The morning call., 1892-05-18
NICARAGUA CANAL.
Warner Miller Addresses San
Francisco Merchants.
He Tells Them How the Project viii Benefit
the City and sOlicits Their Sup
port Of the Scheme.

When Hon. Warner Miller. president of
the Nicaragua Canal Construction Com
pany, stepped upon the platform at Pioneer
Hall last evening he was greeted by an
audience of thoroughly representative men.
The lecture was given under the auspices of
the Geographical Society of the Pacific.
But it was not from this organization alone
that his eager listeners were drawn. The
mercantile community was well repre-
scented, large delegation of mining men
was there. and every trade, profession and
branch of industry in the city sent its repre-
Sentatives.
The speaker was introduced by Professor
George Davidson. After referring briefly
to the wide interest which the Nicaragua
Canal scheme is awakening throughout the
world he said the organization of which he
is president is trying to make little
geography of its own, and is succeeding
very well.
PREPARATORY WORK.
"We want to divide North and South
America" he added. "In 1887 tins great
project was commenced by an examination
OF the surveys made by The United States.
I'VE found that they were not full enough,
however, TO serve as basis for estimating
the cost Of the work or even determining
L
fore. it at once became apparent that the
work done by the Government must be gone
over again and good route discovered, or
the project given up.
''Snch a route was discovered. 1t follows
the San Juan River, which emptieS into the
Atlantic Ocean at GTaytOWn. Every man
who has passed over the ISthmus at this
point knows that the route is natural one
for canal Dredging will be necessary at
many points. and on what IS called the
eastern divide cut the most difficult piece
of work on the canal is encountered. Here
the amount OF rock to be removed is very
large, but rock excavation IS simple mat
ter with the appliances Of to-day. This
rock is volcanic in its formation, as has
been aSceftained by b0rlngs at intervals OF
1000 feet and will all be utilized in the
bTeakwater construction at Graytown.
No ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES.
"As far as engineering goes there is moth
ing TO be done that has not already been
accomplished. The pro- ect is no longer an
experiment in any sense of the word. At
Panama the WORK was begun without any
study of the situation, and there IS no COM
paris0n between the physical conditiO rs VI
the two problems.
The climate al Nicaragua is healthy,
and there is no possibility OF floods on the
San Juan or Lake Nicaragua. On rail-
road following the San Juan River, short
time ago. 1870 men we're employed for four
months with only four deaths.
III We can get the money as fast as 1t eau
be iudlciously expended five years will suf-
fee for the completion OF the canal II we
fail English capital will DO tie work aud
control it. The advantages to be derived
need not be explained. Every intelligent
citizen knows that the canal means cheaper
TRANSPORTATION. You produce 10000, 900
bushels Of wheat annually. IL all goes to
Eur0pe-to England, Germany. France, and
even Russia India is rapidly becoming q
wheat-producing country and pouring this
product into the markets OF the world In
order to compete successfully you want
quick trans portatiOn TO European markets.
IT WILL BENEFIT THE CITY.
Then there is your lumber worth more
than ali the gold mines on the coast. This
must be got to market. Why is San Fran
cisco falling behind in the commercial race?
The question is easily answered. For want
OF cheap transportation which will enable
California to get her raw material into the
markets Of tbs East and Europe. New
York was made great by the construction Of
the Erie canal. and San Francisco sSSll re-
ceive tho same advance by the consumma-
ton Of the Nicaragua project"