Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-04
THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
It is Now Being Figured Upon as Business
Proposition.
BIG EASTERN SYNDICATE AT WORK ON 1T


Chicago. March 4.--The Tribune says:
syndicate to take the concessions
granted the Maritime company by the
republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica
for the construction of the canal Is In
process of organization by II. f. Cra-
min of this city who Is now in New
York, negotiating the contracts by
which the new owners of the conces-
sions granted by the Central American
republics and of the work already ac-
complished. Will come into his possess
sion. r. Il. Cooley. the engineer who
has been associated with Mr.. Cramin
In the great enterprise, is also in New
York. gathering the material for the
specifications which will be, within tho
next ten days. presented to contractors
for bids on the different sections of the
work.
The new syndicate for the construc-
ton of the Nicaragua canal will soon
know within a few million dollars just
how much 1t is going to cost, finished
and ready for the passage of the first
ship. A rough estimate from the data
at hand on the return of Mr.. Cramin
and Mr.. Cooley from their trip over the
canal a few weeks ago, placed the cost
within S75,000.00C. Mr.. Cooley was of
collected regarding the nature of the
excavation over part of the route, the
cost might be cut down to s65. 900 600.
This is far inside the estimates which
have been presented to Congress in the
appeals of the Maritime company for
government aid.
The preparation for the specifications
for the contractors has been as thor
ough as the data in existence permit
ted. Mr.. Cooley secured all the ma
terial collected by the engineers for
the Maritime company, He then took
the reports of the commission from the
U. s. engineer corps and to these he
added all the material to be had dur
ing his thorough inspection of the
route of the canal and at the capitals
of Nicaragua and Costa Rica-
Immediately upon his return from
his trip of inspection force of engin-
GERS was set to work under his drec-
ton digesting and bringing into form
this mass of material. Just prior to
his departure for New York, he init
mated that the specifications were SO
nearly completed that in a short time
they would go into the hands of the
contractors for bids. Bonds will be re-
CURED with all bids, and when the
figures have been added, for the first
time In all the years that men have
been trying to join the Atlantic and
Pacific by ship canals. 1t will be known
somewhere near the actual figures just
how much the work Is going to cost
THE Nicaragua canal" he said, lis
being treated as a business PROPOSE
ton. Our people want to know where
the thing Is going to end when they
begin putting in their money. We are
going to tell them. There is no great
mysterious thing in canal building
that 1t should not be determined APP
proximately what the canal is going
to cost II engineers are honest enough
to estimate properly the work before
them. Tie construction of the Illinois
drainage canal has educated the con-
tractors who did that work and they
know just what to expect on the Mica
ragua canal. Their representatives
have been over the ground, every foot
of II, they have studies climatic con-
ditions, learned what their labor would
cost, can estimate closely the cost of
transportation to the canal of their
machinery and material. With the
specifications in their hands they can
bid intelligenuy as IL the work was
in an American state"
The terms by which the control of
the property and concessions of the
Maritime company pass into the hands
of the new syndicate are not given out.
Their arrangement was the work of
several months before the trip to Mic
aragua was made.
Who are back of the syndicate is not
given out by the promoters, but II Is
claimed that the contractors have been
satisfied of its financial stability. How
much government aid and in what
shape will be asked are also matters
which neither Mr.. Crainer norMr. Cooley
gives out for publication at the pres
ent Juncture.
Mr. Cramin and Mr.. Cooley are ex-
pected to remain In New York about
week longer in the settlement of the
transfer of the canal from theMaritime
company to the new syndicate.