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structure are built up, a compact filling of stones of all sizes is placed in between them. The top of the superstructure will be finished off with stones of extra large size; and, finally, a concrete monolith, 40 feet square and 20 feet high, will be erected at either end. These monoliths are calculated to prevent the ends of the breakwater from slipping; they may also be used as light-house towers if it is found desirable to establish signal stations here.

The superstructure of this colossal

rock wall is being put together piece by piece, in such manner that each unit is held firmly in place by its neighbors. Except in the monoliths, no cement is used anywhere in the structure. And, indeed, since many of the monstrous granite blocks weigh 25 tons each, one can easily imagine how an even tier of them, merely fitted closely together, will present a front against which the waves may batter for ages without effect.

At the base, this huge granite barrier is about 180 feet wide, sloping up to a

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way, 1,900 feet wide, between the shore and the inner end of the structure would be advisable. This gateway will allow a free circulation of tidal currents close in to shore, and thus prevent sand from shoaling. Since the planning of the breakwater it has been decided to extend it 500 feet, thus making the total length 9,000 feet, and the total length of the trestle a little over two miles.

The contract requires that the work of construction shall be completed by December, 1906; but it is probable that an extension of time will be granted. En

its shelter will have a depth sufficient to accommodate the largest ocean-going vessels. Dredgers are constantly working on the shallow portions, and have already deepened the water considerably, over a part of the sheltered section.

In the lee of this great wall, San Pedro is rapidly expanding. Her future is assured. When the Panama canal opens a short cut for all the traffic of the Atlantic, San Pedro will, by the steadfast might of her protector, claim a place among the chief ports of the Pacific.

World's Great Canals and Their

Builders

III. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal

By Wm. R. Stewart

Late Editorial Staff, THE COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE

This is the third of a series of articles describing the great canals of the world. In view of the tremendous task the nation has undertaken at Panama, the experiences of Germany, England, and other great powers in constructing similar canals, possess a peculiar and timely interest.— THE EDITORS

B

EGUN in 1887 and completed in 1895, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal -or the Kiel Canal, as it is commonly called-is the longest in Europe next to that of Suez, and is the deepest in the world. It is a little over 61 miles in length; has a minimum depth of 291⁄2 feet, or 32 feet more than the Suez and Manchester canals; and is 72 feet wide at the bottom, with a navigable width of 118 feet in a depth of 20 feet 6 inches. The largest battleships and the largest Baltic steamers are able to pass one another each way, back and forth throughout its entire length. The Kiel canal was a necessity of Ger

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man expansion. As a military undertaking, it has made of the Baltic a German lake, with Germany's two great naval ports-Kiel on the Baltic, and Wilhelmshafen on the North Sea-within easy access of each other. As an aid to commerce it has saved two and a-half days around the Danish peninsula, and brought German industries, carried on far inland, within measurable distance of the coast.

When nature blocked out the jagged profile of the bit of Europe which juts up into the slit between Norway and Sweden, she invited unmistakably the digging of a waterway across the peninsula.

For several centuries the project was under consideration; and one hundred and thirty years ago the "Eider canal," twenty-six miles long, was cut through the narrowest part, which allowed vessels of 120 tons to pass between the Baltic and the North Sea. When Kiel became the great naval arsenal of Germany, there was added to the advantages to commerce the consideration of strategic importance. Before the Franco-Prussian War, the Government of Germany had decided to build a new waterway. Various causes operated to delay the commencement of the work; and it was not until October, 1887, that the first spadeful of earth was turned, by Kaiser Wilhelm I., the grandfather of the present Emperor.

The Kiel canal is a government under

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PORT OF KIEL, HEADQUARTERS OF THE GERMAN NAVY. Situated at the northeastern end of the canal connecting the Baltic and North Seas.

The systematic accuracy which is characteristic of modern Germany has been nowhere more strikingly illustrated than in the building of this great national waterway. The canal was opened to traffic promptly on the date originally fixed; not a dollar of additional appropriation ($39,000,000) was required to complete it; and not an accident of consequence occurred during the entire eight years which its construction required. The cost per cubic yard of dredging was

which ranks second of the world's artificial waterways in that respect. Hydraulic dredges were first used at Kiel, with long discharge pipes, although these were of comparatively small size. Most of the subaqueous dredging, however, was done with endless-chain machines of the ordinary type. The maximum number of men employed at any one time was 10,000; and the deepest cutting, 108 feet, was made to traverse the ridges between the rivers Eider and Zehe.

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J. PIERPONT MORGAN'S YACHT PASSING THROUGH THE CORINTH CANAL, GREECE. This remarkable sea-level waterway crosses the Isthmus of Corinth, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf. It is here printed as an example of deep rock-cutting.

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