Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-03-01
some way the word Labor was
misnomer.
Nav Bufid Another Canal.

aragua route urged by the late Senator
Morgan of Alabama as the proper
course for the first great waterway
will be utilized by the United States
some day in the future for a compan-
ion passage to the canal which now
makes open the way from the Atlantic
to the Pacific through the Republic Of
Panama.
1t may be asked: "Why a second
canal?" The answer simply is that
the present. canal has proved great
success, and already the volume of
traffic is so great that the need of an
other waterway to provide communi-
cation between the oceans is seen as a
pressing need of the comparatively
near future.
Secretary of State Hughes has just
made official announcement of the
completion of an arrangement with
Costa RIGA by which that country ac-
cedes to the request of the United
States for the lease of certain rights
which Costa Rica today holds over
the territory at the mouth of the San
Juan river. This removes the last OBJ
stacle in the way Of the construction
under the United States auspices.
The country of Nicaragua long ago
entered into an agreement with the
United States by which this country
is empowered to construct an inter
oceanic waterway. The sole obstacle
in the way was the Costa Rica claim
of water right to control of one of the
essential points. OF course no one
knows definitely when the need for
the canal will become so pressing
that the United States must begin OPP
erations, but it is certain that the
work will begin some years in adj
vance of the time which the experts
will set as when the Panama canal
will have reached the point of traffic
oyercrowding.
Morgan Had Supporters.
When United States Senator John
7. Morgan was urging through sew
eral sessions of congress the advan-
tages of the Nicaragua route he had
many supporters among the engineers
and shipping men of the world in his
contention that Nicaragua furnished
better geographical facilities for such
a canal than the country of Panama.
1t is probably fair to say that many
engineers think that the Nicaragua,
although longer than the Panama
canal route, will offer fewer engineer
ing difficulties than were encountered
in making the more southern water
way In the interior of Nicaragua
there is a lake deep enough to be
nayigable and wide enough to remove
some engineering difficulties, the one
problem being cutting and digging. In
other words, the route will be- partly
by canal and partly by lake.
There is a lake at Panama, and for
some miles of their course, the yes
sells which pass from the Atlantic to
the Pacific pillow the waters of the body
of water known as Gatun lake. There
is a difference, however, between Ga
tun lake and the Nicaragua lake. The
former was created by the engineers
and the latter was created by nature.
Sibert Created Lake Gatun.
The engineer who created the Gatun
lake, which was accomplished only af-
ter the Chagres river, a tiger of water
courses, had been chained, a feat
which some engineers declared to be
impossible, was Major Genera! Will
liam L. Sfbert Of the United States
army, now retired and engaged in
farming near Bowling Green, Ken
lucky. 1t was General Sibert who not
only created Gatun lake but built the
three greatest locks that the world
knows and built the great dam at
Gatun.
The Panama canal is making good
money returns to the government of
the United States. 1t has proved to be
a sound investment The history of
It's building is one of the tragic stories
of the world The French under the
great engineer DeLesseps, who con-
structed the Suez canal undertook to
dig the Panama waterway. AT that
time yellow fever was rampant. Know
ledge of the fact that the fever was
transmitted by a mosquito, the steg-
omyia fasciata, was unknown. There
are graveyards on the hillsides of
Panama Which contain bodies of hum
dreds of Frenchmen who died of vel
low fever while trying to achieve a
triumph greater than that which came
from the construction of the Suez
waterway. The French finally were
compelled to give over the work for
lack of financial support.
There is living today a great engi-
neer who with DeLesseps undertook
the construction of the Panama canal.
He has told the writer of this person
ally, and that every Frenchman on
the isthmus was determined to put
the work through in the face of death,
that no matter what the ravages of
the fever should prove the canal would
have been built if the money had been
Forthcoming.
The yellow fever menace will not
confront the American workmen at
Nicaragua in the day when the digging
project is undertaken.
Man Who "Made Good"