Wichita eagle., 1888-02-17

De Lesseps' New Plan. rs Reported by
Not Wait to Dig Through the Back
bone.
The plans of N. de Lesseps regarding the
Panama canal have been changed, and the
big marine highway will be built with locks
instead Of as tide water canal, as was at
first intended, although the original plan OF
making it tide water route, NJ. de Lesseps
says is to be carried out eventually.
Among the passengers who arrived on the
steamship La Gascogne from Havre the other
day WIS Commodore Henry B. Slaven, the
president of the American Contracting and
Dredging company, a concern that has been
actively engaged in the work of digging the
canal since the start Mr.. Slaven had been
in Europe since July, partly for pleasure,
but chiefly on business connected with the
canal Quite recently he talked with re-
porter about De Lesseps and his enterprise.
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS.
.'As to the present condition of the work on
the Panama canal and the future prospects or
the enterprise" he said, ~ am willing to tell
you what know from actual observation. l
have had abundant opportunities for such OBJ
servations during the past six years, having
lived en- the isthmus nearly half of that time.
have been backward and forward across the
route, and do not speak from observations
made from car windows With this much by
way of introduction can say that the canal
is more than half done. 1t is open at present
for vessels drawing fifteen feet of water for
Ill e FOL yavtf In of
seventy-four kilometers That twenty is on
the Atlantic end of the canal, and we dredged
it ourselves We will have twenty-four done
by July l, and French company on the
Pacific end will have five more completed.
Beyond our work there is a twenty kilometer
section that French company has con-
tracted to do, but they have done very little
on it. If the French contractors do as they
ought to do that section will give the share
holders no concern. There is left, however.
section twenty-five kiloneters long that
contains the ridge or backbone Of the
isthmls The elevations run from fifty to
3S7 feet above The mean level OF the two
oceans. A good deal of work has been done
on this section, but it Is here, of course, that
the greatest amount of digging has to be
done.
CATER long consideration, and in view of
the fact that it is taking more time and cost
ing more money to complete the canal than
at first estimated, N. de Lesseps has con
Guided that he ought to get vessels to cross
ing the Sthmus at the very earliest date. To
do this he has altered his plans to the extent
that he viii build temporary locks for this
section and thus save great deal Of time in
getting the canal opened This is really the
system adopted at Suez, for that canal was
opened with only about fifteen feet Of water
in the shoalest places. The locks will be tenn
porary, and the work OF digging the canal
down to tide level will go right on after the
route is open for vessels drawing fifteen feet
of water"
How many locks will there bel"
cit is not fully determined, but l suppose
four will suffice. NJ Eiffel, who is probably
best known in this country as the builder of
the tower 1000 feet high in Paris for tie
next exposition, has the contract for the
locks de and De Lesseps will go to Panama
in January. The locks will be made chiefly
Of iron, and will be water lifts"