The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-02-26
THE NICARAGUA Canal
Anew Survey of the Route Elk
pected.
THE SHIP RAILWAY PROJECT.
Fscts Concerning the Tehuantepeo scheme.
Now Considered Certain That Within Ten
OF Twelve Years the Two Oceans Will
He Connected by Water.

or Twelve Years the Two Oceans Will
He Connected by Water.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 90. Especial f.
There appears to be little prospect Of the
passage of Nicaragua canal bill at this
session of congress. Speaker Reed IL still
trying to keep down the total appropria-
lions. and the most that 10 expected Is an
act providing for q new survey Of the
<route. as recommended by the recent board
on engineers. Many of the friends of the
canal enterprise would like TO pass bill
at once committing the government TO the
scheme. but this seems impossible. The
attention of congress has been directed
anew To one of the most interesting OF all
recent engineering prospects-the proposed
ship railway crossing Mexico at the 18TH
!. mus of Tehuantepeo. The senate recently
repubiished as public document lecture
delivered before the Geographical society
! of Washington by one of the engineers of
that project, one who was associated with
the late James b. Eads the famous en-
gineer, for several years Many senators
believe the ship railway the better method
of cutting the American isthmus. They
prefer Ii TO canal for the reason that 1t
can be more quickly constructed and at
less cost
Engineering Difficulties.
The Canadian parliament has recently
made an appropriation for completion of
the Chignecto ship railway In Nova Scotia
That railway was begun some years ago
and partly completed, but of late has lam
guished for want of funds. 1t Is now be-
lieved 1t will be finished In few years.
and IL 1t proves an engineering success 1t
is considered certain the Tehuantepec
project will be regarded with still more
favor in the public mind. The Chignecto
railway Is not very long-some / 4 miles,
think-but il is planned on lines very sim
liar to those which Mr.. Eads set for his
larger and more important enterprise In
the Tehuantepeo peninsula and, If one Is
successful from a mechanical and operat-
Ing point of view, there is no reason why
the other should not be. The mere size
of the vessels to be carried, or the length
of the route, means only that provision
must be made accordingly. If the engi-
neering difficulties can be overcome on the
shorter route, they can be overcome in the
same way on the longer one
To most people 1t seems dream to talk
of carrying great ocean ships across the
country on wheels without injury TO their
But Mr. Eads, who was one of the most
successful engineers of his time, staked his
reputation upon the soundness of his
plans and he has been Endorsed by great
number of eminent engineers in this and
other countries. So far as strain upon the
ship is concerned practically the same diff
oulties are met In putting vessel In dry
dock, and this is done every day 1t Is true
in a drydock ship is at perfect rest, where
as on the ship railway IL would have to be
kept In motion "a hours or a large part
thereof In order TO reach the other ocean.
But the track will be made almost as
smooth as a still sea, and the pneumatic
cushion system, IL is claimed, will abso-
lutely prevent any injury to the hull.
Mr.. Eads' Plans.
1t is predicted by public men and en-
gineers who knew Mr.. Eads that If he had
lived the Tehuantepeo route would now be
nearly or quite ready for carrying ships
from ocean &c ocean. Mr. Eads' heart was
in that work as few men give themselves
to a task, and when told that he must die
In Cuba some years ago he said to his
physician but can't die. My work Is
not finished" Death conquered that In
domitable spirit, but his work lives after
him. and IL would not surprise any one
familiar with the situation to see congress
take up his plans and push them toward
completion.
Mr.. Eads proposed to construct harbors
at either end of the route and to float. YES
sells In docks or basins built for the pur-
pose so that the hull should rest in a
sunken pontoon. When the ship was In
place. the water would be pumped out of
the compartments of the pontoon structure,
and quickly the structure would rise to
the surface Of the water, bringing the ship
out high and dry. Then the pneumatic
and rubber faced cushions would be adjust
cd to the hull in such way that the slight
est superfiuous pressure In one part or tend
ency to list or roll would be taken up by
all other parts and the ship be thus softly
nestled as secure as IL in her natural ele-
ment. When all was made ready, several
locomotives would be hitched to the oar
riages on which the ship rested and the
whole mass would be drawn across the
country at q rate Of eight or ten miles an
hour.
The isthmus Of Tehuantepec is the first
pass between the oceans as one goes south
yard from the Rio Grande. Here the land
narrows, too, so that IL lie but 176 miles
from sea to sea. BY using river naviga-
BILE to ocean going ships for some miles on
the Atlantlo siue MI hhus surveys SNORT
ened the length Of the rail route to about
$50 miles. According to his plans, he
would have three tracks parallel all laid
in very heavy steel upon embellishments a.
firm as engineering science could make
them. He would have stone bridges In
stead OF iron.
Opinions Of Engineers.
It Is estimated that within "a hours of the
arrival OF ship at one of the harbors Il
could dooked, adjusted to the pontoon
and carriages, carried across the continent
and be delivered safely In the waters of the
other ocean. It Is also estimated that .
single line of rails could carry the entire
commerce Offering, which Is estimated at
seven millions of tons for the first year OF
operation.
According to recent estimates, the rail-
way could be completed and stocked, in.
Guiding the necessary harbors and break
waters, for $50, 000, 900 gold. This Is less
than one-half what the engineering oom-
mission estimated the Nicaragua canal
would cost. An important difference be-
tween ship railway and canal In such
a rainy country as the American isthmus
is that the former IL always above the food
Iine while the latter Is always below It,
Another important consideration is that
the railway line would be 600 OF 500 miles