Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1898-12-29

the Pacific to Greytown on the Atlantic
The first half mile from Brito is al sea
level. Then in two miles the canal rises
10 feet. through three locks TO the sum
NIT level. Isl miles long. then in 412 miles
il descends, through three locks, TO sea
level again, and then continues at sea
Lowell o., miles to Greytown. The est
mated time required for an ordinary
steamer TO cross from one ocean to the
other is twenty-eght hours. Electro
lighting is to make passage by nlgSt quite
feasible. The allowance for passing
through locks is forty-five minutes Tor
each lock- Only twenty-SiX miles OF 'he
16S miles of canal is to be through eXcava-
tions. Some twenty-one miles Is through
basins, and 121 miles through the lake
and the river. Provision should be made
from the first for increasing the accommo-
dation when it shall become necessary.
Widening can be carried on at the same
time that vessels are passing. 80 can
deepening. To increase the size OF the
locks, however, will cause all traffic to be
suspended. The locks in the present plans
appear to be too small for permanent use.
They are each to be $50 feet long, 20 feet
wide and IS feet deep"
History of the Canal Scheme.
In December. 1881, Senator Miller Of
California introduced bill in Congress
"a INCORPORATE "The Marine Canal Com
pany OF Nicaragua" with the purpose of
constructing the canal. Gen. L. 5. Grant,
Howard Potter, f. u. Morgan. ii. j. jew
EFT and other prominent capitalists were
concerned in the proposed enterprise. The
bill met with bitter opposition in Congress-
and was utterly defeated by the failure
of the Marine Bank Of New York, III
which the Grants were ruined financially.
The Nicaragua Canal Company was in
corporated in 1887, with former Senator
Warner Miller as president, and for a
time made good progress. Its success in
duced opposition, and in 1889 the Mari
time Canal Company Of Nicaragua, which
received the sanction Of President Cleve-
land, was Incorporated. Hiram Hitch
cock was the first president, but he was
subsequently succeeded by Thomas Il.
Atkins. The work of digging the canal
was begun and continued until financial
misfortune overlook the enterprise, the
construction company failing in the terri
BILE panic of 1893. The contract for the
construction was then awarded to Warner
Miller Nicaragua Company, which still
holds its concession. Many attempts have
since been made TO secure the aid Of the
Government, but the bills have failed to
pass both houses. Congress, however, au
thorized the appointment of n technical
commission of civil engineers to re-eXam-
inc the canal line and it is the report Of
this commission which will be presented
to Congress in December.
The principal authorities on transporta-
ton statistics have made estimates that
the Nicaragua route should divert from
100000 to 100000 tons Of low-rate
freight, such as flour, dry goods, machin-
cry, coal, etc, from the overland traffic.
Suppose 2,500O00 tons We're diverted to
steamship lines from the Atlantic and gulf
ports, going by the canal route. With the
usual ocean tonnage from New York to
| the Pacific, and other vessels which would
go through the canal, a conservative cal
| culation places the annual freight at
| 1000, 900 tons. At the lowest Suez canal
rate this would give an annual revenue Of
$12,S10,O0O. The route in favor runs from
Creytown on the Atlantic coast, via the
| San Juan river and Lake Nicaragua to
Brito, on the Pacific. The total distance
is ia miles, divided as follows:
Miles.
Brito to lake. 1927
Lake Lajas to San Juan river. $3.50
Slack water in the San Juan. .GS.54
San Francisco Basin Ochoa to East
ern divide .12.01
Cut through the Eastern divide. 800
| Canal to GreytoWn. .............. 16.4S
The Nicaragua canal route was sur
veyed first by Col. O. NJ. Childs in 1852
for the then existing Transit company
which had established transisthman com
munication with California by steamer
from Greytown by way of the San Juan
river to Virgin bay on the west shore Of
Lake Nicaragua, and thence by stage to
San Juan del Sur about eight miles south
east of Brito. The route selected by Col.
Childs, who was an eminent engineer,
has not been improved upon very greatly
| by subsequent surveys. The last survey,
made by Mr.. Menocal for the Govern
ment, lays the line along the Lajas and
Rio Grande rivers on the west. Between
the headwaters of these rivers and the
divide is lower and the route more practi-
cal than anywhere else. From there the
route leads across the lake, thence by way
of the San Juan river and canal cut to
Greytown.