Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1847-06-12
UNION OF THE ATLANTIC AND
PACIFIC.

Atlantic and pnciiic oceans. As this Is a rnea.
sure Of vast interest To this country and to the
rommerce OF the world, we presents briet view
1t his statements IN. Y. True Sun.
II seems TO be understood that one OF the Oh
j'cts a, which the government will aim, in ne
gotisting a peace with Mexico, will be the pur.
ohnse OF 50 much Mexican territory On the Sou.
thern boundaries OF that country as will enable
us to unite Sy canal or railway the Atlantic 10
the Pacific ocean across the lsthmus OF Tehu'
.o,epec. Tie realer will perceive that this
J. no, the narrowes. strip Of land joining the
,vo ocenns, aud that the distance across Darcn
cr Panama is much less. Tchuantcpec has,
however. the advantage in point Of elevation.
FIVE routes for uniting the two oceans have
bern survcyed--l. BY the is,hmus Of Panama.
:, BY the s,hmus Of Darien. 3. by the lake Of
Nicaragua BY the river Atra,o, from the
cnlt Of Darien. running south through Choco
IN New Grenads, until It nearly meets the San
i,an, which mptics itself into the Pacific al
the por. Of Charanbiro BY the isthmus OF
Tehuahtrpec
Baron Humboldt in 1905 was discouraged. ss
:, TINT bv Panama. because .'no measure OF ele.
walton, and no level had ever been executed IN
that isthnus," and in his opinion the expecta.
ton of a ship canal at that point fought 10 be
completely obnndoned :" Since that time Sc.
vcrai surveys have been made, and the latest
and fullest report was to NJ. Guizot, in lS45, by
Napoleon Garelii. engineer. in.chief. attached
to the royal mining corps in lS45. This report
sets forth the prac,icubiiiy and advantages OF
the "pr,ject for uniting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans by a canal scross the isthmus Of Pana.
ma" The project of a canal TO unite the O.
ceuns BY means ot the lake Nicaragua and the
river San Juan was recommended in 1890 by
q. A. Thompson, diplomatic agent of the Br'.
tlsh government. published in his "Ofiicial Vi
sit to Guatemala" who gives also en- account OF
the preliminary steps which in 1928 had been
taken to effect this object by the King OF the
Netherlands and some ofhe great banking hon.
ses in England. Mr.. Dallas does not enter in.
to n consideration of the superiority of these
routes over that OF Tehnantepec. on account o:
our political relation to Gua,e,nala, which prsc.
lically places them beyond our reach.
Tue route by the Is,hmus Of Tehuantepec
was pointed out by Fernando Cortez, as long
ago as the year 1920, and this, together with
those Of Panama and Nicaragua, were designn.
ted by Lopez de Gomarra in his history of the
Indies as early as 1851. 1t is worthy OF remark
that these three routes are the only ones which,
after the lapse Of three centuries and many cx.
plorations, present the least promise for the con
struction of a ship canal. At the close of the
last century. the old project Of uniting the llu
asacualco with Tehuantcpec, il Mexico, revi
we'd, and Augustin Crnmer, after making some
researches in 1913, under the orders of Vice
roy Bucareli, proposed 10 carry it into effect b.
a canal, led from two small tributaries of thu
Huasacualco. Ia 1925. the general govern
mon, of Mexico authorised General Orbegoz'
TO explore this route, and 1912, Joseph de Cara,
having obtained permission 10 make commn
nicaiion between the two oceans across th
isthmus, caused a thorough scientific exPlora
ton 10 be made under the direction of Goyeto
no Moro. who published the result of HE labors
in 1914, which affords the latest ard most au
thenlc information on the subject
The width OF the isthmus from the mouth q
the IIuass cuaco on tho Mexican Gulf in tn
shores Of the Pacific al Tchuantspec is sbou
one hundred ant thirty y-ive miles. The cen
tral chain of mount aims near the Pacific exllibi
depressons in the line Of the route favorable I
the execution OF the project, while the rive
Huasscualco aud is Caicapa afford facilities TO
the construction OF canal. Moro points on
with much particularly the obstacles and III
means Of overcoming them, as also the mod
and feasibility of constructing railway.
ship-canal would undoubtedly best serve the in
terests of commerce. Nor would il require
very large channel, The average burden {
our vessels rading to the Pacific has been q,
certained to be less than 100 tons.
A canal To accommodate vessels of this bcrde
might. it is estimated. cost ton millions OF do
lars; though canal on larger scale has bee
estimated at a co.t OF twenty five millions. A
appropriation of from two 10 five millions p,
annum for five years would not be felt ns bu
den on our national treasury. The canal shoul
be open to the world; foreign vessels paying
reasonable toll. The RESULT would be to civ
us the ports Of China and the East at an sdvaI
tage Vt two 10 one IL, distsnce over the Eur,
pean merchant and the distance from the I'm
ted States 10 the eastern ports, the Islands
the South and Pacific seas. and our possession