Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-01-05
THE PANAMA CANAL.
HOW THE GREAT TRANS.IsTHMlIs
DITCH LOOKS.
The Present Status of the Work
and Its Chances for Early
Completion.


hopes and money are deeply involved in
the enterprise of NJ De Lesseps, it is hard
to acknowledge that the scheme is a dis
NAL failure. But even the most san
guine OF these are now compelled to admit
1t, since the rejection of the canal bill by
the Government of France Those most
disgruntled affirm that the French Cham
Der was brlbed to play into the hands of
the Americans, who, in their Nicaraguan
project, have great reason for desiring the
non-completion of the Panama route, and
that, in consequence, war will result here,
in France, and goodness knows wherel
Be that as it may, it is certain that the
desperate gaming of the great contractor is
virtually at an end, though in his ruin
thousands of his too credulous admirers
are involved. In that useless ditch a
million and a half of the savings, sou by
sou, of the Woodworking poor is buried
beyond hope of resurrection. Nor can the
French Government be justly charged with
betrayal of the interests of the nation in
refusing its assistance, for the blame rests
entirely upon NJ. De Lesseps, who used his
mighty prestige as the hero Of Suez to ex-
tract funds from those ignorant of the en-
gineering obstacles on the Isthmus which
he knew so well.
Besides the wisdom, in financial light,
OF not assuming the abortive enterprise,
costly works, enormous debts and all. the
French Government has not been unmind-
full of the fact that the United States. in
its strict adherence to the Monroe doc
trlne, would not consent to any but a
neutral enterprise on their continent. So
long as it remained in the hands of pri-
vate corporation, to whatever foreign
country they owed personal allegiance,
Americans would have no cause for inter
ference; but when it came to Government
enterprise, owned and controlled by a
Power across the ocean-would be quite
another matter
The total length of the canal, when
completed, was to have been forty-six and
one-half miles; through the Chagres valley
to be seventy-two feet wide at bottom, THE
same as the Suez canal) and between San
Pablo and Pedro Miguel to have seventy
eight feet at bottom, with 102 feet at
water-level. Through the Cordillera the
width would be seventy-two feet at bottom
and 100 feet at water-level The nayiga-
BILE depth was to be twenty-nine feet, and
all the curves to have a radius of not less
than 5000 feet. The plan also involved
the construction of a basin 1000 yards
long and 100 feet wide at Panama for the
accommodation of vessels passing through
the canal and for those that load and ur-
load there, and another large basin or
'Siding" about three miles long, for a turn
out midway between Aspinwall and Pan
anna.
Although NJ. De Lesseps has positively
declared that, if funds are furnished, the
whole stupendous work will be completed
by February 8, 1890, in point of fact that
already accomplished in all the years since
its beginning scarcely represents one
twentieth Of what would yet be required
According to estimates recently made on
the spot, an aggregate of at least 81 ,000,-
600 cubic meters remains to be done, and
at the highest scale of progress yet reached
(about 100000 cubic meters per month";.
it would require at least four years of steady
work. with plenty of money and no him
ORANGES, to bring the canal to successful
completion.
The least amount of money necessary to
$3.50, 100000, which would be represented
by S500,000,000 of new securities-and
that is sum not easy to obtain for an
enterprise whose backbone appears to be
so completely broken and in which the
people have lost confidence. Even appeals
to the gambling spirit, innate in every
Frenchman, fails to draw money from the
pockets of De Lesseps' countrymen. The
last loan, with its lottery attachment,
produced only enough to pay the
company's current expenses a few
months, leaving nothing for the prosecu-
ton of the work. From the sale of the
lottery bonds authorized by the French
Chambers about $64,000,000 was realized
for the company, only half the authorized
issue having been subscribed. From this
amount must be deducted 100000 for
expenses and the sum recently borrowed
from the credit establishments, to be
repaid from the proceeds of the new issue.
This leaves S53,000,000. Then further
deduction of 100000 must be made to
provide the guarantee fund for the lottery
prizes, which by the terms of its conces-
sion the company must provide. Only
SOC. 600. 900 remain as the net addition to
the available resources of the loan, and as
the price of the bonds is payable in seven
instalments, the last of which will not be
due until November of next year, the re-
sources available before next February
will hardly suffice to pay the interest on
the company's obligations, leaving nothing
for the prosecution Of the work. The plain
and immediate duty of the Panama Canal
Company seems to be to acknowledge
itself bankrupt, gather together for distri-
button among its stockholders the odds
and ends OF property that remain to it. and
90 into liquidation.
The appearance Of the great canal to-
day is enough to discourage the most hope
ful. A great cut has been made straight
across the isthmus, and for distance of
sixteen miles from Aspinwall about half
the width of the canal has been dredged,
while on the Pacific side, from Panama to
Culebra, It's deepest point, distance of
nine miles about, one-fourth its depth has
been excavated Commencing with sea-
level on the Atlantic side, for the first ten
miles, the land along the canal gradually
reaches an elevation Of twenty feet. The
next seven miles it attains an average ele-
walton of forty feet, except where, for
short distance, it encircles hill 200 feet
high. The elevation to be overcome dur
ing the next seven miles is between fifty
and 200 feet, and then fer three miles the
great ditch has to pass through hill 100
feet above tide-water. Then it encounters
series Of hills, and at Culebra, the high
est point ON the line, the elevation for sew
erai hundred yards is over 300 feet. From
this point the land fails away toward the
Pacific so rapidly that only three miles
from Culebra the elevation is only thirty
feet.
4 vast amount of capital has been squan-
dered at Culebra in tearing down noun
tain of quicksand, eleven meters long, to
depth of $50 feet.
But the great cordillera dividing the
oceans, whose rocky masses must be pen
-.-....nl lasr Il.