Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-04-10

! A still more favorable concession TO Mr..
! Cornelius Vanderbilt and others, who
! formed the American Atlantic and Pacific
| Ship Canal company, was secured by the
| new charge affairs to Central america.
! but the concession was connec ed with a
treaty of friendship and commerce with
the United States, and failed when the
| latter was defeated in the senate on ac-
count of the recent Ciayton-Bulwer treaty
with Great Britain, that had been hastily
negotiated for that purpose.
The successful compaetion of the Suez ca
| nal revived the interest of the civilized
world in an isthmian canal. At the in
stigation of its then famous promoter.
NJ. de Lesseps. an international congress
was held at Paris, to which the govern
ment sent delegates, among them Mr.
| Menocat. Their report and the fear of
foreign control of the canal turned the
attention of the government and of pri-
vate capitalists of the Nicaragua route.
| A Provisional lnteroceanic canal society
was organized by Capt. Phelps, General
| Grant, Admiral Ammen, the Hon. Levi p.
| Morton, and others, and in 1880 the socie.
! ty received a concession from Nicaragua,
! which was forfeited in 1884 for future to
perform the conditions. Then President
Arthur negotiated a treaty for the building
of canal by the United States in co,
operation with Nicaragua; but the treaty.
while still pending in the senate was
withdrawn by President Cleveland
Among the concessions Of the Pro,
| visiOnal Interoceauic canal society, which
had become merged into the Nicaragua
Maritime canal company was Mr.. A G.
Menocal, mentioned above, civil en-
gineer in the United States navy. The
failure of this company was due to a long.
continued effort to procure aid for congress
an effort defeated by the influence Of
| NJ. dc. Les cps and Captain Eads-ana the
attempt to finance the company without
! government guarantee was made finally
! impossible by the failure of the firm OF
Grant and Ward. So long as the work
on the Panama canal was in active pro.
| gress, il was impossible to secure capital
for ID rival, aimOsta parallel, canal Before
the close, however of 1885 the failure OF
the French undertaking was manifest to
close observers, for in that year the ex-
| pense already incurred in the performance
of less than one-third of the work of excl.
walton amounted to double the sun
estimated 10y NJ de Lesseps for the cost OF
the whole 1t was also beginning to be
suspected that a canal could not be con.
structed at Panama without locks. and yet
the practicability Of sea-level canal there
WAS the only scientific reason given at the
congress for prefering that location tC
| Nicaragua. Tehuantepec presented GER
tain advantages from theoretical point
of view, but it was impossible as site for
a canal. and Captain Eads was unable tC
persuade the hard-headed business men OF
America that vessels could be economical
ly carried on wheels over mountains
The necessities of commerce seemed
to require some interoce&nic canal. and
commercially it made little difference what
point on the isthmus should be selected fol
that purpose so long as the canal could be
constructed with reasonable economy. At.
tentiOn then was naturally drawn to the
Nicaragua route, since the experimental
ton of half century has failed to find q
better one. As early as 1879 the American
geographical society, at the instance
mainly OF its president, the Hon. Charles
P. DAILY, discussed the question In
1886, by invitation of Judge DAILY, Com
mander Taylor, who had already interested
many prominent men at Washington in
the enterprise, delivered lecture before
the society in favor of canal at Nicara
qua. The special advantages afforded by
the physical geography by this location
are unmistakabIe. Though the distance
from ocean to ocean here Is 10 miles, by
using the San Juan river and Lake Nicara
qua the length of the canal to be actually
excavated is only q miles-a work of nc
extraordinary magnitude In comparison
with the As miles at Panama and the g.
miles at Suez. Here. too, the depression
formed by the lake is only 1lQ feet above
! H.. 4
range Of the CordilIeras. Here, from
the scientific point of view, was the most
economical route. The canal too, ought
to be III the control of Americans, and il
! was therefore prudent to take up without
delay the lines dropped by the French al
Panama. Science, patriotism, and OPP pOr.
tunity agreed
In this state of public opinion. Mr.
Mpnocai, VINO has continued his interest
in Nicaragua and his friendshir with Its
government, learned that the president oil
| Nicaragua would be willing TO grant a
new concession to a responsible American
company. Accordingly in the spring OF
1886, MIR. Menocal and Captain Taylor
submitted this possibility to Mr. Horace
L. Hotchkiss, Chief Justice Charles P
| DaIv. President of the New York Geo.
graphical Society. Rear Admiral ANIME en-
Mr.. Francis 4. Stout. aud Mr. Frederick
Billings, weli-known citizens of New
York. In the following autumn these
gentlemen, together with FIR. L. F.
Q Sdaughnessy. Captain A. 5. Crownin-
! shield. and Messrs. Freedrick Billings. ".
| Ii. Webb and James N. Smith. met by
| appointment in New York, and a com.
mittee was appointed, with the result that,
after further conference with Mr..
| Menocal, the Nicaragua Canal association
! was formed, with the unlimited liability
for the purpose Of receiving the necessary
concessions and of arranging for a pre- im=
mary surveys. Among the memb 9rS OF
the association were also Mr. Il bert Gar
re,t. q. Z. kIsseil. James Roo eveit. II.
| Hitchcock, and many other men Of re-
! spAs )blIlty, La March, 1887, the govern
ment OF Nicaragua, and In the folio wing
July the government of Costa Rica. grant
! ed liberal conc sssions to Mr.. Menocal as
/ agent for the association. The concession
! from Costa RIcd was necess airy beI'ause Its
| boundary IS coteTminous with the south
! bank of the ) N Juan ylyer and It's
territory would be flooded if dam
were erected, as was proposed, at Ochoa.
| at the confluence of the San Carlo and the
! San Juan. These concessions, after being
! duly ratified, were secured by the payment
| OF 800 600 IN gold, TO be forfeited in case
| Of future to perform certain specified
conditions-the conditions being that Ger
tain final surveys should be Completed by
| given time. and that at least two million
/ dollars should be spent in construction
during the first year after ratification.
In the winter Of ISIS the surveys re-
CURED by the concessions were begun by
/ i large furce of engineers, some eighty IN
number. and of native labOrers, OF whom
q hundred were brought from Jamaica.
/ The expedition was under the charge OF
Mr. B. E. Peary as sub chief assistant
eng. neer. Mr. Menocal having been ap-
/ pointed engineer IN chief. Inc assocIa-
! ton betrayed the expenses Of these opera
| tons, and is TO De reimbursed, according
to concession. b. SIX per cent. o. the
securities Of the final company. issued In
excess Of Its capital.-Gec. Pellew Ii Har-
per's Weekly.