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“...checked by thousands
of tons of the hill-sides sliding into the Canal, bringing into the
Cut streams which had been diverted, and threatening to flood
the workers out: there is something dramatic, majestic and
occasionally terrible in it all.
Originally known as the Culebra Cut, it was, on
April 17th, 1913, renamed by President Woodrow Wilson
the Gaillard Cut, after Lieut-Colonel D. D. Gaillard, of
the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, who was in
charge of the work from 1907 until its virtual completion
in 1913.
To appreciate the immensity of the Cut one must pass
through it in a steamer and see the mighty precipices of
Gold Hill and the famous Cucaracha Slide, which
threatened at one time to frustrate the work of the
engineers and overwhelm the Canal. It may be recalled
that prior to the passage of H.M.S. Renown, with
the Prince of Wales on board, and her escort H.M.S.
Calcutta through the Canal on March 30th, 1920, the
channel was blocked for several hours by a huge boulder
estimated...”
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