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The Gaillard Cut, or Culebra Cut, is a man-made valley cutting through the continental divide in Panama. The cut forms part of the Panama Canal, linking Lake Gatún, and thereby the Atlantic Ocean, to the Gulf of Panama and the Pacific Ocean. It is 12.6 km (7.8 miles) long from the Pedro Miguel lock on the Pacific side to the Chagres River arm of Lake Gatun, with a water level 26 m (85 ft) above sea level. A canal tug making its way down to the Caribbean end of the canal waits to be joined by a ship in the uppermost chamber of the Gatun Locks. ...
A canal tug making its way down to the Caribbean end of the canal waits to be joined by a ship in the uppermost chamber of the Gatun Locks. ...
The History of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. ...
One of the greatest challenges facing the builders of the Panama Canal was dealing with the tropical diseases rife in the area. ...
The Panama Railway or Panama Railroad was the worlds first transcontinental railroad. ...
Gatun Dam is an earth dam created in the early 20th century as a main element in the construction of the Panama Canal. ...
The Chagres River (Spanish: RÃo Chagres) is a river in central Panama. ...
Artificial lake formed when the waters of the Chagres River, in Panama, were dammed as part of the plan to build the Panama Canal. ...
The Panama Canal Locks, which lift ships up 25. ...
The two ships seen here seem almost to be touching the walls of the Miraflores Locks. ...
Bridge of the Americas is a bridge, in Panama City, that spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, it is the only bridge that connects the north and south American land masses. ...
Panamas Centennial Bridge (Puente Centenario) is a major bridge crossing the Panama Canal, and hence connecting North and South America. ...
The Panama Canal Zone was a 553 mile² (1,432 km²) territory inside of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area extending 5 mi (8. ...
This article is about continental divides in general terms. ...
A canal tug making its way down to the Caribbean end of the canal waits to be joined by a ship in the uppermost chamber of the Gatun Locks. ...
Ships follow marked channels amongst the hilltop islands. ...
The Gulf of Panama is a gulf in the Pacific Ocean, near the southern coast of Panama, having a maximum width of 250 km and maximum depth of 220 metres. ...
The Chagres River (Spanish: RÃo Chagres) is a river in central Panama. ...
For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ...
Construction of the cut was one of the greatest engineering feats to have been undertaken in its time; the immense effort required to complete it was justified by the great significance of the canal to shipping, and in particular the strategic interests of the United States. Engineering applies scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. ...
Shipping is the transport of cargo between seaports by ships, typically large steel vessels powered by diesel engines or steam turbine plants. ...
Construction
The French As described in History of the Panama Canal, the excavation of the Culebra Cut was originally begun by a French venture, led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, which was attempting to build a sea-level canal between the oceans, with a bottom width of 22 metres (72 feet). Digging at Culebra began on January 22, 1882. A combination of disease, underestimation of the problem, and financial difficulties led to the collapse of the French effort, and its being bought out by the United States. The French by this time had excavated some 14,256,000 m³ (18,646,000 cubic yards) of material, and had lowered the summit from 110 metres (360 feet) above sea level to 59 metres (193 feet), over a relatively narrow width. The History of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. ...
Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand Marie Vicomte de Lesseps (November 19, 1805–December 7, 1894) was a French diplomat and maker of the Suez Canal; he was born at Versailles. ...
The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France Canals are man-made waterways, usually connecting existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. ...
January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
The United States
 The Culebra Cut in December, 1904, after the handover. The United States bought out the French work on the canal, and took over on 4 May 1904. Under the leadership of George Washington Goethals, the American effort started work on a wider, but less deep cut, as part of a new plan for an elevated lock-based canal, with a bottom width of 91 metres (300 feet); this would require creation of a valley up to 540 metres (a third of a mile) wide at the top. Vast amounts of new equipment were imported, and a comprehensive system of railways was constructed for the removal of the immense amounts of spoil. Image File history File links Culebra_Cut_1904. ...
Image File history File links Culebra_Cut_1904. ...
May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ...
1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
George Washington Goethals George Washington Goethals (29 June 1858 - 21 January 1928) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer, best known for his supervision of construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. ...
Canal locks in England. ...
Major David du Bose Gaillard, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, joined the project at the same time as Goethals, and was put in charge of the central district of the canal, which was responsible for everything between Gatun and the Pedro Miguel locks — most notably, the Culebra Cut. Gaillard dedicated himself to the job of getting the cut excavated with quiet, clear-sighted leadership, in spite of the many and complex difficulties which the work presented. United States Army Corps of Engineers logo The United States Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, is made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military men and women. ...
The scale of the work was massive. Hundreds of drills prepared holes in which were planted tons of dynamite, which blasted the rock of the cut to that it could be excavated by steam shovels. Dozens of dirt trains took the spoil from the shovels to the dumps, which were some twelve miles distant. In a typical day, 160 trainloads of material were hauled away from from a cut nine miles long. This required skilful co-ordination; at the busiest times, there was a train in or out almost every minute. Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin using diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr) as an absorbent. ...
Six thousand men worked in the cut, drilling, placing explosives, handling shovels and the dirt trains, and shifting the tracks as the work moved forward. Twice a day work stopped for blasting, and then the shovels moved in to take the loose dirt away. More than 600 holes were fired daily; in all, 60 milion pounds (27 thousand tonnes) of dynamite were used. At times, 52,000 pounds (23,600 kg) of dynamite were used in a single blast.
Landslides
Construction under way in the Culebra Cut, in 1907. The excavation of the cut was one of the greatest areas of uncertainty in the creation of the canal, due to the unpredicted large landslides. The International Board of Consulting Engineers had mistakenly decided that the rock would be stable at a height of 73.5 metres with a slope of 1 in 1.5; in practice, the rock began to collapse from that slope at a height of only 19.5 metres. The misjudgement was in part due to unforeseen oxidation of the underlying iron strata due to water infiltration, which caused weakening and eventually a collapse of the strata. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1627x1643, 427 KB) The famous Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal, 1907. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1627x1643, 427 KB) The famous Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal, 1907. ...
A landslide is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes, and shallow debris flows, see flow. ...
The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ...
For discussion regarding the term strata as used in geology, see stratum. ...
See: espionage, urban exploration, entryism, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. ...
The first and largest major slide occurred in 1907 at Cucaracha. The initial crack was first noted on October 4th, 1907, followed by the mass wasting of approximately 382,000 m³ (500,000 cubic yards) of clay. This slide caused many people to suggest the construction of the Panama Canal would be impossible; Gaillard described the slides as tropical glaciers, made of mud instead of ice. The clay was too soft to be excavated by the steam shovels and was eventually removed by sluicing with water from a high level. In geology, mass wasting is the process by which rock and regolith move downslope. ...
Quaternary clay in Estonia. ...
A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ...
After this the sediment in the upper levels of the cut was removed, resulting in less weight over the weak strata. The slide still continued to cause minor problems after this.
Completion Steam shovels broke through the Culebra Cut in May, 1913. The Americans had lowered the summit of the cut from 59 metres (193 feet) to 12 metres (40 feet) above sea level, at the same time widening it considerably, and had excavated over 76 million cubic metres m³ (100 million cubic yards) of material. Some 23,000,000 m³ (30,000,000 cubic yards) of this material was additonal to the planned excavation, having been brought into the cut by the landslides.
Gaillard tragically died from a brain tumour in Baltimore, on December 5, 1913, aged 54, having been promoted to colonel only a month before, and hence never saw the opening of the canal in 1914. The Culebra Cut, as it was originally known, was renamed to the Gaillard Cut on April 27, 1915, in his honour. December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ...
1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
See also In civil engineering, earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed stone. ...
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