The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-12
CANAL MOI FIRST.
Present Big Ditch Had Predecessor
In Colombia.


There is a spot in the United States of
Colombia where five-mile ditch would
IN fact, once did-c0nnect the Atiantlc
ocean with the waters of the Pacific IL
in well-nigh forgotten tones that ma
tVes passed in their canoes from the
waters of the Atrato to the Rio San Juan
by means OF an artificial cut.
The Atrato flows north and finds It's
way into the Atlantic; the San Juan flows
south and empties into the Pacific. Ire
isthmus of San Pablo, between the low,
rounded hills of Cordillera del Choco ana
the more important elevations OF the Cor
Gillera Occidental, is a small stream FED
by the everlasting rains of the region. 1t
tTickles over moss and stone, gathering
volume until it sweeps along majestic
pays its tribute to the Atlantic. The
other riYulet starts in the same valley
but is separated from the first by
little range of hills which run across the
harrow ravfne and divide it in two. It
reaches the Pacific
! The source of these two streams inter-
lace as Ine fingers of clasped hands, yet
enc flows north, while the other flows
south, and the parting caused by DIP
or two in the land and a few stones IS
as final as the law OF gravitation. These
are the two streams, however, that once
/ upon time were Joined by a canal and
/ the place of the cut IS somewhere in this
/ little ravine called De la Raspadura.
An author living In San Francisco ran
/ into a paragraph a few days ago IN an
old book. printed in 1896. 1t read:
Mature seemed to have designed this
| place for the passage referring TO the
ravine De Ia Raspadura). The Andes are
/ here for the moment lost and seem to
have defiled that commerce may march
] from the old world to the new.
| 'It is a fact no less curious than true
/ that a canal did formerly exist in this
/ SPOT About the year 1745 a priest OF
Citira. with the assistance OF the indians,
opened this same communication known
as the Raspa6ura nal, through which
lCeded canoes passed.
'SThe next most considerable river to
the left is the Atrato, which falls into
F! the Gulf of Darien This stream, to-
/ gether with the San Juan, is said to az
| ford the best route for canal to unite
the two oceans A communication can be
effected by making a canal from the
| headwaters Of the Atrato. a fine, navi-
gable river falling into the Gulf Of Da-
rien and the River st. Juan de Chiram-
bria, which falls into bay of the same
name in the Pacific ocean.
| 1.-The point Of juncture would be about
400 miles from the Atlantic and about
| go miles from the Pacific. About fifteen
miles Of the Atrato or rather the Quito,
which flows INTO the Atrato, would re-
the stream IS only in the dry season
about one mile an hour. Only twenty
miles of the st. Juan would require lock-
Iirg leaving an intervening space Of level
/ land of four miles and a half to be cut
| through"
The historian declares that a New York
man. who had travelled over every part
of the route from sea to sea, was his
source Of information.
| 1.-THE utmost confidence he says,
may be reposed in his statements; he
has. moreover. constructed a map IN
which the entire tract Of the country ts
accurately laid down. In 1921 this gentle
man applied 10 the government Of Colon
lbia for permission to open this commu-
IIication at his own expense, with eX-
elusive privilege for 100 years. Congress
tpassed a vote in favor of the application.
but it was objected to by Bolivar on the
ground that It might afford facilities TO
the enemy.
| Mention Of the cut is also found in
1.-The works Of Alexander Humboldt, as
! follows:
~ monk of great activity. cure Of the
Village of Novita, employed his parish
lforers to dig a small canal in the RaYine
de Ia Raspadura, by means of which
when the rains are abundant canoes
lIOaGed with caceo pass from sea to seq.
This communication has existed since 11SS
unknown to Europe. The small canal OF
the Raspadura unites on the coasts OF
/ the two oceans two points. seventy-five
leagues from one another