Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1913 — DEFENSES of the CANAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEFENSES of the CANAL

By E. W. PICKARD

*B**rt—t* »**•**•***»

Culebra, C. Z. —“The strongest defense of the Panama canal, in my opinion, is the fact that a hostile vessel snust come into a 500-foot channel long before it is within striking distance of the vital pointb of the canal, the locks, «nd in doing so must pass within easy range of the forts that are being built |to guard the entrances.** So spoke Colonel Goethals when I tasked him as to the vulnerability of the canal in time of war. Continuing, be said; “The naval power of the nations is ■o nicely balanced now that no one of them would be willing to risk the of a single battleship by attacking those forts, whidh will be equipped with powerful guns, and of course the accuracy of guns on shore is much greater than that of those on tmoving vessels. I do not believe the forts would be attacked from the sea before the enemy had fought and won « naval victory." The forts of which Colonel Goethals ■poke are nearing completion and the emplacements for many of the heavy guns already have been constructed. !No one not officially connected with the work is permitted to approach them, but I venture to say that in case of urgent necessity the guns could be hurried down to the Isthmus and ■mounted ready for emergency service within a very short time. Two forts protect the Atlantic en-

trance of the canal. One la on Toro Point, at the land end of the long 'breakwater that shields Colon harbor, and is on a considerable elevation. The other is on Margarita Island, a lowlying islet close to the shore about a mile northeast of Colon. Both these fortifications are shielded from observation by the palms and other tropic 'Vegetation. . At the Pacific end of the canal, a little more than three miles out in the ocean and close to the eastern side of the deep water channel, lie the four little islands of Naos, Perlco, Culebra and Flamenco. These the United States acquired with the Canal Zone. On Culebra is the quarantine station for that end of the canal. On the others are being built strong fortiflca-

Monument to the Builders of the Panama Railway, W. H. Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey and John L. Stevens, In the Grounds of the Washington Hotel, Colon. tlons. The rounded tops of the rocky Islets have been cut off and a little army of men is busy blasting and shoveling and preparing the bulwarks behind which will be mounted long cannon and Immense mortars. The four islands are all being connected with each other, and Naos, the nearest, is (joined to the mainland at Balboa by a breakwater about 17,000 feet long, on (which has been constructed a railway Some eight miles away, nearly due south, lies the larger Island of Taboga. and timid souls have suggested that it (Would form a safe shelter and recuperating point for a hostile fleet, for its .hills rise to a considerable elevation land ou ip* south side there is plenty lot deep water. But if Colonel GoeIthals* opinion la to be taken—and it (Should be—Taboga need not cause "The mortars to be installed in the (Pacific fortifications," said he. “will be

able to drop shells with accuracy close behind Taboga island, making that place untenable for an enemy. Besides that, there is nothing on the island that a hostile fleet would want The United States might have acquired Taboga. but we didn’t need it." How strong a land force is to be kept in the zone by the United States I believe has not yet been determined. It is generally admitted that the greatest danger to the canal in time of war lies in attacks by forces that might have succeeded in landing on the isthmus. As a defense against this it may be that a small army must be maintained in the zone, and it has been su» gested that the towns of Empire and Culebra, instead of being destroyed because they are on the “wrong side" of the canal, be utilized as quarters for the soldiers. This would necessitate connecting them with the other side of the canal, where the Panama railroad has been re-located, by ferry, bridge or tunnel. No decision on this matter has been reached yet by the authorities. -Meanwhile the army has not been neglecting ltd part of the defensive work. For some time the Tenth infantry has been encamped in the zone and its men, in small detachments, have beeii “hiking" all over that part of the isthmus. The possibilities of landing a hostile force on the shores of both the Atlantic and the Pacific have been investigated, and also the

chances that such a force would have of finding sustenance. Then little groups of soldiers have been started from various possible landing places with instructions to make their way as swiftly as possible to given points along the canal, mapping the country they traverse, in order to determins what an enemy could do. The result of this work of investtgatiqn so far, briefly and wholly unofficially stated, is that the shores of the Atlantic ocean, within a good many miles of the zone, are impracticable for a landing force because of the nature of the country; that a landing could be made easily on the Pacific side some distance west of the zone, but between there and the canal the jungle is so dense as to be virtually impassable; that the dangerous die trlct is that lying immediately east of the zone on the Pacific side. On the last mentioned shores an enemy could well land an army, and the semi-open, rolling savannas between there and the canal would give easy access to the zone.

The army officers on the isthmus make no secret of the fact that their Investigations are being carried on mainly with the Japanese in mind. How those islanders could land there and what they could do if they did land are the problems engaging the attention of Colonel Greene and his men of the Tenth. One defensive measure that has been adopted is the clearing out of practically all inhabitants from the zone, except at the ends of the canal and in several of the larger towns, which, as (have said, may be kept as quarters for the soldiers. All holdings of land are being valued by a mixed commission and the residents moved away. When the canal is completed the jungle, much of which has been cleared out, will be allowed to grow up again, for the experience of centuries has shown that that jungle itself is a powerful defense against an Invading army. The practicable roads through it are few and far between, the streams not navigable, and the growth of trees, brush and great vines so dense that it is virtually impassable for a body of men, to say nothing of cannon and supply wagons. A rapid dash through the jungle would be em tlrely out of the question, and when the sone is deserted all food supplies will have disappeared. Some fear has been expressed that a few men could land, make their way quietly to the canal and blow up the locks. But it seems unlikely that they could get ashore and transport to the canal, undetected, enough explosives to do any great damage. On the whole, the canal will be quite adequately protected—provided It Is not attacked too sodK

IN THE PANAMA JUNGLE

Quarantine Station on Culebra Island.