Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-01-26
Interoceanic Communication.

goods around cape 1OTn WllhouN e"e IL
trouble of twice shifting cargoes. A like b.
problem was under consideration in the al
eastern hemisphere when the Asiatic and tai
European trade mad to double the Cape OF il
Good Hope-not as bad a voyage as the e
Cape Horn one but from its great length II
a sensible thing to get rid Of o
The Suez canal solved the eastern prob S
lem, and when De Lesseps, under whose Il
management that canal was completed, p
turned his attention to this side OF the t
globe and began on the scheme for ship I
canal across the Isthmus of Panama, the S
talk of getting ships from the Pacific to
the Atlantic and from the Atlantic to the t
Pacific without going around Cape Horn .
took a new start.
There are now three plans that are much
talked of in the business world and whose
advocates are or will be before congress for
help of one kind or another. They are the
Panama ship canal, the Nicaragua ship Ca
nal and the Tehuantepec ship railway. The
route to be gotten rid of is the all-water
route by way of Cape Horn which makes
a ships course from New York to San
Francisco 1862 miles.
Tho Isthnus of Panama joining North
and South America is between Aspinwall,
a seaport on the north upon the Caribbean
sea to Panama on the south on the Bay oil
Panama about 43 miles wide. 1t is be-
tween Aspinwall and Panama that DE
Lssseps proposes to construct ship canal
The territory TO be traversed is In the
United States of Columbia and the gov
eminent of Colombia has made The neces-
sary grants to enable the company to use
the and needed.
There is considerable jealousy OF the
scheme in question rs it has been thought
the company would be under European
control. The estimated cost of this canal
isS11O,OOOO0O 1t is to be tide water
canal-that is cut to the sea-level so tha'
no locks will be needed except tide lock
to deal with the Pacific tide which is TWEEN
ty feet higher at Panama than the tide on
the Atlantic side at Aspinwall. This
the company which Richard Thompson
late secretary of the navy, has accepted
position in, and which is perhaps pushing
its plans most actively. The distance b.
it from New York to San Francisco
reduced to 6,057 miles. Its location
about 800 west longitude from Greenwich
and about the 9th parallel of north latl
tude.
The Nicaragua ship canal as propose
would run from Grey Town, or San Jua
de Nicaragua Il seaport on the Carlooea
sea some $50 miles northwest OF Aspil
wall, westerly about rs miles to Lax
Nicaragua, which it would utilize, an
from whose westerly shore it would pa
some 25 miles to the Pacific coast at MI
aracua Brto. This canal company prop
SEES to climb" to the lake by locks al
its advantages are claimed to be tn
of healthfulness, nearness and cheapnes
Its advocates say that the Panama ron
will cost enormously, that the tunnelll
necessary to make II tide water canal
almost mpracticabe, and that the Fan
ma region is fenrfuiy unhealthy both
laborers and for mere passengers. Ih
claim the Nicaragua canal can be built
S75,O0O.000. Its western terminus is 4
miles nearer San Francisco than Panan
and there is something more than tn
distance saved over the Panama route.
Five or six hundred miles to the mort
west of the Nicaragua route is the Isl
mus of Tehuantepec separating the u
of Mexico on the north from the Gull
Tehuautepec on the Pacific side on
south This isthmus is 1870 miles W
but rs a navigable river runs nearly
miles of it the distance to be overcome
1l2 miles Capt. Eads, the engineer v
did the famous work at the mouth OF
Mississippi by the jetty system, propose
ship railway across the fehuantepec Il
mus, estimating its cost at $75O00,(
The route would be 1900 to 1910 n
shorter from the Pacific and Atlantic p
cipal seaports than that by the Pana
The Nicaragua canal is the one in fave
which Gen. Grant has written in the
american RevieW.
Tn 1868 Simon Stevens and others
named from the legislature of Veamo
charter for railroad across the 18TH
of Tehuantepec and the promoters oil
enterprise are said to be friendly tt
Eads plan. This seems to be an enor
undertaking, being no less one than
of carving ocean steamers by rail
one ocean to the other. 70 carry the
est steamers u car of 1900 wheels
he needed these wheels running
twelve parallel rails To load the
ers the car would be run under the
means of an extension of the roa'
into short canal dug from the h
The advocates of the two canals of I
regard Cant. Eads' scheme rs imp
cable.
1t now looks as though the enterI
advocates of those measures woul
money enough to 60 at least far e
with their work to show whethe
or is not practicable and that by me
one or the other of these enterprises
years will find ships making thei1
bv canal or rail-perhaps by Dol
tween the two oceans without TAXI
Cape Horn route or finding the
westpassage."
The storm of Friday and Frida,,
was very general through the caste
middle states. In New York it C
great deal of damage especially
teleoranh lines. Telegraphic co