The age-herald., 1898-07-31
possible moment under American owner

possible moment under American owner
 ship
 At the beginning of this discussion three
 q estions present themselves. They are:
 First Is the canal through Nicaragua
 feasible?
 Second. What will be the cost of the
 canal?
 Third Will it attract commerce enough
 to make it profitable investment of capi-
 tai.
 As to it's feasibility, the concurrent judg-
 ment of the leading engineers of the world
 who have examined it, is that there are
 no iHsurmountable physical possibilities
 to be overcome.
 The distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the route proposed is 1G91a miles.
 cf this distance only 26A miles is canal
 proper, the remaining distance is free navi-
 gation through the San Juan river and
 Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is the
 key of the situation and renders the canal
 possible. It is at the summit 110 feet above the ocean, it is 100 miles long and 60 miles
 wide, and deep enough for the largest ves-
 sel afioat. It will furnish an abundance
 of water for operating the locks. In short, 1t is the only place on the isthmus where water is found at the summit in quantities sufficient to make canal possible. The harbor at Greytown, the eastern terminus of the canal was thirty years ago a deep md safe harbor, but through neglect and other causes 1t has been closed by a bar at the entrance There is no possible doubt of the feasibility of removing the bar and restoring the harbor. During the past ten years our engineers have made great prog ress in the matter of opening and deepen ing our harbors, and no one familiar with this question will for a moment doubt the possibility of our engineers to open the harbor at Greytown and to create per- | fectly safe harbor at Brito, on the Pacific, which is the western terminus of the canal. c n nf hn mi dn al inc "a | ful estimates by competent engineers have | fixed the cost at about s100 000 900. This | estimate is based upon the quantities of l rock and earth which are to be removed 1 and the locks and dams and harbor work | which are necessary. Since these estimates | were made, improvements in dredging and : excavating machinery have been very | great, and have reduced the cost of simi- | las work in the United States over 30 per | cel [. from what it was ten years ago. If, | however, the cost of the canal should for | any ltason be increased to $50 900, it would ten be the cheapest work of the kind ever evecuted and would return a large profit upon the expenditure. The Suez Canal, which cost about $1OO 900, ,OOO has been paying for long time over IS | to 20 per cent. dividends annually, and it's stock today Is quoted in Paris between 700 and 800 per cent. premium.
 | As to the revenue to be derived from | the Nicaragua Canal when constructed. 1 Careful estimates by competent parties have fixed the tonnage that would pass | through it at the beginning at not less | than 000 tons annually, and that within ten years from it's opening its tonnage would be not less than three times that i amount. The tonnage of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal has been for number Of years over 12,O00 00O tons per annum, al- | though the canal is closed one- third of the year by ice, and it carries the commerce only to and from Lake Superior. whereas | the Nicaragua Canal would to a large ex- tent control the commerce of the Pacific ocean.
 | A great English engineer, writing of this, said that the Nicaragua Canal is the key l to the Pacific, and that its benefits to