The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-09-23
Thinks the Panama Route Must Eventually
Be Accepted.
Says 1t Is Much Shorter and Has
Natural Advantages Over the
Nicaragua Route - Could be
Completed Within Ten Years
at a Cost of One Hundred Mil
Lion Dollars.

NEW YORK. Sept. Or C. Ward.
who was for long time engineer and
roadmaster of the Panama railroad and
who is greatly interested in the success
of the Panama Canal, arrived in This
city on the steamer Finance, from
Colon. yesterday. He discussed the in
ter-oceanic canal scheme at length at
his home here.
Mr.. Wards interest in the canal IS,
he says, only the result of his having
studied the different routes C living
on the isthmus. He is connected with
no company. All his sympathies are
with the Panama Company, however.
and that route, he thinks, must eventu-
ally be accepted.
Mr.. Wards idea is that any canal
might be built in ten years time, giving
rough guess at a cost of S100,000O00
Such cost would allow the sharehold-
ers good profit and the canal, he says,
must surely be a success.
The engineer prefers the Panama
route as against the Nicaragua route.
because of the natural advantages of
the former.
The Panama Canal" said Mr.. Ward,
lis but forty-five miles long and has
natural and accessible deep water ports
at both ends If built with the lock
system it will have rock foundation on
which the locks may be constructed,
While the maximum level of the canal
will be cut down to less than 100 feet.
Should funds be obtainable to warrant
the outlay, the canal, in fact, may be
cut to the sea level. On the other hand,
the Nicaragua route, which is $50 miles
| long, has neither the natural nor ac-
cessible ports at either eLS and must
necessarily be built on the lock system
with a maximum level exceeding 100
feet. 1t is without rock foundation for
| most of its locks, and for some of it's
enormous dams. upon the stability OF
which construction is largely condi-
| toned.
My familiarity with the topography
| of the Isthmus of Panama leads me 70
call attention to the possibility. and, IN
| my judgment, she entire practicabiliSy,
of cutting a sea-level canal across the
Isthmus of Panama, having only one
lock, and that lock for the purpose of
regulating the difference in the rise and
fall of the tides between the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans. In my judg-
ment, the practicability of cutting such
a canal across the Isthmus of Panama
is one of it's chief advantages. 1t VIII,
of course, cost more, but it Will be
worth UNNECESSARILY more than a lock
system canal and will be subject TO
fewer liabilities.
I'm any event believe it is to the in
terest of the American people and the
duty of the American Government to
investigate in a most thorough, careful
and intelligent manner the advantages
possessed by the Isthmus of Panama
over the Isthmus of Nicaragua as
route for an inter-oceanic canal.
THE question is not so much which
canal can be best built as which canal
when built will best subserve the pur-
poses for which it will have been con-
structed. And believe that the Amer
lean Government should, as the Amer
lean people will, investigate carefully
before deciding definitely between the
two routes