The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-14
The Hiesr.gu. snip oansA-The Sur

vcy.
Commerce with the East has during all
historic times been the object of the boldest
in ships the merchandise of India to the shores
Of the Mediterranean. Later the thirst for its
wealth tempted the intrepid navigators of
Portugal to skirt the coast Of Guinea and,
doubling the Cape of Good Hope. to reach the
Islands of Spices by the tedious circuit of
Africa. Astronomy taught the shrewd Colum-
bus that, the earth being round, the east could
be reached by sailing west. He underestimated
the distance, but he marked out the true line.
as his practical genius solved the difficulty of
standing the egg on its point He did not
bargain for America. It's discovery was to
him an accidental obstacle in his path to the
Orient via the Ocoident. Yet he hit the true
direction Had he borne trife more to the
south, avoiding the islands in the Caribbean
Sea. or steering through the passage of
Mona. between Hayh and Porto Rico, con-
tinuing his voyage west by south, few
days Of favoring winds would have brought
him to the mouth Of the San Juan de
Nicaragua This fine river would have afforded
an easy passage for the great discoverer
through hundred miles Of magnificent
tropical vegetation to the Lake Of Nicaragua,
occupying deep basin. forty miles wide by
ninety long, and lying one hundred and
twenty-eight feet higher than the Pacific
Ocean, which lies CITY miles beyond Il to the
west Into this lake from the west runs the
River Las Lagas. Columbus might have
assembled this stream till he would have
reached its source within dozen miles of the
''South Sea-" the object Of his adventurous
search
An elevation Of forty-five feet from the level
of Lake Nicaragua forms the dividing ridge at
one place beyond which the rainshed inclines
to tho Pacific. This point is reached by what
is called Child's Route, which, with several
others, has been recently infinitely examined
by United States surveying party. under the
command Of Commander Hatfield. The expe-
dition left New York last March, in charge of
Commander Crossman, who about month
later, while crossing the bar at Greytown,
was accidentally drowned, together with
four seamen of the Kansas The
party went on, entered Lake Nicaragua and
made their headquarters at Virgin Bay about
the LIST Of May. During the next six weeks
the various routes which had been suggested
thence to the Pacific were carefully examined
by the several members of the expedition.
Their labors seem to establish the point that
by Child's Route practicable line exists for
ship canal. Comparatively slight impr ove-
ment will make navigation Of the San Juan,
the lake and Las Lagas River feasible to within
fifteen miles Of the Pacific. From thence ships
will require to be lowered at most one hundred
and seventy three feet by means of looks, the
descent being less than in the Canadian Welland
Canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. For
the proposed canal the Nicaragua Lake, which
drains an area of forty-fve thousand square
miles, will afford an abundant and unfailing
supply of water, and it is probable that in the
execution of the enterprise the elevation to be
crossed between the lake and the Pacific would
be much reduced At the beginning of the
rainy season, about the 22d of june the entire
party left Virgin Bay to return home, arriving
on the 14th of July at Key West, bringing with
them the Nicaraguan Minister to the United
States.
Ever since the coast line of our Continent
has been known explorers have sought
break in the mountain chain which divides
the slopes which fall toward the Atlantic and
the Pacific At the North we find water ways
through which we can penetrate by the way
of the st. Lawrence and the Lakes to Duluth,
two thousand miles. Still there remain
eighteen hundred miles Of land carriage to
reach the Straits of Fuca, and high mountain
ridges to be crossed. The Mexican rivers
afford no aid in the effort to cross the divide
by water. Yucatan and Guatemala have
streams reaching far inland, but still the
Cordilleras tower high beyond their most
westerly navigable feeders, defying the skill
of engineers and the wealth of capitalists
At the south New Granada reduces the
width from the Caribbean Sea to the
Gulf Of Panama to fifty miles; but those
fifty miles include lofty Andean summits,
where no ship can be foated. Still
beyond the Atrato and other rivers
have been looked to as offering the track of a
possible canal, without success In the partial
interruption Of the great spinal mountain
range which occurs in Nicaragua we find at
last the route Columbus sought-the water
road westerly to the far East, with Its wealth
and its generous recompense for enterprise
Nicaragua is rich in all the products of tropi-
col vegetation, has a salubrious climate and
it's mountains abound in mines of silver and
gold. Only the stimulus Of Northern blood in
fused into her population is lacking to make
Nicaragua one of the richest regions in the
world. If, in addition, we make through her
chief lake and river the line by which the
shipping of New York and European ports can