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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
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
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
EGUN in 1887 and completed in man expansion. As a military undertak
1895, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal ing, it has made of the Baltic a German —or the Kiel Canal, as it is lake, with Germany's two great naval
commonly called-is the longest ports—Kiel on the Baltic, and Wilhelmsin Europe next to that of Suez, and is hafen on the North Sea-within easy acthe deepest in the world. It is a little cess of each other. As an aid to comover 61 miles in length; has a minimum merce it has saved two and a-half days depth of 291/2 feet, or 372 feet more than around the Danish peninsula, and the Suez and Manchester canals; and is brought German industries, carried on 72 feet wide at the bottom, with a navig- far inland, within measurable distance of able width of 118 feet in a depth of 20 the coast. feet 6 inches. The largest battleships and When nature blocked out the jagged the largest Baltic steamers are able to profile of the bit of Europe which juts pass one another each way, back and up into the slit between Norway and forth throughout its entire length. Sweden, she invited unmistakably the The Kiel canal was a necessity of Ger digging of a waterway across the penin
sula. 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 KIEL
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 GERMANY
the first spadeful of earth was turned, by Kaiser Wilhelm I., the grandfather of
the present Emperor. MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF KIEL CANAL.
The Kiel canal is a government under
PORT OF KIEL, HEADQUARTERS OF THE GERMAN NAVY.
The systematic accuracy which is char- which ranks second of the world's artiacteristic of modern Germany has been ficial waterways in that respect. Hynowhere more strikingly illustrated than draulic dredges were first used at Kiel, in the building of this great national with long discharge pipes, although these waterway. The canal was opened to were of comparatively small size. Most traffic promptly on the date originally of the subaqueous dredging, however, fixed; not a dollar of additional appro- was done with endless-chain machines of priation ($39,000,000) was required to the ordinary type. The maximum numcomplete it; and not an accident of con- ber of men employed at any one time sequence occurred during the entire eight was 10,000; and the deepest cutting, 108 years which its construction required. feet, was made to traverse the ridges beThe cost per cubic yard of dredging was tween the rivers Eider and Zehe.