US Presidency
1884

Six locks, or five intermediate levels, are required for the Pacific end of the canal. On the Atlantic side but five locks, or four intermediate levels, are proposed. These locks would in practice no more limit the number of vessels passing through the canal than would the single tide lock on the Pacific end, which is necessary to any even or sea level route. Seventeen and a half miles of canal lie between the Pacific and the lake. The distance across the lake is 56 miles, and a dam at the mouth of the San Carlos ( a tributary of the San Juan ), raising the water level 49 feet, practically extends the lake 63 miles to that point by a channel from 600 to 1,200 feet wide, with an abundant depth of water. From the mouth of the San Carlos ( where the canal will leave the San Juan ) to the harbor of Greytown the distance is 36 miles, which it is hoped may by new surveys be shortened 10 miles.