The evening times., 1895-11-02
ON fHB lSTHMUS OF DARIGN
Proposed Canals Discussed Before
the Geographic Society.
and Conclusions Forced Upon Him
by Personal Observation.

Mr. Herbert g. Ogden addressed the Ma
tionai Geographic Society last night on
Explorations On the Isthmus OF Darien-"
BY way OF Introduction Mr.. Ogden said
that the advance press notices had led
their readers to imagine that he would
treat the subject formally and deal with
the history and results Of explorations on
the tsthmus.
SUCH was not his Intention. His purpose
was to tell the society few OF his per-
sonal experiences in the work OF explora-
tlon and survey In the interest OF an in
tefDational and tntefoceanlc canal His
experiences dated back thirty years. In
1865 he was member or y semi-iuter-
NATIONAL expedition, the purpose OF which
was 10 make surveys with q view TO i'm
proving tue San Juan River and the harbor
OF Greytown or San Juan del Norte.
There were two competing companies
between New Yokr and San Francisco, tue
Pac1flc Mail, which transferred its freight
and passengers across the isthmus from
Coion TO Panama, and the Central American
transportation Company, which made the
crossing OF the 1sthnius between San Juan
del Norte and San Juan del Sur, via the.
San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua The
latter route was the more difficult be-
cause or tue bars and rapids Of the river,
anu closing In Greytown harbor
This harbOr afforded twenty to twenty
!ive Ieet or water and was nearly land
iocKed. The spit inclosiDg part Of the
udipor became so projected that eventually
only narrow channel permitted Ingress
and egress- Even this little passa ge had
been blockaded by the sinking there of
one OF tue compaby's steamers. 1t was
10 heip make this route easier that he
rlrst went to Central America.
he told an interesting story of
the dllflcuities which travellers experienced
In crossing the country. For sixteen miles
ABOVE Greytown the river was practically
unnavigable during low water II the
passage were made in the bungalows Of the
natives, the trip was especially tedious and
these craft were SO unseaworthy That they
could not cross the lake, but would skirt
round it.
From Virgin Bay, the trip was made on
loot. or with the aid of mules or burros.
Later, a little steamer crossed the lake from
virgin Bay to Torro Rapids, and a sti,i
smaller fiat bottom steamer followed the
river from this point. The present caral
plan utilizes the river to the point sixteen
miles above Greytown, where the rapids
occur and from this point cuts through the
country
At the point of cataracts the river divides.
that branch called the Colorado carrying
quite a volume of water, even during the
dry season He thought that The place
where the Colorado entered the Carribean
Sea, would make q good harbor. he ex-
planned the project which had In view
Monkey Point as the eastern terminus OF
q canal. His second trip to Nicarauga was
in 1870, when the first party was sent out
TO make a survey for the canal
The expedition was under Commodore
Selfridge and consisted of a number of men
OF the coast survey, mineralogists and ieleg-
raphens- He discoursed on the failures and
the success of this expedition and of how
they had sought to find the path round the
mountains indicated by DR.. Cullen.
Mr.. Ogden told Of the interest which
President Grant felt in the canal project
1t was sanentertatning talk and was listened
TO by quite large ecrowd. 1t was the open
ing meeting of the society this season and
was presided over by Director Walcott, Of
the Geologic Suryey