The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-05
PANAMA CANAL FAILURE
WHY FERDINAND DE LESSEPS'S
PLAN DID NOT SUCCEED.
Some of the Results That VIII Follow
the Construction of a Waterway
Across Central America.
St. Louis Republic.


ward the building of the Nicaragua canal at
this time are prompted by the naval neces-
sites growing out of the acquisition of
colonial possessions the scheme of connect
ing the two oceans by ditching through the
isthmus is by no means a new or novel
idea. 1t is perhaps almost as directly at
tributable to the attitude assumed by the
French government when the success of the
Panama canal was assured by the great De
Lesseps, and the lessons learned in those
days as to late developments.
The activity of the French people in push
ing the Panama canal enterprise attracted
the attention of the American people as
nothing else could have done to the danger
of permitting any European power 10 ac-
quire such a foothold on the Western hem
isphere. At the same time it taught les
son in engineering that is certain to bear
fruit in the great undertaking to which the
President and the members of his official
family at the capital now stand committed
Antonio Galvas, d Portuguese navigator
probably was the first to suggest the pos
sibility of connecting the Atlantic and Pa
cifc by cutting canal through the lsthmus
of Panama in 4 report which he wrote TO
his government in 1850, when the map OF
the isthmus and the adjoining continents
first began to be accurately drawn.
In 1880 Charles III of Spain sent an expe-
dition to explore the isthmus and the sur
rounding waters, and in the early part of
the present century Baron Won Humboldt
wrote of the feasibility of such canal
1t was officially considered by the United
States government as far back as 1873, and
in 1851 n. f. Kelley, a New York merchant,
sent an expedition to the Isthmus OF Darien
to investigate the possibilities of the sue
cess of such an undertaking. Later Mr..
Kelley sent d second expedition to follow up
the work of the first one.
Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon BOnaparte
Wyse, of the French navy, brought the mat
ter to the attention of The INTERNATIONAL Con-
gress Of Geographical Societies at its meet
ing in Paris in 1875, which gave the canal
serious consideration.
DE LESSEPS'S SCHEME.
Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the cele-
brated French engineer, first became asso-
ciated with the project in 1879 His scheme
was to build a sea level canal without locks
from Colon to Panama, and from that time
his name became inseparable from the canal
enterprise
The first public subscription of stock in
the canal company, which it was immedi-
ately decided to form, was invited July
and Z, 1879 and so great was the confidence
of the French people in the undertaking on
account of De LeSseps'S unqualified asser-
tons that the plan was entirely practicable
that they went into it without fear or in
Vestigatlon; This was due to De Lesseps'
success in building the SueZ canal. The first
subscription asked was 916,O0O,0OO divided
into 10000 shares. OF the total amount
asked only So 100000 was subscribed, of
which the first installment that had to be
paid in was but 81, 100000.
In 1880 De Lesseps visited the United
States in the hope of interesting the Ameri-
can people in the canal company. He was
accorded a chilly reception at Washington
and in New York, in both of which cities
he was plainly given to understand that the
sentiment of the American people was
against the construction of the canal by the
people of any European power The Pres1-
dent told De Lesseps:
"The capital invested by corporations or
citizens of other countries in such an enter
prise must, in great degree, look for pro-
lection to one or more OF the great powers
of the world, and no European power can
interfere for such protection without adopt
ing measures on this continent which the
United States would deem wholly inadmis-
sable
The great engineer nothing daunted by
this plain talk, cabled his son: THE mes
sage of the President assures the political
security of the canal"
fully brought out Il new subscription. Les
seps pushed the enterprise vigorously. and
assured the French nation the cost would
not exceed &28, 100000 1t was while on this
visit to the United States that De Lesseps
succeeded in inducing Col. Richard ".
Thompson then secretary of the navy, to
accept the presidency of the American
bran"h of the canal company at salary of
$25 900 a year In order to do this Colonel
Thompson resigned from the Cabinet before
the expiration of his term.
COLONEL THOMPSON IMPOSED ON.
De Lesseps had a long head when he
planned this coup. He knew that the use
of Colonel Thompson's name would add to
the strength of the company at home, espe-
cially in view of the fact that the latter re-
signed the secretaryship of the navy to be-
come the official head of the American
branch From subsequent events it was
plain to be seen that Colonel Thompson
was imposed upon by the Frenchman, and
that he was kept in ignorance of the diff
culties confronting the canal company.
1t was estimated that it would require the
excavation of 125, 600 cubic meters of
rock and earth to complete the canal, and
the work was laid out in FIVE divisions. its
entire length, including the dredging of the
oceans at either end, in order to secure the
proper depth, was to be forty-three miles,
while the length of the Suez canal Is over
eghJY-sx miles. 1t was TO be seventy feet
wide at the bottom and as wide at the top
as the topography of the surrounding coun-
Work was begun in 1881, but it was not
until the following year that any eXcaVat-
the number of men employed had run up to
6.S44 and by 1888 had reached the uneX-
pected force of 1880 men. BY that time
the almost insurmOuntable difficulties sur
rounding the undertaking had begun to
dawn upon it's projectors. Twenty thousand
men were advertised for but were not to be
had. Money was being spent like water,
and it was evident that unless something
unforeseen came to the rescue Of the COM
pany it would be swamped.
The obstacles that stood in the way of the
completion of the great ditch were four in
height and rocky nature of the hills that had
to be cut through, the unhealthfulness
of the isthmus and the difference of
ocean levels. Taking these difficulties
seriatum the engineers in charge of the
work discovered what it is charitable to
say De Iesseps had entirely overlooked as
follows:
First-The River Chagres presented OBJ
stacles which they believed no engineering
skill could surmount During the rainy
season it sometimes rose forty feet within
a few hours, sending down to the ocean
from the mountain ranges. in which it had
to be beyond the possibility of man to stay
The surrounding country frequently was
overfowed to a depth of six to eight feet
and the rank vegetation that sprung up
after these floods rendered the atmosphere
deadly to men working there. The same
conditions were presented by the Grande
river vet it was necessary for the canal
to follow the beds of those streams in or
der to secure the lowest possible levels.
Second-The height and rocky nature of
the mountain ranges presented difficulties
far greater than De Lesseps had given the
slightest intimation of after his return from
a trip to the isthmus At Emperador and
Culebra were the two worst sections. and
in them there were 5000 900 cubic meters of
excavating to be done. This alone con-
stituted almost half the total estimate