New Britain herald., 1923-03-06
DISCUSS QUESTION
 OF CANAL ROUTE
National Geographic Society
 Issues Bulletin on Matter

Washington, D C., March G.,
 whether Nicaraguan Canal will be
 built is a question which only the fu-
 ture- can answer; but 1t has been So
 continuously discussed and its pos
 sbie site so thoroughly surveyed that
 tho term "Nicaraguan Canal route" is
 easily described. This route, in
 which interest has been reawakened
 by the recent signing of protocol be-
 tween the United States and Costa
 Rica. relating to the proposed canal.
 Is the subject of tho following bulle-
 in from the Washington, D. C., head ,pqnarters of the National Geographical scciety:,
 "The Panama Canal. if one leaves tits locks and small artificial lake out
 of consideration, may be considered
 the American Suez; for it is relative-
 ly short and direct" says the bulle-
 in. "rhc Nicaragua route--again ig-
 noring locks--must be compared with
 the Turkish straits; 1t is relatively
 long, and has in it's course great
 natural inland sea from which narrow ship-ways are projected.
 Utilizing "Gfeat Lakes"
 "A Nicaraguan canal would be less a man-madc affair than the Panama Canal, where at every turn nature had to be thwarted and subdued by en- gineers There ships now move every foot of the interocesn way through great ditches that were dug. locks that were built, or lake that was created by men. The Chagres river t,,rA os1 1a fn lrA 1o1r even its bed was discarded. If Nic- araguan canal were built according to existing plans. it would entail much excavation and lock building, but work that nature has already done would be utilized to a marked degree.
 From the Atlantic end a canal | would have to be excavated. largely | through lowlands, for some 50 miles, for the lower reaches of the San Juan river are clogged with sand brought | down from the uplands of Costa Rica. Locks would then raise the waterway to the 106-foot level of the lake. Ships would be transferred into the San Juan river, damned et this point, and would move up it's slack water for approximately 45 miles to Lake Nic- aragua. This lake is really large body of water-one of Americas Great Lakes'-though far from its peers. It is 100 miles long and 45 miles wide at the broadest point, and is the most extensive body of fresh waterin North America south of Lake For 70 miles ships would use the water of Lake Nicaragua. Then would come the descent to the Pacific through canal and locks cov- ering the dozen miles or more of nar- row isthmus that divides the lake from the ocean,.
 "The rivers and lake portion of the route above the dam, however, would l not all be in readiness for use with but the expenditure of labor. Of the 45 miles of river 2S would require while channel would have to be dredged through a score of miles of the lake near the river { outlet where silt has accumulated
 "The Pacific side of the canal would present relatively few difficulties. The divide at the point crossed by he canal route rises only A feet z lbove the lake level. Altogether the 7, ,anal route from deep water to deep ', water, would be about 1S0 miles long. :, The passage of ships would require z nore than A hours as against 12 or :, ess at Panama. Such a canal could :, ,e reached on the other hand, more luickly from ports of the United states.
 "One other contract exists between he Panama canal and the Nicara- U ,uan route. The former traverses country of relatively limited poten- n ial wealth. A canal through Nica- Q agua would doubtless be a strong ls actor in the development of that ountry opening up it's vast forests r f both hard and soft woods and tap T. ing its coffee and cacao plantations nd its mines. Lake Nicaragua is ready an important waterway, and ear it's banks are some of the chief ities of the republic"