With the locks having been opened in 1914 people do not get to see the massive construction that was used to build the locks. The bottom of the locks is about 380 feet wide, the sidewalls at their bottoms are 45 to 50 feet wide, the pit dug for building the locks is about 60 feet below the Atlantic sea level and 50 feet down at the Gatun lake entrance/exit. Now when a ship makes a transit only the vertical face of the locks chamber can be seen and about 8 feet of the top concrete layer, they cannot see the massive step-like width 45 t0 50 feet wide at the foundations bottom or the thick foundation at the bottom. This is why the Panama Canal is one of the modern wonders of the world.
One Comment
Malcolm Stone
With the locks having been opened in 1914 people do not get to see the massive construction that was used to build the locks. The bottom of the locks is about 380 feet wide, the sidewalls at their bottoms are 45 to 50 feet wide, the pit dug for building the locks is about 60 feet below the Atlantic sea level and 50 feet down at the Gatun lake entrance/exit. Now when a ship makes a transit only the vertical face of the locks chamber can be seen and about 8 feet of the top concrete layer, they cannot see the massive step-like width 45 t0 50 feet wide at the foundations bottom or the thick foundation at the bottom. This is why the Panama Canal is one of the modern wonders of the world.