234:) in 1880 to 1889. With poor exploration of the options and with poor information of the costs, the French company planned to construct a sea-level canal linking the two coasts. They initially thought they could do this for about $ 120 million. After spending about one billion Francs (about $ 300,000,000), losing about 22,000 workers and going bankrupt, the French effort essentially ceased. A sea level canal would not have required the dam to be built but would have still required extensive provisions made to accommodate the ever-changing Chagres River flow. The United States took over the 10 miles (16 km) wide
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152:. The hills bordering the valley of the Chagres form a gap just over 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide at this point, with a natural rocky hill in the centre of the gap. The gap is filled by an earth dam, 640 metres (2,100 ft) thick at the base, 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) long along the top, 121-metre (397 ft) thick at the water level, and 30-metre (98 ft) thick at the top, which is 9 metres (30 ft) above the normal lake level.
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273:(chief engineer, 1905–1907) into determining the suitability of the land at Gatun for the building of a large dam there. Extensive test borings were made to determine the suitability of the land, and pressure tests were carried out on the material to be used in construction to determine its durability.
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for the dam is constructed on the central hill; it consists of a semi-circular concrete dam, which regulates the flow of water down a concrete channel built into the back slope of the hill. The spillway dam itself measures 225 metres (738 ft) along the top; its crest is at 16 feet (4.9 m)
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The dam contains some 17,000,000 cubic metres (600,000,000 cu ft) of material and is about 2,700 feet (820 m) wide at its base, about 105 feet (32 m) high and 7,500 feet (2,300 m) long. The dam weighs some 27,000,000 long tons (30,000,000 short tons). It covers 1.17 square
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including through the treacherous V-shaped
Culebra Cut (Gaillard Cut). This saved excavating literally millions of cubic yards of material that would have been necessary for a sea-level canal. The lake height is regulated by spillways that control the water flow out of the dam to obtain an almost
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technique which pumped millions of cubic yards of clay material and water into the area between the rock walls. This fill was made by digging up the soft clay present in the valley below, where dredges excavated the clay and water and loaded it into pumps that delivered it up into a pond created
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The Gatun location was in most ways ideal for a dam; upstream of the dam site the hills enclosing the
Chagres River opened very wide around the area that is now Gatun Lake. Over a narrow gap the hills close to a relatively narrow gap with a natural rock-based channel in the centre. This allows a
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of water with which to operate the locks. The central hill was the ideal solid base for the construction of the concrete spillway and its dam, the main part of the dam being earth. The only problem was the huge scale of the dam required massive rock and dirt fill that was provided by about 100
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The spillway dam is topped by 14 gates, supported by concrete piers and each 14 metres (46 ft) wide by 6 metres (20 ft) high. These gates, which are electrically operated, are raised or lowered to control the flow of water; with the lake level at 26.5 metres (87 ft), its planned
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trainloads of waste rock deposited into two parallel walls of waste rock about 2,700 feet (820 m) apart every day for several years from the
Gaillard Cut (now called the Culebra Cut) and the Gatun Locks excavation. Between these waste rock walls an impervious core was created by using a
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between the inner and outer walls of the dam. The pumped mixture was allowed to sit until the clay settled out, with the excess water being drawn off and pumped back downstream. This dried and hardened material created a solid core of "natural" cement at the core of the dam.
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maximum level, the capacity of the spillway is 4,100 cubic metres (140,000 cu ft) per second, more than the maximum flow of the
Chagres River. In addition to this, the culverts in the locks can dispose of 1,400 cubic metres (49,000 cu ft) per second.
208:; as first commissioned, three generators were installed, producing a total of 6 megawatts (8,000 hp) of electricity. The power generated is used for the operation of the lock and spillway machinery, and for the lighting of the locks and the canal villages.
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ends of the canal and provides via hydro-electric generators about 6 MW of electrical power needed to run the locks and dam. After finishing the dam and filling Gatun Lake it was dredged where necessary to obtain a clear ship channel across the lake.
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Gatun Lake has an area of 425 square kilometres (164 sq mi) at its normal level; it stores 5.2 cubic kilometres (4,200,000 acreâ‹…ft) of water, which is about as much as the
Chagres River brings down in an average year.
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The Gatun Dam serves two important purposes: it controls the ever varying
Chagres River and creates Gatun Lake. The lake at about 85 feet (26 m) elevation provides an elevated path for ships across most of the
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below the normal lake level. The spillway is designed so that water pouring over the semi-circular dam converges at the bottom from opposite directions and neutralises its own force, thus minimising erosion below.
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After the dam was built to its desired height, the entire up-stream side was armored to prevent wave action damaging the dam by placing large boulders on the face, particularly where there is strong wave action.
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After the opening of the Panama Canal, it was found that the water level impounded by the dam did not stay constant enough during the dry season for the operation of the canal. The
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improvements, and planning before the work got up to full speed. After reviewing the options and costs, in 1906 a lock-based canal was decided upon and agreed to by
President
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and resumed building the canal on 4 May 1904. Almost two years were spent in infra-structure preparation, mosquito abatement (the newly discovered
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This map from the construction era illustrates the area around the dam and locks, which are shown superposed over the previous French excavations.
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generating station, which is situated on the east side of the spillway discharge channel. This uses water from the lake to drive a number of
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moderately sized dam to enclose a huge body of water, which both provides passage for ships across much of the isthmus, and provides a
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metres high and 29 cm thick (or four foot eight inches high and a foot thick) around the Earth at the equator.
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The dam is situated in the valley of the
Chagres River, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from its mouth in the
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constant height in wet or dry seasons. The lake also acts as a massive reservoir to work the locks on both the
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Construction of the dam was a great engineering achievement, eclipsed only by the parallel excavation of the
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was constructed much higher up the
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417:"517 1/2 - K. Upper Locks, Gatun, Showing 208 1/2 ft. of East Side Wall Completed. April 1, 1910"
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kilometres (290 acres) of ground, and contains enough earth and rock to build a wall
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101:. The dam, constructed between 1907 and 1913, is a crucial element of the
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457:"Electricity and the Navigation of the Panama Canal- Jan 12, 1912 pg 30"
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435:"Gatun Hydro-Electric Development for the Panama Canal- pg 55"
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The
Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs
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Even before the lock canal decision was made, Major
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232:La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique
230:The canal effort was begun by a French company (
904:United States District Court for the Canal Zone
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172:Gatun Upper Locks Completed, April 1, 1910.
1150:Buildings and structures in ColĂłn Province
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489:(a great collection of informative photos)
437:. Western Machinery and Steel World. 1914
421:University of Florida Digital Collections
69:Learn how and when to remove this message
117:generating station at the dam generates
32:This article includes a list of general
1130:Energy infrastructure completed in 1913
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1145:Hydroelectric power stations in Panama
267:United States Army Corps of Engineers
7:
481:. Dover Publications, N.Y.; 1983;
192:Gatun dam power generating station
125:and other equipment in the canal.
38:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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1027:PSA Panama International Terminal
397:List of power stations in Panama
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763:New Panamax / Post-Panamax
515:, by Colonel George W. Goethals
459:. The Electrical Engineer. 1912
665:Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport
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1155:1913 establishments in Panama
909:1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties
844:1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
121:which is used to operate the
105:; it impounds the artificial
16:Component of the Panama Canal
849:1921 Thomson–Urrutia Treaty
504:History Of The Panama Canal
218:History of the Panama Canal
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813:George Washington Goethals
263:George Washington Goethals
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854:Isthmian Canal Commission
423:. University of Florida.
818:William Crawford Gorgas
803:William Nelson Cromwell
389:Renewable energy portal
196:The dam incorporates a
53:more precise citations.
1125:Dams completed in 1913
808:David du Bose Gaillard
788:Philippe Bunau-Varilla
617:Bridge of the Americas
564:Panama Canal Authority
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216:Further information:
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1048:Balboa Naval Station
823:Ferdinand de Lesseps
793:Ephraim S. Claybourn
622:Panama Canal Railway
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865:Panama Canal Museum
507:, by Ira E. Bennett
343:, opening in 1935.
97:, near the town of
1064:Balboa High School
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271:John Frank Stevens
256:Theodore Roosevelt
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894:List of governors
798:John G. Claybourn
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279:Isthmus of Panama
113:. In addition, a
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59:October 2009
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1104: /
940:Albrook AFB
922:US military
856:(1904–1906)
731:Panama City
698:Culebra Cut
607:Culebra Cut
463:10 December
441:10 December
341:Panama City
331:Water level
144:Description
130:Culebra Cut
119:electricity
89:across the
87:earthen dam
51:introducing
1119:Categories
981:De Lesseps
950:Howard AFB
693:Gatun Lake
597:Gatun Lake
573:Structures
557:Management
497:References
337:Madden Dam
242:spreading
236:Canal Zone
206:generators
134:Gatun Lake
107:Gatun Lake
34:references
1057:Education
1022:Coco Solo
933:Airfields
745:Expansion
670:Limon Bay
655:Arco Iris
636:Locations
592:Gatun Dam
297:reservoir
83:Gatun Dam
1001:Randolph
347:See also
157:spillway
1092:79°56′W
1006:Sherman
971:Clayton
773:History
686:Passage
585:Panamax
322:⁄
248:Malaria
202:turbine
47:improve
1089:9°16′N
991:Gulick
966:Amador
920:Former
871:Box 25
781:People
726:Gamboa
714:Balboa
485:
240:vector
95:Panama
85:is an
36:, but
1036:Radio
1015:Ports
996:Kobbe
986:Grant
976:Davis
959:Forts
677:GatĂşn
650:ColĂłn
580:Locks
403:Notes
123:locks
99:Gatun
483:ISBN
465:2022
443:2022
286:and
246:and
155:The
81:The
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
