Canal Is Nearly Ready.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 29, 1913:
Belief in Washington That It May Be Opened This Year.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, March 28.— A brief paragraph in The Canal Record, the official organ of the Panama Canal Commission, has led some officers of the Government to believe that the big waterway may be opened to navigation this year. The paragraph says that all the gates in the west chambers of the locks at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores will be completed by October 1.
    The importance of the publication lies in the fact that Col. George W. Goethals, the Chief Engineer of the Canal, said some time ago that the passage of ships would be permitted as soon as one side of these locks could be operated, without waiting for the completion of the east locks. It was not expected, however, that the canal would be opened until October, 1914.