| Favorable
sites for the new locks and their channels were found by a preliminary
survey in the field. With core drills, engineers brought up
samples of subsurface rock, to make sure of a substantial foundation for
the massive concrete lock chambers. Artificial earthquakes,
produced by setting off explosives, prove that rock formations free of
faults. Investigations showed that the present water supply would amply
suffice for both the old and new lock systems. Actual work on the third-lock system will begin at once, with initial funds of $114,000,000 just voted by Congress. As the huge project gets underway, whole new towns will spring up at construction centers. First steps include building roads, relocating railways, and excavating the locks sites and approach channels, which total about ten miles in length. Then will come the building of the giant locks themselves. Fast-moving world events may call for drastic speed-up measures to hasten the mighty engineering feat. Chapter from: The Panama Canal In Peace and War by Norman J. Padelford, 1942 Special Engineering Division
On May 1, 1936, Congress passed, and the President approved, a
resolution authorizing and directing the Governor to study the
possibility of increasing the capacity of the Panama Canal, and to
prepare designs and to submit cost estimates for any new
construction. Pursuant to this, a Special Engineering Section was
created by the Governor on July 1, 1937, to make the necessary
investigations. For a year and a half this Section made a careful
study of the topography, hydrography, and the basic subjects connected
with the project. It explored and sub-surface tested the locations
where additional facilities might be installed. It also tested the
condition of the concrete in the existing locks, with a view to
ascertaining whether strengthening was required in the light of developments
in military science. A report was made by the Governor to the
Congress on February 24, 1939, recommending the adoption of certain
plans for protective work on the existing lock structures, and for the
construction of a new set of locks as well. The recommendations
contained in the report were adopted in substance in an authorization
measure passed by Congress August 11, 1939. The epochal Act
authorized, but did not appropriate the funds for, the construction of
additional facilities, including the third set of locks, additional
approach channels, and other appurtenant works for the purposes of more adequately
providing for the defense of the Canal and for increasing its capacity
to handle vessels longer than one thousand feet or more than one hundred
and ten feet wide. The Special Engineering Division continued its
work subsequently by elaborating the necessary details of blue prints,
designs, maps; the drawing-up of excavation, supply materials, labor
force, and other essential specifications; the designation of spoil
dumps, worker's sites; exact location of new locks and their approach
channels; superintendence of an exhaustive soil, materials, and model
testing program, plus figuring of costs. This Division was place
under the leadership of a Designing Engineer, who, like the heads of the
Dredging Division and Plans Section, was ordered to report directly to
the Engineer of Maintenance. Continue
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