The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-03-18
DnaI ar RaiIMny?

resent time-are being promi
stlv agitated in the principal
rsnapers of the world. They
u, 70 the formation of practical
:IdIe link between the waters OF
Atlantic and Pacific oceans
her by Ship Canal via. the 18TH
~ Of Panama or by Ship Rail
W. via. the Isthmus of Tehaunte-
~ The projectors of the schemes
: y respectively Frenchman and
American, and they represent
! engineering skill of the old and
y new worlds. The project of a
lin railway is the progressive idea
Western enterprise and expert.
ont combined with daring that
Is its prototype in the building of
= ietties for improving the navi-
alton in the passes at the mouth of
be Mississippi. 4 1t is an outgrowth
4 an extended ] Gale of that pecu-
brlv aggressive and goahead in
spntive genius Synonymous with
merican tact and ~ ankee inge-
s,,ity that has given the world the
pamboat and the steam engine,
e cotton-gin and electric .ele-
Fanh. the telephone and the photo
hone and a thousand inventions
Ealing with all manner of things
Eom the handling of textile fabrics
4 the smelling and refining of ores.
i this same Western civilization
h world has to return thanks for
he lightning printing press, the
psper and mower, the threshing
6achine[, the Development of the
|Eectric light, in short, to whatever
4 daring, experimental or deemed
Numerical in science, but which
I'm not be demonstrated an impos-
kbiIity. To this inventive spirit
{ificnlties and obstacles are only
hcentives to action. The project
h building, or rather constructing,
ship canal is the more steadfast
Ind plodding judgment of practi
"A engineer founded on Eastern
srecedent, but enlarged in scope
hid action, that conceived the idea
A the Suez canal and carried it out
4 practical execution. Yet even
.sbe idea of the ship canal is not
lew with NJ. de Lesseps. 1t is re-
sy the abandoned scheme of
American genius of an earlier date.
1910 the Government of the
United States sent out two explor-
he expeditions for the purpose of
pertaining the practicability of
hitting the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans by canal across the Ameri
Ian isthmus. One of these expedi-
Ions made a survey of the Isthmus
n Darien, as it was then called,
low known as Panama, and the
Bther that of Tehauntepec. The
bitter, under the command of Capt.
Shufeldt, U. S. n, published an
Elaborate report filled with valuable
hformation in regard to the topog-
5aphy of Tehuantepec, on which
probably is based Mr.. Eads' first
conception of his inter-oceanic Ship
Railway. The result of the sur
feys, as embodied in the reports, is
20 the effect that no extraordinary
Engineering difficulties are present
ID outside of the general ones Incl
ent to the magnitude of the pro-
posed work. The highest natural
Elsvation, according to the report
hade by the Tehuantepec survey,
has level of about $50 feet with a
distance of 40 miles to the descent
% the lagoon on the Pacific. This
) the most northern route that can
le selected, and is practically the
kme as that indicated by M. Eads.
"a makes the distance from New
Orleans to Hong Kong 5000 miles
ess than via. Cape Horn and 1900
piles less than via the Isthmus OF
Panama. From New York to
hong Kong the distance via. the
ehuantepec route is S,25o miles
fss than by the cape and I,6oc
7hlles less than by the isthmus. So,
70, the route from Liverpool to the
EASTERN Asiatic ports would be con-
#derably shortened by the Tehuan
fpec route over any other. The
Panama expedition, under Com
hander Selfridge, surveyed three
Houtes, all of which were pro-
bounced impracticable on account
a the extent of tunneling which
you'd be required, a locked canal
Peng impossible on account of the
Gant of water. This is virtually
ne status, Notwithstanding more
ecent surveys, in which the claims
merit of the respective routes
Ia either isthmus stood when the
PRESENT schemes of the ship railway
Ver the one and the ship cana
Trough the other were brought be-
ere the public. But either of these
pans involves the solution of engi-
eerlng problems of greater diff
ulty by far than any that the two
nglneerS, Eads and De Lesseps
pave hitherto had to contend with
The proposition to build a ship
AWAY on the gigantic-scale neces
afy to transfer laden vessels with.
Put injury from ocean to ocean is sc
eemlngly wild at first sight as te
iaKe capital stand aloof: and the
lgglng of the canal, as proposed
y The eminent French engineer, il