The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1899-01-05


rfyha first half mile from Brit0 is at sea
level. Then in two miles the canal rises
ITO feet. through three locks to the sum-
level. ISL miles long. then in IA miles
If descends, through three locks, to sea
level again. and then continues at sea
level 9H miles to Greytown. The esti-
mated fine required for an ordinary
| steamer to cross from one ocean to the
| other is twenty-eight hours. Eiec1iic
lighting is to make passage by night quite
feasible The allowance for passing
! through locks is forty-ive minutes for
each lock. Only twenty-six miles OF the
| 1853 miles of canal is to be through excava-
lions. 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. SO 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 % feet Deep"
History of the Canal fcheme.
In December, 1881, Senator Miller Of
California introduced a bill in Congress
to incorporate ''The Marine Canal Com
pany of Nicaragua" with the purpose of
constructing the canal. Gen. q. s. Grant,
| Howard Potter, e. D. Morgan, III. 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, in
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 B..
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 it's 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 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 -four, dry goods, machin-
| cry, coal, etc.. from the overland traffic.
Suppose 100000 tons were 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
90 through the canal, conservative cal
culation places the annual freight at
1000. 900 TONS At the lowest Suez canal
rate this would give an annual revenue Of
S12.81O,OOO. The route in favor runs from
| Greytown 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,
| = . .
Lake Lajas to San Juan river. -. Sc so
Slack water in the San Juan. 1854
San Francisco Basin Ochoa to East
ern DIVIDE .1ZU1
Cut through the Eastern divide..... 800
Canal to Greytown. 1913
The Nicaragua canal route was sur
veyed first by Col. o. M. Childs in 1852
for the then existing Transit company
which had established transisthmian 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
roufo Lon de- acroSc Tho lako fhonco nv NOV