??-/-3/7-(c 3j Gift ofthe Panama Canal Museum wt

Vol. 6, No. 9 BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE, APRIL 6, 1956 5 cents

Apprentices Will Hold ZONIANS SET Fiftieth Birthday Party TO WATCH TV

IN OWpOMES

Installation of television sets in Canal Zone homes was begun last month by the Commis- sary Division following an an- nouncement that the Armed Forces station will soon begin regular telecast programs. In connection with television in the Canal Zone, a revision of General Order No. 22 has been issued, pertaining to out- door antennas for radio and television. The revision brings up-to-date the regu- lations for such installations to conform with the National Electrical Code. The regulations cover all outside antenna installations including those for radio and for amateur broadcasting. Applications for the installation of SENIOR APPRENTICE ALUMNI on the Atlantic side, still in service, are these four. Left to antenna systems on houses under the right, they are: Alexander McKeown, Winchell T. Pennock, Albert MeKeown, and Russell Parsons, jurisdiction of the Canal Zone Govern- ment may be obtained from their housing offices by employees. Those who install outside antennas £l have been cautioned to make applications and install their equipment to conform with the new regulations. The installa- tion will be subject to inspection by the Engineering and Construction Bureau to insure that the code requirements and other regulations have been met. Indoor antennas will not require approval. Programs In May According to the recent announcement, test-pattern telecasting is scheduled to be started about mid-April and regular pro- gram telecasting early in May for the Pacific side. Telecast programs from the Atlantic side Armed Forces station will be sometime later, depending upon deliv- ery of transmission equipment for relay- ing signals across the Isthmus. The television sets being sold by the Commissary Division are equipped with "rabbit ears," or indoor antennas. The sets are being installed by the distributors in Panama. SENIOR APPRENTICE ALUMNI on the Pacific side are these three: Kenneth M. Edwards and The first orders for television sets were John L. Reese, Jr., of Pedro Miguel Locks, and R. E. Seavey, of the Balboa Gas Plant. taken just before Christmas by the Com- The Panama Canal's apprentices are the Tivoli Guest House next Wednesday missary Division. The first sets were having a birthday party this month, and night is not certain; early returns to received in January but their installation a fiftieth birthday party at that. invitations sent to the former apprentices was deferred pending announcement as to The party will not celebrate the birth- indicate a large turnout. the starting date for telecast programs. day of any of the current crop of appren- The birthday party will take the form The sets being sold by the Commis-

tices, of course. It is, rather, a birthday of a semi-official dinner, complete with saries are built to receive television signals party for the apprentice-training program, wives, filet mignon, a toastmaster, and on 25- or 60-cycle current and therefore which is in its fiftieth year this year. speakers. As this issue of The Review will not require conversion when the In addition to the 36 young men who went to press Gov. J. S. Seybold was to change is made in the power system

are taking four-year apprenticeships in address the 1 1 young men who have com- supplying the various communities. 18 crafts, there are 212 former appren- pleted or who will complete their four- A note of caution concerning reception Zone tices—graduates of the program in the year apprenticeships this year. Seven of television signals in the Canal Canal service. Just how many of them of them are or will be wiremen, two, was sounded by Governor Seybold at his

will be able to attend the celebration at pipefitters, one, a boiler- (Nor page 15) last conference with Civic (See page 15) THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956

Psychiatric Social Worker Leads Off Careful Study Needed

REVIEW'S New "One-Of-A-Kind" Series For Analysis Of Bids

On Lock Locomotives

Initial cost will be but one of many important factors to be given considera- tion by Canal officials during the next few weeks as they analyse and evaluate bids opened late last month to replace the 67 Locks towiDg locomotives now in use. Machines to do an unusual job safely and with complete reliability under tropical weather conditions for a period of several decades are needed. Many of the "electric mules" now in service are well over 40 years old and long, careful con- sideration will be given to their replace- ment. Proposals for their replacement were received from three large manufactureis of industrial equipment: International General Electric Company, R. G. Le- Tourneau, Inc., and Sandy Hills Iron and Brass Works—with the lowest unit price being slightly over $130,000, entered by General Electric. LeTourneau entered a proposal for a new type of towing locomotive which would require only 30 to do the job of all those now in service at a total price of THE INFECTIOUS SMILE and charming personality of Elizabeth' Murphey, psychiatric social worker at Gorgas Hospital, pat her patients and visitors at their ease. Here she tells an interviewer: $4,982,400, or about $166,000 a unit. "Never since I was a little girl have I ever wanted to do anything except what I am now doing." Biggest Replacement This will be the largest single replace- Elizabeth B. Murphey is not only the has Murphey never wanted to do any- ment order placed for Canal equipment only medical-psychiatric social worker in thing except the work in which she is since the waterway was opened. It is is the first the Canal Zone. She also now engaged. Born in Philadelphia, she made necessary by the power-conversion person who has ever held such a position attended the Friends' Select School there. program as it was considered more eco- thus is doubly qualified to lead here and Always Main Interest nomical to buy new towirg locomotives off this new Review feature. than to convert those now in use, some "My interest in social work," she says handsome, soft-spoken, white-coated A of which are nearing the end of their today, "was first aroused by my Quaker but very feminine woman, she is on duty useful life and would have to be replaced. teachers, whose deep faith in the inherent five a week in the Neuro-Psychi- days Other phases of the Power Conversion worth of the individual and his right to Clinic at Gorgas Hospital helping atric Project continued apace during the past make his own choice in life early became the doctors who help Zonians unwind. few weeks. Some delay will be experi- part of my own philosophy. They made She has been with the Canal organization enced in the conversion of an opportunity for me to understand the domestic 1954, when the position since September equipment at Margarita which social problems of race discrimination, was sched- was created to fill a long-felt need in the uled to start this week. The work is poor housing, financial need, and the now- Canal Zone's medical services. scheduled to start April 16. emotional problems of frustration and The post- "In my job as Psychiatric Social ponement was made necessary late inadequacy, and aroused interest in by Worker," she told The Panama Canal my delivery of necessary materials doing volunteer work at a settlement caused by Review, "I work as an assistant to the the strike at Westinghouse Electric house in the slum area, sponsored Com- Psychiatrist in evaluating the social and by the school." pany plants. emotional elements of patients' problems It has also been announced that the In her first job, she performed family and their motivation for treatment." opening of bids for the Central casework, investigated families which Area con- Social Casework version will be postponed from needed assistance, and helped widows and April 4 until April 16 to give prospective bidders Her job, of course, also involves social small children who had been referred to additional time to study the project. casework, for which she was trained at the agency. Later, in the Philippines, connection with the Goucher College in Baltimore and at the from which she and her children were In beginning of conversion of frequency-sensitive Worden School of Social Service of Our evacuated not long befoie Pearl Harbor, equip- the Electrical Division Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio, she did rehabilitation and repatriation ment, has called attention to the fact that more power Tex. work with American women stranded in interruptions are likely during the "Casework," she explained, "is a form the islands. Before she came to the con- version period. Most Canal Zone areas of relationship-therapy by which an Canal Zone she worked in Pediatrics and alternate individual is helped to mobilize the latent Child Guidance at Brooke Army Hospital are served by feeder lines. During conversion periods of these strengths in his personality for the solving in San Antonio, Tex. some lines will supply 60-cycle and the others of his own problems." In less technical Mrs. Murphey will be leaving the language, she helps the patient to Isthmus soon with her Army doctor 25-cycle current. If a power outage occurs it will in many cases be necessary to make help himself. husband, Col. Henry S. Murphey, who repairs rather than switch to an alternate Her work brings her into close contact is just ending a tour as Chief of the Eye, with patients of all ages but she does all Ear, Nose, and Throat Service at Gorgas feeder line without noticeable interruption. of the interviewing of adolescent girls. Hospital. Their two children are already Complex Bids They may have come to the clinic because in the United States, their daughter as a Much interest was aroused in the they realized they were tangled emotion- graduate student in the School of Social opening of bids for the replacement of the ally in school or social problems, they Economics at Bryn Mawr, and their son towing locomotives, not only because of may have been brought by their parents, in pre-medies at Princeton. the size of the project but also by the or the visit may have been suggested by fact that the Panama Canal Company

I Editor's Note: This is the first of the school nurse or principal. a had invited manufacturers to submit series of stories on the "singletons" in the In hourly interviews weekly, the girls plans and prices for any new mechanism Canal organization the men and women are helped to adjust toward school or to handle ships in Locks. pro- who hold one-of-a kind jobs, either in the the The society. Panama Canal Company or the Canal Zone posal by LeTourneau was submitted As long as she can remember, Mrs. Government.) under this phase of the (See page W) APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL' REVIEW

New Railroad Crossing Paul Runnestrand Appointed Zone' s New Executive Secretary Will Be Opened Soon the Governor-President on policy matters concerning the Government of Panama, Maintenance Division forces this week diplomatic and consular missions, and began the resurfacing of the section of private commercial and non-commercial (iaillard Highway between the Corozo interests in the Republic of Panama and Street Crossing and the main entrance of also in the Canal Zone. Albrook Air Force Base. His responsibilities include staff coordi- It is expected that this phase of the nation and supervision of policies and Gaillard Highway improvement program regulations concerning contraband con- will be completed within the next two trol, Canal Zone purchase privileges, weeks and the section will be reopened eligibility to engage in business activities to traffic April 23. The new Walker in the Zone, and the eligibility of persons Avenue extension across the raihoad to enter, reside, or remain in the Zone. tracks will also be completed on that date. He represents the Office of the Governor The Gaillard Highway work is the in policy matters concerning administra- largest single street improvement project tion of laws governing foreign corpora- planned for this fiscal year. It includes tions, including insurance companies, and

resurfacing the road from the bound- of the securities sales law. He is custo- ary line to Diablo Crossing, installation dian of the Canal Zone Seal and performs of traffic lights at the principal inter- consular and related duties. sections, the extension of Walker Avenue As Executive Assistant to the President in Diablo Heights across the railroad, and of the Company, Mr. Runnestrand serves construction of a new street to connect as staff adviser, participates in the Frangipani Street in Ancon with Tivoli PAUL M. RUXNESTRAXI) formulation of policies, and in general Crossing. renders executive assistance to the Presi- The Maintenance Division is doing all dent. His duties include initiating, coor- of the street work; the traffic signals will Paul M. Runnestrand, who has just dinating, or reviewing programs, reports, completed 15 years of continuous service be installed under contracts awarded and correspondence involving committees several weeks ago. with the Canal organization, became and members of Congress or the Board of remainder of the street work on Executive Secretary of the Canal Zone The Directors of the Panama Canal Company. the highway will be done in short sections Government on April 1. He will also Mr. Runnestrand is a native Min- and these will be closed to all traffic while continue to hold the title and perform nesotan and was graduated from the work is underway. When the present the duties of Executive Assistant to the University of Minnesota with a bachelor phase is completed, the section of highway President of the Panama Canal Company. of law degree in 1 938. He joined the between Corozo Street Crossing and the With the dual title and duties, Mr. Canal organization in 1941 as Associate entrance to the Civil Affairs Building at Runnestrand will be one of the Governor's Attorney in the General Counsel's Office the Albrook hangar will be closed. The top advisers in both Company and Gov- and was promoted to Assistant General next section to be closed will be that be- ernment affairs. Counsel in August 1948. He is a mem- tween the hangar and the entrance to As Executive Secretary he is a prin- ber of the bar of the Minnesota Supreme Curundu, with work on the remaining cipal adviser, liaison officer, and respon- Court, Canal Zone District Court, the section scheduled last. sible staff representative of the Office of United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. The new Executive Secretary was Minimum Wage Hearing transferred to the Canal's Washington Office in August 1953 to become Assistant Secretary of the Panama Canal Company. He returned to the Isthmus six months ago when he became Executive Assistant to the Governor-President.

April 16 Is Final Date

For Paying Income Taxes

A large number of Canal Zone residents have already filed their final tax returns on income for the calendar year 1955 and have made estimates of the income they expect to earn during 1956, but all others must file their returns and declarations of estimated tax not later than April 16. Due date for taxes for the previous

year and for tax estimates is ordinarily April 15 but the closing date has been extended one day this year because April 15 falls on Sunday.

The balance of the 1955 tax is payable

in full when the return is made and at of tax THE SECOND Congressional hearing in the Canal Zone in a three-month period took place last least a quarter the 1956 estimated is return. month when members of a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Labor and due with that

Education visited the Isthmus. The Congressmen took testimony to be studied in connection with a Because they live outside the conti- bill which would exempt the Canal Zone from the Federal Minimum Wage Law. After hearing nental United States, Zonians have an

Company-Government, contractor, labor, and employee representatives here, the subcommittee automatic extension to June 15 for final

returned to Washington where Governor Seybold appeared before them. Above, members of the returns for 1955. Those who take ad-

subcommittee confer before the beginning of one session here. Left to right, they are: Fred C. vantage of this extension, however, will

Hussey, Committee Clerk; Russell C. Derrickson, Chief Investigator; Rep. Carl Elliott, of Alabama. pay an additional 1 percent interest on

Chairman; Rep. Sam Coon, of Oregon; and Rep. Orvin B. Fjare, of Montana. the unpaid balance of any taxes due. THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956 Zonian' s Camera Discloses World Beneath The Sea

Armed with movie and still cameras, in addi- tion to the customary spearguns, aqualungs, and fins of the skin diver, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Mann of Balboa are spending their spare time recording some of the world which lies beneath Isthmian waters. Skilled swimmers and skilled photographers, they decided to combine their two hobbies when they found themselves without words to describe some of the amazing fish and corals which they found at the bottom of the seas off the coast of Panama. And, incidentally, to provide a record of some of their expeditions. So far they have explored some of the ocean bottom off the San Bias Islands and have made diving and photographic trips to many of the islands in Panama Bay. They have encountered sharks and barracudas, which they regard with caution; they have come face to face with huge jewfish which were so friendly that they "hogged the lens;" and they have swum amidst schools of brilliantly colored fish of other varieties. The clearest water, they have found, has been off the San Bias. There, also, are stupendous beds of coral of many kinds. They have seen their biggest fish in the Pacific but the water there is frequently so murky that photography is difficult. Just the other day, however, the THE MANNS, above, are equipped for a combination photographic and spear underwater light was good at the same time a fishing expedition. Schools of fish, below, are not disturbed by the camera. fellow diver speared a big jewfish. Mr. Mann hopes he has the battle safely recorded on his film. Other than waterproof cases for their camera, they are not working with special cameras. The pictures on this page were taken with a Paxtet 35 mm. camera. Mr. Mann, whose working hours are spent in the Engineering Division, uses home-made heavy plexiglass boxes to enclose the 35 mm. camera and the 8 mm. Revere movie camera. A rubber-covered control shields the winding stem of the movie camera and similar rubber sheaths

cover the film wind and shutter of the still camera. He has yet, however, to devise some method of adjusting the lens opening of either camera and must work with fixed focus and spetd. He uses Kodachrome or Ektachrome film, a speed of l/50th of a second, and lens openings according to the light.

BEDS OF CORAL and big grouper, hiding in rock clefts, attract underwater swimmers off San Bias islands Rk V V \ < ' aflH X f *2 V ^m^* APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW The Sky's The Limit For Stargazers In Newest Canal Zone Hobby Group

At an abandoned Army position on the outskirts of Gatun where nothing lies between them and the horizon, a group of Atlantic siders are stargazing. Almost any night up to half a dozen of them may be found there scanning the bright, dry- season skies through their telescopes. The stargazers are members of the Panama Canal Astronomy Club, newest of the hobby groups among Canal em- ployees. All of them are amateurs, they emphasize; they would have included "amateur" in the name of their club had they not felt that the title would then have been too long. So far they are not interested in the declination of the stars or the perihelion and aphelion of the planets, though these technical aspects of the oldest science in the world may come later. Right now they are still quite literally wide-eyed at the celestial wonders their telescopes have disclosed the great craters of the moon, the snowy-white rings of Saturn, the satellites surrounding Jupiter, and the blood-red star in the center of the Southern Cross. And for some of them their stargazing has opened up a new field -mythology. They want to know the stories behind the WITH TELESCOPES like these. Atlantic side stargazers scan the night skies. Behind the instru- is constellations, why Cassiopea seated in ments are Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Herrman, of Gatun. The 8-inch telescope was built by Mr. Herrman. her chair? why Orion is hunting with his two dogs? and who were the twins? for the amateur astronomy clubs in the graphic plate. In some reflecting tele- Began With Telescope United States. scopes the light is reflected again to a The founders and leaders of the Pana- As the knowledge of its members secondary mirror and comes to a focus ma Canal Astronomy Club are Mr. and increases, the Club hopes to chart the either to the side or after passing through Mrs. Charles Eugene Herrman of Gatun, Isthmian skies, supplementing and adding a hole in the principal mirror. The and the club, by and large, is an out- to the sky maps prepared some years ago famed Palomar telescope in California, growth of Mr. Herrman's interest in by Clarence True. They will also make with its 200-inch mirror, is a reflector. telescopes. Several years ago when they reports, as amateur astronomers do the In a refractor telescope, the light falls were living in Diablo Heights Mr. Herr- world over, to the Harvard University; onto a lens which converges the rays to a man, whose father was an amateur astron- data from such amateur reports has more focus where the image may be magnified omei, decided to build a telescope. His than once started the experts on the trail by a second lens in the eyepiece. instrument, a 6-inch reflector, was first of an important astronomical discovery. Bigger The Better constructed from diagrams in books from Later on Mr. Hen-man expects that the The larger the lens or mirror in the the Canal Zone Library. Panama Canal Astronomy Club, like telescope, the farther into space the The instrument opened up such won- other such groups, will be called on to astronomer can see. With the Club's 3- drous new fields for the Herrmans and keep a constant check on the man-made inch instrument, for instance, an observer some of their friends that they talked of satellite which the United States plans can see two of the black surface bands organizing a club for those with similar to launch into space. Their reports will which distinguish Jupiter. But through interests. Before anything could come provide information to add to that col- the 8-inch instrument many more bands of their plans the Herrmans moved to lected by professional observers. are clearly defined. Four of the planet's Gatun and he had built another larger And as time goes on, some of the mem- 1 1 moons are distinguishable through any telescope—this one with a S-inch mirror. bers may begin to specialize, as a good of the Club's instruments. Not long after last Christmas Mr. and many other amateurs do. Some of them Mr. Herrman spent over a year on his Mrs. Hen-man and Mr. and Mrs. Fay M. may concentrate on nebulae, some on the 8-inch telescope and most of this was Brown, of Margarita, who had been in on moon with its fantastic ranges of moun- devoted to the long, slow process of the earlier discussion of an astronomy tains and gaping craters, and others on grinding, shaping, and polishing the mir- society, decided to "stop talking and do meteors or comets. ror. He did all of the work himself, something concrete." A few nights later Four Telescopes starting the grinding process with car- John H. Leach, of New Cristobal, Mr. borundum and continuing with success- and Mis. Chester S.Harrold, of Margarita, Some of the members of the Astr raomy ively finer abrasives. For the final and Theodore L. Bailey, of Gatun got Club are working with "boughten" instru- polishing he used rouge. together with the Herrmans and the ments, some with those they have made Browns and the club was organized. themselves, and others have telescopes in Commendation various stages of completion. When he had finished the mirror, he Looking Ahead At the present time they have, among sent it to Springfield, Yt., where experts

At every subsequent meeting of the them, the 8-inch telescope which Mr. coated it with aluminum to increase its group the membership has increased; on Herrman made, a 6-inch owned by Mr. reflecting power. His work had been so March 14, 15 persons turned out for the Leach and a 3-inch instrument owned by well done that the minor was returned Club's first Star Party to S3e the moon Mr. and Mrs. Brown; these are all the with a letter of high commendation from and the bright planet Venus. When the reflector type. The other of the four the Springfield specialists. Club is formally incorporated in May, its owned by Club members is a 60-mm. Mr. Herrman is president of the new members will pay $3 annual dues for an refractor. club and Mr. Leach its vice president. individual or $4.50 for a family member- In a reflector type instrument, a con- Other officers are: Mrs. Fay Brcwn, ship, and the Club will eventually become cave minor throws the images from the Secretary, and Mrs. Herrman, Treasurer. associated with the Astronomical League, sky back toward the upper end of the The group meets about twice a month in headquarters for which are in Washing- telescope where they fall on the eyepiece the homes of members and on special ton. The league is the parent association or, in some instruments, on a photo- occasions in the Margarita Service Center. THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956

FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GUIDANCE CCIDENT PREVENTION i e& i~i— i&t

LYE phone for the plumber. Don't use lye in an accident in which the driver is at or other clean-out materials. fault must stay in jail until his victim of using lye The practice of individuals recovers. to open up sluggish sink drains sometimes In Johannesburg, South Africa, the VISIONS when a plumber has to creates a hazard penalty for driving while intoxicated is the drain for cleaning. Employees open a fine of $2,800 or 10 years in jail or both. What was the most exciting thing you hands have experienced burns on their ever sawl What was the funniest thing? and in one case an eye injury occurred. SHOCK The most heartwarming thing? In addition to creating a hazard, the. The bravest? You may be in for a shocking surprise The most mystifying? combination of lye, grease in the drain, most unusual? The most pictures- if you're not in the steady habit of The and cold water, forms soap and may grounding electrical tools. que? The sweetest? The most remem- cause the drain to become completely Maybe you've been a little lazy about berable? stopped. not such this in the past. If so, it's time for a Think about them! Are If your sink does not drain properly, change —to avoid a charge. things worth using goggles and constant Make certain the ground wire on caution to protect your eyesight? every portable electric tool is attached to SAFE DRIVING TIP HONOR ROLL a suitable ground before inserting the try to drive as your family Bureau Award For plug. Report unprotected tools to your Always if foreman. were in the other car. BEST RECORD A short circuit can give you such a jolt FEBRUARY you may lose your balance and fall. If ~| you're standing on wet ground the shock HIGHWAY ZOO COMMUNITY SERVICES BUREAU can kill you!

CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU Nowadays, the thing to put aside for one's old age is all thought of retirement. AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR ONE SIDED LIFT 2 Community Services Safe lifting is not all summed up in the 1 Civil Affairs familiar "lift with the legs instead of the 1 Health back" rule. Among the practices to 1 Supply keep in mind is to keep the load shared Transportation and Terminals 1 equally by both sides of the body. Construction Engineering and If you lift an object without facing it Marine squarely, or if you carry it on one side, The ELEPHANT you may be in for some trouble. You're

not only off balance and your feet less This is the big, stalwart, unpassable Award For plants himself in the middle Division sure, but also you're probably throwing type who road and slowly plods along. DISABLING INJURIES too much load on one side of your back. of the NO Accused of being a traffic hazard, he Don't be in line for a strain by out-of-line looks hurt and surprised ond says, FEBRUARY lifting. 20!" "Who me? I was only going SERVICE CENTER DIVISION In the Central American country of San NA7IONAI SAFETY COUNOI DREDGING DIVISION Salvador, a motorist who injures a person ELECTRICAL DIVISION MOTOR TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE DIVISION Disabling Injuries per 1,000,000 Man-Hours Worked

FEBRUARY 1956 ( Frequency Rale) RAILROAD DIVISION STOREHOUSES DIVISION Community Services Bureau HOUSING DIVISION Civil Affairs Bureau SANITATION DIVISION W Transportation and Terminals Bureau AIDS TO NAVIGATION Supply Bureau

AWARDS THIS CALENDAR YEAR Engineering and Construction Bureau

Aids to Navigation 2 C. Z. Govt.-Panama Canal Co. (This Month) Grounds Maintenance 2 Marine Bureau Housing 2 Motor Transportation 2 Health Bureau ^^ Railroad 2

I Last 3-Year Av.! San i ta tion 2 C.Z. Govt.-Panama Canal Co. Service Center 2 Storehouses 2 Commissary Number o( Disabling Injuries 8 Man-Hours Worked 2,278,037 Dredging Electrical LEGEND Hospitalization and Clinics Panama Canal Company Last 3-Year Average Industrial Amount Better Than Canal Zone Government— Maintenance 3- Year Average ] Amount Worse Than Canal Zone Government—Panama Canal I 'ompany Last Na viga tion

Terminals Accumulative Frequency Rate This Year Locks. APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

,^fr>fc.L

Official TOURISTS EVERYWHERE Panama Canal Company Publication Published Monthly At BALBOA HEIGHTS, CANAL ZONE

Printed by the Printing Plant Mount Hope, Canal Zone

John S. Seybold, Governor-President

H. W. Schull, Jr. Lieutenant Governor

William G. Arey, Jr. Public Information Officer

J. Rufus Hardy, Editor Eleanor H. McIlhenny

Assistant Editor

SUBSCRIPTION—$1.00 a year

SINGLE COPIES—5 cents each

On sale at all Panama Canal Service Cen- ters, Commissaries, and Hotels for 10 days after publication date.

SINGLE COPIES BY MAIL— 10 cents each

BACK COPIES— 10 cents each

On sale, when available, from the Vault Clerk, Third Floor, Administration Building, Balboa Heights.

Postal money orders should be made pas- SCENES like these above have been common all the present dry season when thousands of tourists nocked to see the locks and the Canal. The tup picture shows part of one large group just after they able to the Treasurer, Panama Canal Com- had left the ferry Presidente Pottos and were taking a quick look at Pedro Miguel Locks. The lower pany, and mailed to Editor, The Panama picture shows the ferry on one of the 35 trips made for tourists so far this year. Canal Review, Balboa Heights, C. Z. Nearly 10,000 tourists took a good look divided into 300 lots, will be held Saturday at Gaillard Cut this dry season from aboard April 14 in Building No. 42 at Section I of the Panama Canal excursion ferryboat the General Storehouse located along "Presidente Porras." The visitors, who Diablo Road. arrived on the Isthmus as passengers aboard Among the items listed for sale are bed- SH! a score or more of cruise ships, boarded the room sets, individual dressers, tables, beds, "Presidente Porras" either at Gamboa or refrigerators, chairs, and such miscellane- Pedro Miguel and took a one-way trip ous articles as canned goods, a suitcase through the Cut as part of their tour of the and contents, uphclstery material, 453 Canal Zone and Panama. cases of pear nectar, 10 boxes of cod fish, During the cruise season, which this year a case of engine parts, a road maintain er began in December and continued through and other construction equipment, and March, the "Presidente Porras" made 35 tires out of stock. scheduled trips with an average of 250 Inspection of the property offered for sale passengers each trip. Twenty-six of the can be made by prospective bidders in trips were southbound from Gamboa to Building 42 on April n, 12, and 13, be- Pedro Miguel and nine were northbound. tween the hours of 7 a. m. to n a. m. and A total of 6,974 visitors took the southbound from 12 noon until 4 p. m. The auction trip and 2,360 went in the other direction. will begin at 9 a. m. Saturday and will In addition to scheduled tourist trips, the continue until all articles are sold. "Presidente Porras," was used during the If the residential sections of the Canal past two months by 175 students from the Zone have a new and gayer look these days, Canal Zone Latin American schools; 400 it is mainly because of the bright red paint students from the U. S.-rate schools; and being used on the sidewalk guard rails. 850 students from the Republic of Panama Formerly painted white, the guard rails for special excursions through the Canal got a coat of fire engine red when the from Gamboa to Pedro Miguel. Maintenance Division gave them their In an effort to get an overall picture of regular coat of paint last month. Since whether Canal employees desire group hos- white is more visible at night, however, pitalization and the type of coverage they white paint is still being used on the guard prefer, all U. S.-rate employees have been rails along Canal Zone highways. asked to complete questionnaires sent out The Ancon Optical Shop, now located in late last month on this subject. The ques- the Ancon Commissary Annex Building, tionnaires were to be returned by today. will be moved next week to a new location The survey is being made by a special in Balboa. Together with the Ancon Com- committee composed of Canal administra- missary Annex, it will close Saturday after- tion, labor, and Civic Council representa- noon at the end of the day's business and tives which was formed at the suggestion of will reopen Tuesday morning in Balboa, in FINGER TO LIPS, the Lady in White warns visitors Governor Seybold. The committee is the old Balboa Dispensary building where headed by F. G. Dunsmoor, Administrative to Gorgas and Coco Solo Hospitals that sick patients it will occupy the office formerly occupied Assistant to the Governor-President. need quiet. Enlargements of this photograph, taken by the Contraband Control Section. Oper- furniture, miscellaneous ation hours will remain the same from by C. S. LaClair, Official Photographer, were posted Surplus un- — claimed baggage and freight, tires, and 8:30 a. m. to 12:30 p. m. and from 2:30 to last week at strategic locations in the two hospitals. construction machinery, will go on the 5:30 p. m. At the same time the Ancon The model was Mrs. Veronica Rosa, whose husband auction block again this month. The sale, Commissary Annex operations will be was until recently on the Gorgas Hospital staff. which will include hundreds of items, transferred to the Balboa Commissary. THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956 Oldest Zone Bank Plays Vital Part In Canal Operation, Employees' Lives

to their families back home. In Panama City the first office of the International Banking Corporation was at the northwest corner of Avenue A and 6th Street, not far from the present post office building, then the headquarters for the Isthmian Canal Commission. In 1906 the bank moved to the corner of Central Avenue and 7th Street, where Preciado's book store is now located. Although this was a somewhat precarious site —a speeding fire engine once failed to round a corner and crashed through the bank's front window—the banking offices remained there until J.928 when they were moved to their present location on Central Avenue. Life Was Fun In 1907, the banking firm established a branch at the corner of Front and 7th Streets in Colon where the present Pana- ma Savings Bank now stands. It was originally housed in a three-story frame building. Bank offices occupied the CONSTRUCTION DAY WORKERS did their banking at the Empire Branch of the International ground floor; two dentists had offices on Banking Corporation, now The First National City Bank of New York. This photograph, a real the second floor, and all bank employees relic, was taken about 1908. including the janitor and his wife lived Professionally or personally and sooner that there are these two banks in the on the top floor. Room rent was $3 a or later almost every employee of the Canal Zone and that each has branches month, in those good old days. Canal organization has some dealings in Balboa and Cristobal. But not every- Life was not as serious then as it is with one or both of the two commercial one knows that commercial banking in today for bankers, or anyone else. During banks which have branches in the the Canal Zone antedates the completion working hours, the manager of the Colon Canal Zone. of the Panama Canal. bank could be found quite frequently in Because of their close connection with Senior of the two Canal Zone com- the Strangers Club across the railroad the operations of the inter-oceanic water- mercial banking institutions is The First tracks from the bank building; drafts way and their day-to-day contact with National City Bank of New York. It requiring his signature were taken to the personal life of practically every began its operations on the Isthmus of the club. Zonian, the banks perform some of the Panama in 1904 and in the Canal Zone "After this duty was performed" one most vital functions of any commercial about 1908. It was, first, the Inter- oldtimer said, "the manager resumed his establishments in the Canal Zone. national Banking Corporation. In 1927 more interesting assignments at the club." If a Canal employee is one of those who it became the National City Bank, and The year in which the International are authorized to collect funds—like in 1955 its name was changed, again Banking Corporation opened its first Commissary cashiers, Postmasters, or through a bank merger, to the present Canal Zone Branch is questionable. Old Service Center managers—he is required First National Citv Bank of New York. Canal files contain a letter from the to make deposits to the credit of the Until 1907 or 1908 -the date is uncer- Mayor of Empire to the Executive Secre- Treasurer of the Panama Canal Company tain—men and women who worked in tary of the Isthmian Canal Commission, in one of the two banks. From the the Canal Zone had to travel to Panama dated February 16, 1907, which refers to banks he also obtains his own "working City or Colon to transact any banking the licensing of the International Bank- bank"—the cash with which he makes business, frequently at the loss of a day's ing Corporation in Empire, as of January change, etc. pay. It was not at all unusual to have 1; "they have been conducting a regular If he happens to be the Treasurer of 150 laborers at a time away from their banking business in this district since the Panama Canal Company, he writes jobs right after payday while they were that date," he wrote. checks on the accounts in these banks to arranging with the banks to send money Bank oldtimers here cannot recall any pay for the shrimp or lumber or cattle or any other of the thousand and one items which the Company-Government buys. And last, but certainly not least to the other Canal employees, the Treasurer writes on these banks the paychecks for every Canal employee on the Isthmus. Older Than Canal In taking care of his personal banking affairs, an employee may cash his pay- check at one or the other of the two banks which maintain branches in the Canal Zone or he may have the check deposited to his own personal account. Through the banks in the Canal Zone he may buy travellers' checks, purchase bank drafts, buy or cash government bonds, place orders for securities, transfer funds to an account in the United States, rent a safety-deposit box, or negotiate certain types of loans. The paychecks which Canal employees greet with enthusiasm every other week are written alternately on The First City of and National Bank New York is branch of I today's The \ I \ ; I !RY from the Rank's first Canal Zone branch in Empire Balboa on The Chase Manhattan Bank. Con- First National City Bank. Banking business is transacted un the first floor: the manager and his

' sequently, practically everyone is aware family live up APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

such business and wonder whether the relations between the Canal administra- Mayor was referring to a practice of that tion and the banks in the Canal Zone have day: For some time, they said, the bank been close and cordial for many years. kept representatives "along the line" a An example of this occurred in 1907. couple of weeks out of each month to Inexplicably, and without foundation, a explain banking procedures to Canal run started on the International Bank- employees, particularly those who had ing Corporation. When the depositors come from southern Europe. turned out in droves to withdraw their Empire Days funds they found the counters of the Panama and Colon branches piled high The old tile also contains conespond- coins, of them gold- ence pertaining to IBC plans to open with bills and most pieces—all supplied by the Isthmian branches in Gorgona, Gatun, and Empire; Canal Commission which had been none of these materialized except the assured by cable from the United States Empire branch. It opened for business that the bank was perfectly sound. The in April 1908, in a one-story building as suddenly as it had started. directly opposite the YMCA and be- run stopped was opened tween the Empire courthouse and the When the Panama Canal to ship traffic in 1914 the International post office. Corporation added another oper- The front part of the building housed Banking ation to its already long list of functions. the bank's offices and the rear provided This the matter of guaranteeing fairly primitive living space for two of was the collection of tolls and other expenses the bank staff. The porter, whose duties included preparation of breakfast and for transiting vessels. Simplified, the process works like this: tea for the staff, was understandably JAMES DOROW Line, of the Jane upset one day when he discovered that a Cristobal Branch Manager The XYZ owners MV Allen, is to transit the coral snake had slipped through the which about establishes a credit with spout of the teapot and made itself Panama Canal, of the bank. cozily at home inside. the New York headquarters Hubert Osorio, of the Campo Alegre The New York headquarters then notifies National City's Cristobal section of Panama City, who was the fc the First agent that such a second manager of the Empire Branch, branch and the ship's established to cover tolls recalls that in those days people "worked credit has been 4» and other expenses incident to a normal hard and played hard." Hunting was a favorite after-hours pastime. One night, transit. however, a member of the bank's staff Someone from the Cristobal branch Deposits got into serious trouble when he mistook then informs the Customer Canal Company's a police horse for a deer. Section of the Panama Division- all financial ar- The Canal files refer to another bank Accounting or transit- in the town of Empire. This was the rangements for ships calling at Panama Banking Corporation, which ing the Canal are controlled through this normal expenses later became Isaac Brandon & Sons. Mr. office -that the tolls and Osorio cannot remember where that for the Jane Allen will be paid by the bank. bank was located but does remember that After the Jane Allen has transited the which have one of the Empire saloons did a thriving Canal, the various agencies banking business of a sort. The saloon- provided services for her prepare in- keeper accepted money for safekeeping voices for tolls and other charges and Deposits and, reversing the usual practice, charged send these to the Customer processed, his depositors one percent a month for Section for processing. The the bank's this service. invoices are then sent to For some reason, probably because of BRUCE CARPENTER Cristobal branch and the Panama Canal is with the great number of Spanish, Portuguese, Balboa Branch Manager Company's bank account credited and Italian laborers living and working the amount represented by the invoices. debits against the in the Canal Zone at that time, the The Cristobal branch in Panama City International Banking Corporation main- through the branches credit established by the XYZ Line for Colon. the invoices to tained its savings accounts in "silver," and the ship, and forwards or pesos, and conducted its other trans- Its first post-construction-days branch, their final destination. actions in "gold," or dollars. Since in Balboa, was located in the rear section Zone Staff in space which pesos were worth half of the dollars, of the Balboa Commissary, Both Canal Zone branches of The careful not to overpay been occupied by an ice tellers had to be had formerly First National City Bank are in charge from savings manufacturing plant. This, of course, those withdrawing money of American managers. Bruce H. Car- considerable jests about funds being accounts. led to penter, who has 27 years service with the Back To Zone "in storage"—and similar feeble cold bank—eight of them in the Canal Zone, The Empire branch of the bank closed humor. The branch opened in the old is Manager of the Balboa branch. James about 1914 when the Canal was com- ice plant on December 5, 1938; a little B. Dorow, who is Manager of the Cris- pleted and Empire abandoned. Still years later it moved to its over two tobal branch, has over 20 years of service living on the Isthmus are several of the present location on Balboa Road near with The First National City Bank and bank's employees of those days. Samuel the Balboa Service Center. has been in the Canal Zone for the past Applewhite and Rogelio Boyd are still The First National City Bank is six years. bank employees, and are on duty at the especially proud of this building and of Both of the managers refer their prob- Panama Branch. Other bank oldtimers some of its special features, such as the lems to Leigh R. Cramer, resident Vice are Mr. Osorio, who is acting as manager only drive-in and walk-up banking win- President on the Isthmus. for Artistic Tours; Frank Morrice, Sr., dows on the Isthmus. The bank's busi- In the Balboa branch, Mr. Carpenter cashier of the Pan American Life Insur- ness is transacted on the ground floor; has three official assistants who maintain ance Company in Panama City; Claude the manager and his family live in an personal contact with the bank's cus- Vaz, Manager of the Agencias de Cordoba apartment on the second floor. tomers. They are Mrs. Lillian Mead, in Panama City; and Tomas Paredes, The Cristobal branch's first location Mrs. Theresa Rogers, and Jose A. de la who is now with Cerveceria Nacional. was in the Administration Building, near Ossa. Their combined service is 37 Although the International Banking the present Housing Office. In 1951 the years. In Cristobal, Miss Gladys Pescod Corporation -and later the National City branch was moved to its present quarters and Miguel Sanchez, whose combined Bank held a license to operate in the in the C. B. Fenton—formerly the Hapag- service is 30 years, assist Mr. Dorow in Canal Zone for many years and although Lloyd Building on Steamship Row. the branch's customer contacts. it continued to be an authorized deposi- Close Cooperation (Editor's Note: This is the first of a for Canal funds, the bank did not tory series of two stories on the commercial time there was an again open a branch in the Canal Zone Although for some banks of the Canal Zone. A story on the until 1938. From 1914 to 1938 all of its unexplained official opposition to the Chase Manhattan Bank will appear in an customers transacted their business location of any bank branch in Balboa, early issue.) 10 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956 Violent Storms Often Wrecked Shipping At Atlantic Port In Its First 60 Years

CRISTOBAL WATERFRONT presented this appearance in the latter part Mail Steamship Line pier. Some of the old piles on which the T-shaped pier of 1916, not long after most of the ocean shipping had been diverted to the was built were not removed until the 1930's. The longest pier belonged to docks in Cristobal. This, however, was where the big body of workers to the Panama Railroad and the old freight house, one of the oldest landmarks build the Panama Canal landed on arrival from 1904 to 1914. The rem- on the Atlantic side, may be seen at the land end. The Hotel Washington on nant of the old pier in the foreground was all that was then left of the Pacific Margarita Point was relatively new at the time this picture was taken.

To travellers ending a choppy voyage nando wrote that the inhabitants "dwell completed. It was a violent norther across the Caribbean, and particularly upon the tops of trees, like birds, laying which wrecked every vessel in the new those afflicted with mal de mer, the Port sticks across from bough to bough and port and shook the Chief Engineer's con- of Cristobal is a welcome sight and feeling building huts upon them rather than fidence in Limon Bay's safety as a harbor. as their ship glides between the break- houses." L. T. Chapel, formerly the Canal's waters into water as calm as a millpond. "Though we knew not the reason of Assistant Chief Hydrographer, who de- The Panama Canal's Atlantic terminal this strange custom," he related, "we voted much time and study to Isthmian port has not always had this reputation. guessed it was done for fear of the weather and its abnormalities wrote of Storms, fires, trade winds, and deluges griffins there are in that country, or of the storms which plagued the port: "The have all played significant roles in its enemies; for all along that coast the historical northers were probably remem- history. The constant placidity of its people at every league distance are bered more for the damage they caused waters today is one of the man-made great enemies to one another." than for their meteorological associations. wonders which came about with the That is believed to be the last report Unlike the intensified trades, all available building of the Panama Canal. The two of mythological half-lion-half eagle figures evidence indicates that destructive north- long breakwaters, built at an original cost inhabiting the general area. It was al- ers are not associated with well-estab- of about $3,500,000, make the harbor most the last report of Limon Bay for lished trades." virtually a land-locked port with ample, 350 years until construction of the Ten northers which occurred between safe anchorage for ships of all categories. Panama Railroad was begun. 1857 and 1906 were mentioned in an At the turn of this century the port Commercially, the Port of Cristobal or article appearing in the November 1917 had developed a reputation for northers Aspinwall or Colon, which it has been issue of the "Monthly Weather Re- which frequently struck with sudden and variously called, is 105 years old this view." Of these, the three most dis- devastating fury, causing much damage month, antedating by just 50 years the astrous occurred in November 1862, and sometimes loss of life. opening of the Port of Balboa. Although January 1873, and December 1885. Of the several destructive fires which construction of the Panama Railroad was The English steamer Avon was driven have swept the Atlantic side community begun on Manzanillo Island in May ashore in the 1862 storm and the three- and affected port activities there to a 1850, it was not until 1851, that the first masted Bolivar was wrecked at the greater or lesser degree, the worst occur- wooden docks were built. The history wharves. Two U. S. Navy vessels, the red in May 1885 when all but seven build- of the port in the intervening years is sloop Bainbridge and the storeship Fal- ings were burned and 10,000 were made packed with highly entertaining passages. mouth, were at anchor and were almost homeless. The property loss was reported The selection of Manzanillo Island as driven onto the reefs. The crew of the at $6,000,000. the Atlantic terminus of the railroad was Bainbridge cut away its masts and threw The water of both Limon Bay and made by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel the guns overboard to save the ship. It Manzanillo Bay help make Cristobal George W. Hughes, first Chief Engineer was necessary to rescue the crew but the Harbor. for the railroad. The selection was ship was not wrecked. That November Limon Bay is the large body of water supposedly made after some controversy was a wild one for Colon and about 45 between the port and Fort Sherman. It as to its fitness as compared with the inches of rainfall were reported. was long known as Navy Bay, this name better known harbor at Portobelo. It Damage estimated at a half million being derived from Naos (Ships) Bay, was rumored that George Law, a steam- dollars was caused to the waterfront in which it was called during Spanish ship line owner and a director of the the 1873 norther. Three men were colonial days. Manzanillo Bay is the Panama Railroad Company, bought all drowned, a three-masted ship was driven smaller body of water on the opposite side the land around Portobelo and demanded through the Pacific Mail wharf, and many of the island on which Colon and Cris- a price for its use too steep for the new- other ships were lost in the harbor tobal are built. company. Fourteen sailing ships were lost in The earliest written history of the port, At any rate, the company secured pos- what the Star & Herald called the "ter- or bay as it was then, goes back to 1502 session of the entire island, then little rible gale" of 1885. One of the principal when Christopher Columbus visited Li- more than a mosquito and mangrove piers was practically demolished and mon Bay on his fourth and last voyage to swamp covering some 650 acres, by trad- many lives were reported lost. The the New World. An account of this ing back to New Granada about twice as newspaper deplored the great loss of life, visit and what Columbus and his men much land which had been granted else- saying the waves were so high it was found is given in Dr. C. L. G. Anderson's where on the Isthmus. impossible to rescue the crews. Castillo del Oro. According to this ac- The first of the many storms to strike People who are inclined to blame all count, Fernando, son of Columbus, said the port during the last half of the weather changes today on nuclear weapons the Admiral and his men rested there for nineteenth century occurred December can hardly hold to that theory on the three days. More entertainingly, Fer- 31, 1854, shortly before the railroad was northers in Cristobal harbor. In fact, APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 11

the weather there seems to have changed early in this century, before an atom was split, and the past half century has produced far fewer destructive storms than the preceding 50 years. Three storms of unusual intensity occurred during the Canal construction period. The first of these put the finish- ing touch to a decision to build protective breakwaters. It happened in January 1905 while the Committee on Engineering of the Isthmian Canal Commission was visiting the Isthmus to study and report on engineering phases of the Canal con- struction. While apparently not of the severity of other storms, it made a deep impression on the committee members. Almost as much attention was given, in their report, to the Atlantic terminal as to digging the Canal. The committee unanimously and em- phatically recommended a breakwater to protect the harbor and shipping, saying, in part: "If the construction of the canal were THIS PICTURE WAS taken in 1886. It shows the waterfront of Aspinwall (Colon) on a busy day. a purely commercial enterprise the pro- Ask a hundred persons what is being unloaded and doubtless none could tell you. Since this is not harbor open tection of an outer terminal a puzzle contest, we can tell you— it is ice. Some of the tycoons of that day may be seen in the center to storms of rare intervals, as in this supervising operations and perhaps thinking of a mint julep with ice cut out of some New England lake. instance, would not be justified. This project, however, is a great public work ter at Cristobal since it was installed in sleepy and lazy an appearance as any by the United States Government, in January 1908. This is an average rate port of the Caribbean. which no feature contributing effectively of 9.9 miles an hour, day and night- The facilities for loading and unloading to either safety or efficiency should be enough wind to make eight and a half cargo which Otis called "unusually per- omitted." round trips to the moon. fect" probably would not measure up to There have been few statements From its infancy, the port on the that classification today. The first wood- about the Panama Canal which more Atlantic side has been a busy place. In en piers built in 1851 were designed to eloquently describe its basic mission fact, a description of passengers arriving unload men and materials for the Panama and the need for providing its many there in the early Panama Railroad days Railroad construction. The port got its special services and facilities for world might well fit a cruise season of today. first big boost in November 1851 when shipping. Otis, in his History of the Panama Rail- two steamers, the Georgia and Philadel- Two violent northers hit the harbor in road, described this activity as follows: phia, were driven away from the mouth 1915, one early in February and the "Fifteen hundred passengers, with the of the Chagres by a violent storm and put other in April. In the first, 4,000 feet of mail and freight of three steamships, into Limon Bay with 1,000 gold-crazed trestle erected for the east breakwater have not infrequently been transported passengers. were carried away. Two piledrivers and during the single half day. The arrange- The California-bound passengers de- a train of 21 Lidgerwood flat cars and ments for loading and unloading of manded passage on the Panama Rail- their unloader were lost. Sixty-nine men cargoes are unusually perfect. Frequently road on tracks which had been laid to working on the breakwater were maroon- less than two hours pass between the Gatun. This fortunate incident made ed on one end when the trestle was arrival of the largest ships, laden with the port and probably saved the Pana- carried away and were rescued by a tug from 200 to 300 tons of merchandise, ma Railroad Company from a financial and dredge. The April storm also did besides the baggage of from 400 to 800 failure. considerable damage to both breakwaters, passengers, and the departure of the Because of the great trade which the total damage by the two northers trains for Panama." sprung up almost immediately after this being estimated at over $360,000. This was back in the gold rush days incident, the port facilities were greatly Apropos of storms and trade winds on when thousands were stampeding across expanded from the small wooden wharves the Atlantic side, a statistically-minded the Isthmus to California. Such a hum put up by the Railroad Company. employee in the meteorological office at of activity did not long continue and Covered wooden piers long enough to Balboa Heights has figured that 4,150,000 there were many years during the next accommodate all types of ships of that miles of wind have passed the anemome- half century when the port presented as era were constructed and (See page is

CRISTOBAL HARBOR with its placid waters provides a fine anchorage for road Company have now been removed. At one time this was as busy a place many vessels. The pier area is shown in the upper left of this aerial view of for shipping and passengers as the modern concrete piers in Cristobal. In Manzanillo Island on which Cristobal and Colon are built. Practically all the early days of the Panama Railroad it was not unusual for several hundred remnants of the old pier area between Fort de Lesseps and the Panama Rail- passengers—bound for the California gold fields—to land in a single day. 12 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956 Canal's Agronomist Now Available NEW G0RGAS SUPERINTENDENT WILL ARRIVE HERE APRIL 16 To Consult With Amateur Gardeners Col. Norman H. Wiley who was recently appointed to succeed Col. How- exposure to hibiscus and shower trees ard W. Doan as Superintendent of came when they arrived on the Isthmus, Gorgas Hospital will arrive here April 16 Mr. Lindsay has been familiar with trop- to assume his new duties. Prior to his ical plants all of his life. appointment to the Canal Zone, he was He was responsible for introducing to the Isthmus many of the now common trees and shrubs used in landscaping. Many new varieties of hybrid hibiscus, anthuriums, and dracaena are some of the most recent introductions. Practic- ally all of the Norfolk Island pine trees on the Isthmus originally came from seeds produced by trees on Mr. Lindsay's place in Hawaii. Born on the Island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands, he worked during sum- mer vacations supervising laborers on the island's pineapple plantations. Later, while he was attending the University of Hawaii, he was a part-time horticulturist for the United States Experimental Station in Honolulu. WALTER K. LINDSAY He came to the Isthmus in 1930 to Ailing alamanda and peaked poinsettia, work at the Experiment Garden at Sum- which have been subject to the well- mit and was its director until 1950 when of meaning if often ineffectual care of ama- he was named Chief the newly estab- COLONEL NORMAN H . WILEY teur gardeners, can now take heart. lished Grounds Division. in command of the U. S. Army Hospital Professional attention of the expert His new post leaves him freer for actual at Fort Benning, Ga. variety is available, without charge. gardening work than he has been for the A native of Hollisterville, Pa., Colonel With the consolidation of the Grounds past several years. Any perplexed gar- Wiley is a graduate of Lafayette College and Housing Divisions and his transfer dener on either side of the Isthmus may and of the Jefferson Medical College. to the position of Agronomist, Walter R. call for advice through the Housing and He served his internship at Walter Reed Lindsey may now be called on to consult Grounds Division at 2-1801, or 3-2373. Army Hospital and was commissioned in with Canal Zone householders on plant In addition, he is making plans for classes the Army Medical Corps in 1929. foods and pruning and pests, or any other on plant classification and the care of Early in his Army career he spent four problems which beset them and their plants to be held a little later in the year. years on the surgical staff of the Stern- gardens. berg General Hospital in Manila. Unlike most Zonians, whose first busier than either Panama or Balboa. Colonel Wiley has a colorful World War Business was greatly revived in the II record. with the first Violent Storms Often Wrecked Shipping He landed early 1880's at the beginning of the Canal United States troops in Algeria and At Atlantic Port In It s First 60 Years construction by the French. Some addi- Tunisia and subsequently commanded (Continued from pap ti) four years after tional improvements to the port were the 128th Evacuation Hospital in the the railroad was completed a 60-foot high made during this period, principally by invasion of Sicily. Later he led this unit iron lighthouse was erected to replace a the extensive dredging program for the across Europe with the First Army. wooden tower built earlier. Atlantic entrance. It was during this Accompanying Colonel Wiley to the The wooden piers were clustered in the period that much of the land which is Isthmus will be his wife and their three area at or near the seaward tip of the now Cristobal was filled in by dredged children, Valerie, 17, Norman, Jr., 16, island, mostly between what is now Fort material. and James, 8. de Lesseps and the Colon Railroad sta- tion. The piers were set perpendicular Engineers At Play to the land and therefore broadside to the prevailing trade winds and northers, with no protection from the open sea. For this reason, one or more were occa- sionally wrecked and had to be replaced over the years. A relic of this era and one of the oldest structures on the Atlantic side is the Panama Railroad freight house near the waterfront in Colon. It was built in 1864 and rebuilt after the 1885 fire. Adjoining this building was one of three of the Panama Railroad piers. Two other piers there were the Panama Mail and Pacific Mail Steamship Line piers, the latter being a T-shaped structure at the present site of the Strangers Club. During the first 50 years of its existence, the port was served by about a half dozen ship lines, both steam and sail, op rating to the United States, Central and Smith America, and Europe. While the port had its busiest period during the few years that the California gold rush was in progress and before the first transconti- nental railroad was completed in the United States, its fortunes rose and sank several times between 1851 and 1904. FORE! Or whatever croquet fans say, and Bob Donaldson's ball sails for the stake. Weather Even in its dullest periods, however, it and wives permitting, the croquet tournament goes on every Saturday afternoon on the ROTC of entry remained the principal port for parade ground in Balboa. Left to right, the players, all from the Engineering Division, are: Hubert the Isthmus of Panama and was far Oken, Eddie B. Goodrich, Hubert C. Schroder, Robert D. Donaldson, and Donald Wyeneth. APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 13 Supply Problems Discussed

OFFICIALS of the Supply and Employee Service Bureau and the Commis- the front row. On his right is Paul H. Friedman, Assistant to the Director sary Division got together last month with managers of the retail stores to of the Supply and Employe? Service Bureau, and on his left Richard L. meet Lester A. Ferguson, Chief of the Procurement Department of the New Sullivan, General Manager of the Commissary Division. George N. Engelke, York Office. Mr. Ferguson, wearing a bow tie, is fourth from the right in Assistant General Manager of the Division, is on Mr. Friedman's right.

Voting Information E JUNIOR COLLEGE STUDENTS LEARN

Will Be Available FINE POINTS OF WORKING— BY WORKING

To All Employees in six hours each week of actual on-the- job training in three different Canal units.

Employees in the Canal organization The girls, all Junior College second- and their dependents will be given all year students, are: Livia Noiran, Emma assistance feasible this year to exercise Robles, Rosa and Pilar Vales, Virginia their privilege of absentee voting. Kam, Velvia Bringas, Margarita La- It is estimated that approximately torroca, Teresa Chutis, and Mildred 6,400 employees and their dependents are Damerau. eligible to vote. Governor Seybold has Will Receive Credit expressed hope that the maximum num- Miss Noiran and Miss Robles are ber of these will exercise their franchise spending their six hours a week, in two rights in the national elections this year. three-hour sessions, in the Wage and He plans to discuss the program for pub- Classification Division of the Personnel licizing information on registration and Bureau. Rosa and Pilar Vales, sisters, absentee voting at his April conference are also in the Personnel Bureau, Rosa with Civic Council representatives. with the Employment and Utilization "The right of franchise," the Governor Division and Pilar with the U. S. Records said in a recent announcement, "is one of Section, and Miss Kam is assigned to the the foundations of our democracy. It Office of the Personnel Director in the should be exercised by every citizen who Training Section. This group of five is is qualified to vote. Many employees on a roving-assignment basis; before the here have failed to take advantage of end of the school semester, they will this great privilege of our citizenship, MILDRED DAMERATJ have learned a little of each type of either by ignorance of the fact that they clerical work done in the unit to which are privileged to vote or a lack of interest they are assigned. because of long residence outside the When nine young women students of The Misses Bringas, United States." the Canal Zone Junior College enter the Latorroca, and Chutis have been assigned to the typing Coordinating Committee business world this year, office procedures pool in the Accounting Division, will be no mystery to them. They will and To promote a wider interest and partici- Miss Damerau is spending her six have been well-schooled in such element- hours pation in general elections through on the job in the office of the Balboa voting ary facts that punctuality and regularity absentee this year, the Governor Junior High School. of attendance are well thought put has appointed L. M. Brockman, Programs of—to it mildly- -that there are bound to be Various Jobs Coordinator in the Personnel Bureau, and crises in the best run office, and that they At the end of the semester they William G. Arey, Jr., Public Information will will get just as much cooperation from receive two hours Officer, as a committee to coordinate of college credit for their fellow the program. workers as they give. their on-the-job work, provided, of The nine young women are learning course, that they complete Absentee voting by civilians in general their assign- the theory of these and other funda- ments satisfactorily. elections is permitted by all States with mentals of day-to-day office life in a the exception of New Mexico. Voting They will be graded by their immediate course on Work Experience taught by in primary elections is permitted by all supervisors on such factors as willingness John A. Lyons of the College faculty but seven States- -Connecticut, Dela- and to cooperate, dependability, adjustment they are putting the theories into practice ware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, to work situations, acceptance of respon- New Mexico, New York, and North sibility, orderliness of work, initiative Carolina—with North Carolina having registration, and absentee voting. Gen- and resourcefulness, ability to get along requirements permitting certain civilians erally, most States permit absentee with others, etc. to vote. registration. The work-and-learn program was work- The requirements for registration vary A number of pamphlets giving full ed out by Mr. Lyons with Daniel J. widely among the various States. Em- information on absentee voting have been Paolucci, Training Officer in the Person- ployees have been urged to ascertain for received and a substantial number of nel Bureau; they confer frequently on themselves the regulations of their own these will be placed in the Library and the development of the course and the States with respect to qualification, its branches on a nonlending basis. progress of the trainees. —

14 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956

PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS ANNIVERSARIES

Louis E. Snedeker of Balboa holds the February 15 through March 15 distinction of being senior man on the March list of anniversaries —by 24 hours. trans- Assistant, Services Bureau to Employees who were promoted or Community On March 1 he completed 30 years of gov- ferred between February 15 and March 15 Administrative Officer, Supply and Em- ernment service, just one day ahead of are listed below. Within-grade promotions ployee Service Bureau. March's two other 30-year men, Leo C. are not listed. Desmond S. Doig, from Storekeeper Page and Wallace C. Bain. (Receiving) to Stockman Foreman, Com- Born in Havana, Cuba, he came to COMPTROLLER the OFFICE OF THE missary Division. Canal Zone when he was only two years old. Richard S.Brogie, from Accounting Clerk, Walter G. Peterson, from Supervisory His father, Capt. Cartie C. Snedeker, was Housing Division, to Time, Leave, and Meat Processing Specialist to Abattoir and one of the Panama Canal's first pilots, Payroll Clerk, Payroll Branch. Meat Processing Manager, Commissary working out of Cristobal. Mr. Snedeker has worked for a number of Canal units. Jack C. Campbell, from Accountant to Division. He has been with the Canal's oil plant since Auditor, Internal Audit Branch. Walter R. Lindsay, from Chief, Grounds 1934 and is now a Steam Engineei for the Maintenance Division, to Management Marine Bunkering Section. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Agronomist, Housing and Grounds Division. BUREAU March 2 was Mr. Page's last Canal anni- Boyd M. Bevington, Supervisory Admin- versary as March also saw his retirement Elizabeth Lester, from Clerk- Mrs. A. istrative Assistant, from Grounds Mainte- as Chief of the Architectural Branch of the to Clerk (Typing), Electrical Divi- ('.rounds Typist nance Division to Housing and Engineering Division. He was born in sion. Division. Raleigh, Io*a, and has been a Canal Zonian Mrs. Patricia A. Robinson, from Clerk- Emmett Zemer, from Real Property since 1926. In addition to designing Stenographer, Executive Planning Staff, to Assistant, Community Services Bureau, to buildings, he has also designed stamps, Clerk-Typist, Electrical Division. Safety Inspector, Supply and Employee among them the commemorative stamp for Joseph B. Baker, from Barge Repair Service Bureau. the Panama Railroad centennial. He also to Construction and Main- has a considerable reputation as a cartoonist. Station Foreman Phoebe J. Hughes, from Usher to Usher Superintendent of tenance Superintendent, Dredging Division. and Ticket Seller, Service Center Division. As the Refrigerated Products Branch of the Commissary Divi- Fred L. Stewart, from Electrical Distri- John V. Brown, from Usher and Doorman sion, Mr. Bain is the man responsible for bution Foreman to Lineman Foreman, Pow- to Doorman Supervisor, Service Center getting lettuce, apples, cheese, and meats — er Branch, Electrical Division. Division. and any other refrigerated or frozen food from Mechanical Engin- Roger M. Howe, Arthur C. Payne, Accounting Clerk, from to the customer in the best possible condi- General Engineer, Engineering eer to Grounds Maintenance to Housing Division. tion. He was born in Nebraska but has Division. lived in the Canal Zone since he was a TERMINALS Charles F. Bertoncini, from Cartographic- TRANSPORTATION AND small boy. During his school days, "Wally" Compilation Aid to General Engineer, BUREAU Bain worked as a "boy" in the Mechanical Engineering Division. James A. Barrett, from Accounting Clerk, Division but all of his service as an adult Commissary Division to Supervisory Cargo has been with the Commissary Division. HEALTH BUREAU Clerk, Terminals Division. 25 YEARS Mrs. Louise E. Griffon, Clerk-Steno- Vicente Alfaro, from Lead Laborer Fore- Two employees rounded out a quarter of grapher, from Gorgas Hospital to Coco man to Claims Investigator, Panama Local a century of government service last month. Solo Hospital. Agency. They are: Julian B. Hall, Shiptitter with the Mrs. Sara S. Keegan, from Clerk- Lamar T. Kitchens, from Machinist, Industrial Division, and Paul W. Colby, an Dictating Machine Transcriber to Account- Locks Overhaul, to Locomotive Machinist, Architect in the Engineering Division. Hall's service with the Canal organ- ing Clerk, Gorgas Hospital. Railroad Division. Mr. ization is unbroken although about 10 Edwin C. Mcllvaine, Accounting Clerk, years of his total service was with othet from Industrial Division to Gorgas Hospital. Government agencies. In addition to from Substitute Mrs. Norma C. Belland, shipfitting, he is a radio technician. He is Clerk- Teacher, Division of Schools, to APRIL SAILINGS a native Georgian. Typist, Coco Solo Hospital. Mr. Colby was born in Iowa, and served Mrs. Susan H. Boles, from Clerk (Typ- as an officer in the Army during two World ing), Service Center Division, to Clerk- From Cristobal Wars. He is well known as an artist and Dictating Machine Transcriber, Gorgas his watercolors are prized possessions of Hospital. Am on. April 7 many Zonians. April 14 20 YEARS MARINE BUREAU Panama April 21 It isn't often that a boss and his Girl D. Barnes, from Distribution and Cristobal... J. Friday celebrate anniversaries the same Window Clerk, Postal Division, to Guard, Anion . April 28 month but that happened in March to Atlantic Locks. John D. Hollen, Chief of the Executive Robert G. Peterson, from Supervisory From New York Planning Staff, and his secretary, Annie F. Administrative Assistant to Safety In- of Mr. Hollen's service, April 5 McDade. Most Division. Panama spector, Navigation however, has been elsewhere, part of it in David B. Marshall, from Towing Loco- Cristobal.. April 12 the Navy. Almost all of Miss McDade's Locks Division. been with the Canal organization. motive Operator to Guard, Anion April 1') service has of the remaining 20-year employees Otis M. Ramey, Jr., from Towing Loco- Five Panama April 2(> motive Operator, Locks Overhaul, to have unbroken Canal service. They are: Carson, who was born in Dover, Admeasurer, Navigation Division. North-bound and south-bound ships are William J. N. and is now a Plumber Foreman with Emmett C. Kiernan, from Control House in Haiti Mondai s. J., the Maintenance Division; Frank A. Chol- Operator to Lockmaster, Pacific Locks. lar, a native of Cleburne, Tex.. PhotO- Raymond J. Kielhofer, from Foreman lithographer in the Canal's Printing Plant Wireman to Control House Operator, at Mount Hope; Max W. Finley, who Pacific Locks. RETIREMENTS originally came from Topeka, Kan., Super- Manuel M. Progana, from Wireman to visory Funeral Director for the Board of Foreman Wireman, Pacific Locks. Health Laboratory; and H. C. Richards, Jr., a native of New Hampshire, who is a police Charles L. Miller, from Steam Loco- Retirement certificates were presente I Cristobal Police District. motive Crane Engineer, Locks Overhaul, the end of March to the following employees sergeant with the (anal service is broken are: to Machinist and Steam Locomotive Crane who are listed alphabetically, together with Those whose police sergeant presently Engineer, Atlantic Locks, their birthplaces, titles, length of Canal Edwin B. Cain, detailed with the Gamboa penitentiary John L. Irwin, Machinist, from Locks service, and future addresses: he is a second generation Zone policeman: Overhaul to Atlantic Locks. Paul D. Bernard, Vermont ; Lockmaster, Mrs. Sarah B. Rothwell, Supply Clerk in Pacific Locks; 27 years, 3 months, 12 da\s; who comes from SUPPLY AND EMPLOYEE SERVICE the Housing Division, BUREAU address undecided, Houston, Tex.; and William Wood Wood, Robert L. Dickerson, Missouri; Super- a native Zonian. He was born in Empire, Wilson H. Crook, from Community Serv- visory Marine Traffic Controller, Naviga- and is Supervisory Accounting Assistant ices Director to Supply and Employee tion Division; 32 years, II months, 15 days; with the Maintenance Division. Service Director. California. Paul H. Friedman, from Assist. mi Supply Eugene C. Lombard, New Jersej ; Execu- Assistant Two of March's 15-year employees went Director to to Supply and Em- tive Secretary, Canal Zone Government] to work for the Panama Canal on the same ployee Service Director. 37 years; 9 months; 12 days; address • late. March 3, 1941. They are Arthur C. Floyd R. Johnson, from Supply Director undecided. Baggott, Control House Operator at Gaum to Staff Storehouse Advisor, Office of Edwin M. McGinnis, Ohio; Architectural and Winfield F. Fearn, Pumping Plant Supply and Employee Service Director. Engineer, Engineering Division; 20 years, Operator with the Maintenance Division. Bart L. Elich, from Assistant to Supply 2 months; 17 days; address undecided. Nine other employees who completed Director to Special Assistant to General Leo C. Page, [owa; Chief, Architectural 15 years of service in March have unbroken Division. Manager, Commissary Branch, Engineering Division; 29 years, (> service. They are: Loy E. Bates, Sr., Raoul O. Theriault, from Administrative months, 8 daj s; Paradise. Calif, Chief Towboat Engineer with the Dredging APRIL 6, 1956 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 15

Official Circular Issued They've Both Retired

On Political Activities

Of Canal's Employees

The following circular concerning the participation by employees of the Com- pany-Government in political activities in Panama was issued last month at Balboa Heights. The circular is an excerpt from General Order No. 42, which was dated July 28, 1955, and issued at Balboa Heights: In view of the geographical and political relationship between the Republic of Panama and the Canal Zone, the following policies respecting participation by em- ployees of the Canal Zone Government and Panama Canal Company in Panamanian political activities are hereby prescribed:

1. Employees residing in the Canal Zone who are not Panamanian citizens shall not engage in any form of Panamanian political activity. 2. Employees residing in the Canal Zone who are Panamanian citizens may exercise political rights guaranteed to them by Panamanian law. They may affiliate them- selves with the political party of their AN ASSOCIATION of a good many years' standing, with each other and with the Panama Canal, choice. They may attend political meet- ended last month when these two top men from the Engineering Division retired. Their combined ings and be free to vote in all elections service totaled over 50 years. Leo C. Page, Chief of the Architectural Branch, standing, left the without jeopardizing their position with the Isthmus March 17 to make his home in Paradise, Calif. Edwin M. McGinnis, Architectural Engineer, Company/Government. These privileges and Mrs McGinnis will sail for New York early in May en route to their future home, probably Florida. may be exercised subject to the following reservations as to political activities which might adversely affect the good relations of Apprentices Will Hold Fiftieth Birthday Party the Republic of Panama and the Canal from i) maker, and one, take place just one day short of the Zone: (a) Employees shall not engage in {Continued page Panamanian political activity in or from a cable splicer. fiftieth anniversary of the date—April 12, within the Canal Zone. Other speakers on the program will 1906—when the Isthmian Canal Com- Employees shall not engage in (b) include Capt. R. H. Emerick, Chief of the mission approved a program of apprentice Panamanian political activity during duty Industrial Division, in his capacity as training for the sons of its employees. hours. (c) Employees shall not use their jobs Chairman of the Industrial Training The apprentice program between 1906 or positions with the Company/Government Committee, honorary member of the and 1914 was not the formal one of today, advancement of Panamanian political in the Central Labor Union, and member of or even of later years. In June 1914, activity. the Union's Educational Committee; formal apprenticeship rules were adopted 3. Employee associations, organizations, labor unions, and other employee groups, Ray Hesch, as labor's representative on and within the next few months a number organized and existing in the Canal Zone, the Industrial Training Committee; Harry of young men were admitted to the engage in Panamanian political shall not Townsend, representing the alumni of the program. One of these was Russell Par- activity. apprentice program; and Robert Ausneh- sons, today an electrician with the Motor 4. Any employee who may be elected to political office in the Republic of Panama mer, representing this year's apprentices. Transportation Division in Cristobal. will be required to terminate his employ- Caleb Clement, of the Locks Division, at He is the senior former apprentice still the Company/Government. ment with Gatun, will serve as toastmaster. in service. 5. Any employee violating any of the party next Wednesday night will provisions of this order will be subject to The Other graduates of that early program, disciplinary action, which may include still employed in the Canal service, are dismissal from employment. Zonians Set To Watch TV In Own Homes Albert and Alexander McKeown, broth- ers, and Winchell T. Pennock. The {Continued from page Council repre- 1) McKeowns began their apprenticeships sentatives. He said satisfactory recep- Division; Mrs. Dora J. Coleman, General in 1918; today both work for the Indus- Medical Technician at Coco tion can not be guaranteed for all parts Supervisory trial Division, Albert McKeown as a Solo Hospital; Mrs. Catherine M. Cum- of the Zone and technicians will be Alexander as sawmill Gorgas Hospital; boilermaker, and a mings, Staff Nurse, requested to check any areas which may Lester V. Forsgren, Auto Repair Machinist operator. Mr. Pennock is Repair Shop not have clear reception. and Gas Motor Craneman, Motor Trans- Foreman for the Motor Transportation Hare, Real While it cannot be determined until test portation Division; John W. Division in Cristobal. He was an appren- Property Analyst, Office of the Civil Affairs patterns have been made which, if any, tice in 1919. Long, Clerk, Terminals Director; Mary M. areas in the Zone will not get clear recep- Division; Robert E. Rogers, Locomotive Three other apprentice alumni of the tion it is generally true that clear signals Division; A. Engineer, Railroad Harry class of 1919 still in the Canal service are Customs Inspector, Cristobal; Mari- can be obtained with indoor antennas Stone, Kenneth M. Edwards, Foreman Wire- on B. Woodruff, Piant Electrician, Main- where direct vision is possible to the man, at Pedro Miguel Locks; John L. tenance Division, and Willis Woolems, transmission tower for a distance of Auto Repair Machinist, Motor Transporta- Reese, Jr., Control House Operator, also several miles. It may be possible in tion Division. at Pedro Miguel; and R. E. Seavey, L?ad Other 15-year employees are: Mrs. many instances to correct imperfect Foreman of the Balboa Gas Plant. Louise K. Allen, Clerk-Stenographer, Term- reception by the installation of outdoor inals Division; Stephen A. Bissell, Account- antennas. During the early 1920's reductions of Assistant, Methods and Relief Assistant ing The Commissary Division does not force and lack of work almost put an end Staff, Office of the Comptroller; William R. to the apprentice program; class work Byrd, Supervisory Freight Clerk, Terminals plan to stock outdoor television antennas. Division; Mrs. Virginia D. Cunningham, These may be bought, however, through was discontinued entirely in 1925. In Clerk-Typist, General Services Section, several different dealers in Panama. 1935 the apprentice training program Administrative Branch; Mrs. Eula R. Direct sales of television sets at the was revived and reorganized; formal Driscoll, Teacher, Balboa High School; stores are only being class training began the following year. Herbert A. Green, Jr., Marine Boarding Commissary made Officer, Balboa; William H. Hyde, Jr., by cash purchases or on charge accounts. Today the apprentice program is Station Agent, Balboa Heights, Railroad Arrangements have been made, however, administered by Philip T. Green, with the Division; John R. McGlade, Lock Operator with the Canal Zone Credit Union for the assistance of Willard E. Percy. It comes Machinist, Miraflores Locks; Henry S. purchase of TV sets on the time-payment under the Electrical Division, adminis- Makibbin, Jr., Records Analyst, Admin- istrative Branch; Paul H. Reynolds, Fire- plan similar to that used for refrigerators tratively, and is directed by the Indus- man, Balboa Central Station; Earl V. and other such equipment. The servic- trial Training Committee. Members of Romigh, Supervisory Accounting Clerk, ing of sets sold by the Commissaries will the committee are Captain Emerick, Dredging Division; and Harry E. Wentsler, be done by the manufacturers' representa- E. A. Doolan, J. B. Smith, F. H. Lerchen, Jr., Lock-Operator Ironworker Welder, Miraflores Locks. tives in this area. and R. F. Hesch. 16 THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW APRIL 6, 1956

the Corps of Engineers and was designed for work in New York harbor. It is en SHIPS and SHIPPING route to Portland, Oreg., for temporary duty there. The big vessel is 525 feet long with a 72-foot beam. It is self- propelled and sea-going. It is a suction dredge, with a 36-inch intake. The material it dredges is loaded onto the vessel and later dumped at sea.

Scheduled to make its first appearance in Canal waters early this month is the new motorship Union Carrier of the Chilean Line. It will operate from ports on the Gulf of Mexico to the west coast ports of South America. It was sched- uled to sail from New Orleans April 2 after calls at Mobile and Houston. It will join two other ships of the Chilean Line to provide regular three-week service.

Careful Study Needed On Locomotives

(Continued from page 2) invitations for bids. The Company also asked for proposals for locomotives built to its specifications and those of the same general design but with modifications by the manufacturer. Bids were requested for 57 locomotives, enough for a complete replacement program; 30 to replace mules on one side HOW DID four men and a woman ever manage to live for months on this? curious Zonians ask, as of the Locks; and for two test units. they inspect the raft Canluta when it arrived in Balboa last month aboard the Greenville Victory. The new units will be more powerful and The raft and its occupants were picked up after they had drifted for weeks in a great circle in the speedier than those now in use. Three of Pacific Ocean in an unsuccessful attempt to duplicate the feat of Thor Heyerdahl's well-known Koti-Tiki. the units to be supplied will be equipped Transits By Ocean-Going Vessels siderably increased with the alterations for crane duty. sub- In February accomplished at Gatun last year. These The General Electric Company 1956 1955 permit double-culvert operation while one mitted proposals under all these classifi- with four different bids for Commercial 681 637 lane of traffic is out of seivice. Previ- cations, and providing for the use of different U. S. Government 12 15 ously, the number of lockages at Gatun each, averaged about 23 a day with one side winches by as many manufacturers. The range of bids was from $7,580,000 to TotaL . . 693 652 of the locks empty. During the present locomotives, $4,267,000 Tolls* overhaul about 30 lockages can be aecom- $9,866,000 for 57 for and from $630,000 Commercial $3,013,944 $2,723,170 plished in a 24-hour period. to $5,509,000 30, for two tests units, when built U.S. Government 57,953 53,178 to $904,000 The world's largest hopper dredge, the to Canal specifications. General Electric Essayons, was scheduled to transit the about $7,000 lower a unit Total $3,071,897 $2,776,348 offered 57 units Canal early this week. It is owned by with modification by the manufacturer. "Includes tolls on all vessels, ocean-goii.g and small. The Sandy Hills Iron and Biass Works offered $10,992,434 for 57 units, $6,775,- The Locks Division enters the last lap 378 for 30 units, and $790,000 for two of its overhaul of Gatun Locks this month test locomotives, all built to Canal with the flooding of the west chamber and specifications. opening of both traffic lanes for service. LeTourneau Proposals The work remaining to be done is the overhaul of the center-wall culvert. This LeTourneau submitted designs and for is being done for the first time with both specifications with its proposal the new sides of the locks in service; this is made type of towing locomotive. It would possible by the use of gigantic metal plugs eliminate the use of mules on the side placed in the intakes at the bottom of walls and normally only two units would the lock chambers to close off the flow be required to handle a ship in the Locks. of water to the center culvert. Each locomotive would be equipped with electrically-operated winches of con- The overhaul of Gatun Locks is being . . . - two done with no appreciable delay to ship- siderably more power than those specified ping during a period when Canal traffic by the Canal.

'' of Fore and aft towing lines would he is at a peak. A new high daily average k^wiJs 1 23.76 transits was set in February for •» attached to both locomotives with brak- this commercial traffic. Oddly, a record high ing or pulling power. Under type through in daily average transits was set in i f tow, the vessel would be moved February 1953 while the Pacific Locks the Locks adjacent to the center wall were being overhauled. The record three under the control and propulsion power of years ago was for both Government and the two locomotives. To prevent ships commercial shipping and has since been 9H from scraping the Lock walls, each loco- urpassed. In that month there were B motive would be equipped with a large, 690 ocean-going transits, 74 of which were pneumatic-tired fender which could be Government ships. The traffic record raised or lowered by the locomotive's for February this year was 693 transits, W^^^^^^^^M own power. new feature also proposed in the but with only 12 Government vesse|g. ,- A ,,,,„• , v ,,r «,., n. „ , m im BAlk IN PLA(1., the Uiillard Memorial Plaque is t>u ui t- t l „ „ . _i l ;„ „Tv,„,l LeTourneau design would be the equip- The Atlantic Locks overhaul is ached- „. , , a( ajn one lif thc ^ , )f the ranal f( tr J itm , ment of a line boom on each towing llled to be completed about May 1. visitors. The plaque, which was originally imbedded pass a towline Many time-saving methods have been in the side of Contractors Hill, was removed when the locomotive which would used during the overhaul to expedite the hill was cut back. It is now supported on a free- to ships as they approached the walls, wall on the third berm of 4- „f „!,;„. :„„ standing concrete backing ~~.„.™movement Of Shipping thus eliminating the present method of the terraced hill. The plaque is a memorial to Cut traffic can handling connecting lines by men in lhe amount ol which be D. D. Gaillard and symbolizes the removal of the last handled during overhaul periods is con- shovelful of dirt from the cut which bears his name. rowboats. 1

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