Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-18
WELL UNDER Way.
Progress of the Work On the
Nicaragua Canal.
Its Relations to the Mississippi
Valley.


Have Decided Advantage Over Those
of the Old World-The Cut Across the
Summit Not Such Formidable Under
taking as 1t Seems.
CINCINNATI, Jan. 1S.-The following
are extracts from a letter of G. e.
Bailey, a special correspondent Of The
Commercial Gazette, on the subject of
the progress Of work on the Nicaragua
canal:
1t is simple problem, when COM
pared with any of the other suggested
routes, of Panama, Tehuantepec or San
Bias. Lake Nicaragua is an inland sea,
like one of our own great lakes, 1t is
110 miles long by fifty wide, reaching
almost half way across the continent.
At Rivas the shore of this lake and the
beach of the Pacific are only sixteen
miles apart. The lake is very deep,
drains the whole country nearly, and
empties into the Atlantic ocean, at
Greytown, through the San Juan river.
This noble stream is 900 feet wide at
its head, the outlet of the lake, and is
onlyto be compared with the Mississippi
and Missouri until it reaches the land of
lagoons along the east coast. There it
divides into several channels, hunting
for the sea. A line of steamers, estab-
lished in the days of 40" is still in
operation, running from Greytown, up
the river and across the lake.
The canal problem is simply to dredge
a canal from the harbor at Greytown
through the lagoons to the San Juan
river, above the point where it splits;
and another canal from the lake into the
Pacific ocean.
Not So Great as 1t Seems.
The total amount of excavation of
both ends tc9ether is only 26 7-l0 miles,
the rest b lg river and lake. On tie
east side the canal cuts ttrough the el J
Of low ridge, the summit of which is
only POS feet above the bottom of the
30-foot deep canal. The total length of
this divide is less than three miles, and,
except the ummit, the cut is rarely 40
feet deep. "A railroad would not Think
such a cut formidable, even if the dis
tance saved was not great. From the
lake to the acitic the canal goes across
a plain o AZ feet, at the highest
point, above Jhe lake; the lowest depres-
sion in the main divide between the two
oceans on the American continent. The
total distance from ocean to ocean by
the canal is 1G9 40 miles, Of which
nature has provided l42 1-I0, and asks
man to do little over 26; Certainly It
a formidable task, under the conditions.
Hnye Done wonders
A1+bo,ob +ba canal co,rn,,,,- on1,y no
c,o,1 ti,oi,. s,,r,,o,s n li++Ie nTl,, Two vea,,s
@ ssro and bavenayer had unIi,nitajm MONS
- thair oaI,,,,anl onT' t,no bad NJ
panama tba worI[ nran,o,,lisbad Is
enormous. n source of pride to every
American that visits ii. For every mile
of canal that most be completed over
eighty miles of surveys have been tin
ished One noticeable result of these
surveys has been that the old Childs sur
vevS, on which former companies
worked, has been abandoned, and a Ii
located that will extend the level Ul
Lake Nicaragua to within nine miles of
the Pacific and sixteen and one-half Of
the Atlantic clean. level route for 144
miles The harbor at Greytown, closed
for thirty years, is open to ships draw
ing fourteen feet of water. The harbOr
has been dredged out and two piers built
to keep it open. The whole line of canal
is cleared for full width Of the dense
tropical jungle, a railroad completed
the swamp for ten miles, a telc-
graph line extended to the cable on the
west coast, and camps established
wherever necessary. 1t is impossible to
go into detail, to describe headquarters,
engines, wharves. store houses, tram
roads. machine shops, plows and camps,
or the huge dredges that have already
eaten then way from the sea into the
harbor. across it, and are now at work
mile beyond on the actual canal.
win Helm the Mississippi valley.
An examination of n man will make
clear the fact that the people living
along the M sissippi river and its tribu-
talieS can easily send their products by