The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-22
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT ToPIcs-CoMPILED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
THE DARIEN ISTHMUS EXPLORA-
TIONS.

From the n. Y. Herald
From the results of the careful and laborious
explorations of the expedition under Com
mander Selfridge, United States Navy, in
search of feasible route at some pass across
the Isthmus of Darien for ship canal, we con-
clude that there is no feasible route in that
quarter for a ship canal of the character re-
quired for the worlds commerce. A dividing
ridge of seven hundred and sixteen feet alti-
tude above the sea level is too much for a
through cut, or for the lockages necessary, in
view of the vast reservoir of water demanded
to supply the locks in both directions from
the summit level. South of Nicaragua, the
best route for ship canal after all, is that
now occupied by the Aspinwall and Panama
Railroad. The length of the canal by this
route, from sea to sea, would be, say fifty
miles, and for nearly half this distance the
bed or the valley of the Chagres river would
be available. The summit level is not much
over three hundred feet, and appears, from
its interlocking streams, to command good
supply of water. 1t is probable that a canal
as large could be cut across this isthmus
route at less than the cost of the Suez Canal,
and that it would be much more durable when
completed.
But nature has prepared the most available
line for ship canal between the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans in the Nicaraguan route.
Captain Pym, Royal Navy, British engineer,
has calculated that ship canal may be ex-
cavated over this route for about twenty
millions of dollars. The length of this route
from sea to sea for a canal would be, say
one hundred and thirty miles, including the
river San Juan to the great Lake Nicaragua
(about two-thirds the size of Lake Ontario),
the distance thence across the lake, and the
distance thence some fifteen miles, to the Pa
cifc. The summit level of Lake Nicaragua
is some three hundred and d'twenty feet above
the sea level, and in this great lake we have
not only q reservoir sufficient for all purposes
of lockage, and fountain of cool fresh water
from which may be supplied all the ships in
the world. but summit level harbor broad
and deep enough to accommodate all corners
from all quarters of the globe. Ten miles
north of Lake Nicaragua, on the same plateau,
is another fine lake, called Managua, and of
the little town of Massaya, between these two
lakes, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in an essay
on ship canal by the Nicaraguan route, has
left his opinion upon record that this little
town of Massaya, in the future trade across
the American continent by this route, will
rank in Importance with the commercial and
naval position of Constantinople.
Captain Shufeldt has made reconnaissance g
of the Tehuantepec route, and reports
favorably upon it for ship canal; but for an
American isthmus canal on grand scale the
Nicaraguan route is the best, and, we think,
the only feasible route of them all. We would
suggest to General Grant, therefore, the ex-
pediency of an early exploration of this route,
in view of its manifest advantages for great
interoceanic ship canal.