Evening star., 1902-01-06
TWO CANAL ROUTES
Panama and Nicaragua Contrasted in
Practical Details.
VIEWS OF COMMISSION MEMBER
The Net Advantage Lies With the
Longer Cana.
QUESTION OF CONCESSIONS

Emory R. johnson of the Isthmian Canal Commits
sion in the Review OF Reviews.
| The choice lay between the Panama and
the Nicaragua locations and the detailed
study of these two routes has shown that
the engineering problems on the Nicaragua
| route are less difficult and expensive than
they had previously been supposed to be.
| The most difficult engineering feature of
! either of the two lines is the construction
| Of the Bohio dam on the Panama location,
the commission having been unable to find
a rock foundation for that structure that
does not involve masonry work at a depth
of 12S feet below the level of the sea- No
| foundation has yet been sunk to that depth.
The commission believes, however, that the
Bohio dam could be constructed without
serious difficulty.
| The extensive borings in Nicaragua re-
suited in finding new location few miles
| from Boca San Carlos, at Conchuda for
| the large dam across the San Juan river
The dam on this site can be constructed In
about four years after work is begun, or in
| less than two-thirds of the time it would
have taken to have constructed the dam at
Boca San Carlos. The locks on both routes
| have been located on good rock founda-
| tions, and every important engineering
problem has been satisfactorily solved.
| 1HeIe Will De no engineering works of such
| difficulty or magnitude in Nicaragua as the
| construction of the Bohio dam and the ex-
| cavation Of the Culebra cut on the Panama
line The excavation of this cut would re-
| qu1re about eight years, while 1t is believed
that there is no single piece of work on the
| Nicaragua route which could not, under
| favoring conditions, be completed within
four years after work. is actually under
way.
An examination of the two routes from
the engineering standpoint shows that
neither one possesses very decided 'advan-
| tages over the other. The Panama line is
shorter and has fewer curves and the
character of the country traversed by it is
! more Intimately known. On the other hand
the Nicaragua canal has the advantage Of a
large natural body of water-Lake Mica
| ragua-and the construction of the canal
involves no feature difficult as the Bohio
dam and the Culebra cut
The Question of Concessions.
| The differences of the two routes are most
pronounced in the matter of concessions.
In the case of the Nicaragua line, there are
| no private corporations holding any con-
cessions at present valid and the United
| States Is free to treat directly with Mica
ragua and Costa Ricaa betleof which gov
ernments have on several occasions ex-
pressed their willingness tal treat with Us
Company controls absolutely the situation
at Panama. 4, 1t has Concession certainly
valid until 1904, and which the company
considers to be valid until 1910. Further
| more, the Panama railroad is owned by the
Panama Canal Company, and the conces-
sion under which this road was constructed
has over fifty years to run. By it's terms,
no canal can be built in the neighborhuod
of the railroad without arrangements be-
ing made with the owners of the conces-
sion. 1t thus becomes necessary for the
United States to buy out the Panama Canal
Company before negotiations with the CO.
tombian goterrft,s snt -esaa saaes % pnsnnmated
In order that the isthman canal commits
sion might present. 70 tire PresidentEand to
Congress all the information which 1t was
instructed to collects efforts were made
throughout it's work to secure from the
Panama Canal Company a statement of the
price which it would accept for its con-
cessions and property on the isthmus. The
company, however, did not desire to name
a price After having been pressed strong
ly and repeatedly by the commission to
fix price, the company, near the close of
the commissions work, prepared an esti-
mate OF the value Of it's property on the
isthmus, and submitted this statement, ac-
companied by considerable detail The
value placed upon its property by the COM
pany was s109 100000. a sum much in ex-
cess Of what the United States could ad-
vantageously pay to secure control Of the
route. The commission estimated that the
work done on the isthmus by the Panama
Company and the railroad it owns would he
worth about $34, Geo. 600 to the United States
IL our country were to acquire control Of
that route and execute 1t according to the
project approved by the commission; that
Is to say. the work Of execution would cost
the United States 100000 less than If
nothing had been done.
Choice of Routes.
Whether the United States should adopt
the Panama route or the one across Mica
ragua and Costa Rica is question to be
decided by considerations of cost of con-
struction and acquisition. expenses of
maintenance and operation. and Of the use
fulness of the routes to the commerce Of
the United States and foreign countries.
The engineering works of construction
would cost about S45. 600 900 less at Pan
anna than at Nicaragua, but there Is no
reason to believe that the rights and prop
erty of the Panama Canal Company could
be secured at price that would make the
cost OF the Panama route less than the
cost Of the Nicaragua canal The ex-
nenSeS of anera tior, tor