The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-04-20
THE lsTnMUS CANAL.

The Hon. John Bigelow who went to Pan
ANA last February at the request of the New
York Chamber of Commerce to investigate
the progress ofithe De Lesseps ship canal,
and report in regard to the probability of its
completion, has made his report. Mr.. Bige-
low finds that the four most serious difficult
ties with which the company have to contend
are;
First-The control of the waters of the Chagres
river, which, in the rainy season. if unrestraned.
is liable to flood the the larger portion OF the ca
nal every year.
Second-The cut through the Andes at Culebra.
housekeeping that section of the canal which
runs from La Boca toward the island of PericO, i'll
Panama Bay, from being filled by the ocean and
the Rio Grande.
Fourth-S Securing the amount of labor required
at practicable rates.
To obviate the first difficulty two plans are
under discussion. One is to construct dam
across the head waters Of the Chagres at
Gamboa, and as auxiliary to this to eut wa
ter courses to separate the canal from the
waters Of the Chagres and its tributaries,
and carry them directly TO the sea. The 9TH
er is to dispense with the dam and make the
water courses large enough to carry off the
greatest volume of water ever to to be found
in the Chagres. Which plan is to be adopt
ed will be determined largely by the expense,
which engineers are now computing. The
second difficulty seems to Mr.. Blgelow to
be very serious one. To make the cut
through the mountain sufficiently wide and
deep will necesSitate the removal Of 22,000,-
coo cubic yards Of earth and rock.
But the question of the labor supply is the
one which presents the most difficulties. The
IF 4la fI,o In, b,,
man beings who can endure hard labor for
any considerable length of time on the 18TH
mus. But the population Of Panama is SO
small that only very small part of the la
Dor needed can be obtained there, and the
most of it has to be imported. The majority
thus far has come from Cartagena, Jamaica,
and the lower valley Of the Mississippi.
This SUPPLY is limited, however, and the main
reliance must be upon machinery.
Up to the present time about one-seventh
of the work has been done and has cost, ex-
elusive of preparatory expenditures, about
So, O0O, 900. At the same rate the remaining
six seventies would cost 138,000000. The
funds available or that can be made availa-
BILE for the completion of the work. are
$166, 100000, leaving $2S,0O0OO0 for contin-
gencies. In regard to the question as to
whether this will be sufficient, Mr.. Bigelow
says:
To determine when the canal will be finished
one must know, first, how much work is yet to be
done; and second, how much money the cOmpa-
nv will be able and disposed to spend annually
upon it and third, how many laDorerS or Their
equivalent in machines 1t can command. That
information has not yet been revealed TO man.
No one living can even now give anything more
than guess as to the amount of work to be done.
No one knows whether the company VIII /, oeci I
to build dam or carry off the waters OF the Cha
gres some other way. No one knows what slope
it will be necessary to give the cut at CuleDra, nor
what distractions the workmen may nave 10 en-,
counter from subterranean water courses as they
descend. Nor does anyone know now mucn SUD,
marine rock may be encountered In the cnannel
OF the canal at or near the extremlties, nor now
much or little pumping, Golfer dammlng and
blasting may be necessary to remove it. Ot
course, without knowing approximately, at least,
how much work is to be DONE it is rot possible to
give anything better than guess about the cost
OF dong It; but even if we did know the amount
OF work, III determining the time and cost OF do
ing II, II would not help us much in that climate
and so far from every base of supplies. Till we
Know now many men and how many machines Of
ascertained- capacity can be counted upon we
nave no data Tor an estimate that would conduct
10 any satisfactory conclusion. All these uncer-
tam elements are rendered more uncertain by
the financial situation of the company.
II IS about entering the market for a new
loan OF oooQoO,Voo francs. The price it will
price of future loan if one should become neces-
sary, is still more uncertain, Till the money is
would be about as safe to predict the auarter in
which the winds will be setting next Christmas as
day at st. Petersburg, as the time when the canal
will be finished, or what it will cost And for
aught / see, this uncertainty must last until near
the completion of the work, for nowhere in the
world is the unexpected more certain to happen
than on such a work at Panama. 1t is destined to
be- from first to last experimental, and every day
the plans of the day before are liable to unsuS
pected modification. That the canal Will now be
prosecuted to its completion, without any very Sc
rous INTERRUPTION. is fairly tobe presumed for toe
large proportion OF ITS cost mas already Deen n
vance. Evenlif abandoned by the-c0mpany, the
contractors themselves would probably find ttoI
their interest to combine and finish it.
We should say that the New York Cham
Der of Commerce knew just about as much
about the De Lesseps canal before Mr.
Bigelow went to Panama as after he re,
turned