The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-10
THE NICARAGUA ROUTE.
REPORT or COW. AMMEN ON THE PRO-
POSED SHIP CANAL.
surveys Of the Different Routes SUE.
Eested-COst Of the Canal and the
EeasIhlIItY Of Its COnstruCtIOn.

WARRINGTON, Doc. 9.-The interest In m
inter-oceanc canal to connect the htihntlt
and Pacific oceans Is being revived, both ~
this country and Europe. The Nicaragua
route having been decided upon as the most
feasible and less expensive OF oil tho routes
surveyed, an effort will be made this winter
to induce Congress 10 take tho initiative III
this great work.
The following synopsis Of q paper on the
subject, prepared by Rear Admiral Ammen,
entitled "the proposed nter-oceanic ship
canal between GreytOwn and BTifo via Nlca-
rag,la; its feasibility ns u commercial quns-
tion and It's advantages as compared with
other proposed routes" is Of particular i'll
torest just now.
Two years before paper prepared by him
had been read to tho society upon tho suiflcl-
ency of the information then existing to settle
theinter- oceanic ship canal question across this
country tho object being TO set forth what
was really authentic and that no better route
than those presented was physically possible
ut the time OF tho reading of that paper.
Lieut. Wyse. Of the French navy. WAS en-
route with well equipped surveying party
to re-exnmine n certain region lying between
the waters falling into the bay OF San Miguel
and the opposite coast Certain learned men
I'm Europe thought that this region had not
been sufficiently examined, hence their praise
worthy action in lifting out an expedition
specially instructed.
After surveys OF two seasons IN that region
the reports of Lieut. Wyso Indicated able and
reliable work, but the topography, still IN
doubt In relation to the length OF a projected
tunnel and other difficulties In the way or
constructing an inter oceanic ship canal over
that line showed It's inferiority to routes that
had been specially presented to the society In
the paper read two years ago.
1t was n fair presumption that the route
over which an intpr-OceanC ship canal should
be constructed could only be named when IT
was shown that no better ono existed: In this
respect the recent surveys have special value
as they show the difficulties that would be
- r.1t In hut Tpnnrtl
plans OF a ship canal made by Comr Lull
between Grcytown and Brito via Lake Mica
ragua were fun and would bear impartial ex-
animation, they provided fnliy against IN.
jurv from surface drainage, which Is Of
vital importance to the pormancncy of
a canal Lake Nicaragua with It's
watershed included, equalzcs the floods overa
superiice Of $1,000 miles, or Mt least their dis
charge and affords without the cost of n
feeder twenty times as much water as re-
auired and makes IL profitable to utilize the
bed Of the San Juan river Tor q distance of
sixty-three miles; in fact, Including tho lake
1870 miles OF tho transit would cost for Its i'm
provement only $939i,9l1, inclusive of dams
three locks and dredging in fact the entire
cost, leaving only about iifty-eight miles,
twelve of which could be constructed by ma
chine labor They would require twentV-One
locks, three provided for as above, Lake Mica
ragua being the summit 1916 feet above the
oceans The estimated cost Of the canal is
$52,577,71S but for rcasons stated it should be
set down as SlOU,bhD,Opb.
The Panama route was discussed, and
should be regarded practicable If a better ono
did not exist but the cost OF q canal. if made |
there, would be double that Of Nicaragua
The Atrato- Nappi route was surveyed by |
Com'r Scfrdgc and more specific locations |
were made by Lieut.. Collins, which show
grave difficulties in the execution. The routes |
proposed by Lieut.. Wyse show the same diff !
ficuties. OF Increased dlnensions. The plans
proposed by Lieut.. Wyse were presented
briefly and the insecurity OF n canal for /
transit, If so constructed owing to the heavy |
rainfals and the fact that the plans proposed
to use the beds Of mountain streams for the
canal, which virtually receives all Of the
drainage of the country adjacent Aluson
was made to the great difficulties Of executing |
canal surveys on the Isthmus. TO the cour-
as. ability and hard labor of Lieut.. Wyse, of
the French navy; Com. Shufedt, mand-
ers Selfridge and Lull and Lieut. Collins OfOur
navy, and their able assistants and followers,
we are indebted for what we know Of that
region.
The canal wa Nicaragua should be built
and would be of inestimable value to the com
merce of the world, and would be especially
valuable to us in giving an easy water com
municatiOn between our coasts, and offered an
outlet to an Eastern or European market for
an average yearly product OF 2O,000,0O0 sacks
OF wheat. II would shorten voyages and give
good weather and fair winds and the shortest
lines between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts,
including Japan, Northern China and the
Philippine Islands In the Northern Hemis-
phere, and Eastern Australia and numerous
large and productive islands in the Southern
HemSDhere