under Colonel
Kn® Goethals have been making
the dirt fly in the ditch
■ 4 s with such speed as to make
it possible already to set a
date for the opening, the government
has been quietly working out plans
concerning another phase of the great
canal enterprise, plans by which, it is
expected, this country will be able to
reap the full commercial results of
the opening of the link between the
oceans and come into possession of
that great trade empire in the south
ern hemisphere which up till now has
belonged largely to our foreign trade
rivals.
These plans, which have to do with
the docking and transfer facilities at
the two ends of the canal, are in some
respects as important as those of the
actual canal prism. Without them,
in the opinion Os shipping experts
whom President Taft has consulted,
the canal might stand as a tremend
ous monument to the altruism of a
nation and not much else so far as re
gards any advantage this country
might secure over its European rivals
in the trade of South America. One
of the aims which the administration
now has in the development of this
phase of the enterprise is to preclude
the possibility of the canal serving
only to tighten the grip which Europe
now has upon markets w'hlch should
be ours. As it was expressed the other
day by a shipping man, the question
now is: “Shall the canal pay the divi
dends it ought to pay?”
With Germany and Great Britain
equipped as they are with ocean car
riers and their trade tentacles already
fastened upon South America, the pos
sibility that the canal might see a
steady procession of ships flying a for
eign flag has not been lost sight of
by those whn planned the canal nor by
some of the American shipping inter
ests naturally concerned in the mat
ter.
Gigantic Docks Planned.
Because of the importance of the
work which has to do with the actual
digging of the canal itself not much
public attention has been invited to
the plans which have been forming
for the utilization of the canal as a
trade factor. About the first public
Intimatie"' of the extent of these plans
came at the conference of the Pan-
American Trade Union in Washington
when Bernard N. Baker of Baltimore,
who has been intimately connected
with this phase of the canal work
from its inception, outlined to the
conference the government plans for
what it is believed will be the most
complete system of docks and har
bors in the world.
The system of docks described by
Mr. Baker and upon which work al
ready has started will embrace both
the Atlantic and the Pacific end of
the canal. Their initial cost will be
in the neighborhood of $14,000,000.
In order that this country may not
be outstripped at the very start of the
race for trade which will follow the
opening of the waterway the plan Is
Ito have this work at least half com
pleted by the time the canal Is opened
fend in such a state as to be available
for commercial purposes.
The docks proposed for Panama
might be compared to a junction on a
great trunk line, a distributing point
for local freight. The advantage of
having such a system of docks in con
nection with the canal was rea’ly not
foreseen at the time the enterprise
was begun. Beyond protecting the
entrances by breakwaters nothing was
considered except to construct the
canal itself and leave it open to the
nations of the world to get what ad
vantage they could out of it—a fair
field and no favors, as ft were.
Expert Opinion Sought.
With work actually started on the
Kanai, however, the question of its
iproper utilization began to loom up
pretty large. The first man to con
sider this aspect seriously was Mr.
'Roosevelt’s secretary of war, Luke E.
iWright. Mr. Roosevelt also became
Interested, and together they sent for
Snuintim Sulkim.
NUMBER 24.
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Showing Steamship and barge lines made possible by the canal and thd
great docks at Balboa.
Mr. Baker, the organizer and builder
of the Atlantic Transport line, who
since his retirement from business has
taken a deep interest in this country’s
commercial development and has been
regarded as an expert on the subject.
Mr. Baker quickly pointed out to
Mr. Roosevelt and Secretary Wright
that the canal enterprise lacked a
business end, which it should have;
that it should embrace some system
of docks the advantage of which could
be seized by this country’s shipping.
Given such a system of docks, said
Mr. Baker, permitting the transfer of
South and Central American freight
at the terminal of the canal from
trunk lines of steamships, the capture
of the great markets of the south
might with confidence be left to the
country’s shipping interests.
Two Miles of Docks.
The extreme length of the land re
served for these docks is two miles,
but only about two-thirds.of this is to
be Improved immediately. That ships
will have no trouble in turning be
tween the two lines of piers is indi
cated by the fact that from pierhead
to pierhead, across the intervening
basin, the distance will be 3,000 feet,
or more than the fairway on the Hud
son. Taking in the length of the
piers it will be nearly a mile across.
Here are some other figures: Area
of slips, 4,231,250 square feet; wharf
frontage, 42,000 square feet; length
of turning basin, 4,600 feet.
One of the most interesting features
In connection with the piers is their
slanting direction. They will slant
toward the canal. This was decided
upon by experts In the matter, for the
reason that it will enable ships to
run into them more easily from either
direction, allowing them to dispense
with the use of tugs and to go in
under their own steam. It will also
obviate difficulties that would other
wise be encountered by reason of the
20-foot tide thei^.
Where the Pacific piers are to be
there is now a swamp. To construct
the basin it will be necessary to
dredge this to a depth of 35 feet at
mean tide. The excavated material
will be used to fill in other parts of
the swamp to make ground for the
transfer yards of the Panama railroad,
which is to extend around the basin
with a spur of track running on to
each nier.
At projected now these docks on
the 1 aclflc side will be probably the
largest and most completely appointed
system of docks in the world. The
new Tilbury docks at London have
a water area of only 70 acres to com
pare with the area of 271 acres of the
Panama turning basin alone. What
is more, these docks are to be
equipped with the most modern elec
tric cargo handling machinery, in
cluding huge overhead electrical
cranes and a system of escalators for
handling ’tween deck cargoes, the en
tire system to be operated probably
by water power developed at the Mira
flores dam.
Docks on the Atlantic.
The docks to be erected at the At
lantic side are not so extensive, as
they are intended merely for the
berthing of steamers while waiting
to enter the canal and for the han
dling of such supplies and material
as are necessary for that end. Never
theless these piers will be worthy of
admiration.
The improvements at this end con
template the dredging out of an an
chorage basin a mile long and 3,625
feet wide and the construction of four
concrete piers of the same size as at
the Pacific docks. The basin will ad
join the canal channel, which is
dredged out to Limon bay.
The improvements at the Atlantic
IRWINTON, WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1911.
end it is estimated will cost in thv
neighborhood of $4,000,000 and thos^
at the Pacific end $10,000,000. Thll
will come out of the general cans!
fund.
When these improvements are com
pleted it will be possible for a ship tl
load at New York, for example, wiUi
freight for the Pacific coast and alsi
with freight for Central and SoutS
America. The former class of freight
would be put in the hold and the lat
ter between decks. She would theS
sail through the canal to the great
docks at the Pacific end, where await
ing her would be perhaps some of the
twin screw oil-burning barges de
scribed by Mr. Baker.
Freight Easily Transshipped.
They would make fast to her inside
the slip and by means of the escala*
tors would take her between-decl!
cargo Intended for Central American,
points. Possibly her terminus might
be these Pacific docks and the cargo
in her hold intended for Peru and
Chile. In that case great electrio
cranes would transfer this cargo tc
the docks, moving it at the rate est
1,000 tons an hour. From the docks ft
would be put aboard regular wess
coast steamers, of which there is al
ready one line running to Peru, which
will probably be extended to Chile.
Once empty such a vessel woulf
load up with cargo brought from th?
east or from South America. While
of course these docks are to be opened
to all ships, their advantage to this
country lies in the fact that such facil
ities for transporting American goods
means the opening of a trade door
which has heretofore been shut, giving
our Atlantic coast ports for the first
time a chance to compete with and
even to outstrip the European ship
ping concerns which have been sup
plying South America and Central
America by regular steamers running
through the Straits of Magellan.
To understand the possibilities
which this will open up one should
draw a line from some of the Atlantic
ports down to Valparaiso, making it
go through the canal. By reason of
the peculiar bend of the isthmus such
a line would be almost a straight
north and south line. Freight may be
shipped from New York by a 16-knot
boat through the canal to Valparaiso,
transferred there to the railroad
across the Andes and delivered at
Buenos Ayres six days ahead of
freight carried in the same boat from
New York down the east coast of
South America to the Argentine cap
ital. It could be transshipped at
Buenos Ayres and taken up to Rio
Janeiro in two days quicker time.
As was brought out at the confer
ence in Washington, the total foreign
commerce of the Central American
countries Venezuela and Ecuador in
1909 amounted to $135,000,000. Os
this amount only $27,000,000 was with
this country. In other words these na
tions bought here 64 cents worth of
the products when they spent $3.58 it;
the European markets. Chile anA
Peru imported $15,000,000 of com
modies from this country out of their
total imports of $125,000,000. Thia
was by reason of the control Europe
has had of their trade through the
Strait of Magellan.
What is confidently expected to fol
low the projection of these docks and
facilities at Panama is the establish
ment of a number of new American
steamship lines. It is said that plans
are already being made by certain in
terests for distributing freight from
the canal.
The Ballot In Bolivia.
Only citizens who are able to real
and write have the power to vote 1/
Bolivia.
To Our Friends
The Buyers
Our Mr. Myrick has just returned from New
York, Baltimore and Philadelphia, where he went
to buy
Our Spring and
Summer Purchases
We just want to say that this year’s offerings
are the best ever shown by us—if you have ever
dealt here you know what this means—the best for
the least money. If you are not a customer of
ours, we would like to have you call on us. Let us
go over the same with you fully; let us show you
how and what it means to deal here.
THE “BIG STORE” IDEA
is different from others. We want you to know
this store as we know it. Come and see us when
in Milledgeville; we will be glad to see you; our
welcome will be hearty if you only come to look us
over. Yours for big business.
W. S. Myrick & Co.
“Milledgeville’s Big Store’.’
§I.OO A YEAR.
