The Ohio and we passed up the two locks together (photo, Missouri on the left) while the Wisconsin followed. It was a shorter distance thru Miraflores Lake to the Pedro Miguel Lock where we were raised in one lock to the level of the greater part of the Canal - that part including the Cut, Gatun Channel, and Gatun Lake. Because of the new slide in the cut the channel had been narrowed, and we had to move slowly past the buoys that marked the line of safety. We could see that great changes had taken place since we had passed thru before. The houses on the top of Contractors Hill were gone, and a great gap in the side of the hill showed where the slide had started - at the foot of the gap a gray mass of clay extended into the channel. Men and drills and dredges and graders were busy at the base of Gold Hill, as well as on the other side of the canal. I noticed how much greener everything had grown since we had been there - and the colors of Gold Hill were beautiful; there was the dark green of the tropical trees, relieved by the lighter green of flowers and tall grasses; there was the yellow and brown and red of the clays that clung to the jagged side of the hill; there was the dull, sinister gray of the cracked and crumbled rock, and the black heart of the giant boulder - for Gold Hill is that - laid bare by the blasting and dredging always going on; above all there hung a blue sky half hidden by a mass of gray clouds, half cheered by the brilliant sun that tried hard to drive thru the clouds, but again half sullied by the veil of smoke that rose from the multitude of boats and dredges. As we passed on everything looked so much brighter and greener than before - we could not help remarking about it. We steamed at a fair speed thru the channel and finally passed the great power plant - we knew it by the big DANGER 44000 VOLTS sign painted on the bridge that spans Chagres River. Not long after we were turning and squirming in Gatun Lake, like a bug on a tub of water - or so it seemed, as we looked at our wake. We made our way thru Gatun Lake in the dark - for it had take all day to make the trip. We made a stop of several hours alongside Pedro Miguel Lock. I went ashore, and met the 2nd and 3rd officers of the S.S. Columbian - Jellison and James - both young men and extremely interesting. We sat in their room and talked for over an hour on any subject that happened to come up - and there were many. As we passed thru Gatun locks, a great crowd of soldiers and people from Gatun and Cristobal followed us. The band on the quarter deck played all the snappiest, newest pieces they had - much to the delight of the people ashore - until we came to the last lock; there they struck up a few patriotic pieces, and, as we left, Home Sweet Home and Auld Lang Syne. It was thrilling to see the way those people, so far from home, responded to the airs. They were joyous one moment, home sick the next and plainly envious the next as we left them behind - we were homeward bound. One must see Americans away from the United States to feel what patriotic Americans really are - yes to find that there are really patriotic Americans. We answered their cheers and wishes for a happy journey and good luck by cheers and wishes for a short stay so far from home for them - and left them in the inky black night behind us. It was not long before the lights of the locks and the canal were lost, and we were on our way out to sea. It had been a fine trip thru the canal, better even than the first one. We turned in about 10 with the glorious prospect of coaling day ahead of us.
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