Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-02-03

Nicaraguan route would be compelled
to shoulder by reason of its greater
length. Among them is the difference
in time of transit. BY the Nicaraguan
the time is estimated at thirty hours;
BY Panama, eleven hours and fourteen
minutes, for ships of like size and
speed III both cases.
But" as a writer on the subject re-
Gently stated, the difference of length
makes a somewhat proportionate LA
bility to accidental delay and proper
tionate addition to the cost Of working
and the cost of maintenance. The
additional liability to delay, of course,
cannot be estimated. The estimated
difference of cost of maintenance and
of operation is S 1,3O0,OOO a year, which.
will continue for all time. The differ
ence in cost of maintenance is due also
to some other elements than length.
The summit level of the Panama is
lower than that of the Nicaraguan
canal, and Panama has five locks, as
against eight locks at Nicaragua.
These elements are included in the
additional cost of construction. main
tenance and operation given above.
The amount OF curative effects ease,
speed and security of operation. The
Panama has twenty-nine curves: the
Nicaragua fifty-six. AT Panama there
are 22.85 miles in curves; at Nicar-
aqua 1920. AT Panama the total
curative is! I'll degrees and 80 min
utes. At Nicaragua the total curva-
ture is 1888 degrees and 5Oh min
utes." Where the disadvantages ex-
list should be apparent
The history of the Panama canal did
not have it's beginning in recent years.
The fact that a large portion of it is
already excavated is evidence that it
exists on. the earth as well as on the.
map. Still, the first actual work was
not attempted until long after the first
examination of the isthmus by an en-
glneer. 1t was a Frenchman, Mr..
Garella, who in 1913 made. the original
survey. Other surveys followed, but
the first concerted movement for the
purpose Of canal building was inaugu-
rated in 1879 by Count Ferdinand De
Lesseps. On an appeal issued by him
delegates from many nations met in
Paris, and after a careful considera-
ton OF the project, as well as of the
Typographical conditions of the 18TH
mus, they decided that a canal should
be- constructed from Panama to Limon
bay
The University Interoceanic Canal
Company was Immediately organized
under the laws Of France. Estimates,
made. at the time, placed the. probable
cost q the canal at about 100000 900,
Y the company had not ~foreseen the
difficulties which lay before it. Nearly
ten years of toll followed the birth of
the gigantic scheme, and in, 1888, when
9 more than one-third of the entire
work had been completed, the total
amount expended reached in the ag-
gregate $200,OOO,OO0! A commission
then dispatched to the scene of opera
tons by the French government re-
ported that to complete the Panama
canal would require $$342, 100000 adj
ditional. To raise such a sum was
practically impossible, in the face of
the millions which had already been
sunk in the project, SO in 1889 work on
the canal ceased altogether and it went
into a receivers. hands a year later.
Ut late years the work has been pro
crossing slowly but surely, and now
that the United States has been offered
the entire system, property rights and
ALL for 80 100000, the American peo-
PIE. public men and private. citizens
I anxious to learn what. it is the
government has been asked to buy.
The Panama canal extends from
Colon, on the Atlantic, to Panama, on
the Pacific cean. Its total length is
49, miles-that of the proposed
N~lcaraguan route is Island the 46. 2
includes 3 .35 miles dredged in the Pa
clf1bc to deep water. The great chain
It the Cordilleras, which runs along
the isthmus, presents at the point Sc
lected a pass which is not too high to
preclude the construction of the canal,
while the contiguous points are both
low. Starting from Colon, on the At
lantic coast, the plant of the canal
company is situated in the new city
OF CHRISTOPHER. Columbus. From the
little port Of Folk river the canal ex-
tends about eleven miles. This canal
is nay1gable, varying in depth from
sixteen % twenty-nine feet. TWENTY
eight miles west of the Atlantic coast
the Cordilleras rise and a great deal
OF work has been necessary between
the twenty-eighth and the thirty-thfrd
I mile. Very noos. hare 81 1.aEg.