, 1889-01-03
NICARAGUA CANAL
What Is Shown by the Latest
Survey Of the Route.
TIE Climate of the Western
Division Healthy.
'vsry Lissle Work Nscessary nm the
haiadls Divisisn-rhs East
ern Division.

~ NICARAGUA tno pruCticHuuhvyo VI euv uo
sirp, and the fact that the bill for char
Ter IL half way through congress-, 1t 10 In.
teresting to note what progress the engin-
sers have made during the past year. A
canal at Nicaragua Ia claimed to be the
most feasible Of the three projects for get
tinR the worlds marine across the 18TH
mus. The other two are the ship railway
at Tehuantepec and the sea-level canal at
Panama. Beginning at the isthmus OF
leo, the American continent tapers grad
ualiy down TO the isthmus at Nicaragua,
and then to its narrowest width at Pana-
ma, A transit established at Teh-
uantepec would doubtless be OF great
benefit to the traffic between the
Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific states. The
isthmus, however, IL far too high tor a
canal. But the successors OF Captain
Rads. who have the Tehuantepec project
il band, are working TO establish ship
railway. Docks would be built AZ either
end Of the route, the ships lifted bodily
spon cradles. transported across the 18TH
mus and lowered to the water on the other
side. The advantage of this project is
supposed to lie In the saving ct time
which would otherwise be lost in discharg-
in,; the cargo and loading the trucks, and
the consequent unloading of trucks and
restowing of cargo at the other terminus.
the strnining Of the hull Of the vessel thus
raised ON cradles and transported. cargo
and all, across an elevation Of 1850 feet
over an extent Of many miles, must out
weigh any advantage.
THE SECOND PROJECT.
The second project 10 sea-level canal
q Panama. II would seem that the French
conference which has this plan in hand
jumped before 1t looked. To be sure. the
isthmus of Panama Is the narrowest of
the three isthmuses, but. outside OF mil
hons Of dollars of expenditure, there is no
practical site for a sea-level canal It was
sand at Suez, where no elevations we're
encountered, no immense strata of rock.
no unruly rivera; but the geological for
nation of Panama Ia far different. In
spite OF their intended plan for sea-level
canal, the company has been forced to de-
pend upon locks, and that, too, after
large part of the capital had been ex-
pended on sea.level excavation machinery.
The work ON the canal is dragging.
Though millions have been put out on
elaborate machinery, most OF the work is
being done by hand labor.
An engineer gives. in the Engineering
News of July %, his impressions on visit
ing the isthmus: There is not power
drill, as far as | could learn, in operation
on che isthmus. At Obispo there ia
gang OF men carrying rock from the cut
upon their backs in kerosene oil tins. As
far ~ my observation goes, and i was
over every section where any work was in
progress. there il not an excavator on the
isthmus that ia doing excavation work;
thev are simply elevators transferring
Material previously excayated by hand to
the cars. and doing this
:,
IN VERY "AsTkFoh MANsfh'
Though five years have elapsed, but IA
per cent. OF the excavation at the most Is
completed. The expenditures are in the
vicinity of $3.50, 100000. De Lesseps ex-
pects to open his canal in 1890, but this is
impossible. On the isthmus itself there
seems TO be lack of confidence in the
project. In the central portion OF Panama
three-quarters OF the houses are for rent.
The isthmus has gone down financially.
The third scheme deals with the middle
isthmus--a canal with locks at Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is a comparatively easy country
10 bore through. Its rivers cut the high
hills, and the main excavation is through
short stretches Of sand. The Rockies send
a spur southward. but the strata Is far
moro susceptible of working than the rock
Of the north. The whole country about
the projected canal is picturesque and va
ried. The eastern terminus OF the route
will be Grsytown, where 75 to 100 thatch-
cd houses are clustered about the mouth OF
the San Juan river: mere you can nna
men on al i; naa,onas.es Sne,,;araa aus r;S' ra.;Sa'
TSe Ta,;h ' a. nac,,;ar to Cent,aI mar;ca
i.s.os ~ and nowerfnl. he can do the work
of tS-ea nrd;narv men. and. moreover is
~ .";,i;n, ~ DO n He sneaks a language
that nobody can trace, but which bears
s..,'. .aa. s..o,o,,Iance m the ztec The Innd
sDuio tCschho'""sc ~ WV .A.s~S' N'.N