THE 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 QUESTION 
 
 BY 
 
 Rear-Admiral DANIEL AMMEN, 
 U. S. NAVY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 L. R. HAMERSLY & CO., 
 1510 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
 1880. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, 
 
 BY L. R. HAMERSLY & CO., ' 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THE SUFFICIENCY OF OUR INFORMATION IN RELATION TO THE 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF THE AMERICAN ISTHMUSES. 
 THE FEASIBILITY OF AN INTER-OCEANIC SHIP CANAL VIA 
 
 LAKE NICARAGUA AS A COMMERCIAL QUESTION. 
 THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE INTER-OCEANIC SHIP CANAL 
 
 QUESTION. 
 APPENDIX : 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE GENERAL SESSION OF THE CONGRESS IN 
 
 PARIS, MAY 23, AND IN THE TECHNICAL COMMISSION, MAY 
 
 26, 1879. 
 REPORTS OF REAR-ADMIRAL DANIEL AMMEN, U. S. NAVY, TO 
 
 THE SECRETARY OF STATE, JUNE 21, 1879. 
 REPORT OF CIVIL ENGINEER A. G. MENOCAL, U. S. N., TO THE 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE, JUNE 21, 1879. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Circumstances which occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago, 
 briefly mentioned in the following paper read before the American 
 Geographical Society of New York, fixed my attention on the question 
 of the possibility of the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal 
 across this continent. 
 
 Owing to the approaching struggle into which we soon passed, and 
 the perturbation which preceded and followed it, no possibility of 
 making further explorations occurred for years. 
 
 In the early part of the winter of 1866 I was in Washington, in 
 command of a vessel of war. At my request, Eear- Admiral Chas. 
 H. Davis, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, prepared a map 
 on a large scale of the narrow part of this continent for General 
 Grant, with whom I had the pleasure of discussing what was then 
 known and what was still in doubt respecting the topography of that 
 region. This led to one or more visits to Mr. Seward, then Secretary 
 of State, whose reception of the subject of making further explorations 
 at that time made General Grant averse to seeing him further in 
 relation to this matter. 
 
 Mr. Conness, then Senator from California, offered a Resolution 
 calling for information from the Superintendent of the Naval Observ- 
 atory, which was given during that year, 1866. He continued his 
 interest in this subject, and finally obtained an appropriation for 
 making inter-oceanic surveys in the winter of 1869. In the mean time 
 General Grant had been elected President, and did not fail to do all in 
 his power, through his subordinates, in forwarding surveys, which, 
 when terminated, left no part of the topography of the Isthmus in 
 doubt, so far, at least, as their possibility for the construction of a 
 ship canal was concerned. 
 
 Under a Resolution of Congress, as President, he appointed a Com- 
 mission on March 13th, 1872, consisting of the Chief of Bureau of 
 Engineers, U. S. A., the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and the 
 Chief of Bureau of Navigation, U. S. N., to examine into, make 
 suggestions, and report upon the subject. 
 
6 INTR OD UCTOR Y. 
 
 This Commission foimd further information indispensable; it in- 
 formed the President that a close instrumental examination of the 
 Isthmus of Panama in the immediate region of the Panama railroad 
 was necessary to a full consideration of the subject. The President 
 directed an immediate execution of this work, which was completed 
 with the least possible delay. The Commission then decided, and 
 reported to the President on the 7th of February, 1876, in the follow- 
 ing terms : 
 
 "That the route known as the ' Nicaragua route' possesses, both 
 for the construction and maintenance of a canal, greater advantages, 
 and offers fewer difficulties from engineering, commercial, and eco- 
 nomic points of view, than any one of the other routes shown to be 
 practicable by surveys sufficiently in detail to enable a judgment to be 
 formed of their relative merits as will be briefly presented in the 
 appended memorandum." 
 
 Owing to reasons not fully known to me, and difficulties which I 
 will not surmise, no actual progress was made in bringing about or 
 furthering the construction of the work previous to the expiration of 
 the Presidential term in March, 1877, when General Grant went out 
 of office. 
 
 To my personal knowledge, General Grant did not at that time, nor 
 until recently, have any disposition to participate in the work of con- 
 struction of a ship canal. When great difficulties arose, in proposi- 
 tions for making a canal at the ocean-level at Panama, apparently 
 without regard to any commercial consideration of the question, or of 
 the permanency of the work, he probably regarded it of such great 
 importance to our future commerce, and that of the world generally, 
 as to express a willingness to aid actively in its construction on a 
 route which presents relatively economical conditions for construc- 
 tion, and permanency, as far as it is possible in such works. 
 
 Whether this canal will or will not be made depends upon 
 the appreciation of its merits ; not upon what is possible, but what is 
 certain of realization with a given amount of expenditure. To make 
 its construction an assured fact, its appreciation must be by the 
 moneyed interests of the world, and notably by those of the United 
 States and of Great Britain, whose interests in the construction of such 
 a work are so largely preponderant to those of other peoples and 
 nations. 
 
 From page 608 of the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 
 Society of London" for September, in noting the proceedings of the 
 Geographical Society of Paris, I quote the following: 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 " M. de Lesseps announces that the subscriptions for 800,000 shares, 
 at 500 francs each, of the Panama Inter-Oceanic Canal Company, 
 would be opened on the 6th of August. He expressed himself 
 astonished, and even disappointed, that the project was advancing 
 so smoothly. A little serious opposition would have been agree- 
 able to him." 
 
 Whilst not sharing his sentiments as to the agreeability of conten- 
 tions, I should say that if an opposition to him, or rather his project, 
 from a preference of another route for a ship canal, is agreeable to 
 him, so much the better. We may well wish him all the success that 
 the merit of his project possesses on physical conditions only, and may 
 regret any injury to it from "diplomatic or political intervention," 
 should it be supposed desirable or possible. 
 
SURVEYS AND RECONNOISSANCES FROM 1870 TO 
 1875 FOR A SHIP CANAL ACROSS THE AMERICAN 
 ISTHMUS. 
 
 BY COMMODORE DANIEL AMMEN. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., October 21, 1876. 
 
 HON. CHAS. P. DALY, President Am. Geographical Society, N. Y. 
 
 DEAR SIR: In reply to the request of the Society for informa- 
 tion in regard to the recent surveys which have been executed by the 
 Government of the United States for a Transcontinental Ship Canal 
 across the American Isthmus, I very cheerfully send you the enclosed 
 communication, placing it at the disposal of the Society. In present- 
 ing the paper relating to these surveys, a brief explanation may, 
 however, be expected from me by at least some of your members. 
 
 More than twenty years ago I was attracted to the consideration of 
 this subject by the then published accounts of the coincident attempts 
 by the English, the French, and ourselves, in the vicinity of Caledo- 
 nia Bay, to discover the pretended Cullen route, a route disproved 
 by those three parties, but which, having been again insisted upon as 
 feasible, was recently shown by the American Expedition (1870) to 
 be a physical impossibility, by reason of the elevation of the water- 
 shed adjacent to and across the "divide" near Caledonia Bay, the 
 chief streams of which water-shed flow into the Pacific. 
 
 At the date referred to, the English, working from the Savannah 
 River, ran a line of levels towards Caledonia Bay and reached the 
 waters of the Sucubti, the stream north and west of the Caledonia 
 Bay range of mountains, at a height sufficient to show the imprac- 
 ticability of the route. 
 
 The French seem to have abandoned their work without producing 
 instrumental results indicating in any degree a hope of success. 
 
 The American party, under Lieut. Strain of the Navy, ascended 
 the mountain range from the bay, reached the Sucubti on the Pacific 
 slope, and without the use of instruments of precision, followed the 
 tortuous stream to the Chucunaque, and made their way down that 
 still more tortuous stream, with the loss of more than half of their 
 9 
 
10 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 number by starvation. This was the natural result of not providing 
 proper outfit, and carefully husbanding their provisions. No positive 
 knowledge was gained by our expedition, except the necessity that 
 future explorers should be judiciously provisioned and equipped with 
 the means of securing the best instrumental results. 
 
 After two days' descent of the Sucubti, Strain's party, when en- 
 camped upon an island, had supposed they had heard the evening- 
 gun of the "Cyane," the vessel which they had left anchored in Cal- 
 edonia Bay. This supposed fact, seemingly without significance to 
 them, attracted my attention ; for if it were a fact, it would appear to 
 indicate the existence of a low line of levels between that point and 
 the waters of Caledonia Bay. It seemed to me not at all likely that 
 the sound was deflected up a mountain side and again descended 
 through the valley beyond. 
 
 I was led to consider more fully the probability of a low line of 
 levels near the point referred to, and further to study the question of 
 meeting the formidable obstacles besetting explorers in this almost 
 impassable region, and of securing sufficiently positive, conclusive 
 knowledge of the country, to establish, in relation to all the water- 
 sheds, the practicability of a transcontinental ship canal or the 
 reverse. 
 
 Presenting my views, in 1856, to Mr. Toucey, then Secretary of the 
 Navy, but failing to receive his countenance and support, I went to 
 the Pacific Ocean on board of one of our vessels of war, and did not 
 return until 1860, when I wrote out briefly my project for exploring 
 the entire region necessary to be examined, in a paper which this 
 Society did me the honor to read on the 7th of June of that year. 
 This project has, in fact, formed the basis of our surveys and explor- 
 ations, modified as has been found necessary by the intelligent and 
 able officers who have actually executed the work. 
 
 At the time when the paper was read to your Society the political 
 condition of our country was disturbed, and the years of civil war 
 which followed indefinitely postponed even the consideration of this 
 most important subject. On my return from the Asiatic station in 
 April, 1869, I was gratified at finding that appropriations had been 
 made for transcontinental ship canal surveys, and that General Grant, 
 then President, was initiating a comprehensive examination and suffi- 
 cient surveys of the extensive region involved. Their full execution 
 has required years of labor and the employment of large, well- 
 equipped parties, as will hereafter be shown. 
 
 For the past five years, during which I have been Chief of the 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 11 
 
 Bureau of Navigation, the Secretary of the Navy has honored me by 
 directing the Bureau to give special attention to the selection of most 
 efficient officers for this work; to look closely to the proper supply of 
 articles of subsistence, and for the best instruments found by experi- 
 ence to be suitable; to formulate orders for his examination and 
 approval ; to examine closely the results of surveys ; and to supply 
 whatever deficiencies might be found to exist for the full investiga- 
 tion and determination of this question. 
 
 Since the appointment by the President of the Commission to 
 investigate and report upon a transcontinental ship canal route,* all 
 orders and instructions for surveys in progress have been, in effect, in 
 accordance with the wishes and requirements of that Commission; 
 at their instance a. close instrumental survey and actual location of a 
 route was made on the Isthmus of Panama, and a further examina- 
 tion of the Chepo-San Bias route from the Pacific coast. 
 
 The surveys were at length completed, as will be referred to in 
 detail. They were satisfactory to the Commission, and I can assure 
 you that their execution was no holiday work. In every case where 
 tentative lines only were prosecuted, this was done instrumentally to 
 a point developing impracticability, or else a manifest inferiority for 
 construction as compared with other lines found more favorable. On 
 the latter, instrumental locations for a canal were made, and plans 
 and approximate estimates of construction prepared. 
 
 I cite, in this connection, a few paragraphs from my Report to the 
 Secretary of the Navy, of October 26, 1875 [Annual Report of 
 Secretary of the Navy for the year 1875, pages 60, 61]: 
 
 "The arduous work which has been carefully prosecuted for five 
 " seasons by two or more parties, from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to 
 " twenty or more miles south of the mouth of the Napipi, on the 
 " River Atrato, is at length satisfactorily accomplished. 
 
 " It is the duty of this Bureau to acknowledge the ability and energy 
 " of the different officers who have been in command, and the untiring 
 "zeal and faithful and intelligent exertions of their subordinates. 
 " The precautions of those in command are shown in the fact that not 
 "one officer or man has succumbed to climatic influences, though 
 "many doubtless carried the seeds of disease and earlier death away 
 "from their field of operations. No case of bad conduct in either 
 
 * The Commission, appointed March 13, 1872, was ordered to consist of the Chief of 
 Engineers, U. S. A., the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and the Chief of the 
 Bureau of Navigation. 
 
12 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 "officer or man engaged on this work has came to the knowledge of 
 "the Bureau." * * * 
 
 " By tentative surveys, following in the main up the various valleys 
 " on both coasts, until reaching heights and distances apart that would 
 " make the different water-sheds between the points named inferior to 
 " other points already known, the process of elimination was com- 
 " pleted. It was a long, laborious process, taxing the endurance of the 
 " officers and men. 
 
 " Since my last Report, at the request of the Commission appointed 
 " to consider and report upon the inter-oceanic canal, by your order, a 
 " careful survey of the Isthmus of Panama was made, the computa- 
 " tions completed, and the whole placed before the Commission. 
 
 " A reconnoissance on the west coast was also made of the Rio 
 " Chepo and the San Bias route, where the tide-water of the two 
 " oceans approach more nearly than at any other point. This work 
 " was executed by Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. N., and junior naval 
 " officers, aided by Civil Engineer A. G. Menocal, U. S. N. 
 
 " At the instance of Commander T. O. Selfridge, who had executed 
 " the former work on what is known at the Napipi route, the Depart^ 
 " ment directed the fitting out of another expedition to make an actual 
 " location of an inter-oceanic canal along this line. 
 
 " This work was assigned to Lieut. F. Collins and junior naval 
 " officers. 
 
 " The work has been successful accomplished, the computations 
 " made, and placed before the Commission. 
 
 " So careful and minute has been the examination of the different 
 " water-sheds up to the point of manifest inferiority to other known 
 " points, that no doubt now exists as to the approximate labor neces- 
 " sary in the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal at several 
 " points. It is proper to add, that the most careful and elaborate 
 " surveys would necessarily have to be made in advance at any point 
 " heretofore examined before commencing the construction of an inter- 
 " oceanic ship canal, and that these surveys could only ameliorate the 
 " labor and cost of construction, inasmuch as the locations, as given, 
 " are actual throughout their length, and would only be changed when 
 " an advantage would be gained by doing so." 
 
 In view of these conclusions, which I hope to establish fully with 
 those who will re-examine the various surveys that will be hereafter 
 summarized, I have read with some surprise the postulates recently 
 and widely published by M. Leon Drouillet, engineer, and member 
 of a " Commission of Commercial Geography of Paris," lately formed 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 13 
 
 under the sanction of the French Socie'te' de Geographic postulates 
 on this subject thus seemingly endorsed by that learned and distin- 
 guished body. 
 
 Through the kindness of M. Drouillet, I have been favored with a 
 copy of the proceedings of the " French Section of the International 
 Committee for the Exploration of the American Isthmus," and also 
 with a pamphlet, of which this gentleman is the author, elaborating a 
 plan for such an international exploration.* 
 
 In the pamphlet referred to, M. Drouillet, when urging the neces- 
 sity of an International Exploration of the American Isthmus, sets 
 out with the following postulates : 
 
 " Le probleme de la Navigation inter-Oce'anique est actuellement 
 " insoluble par suite de Pinsuffisance des donn^es g^ographiques et des 
 " contradictions flagrantes qui existent dans ces donnes ; insuffisance 
 " et contradictions qui ne permettent point a Finge'nieur P6tude appro- 
 " fondie d'un project de^nnitif." 
 
 [" The problem of inter-oceanic navigation is, at present, incapable 
 " of solution on account of the insufficiency of geographical data, and 
 " of the flagrant contradictions which exist in these data, an ins*uffi- 
 " ciency and contradictions which do not permit the engineer to study 
 " profoundly a definite project."] 
 
 On the strength of these assertions, with the seeming approval of 
 the Geographical Society of Paris, an appeal is made to the learned 
 societies of the world, and to all the powers interested, to lend their 
 aid to a " general and serious exploration of the Isthmus." 
 
 In view, therefore, of the long series of elaborate explorations and 
 reconnoissances lately made by the United States, reported upon by 
 the Commission to the President, and accepted as satisfactory by him, 
 it seems proper to present what has been really done by us, and to 
 leave to the good judgment of those societies and interested powers 
 whatever action seems to them necessary or advisable. 
 
 The demand for a re-survey is rested upon two principal grounds : 
 
 1st. That the data at hand are insufficient. 
 
 * " Societ6 de Geographic et Commission de Geographic Commerciale de Paris, Sec- 
 " tion Francaise du Comite International d'etude pour Pexploration de PIsthme Americain 
 " en vue du percement d'un Canal inter-Oceanique. 
 
 " Proces verbal de la seance du II Mai, 1876." 
 
 " Les Ishthmes Americains Projet d'une exploration Geographique Internationale des 
 " terrains qui semblent presenter le plus de facilites pour le Percement d'un Canal Mari- 
 *' time inter-Oceanique. Par M. Leon Drouillet, Ingenieur Membre de la Societe de 
 " Geographic et de la Commission de Geographic Commerciale de Paris." 
 
14 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 2d. That what is available is flagrantly contradictory. 
 
 Let us consider these two assertions separately. 
 
 As for the sufficiency of the data at hand, without, at present, going 
 beyond the work executed for the most part during the past six years 
 by the United States alone, we may point to the following not incon- 
 siderable sources of reliable information respecting every part of the 
 isthmus, of any promise, for a canal from Teh uan tepee to the 
 Napipi River, in South America. 
 
 Of our surveys and reconnoissances the following is a list in the 
 geographical order from the north and west to the south and east, in 
 regard to which list it is to be specially noted that every survey and 
 reconnoissance was made with instruments of precision, unless mention 
 to the contrary is herein made. 
 
 All lines upon which calculations have been founded were run by 
 compass and chain, or transit and chain, or by gradienter and stadia- 
 rod, the barometer being relied upon only to fill in the topography on 
 either side of the main line. 
 
 1. Instrumental reconnoissance of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, by 
 Capt. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. X., 1872. 
 
 2. Examination, survey, and definite instrumental location of an 
 inter-oceanic canal route from the vincinity of Gt*eytown via Lake 
 Nicaragua, and thence via the Rios del Medio and Grande to Brito, 
 by Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. K, 1872 and 1873 ; with some pre- 
 liminary operations by Commander Chester Hatfield, U. S. N., in 
 1872. 
 
 3. Examination, survey, and definite instrumental locations of an 
 inter-oceanic canal route from Navy Bay to Panama, by Commander 
 E. P. Lull, U. S. N., 1875. 
 
 4. Examination and surveys from the Gulf of San Bias towards the 
 River Chepo, by Commander T. O. Selfridge, U. S. N., 1870; and 
 
 Reconnoissance from the waters of the Chepo toward the Gulf of 
 San Bias, by Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. N., 1875. 
 
 5. Several tentative instrumental lines in the vicinity of Caledonia 
 Bay, across the Cordilleras to the w r aters of Sucubti and Morti rivers, 
 tributaries to the Chucunaque, by parties under the direction of Com- 
 mander T. O. Selfridge, U. S. N., 1871. 
 
 6. A barometrical reconnoissance of the so-called " De Puydt 
 Route" by way of the Tanela River between the Tuyra and the 
 Atrato, by a party under the direction of Commander T. O. Selfridge, 
 U. S. K, 1871. 
 
 7. Tentative instrumental lines by the so-called " Gogorza Route," 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 15 
 
 from the eastern coast via the Atrato, Cacariea, and Peranchita rivers, 
 and from the west coasts via the Tuyra and Cue' rivers across the 
 "divide," by parties under the direction of Commander T. O. Sel- 
 fridge, U. S. N., 1871. 
 
 8. An instrumental examination of what is known as the " Truando 
 Route," by Lieuts. Michler, U. S. A., and Craven, U. S. N., 1856-57. 
 
 An instrumental reconnoissance of the Napipi and Cuia rivers, in- 
 cluding a reconnoissance of the Atrato River to the town of Quibdd, 
 by parties under the direction of Commander T. O. Selfridge, U. S. 
 N., 1871 and 1873. 
 
 10. Tentative examinations and definite instrumental location of an 
 inter-oceanic canal route by way of the Napipi and Doguado rivers, 
 by Lieut, Frederick Collins, U. S. N., 1875. 
 
 The results of these several explorations will now be briefly noted 
 in the same order : 
 
 1. Tehuan tepee. Indisputably inferior to other known points. 
 Number of locks required, 140. Length of canalization, 144 miles. 
 
 2. Nicaragua. A summit of 107.6 feet; length of canal requiring 
 excavation, 61.75 English miles; slack-water navigation by means of 
 dams in the bed of the San Juan River, from the mouth of the San 
 Carlos to Lake Nicaragua, a distance of 63 miles. Lake navigation 
 for 56.5 miles to Virgin Bay ; and thence via the valleys of the Rio 
 del Medio and Rio Grande to Brito. 
 
 This plan involves the construction of four dams having an average 
 height of 29.5 feet, and an aggregate length of one thousand three 
 hundred and twenty (1320) yards; and of twenty locks of an average 
 lift of ten and twenty-eight hundredths (10.28) feet each. It also 
 involves the construction of two harbors of sufficient extent to insure, 
 at least, a smooth and safe entrance into and exit from the canal. 
 
 It is worth remarking, that M. Drouillet, in presenting the fifteen 
 projects in this vicinity, does not distinctly describe this route (pro- 
 jected after a careful instrumental survey, involving several tentative 
 lines from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific) ; nor would a reader of the 
 pamphlet referred to assign this line as above presented to any one of 
 the fifteen projects given in it. This leads to the supposition that he 
 has given the preference to some of the less exact surveys or suppositi- 
 tious pretensions quoted as examined; and this belief is entirely 
 verified by the fact that he gives the actual height of Lake Nicaragua 
 above the sea level as 37 metres, which is thirteen and six-tenths 
 (13.6) English feet in excess of the true elevation (as presented by our 
 careful instrumental surveys) in excess even of the elevation to 
 
16 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 which the mean elevation of the surface of the lake is to be raised and 
 maintained by a dam. 
 
 3. Panama. This survey, executed, as has been said, at the 
 request of the Commission appointed by the President to investigate 
 the whole question of a ship canal, made an actual location along an 
 entire route. Maps, plans, and estimates for excavation and con- 
 struction have been carefully prepared, as upon the Nicaragua route, 
 and on a common basis of cost for like labor. The Report of the 
 survey published in the Appendix to the Report of the Secretary of the 
 Navy for 1875 does not appear to have been in M. Drouillet's 
 possession. 
 
 4. San Bias. The surveys of Commander Selfridge from the east 
 coast, and those of Commander Lull from the western, demonstrated 
 that there is no practicable route between the Gulf of San Bias and 
 the waters of the Chepo, even with a tunnel of eight (8) miles, 
 although between these points the tides approach each other from the 
 two oceans more nearly than elsewhere. 
 
 5. Caledonia Bay. The tentative instrumental lines from the 
 northern and southern parts of Caledonia Bay across the " divide " to 
 the elevated beds of the Morti and Sucubti rivers showed, for the 
 second time, that the information of Edward Cullen was an inven- 
 tion. 
 
 The line from the southern extremity of Caledonia Bay crossed the 
 " divide " at an elevation of twelve hundred and fifty-nine. (1259) 
 feet, and struck the bed of the Sucubti at a height of five hundred 
 and fifty-three (553) feet, thus precluding the possibility of any pass 
 under that altitude above the point reached on the Sucubti. 
 
 The line from the northern extremity of the bay up the valley of 
 the Sassardi and across the " divide " to the Morti crossed at an alti- 
 tude of eleven hundred and forty-eight (1148) feet, and no indica- 
 tion of any pass under one thousand (1000) feet could be discovered. 
 
 This line is marked by M. Drouillet for re-examination. 
 
 6. De Puydt's Route. The exact line advocated by De Puydt, as 
 obtained from a gentleman who had accompanied him, was followed 
 for some thirty-three (33) miles. At this distance an elevation of six 
 hundred and thirty-eight (638) feet had been reached, while the 
 mountains of the divide were plainly visible beyond. Three mercu- 
 rial mountain barometers were used ; one at the sea-level was observed 
 at short intervals during the whole reconnoissance, the other two were 
 carried by the party ; bench-marks were established at convenient 
 distances, one barometer remaining at each bench until another had 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 17 
 
 reached the next, and until sets of differential observations had been 
 obtained. 
 
 7. The Atndo-Tuyra Route. The tentative instrumental lines from 
 the east and the west coasts, which were run in the examination of 
 this supposed route, established the fact that Hellert, La Charme, and 
 Gogorza were pretenders were it indeed necessary to establish this in 
 the case of those who have done no more than make unsupported 
 assertions. Our regular line of survey by way of the Atrato and 
 Peranchita rivers on the east, and the Tuyra and Cue" rivers on the 
 west crossed the "divide" at an altitude of 712 feet; while a little 
 further north Capt. Selfridge crossed at a height of 400 feet, as 
 estimated from rough observations with his pocket aneroid. 
 
 M. de Gogorza claims that Capt. Selfridge's examinations did not 
 cover his proposed route ; but it will always be possible for him and 
 other authors of brilliant but vague projects to make this complaint 
 regarding any expedition not led by themselves. Whether the exact 
 route proposed by M. Gogorza was followed in this case or not, it is 
 certain that the explorations were sufficiently extensive to show that 
 the whole country, on the Pacific side of the divide especially, is a 
 net-work of high hills, which feature, taken in connection with the 
 extensive swamps on the Atlantic side, is sufficient to condemn the 
 route, independently of the height of the dividing ridge.* 
 
 (This locality, with two preceding ones, involving also the region 
 of a third, comprise points specially noted by M. Drouillet for exami- 
 nation ; he thus entirely ignores the joint attempt by the English, the 
 French, and ourselves on the latter route in 1854, and the recent 
 instrumental disprovement of it, with the others, by us.} 
 
 * Since writing this paper, the pamphlet and map very recently published in Paris by 
 M. de Gogorza have come into my possession. In this pamphlet " Canal Inter- 
 oceanique sans ecluses ni Tunnels" (!) M. Gogorza asserts that Commander Selfridge's 
 surveys support his own, as far as they were made over the same ground. This is an 
 ERROR. Commander Selfridge gives the height of the mouth of the river Paya at one 
 hundred and forty-four (144) feet, and the height of Paya village at two hundred and 
 fifty (250) feet. M. Gogorza gives the same height for the mouth of the Paya, but is 
 silent as to the heights in ascending to the village of Paya, 20 miles above, following the 
 sinuosities of the stream, and does not give the height of that milage at all. He contents 
 himself with asserting that, at a distance of miles beyond the village, at the summit-level, 
 the height is only fifty-eight metres (58), one hundred and ninety feet, that is ij say, 
 sixty feet below the village ! 
 
 The altitude of the mouth of the Paya River itself, as given by himself, and on better 
 authority, contradicts flatly his assertion that a ship canal, without locks or tunnels, can 
 be located betwen the summit-level, the village of Paya, and the mouth of the Paya 
 River. He terminates his canal at the Isla de Lagartos, but does not locate that signifi- 
 cant island. 
 
18 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 9 and 10. The Atrato-Napipi Route. This was examined first by 
 parties under the direction of Commander Selfridge, and afterwards 
 by Lieut. Collins. By the last-named officer a definite instrumental 
 location for a canal was made; the question of additional water 
 supply from the Cuia was investigated, and calculations for excava- 
 tion and construction framed on a common basis for like labor as for 
 Nicaragua and Panama. The report of this survey, without maps 
 and plans, is to be found in the Appendix to the Report of the Secre- 
 tary for 1875. The lack of appropriation for publishing this report, 
 and that made by Commander Lull on Panama, in full, is regretted. 
 
 These surveys are not named by M. Drouillet in his list of authori- 
 ties. 
 
 These repeated and laborious surveys certainly indicate the con- 
 tinued interest which the United States has taken in the construction 
 of a canal. This interest dates back, indeed, to the administration of 
 Mr. Jefferson, and its appreciation by the Congress of the United 
 States was shown as early as 1835, by an elaborate report in the 
 House of Representatives ; as subsequently by various official inqui- 
 ries and American treaties. (See Report No. 145, Ho. Rep. 30th 
 Congress, 2d Session, et al.) 
 
 If necessary, not a few other American authorities might be cited, 
 such as those of Trautwine, Kennish, Porter, Totten, and Childs, 
 employed by private American enterprise, as affording reliable inform- 
 ation within the limits claimed ; but it would appear that the suffi- 
 ciency of the data is already manifest, provided their authenticity is 
 unquestioned : and this brings me to the second postulate of M. 
 Drouillet, that " the data at hand are flagrantly contradictory." 
 
 But here I repeat that our surveys have been pursued for several 
 years by officers of well-established reputation and ability, and by 
 full and competent scientific staffs, with every advantage of outfit, of 
 instruments and stores ; and, in the latter surveys, with the additional 
 advantage of the experience possessed by the principal officers, an 
 experience to be acquired only in the field. 
 
 The scientific staff of the first expedition of Commander Selfridge 
 numbered thirty-five (35) members, including astronomers, geologists, 
 mineralogists, topographical and hydrographical engineers, telegraphers, 
 photographers, and others. The men attached to this expedition, ex- 
 clusive of natives employed as laborers, numbered about 300. Three 
 ships-of-war were also attached to the survey, two on the Atlantic 
 side and one 011 the Pacific side. 
 
 The scientific staff of the second expedition of Commander Selfridge 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 19 
 
 numbered thirty (30) members, exclusive of the officers of the U. S. 
 S. " Nipsic" and " Resaca," both of which,with the U. S. S. " Guard/' 
 were attached to the expedition. 
 
 The Tchuantepec and Nicaragua expeditions were equipped with 
 like liberality. 
 
 Able officers of the U. S. Coast Survey and Civil Engineers were 
 associated with the commanding officers in these various expeditions; 
 notably Messrs. Sullivan, Mosman, Ogden, Merinden, and Blake, all 
 of them distinguished Coast Survey officers, trained in the severely 
 correct methods of that service, were with commander Selfridge; 
 A. G. Menocal, Civil Engineer, U. S. N., with Commander Lull ; 
 A. E. Fuertes, Civil Engineer, with Capt. Shufeldt. Commander 
 Lull and Lieut. Collins had served with Commander Selfridge in the 
 earlier expeditions in Darien, and many of the officers subsequently 
 associated with them had also seen service in the same way. 
 
 The work assigned to the expeditions thus equipped was laid out 
 by careful and ample instructions from the Navy Department, and 
 was satisfactorily performed ; the results obtained are believed to be 
 all that the nature of the conditions rendered possible. 
 
 None of these extended surveys conflict in any degree with each 
 other or with other partial surveys or reconnoisances which have been 
 at times undertaken by private American enterprise. If any authentic 
 instrumental surveys or proper tentative lines in the possession of M. 
 Drouillet disprove or contradict any one of our surveys, this would 
 certainly be of profound interest to the learned societies of the world, 
 and afford for them foundation for further projects of exploration, 
 however little they are considered necessary by those who have gone 
 through these repeated practical labors and experiences in the gloomy 
 fastnessness of the great American isthmus. Until, however, such 
 authentic contradictory data can be shown, it must appear that the 
 "flagrant contradictions" asserted to exist arise from a want of 
 placing merited confidence in the surveys of the United States. If the 
 unsupported statements of men who discover the proper site for an 
 inter-oceanic canal by "observing the flight of low-flying Pisisi 
 ducks," or who obtain their altitudes " by the velocity of mountain- 
 streams," or the boiling-point of water merely, or who are confident 
 of a continuous depression from the mere aspect of the forests, as seen 
 from on board ship, or from having observed an " inclination of the 
 ground to be scarcely perceptible," if these deceptive appearances, 
 so well recognized by travelers, some of which were strongly noted in 
 this very connection by Humboldt when describing his ascent from 
 
20 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 Callao to Lima, are to be placed alongside of official Government 
 surveys, then certainly " the flagrant contradictions " must be expected, 
 and will certainly exist, if even the new, general, and "serious" survey 
 now claimed to be necessary is undertaken and completed. 
 
 The deceptive appearance of the mountain-ranges from the sea, 
 which has misled so many, was thus noted by Lieut. Michler, U. S. 
 A., in his Report of 185657: "In looking back from the ocean 
 upon the country through which the travelers had recently passed, 
 the depression in the Cordilleras becomes plainly visible. It seems 
 to lose its mountainous character entirely. One 
 
 can easily, therefore, conceive why a preference should have been 
 shown to this section by those interested in the construction of a canal. " 
 And the common experience of our officers on the isthmus has been, 
 that wherever a line of low elevation has been affirmed to exist on the 
 strength of the authority of " old Spanish maps or documents," or on 
 the information of " intelligent persons residing in the vicinity," or 
 "through conversations with the natives," there an elevated, for- 
 bidding range of mountains or hills has been found. 
 
 Our surveys have been undertaken and conducted with a view to 
 ascertain the relative practicability of all possible canal routes. It is 
 not affirmed that they are sufficiently extensive and minute at all 
 points to afford the engineer full data for locating a canal, and for 
 estimating its approximate cost. Actual instrumental locations of 
 determinate lines throughout were made at three points only, at 
 Nicaragua, Panama, and the Napipi. The tentative lines in other 
 places were carried only sufficiently far to demonstrate their impracti- 
 cability or manifest relative inferiority; thus eliminating, however, 
 all such territory from the canal problem. 
 
 If it is in the plan of M. Drouillet, or of others, to procure the 
 precise data called for by the engineer on each of the pretended, or of 
 the real lines of promise for a canal, there will certainly be need by 
 such parties of the most extensive co-operation in every particular, 
 which is invited in the publication referred to. 
 
 The natural conditions of the American isthmus will be found 
 widely different from those of Suez, to which constant reference is 
 made. One is a region of extraordinary rainfall the other of extreme 
 dry ness ; the one covered with impenetrable and interminable forests 
 the other wholly denuded ; the one a region of steep escarpments 
 and water-sheds, where every ravine, many times during the year, 
 becomes a river of rapid waters rushing wildly to the sea and bearing 
 huge masses of silt, giant bowlders, and fallen trees the other simply 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 21 
 
 a sandy level plain. If the existence of any narrow American valley, 
 many miles in length, between the seas, be admitted, and a canal 
 without locks be supposed to be located therein, it must become the 
 ultimate drainage of that whole tropical valley. By what human power 
 could it be kept clear of the debris swept into it by every heavy rain- 
 fall along its entire length ? 
 
 Let such low valleys, however, continue to be pointed out, " for a 
 canal without lock or tunnel," as by M. De Puydt, M. Gogorza, or 
 by whomsoever can hold forth the most brilliant promise ; let further 
 search be made by whomsoever feels interested, hopeful, and credu- 
 lous ; and let the work go on, aided by such forces, Governmental or 
 otherwise, as may be furnished : the United States and its learned 
 societies may properly decline co-operation. The question whether 
 the authorities I have quoted are sufficient to determine the location 
 of a transcontinental ship canal is an open one ; those who think the 
 authority insufficient may well proceed with whatever surveys they 
 may deem necessary. 
 
 In submitting to learned societies what has been done, no indul- 
 gence for nationality is desired ; nor, on the other hand, can there be 
 a tenable assumption that we are incapable of obtaining results which 
 can be obtained by others, or that we have not the integrity to present 
 them fairly. Surveys tell their own story, and discredit themselves 
 if they are to be discredited. I feel sure that this learned body would 
 not willingly discourage others in the prosecution of further surveys, 
 however unnecessary the Society may consider them, and however 
 unwilling, therefore, itself to participate in them. 
 
 In Paris, in August, 1875, it was urged by persons who may, 
 perhaps, be properly styled adventurers, attending the International 
 Geographical Congress, that the Government of the United States had 
 really shown no interest in the subject of a transcontinental Ameri- 
 can canal, and that our information and surveys amounted to but 
 little. The misapprehension on the first of these points, if it exists, 
 is too apparent to require contradiction ; the assumption of the second 
 seems the result of not having examined what the United States have 
 done, or it is the affectation of a belief that we cannot do the work as 
 well as any other people. 
 
 So far from the United States being indifferent to the construction 
 of an inter-oceanic canal, for more than fifty years, * as has been 
 
 * See Correspondence between Mr. Clay and our Charge, Mr. Williams, and Mr. 
 Canaza, " Minister of the Centre," in April, 1825. 
 
22 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 shown, we have endeavored to establish the practicability of the work 
 at the most favorable point ; and I venture nothing in asserting that 
 our Government will be anxious to do whatever is proper to aid in 
 the construction of the work on the broadest principles of common 
 benefit to all nations and peoples. 
 
 It is asserted that Great Britain would oppose it, under the supposi- 
 tion of its injury to the Suez Canal, in which she has now a pecuniary 
 interest. But when by reference to the map it is seen how readily an 
 American ship canal will bring her into communication with the 
 eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand, relieving her outward- 
 bound voyages of head winds, it is safe to assert that such advantage, 
 with others, would exceed in value yearly her whole interest in the 
 Suez Canal. 
 
 The American transcontinental canal will bring Great Britain 
 within easy commercial relations with the entire west coast of 
 America, exchanging the stormy passage around Cape Horn, with 
 head winds, for a short American route with fair winds and good 
 weather ; it will make the products of British Columbia and of Cen- 
 tral America (where British trade is even now so important) doubly 
 valuable ; and it will bring the wheat products of California more 
 fully and competitively into British markets, thus cheapening and 
 making less fluctuating the price of breadstuff*, an incalculable 
 advantage for the masses of a manufacturing and commercial country. 
 And while this is true, it is equally demonstrable by an inspection of 
 the world-map that the great lines of commercial intercourse and of 
 civilization are distinct, and therefore uninviting any prejudicial 
 rivalry as regards the two the Eastern and the Western isthmus 
 ship canals. The Suez Canal is the opened gate for the inland sea 
 route of Europe and North Africa with Southern Asia and its Archi- 
 pelago : the American isthmus canal invitee Europe with our own 
 commerce to the whole west coast of the Americas, to Northern China 
 and Japan, and southwardly to the Australian Continent. Nor can 
 commerce longer forget that not only the drainage of the rivers 
 emptying into the American Mediterranean is of an area greater than 
 that of all the rivers emptying from Europe into the Atlantic, and of 
 all those emptying into the Mediterranean and into the Indian Ocean^ 
 but that the valleys of these American rivers are those of different 
 productive zonas. The back country essential to commerce exists 
 here, therefore (as Maury showed twenty-five years ago), around the 
 Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, larger than that around any 
 other sea. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 23 
 
 It is said that the overland railroad interests will oppose the con- 
 struction of a transcontinental ship canal. This will certainly not 
 be the case if they study their own advantage. 
 
 This year the wheat crop for export at* California alone is stated to 
 be in excess of twenty millions (20,000,000) of sacks of 100 Ibs. each, 
 none of which can be sent to the Eastern coast by railroad without a 
 commercial loss. 
 
 The undoubted advantage to a railroad is to favor the most 
 economic means of transport of this great product, and of other gross 
 and valuable products not transported by rail. For by thus pro- 
 moting their increase (needed for the supply of Europe and of our 
 own Eastern coast) the railroad must surely gain a recompense 
 through the travel consequent upon an increased and healthy popu- 
 lation on the Pacific coast, and the transportation of the light and 
 valuable freights that would of necessity then exist to meet their 
 wants. It requires but small comprehension of the situation to 
 appreciate the fact that the construction of a transcontinental canal 
 would build up instead of injuring railroad interests between the two 
 oceans. 
 
 By our geographical position and relative proximity to the isthmus 
 and the countries beyond, we have a greater interest than any 
 European power in the construction of this great work. The com- 
 merce of the whole world, however, has large interest in it, and, 
 therefore, the cost of its construction, and its profits, as well as other 
 consequent advantages, seem common to all. This necessarily involves 
 a broad neutrality for the canal and its approaches, a neutrality to 
 be supported either passively or actively, as the nations may best 
 exert their forces. 
 
 The correction of misconceptions on this whole subject, and the 
 apparent advantage of stating, at this time, definitely its true condi- 
 tion, has been the object of this paper. In common with many 
 others, I have looked for many years, with much interest, to the 
 development of this problem in a commercial view, which, in fact, 
 involves its realization. No doubt exists now of this commercial 
 practicability. I may add, as a personal conviction, that, however 
 long and seriously the search may be continued for " results " by 
 surveys, nothing can be or will be developed so advantageous as that 
 which the surveys of our Government present for your consideration. 
 I am very respectfully yours, , 
 
 DANIEL AMMEN, 
 Commodore II. S. Navy and Chief of Bureau of Navigation. 
 
24 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 INTER-OCEANIC SHIP CANAL ACROSS THE AMERICAN 
 
 ISTHMUS. 
 
 BY REAR-ADMIRAL DANIEL AMMEN, U. S. NAVY. 
 
 THE PROPOSED INTER-OCEANIC SHIP CANAL BETWEEN GREYTOWN AND 
 BRITO, VIA LAKE NICARAGUA; ITS FEASIBILITY AS A COMMER- 
 CIAL QUESTION, AND ITS ADVANTAGES AS COMPARED WITH 
 OTHER PROPOSED LINES. 
 
 [Read before the American Geographical Society, Nov. VI. 1878.] 
 
 Two years ago I had the honor to have read before this Society, by 
 its Secretary, a paper upon the sufficiency of the information relating 
 to the topography of this continent, for the consideration and discus- 
 sion of a transcontinental ship canal. The object was to set forth 
 Avhat was really known concerning the topography of the whole region 
 which might be regarded as affording possible conditions for its 
 construction. 
 
 Notwithstanding the laborious and creditable surveys made public 
 before that time, and (j noted to show the sufficiency of our informa- 
 tion, it was believed by some learned men in Europe that the topog- 
 raphy of certain portions of the territory had not been sufficiently 
 developed. Under this belief, with praiseworthy action, they had set 
 on foot a surveying party, well-equipped, under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant AVyse, of the French Navy, who was en route to make pro- 
 jected survevs over the region referred to, at the time of the reading 
 of my paper. 
 
 Two seasons have been employed in the execution of these surveys, 
 which have, without doubt, been ably made, and are reliable within 
 the limits claimed by experts in such works; they are sufficient to 
 form the basis of an instrumental location of the proposed work, and 
 to permit an approximate calculation of the labor necessary where 
 construction is within the possibilities of the engineer. These surveys 
 are, in this respect, useful, and especially for the consideration of 
 those who thought the information presented two years ago was 
 insufficient. 
 
 It is a fair presumption that the route over which an inter-oceanic 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 25 
 
 ship canal should be constructed can only be named when it is shown 
 that no better one exists. At this time the information is supposed 
 to be all that can be desired by any one, relative to a fair considera- 
 tion of the subject. 
 
 After an examination of the Reports of Lieutenant Wyse, of both 
 seasons, I have the belief that the closing paragraph of my last paper 
 is verified ; namely, " That no possible route exists comparable with 
 what had been presented in the surveys made by order of our 
 Government." 
 
 The able Reports of Commander E. P. Lull and Civil Engineer A. 
 G. Menocal, U. S. Navy, on the Nicaragua route, are sufficiently 
 full for examination and criticism by the civil engineer or the expert. 
 There has been given, throughout, a careful consideration to that 
 most important, indeed it may be called vital, question in the construc- 
 tion of an inter-oceanic ship canal in that region, an ample and 
 studied provision to prevent any considerable quantity of surface 
 drainage entering the canal, and the feasibility of accomplishing this 
 object on the located route, as compared with other routes, is, in my 
 belief, a most important point in its favor. 
 
 The most important physical feature is the existence of Lake 
 Nicaragua, which, when full, is 107.6 feet above the ocean-levels. 
 This is designed to be the summit-level of the canal. The lake has a 
 superfice of 2800 miles, with a surface drainage falling into it roughly 
 estimated at 9450 miles, which furnish an outflow of water by the 
 San Juan River twenty times as great as the commerce of the world 
 could require in the lockage of vessels passing through the canal. 
 
 Even this superabundant water supply without the cost of a feeder 
 is not the most beneficent feature; it is in the equalization of floods 
 from so large a superfice, so that in reality the surface level of the 
 lake may be said to change almost imperceptibly from day to day. 
 In this lies the practicability of utilizing the upper part of the San 
 Juan River for slack water navigation. The river itself favors this, 
 by reason of its singularly small water-shed, other than that of and 
 through the lake. On the one side, it is flanked by the Rio Frio, 
 which runs in almost the opposite direction, and empties its waters 
 into the lake, and on the other, by a very narrow water-shed above 
 the mouth of the" San Carlos, below which it is not designed to use 
 the bed of the stream. 
 
 The River San Carlos, flowing from the mountains of Costa Rica, 
 has the general features of inter-tropical mountain streams, and in 
 striking contrast to the River San Juan in periods of floods, throws 
 
26 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 "back water" far above the Machuca Falls, 16 miles above, on the 
 San Juan River. Below the mouth of the River San Carlos, from 
 its floods and the vast quantity of debris transported by it, the 
 utilization of the bed of the San Juan River, for slack water navi- 
 gation, would be hopelessly impossible. This river, forming so 
 marked a contrast to the San Juan, seems a reminder of the imprac- 
 ticability of utilizing the bed of any stream other than the San Juan, 
 in that region, for slack- water navigation, or indeed of constructing 
 a "thorough cut/' by which is meant an inter-oceanic canal without 
 locks. A canal so made must be the ultimate drainage of all the 
 adjacent water-sheds, and must receive the debris of the mountain 
 torrents, amounting, in the aggregate, to incalculable thousands of tons 
 yearly. 
 
 A verification of the necessity of guarding against surface drain- 
 age falling into a canal is given on page 1 of the Bulletin Decadaire 
 of the Suez Canal, of June 12th, 1878. In summing up expendi- 
 tures for repairs is the following: 
 
 " On the part of the canal in the vicinity of Suez, on the 25th of 
 " October last, a violent storm produced a sudden and immense tem- 
 porary torrent, which, precipitating itself from the mountain of 
 "Attaka, fell into the canal, carrying with it a very large mass of 
 "solid material; this deposit, thanks to the activity of our employes, 
 "was dredged very rapidly, so that the navigation was not retarded a 
 "single day, but this unexpected dredging has added 30,000 francs 
 "to the expenses of the canal." 
 
 The mean annual rainfall at Cairo, less than 100 miles from this 
 locality, is one and three-tenths of an inch. At Aspinwall, the mean 
 annual rainfall is 124.25 inches; during the month of November, 
 1870, there was a rainfall of 32.5 inches, twenty-live times the mean 
 annual rainfall at Cairo. If the rainfall, as at Aspinwall, were the 
 normal condition along the line of the Suez Canal, it seems altogether 
 probable, from the damage and expenses caused by one shower, as 
 quoted above, it would be a matter for serious consideration, whether 
 it would not be economy to lock up sufficiently high, at least, to avoid 
 the effects of the surface drainage. Then, if to the debris of a coun- 
 try denuded of wood were added the trunks, roots, and limbs of 
 trees, it would be a still more serious difficulty to get rid of them 
 also, even in the region of the Suez Canal, one of small water-sheds 
 and easy slopes, as compared with any part of inter-tropical America. 
 
 Referring again to the line of the Nicaragua Canal, at and above 
 the mouth of the River San Carlos, it leaves the bed of the San Juan 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 27 
 
 River on its left bank, and follows along the general course of the 
 river for a distance of 28.1 miles. The plans provide ample culverts 
 to discharge the heavy floods from the adjacent hills, with their debris, 
 into the San Juan River, which bears it along until it reaches a point 
 approximating to the ocean level, where the dynamic force is suffi- 
 ciently weakened to allow it to rest. A failure to provide sufficiently 
 for the surface drainage, in a country subject to heavy rainfalls, and 
 withal of steep escarpments, would lead eventually either to the aban- 
 donment of the navigation of the canal, or to a vastly increased ex- 
 penditure, to effect what could have been done at far less cost in the 
 construction of the work. 
 
 At the distance of 28.1 miles below the mouth of the San Carlos 
 River, the canal, as projected, takes a direct line to Greytown, a dis- 
 tance of 14 miles, passing through deep cuts, that it is now known 
 can be avoided with a considerable decrease in the estimate for labor. 
 When the location of the canal was made, the season was so far 
 advanced that it did not allow the necessary examination to be made to 
 improve this part of the canal line as located. Civil Engineer A. G. 
 Menocal, U. S. Navy, has since made a sufficient examination to 
 assure him of a more favorable location, with a probable decrease of 
 the estimate for construction of $3,000,000. 
 
 A summary of distances and estimates of cost as given in the 
 Report of Civil Engineer Menocal is as follows : 
 
 Western Division. From Port Brito to the 
 Lake. Distance, 16.33 miles; estimated 
 cost, $21,680,777.00 
 
 Middle Division. Lake Nicaragua. Dis- 
 tance, 56.50 miles; estimated cost, . 715,658.00 
 
 Eastern Division. From Lake to Grey- 
 town. Distance, 108.43 miles; esti- 
 mated cost, 25,020,914.00 
 
 Construction of Greytown Harbor, . . 2,822,630.00 
 Brito " . . 2,337,739.00 
 
 Total. Distance, 181.26 miles; cost, . $52,577,718.00 
 
 The expert who will carefully examine the items and estimated 
 cost as shown by the Report and plans will assure himself that the 
 object was to present fairly and in detail all of the work required, and 
 at a fair estimate of cost. 
 
28 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 It cannot be denied, however, that the estimates of cost and actual 
 cost of construction have diverged so widely in very many great 
 works, and notably with the Suez Canal, which had no uncertain 
 element in construction except the drifting of the loose sands of the 
 desert, that it would be a grave error not to recognize this fact. Had 
 such been the case with the Suez Canal, and ample provision been 
 made to carry on the work continuously, it is fair to presume that in 
 the time gained for transit of vessels and consequent income, and the 
 avoidance of the payment of interest on dormant capital, the actual 
 cost of the canal might have been one-third of what the stock and 
 obligations now represent. 
 
 A true economy, therefore, will be to consider the cost of the canal, 
 including the interest on dormant capital, as double of the estimated 
 ost of construction, in round numbers at $100,000,000. 
 
 The actual line of the transit, 181.3 miles, is far greater than the 
 distances demanding labor ; thus, to enable the lake to be navigated 
 56.5 miles involves labor only on a few thousand yards, at the incon- 
 siderable cost of less than three-quarters of a million of dollars, and 
 the river navigation, by slack-water, 63.02 miles, only $8,679,253, 
 which includes four dams, three locks, three short canals around the 
 dams, the diversion of the mouth of the San Carlos, and the necessary 
 blasting and dredging ; in short, the total cost over the distance named. 
 Thus, actually 119.5 miles of transit is represented by an estimate of 
 $9,394,911, nearly $1,000,000 less than the estimated cost of the 
 feeder and its adjuncts of a canal via the Isthmus of Panama. The 
 cost of the work falls really on the 58.23 miles requiring construc- 
 tion, the construction of seventeen lift-locks other than the three 
 above named, and one tide-lock, and the construction of two harbors. 
 
 No less than twelve miles of the 58.23 referred to above, as entail- 
 ing the heavy part of the expense, are so situated as to allow the 
 work to be done by machine labor. Between Grey town and the 
 point Avhere the projected line of the Canal strikes the San Juan 
 River, there is a large extent of alluvium, there being, in fact, several 
 ridges of hard ground very favorably situated for the construction of 
 locks, requiring but little cost for foundations. 
 
 The line of Canal being accurately marked, a rough tramway may 
 be constructed on each bank, with foundations made of the felled 
 trees and their roots, capable of sustaining and carrying along heavy 
 derricks, and steam power to fell, cut up, lift, and deposit, first the 
 trunks and limbs, and then pull out and put in place the stumps of 
 trees, in the best manner to strengthen the embankments. Dredging 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 29 
 
 machines can then follow, cutting their own channel, and deposit at 
 once the soil to form the embankments. Should trunks of trees be 
 found embedded, our Red River and other similar experience will 
 enable the work still to proceed without material delay, or a very large 
 increase in cost of labor. 
 
 This mode of procedure could be practiced also over nearly two 
 miles on the west coast, leaving only about fourteen and a half miles 
 on that section where the plow, scraper, and pickaxe would have to do 
 the work. 
 
 The Government of Nicaragua is now engaged in blasting and 
 removing rock from the channel of the San Juan River to improve 
 its navigation for small vessels, employing the methods and appli- 
 ances of Civil Engineer Menocal at a cost not exceeding two dollars 
 and a half per cubic yard, which is one-half of the estimate made by 
 him for that work ; as the depth increases, doubtless the cost of exca- 
 vation will also, but certainly not beyond the estimate on that part of 
 the projected canal. 
 
 In relation to the formation of the harbors. The Dutch as a 
 people have done so much in constructing dykes and harbors, that 
 their processes may be carefully considered if not adopted. Bamboos 
 of large growth in any quantity are close at hand, which from their 
 length and toughness may be an admirable substitute for small wood 
 growths, so far as mattrasses are concerned. Abundant stone, sand, 
 and a superior lime are near at hand on the San Juan, permitting a 
 free choice of material in the formation of the harbor. 
 
 There is a well-established fact which 1 shall mention, as it seems 
 to have a practical relation in connection with contours or facings of 
 artificial harbors. This fact was observed by the late Rear- Admiral 
 Davis and Professor De Sor, on Cape Cod, where the flood-tide 
 " divides," one part setting north, the other south : the debris of a 
 vessel wrecked were invariably found in the direction the flood-tide set; 
 also, it was found that when coal vessels were wrecked on the south 
 side of Nantucket Island, the coal was transported east, and then 
 north, and deposited inside, the hook at Great Point, this being, too, 
 the course of the flood-tide. 
 
 There is no engineering difficujty in the construction of this work ; 
 with the exception of the uncertainty as to cost of the harbors, and 
 the probability of finding buried trees in the excavation of the allu- 
 vium, there seems to be no likelihood of contingencies arising which 
 would materially increase the cost of the construction above the 
 estimates on any part of the projected line of the inter-oceanic ship 
 
30 THE AMERICAN INTER- OCEANIC 
 
 canal. I shall have occasion, on referring to other proposed routes, 
 to point out a marked difference in this respect. 
 
 The surveys and location of the Panama route for an inter-oceanic 
 ship canal were also made by Com. E. P. Lull, assisted by Civil 
 Engineer A. G. Menocal, U. S. N., and a sufficient number of young 
 navy officers to carry on the work vigorously, which was begun in 
 January, 1875. An actual location was made along its entire length, 
 and calculations also of approximate cost on a common basis with 
 those made of the Nicaragua route by the same officers. The esti- 
 mates and all information published appear in the Appendix to the 
 Report of the Secretary of the Navy, in 1875 ; the plans, etc., were 
 made as fully as those of the Nicaragua survey, but owing to a 
 failure of an appropriation by Congress for that purpose, have not 
 been published. 
 
 The length of canalization required is 41.7 miles; a viaduct is 
 necessary over the Chagres River, of 1900 feet in length, the surface- 
 water in which would form the summit-level 123.75 feet above the 
 mean (half) tides of the oceans. Twelve lift-locks on each side and 
 one tide-lock on the Pacific side are required, twenty-five in all, being 
 four in excess of the Nicaragua route. A feeder and adjuncts are 
 required at an estimated cost of $10,366,959, which, as before stated, 
 is $972,048 greater than the estimated cost of the whole distance 
 improved and not canalized on the Nicaragua route, a distance of 
 one hundred and nineteen and a half miles. In this connection, it 
 will be remembered that the Nicaragua route requires no feeder. 
 
 The total estimated cost of the canal by the Isthmus of Panama is 
 $94,511,360, in round numbers double that of Nicaragua. 
 
 The level of the highest water-mark apparent at the point pro- 
 posed for the construction of the viaduct was found to be seventy- 
 eight feet above mean (half) tide. As the ordinary elevation of 
 water at the same point is only forty-two feet above the same level, 
 this great rise, thirty-six feet, known to have taken place in six or 
 eight hours, would cause serious apprehension at times for the safety 
 of the viaduct. 
 
 The water supply that year, 1875, was supposed to be ample, and 
 it was stated that the water was unusually low. In the month of 
 April of this year, Civil Engineer Menocal, from personal observa- 
 tion of the Chagres River, regarded the water supply as inadequate; 
 the volume of water was in fact reduced at that time to a mere rivulet. 
 This deficiency of water may be regarded as of rare occurrence, and 
 at a fixed period of the year, and could be ameliorated, if not obviated, 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 31 
 
 by the construction of extensive, and no doubt expensive, reservoirs 
 on the upper waters of the Chagres. 
 
 The most serious defect of this route is shown in the Report of 
 Oommander Lull, as follows: "Large vessels, of eighteen feet draught 
 " and over, of which, as I believe, there will be very few in the future, 
 '" would have to Avait for a favorable stage of the tide, to enter or leave 
 "the canal, making a delay, in extreme cases, of from five to six 
 " hours. The enormous cost of giving a deeper channel we regard as 
 "a worse evil than any small delays to ships in passing/' 
 
 Oommander Lull sums up the advantages and disadvantages of 
 the Panama route as follows : " The advantages of this line are : an 
 " ample water supply ; an open cut, with but a moderate depth of 
 " excavation ; a comparatively short distance from sea to sea ; fair har- 
 " bors on either side ; the proximity of a well-constructed railroad ; the 
 " established communication with the principal ports of the world ; the 
 "absence of high winds; and, in common with the whole isthmus, 
 "the fertility of the soil and the salubrity of its climate during the 
 "dry season. 
 
 "The disadvantages are: the large annual rainfall; the want of 
 "material for construction purposes; the character of some of the 
 " swamp lands in certain periods of the line ; the amount of tunneling 
 " required in the feeder; the necessity of a viaduct; the prevailing 
 "calms of Panama Bay, causing tedious delays to sailing vessels; 
 " and, finally, as compared with more northern lines, the greater dis- 
 "tance of Panama from the west coast of the United States. " 
 
 The want of material for construction purposes enumerated 
 among the disadvantages would lead to heavy expenditures in cost 
 and transportation, as compared with the Nicaragua route, where 
 abundant material of all kinds is found convenient to, if not on, the 
 projected line. Owing to the great prevalence of rain and the lack 
 of material at hand, it is probable that the actual cost of construction 
 would exceed fifty per cent, for a given amount of work as compared 
 with the Nicaragua route. 
 
 The construction of the Panama Canal as located requires a 
 "summit cut" of 4.81 miles in length and an average depth of cut- 
 ting of 76 feet above the proposed water-surface of the canal, which 
 would make a cut of 102 feet necessary to ensure the passage of 
 vessels of 24 feet draught. 
 
 The liability to landslides in this deep cut would be very great, 
 as is the case along the line of the Panama Railroad, necessitating 
 a slope probably of two to one ; and of course, in making the exca- 
 
32 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 vations, requiring the considerable expense of removing the material 
 to a place of deposit. With all of these grave disadvantages, it may 
 be admitted that the Panama route should be regarded as practicable, 
 did not a better one exist. It is, at least, far superior in practicability 
 to any line lying south of it. 
 
 In relation to other actual locations made for the construction of 
 an inter-oceanic ship canal, what is known as the Atrato-Napipi 
 route was surveyed by Commander T. O. Sel fridge, IT. S. N. More 
 detailed and specific locations were made throughout its length by 
 Lieut. Frederick Collins, U. S. N., in 1875. 
 
 A careful examination of their reports will reveal very great diffi- 
 culties to be overcome, and the doubtful results practically attainable, 
 on a common estimate of labor and cost of execution, with what 
 relates to the two routes already summarized; namely, the Nicaragua 
 route and the Panama route. 
 
 The reports and location of two routes, by Lieut. Wyse, of the 
 French Navy, indicate the existence of the same grave difficulties in 
 exaggerated dimensions that belong to the Atrato-Napipi route. 
 Of the two, he prefers what may be designated the Tuyra-Tupisa- 
 Tiati-Acanti route, which, by the employment of a tunnel, the length 
 of which is still uncertain, is projected as a canal without locks; con- 
 sequently the sea-level will represent the surface-level of the canal, 
 except the additional elevation due to the surface-drainage Avhich the 
 canal must inexorably take. 
 
 I will state, briefly, the physical conditions and the methods pro- 
 posed by Lieut. Wyse to overcome the very many grave difficulties 
 which the projected line of ship canal presents. 
 
 The first section of the projected canal consists in deepening the 
 channel-way, where necessaiy, of the Tuyra River, which falls into 
 the Gulf of San Miguel, and through the improvement of which the 
 river is intended to be made navigable to the commencement of the 
 second section. 
 
 The second section is a cut from the Tuyra River, east in direc- 
 tion, to the junction of the Chucunaque and Tupisa rivers. This 
 cut is intended to take the entire discharge of those two rivers, 
 whose water-sheds, as far as can be ascertained from the maps, is 
 approximately 1200 marine miles. Taking the estimated amount 
 of excavation and length given, 16,200 metres (10.06 miles), gives a 
 cross section of 705 metres as the mean, and the capacity to dis- 
 charge, with full banks, the waters of the Chucunaque and Tupisa 
 rivers. It will be shown, hereafter, how inadequate this prism 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 33 
 
 would be to this discharge, with a velocity of water that would admit 
 of navigation, during the period of floods at least, which is more than 
 half of the year. In the absence of more specific information as to 
 the volume of water in periods of floods of the Chucunaque, a quota- 
 tion is made from page 135 of the Report of Commander Selfridge : 
 " At one place, where the banks are about twenty feet high, we noticed 
 " large trees, thirty inches in diameter, lodged at least thirty feet 
 " above the ground, showing the great power and extent of the floods 
 " during the rainy season." 
 
 The point at which this observation was made is on the Chucun- 
 aque, some twenty or twenty-five miles in a direct line above the 
 mouth of the Tupisa, at which point the canal crosses the mouth of 
 the Chucunaque. It is proposed across the mouth of the last-named 
 river to erect a strong grillage, supported by abutments of masonry, 
 to protect the canal from the floating debris. It is stated that this 
 device will permit the waters to flow, and will arrest the trees, etc. 
 It seems to me that the strong grillage would inevitably form a dam 
 through the lodgment of drift-wood, and bank up the waters suf- 
 ficiently either to cut channels around the grillage, or, if restrained 
 sufficiently, that the waters would reach such a height as to carry away 
 whatever opposed their free flow. 
 
 There are other grave difficulties in the proposed treatment of the 
 second section which will be apparent to any one who will examine 
 the Reports referred to. I will confine myself to expressing dissent to 
 the supposition that the debris brought down by the Chucunaque 
 need give no concern, as the strong tides would bear it away and 
 deposit it where it would do no harm. Yet the reader of the Report 
 will remark that dredging the bed of the river to a considerable 
 extent on the first section is a part of the plan. In general, engineers 
 will agree in the entire probability that dredging the bed of a running 
 stream may be regarded as simply increasing the depth temporarily, 
 and no longer in fact than the recurrence of floods such as formed the 
 original deposit. 
 
 The third section is 11,400 metres (7.08 miles) in length. The 
 projected work is to cut off the sinuosities of the Tupisa River, and 
 deepen it sufficiently below the ocean-level to secure the passage of 
 vessels of great draught. This is supposed to involve no difficulty ; 
 whatever obstacle is presumed to exist from the discharge of debris 
 from ravines is to be met by the excavation of pockets at their 
 3 
 
34 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 mouths, and through the construction of grillages to protect the canal 
 from drift-wood. 
 
 The total amount of material to be excavated and removed is stated 
 to be 9,760,000 cubic metres, 500,000 of which is supposed to be 
 rock. This mass is to be excavated and transported somewhere, a 
 most difficult matter in the execution of the work, when it is re- 
 membered that it includes excavating and removing half a million 
 metres of rocks below the sea-level. 
 
 The fourth section, as projected, leaves the bed of the Tupisa River 
 and extends to the entrance of the projected tunnel; it is 17,000 
 metres in length (10.56 miles), and has a mean depth of excavation of 
 33 metres (108.26 feet), including the part designed to be below the 
 surface-level of the ocean. It is stated that the upper layer is vege- 
 table detritus two or three metres thick, then a layer of six or seven 
 metres of clay, overlying rock, easily excavated with the pickaxe to 
 a mean depth of 23 metres (90.5 feet). It is assumed that this rock 
 can be excavated and removed at $1.20 per cubic metre ; this sum 
 is one-fifth the amount estimated for rock excavation in the bed of 
 the San Juan River, in Nicaragua, where no difficulty exists in 
 depositing the material when excavated. It is obvious that all of 
 this material, composed of vegetable mold, clay, and rock, has either 
 to be hauled up and placed far back of the escarpment, to prevent 
 its washing in again, as much as possible ; or it has to be removed 
 on the sections of the canal previously constructed, through the 
 section from the point of excavation, and through the completed 
 section, a mean distance of twelve miles ; and even then, no dumping- 
 ground exists nearer than the ocean, without at least rehandling the 
 whole mass. 
 
 Page 95 of the first Report states that the bottom of the canal in 
 sections 2, 3, and 4 will form an inclined plane equal to 4.75 inches to 
 the statute mile. This inclined plane would, it is stated, make the 
 tide from the Pacific almost nominal at the western end of the tunnel. 
 Taking the distance from the beginning of the second section to the 
 end of the fourth, and the proposed rise^ ,and adding thereto the same 
 incline from the head of Darien Harbor for the corresponding dis- 
 tance per chart, would make the total rise of the bottom five and six- 
 tenths metres (18.37 feet); with this grade there seems to be no reason 
 why the spring tides should not continue on through the tunnel into 
 the Atlantic. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 35 
 
 No depth of water is given for sections 3 and 4, but certainly it is 
 designed that it shall be sufficient to float a vessel of heavy draught 
 at full tide at least. If the tide is to cease at the entrance of the 
 tunnel, it would seem that this could only be eifected by a tide-lock 
 (which is not proposed), or by increasing the incline or grade so that 
 the bottom of the canal at the entrance to the tunnel would cut the 
 plane of the high water at that point, or that the water in the canal 
 below should be sufficiently shoal to retard the flow of the tide, in 
 which cases, whether sufficient or insufficient for vessels to pass, the 
 surface-drainage would represent the actual depth of the canal at this 
 point at full tide. 
 
 The extreme tides at Chepigana are given by Commander Selfridge 
 at about 24 feet, and by Lieut. Wyse at about 25 feet, with a very 
 considerable difference in the height of the neap tides. These differ- 
 ences in height would be necessarily continuous above, as far as the 
 deepened and straightened channel permitted, and the deepening and 
 straightening of the channels of these streams sufficiently to permit 
 navigation would certainly enable the tide to have a free flow. 
 
 The inclined plane of the excavation as proposed 4.75 inches per 
 statute mile would give the width and depth necessary for a ship 
 canal, a current of not less than 2.2 miles per hour., The tidal action 
 under normal conditions of water-flow would increase this current 
 greatly, and when floods would occur we may well suppose that in 
 earth excavations the scouring effect would be very great, destroying 
 in a great degree the excavated grade, and depositing the material 
 where it may or may not obstruct or entirely bar the passage through 
 the canal to vessels of heavy draught. 
 
 This ship canal, as projected, presents the remarkable condition of 
 inviting and receiving the surface-drainage, without the interposition 
 of feeders, being itself the waste weir for a large superfice of moun- 
 tainous country subject to extraordinary rainfalls. Imagine the effect 
 on this canal-bed when a sudden rainfall of six or eight inches would 
 make these mountain ravines actually roaring rivers, which in the 
 dry season, owing to the rapid fall, are almost without running 
 water.* 
 
 * In Washington, June 10, 1876, there was a rainfall of 2.03 inches in one hour. 
 July 3Oth, of the same year, there was a rainfall of 4.12 inches in eight hours and a half. 
 In October of this year there was a rainfall of 4.44 inches in twelve and a half hours, 
 nearly all of which fell in nine and a half hours. The mean annual rainfall is 41.54 
 inches. In 1877, it was 52.59 inches. At Aspinwall, mean annual rainfall 124.44 
 inches; in 1872, 170.16 inches. 
 
36 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 This method of location imposes the extraordinary and onerous 
 condition of having no natural dumping-ground for enormous masses, 
 such as the excavations proposed. The canal itself being the lowest 
 level short of the depths of the ocean, renders it necessary either to 
 rehandle the whole mass, or to transport the material to the ocean. 
 In short, to make the excavation is a small part of the integral of 
 cost, the transportation of the material being in fact the most expense. 
 
 The fifth section is a projected tunnel 36 metres high (118.1 feet), 
 of which 10 metres (32.8 feet) are below the sea-level, 16 metres 
 (52.49 feet) wide at the bottom, and 20 metres (65.6 feet) at the 
 surface or ordinary, or rather intended water-level, and of still an 
 uncertain length at the time of the publication of the second Keport. 
 The shorter length named is 9300 metres (5.78 miles), and the longer 
 18,500 metres (11.49 miles), almost double the first distance. 
 
 How this tunnel is to be excavated and walled ten metres (32.8 
 feet) below the sea-level is not stated ; if not excavated and walled 
 in water, it must be kept free from water by means of pumps. It 
 is safe to say that the enginery of the world could not be placed to 
 effect this object, during the construction of the work. The whole 
 region tunneled through has a mean elevation of hundreds of feet, 
 and peaks of more than two thousand. Beyond a doubt, a line of 
 tunnel excavated 32.8 feet below the ocean-level would uncover 
 sources of water of great power, sufficient to wash out whatever was 
 within the tunnel as far as excavated.* 
 
 *The excavation of St. Gothard tunnel, now in progress, is the most recent develop- 
 ment and illustration of what may be done in overcoming difficulties. The following 
 information is from Johnson's Cyclopaedia : 
 
 Length of tunnel, 14,900 metres; terminations Airolo and Goschenen, respectively 
 1145 and 1105 metres above the sea-level. The centre of the tunnel is to be 1154.4 
 metres above sea-level, making a grade of one metre to the thousand toward Airolo to get 
 rid of the water ; the other grade is 5.82 to the thousand. 
 
 On the high Alps the rain precipitation is small, as compared with the Isthmus, yet 
 with a grade of i-iooo for drainage. "The work has been frequently impeded by the 
 " caving in of the rock, and by the irruption of the water from fissures in the strata." 
 Imagine the increased impediment were the bottom of the tunnel 32.8 feet below the 
 surface-level of the ocean. 
 
 On page 206 of the Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1875 wil1 be found the 
 instructions to Commander Lull, in relation to the examination for tunneling between 
 the Chepo River and the harbor of San Bias. Page 221 gives the deductions of 
 Commander Lull, and a rough estimate of cost of tunnel. 
 
 This route would, in fact, require inconsiderable labor or difficulty except the tunnel, 
 which would be, in length, little more than one-half that of the greater length named as 
 possible by Lieutenant Wyse, on his projected route. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 37 
 
 In the opinion of the ablest engineers to whom I have presented 
 the question, it is impossible to make an approximate estimate of the 
 cost of tunnel, as conditioned by Lieutenant Wyse, of the time neces- 
 sary for its completion, or to state satisfactorily any known methods 
 which could ensure the execution of the work. 
 
 The sixth section involves a length of 10,000 metres (6.21 miles), 
 and a depth of cutting of 25 metres (83.33 feet), including an intended 
 depth of 8.7 metres (28.54 feet) below the sea-level. 
 
 At this end of the canal it is proposed to construct a harbor which 
 would not be less expensive than the one proposed at Brito, on the 
 Nicaragua route. 
 
 Let us conceive that this stupendous work, from ocean to ocean, is 
 completed, tunnel and all, as proposed. As shown by data, a rainfall 
 of six inches, in as many hours, is not at all unusual in that region. 
 Obviously, from the shorter distance to the sea, the readiest escape of 
 the waters of the Tupisa Valley would be through the tunnel. We 
 can form some idea of the relative size of its water-shed, with steep 
 escarpments to its excavated bed ; and also of the dimensions of the 
 cross-section of the tunnel, which is the continuation of the artificial 
 channel of the Tupisa towards the Atlantic. 
 
 Within an hour or two a perfect deluge would pour down the 
 ravines from a thousand times the superfice of the continuation of 
 the Tupisa channel ; the rush of waters through the tunnel would be 
 terrific, sufficient, probably, to destroy almost the vestige of it. 
 
 With the exception of the surveys of Lieutenant Wyse, of the 
 French Navy, above alluded to, all of the routes surveyed indeed, I 
 
 A tunnel between the Chepo and San Bias Harbor could be constructed to free itself 
 from water and have, probably, a sufficient water supply from the Chepo, rendering 
 lockage necessary only sufficiently high to give drainage for the construction of the 
 tunnel. Commander Lull says, " The line bears no comparison to either the Nicaragua 
 ^' route or that of Panama as developed." 
 
 A distinguished officer of the Engineer Corps of our army informs me that the head 
 room of the tunnel, as proposed (85.3 feet), would be insufficient; that in a bridge in 
 our country 135 feet was regarded as barely sufficient. 
 
 The width at the water line as proposed (65.6 feet) is little more than the actual beam 
 of the class of vessel that would usually be employed, say a beam of fifty feet, one-ninth 
 the length of a vessel of 450 feet. This would leave less than eight feet on each side, 
 provided that the vessel was pointed absolutely fair, which would rarely be the case ; 
 the slighest deviation, of course, would throw the bow of the vessel on one side and the 
 stern on the other. It was not my intention to object to the size of the tunnel, from the 
 fact that it could not, by any possibility, be constructed as a paying investment, even 
 though it be admitted possible as an effort of the engineer, without reference to cost. If 
 the tunnel is to be made, then the dimensions should undoubtedly be increased. 
 
38 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 may say, all of the most practicable routes which exist have been 
 carefully examined by the Commission appointed by the President 
 of the United States. To satisfy the wishes of the Commission, our 
 Government executed the survey and location of an inter-oceanic 
 ship canal via the Isthmus of Panama. The Commission was com- 
 posed of the Chief of Bureau of Engineers, U. S. Army ; the Super- 
 intendent of the U. S. Coast Survey; and the Chief of Bureau of 
 Navigation, U. S. Navy. No difference of opinon existed in the 
 Commission, as shown by their Report to the President, which in- 
 dicated, in a marked degree, their opinion of the superiority of the 
 Nicaragua route over all others. The recent surveys of Lieutenant 
 Wyse have, in fact, served to confirm the justice of the conclusions of 
 the Commission. 
 
 The question then at issue is, Can an inter-oceanic canal be con- 
 structed with advantage to its constructors, as well as to the advan- 
 tage of the commerce of the world ? The points between which the 
 trade would naturally pass through the canal are shown by the map. 
 
 1. Between the Atlantic coasts of Europe and America and the 
 Pacific coasts of this continent. 
 
 2. Between the Atlantic coasts of Europe and America and Japan, 
 Northern China, the Philippine and Sandwich Islands in the northern 
 hemisphere, and the eastern coast of Australia, New Zealand, and 
 numerous productive islands in the souther hemisphere. 
 
 The Chief of Bureau of Statistics has kindly furnished me with 
 several tables, two of which relate to the tonnage of the trade that 
 would naturally pass through this canal if constructed. Additional 
 information from the same source and from Owen M. Long, Esq., 
 U. S. Consul at Panama; also from Mr. P. M. McKeller, U. S. 
 Vice-Consul at Valparaiso, indicate that not less than 3,000,000 of 
 tonnage, British and our own, would pass through the canal yearly, 
 and that the aggregate of the other commercial powers would be very 
 large. I have to regret that my statistical information was received 
 too late to collate it properly ; its publication otherwise would simply 
 lead to confusion. A glance, however, at the points between which 
 the trade would pass through the canal cannot fail to be as satisfactory 
 and convincing as the most elaborate and accurate tables. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 
 TABLE C. 
 
 39 
 
 TABLE OF DISTANCES BETWEEN CERTAIN PORTS VIA CAPE HORN, 
 AND VIA NICARAGUA CANAL. 
 
 DISTANCES 
 
 VIA, 
 CAPE HORN. 
 
 VIA CANAL. DIFFERENCE. 
 
 New York to Valparaiso ' 8 720 
 
 A. 626 
 
 4 OQ4. 
 
 Liverpool " ! Q 100 
 
 7 ^26 
 
 I 774. 
 
 New York to Callao ! 10 ooo 
 
 2 376 
 
 6 ft A A 
 
 Liverpool " i 10400 
 
 6 026 
 
 4 7 74. 
 
 New York to Honolulu i T. c T.O 
 
 6 z t^o 
 
 6 980 
 
 Liverpool " i 13,780 
 
 U O: IJ 
 
 Q ''OO 
 
 4. ,c8o 
 
 New York to San Francisco ' 13 610 
 
 r OIO 
 
 8 600 
 
 Liverpool " 11 66^ 
 
 7 600 
 
 6065 
 
 New York to Yokohama 1 6 700 
 
 Q QOO 
 
 6800 
 
 New York to Shanghai i 14 'JOO 
 
 JO 7OO 
 
 4 200 
 
 New York to Hon~ Ivono" 17 420 
 
 TIC f O 
 
 c 87O 
 
 
 
 
 I will not dilate upon the saving of distances shown by appended 
 table, and other information contained in the admirable pamphlet 
 of Professor J. E. bourse, U. S. N., published in 1869. Its title is 
 " The Maritime Canal of Suez, and comparison of its probable results 
 "with a Ship Canal across this Continent." I commend it to all 
 who fee] an interest in this great question. An illustration may be 
 given of the saving of distance from this port to San Francisco. Via 
 Lake Nicaragua it is 5,010 miles, and through the Straits of Magellan 
 13,610 a saving of distance of 8600 miles. 
 
 A point worthy of mention is, that were it possible to use this 
 canal between Atlantic ports and those of the Pacific without de- 
 creasing the distance of the voyage, the advantage of its construction 
 would still be apparent, and would be appreciated by all intelligent 
 navigators on account of the favorable winds that would be thereby 
 obtained, on both outward and homeward voyages, through making 
 very slight detours to effect that purpose, the canal route taking the place 
 of the tempestuous seas of Cape Horn and its vicinity, and in their 
 stead giving trade-winds in the region of the tropics, and westerly 
 winds, and good weather usually, in the higher latitudes adjacent to 
 that region. 
 
 A work of such magnitude as this inter-oceanic ship canal, so dis- 
 tant from the money-centres of the world, requiring a considerable 
 time to complete it, even if prosecuted in the most vigorous manner, 
 and intended to serve world-wide interests, could without doubt best 
 be constructed on an international basis. The United States is rela- 
 
40 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 tively near the work, and has a twofold interest the one to unite 
 her coasts by convenient water transportation, the other of external 
 commerce for both coasts, and especially to secure to the west coast a 
 European market for its average crop of 20,000,000 sacks of wheat. 
 
 The great commercial nations may fail for a time to recognize the 
 full importance of executing this great work, or the means that will 
 best forward it, but sooner or later, probably in the near future, the 
 intar-oceanic ship canal via Lake Nicaragua will no longer be a 
 problem, but an accomplished fact. 
 
 The construction of this work on an international basis would 
 mark an era in the world's progress; it would, in a remarkable 
 degree, facilitate the commerce of the world between the most distant 
 points, leaving it impossible thereafter to make any work which 
 would compare with it in practical results. 
 
 Its construction internationally would be " a sign and token ;" it 
 would show that modern diplomacy appreciated the possibility of 
 obtaining mutual and common advantages, and had discarded the 
 fallacy of old that diplomacy was intended for and only useful in 
 what might be truly called "' sharp practice." Peoples have arrived 
 at that intelligence that the Government of a nation may, in its re- 
 lation to another, rather seek to discover and promote common interests 
 than hope to obtain and maintain mean advantages. 
 
 In this intelligent view, the Government and people of Nicaragua 
 have hitherto endeavored to bring about the construction of the inter- 
 oceanic ship canal, offering to our Government some time ago ample 
 powers and concessions to construct it, with faculties based on the 
 broad and common interests of the world's commerce.* 
 
 This enlightened and liberal offer was not responded to at once, 
 probably because it was deemed proper in advance to ask the views 
 and co-operation of such powers as might feel disposed to participate 
 actively in the construction of the canal. It is believed that all of 
 the great commercial nations have been invited by our Government 
 to consider the subject, and to express fully and frankly their views 
 in relation to the most advantageous manner of bringing about the 
 construction of the work. 
 
 In my paper, read two years ago, I endeavored to show that our 
 transcontinental railroad interests would doubtless be promoted 
 
 ~ :< ~ It is proper to state that the same views were entertained by Mr. Peralta, the learned 
 and excellent Minister from the Government of Costa Rica, whose territory is contiguous 
 to, and forms a part of, the boundary with Nicaragua, along the San Juan River. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 41 
 
 through the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal, and also, as 
 a whole, that it would probably be advantageous to the Suez Canal, 
 forming as it would a supplementary chain for voyages around the 
 world, in regions of good weather and aided by fair winds. I have 
 reason to believe that this same opinion is entertained by those 
 interested in that great work. 
 
 It seems pertinent on this occasion to acknowledge, that to the courage, 
 devotion, and ability of cultured officers as leaders, to Lieutenant 
 Wyse, of the French Navy, and to Commodore Shufeldt, Commanders 
 Selfridge and Lull, and Lieutenant Collins, of our Navy, and to their 
 able assistants and followers, we are indebted for so much positive, 
 substantial information, sufficient, in fact, to a full appreciation of 
 what can and what cannot be accomplished. It is impossible for any 
 one having no personal knowledge of the Isthmus to appreciate the 
 difficulty of making surveys in that region. It is not in the power 
 of man to make physical conditions ; all that he can hope to do is to 
 recognize them, weigh them properly, profit by them if possible to do 
 so, and let them alone if they do not afford an advantage. It was in 
 this spirit that the recent United States surveys on the Isthmus have 
 been prosecuted, and their official description made. 
 
 In the scope of a reading I have found it only possible to indicate 
 the sources from whence information could be obtained. I shall 
 furnish tables bearing upon the subject, and give to the Society the 
 results of my personal conclusions, and, as far as possible, the reasons 
 therefor. 
 
 I beg to return thanks to our Chief of Bureau of Statistics, Joseph 
 Nimmo, Esq., to Owen M. Long, Esq., U. S. Consul at Panama, and 
 to Mr. P. M. McKeller, Vice-Consul at Valparaiso, for their valuable 
 assistance, and to this audience for their kind and patient hearing 
 of what I have had to say far short, I feel sure, of what this great 
 subject would permit. 
 
42 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE INTER-OCEANIC 
 SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 
 
 Read before the American Geographical Society, December 9, 1879. 
 
 [THE FOOT-NOTES WERE NOT PRESENTED TO THE SOCIETY, BEING 
 RATHER IN THE CHARACTER OF ILLUSTRATION THAN ARGUMENT.] 
 
 I am indebted to a prominent 'member of your Society for the sug- 
 gestion that I should continue the discussion of the inter-oceanic 
 question under its auspices. I propose for your examination, "The 
 present aspect of the American inter-oceanic canal question." 
 
 I shall not tire the patience- of my hearers by an attempted history 
 of it; those who are desirous to inform themselves as to what was 
 known and what was asserted prior to 1866 can do so by reading a 
 Report to Congress of Rear- Admiral Davis, U. S. N., published that 
 year under the title of "Inter-oceanic Railroads and Canals," of 
 course referring to this continent. It contains from pages 31 to 37 
 the authorities cited, a large amount of valuable information necessa- 
 rily interspersed with much that is wholly unreliable or only of partial 
 value. The elimination of mere assertions and of errors has added 
 vastly to the work of exploration and survey since that time. For an 
 outline as to what has been done since then, I may refer you to my 
 paper of October 31, 1876, and a second read November 15, 1878, 
 before your Society. 
 
 The first paper was designed to show the error under which M. 
 Drouillet, French engineer, labored, and those who regarded him as 
 an authority, in a pamphlet issued in Paris in May, 1876, apparently 
 with the approval of the Commercial branch of the Geographical 
 Society. It was designed to show that there did not exist unknown 
 routes comparable for the construction of a ship canal to those 
 already known. The second paper was to show the feasibility of a 
 ship canal via Nicarauga as a commercial question, and to do this it 
 seemed to me necessary to establish its superiority over all known 
 points, especially as to economy of construction and permanency of 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 43 
 
 works, from less liability to the destructive effects of floods or other 
 probable causes. 
 
 In the month of March last, when our Government thought proper 
 to have our maps and plans published, the results of close instru- 
 mental surveys on the Isthmus of Panama, and also those known as 
 the Atrato-Napipi route, for presentation to the Congress called to 
 assemble at Paris on the 1 5th of May, it was supposed desirable that 
 I should go abroad to present them, with such other surveys as had 
 been recently made under its orders. 
 
 I suggested that I had been one of a Commission appointed by the 
 President on the 13th of March, 1872, for the purpose of examining 
 into and reporting upon the question of a ship canal across the con- 
 tinent, and that on the 7th of February, 1876, this Commission had 
 made its reports as to locality, etc., which had been acceptable to the 
 Government. It seemed to me, therefore, that some other person 
 should be selected to attend the Congress. A second objection was 
 that the selection of the canal route was eminently a question for the 
 ablest engineers only, and those of the highest character, to settle. I 
 urged further that Commander E. P. Lull, of our Navy, who had 
 been engaged on the surveys of Caledonia Bay and south of it, and 
 afterward had been chief of the parties making the surveys of the 
 Nicaragua and Panama routes, could well take my place, as he had a 
 rare judicial capacity which would enable him to present fairly such 
 work as he had done in comparison with the surveys made under 
 the direction of other officers. 
 
 Notwithstanding these representations made by me, I found that 
 the Government preferred my going as a delegate, when, of course, I 
 appreciated fully the honor, and made such suggestions as seemed 
 necessary for a proper discharge of the duties which belonged to the 
 position. It seemed to me important that the civil engineer who 
 had been employed on both the Nicaragua and the Panama surveys, and 
 who had performed his duties most satisfactorily to the officer, con- 
 ducting them, should go also, either as my assistant or as a delegate, 
 to make the technical development of the routes. The suggestion 
 was carried out, and I may add, that so far as I am aware, Civil 
 Engineer Menocal performed his duties with entire satisfaction to our 
 Government. 
 
 In presenting important information to the Congress, the results of 
 our Government surveys, it seemed necessary that certain ideas con- 
 nected therewith should be expressed; for that reason, what I shall 
 
44 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 hereafter call my address to the Congress was prepared, and sub- 
 mitted to the inspection of the Department of our Government under 
 whose instructions I went abroad. 
 
 On arriving in Paris the day preceding the meeting of the Con- 
 gress, Mr. Menocal and myself lost no time in paying our respects 
 to M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, too widely and too favorably known 
 to require further comment, unless I may add, that then and on all 
 other occasions our intercourse was in all respects agreeable. 
 
 On the morning of May 15th, preceding the meeting of the Con- 
 gress, I received a visit from M. Blanchet, an agreeable French gen- 
 tleman, who had been to Nicaragua on two occasions to secure a 
 concession for the construction of a ship canal, and indeed had one, 
 which last March was rejected by their Senate. I was informed by 
 him that the previous evening M. de Lesseps had either caused a 
 meeting to be held or an agreement entered into that was acceptable 
 to M. Blanchet and to the party in the Congress who would support 
 the Panama project. My understanding of this was, that they had 
 agreed to permit the discussion of the question to stand on its merits, 
 and that whichever side lost the vantage-ground would receive some 
 recompense which had been agreed upon in advance. Once, at least, 
 during the sitting of the Congress, I received a visit from M. Blanchet, 
 who seemed to be very much excited about the question, and to think 
 I should be also. I told him that the decision of the Congress was 
 no concern of mine ; that my duties would be discharged by making 
 a fair and full presentation of all of the information in the possession 
 of our Government, which was, in fact, the object of my being in 
 Paris. After the adjournment of the Congress, previous to my 
 leaving, I received another visit from M. Blanchet, who informed me, 
 or at least conveyed the impression, that his opponents had acted in 
 
 bad faith with him. 
 
 
 
 On the meeting of the Congress on May 15th, an immediate organi- 
 zation was eifected, M. de Lesseps, President, and five Vice-Presidents. 
 The names of the members of the different Commissions were called, 
 numbered as follow: 1st, Statistics; 2d, Economic and Commercial; 
 3d, Navigation; 4th, Technical; 5th, Ways and Means. 
 
 After naming the members of the Commissions, M. de Lesseps 
 remarked in a jocular manner that our work was all cut out, that many 
 of the delegates were anxious to get home, and that we could carry 
 the work through a VAmericciine, which may be translated, with a 
 rush. The full meeting of the Congress was then adjourned until 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 45 
 
 the 19th, the Commissions to meet at 9 o'clock on the following 
 morning. 
 
 Owing to the non-arrival of our heavy package of books, maps, etc.,. 
 I was not able to present them the next day as desired, but did so on 
 the morning of the 17th to the technical Commission. On the pre- 
 sentation, I stated that I would have my remarks printed in French 
 and English. The following day copies were in the hands of the 
 Secretary for distribution to such persons as wished them. The 
 address was as follows : 
 
 GENTLEMEN : The Government of the United States has conferred 
 the honor upon me of presenting for the consideration of this learned 
 and distinguished body the different surveys recently executed by ite 
 order, a part of them published only within the past month. In 
 their order, from the north to the south, they are as follows : 
 
 1. The survey of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, by R. T. Shufeldt, 
 now Commodore, U. S. Navy. 
 
 2. The survey of what is known as the "Nicaragua route/' an 
 actual location of an inter-oceanic ship canal, with several tentative 
 lines, by Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. Navy, assisted by Civil 
 Engineer A. G. Menocal, U. S. Navy. 
 
 3. The survey of what is known as the " Panama route," an actual 
 location of an inter-oceanic ship canal between Aspinwall and 
 Panama, including feeder, etc. 
 
 4. The Report of the surveys made by Commander T. O. Selfridge,, 
 U. S. Navy, extending from the Gulf of San Bias on the Atlantic 
 and the Bayamo or Chepo River on the Pacific coast to the mouth of 
 the River Atrato on the Atlantic, to the Gulf of San Miguel on the 
 Pacific coast, involving many tentative lines, and thence following up 
 the River Atrato 150 miles, and from thence up the valley of the 
 River Napipi, known as the Atrato-Napipi route, and terminating on 
 the Pacific coast at Chiri-chiri. 
 
 5. An actual line of location for an inter-oceanic ship canal, of 
 what is known as the Atrato-Napipi route, terminating as before at 
 Chiri-chiri, by Lieut. Frederick Collins, U. S. Navy. 
 
 Maps, plans, and calculations for material and labor on a common 
 basis of cost are made for the "Nicaragua," "Panama," and "Atrato- 
 Napipi " routes as located, affording a ready means of finally consider- 
 ing the relative cost of executing the work on the several routes. 
 
46 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 On the 13th March, 1872, the President of the United States 
 appointed a Commission, whose duties were " to examine and consider 
 " all surveys, plans, proposals, or suggestions of routes of communi- 
 " cation by canal or water communications between the Atlantic and 
 " Pacific oceans across, over, or near the Isthmus, connecting North 
 " and South America, which have already been submitted or which 
 "may hereafter be submitted to the President of the United States 
 " during the pendency of this appointment, or which may be referred 
 "to them by the President of the United States, and to report in 
 " writing their conclusions and the result of such examination to the 
 " President of the United States, with their opinion as to the possible 
 " cost and practicability of each route or plan, and such other matter 
 " in connection therewith as they may think proper and pertinent." 
 
 A final Keport was made by this Commission on the 7th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1876, copies of which are furnished for the consideration of 
 this Congress. It was composed of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. 
 Army, the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, and the 
 Chief of Bureau of Navigation, U. S. Navy. It held its sittings at 
 various times, and considered all of the information then existing, and 
 concluded that the various surveys and reconnoissance extending over 
 the wide region involved were sufficient to arrive at a conclusion, 
 except in the region lying in the vicinity of the Panama Railroad ; it 
 therefore requested the Government to have a survey made and an 
 actual line of location for an inter-oceanic ship canal on the best 
 route found practicable in that region, which was done without delay. 
 The Government, at the same time, thought it advisable to have a 
 more thorough examination and actual location made along the entire 
 length of what is known as the Atrato-Napipi route. After a careful 
 study of these surveys, maps, plans, and estimates, in addition to the 
 information which was previously before it, the Commission made its 
 final Report, before alluded to. 
 
 In the consideration of a great work, such as the construction of a 
 ship canal across the American continent, we may well suppose that 
 its permanency should be regarded as important as the selection of 
 the route itself, involving the least cost of construction with the mini- 
 mum of problems of doubtful cost in the execution of the work. 
 With these points assured, the question becomes fairly debatable 
 whether the physical conditions are to be considered too formidable to 
 admit of the execution of the work as a commercial or monetary 
 question in fact, whether a grand idea for the amelioration of the 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 47 
 
 great commerce of the world can be put in execution, or perforce 
 abandoned, through the existence of obstacles too formidable in their 
 nature to admit of an endeavor to overcome them. 
 
 Should it be considered, after a careful and minute examination of 
 the question, that a commercial or monetary success is practicable in 
 the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal, whatever error may 
 obtain through the selection of an inferior route through a misappre- 
 hension of conditions of permanency, or of first cost of construction 
 in the location of the ship canal would work a double injury, in the 
 failure to yield a proper dividend, by reason of an unexpected and 
 extraordinary cost in construction, or constant demands for heavy 
 expenditures in the endeavor to keep the canal navigable, and in the 
 probable imposition of tolls, which would tend to drive away or fail 
 to secure a considerable part of the tonnage which should naturally 
 pass through it, and which would make the ship canal appear rather 
 as an obstructor than the promoter of a world-wide commerce. I feel 
 sure that these considerations will have weight in the mind of our 
 distinguished President, at whose call this assemblage has met, to 
 whose genius and indomitable energy are due the inception and the 
 completion of the Suez Canal. 
 
 I shall leave to my able associate, Civil Engineer A. G. Menocal, 
 IT. S. Navy, a minute presentation of the surveys upon which he was 
 engaged; namely, what are known respectively as the "Nicaragua" 
 and the " Panama " routes. His note-books and other data will show 
 that the plans and estimates are based upon substantial and sufficient 
 information. 
 
 There are certain comparative conditions affecting the execution of 
 the work on the three different lines upon which we give maps, plans, 
 and estimates, which it is important to bear in mind in the considera- 
 tion of the subject of the construction of a ship canal. 
 
 NICARAGUA EOUTE. 
 
 The rainfall is comparatively small. Our observations at Lake 
 Nicaragua, extending over one year, show an annual rainfall of 
 48 inches, or 1.22 metres. [More extended observations give a 
 mean annual rain fall at Castillo 83 inches, and at Granada 55 
 inches]. There is a distinct dry season of between five and six 
 months, when work in progress would not be delayed or injured, and 
 but little interruption need be apprehended in the rainy season on 
 
48 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 that section of the canal between the Lake and the Pacific,, as the rain- 
 generally falls at night, with occasional showers during the day. 
 
 There is abundant good stone, hydraulic and other lime,, wood, and 
 bamboos, which latter may be found very advantageous in the con- 
 struction of harbors. 
 
 There is a considerable population, well disposed, and when they 
 can have remunerative employment, fairly industrious* The country 
 has an abundant cattle supply of good quality for food r and other 
 productions which would furnish the main subsistence for laborers on 
 the canal, with a convenient water transportation in general along the 
 line of ship canal as located, and lake communication with an exten- 
 sive population and fertile region. This water communication can be 
 greatly increased by the construction of a six-foot canal to Lake 
 Managua, at an inconsiderable cost, and when completed would make 
 the supplies of all kinds superabundant. Between Lake Nicaragua 
 and the Pacific, near the line of the projected canal, several passable 
 roads exist, and whatever other roads might be required over this 
 short distance could readily be made at inconsiderable cost. 
 
 There is an inexhaustible water supply in its lake of 2800 miles of 
 superfice, which equalizes floods and makes the daily changes small in 
 the discharge of the River San Juan, by which it debouches into the 
 Caribbean Sea. 
 
 It has an excellent harbor on the Pacific coast at San Juan del Sur,. 
 convenient for anchorage as Brito itself would be if improved as a 
 harbor, inasmuch as the vessel in transit would have time to regulate 
 her steam and be pointed fair to enter the canal at any assigned time^ 
 This reduces the necessity of a harbor at Brito to simply securing a 
 perfectly smooth entrance to the canal. 
 
 Lake Nicaragua affords every facility for an interchange of cargoes 
 that may be desired. 
 
 The west coast and the valley of the Lake are, as compared with 
 the eastern slope, comparatively healthy, and upon the eastern slope 
 a considerable part of the labor can be done by means of dredging- 
 machines. 
 
 The approaches to both entrances are superior in advantages to 
 those of either of the two other routes with which the Nicaragua route 
 is compared. 
 
 These considerations would seem to warrant the belief that cost of 
 construction, including material, would be far less than upon either 
 of the two other routes with which the Nicaragua route is compared, 
 as will be more fully shown hereafter. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 49 
 
 PANAMA EOUTE. 
 
 The mean annual rainfall at Aspinwall in a series of seven years is 
 found to be 124.25 inches, or 3.15 metres. A dry season exists, but 
 it is limited to two or three months, lessening the effective time for 
 labor and of comparative healthfulness of the laborers employed, the 
 wet being the sickly season. 
 
 No building material suitable is known in that region. The ties 
 and railroad telegraph poles on the Panama Railroad are brought from 
 Carthagena or elsewhere. 
 
 The population is inferior to Nicaragua, and the country less able 
 to furnish subsistence for a large number of laborers. 
 
 By means of the railroad already constructed a canal under con- 
 struction would have a convenient transportation at whatever cost 
 might be agreed upon. 
 
 The cost of the feeder and adjuncts, as well as other disadvantages,- 
 notwithstanding the shortness of the line, as shown by maps, plans, 
 and estimates, make a total of $94,511,360, as against those of the 
 Nicaragua route of $65,722,137, on a common basis of cost of material 
 and labor, when in Nicaragua the material is near at hand, and subsist- 
 ence abundant, and on the Panama route, or in its region, there is no 
 material for construction, inferior subsistence, and less favorable cli- 
 matic conditions for labor, as before stated. 
 
 ATRATO-NAPIPI ROUTE. 
 
 Although the mean annual rainfall is not known, there is no doubt 
 of the fact that it is largely in excess of the rainfall at Aspinwall, on 
 the Panama route. There is only a nominal dry season, as at any 
 time a precipitation of several inches is likely to occur, and actually 
 does occur many times yearly during the so-called " dry season." 
 
 The building material supposed to be available is confined to wood. 
 
 The population is so scant as to be unable to furnish either assist- 
 ance or subsistence for even an inconsiderable number of laborers. 
 
 The River Atrato would furnish transportation to the mouth of 
 the River Napipi. Along the line of the projected canal the country 
 is alternately rough and covered with swamps, so that great labor 
 would be necessary to construct roads to secure even wagon transpor- 
 tation for subsistence and material for construction. 
 
 Under such conditions the projected feeders requisite would be made 
 at great additional cost, as well as the projected tunnel and locks. In 
 4 
 
50 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 dimensions the projected tunnel is as follows : length, 5,633 metres ; 
 height, 35.96 metres; width, 18.29 metres. 
 
 On the Atlantic slope there are twelve projected locks of 3.14 
 metres lift, and on the Pacific slope ten of 4.54 metres lift, the 
 summit-level being 43.59 metres above mean tide. 
 
 With the view of having a definite comparison, the estimates for 
 material and labor, so far as they are identical, were made on a com- 
 mon basis with Nicaragua. The cost on this basis is given as 
 $98,196,894; but it is quite apparent that with the lack of material 
 convenient, and of subsistence and transportation, as well as the 
 absence of a dry season, and above all, the impossibility of making 
 even an approximate estimate of the cost of a tunnel under such con- 
 ditions, that the actual cost of the execution of the work would be far 
 in excess of the estimate. 
 
 The same physical conditions the absence of a dry season, and a 
 general lack of material for construction, except wood, and the lack 
 of subsistence were found to exist by all of our parties, at various 
 times, on what is known properly as the Isthmus of Darien, and of 
 all the region lying south of it. 
 
 The long period of time over which the surveys of the United 
 States have been prosecuted, designed to elucidate the problem of an 
 inter-oceanic ship canal, indicates a persistent interest in this subject. 
 I am happy to add that the present Chief Magistrate and his cabinet 
 are fully alive to the benefit to be derived from a full consideration 
 of the construction of an inter-oceanic ship canal, now that further 
 researches of the topography of that region no longer promise a com- 
 mensurate reward. 
 
 The people of the United States will look with great interest upon 
 the discussions and deliberations of this distinguished convocation, 
 and to suggestions which indicate the means that may be adopted to 
 secure a speedy commencement of the work of an American inter- 
 oceanic ship canal on such a basis as should assure its uninterrupted 
 prosecution and early completion. It would seem that this object 
 could best be accomplished by making the work actually international, 
 could a proper and satisfactory basis of co-operation be arrived at. 
 
 The people of the United States recognize the great amelioration 
 and benefit that the commerce of the world would derive through the 
 completion of this great work, and are not disposed to regard the con- 
 sideration of this subject solely with reference to the degree in which 
 the commerce and interests of the United States will be relatively 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 51 
 
 benefited through its construction as compared with the advantages 
 that may accrue to other commercial nations. Such a ship canal 
 cannot fail to be a great and common benefit, and especially in open- 
 ing a rapid and easy transit between the Atlantic coasts of Europe 
 and America with the western coast of America, and by the speedy 
 development of Australia. Regarding this inter-oceanic ship canal 
 when constructed as the greatest possible artificial highway that can 
 be constructed, conferring benefits on all nations and peoples, the 
 people of the United States consider its construction as one of common 
 interest, and the guarantee of its neutrality a duty in common to all 
 nations. 
 
 The presentation of maps, plans, etc., was followed by a technical 
 presentation of the Nicaragua route by Civil Engineer Menocal. 
 Afterwards, in answer to inquiries, he gave the methods of proposed 
 improvement of the harbor of Greytown and the regimen of the bar 
 as observed by him during several recent visits to that locality. I 
 may add here properly, that the able sub-commission subscribed to 
 the efficacy of the proposed method and as well to the method pro- 
 posed for constructing the dams across the San Juan. Several engi- 
 neers of note, at that time not favorably disposed to the Nicaragua 
 route, made many inquiries with the view of developing its difficulties 
 and its inferiority, and became so well informed as to adopt it as the 
 route offering relatively the fewest difficulties, and, in the end, cer- 
 tainty of execution. These engineers were found afterwards among 
 those who abstained from voting. 
 
 On the second general meeting of the Congress, May 19th, Sir 
 John Hawkshaw, of England, whose reputation as an hydraulic engi- 
 neer is second to none, was present. The afternoon was taken up in 
 a desultory discussion of the Panama route by Lieutenants Wyse and 
 Reclus, of the French Navy. A considerable part of tne discourse 
 was directed to the Nicaragua route, which was not under discussion. 
 The data upon which their plans were constructed were quite insuffi- 
 cient. The cause of the anxiety of Lieutenant Wyse, when in the 
 United States, two months before, to obtain tracings of our maps and 
 plans became at once apparent. They were not furnished him because 
 it was considered improper to give them publicity abroad in advance 
 of their publication at home. 
 
 It will be remembered that previous to last autumn, after making 
 an examination of the valleys of the streams falling into the Bay of 
 San Miguel in 1876-77, and visiting that region the following season, 
 
52 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 Lieutenant Wyse made plans and estimates for two routes, the one 
 preferred by him called the Tuyra-Tupisa route, which by his Report 
 was supposed equal, or nearly so, to any that had been developed 
 through our surveys. This route seemed to me hopeless from the 
 existence of the gravest difficulties, some of which I mentioned in my 
 paper of November last. It seems from what I shall presently quote, 
 that Lieutenant Wyse had the frankness to inform the Society for 
 which he was acting, that in his view a ship canal across that region was 
 impossible. He did not present it at all in the Congress, but took up 
 the Panama route on whatever information he had, and developed it 
 for a ship canal a niveau, which certainly was a step in the right 
 direction. It may be said without dispute that for a canal at the ocean- 
 level, the Panama route is far preferable to any other. The possibility 
 of it must be considered simply in a commercial sense, as a canal, if 
 made at all, must have that condition. 
 
 The following day, May 20th, Civil Engineer Menocal was invited 
 to explain the plans and estimates of the Panama route, and was so 
 interrupted by questions that Sir John Hawkshaw suggested allowing 
 him to proceed and making questions afterwards. 
 
 He stated that when Commander Lull and party began the survey 
 of the Panama route, there was no pre-occupation as to what height 
 above the sea, if any, would be selected as the summit-level. They 
 found at Matachin that the floods of the river passed some five or 
 six feet over the railroad track, and that at low water the surface of 
 the stream was forty-two feet above the ocean-level. In considering 
 the question, it became apparent that if the ocean-level were adopted, 
 an excavation would be necessary, making the normal surface of the 
 proposed canal forty-two feet below the present low water, which 
 would then make a small cascade, and in periods of floods would be 
 transformed into a cataract of one hundred and sixty-one thousand 
 cubic feet per second, from a height of nearly seventy-eight feet, the 
 decrease being due to the increase of the velocity of the water as it 
 approached the precipice, and also to the head of the water above the 
 ocean-level after falling, which would give a corresponding velocity 
 on its course to the sea. 
 
 It was apparent that either this great volume of water must be 
 received into the canal from an elevation which would make the eifect 
 destructive, or that it would be necessary to lock up so as to permit 
 the floods to pass beneath the aqueduct. This would bring the 
 surface-level of the water in it to an elevation of one hundred and 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 53 
 
 twenty-four feet above the sea-level. This was found to entail the 
 construction of a feeder, with its adjuncts, at a cost of $9,942,727, with 
 either a doubtful or a scant supply during a portion of the seasons of 
 unusual draught. On concluding, Mr. Menocal stated his willingness 
 to answer questions without eliciting any. 
 
 On the 21st another general session was held. Sir John Hawkshaw 
 gave his opinion on the Panama route, as follows : 
 
 " "With regard to the question whether the canal should be con- 
 structed with or without locks, the following points occur to me : 
 
 " If the canal is to be without locks its normal surface-level would 
 be that of the sea, and its bottom-level, say eight metres lower. This 
 being the case, the canal would receive and must provide for the whole 
 drainage of the district it traversed. 
 
 " Therefore it would be necessary to ascertain the volume of water 
 that would drain into the canal before it would be possible even to 
 determine the sectional area of the canal. 
 
 " If the canal have a less surface-fall than the river, as it would have, 
 it must have a larger sectional area to discharge the same volume of 
 water. 
 
 " The average section of the river in a flood at Mamei' was ascertained 
 by Mr. Reclus to be 1310 square metres. This would require a canal, 
 if it were eight metres deep, to be 160 metres wide. 
 
 " The waters of the Chagres would have a tendency to flow toward 
 the Pacific, that is, through the tunnel, as the distance is less and the 
 fall greater than to the Atlantic. 
 
 " It seems to me that the dimensions of the tunnel, if it has to serve 
 for both the river and canal, would be too small. Mr MenocaFs 
 estimate of the volume of the Chagres in time of flood would much 
 more than fill the tunnel ; and in any case the whole section of the 
 tunnel is only half that of the river in time of flood, as given by Mr. 
 Reclus. 
 
 " During the construction of a canal at the sea-level difficulties would 
 arise in providing for the drainage, which would affect both time of 
 execution and cost to an extent that could hardly be ascertained in 
 advance. 
 
 " If, from such considerations as the foregoing, it should be concluded 
 that the canal should be so constructed as to retain the rivers for 
 natural drainage, then recourse will have to be had to locks. 
 
54 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 In that event there can be no difficulty, in my opinion , in carrying- 
 on the traffic with locks properly constructed, provided there is an 
 ample water supply, which would be a sine qua non.*" 
 
 It will be observed that Sir John expressed the axioms heretofore 
 acknowledged by able engineers : to avoid surface-drainage, and to 
 have an abundant water supply. 
 
 After reading his opinion, he remarked that a residence of two or 
 more years in inter-tropical America had given him a knowledge of 
 how these showers behave, without which he might think differently. 
 In a conversation with him before he left Paris, after two days' 
 attendance at the Congress, he expressed the opinion that the canal 
 could not be excavated a niveau, and if it were, that it would be filled 
 up with trees and silt. 
 
 A pamphlet by V. Dauzats, Chief Engineer of the Suez Canal, com- 
 pares that canal with the various routes proposed across this continent. 
 He quotes at length from my last paper read before this Society, 
 showing the marked contrast of physical conditions, the region of 
 the Suez Canal having a mean annual rainfall of less than two 
 inches, whilst the region of the Panama Canal has a rainfall of one 
 hundred and twenty-four inches. His deduction is, that surface- 
 drainage falling into a canal has a scouring effect which is beneficial, 
 whilst the abrasion of the banks of a canal is far more destructive. 
 Were it not too great a tax on your patience, I would point out the 
 fallacy of such an argument. It is assumed that when a river as the 
 Chagres is dredged it will change its regimen. This deduction is 
 necessary to a supposition that a canal a niveau at Panama is possible. 
 On the afternoon of the 19th the Technical Commission was divided : 
 one part to report upon the practicability of locks as presented on the 
 Nicaragua route, the other to consider the question of making tunnels 
 for navigation. There was confusion and violent action, I was in- 
 formed, on the part of Lieutenant Wyse, growing out of his opposition 
 to Mr. Menocal being put on the sub-commission on locks. Mr. 
 Menocal very properly asked to be excused. 
 
 * Through the " Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London," 
 page 608, of September last, we learn that at a meeting of the Geographical Society of 
 Paris, M. de Lessep^ said that the plans of Wyse and Reclus were undergoing modifi- 
 cations in the substitution of an open cut for a tunnel, and providing for a new bed for 
 the Chagres River, the latter not considered necessary in the Congress by M. Dauzats and 
 others. It is highly complimentary to Sir John Hawkshaw that after the adjournment 
 of the Congress his ideas have more force than when presented. The increased estimates, 
 especially for the latter, should be simply enormous. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 55 
 
 The Report as to locks was that they could be made to serve their 
 purpose. The calculations for a tunnel were made for construction on 
 a dry foundation it was stated there were no elements of calculation 
 for building a tunnel below the sea-level as the plans demanded. 
 
 During the sitting of the Congress I found myself frequently 
 obliged to dissent from the propositions of Commander Sel fridge, 
 U. S. Navy, who, strangely enough, was found in the Congress without 
 being named by our Government. 
 
 This officer had been the chief of large parties who were engaged 
 during the seasons of 1870, 1871, and 1873, in examining the coasts 
 lying south and east of the Panama route, at San Bias, Caledonia 
 Bay, the streams flowing from the flanks of the mountains adjacent to 
 the Bay of San Miguel, and of the counter-slopes falling into the 
 Atlantic, also in making an examination of the Atrato-Napipi route 
 for a ship canal, which will be found in his Report to the Secretary of 
 the Navy of June 12, 1873. 
 
 I refer the curious reader to pages from 66 to 70 inclusive, and to 
 map VIII., illustrative of the Atrato-Napipi route as developed by 
 Commander Selfridge. Nobody reading this Rteport and referring to 
 the map would suppose for an instant that the greater part of it was 
 purely imaginary, the ground lying between the rivers Atrato and 
 the Doguado never having been passed over by Commander Selfridge 
 or any of his party. It is delineated as an inclined plane, locks 
 located, and sections of elevations given in figures ! Between this 
 fanciful presentation and the profiles made by Lieutenant Collins, 
 U. S. Navy, there is a very wide difference. I quote from page 7 of 
 my Report : 
 
 " Commander Selfridge then said that the remarks made by Sir 
 John Hawkshaw in relation to the Chagres River were not applicable 
 to the Atrato-Napipi route, and endeavored to enter into a further 
 discussion of its merits. I stated that I would suggest the advantage of 
 discussing the carefully prepared plans of Lieutenant Collins along 
 the lines of actual location, which were the best that could be found 
 in months of labor, instead of lines drawn at will by Commander 
 Selfridge, involving uncertainty of execution and an entire absence of 
 elements of calculation, as every engineer would recognize." 
 
 This was one of several occasions that I had to suggest the ad- 
 vantage of discussing facts instead of indulging in fancies calculated 
 to deceive the credulous and the unwary, and absolutely a waste of 
 time in discussing. 
 
56 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 The proceedings of the General Congress on the 23d, and in the 
 Technical Commission on the 26th, are so significant that I shall 
 append them without omissions. By reference to the Appendix, it 
 will be seen that the partial quotations which I shall use do not 
 present a perverted meaning. I will submit the question to every 
 reader of the Appendix, whether, free from any comment, it is not 
 patent that the Congress was not called to decide upon the best route 
 for an inter-oceanic ship canal, but upon what was possible ma 
 Panama. 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. " That which struck us the most, is the enthusiasm 
 of the United States of America in favor of the establishment of a 
 canal at Panama." 
 
 We may ask with surprise, when and where was this enthusiasm 
 manifested ? I saw nothing of it ; so far as my expression is con- 
 cerned, it requires only very ordinary perceptions to accredit it as 
 something more than that of an individual, inasmuch as I had been 
 sent there by my Government. 
 
 I again quote M. de Lesseps. " Lieutenant Wyse and his companions 
 have rendered us an account of the mission that they undertook. 
 Seven of them set out, four are dead in those wilds where one is only 
 able to effect a passage with a hatchet in the hand. They have then 
 returned, and have had the honesty to declare to us that in their view 
 a canal was impossible in the regions that they had returned from 
 exploring. " This seems sufficient to dispose of the historical sketch of 
 M. Hertz, given on page 10 of the Proceedings, as follows: "The 
 French committee of study for the inter-oceanic canal [in conse- 
 quence of the completion of the surveys alluded to by M. de Lesseps] 
 thus found itself able to submit to an International Canal Congress 
 a collection [of information] upon which it would be able to pro- 
 nounce intelligently. It is known with what alacrity the most 
 learned men from all countries have responded to the call.' 7 
 
 To si low the sufficiency of our information previous to these 
 surveys of Lieutenant Wyse was the object of my paper read October, 
 1876, in reply to a pamphlet of M. Drouillet, who came to this 
 country to obtain assistaiu e in making further surveys. The closing 
 paragraph of my paper was as follows: "I may add as a personal 
 conviction, that however long and seriously the searcli may be con- 
 tinued for " results " by surveys, nothing can be or will be developed 
 so advantageous as that which the surveys of our Government present 
 for your consideration." Lieutenant Wyse's surveys undoubtedly de- 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 57 
 
 stroyed pre-occupations in Paris, and so far was useful to them, which 
 they might have effected at less cost by a more thorough examination 
 of the work that had been done by our Government. 
 
 Notwithstanding what M. de Lesseps said respecting the assertions 
 of Lieutenant Wyse as to the impossibility of a canal in that region, we 
 find in Lieutenant Wyse's last Report a tabulated statement of routes, 
 among which is the Tuyra-Tupisa, at an estimated cost of 600,000,000 
 francs. 
 
 I quote again M. de Lesseps. " I have consulted M. Lavalley, and 
 he has replied that it [would be] decided for a canal a niveau that it 
 was a public sentiment. I will permit myself to sustain that opinion." 
 Again, M. Lavalley has studied the question of a tunnel ; he believes 
 It certainly possible. He says " it is only a question of cost." 
 
 This Society will be surprised to find, on reading all that M. de 
 Lesseps has justly said of the high qualities of M. Lavalley as given 
 In the Appendix, that when the resolution was voted on, he, as also 
 some other distinguished engineers of the French Society, were 
 designedly absent. To the fact that these eminent engineers have not 
 given the sanction of their names to what by others was regarded as 
 possible in engineering is probably due the discredit shown to the 
 decision of the Congress. 
 
 O 
 
 I quote again M. de Lesseps. " In my belief we should not make 
 a canal with locks at Panama, but a canal a niveau ; that is, I believe, 
 the opinion of the public, of which I am the organ at this moment." 
 
 Here we see, that instead of studying the question as an engineer, 
 and in its economic conditions relatively with other routes, M. de 
 Lesseps pronounces himself to be the organ of what he believes to be 
 public opinion. Happily for the public, its supposed demand could 
 not swerve M. Lavalley and others of great reputation. 
 
 I call attention to the remarks of M. Peralta as given in the 
 Appendix. This learned and able minister of Costa Rica to our 
 Government is well known to many of you personally. His sugges- 
 tions were not to be considered ; M. de Lesseps wished nothing more 
 embodied in the resolution than whether a canal a niveau via Panama 
 was possible. The resolution was passed as he desired, by such a 
 vote as to call forth an expression of his satisfaction, this, too, sup- 
 ported by the demands of public opinion, as he stated, and yet he is 
 not happy. 
 
 I again quote M. de Lesseps. " Since forty years I have studied the 
 question [of the Suez Canal], I have always understood that for a 
 profit it is necessary to receive at the least 10 francs per ton ; one can 
 
58 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 perfectly well make the American Canal pay double that amount, 
 whatever project may be brought about. These [are] considerations 
 that one is very glad to know for the future." 
 
 The humanitarian idea so nicely held out, and especially supported 
 by M. Simonin, is dropped. There remains alone the idea of con- 
 structing a canal without reference to whether it is on the best 
 location, but certainly on the line where the concessionists are entitled 
 to receive by the terms of the concession 10 per cent, of the stock 
 issued. 
 
 The Report of the Commission on Statistics of the Congress gives 
 the tonnage likely to pass through the canal as follows : 
 That of the United States, .... 2,000,000 tons. 
 " Great Britain, .... 1,050,000 " 
 
 " France, 356,000 " 
 
 " all other Powers, .... 356,000 " 
 
 In the Bulletin du Canal Inter- Ooeanique of October 1st, pub- 
 lished in Paris in the building of the Suez Canal, there is an article 
 of some length entitled "via Nicaragua," in which is set forth in 
 varied terms the egotism of the American Commission on the inter- 
 oceanic canal question as shown in their Report- to our Government, 
 and also the same quality shown by our official delegates to the Paris 
 Congress. 
 
 If this egotism was shown as is supposed in the Report, it was 
 simply in the endeavor to promote the public interests in the most 
 economic manner. The narrowness of the views of the Commission 
 is supposed to be shown in recommending lockage for vessels of only 
 four hundred feet in length and a beam much greater proportionately 
 than that given vessels at this time. "Without having the time or 
 patience to look up the French steamers, I will venture the opinion 
 that all of them longer than four hundred feet could be counted on 
 the fingers of one hand. 
 
 The egotism of Mr. Menocal and myself at the Paris Congress, so 
 far as I am capable of judging, was confined to a fair presentation of 
 all of the information in the possession of our Government, and perhaps 
 feeling no very lively interest in what the Congress would decide 
 not determine which belongs to nature, and to the keen appreciation 
 of moneyed interests as to what will and what will not pay. After the 
 adjournment of the Congress an engineer very much in the confidence 
 of M. de Lesseps said to me, " Now that the matter was settled, what 
 amount of money might be counted on in America to promote the 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 59 
 
 enterprise?" I replied that in my opinion they would not get a dol- 
 lar. Evidently in my egotism I was wrong : to what extent will only be 
 known when the Bulletin devoted to the canal interests publishes the 
 amounts subscribed in France and elsewhere for the construction of 
 the canal d niveau. Without assuming to speak for the public, I feel 
 sure that such a statement would be read with interest. 
 
 Looking at the table just read of the tonnage of the different 
 nations, we see the egotisms [interests] of all of them in form, and 
 substance. In the matter of the canal, the interests of the United 
 States now are practically double those of Great Britain, and will be- 
 come relatively greater proportionate to the increase of populations; 
 those of France are, roughly, one-third of Great Britain, and yet if 
 the word egotism is a proper substitution for the word interests, she 
 has as much as all the rest of mankind. 
 
 In an interview given in the New York World of October 9th r 
 M. de Lesseps is reported to have said, "If I may say so, I do not 
 think the Americans are very clear-sighted on this matter. They are of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race, and it is to some extent a question of race. The 
 Anglo-Saxon race is unequalled for its power of dealing with the cir- 
 cumstances immediately before it, but I do not think it sees very far 
 into the future. The Latin race has a somewhat wider intellectual 
 horizon." He regards the Anglo-Saxon race as eminently practical; 
 and without being of that race, I can well believe him. Granting 
 his foreseeing power, may we not ask the probable number of Anglo- 
 Saxons on this continent at the end of this century, and at that time, 
 also, of those inhabiting Australia and the Pacific Islands? Awaiting 
 his reply, may we not, without egotism, assume it to be, roughly, one 
 hundred millions of people? 
 
 We can leave to M. de Lesseps, with his long view, the contem- 
 plation of the end of the next century, the period A. D. 2000. Still, 
 even to our obscured vision, there seems a mighty multitude of men; 
 shall we give it shape in supposing it to number at least 300,000,000? 
 
 Dropping the consideration of humanitarian ideas so unhappily 
 dispelled, and looking at it as a plain business matter, could we not 
 submit the question to the citizens of the two Powers first named, 
 whether it would not be worth while to consider the construction of a 
 canal on a commercial basis, and with reference to a careful examina- 
 ation of all of the points involved, and if found practicable in that 
 view, do the work, and if otherwise, develop through the United 
 States and the Canadas sir h additional railroads as would ameloriate: 
 the commerce of which they are so largely the factors ? 
 
60 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 After considering the proceedings of the 23d, in the general session, 
 and a part of the proceedings of the Technical Commission of the 
 26th of May, as given in the Appendix, we can proceed to consider 
 the vote more intelligently. A resolution was introduced to conform 
 to the wishes, as expressed, of M. de Lesseps. It is as follows : 
 
 " Le Congre"s estime que le percement d'un canal inter-oceanique & 
 niveau constant, si desirable dans 1'interet du commerce et de la navi- 
 gation est possible, et que le canal maritime pour repondre aux facil- 
 ite"s indispensables d'acces et d'utilization qui doit offrir avant tout un 
 passage de ce genre devra etre dirige du Golfe de Simon a la baie de 
 Panama." 
 
 Which I translate in these terms : 
 
 " The Congress considers that the piercing of an inter-oceanic canal 
 at a constant level, so desirable in the interests of commerce and nav- 
 igation, is possible, and that a maritime canal to respond to an indis- 
 pensable facility of access and utilization which a work of this kind 
 should oifer, should be located between the Gulf of Simon and the 
 Bay of Panama." 
 
 The official vote as given in the proceedings is as follows: Absten- 
 tions, 12; against the resolution, 8; in favor of it, 78. The most 
 significant figure is omitted. As counted up on the record, 36 were 
 <jhsentj among whom were a considerable number of engineers of 
 note, and perhaps half a dozen delegates w^ho were not in attendance 
 during the session. 
 
 Had it not been that the expression of my abstention from voting 
 was regarded as an " enigma," which has been solved in the Bulletin 
 of October 1st, I would not have alluded to it. I abstained from 
 voting on the ground that " only able engineers can form an opinion, 
 after careful study, of what is actually possible, and what is relatively 
 economical in the construction of a ship canal." I feel sure that it 
 will excite a smile among us to suppose this in any degree enigmati- 
 cal, and may recall the ideas so ludicrously shown in the comedy of 
 the Irish Ambassador. 
 
 In relation to the vote and to the delegates, a pamphlet published 
 in Paris, titled " Panama, 400,000,000 a I'eau," gives the following: 
 "Let it be remarked that one-half the members of the Congress 
 were French; they had been chosen by the organizers of that 
 assembly; 34 members belonged to the Geographical or the Com- 
 mercial Geographical Society of Paris. What was their compe- 
 tency to decide between a canal with locks or on a sea-level? 14 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 61 
 
 other members were engineers or assistants of some sort on the Suez 
 Canal. What was their impartiality to decide between M. de Lesseps 
 and others? And among the others, if one takes count of personal 
 friendships and of prestige exercised by a great name, how many 
 more will remain?" 
 
 No one will deny that among the French delegates to the Congress 
 were men eminent in every branch of engineering science, and others 
 of the highest character as men of science. The same may properly 
 be said of the foreign delegates. They were men of character and 
 special attainments, usually having relation to the subjects that would 
 concern a canal, if not its construction. 
 
 As regards the engineers of Holland and Belgium especially, 
 where the land is so flat and the rainfall so small, their practical ex- 
 perience of a head of water would be confined almost to tidal action. 
 However able they may be, they had not, so far as I know, that prac- 
 tical experience of inter-tropical America that made Sir John 
 Hawkshaw so competent an authority. 
 
 Engineers in other branches would naturally adopt the opinions of 
 the hydraulic engineers, and as far as their conscience would permit, 
 be disposed to support the opinions and wishes of M. de Lesseps, 
 especially if expressed emphatically, as found in the Appendix. They 
 would say, very properly, the execution of the work was for M. de Les- 
 seps, and not at all their affair. He had asked them to say that the canal 
 a niveau was possible, and they had obligingly done so. He did not 
 think it worth while to ask his honorable confreres if they thought 
 Panama the best canal route; indeed, it would not have been prudent 
 to do so, as he had determined that the canal should be built at 
 Panama a niveau. As expressed by an engineer very much in his 
 confidence : " If they found it possible, the first thing was to get the 
 money, the next was to build the canal in the best manner that 
 they found possible." Even a great general needs "the sinews of war." 
 The public who made the demand through M. de Lesseps to have a 
 canal a niveau should not desert him so cruelly. He has met them 
 fully half way, in reducing the cost of construction one-half, as given 
 by the Congress, and in still further shortening the time for the con- 
 struction of the work, as given in his provincial tours, beyond that 
 assigned by him in the Commission on the 26th, as shown in the 
 Appendix.* 
 
 * After the Congress, comes naturally a period of rejoicing : of tours in the provinces, 
 and of presentation to the Academy of Sciences, the grand event, and the success of the 
 Congress. I trust you have all read what he said on that occasion. I will only quote- 
 
62 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 I do not propose to discuss the terms of the concession fully, as 
 found on page 281 of the Report of Lieutenant "Wyse. I will point 
 out some features that seem to me objectionable in the extreme. 
 
 The Canal Company agrees to transport gratuitously all persons in 
 the civil and military service of Colombia, their baggage, arms, and 
 ammunition, and if the company is not provided with vessels suitable 
 for their transportation, to pay their passages and for the transporta- 
 tion of armaments and ammunition. 
 
 the closing paragraphs of his remarks : " I will add, as an event that seemed to me the 
 most significant, finding myself yesterday at Nanterre, coming out of the municipal 
 hall, upon the occasion of the annual fete of the Rosary, I was accosted by a group of 
 peasants. One of them, as spokesman, said to me, ' When will you open the subscrip- 
 tions to the American canal ? We are with you.' 
 
 " By that voice of the people it seemed to me that I heard the vox Dei, and imme- 
 diately took the resolution not to delay making a call in all countries for 400,000,000 
 francs." 
 
 That was an aspect of the canal question to M. de Lesseps and to the peasants, a 
 case, we may call it, of mutual self-deception. The illusions of fancy on the one hand 
 were of a host of peasants bearing numberless stockings to be emptied of their gold and 
 silver a veritable bonanza ! On the other hand, the simple peasants gazed with rapture 
 upon what seemed to them a veritable Aladdin, who had happily presented himself to 
 their mortal eyes, and taken upon himself to make them all rich, and spare them for the 
 future from the toils of life. Beautiful, touching picture ! that rested on the mental 
 vision, then faded away into the cold, sombre, almost dismal realities of life. One thing 
 alone can console in some manner : neither party is the poorer for having met the 
 other. 
 
 The subscriptions proposed by M. de Lesseps for the inchoate Panama Canal Company 
 were 800,000 shares of 500 francs each, amounting to 400,000,000 francs. It was in- 
 tended afterwards to put a loan on the market for 200,000,000 francs, stock and loan 
 amounting to one-half what the Congress estimated the canal a niveau would cost, 
 without considering the cost of diverting the Chagres or constructing the tunnel on 
 proper foundations 26 feet below the sea-level. The public has not been informed, so 
 far as I know, as to the methods employed to so lessen the cost of the work. 
 
 Due notice was given that the books for subscriptions would be formally opened on 
 the 6th and 7th of August last in all of the great commercial cities of Europe and 
 America ; intimation was given that before the formal opening a convenient back-door 
 would be open for the appreciative and prudent to enter and subscribe, thus avoiding 
 the annoyance and loss which might arise from not receiving all of the shares subscribed 
 for after the books were formerly opened, but only a proper apportionment in view of the 
 large excess of the subscriptions. The eventful days came and passed ; although the 
 object of the existence of the Bulletin Inter- Oceanique is said to be to inform the pub- 
 lic on all matters pertaining to the canal, we are in ignorance of the actual amount of 
 the subscriptions, and only know, as it were, that in the opinion of the President they 
 were insufficient to warrant the immediate commencement of the work. In the ab- 
 sence of authentic information, we are indebted to other sources for the estimate that the 
 amount of stock taken was a little in excess of one per cent, of the estimated cost of the 
 canal. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 63 
 
 The Government of Colombia is to receive semi-annually 5 per 
 <jent. of the gross receipts of the Company for the first twenty-five 
 years ; 6 per cent, for the second twenty-five years ; 7 per cent, for the 
 third twenty-five years ; and for the remaining twenty-four years, 8 
 per cent. ; at the end of which time the canal reverts to the Colombia 
 Government. 
 
 The Company is "authorized to reserve 10 per cent, of the shares 
 for the benefit of the founders and aiders of the enterprise." The 
 only hope for a stockholder would seem to be in the extraordinary 
 impost of ten francs per cubic metre, not on the gross tonnage or 
 weight of vessel and cargo, but upon the cubical contents of a paral- 
 lelopiped represented in the length, breadth, and draught of the vessel ! 
 Lieutenant Wyse supposed that this measurement might amount to 
 30 francs per ton, which, if imposed on ordinary cargoes at ordinary 
 prices, as wheat, would make a voyage from San Francisco around 
 Cape Horn preferable in economy. 
 
 Looking at the terms of the "concession/ 7 as it is called, and the 
 whole matter from beginning to end, the wonder is that the subscrip- 
 tions were so large rather than that they were so insignificant for the 
 purpose of constructing a canal. 
 
 When Lieutenant Wyse was before a Commission in the Congress, he 
 was questioned as to the Panama Railroad and its franchises, and re- 
 plied that he had made a satisfactory arrangement by which the Canal 
 Company would gain two millions of francs yearly, but gave no 
 further explanation as to the arrangement.* 
 
 * I have been permitted to examine the articles of agreement of the " Civil Interna- 
 tional Society for the construction of the Inter-Oceanic Canal across the Isthmus of 
 Darien," signed August 19, 1876, and also of the proceedings of its members in the 
 partition of the venture in general assembly in Paris, June 10 and 17, 1879. 
 
 These interesting and instructive documents are not intended for the reading of the 
 public ; it would not add to the value of the shares or to the reputation of the concern. 
 A single copy coming to the knowledge of moneyed interests would seem sufficient cause 
 why the canal a niveau would receive no support. 
 
 A " concession" obtained by M. Gogorza from the Colombian Government had sufficient 
 value in the eyes of General Ttirr and Lieutenant Wyse to admit of purchase and of 
 initiating " surveys," and additional solicitations for amendments to the concession. In 
 furtherance of additional surveys, M. Drouillet, French engineer, appeared in New 
 York in August, 1876, and asked the co-operation of our learned societies to aid in a 
 "serious attempt" to explore the Isthmus in behalf of science, and, doubtless, of this 
 learned and, may we say, disinterested association ? As an engineer, he declared that 
 for five years he had endeavored to study the problem, but could not, as the information 
 was quite contradictory. My paper read October 31, 1876, as before stated, was de- 
 
64 THE AMERICAN INTER- OCEANIC 
 
 So far, in general, we have been regarding the aspects of the inter- 
 oceanic canal question from other points of view than our own, with 
 occasional objections or remarks thereon. Let us now look at the 
 question from our point of view. After the adjournment of the 
 Congress, it seemed to me that its high authority, and that of M. de 
 Lesseps, who does not, in the interview, overstate the confidence with 
 which he has been regarded in France, would deprive many unfortu- 
 nate peasants of their hard earnings. What kind angel protected 
 them God only knows ! So far as the English and our countrymen 
 
 signed to show that the information was sufficient and not contradictory, the confusion 
 in his mind arising only from a want of comprehension of what was reliable and what 
 was apocryphal. 
 
 The initiatory Society made " surveys" the value of which at most was to show that 
 those which preceded them were sufficient and reliable within the limits claimed. At 
 the time his " surveys " were in progress, Lieutenant Wyse, in 1876-77 and the following 
 season, visited Bogota, securing in the end a concession which seems to me to afford no 
 prospect of remunerating the constructors of the canal, even though that route was far 
 more favorable than appears to those who made our surveys. 
 
 Then followed the calling of the Congress by M. de Lesseps, which gave authority to- 
 this scheme. A few days after the adjournment of the " Congress " there was a wrangle 
 over the partition of the spoils, and, as usual on such occasions, a want of agreement, 
 and finally differences and recriminations. In the discussion, which M. de Lesseps. 
 insisted should be in writing, he plainly informed his associates of his claims, growing 
 out of his calling the "Congress" and the increased value of the shares due to its 
 decision resulting from the confidence which his support inspired, without which the 
 project might have failed. As a participator in the Congress, I can say with all frank- 
 ness that I do not think that he overstated the value of his services. I do not suppose 
 that he would be willing to state this as a compliment to the many able and excellent 
 gentlemen who, in addition to other persons, gave him a support in the " Congress." 
 
 Referring again to this enterprising Society and M. de Lesseps, who wished to become 
 the purchaser of their acquired " rights " of concession, and by bargain with the Panama 
 Railroad Company, fifteen millions of francs for the former were demanded, after a con- 
 siderable rebate, through the process of " dickering." To all this M. de Lesseps replied 
 resolutely, ten millions not a sou more! He would have no joint stock ownership or 
 direction, which would seem to us more emphatic than complimentary to his former 
 associates. This was passed over, however, as, after discussion among themselves, it was 
 determined that they could not do without M. de Lesseps. 
 
 Reluctantly, then, for the beggarly sum of ten millions of francs, reduced to that 
 amount, as they said, through his obstinacy, they knocked down their franchise to him, 
 he, in fact, being the only bidder. The part least satisfactory remains to be told the 
 money has not been paid up. M. de Lesseps has, as it were, the refusal of this conces- 
 sion for two years on the basis of purchase. Now, some of the discontented and un- 
 reasonable shareholders repent of the sale and desire the return of the concession, 
 having the idea that their interests have been sacrificed. It is almost wholly their affair; 
 only one American, a citizen of New York, and a steady advocate of the San Bias route, 
 appeared on the list as a participant in their joys and their sorrows, so far at least as ten 
 thousand francs are concerned. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 65 
 
 were concerned, the decision of the Congress did not seem to me 
 likely to inflict injury other than a delay and an uncertainty as to the 
 time of commencement of a great work. 
 
 In my Keport to the Secretary of State, which many of you have 
 doubtless read, I made the following deductions relating to the 
 Congress : 
 
 " That personal interests arising from a concession for the con- 
 struction of a canal are unfavorable to a relative consideration of 
 natural advantages as between two or more routes ; that such personal 
 interests did exist was quite apparent from first to last ; and the 
 ' concession 7 was frequently partially discussed or alluded to, espe- 
 cially in the committees or sub-committees. 
 
 "That the discussion in Paris has shown that hereafter, in the 
 examination of the question, only the Nicaragua and Panama routes 
 need critical examination, and that sufficient information exists as to 
 all other routes. 
 
 " That the canal a niveau by the Isthmus of Panama, either with 
 or without a tunnel, has been shown to be hopelessly impracticable, if 
 considered as a commercial question. 
 
 " That a general and special knowledge now exists among European 
 engineers relative to the subject of a ship canal across the American 
 continent, which did not exist prior to the assemblage of the Congress 
 in Paris. 
 
 " In view of actualities, it seems proper that the Government of 
 the United States should consider the question of the inter-oceanic 
 ship canal as still undetermined, notwithstanding the Keport of its 
 Commission on the subject, which has received acceptance by the 
 people of the United States, and by our able civil engineers, inas- 
 much as it has not received a criticism. 
 
 " Should this be regarded as advisable, it would seem necessary to 
 form a Commission of the ablest engineers of our Army, and to invite 
 the ablest civil engineers of our country, and as well invite all the 
 Governments who were represented at the Congress in Paris to send 
 their engineers, all to join in full discussion, and having equal powers, 
 with the view of removing it from all extraneous influences, of ' con- 
 cessions/ or other objects than the consideration of the construction 
 of a ship canal across this continent, capable of fulfilling the demands 
 of the world's commerce, under the most economic conditions." 
 
 I have learned that the suggestion as to a Commission was maturely 
 considered by our Government, and was regarded as unnecessary, in 
 5 
 
66 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 view of a supposed unanimity of the people of the United States in 
 favor of the Nicaragua route. 
 
 It seems to me, however, that this fact, which I think undoubted, 
 does not do away with the great advantage of the discussion of the 
 subject by the ablest engineers, especially if, after a close study of the 
 Nicaragua and Panama routes as presented by the surveys, they 
 should visit both localities for the purpose of verifying any part of 
 the work desired, and of the existence or non-existence of material 
 for construction, and the methods which could best be employed in 
 the execution of the work. This done, so far as human action can 
 go, the question will be presented with the least possible condition of 
 error, the locality where the canal should be made, or whether a canal 
 should be made at all. 
 
 When it seemed to me that our Government was not disposed to 
 call a Commission, I wrote, at the suggestion of a gentleman of posi- 
 tion and influence, to Sir John Hawkshaw, presenting the advantage 
 that the subject would derive from a personal inspection of the Nica- 
 ragua and Panama routes, either by him, or some able engineer 
 appointed by the Society of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, accom- 
 panied by another appointed by the Society of Civil Engineers of 
 France, and also another by our own Society, or, if our Government 
 thought proper, to detail General Weitzel, U. S. Engineers, or any 
 other competent officer who had large experience in hydraulic works. 
 As yet I have received no reply. 
 
 The public is aware of the willingness of General Grant to assist 
 in this great work, under such conditions of organization of a com- 
 pany, and of a concession, as would enable it to be prosecuted vigor- 
 ously and effectively. He has given the subject his careful attention 
 for years ; is well satisfied as to the route, which possesses a certainty 
 of realization by development ; he appreciates fully the great import- 
 ance of the construction of the ship canal for the commerce of the 
 world, and especially for the full development of our west coast. 
 
 It is gratifying to observe that there is an universal expression of 
 opinion as to the advantage which the construction of the canal would 
 derive from having General Grant at its head. The expression is 
 unanimous that it would ensure an economical, intelligent, and vigor- 
 ous prosecution of the work, and its completion within the shortest 
 time, and that it would have all of the conditions of practical utility 
 and permanency that could be secured. 
 
 Recent information from the most reliable sources gives the assur- 
 ance that the intelligent people and Government of Nicaragua are in 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 67 
 
 entire accord with this movement, and, instead of embarrassing the 
 question with impossible conditions, will do all in their power to 
 forward the great work. 
 
 To sum up the whole matter, we may well desire that our country- 
 men should know what canal route will best serve the commerce of 
 the world, in which our countrymen are so largely interested. This 
 is eminently a question for the ablest engineers to pronounce upon ; 
 exact information will be presented in a prepared form by Civil 
 Engineer Menocal, U. S. Navy, for discussion by the Society of Civil 
 Engineers of the United States, showing the quantity of work that 
 will be found necessary on the Panama route at the ocean-level, and 
 also by way of Lake Nicaragua, with a lockage of 107 feet above the 
 ocean-level. It is really not a question of what we may desire, but 
 actually only of what nature, whose forces are ceaseless and tireless, 
 will permit. To enter into an ill-advised struggle with them is to 
 be defeated in the end, at whatever cost or continued effort. The 
 labor and expense of constructing a ship canal under the most favor- 
 able conditions presented by nature will be great, but the result 
 attained will be the grandest that man is capable of achieving for the 
 amelioration of the commerce of the world. 
 
 Through this discussion we may hope that all of the advantages, as 
 well as difficulties, positive and relative, on these routes, will be fairly 
 developed, not upon fanciful presentations, but upon sufficient 
 information through calculations. 
 
 I have taxed your patience in an endeavor to show the present 
 aspect of the ship canal question, and have now only to point to the 
 importance of the forthcoming calculations in detail, and the irre- 
 fragable results obtainable from their full and fair discussion. 
 
 [The greater portion of the foregoing paper was read on the eve- 
 ning of the 9th of December, 1879, before a large and very repre- 
 sentative assembly of the American Geographical Society and its 
 visitors by Colonel Theodorus Bailey Myers, of the Council of the 
 Society. After expressing his regret that Eear- Admiral Ammen was 
 unable to be present in person, and stating that his paper had been 
 forwarded before the opening meeting, but was deferred to that of 
 the Earl of Dunraven, who was in haste to return to England, 
 Colonel Myers further prefaced the reading of the paper with the 
 following remarks: 
 
 " It seems proper to make an explanation on behalf of the Council 
 of the position of the Society on the inter-oceanic canal question. Its 
 
68 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 hall and Journal have been open for years for its discussion. 
 Foreseeing that all attainable information on the subject would soon 
 be necessary, a Committee of the Council, consisting of Mr. Clarence 
 King (Director of the United States Survey), Mr. Francis A. Stout, 
 (Commissioner for the New York State Survey), and myself, by memo- 
 rial and personal attendance at Washington, urged Congress, last 
 winter, to print the surveys and statistics connected with the Gov- 
 ernment work on the Panama and Atrato-Napipi routes executed long 
 before. This was only completed in a temporary form in time for the 
 use of the Congress at Paris, and has recently been officially pub- 
 lished. Access to it could not be had by the Society before that 
 time, and was refused to individuals. In sending representatives to 
 that Congress, the Society, therefore, claimed to take no part in the 
 decision of an important question, of the merits of which, for these 
 reasons, they could be but partially informed, but only as an appre- 
 ciation of its importance, and to acquire information. Naturally they 
 could not express an opinion without the time for study of prior de- 
 tails, nor could they expect that their representatives, during its brief 
 and exciting session, should become able to do so. Two of these 
 representatives have since given to the public their conflicting views 
 on the plan presented by M. de Lesseps, Dr. William E. Johnston, 
 residing in Paris, by his able written report to our President, Chief- 
 Justice Daly, received in the vacation, and printed in the Journal and 
 through the press ; and Mr. Nathan Appleton, in reading at about the 
 same time a paper before the Board of Trade, supplemented by a 
 communication to be read this evening. 
 
 " Rear- Admiral Ammen, as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, 
 having been charged with the fitting out of the American explora- 
 tions, and as a member of a Commission formed by the Government 
 for the consideration of its plans, having studied their results, has 
 labored under no such difficulties. Those who know his capacity and 
 devotion to any duty will believe his to be at least an educated 
 opinion. Knowing that other conclusions will be advanced, he has 
 authorized me to say that he is prepared to sustain it, and to reply to 
 them if brought to his attention in the public press that he considers 
 the subject worthy of exhaustive, if competent, discussion. 
 
 " On one so important, those present will, it is hoped, patiently 
 submit to an extended discussion, caused by a desire to entertain all 
 opinions, and open its merits to a free investigation."] 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 69 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO REAR-ADMIRAL DANIEL AMMEN 
 AND CIVIL ENGINEER A. G. MENOCAL, U. S. N., 
 DELEGATES ON THE PART OF THE UNITED 
 STATES TO THE INTER-OCEANIC CANAL CON- 
 GRESS, HELD AT PARIS, MAY, 1879, AND REPORTS 
 OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS. 
 
 MR. EVARTS TO REAR-ADMIRAL AMMEN. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF -STATE, 
 
 WASHINGTON, April 19, 1879. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL DANIEL AMMEN, U. S. N., WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
 
 SIR : The President having appointed you to be a Commissioner 
 on behalf of the United States to attend an International Conference, 
 which is to assemble at Paris on the 15th of May proximo, under the 
 auspices of the Geographical Society of Paris, for the purpose of 
 considering the various projects of an inter-oceanic canal across the 
 American Isthmus, I have the honor to acquaint you officially with 
 the fact of such appointment. It is also incumbent upon me to give 
 you certain instructions for your guidance in the execution of the 
 President's wishes. 
 
 The importance and magnitude of the projected enterprise are such 
 as to command earnest attention, especially on the part of those 
 countries whose trade is to be affected in a marked degree by the 
 success or failure of the scheme. This Government, in the interest of 
 its rapidly growing commerce, not only between its own Atlantic and 
 Pacific shores, but w T ith the other American States on the western 
 coast of the continent, deems it advisable to keep itself well informed 
 on the subject, and also to give any useful information in relation 
 thereto to other Governments interested in the scheme of inter-oceanic 
 communication. 
 
 You are accordingly instructed to attend the Conference of the 
 International Commission concerning the opening of an inter-oceanic 
 canal through the American Isthmus, to be held at Paris next month, 
 and you will be expected to carefully watch its progress and results, 
 .and report them to your Government. You will take part in the 
 discussions of the Conference, and will communicate such scientific, 
 
70 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 geographical, mathematical, or other information as you may possess, 
 and as is desired or deemed important. In this work you will be 
 assisted by Civil Engineer Anecito G. Menocal, of the United States 
 Navy, who has been detailed and appointed a Commissioner for the 
 purpose, with like powers. 
 
 You will, however, have no official powers or diplomatic functions. 
 You will hold no official communication with the officers of the 
 French Government, except such as may, by virtue of their connec- 
 tion with the French Geographical Society, or as delegates ad hoe, 
 take part in the proceedings of the Conference. You are not author- 
 ized to state what will be the decision of the Government of the 
 United States in regard to the points involved, or the line of action it 
 will pursue. 
 
 The Conference is understood to be not one of diplomatic repre- 
 sentatives of the respective Governments, but rather*a gathering of 
 scientific men and public officers whose experience and research 
 render it desirable that they should have an opportunity for the 
 exchange of information and of views. Your well-known wide 
 acquaintance with the subject proposed to be discussed makes it 
 peculiarly fitting that you should be selected to meet other distin- 
 guished engineers and officers who have given like attention to the 
 matter. 
 
 You are furnished herewith with such documents and records as 
 the files of this and other departments contain that may be of interest 
 and importance. Your own long familiarity with the subject and 
 careful study of it in all its bearings render it unnecessary to give you 
 further instructions on this point. 
 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. M. EVAETS. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL AMMEN TO MR. EVARTS. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 21, 1879. 
 
 SIR : I have the honor to inform you that Civil Engineer A. G. 
 Menocal and myself reached Paris on the morning of the 14th of 
 May, and lost no time in paying our respects to M. Ferdinand de 
 Lesseps, upon whose invitation, as President of the Geographical 
 Societies of Paris, the Department was pleased to direct our attend- 
 ance at the convocation on Mav 15th. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 71 
 
 We were received by M. de Lesseps with great courtesy, who spoke 
 of the very general attendance of different nationalities, and his gratifi- 
 cation thereat. A general and agreeable conversation occurred relating 
 to the inter-oceanic canal question. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 15th the convocation was called to order, 
 in the building of the Geographical Society, by Vice- Admiral Ron- 
 ciere le Noury. After a few remarks, he turned over to M. de 
 Lesseps the office of presiding, who made some remarks, and was 
 followed by M. Bionne, the Secretary of the Society, who read a paper 
 on " The State of the Inter-Oceanic Canal Question." 
 
 The organization was then completed, five vice-presidents appointed, 
 I being named first and seated on the right of M. de Lesseps. 
 
 After a call of the members, an assignment to committees was 
 made, all of which will appear in full on the journal of the proceed- 
 ings when published. 
 
 The assemblage was then adjourned to meet as committees at 
 9 A.M. on the following day (16th), no general session to occur until 
 Monday, May 19th. 
 
 The technical question on the 16th was discussed in the large hall 
 in which the assemblage had been organized the previous day. 
 M. Doubree, the Chairman of the Committee, called upon me to 
 produce the maps and plans brought by us ; owing to the weight of 
 the package it had been sent by express, and did not arrive in time 
 for presentation until the following morning. In the meantime 
 Commander Selfridge, U. S. N., had the attention of the Committee, 
 and presented his " plan and estimates," based upon the surveys of 
 Lieutenant Frederick Collins, U. S. N., over a region known as the 
 Atrato-Napipi route. A preliminary instrumental examination of 
 the bed of the Napipi River had been made prior to this survey by 
 Commander Selfridge, upon which he had based a supposititious loca- 
 tion, and made " estimates " without ever having been over the 
 ground. 
 
 At two o'clock, when the Committee again met, I stated that there 
 was no one to whom we were more indebted than to the able and 
 energetic officer who had just concluded, for the examination of lines 
 extending over a wide region, and requiring great labor and privation 
 to execute. So far, however, as the route was concerned, I had to 
 say that the survey and the discussion of that route had been made 
 by Lieutenant Collins himself, who was not the inferior to any officer 
 of our Navy. He had been placed in communication with the ablest 
 civil engineers in our country, from whom he had advice and assist- 
 
72 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 ance ; the official maps, plans, estimates, and reports made by him 
 formed a part of the information which it was my duty to lay before 
 the Congress. I was sorry to add that they were not as favorable to 
 the execution of the work, and as to cost, as that which had been 
 presented by Commander Selfridge. He replied, stating that Lieu- 
 tenant Collins had been his subordinate for three seasons, and had 
 been again sent to that region at his (Selfridge's) request ; that he had 
 supposed, in the development of the plans, he would be consulted ; as 
 he was not, he had requested the data, and had made his plans. I 
 could have replied very properly and satisfactorily, but did not out 
 of respect to the time and character of the persons composing the 
 Committee. 
 
 On the following morning, May 17th, I read my paper, which had 
 been submitted for your revisal. Mr. Menocal then very clearly and 
 ably presented the survey of the Nicaragua route, and explained 
 several of the methods by which he proposed to overcome difficulties 
 in the execution of the work, particularly as to the improvement of 
 the harbor of Grey town, and as to the foundation and construction of 
 the different dams ; and finally, in answer to whatever difficulties 
 were suggested. There was evident surprise on the part of very able 
 and competent engineers at the cleverness in design and completeness 
 of detail for execution of what had been presented, and he received 
 warm congratulations. This presentation occupied several hours. 
 
 The afternoon was taken up by Lieutenant L. N. B. Wyse, of the 
 French Navy, who placed on the stand for explanation his develop- 
 ment for a canal in the vicinity of the line of the Panama Railroad. 
 I was not surprised at this change of base from the Tuyra-Tupisa 
 route, having read his last Report, which was given me two days 
 before. His discourse was general, and referred to all of the proposed 
 lines, and occasionally something about the Isthmus of Panama. 
 
 M. Felix Belly, whose name will be remembered in connection 
 with the Nicaragua route in 1858, then claimed the attention of the 
 Committee. 
 
 On Monday, May 19th, a general session was held, and several 
 reports of the committees read, copies of which will be procured when 
 possible and sent to the State Department. 
 
 Sir John Hawkshaw arrived, much to my gratification ; his 
 authority as an engineer is of the highest order. With men present 
 of his reputation, character, and ability, the discussion of the question 
 will be of great prospective value, whatever the Congress may fail to 
 decide, or, rather, determine. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 73 
 
 The afternoon was taken up by alternate explanations of Lieu- 
 tenants Wyse and Reclus, of the French Navy, in their development 
 of a ship canal in the vicinity and along the general line of the 
 Panama Railroad a niveau, that is to say, on the ocean-level, with 
 and without a tunnel, and as well in stating objections at any time to 
 the Nicaragua route. They were prolix, and their data were not at 
 all sufficient, being, in fact, mainly on the railroad line levels, and a 
 few cross sections run by Lieutenant Reclus. From the fact that 
 Lieutenant Wyse had quite abandoned even the discussion of the 
 Tuyra-Tupisa route and taken up the line of the Panama Railroad, 
 the cause of his anxiety in February last, when in the United States, 
 to obtain our surveys of that canal route became quite apparent. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 20th, a general session was held. Commander 
 Selfridge had the floor again to finish, as he said, his explanation of 
 the Atrato-Napipi route, which continued for two hours. 
 
 When he concluded, I stated that I had the very carefully prepared 
 development of Lieutenant Collinses surveys, which was an actual 
 location made by that very able officer, and was over the route which 
 Commander Selfridge discussed ; that Collinses plans and estimates 
 had been made after consultation with able engineers, and that, when 
 the opportunity offered, I would present them in detail. They, 
 however, did not present the favorable features for canalization which 
 were assumed to exist by Commander Selfridge. 
 
 Mr. Menocal was then invited to explain the surveys and plans of 
 the Panama route, which he did with great clearness, evidently much 
 to the satisfaction of Sir John Hawkshaw, so far, at least, as a 
 comprehension of the points involved was concerned. He exposed 
 the hopelessness of an attempt to make a ship canal on that route 
 d niveau; pointed out, beyond controversy, that if so made there 
 would be a cataract of the River Chagres at Matachin of 42 feet, 
 which in periods of floods would be 78 feet high, of a body of water 
 that would be 36 feet deep, with a width of 1500 feet. 
 
 The surprise and painful emotion on the part of those who had 
 plans d niveau, and of their very many friends in attendance, can 
 hardly be conceived. The fact stared them in the face that the plans 
 which they had presented so confidently for adoption were absolutely 
 impracticable. There was, however, after a clay or so, a presentation 
 of " plans " and estimates of the cost of execution, quite independent 
 of a sufficient knowledge of the topography upon which only could 
 they be properly based. 
 
 Mr. Menocal went on to explain how a water supply was obtaina- 
 
74 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 ble, and that, owing to the floods of the Chagres River, it was 
 impossible to lower the bottom of the canal below the height of the 
 aqueduct, as proposed by him, crossing the river at Matachin. 
 
 When he concluded his presentation of the Panama route, he stated 
 that he would be happy to answer any questions which might be 
 proposed. Not a question was asked, although when he commenced 
 he was so interrupted that Sir John Hawkshaw suggested that he 
 should be allowed to proceed without interruption, and make expla- 
 nations afterward. An adjournment occurred soon after until 2 P. M. 
 
 I learned from Mr. Menocal that at the meeting of the Committee 
 in the afternoon great confusion and violent actions preceded the 
 appointment of two sub-committees, the one to report on tunnels, 
 such as proposed by Lieutenant Wyse on the Panama route, the 
 other to discuss the question of the practicability of canal locks, as 
 proposed on the Nicaragua route. Preceding and during the forma- 
 tion of the committees, there was, on the one hand, a strong demand 
 that Mr. Menocal should be on the Committee of Locks, and, on the 
 other, a violent demand that he should not be. Very properly, in 
 my opinion, he requested that he should not be appointed. After the 
 committees were made, however, the one referred to demanded of the 
 Chairman the attendance of Mr. Menocal, which was formally granted. 
 
 On the 21st a general session occurred, and the Report of the Com- 
 mittee on Tunneling was read ; this Committee was composed of the 
 ablest engineers in Europe in that branch of engineering. A copy of 
 that Report will at the earliest date be obtained and sent to the 
 Department. 
 
 It is sufficient to state in brief that it arrived at the impracticability, 
 at whatever cost, of constructing a tunnel d niveau, that is to say, to 
 secure navigable waters at the ocean-level. 
 
 Sir John Hawkshaw then proceeded with brevity and great force to 
 give his views on the construction of a ship canal at the ocean-level, 
 as proposed by Lieutenant Wyse, along the general line of the Panama 
 Railroad. A copy of his remarks is appended, marked A. I may 
 properly add that the report of the sub-committee on tunneling before 
 referred to, as well as the deductions of Sir John Hawkshaw, support 
 fully the ideas advanced in my paper, read before the American Geo- 
 graphical Society of New York in November last, as to a canal and 
 tunnel d niveau. 
 
 In commenting upon the proposed tunnel, Sir John remarked that 
 considered as a culvert, and taking the volume of Water as given by 
 Lieutenant Reclus in periods of floods, which was much less than 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 75 
 
 given by Mr. Menocal, it would require at least another tunnel of the 
 same dimensions to serve as culverts to pass the water. 
 
 Lieutenant Reclus then began an argument in a desultory way, and 
 when the Chairman requested that he would confine himself to the 
 subject under discussion, Lieutenant Wyse in a very excited manner 
 said their plans were constantly attacked, and they were not permitted 
 to defend them. 
 
 Commander Selfridge then said that the remarks made by Sir John 
 Hawkshaw in relation to the Chagres River were not applicable to 
 the Atrato-Napipi route, and endeavored to enter into a further dis- 
 cussion of its merits. I stated that I would suggest the advantage of 
 discussing the carefully prepared plans of Lieutenant Collins along 
 the lines of actual location, which were the best that could be found 
 in months of labor, instead of lines drawn at will by Commander 
 Selfridge, involving uncertainty of execution and an entire absence of 
 elements* of calculation, as every engineer would recognize. The 
 meeting then adjourned. 
 
 On the 22d the sub-committees were in session, and Mr. Menocal 
 
 ' i 
 
 was in attendance to give such information as was required. 
 
 At 9 A. M. of the 23d a general session occurred. After the usual 
 preliminary proceedings the report of the Committee on Navigation 
 was read. A somewhat lengthy address was then made by the Presi- 
 dent, M. de Lesseps, partly in reply or in relation to some preceding 
 remarks of other speakers, and partly in relation independently to the 
 inter-oceanic canal question, the full import of which can only be 
 known when it can be carefully read. 
 
 This was replied to with some warmth by Mr. Peralta, the minister 
 of Costa Rica to the United States, after which Commander Selfridge 
 arose and stated that as an American citizen he protested against the 
 supposition being entertained that the people of the United States had 
 any preference between three or four inter-oceanic canal routes ; that 
 they would accept truly and loyally whatever decision was arrived at 
 by this Congress, in whose wisdom they would have full faith. I 
 made no reply, inasmuch as it would have been difficult to explain, as 
 well as unimportant, how far his assertion was correct or the reverse. 
 
 On the morning of the 24th, as the sub-committees were at work,. 
 I thought it worth while to say formally to their chairmen that I had 
 no objection to the Atrato-Napipi route being presented by Com- 
 mander Selfridge, provided its consideration was made upon the actual 
 lines of location made by Lieutenant Collins, who had spent months 
 in making them, and that they were undoubtedly the best that the 
 
76 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 nature of the country permitted. Seeing Commander Selfridge in 
 the presence of Mr. Jackson, one of the secretaries of the Congress, I 
 asked his attention whilst I stated the preceding facts for transmission 
 through the secretary to the sub-committees. 
 
 Commander Selfridge stated that he was a member of this Congress, 
 invited by M. de Lesseps ; that when before the committees he had 
 pointed out " where he diverged from Lieutenant Collins's lines to get 
 a little nearer the river and thus diminish the cutting, and that he 
 thought his opinion better than mine, as I had never been in that 
 region." I replied that my opinion was based upon the careful in- 
 strumental location of lines made by Lieutenant Collins, and his 
 opinion was based upon drawing lines at will for discussion. 
 
 Owing to proposed modifications by the technical sub-committees of 
 the cross-sections, locks, and other conditions of the Nicaragua Canal, 
 Mr. Menocal was kept very closely employed in making them, and 
 was most efficiently aided by Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, United 
 States Navy, who opportunely was passing through Paris, under 
 orders for home. At my request lie kindly tarried as long as neces- 
 sary. 
 
 Sunday, May 25, was busily employed by the sub-committees in 
 calculations to meet requirements of construction other than those 
 officially presented by us. 
 
 On Monday, May 26, the technical sub-committees reported to the 
 full Committee. There was, however, a very general attendance of 
 delegates who did not belong to the Committee, and a very great deal 
 of interest and feeling manifested, amounting, at times, to disorder, 
 when the reports were read. I visited the room both in the morning 
 and afternoon session, but preferred to be generally absent. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th a general sitting occurred, and the 
 statistical aud other reports w r ere read, after which an adjournment 
 took place, the Technical Committee to meet at 2 P. M., which meeting 
 I did not attend. I was informed, however, that the able engineers 
 were very generally in favor of the Nicaragua route, and that nearly, 
 if not all, of the French delegates, other than the engineers, were in 
 favor of the Panama route. As it is eminently a question for en- 
 gineers to settle, the votes of other persons would seem to me to have 
 significance rather as to to personal interest than to relative practica- 
 bility of routes considered on their abstract merits. 
 
 From the first sitting it was quite apparent that there were two 
 parties of what we would call " speculators," the one represented by Mr. 
 Blanchet, who had an unconfirmed grant from the Nicaraguan Gov- 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 77 
 
 eminent, and Lieutenant Wyse, of the French Navy, who had a grant 
 from the Colombian Government, embracing, with a reservation, the 
 right to construct a ship canal over any part of her territory, the re- 
 servation applying, as I understand it, to the already conceded right 
 of the Panama Railroad. The presumed grant to Lieutenant Wyse 
 was published in the New York Herald nearly one year ago. Lieu- 
 tenant Wyse has the powerful support of M. de Lesseps. I need 
 hardly add that through the geographical societies of Paris, and the 
 method of appointing " delegates" to the Congress, the latter is quite 
 able to have any desired majority on a vote relating to the respective 
 merits of the Nicaragua and Panama routes. 
 
 The advocates of the Nicaragua route were disposed to regard Mr. 
 Menocal and myself as an accession to their ranks, a position that we 
 have persistently refused to accept, recognizing the fact that the mere 
 preference of opinion in relation to the superiority of the Nicaragua 
 route did not make it a duty to become advocates except by inference, 
 and the presentation of facts which would support that opinion. The 
 absence of exact information, and perhaps the prejudices of the ablest 
 as well as of the engineers in general present in the beginning of the 
 discussion, at least made them the tacit supporters of the ideas of M, 
 de Lesseps as to a canal a nibeau. It was quite apparent, as the routes 
 were presented and discussed, that the able engineers generally ranged 
 themselves on the side of the Nicaragua route. The very able presen- 
 tation of both routes by Mr. Menocal, and the opinion expressed by 
 Sir John Hawkshaw, quite disturbed the equilibrium of the Panama 
 route advocates, as will appear when the reports of the sub-committees 
 are published and come to hand. 
 
 On the 28th of May the technical sub-committee met to discuss a 
 new " plan" based upon making a high dam, higher in fact than the 
 surface of Lake Nicaragua above the ocean-level, at some point across 
 the Chagres River, with the intention of flooding a considerable tract 
 of land in forming a large lake, and thus ameliorating the destructive 
 effects of floods. Ten days before, this idea had not entered the mind 
 of man ; it was in effect the resultant of the exposition that the canal 
 a niveau was hopelessly impossible without amelioration and that no 
 other solution exists along that route except the adoption of the plan 
 of canal presented by Mr. Menocal at a height sufficient to allow the 
 Chagres to discharge its floods beneath the aqueduct. Of course, the 
 serious consideration of such a work as forming this large artificial 
 lake could only be made properly, after a very thorough examination 
 of the topography at points most favorable for natural abutments, as 
 
78 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 to height and length of dam required, and above all as to foundation. 
 In presenting the case, however, to spare it from ridicule, it was neces- 
 sary to assume that a canal d niveau is the demand of the commerce 
 of the world at any cost. Whatever possibilities a special and close 
 survey may develop, it is quite certain that the natural conditions are 
 now unknown upon which the predications of these " plans 77 are based. 
 
 In the discussion of a sub-committee, M. Gauthiot stated that the 
 tolls of a vessel of 4500 tons through the Suez Canal would be 45,000 
 francs, but through the proposed Panama Canal they would be 120,- 
 000 francs. Not having further information on the subject, I pre- 
 sume this to be the fact, the more as Lieutenant "Wyse, who secured 
 the concession, spoke of the faculty of charging 20 or 30 francs per 
 ton, which, if established, would virtually exclude a ship laden with 
 grain bound from San Francisco to Europe. 
 
 It seems apparent to me that the construction of a ship canal should 
 be regarded simply as a commercial question; that very high tolls 
 would, in a great degree, take away from its usefulness, and were a 
 canal constructed across the American continent by persons who had 
 dominant interests in the Suez Canal, the American Canal would be 
 subordinated to the interests of the Suez Canal. Thus, with a difference 
 of tolls as above given, all vessels from Northern China and Japan 
 bound to Europe would pass through the Suez Canal, and all vessels 
 bound for our Atlantic coasts would pass through the canal across this 
 continent at rates which w^ould nullify in a great degree the proposed 
 commercial benefit. 
 
 On the morning of the 29th M. de Lesseps held a meeting of the 
 vice-presidents and other persons to determine the manner of voting 
 and to submit the reading of the Report of the Technical Committee, 
 as also a resolution. There was a long discussion, and it was at length 
 agreed upon that in addition to a single vote on the resolution to be 
 submitted to the Congress of yes or no, or of abstaining from voting, 
 any delegate should be permitted within three days to give, in 
 writing, for record, the reasons which governed his action. 
 
 At 1.30 the final full meeting of the Congress took place ; the Re- 
 port, resume, and resolution were read, and the yeas and nays taken 
 on the latter, resulting in a vote of abstention of 98 members, out of 
 135 as given in the list 75 voting yes, 8 no, and 16 abstaining. The 
 character of the voters and those who absented themselves will appear 
 in the Report of Civil Engineer Menocal. I abstained from voting on 
 the ground that " only able engineers can form an opinion, after care- 
 ful study, of what is actually possible, and what is relatively economi- 
 cal, in the construction of a ship canal." 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 79 
 
 The text of the resolution is as follows : 
 
 Le Congres estime que le percement d'un canal interoceanique a niveau constant, si 
 desirable dans 1'interet clu commerce et de la navigation est possible, et que le canal 
 maritime pour repondre aux faciltes indispensables d'acces et d'utilization qui doit offrir 
 avant tout un passage de ce genre devra etre dirige du Golfe de Simon a la baie de 
 Panama. 
 
 The hall was densely crowded, many ladies being present ; about 
 one hundred members or delegates and three to four hundred other 
 persons : whenever a vote of " yes" w T as given, especially by some one 
 who had more or less opposed the conclusion, a very enthusiastic clap- 
 ping of hands occurred which would hardly have been the case had 
 the audience regarded the selection as depending wholly on natural 
 conditions or advantages, or on physical causes. The Congress then 
 adjourned. 
 
 It is proper to acknowledge the courtesy and consideration shown 
 to myself and to Mr. Menocal by M. de Lesseps and by many of the 
 delegates, many of whom were gentlemen of eminence, as M. Ceresole, 
 late President of the Helvetic Confederacy. 
 
 The conclusions deducible from the above I regard as follows : 
 
 That personal interests arising from a concession for the construc- 
 tion of a canal are unfavorable to a relative consideration of natural 
 advantages as between two or more routes ; that such personal interests 
 did exist was quite apparent from first to last ; and the " concession" 
 was frequently partially discussed or alluded to, especially in the com- 
 mittees or sub-committees. 
 
 That the discussion in Paris has shown that hereafter in the ex- 
 amination of the question only the Nicaragua and Panama routes need 
 critical examination, and that sufficient information exists as to all 
 other routes. 
 
 That the canal a niveau by the Isthmus of Panama, either with or 
 without a tunnel, has been shown to be hopelessly impracticable, if 
 considered as a commercial question* 
 
 That a general and special knowledge now exists among European 
 engineers relative to the subject of a ship canal across the American 
 continent, which did not exist prior to the assemblage of the Congress 
 in Paris. 
 
 In view of actualities, it seems proper that the Government of the 
 United States should consider the question of the inter-oceanic ship 
 oanal as still undetermined notwithstanding the Report of its Commis- 
 sion on the subject; which has received acceptance by the people of 
 the United States, and by our able civil engineers, inasmuch as it has 
 not received a criticism. 
 
80 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 Should this be regarded as advisable, it would seem necessary to 
 form a Commission of the ablest engineers of our Army, and to invite 
 the ablest civil engineers of our country, and as well invite all the 
 governments who were represented at the Congress in Paris to send 
 their engineers, all to join in full discussion, and having equal powers, 
 with the view of removing it from all extraneous influences, of " con- 
 cessions," or other objects than the consideration of the construction 
 of a ship canal across this continent, capable of fulfilling the demands 
 of the world's commerce, under the most economic conditions. 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 DAN'L AMMEN, 
 
 Rear-Admiral United States Navy. 
 Hon. WM. M. EVARTS, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 REMARKS OF SIR JOHN HAWKSHAW AT THE INTER-OCEANIC CANAL 
 CONGRESS IN PARIS, MAY, 1879. 
 
 (A.) 
 
 With regard to the question whether the canal should be constructed with or without 
 locks, the following points occur to me : 
 
 If the canal is to be without locks its normal surface-level would be that of the sea, 
 and its bottom-level, say eight metres lower. This being the case, the canal would re- 
 ceive and must provide for the whole drainage of the district it traversed. 
 
 Therefore it would be necessary to ascertain the volume of water that would drain 
 into the canal before it would be possible even to determine the sectional area of the canal. 
 
 If the canal have a less surface -fall than the river, as it would have, it must have a 
 larger sectional area to discharge the same volume of water. 
 
 The average section of the river in a flood at Mamei was ascertained by Mr. Rerlus 
 (page 175) to be 1310 square metres. This would require a canal, if it were eight 
 metres deep, to be 160 metres wide. 
 
 The waters of the Chagres would have a tendency to flow toward the Pacific, that is, 
 through the tunnel, as the distance is less and the fall greater than to the Atlantic. 
 
 It seems to me that the dimensions of the tunnel, if it has to serve for both the river 
 and canal, would be too small. Mr. Menocal's estimate of the volume of the Chagres 
 in time of flood would much more than fill the tunnel ; and in any case the whole section 
 of the tunnel is only half that of the river in time of flood, as given by Mr. Reclus. 
 
 During the construction of a canal at the sea-level difficulties would arise in providing 
 for the drainage, which would affect both time of execution and cost to an extent that 
 could hardly be ascertained in advance. 
 
 If, from such considerations as the foregoing, it should be concluded that the canal 
 should be so constructed as to retain the rivers for natural drainage, then recourse will 
 have to be had to locks. 
 
 In that event there can be no difficulty, in my opinion, in carrying on the traffic with 
 locks properly constructed, provided there is an ample water supply, which would be a 
 sine qua non. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 81 
 
 MR. MENOCAL TO MR. EVARTS. 
 
 UNITED STATES NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEER'S OFFICE, June 21, 1879. 
 
 SIB : In compliance with instructions from the Department of State, 
 dated April 19, 1879, I have the honor to respectfully submit here- 
 with a Report of the proceedings of the Technical Committee consti- 
 tuted by the International Congress convened at Paris, France, for 
 the purpose of discussing the question of an inter-oceanic ship canal 
 across the American Isthmus, and to which Committee I was assigned ; 
 embracing, in substance, the views of foreign engineers and others ; 
 together with such statements as I felt called upon to make from time 
 to time during the various discussions and deliberations of the Con- 
 gress relative to the project. 
 
 All of which is most respectfully submitted. 
 I am, etc., 
 
 A. G. MENOCAL, 
 Oivil Engineer, U. S. N. 
 
 UNITED STATES NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEER'S OFFICE, June 21, 1879. 
 
 SIR : Rear- Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. N., has been good 
 enough to show me his Report to the Department of State of the pro- 
 ceedings of the International Congress, convened at Paris on the 15th 
 of May last, to discuss the question of an inter-oceanic ship canal 
 across the American Isthmus. As one of the delegates appointed by 
 the President of the United States to that Convention, I was instructed 
 by the Department of State to report from time to time the trans- 
 actions of the Congress, but the statements of the Admiral seem to 
 me so clear and complete a presentation of the facts that it would be 
 superfluous to submit a full Report. I beg leave, therefore, to confine 
 myself to a statement of the workings of the Technical Committee, of 
 which I was a member, and to wlrich all projects for an inter-oceanic 
 canal were presented for discussion. 
 
 The first meeting of the Committee took place on the morning of 
 the 16th of May. Admiral Ronciere le Noury proposed Mr. Dou- 
 bree for President, Messrs. Dirks and Kleits for Vice-Presidents, and 
 Messrs. W. Kuber de Maere, Linmander, and Emilie Muller as 
 Secretaries, and they were so elected by acclamation. 
 
 On the organization of the Committee, the President proposed to 
 commence the examination of the different projects, beginning with 
 6 
 
82 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 those of the Government of the United States. Rear-Admiral 
 Ammen was, accordingly, requested to submit such plans as were 
 under his charge, and in his absence I thought proper to state that 
 the trunk and case containing the Reports and maps of the different 
 surveys conducted by the Government of the United States had been 
 unavoidably delayed on their way from Liverpool to Paris, but that 
 they were expected to arrive on the evening of that day, and that I 
 hoped they would be ready for presentation on the morning of the 
 following day. 
 
 The President then requested Commander T. O. Selfridge, U. S. N., 
 to present to the Committee the projects of which he had made a 
 special study. 
 
 Commander Selfridge proceeded to explain, at length, his modified 
 plans and estimates for a ship canal by the Atrato and Napipi rivers, 
 based, as he stated, on the last surveys made by Lieutenant F. Collins, 
 U. S. N., and his notes from previous surveys conducted by himself. 
 The length of the work as proposed by him, as well as that of the 
 tunnel, seems to be the same recommended by Lieutenant Collins, 
 according to the line actually located by this able officer; but Com- 
 mander Selfridge claims that by locating the line in closer proximity 
 to the rivers Napipi and Doguado a lower profile can be obtained, 
 and the estimated cost of construction reduced from $98,196,894, as 
 given by Lieutenant Collins, to $53,000,000. Commander Selfridge 
 spoke at length on the practicability of effectually and permanently 
 removing the bar at the mouth of the river Atrato by adopting the 
 same system of jetties now in course of construction at the mouth of 
 the Mississippi River by Captain Eads, and added that, with the aid 
 of fifty men, he could in three months obtain 15 feet depth of water on 
 the bar at the Atratro, now 2500 feet in length and less than 3 feet 
 in depth of water. He also spoke of the necessity of providing 
 any canal built on the Isthmus of America with ample facilities for 
 surface-drainage, and believed that keeping the surface of the water in 
 the canal above that of the ground was of great advantage to avoid 
 injury from floods in the rainy season. He was then asked by Mr. 
 Laroche what provision he had made to that effect in the project for a 
 canal under consideration, to which he replied that he had not 
 directed his studies to that special point, which particularly belonged 
 to the competency of the engineer. 
 
 Commander Selfridge stated at the close of his remarks' that he was 
 engaged in the preparation of plans and estimates for a canal without 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 83 
 
 locks by the same route, which he expected to submit to the Congress 
 shortly. 
 
 Mr. Blanchet was then allowed to present his plans for a canal by 
 Lake Nicaragua, on which he dwelt at length. His project consists 
 in a modification of that contained in the Report of Commander 
 E. P. Lull, U. S. N., to the Navy Department of the operations of 
 the United States Surveying Expedition to that country in 1872-1873. 
 Mr. Blanchet has made two trips to Nicaragua, in the interests of an 
 association which he represents, with the view of obtaining a concession 
 from that Government to build the canal. He has not, however, made 
 any surveys ; and his project is based either on the information ob- 
 tained by the United States surveys, or on mere speculations as to the 
 topography of the ground. Little weight can be attached, therefore, 
 to his statements as to natural conditions; but even should they be 
 verified by proper examination of the country, his plan would be in- 
 volved in much uncertainty as to practicability of execution, cost, and 
 permanency of the works proposed. 
 
 He was not prepared to present plans for the construction of harbors 
 at Brito and Greytown, the two ends of the proposed canal ; and when 
 requested by the Committee to submit estimates for these works, he 
 referred to a Report made by me to the Government of Nicaragua in 
 1876, which he accepted as the best solution of the problem. To 
 this extent Mr. Blanchet seems to give credit to the labors of others, 
 which he so readily appropriates. His estimate of cost of construc- 
 tion is $38,146,352. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th Rear- Admiral Ammen made an expo- 
 sition of the different projects for a ship canal, surveyed by the several 
 expeditions sent out by the Government of the United States to Te- 
 huantepec, Nicaragua, Panama, and Darien, about to be presented to 
 the Committee' for consideration. 
 
 I was then called upon to make a technical exposition of those pro- 
 jects. Referring to the proposed canal by the Isthmus of Tehuante- 
 pec, I stated, after consultation with Rear- Admiral Ammen, that it was 
 regarded of so little merit, as compared to other routes more to the 
 south, that I deemed it unnecessary to go into a full explanation of 
 the lines; that I would submit for the information of the Congress' a 
 number of Reports of Commodore Shufeldt, under whose command 
 the survey had been conducted, and that, should any of the delegates 
 desire any information as to any particular point, I would be pleased 
 to convey it to the extent of my ability. I proceeded then to present 
 my views relative to the proposed canal across Nicaragua, as located 
 
84 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 by the United States Surveying Expeditions of 1872-1873, under the 
 command of Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. N., to which I was at- 
 tached as chief engineer. The work was therefore quite familiar 
 to me; a fact which, together with a knowledge of the country and 
 its resources of all kinds obtained from actual observation during 
 several years, made my task comparatively easy. 
 
 The Nicaraguan Canal has been generally considered by American 
 engineers, since the results of the surveys under consideration were 
 published, as the best and most practicable route. It involves less 
 engineering difficulties than any other, and its estimated cost, based 
 on an actual and careful location of the line, is so small, as compared 
 to other routes, that, in a commercial sense, it seems to take precedence 
 above all others. 
 
 I endeavored to give a clear and full description of the whole line, 
 stating the area, water-shed, and elevation of Lake Nicaragua above 
 the level of the sea, and the fact of its being the summit-level of the 
 proposed canal ; the name and location of the different trial-lines run 
 from the lake to the Pacific, with a full description of those passing 
 through the lowest depressions of the divide, and particularly of the 
 one selected as the best, with the reasons therefor. I also described 
 at length the work required on the lake to make it navigable for large 
 vessels along the whole distance across to its outlet; the River San 
 Juan, with all its features in relation to the canal and the proposed 
 works to make it navigable for a distance of 63 miles from the lake. 
 I also described the nature of the country from the point where the 
 canal leaves the channel of the River San Juan below its confluence 
 with the San Carlos to Grey town; giving distances, number, and lift 
 of the locks required on both sides of the summit, together with such 
 works of detail as are essential to the successful construction and per- 
 manence of the canal. 
 
 The want of good harbors at both ends of the proposed canal 
 across Nicaragua had been mentioned by many as the weakest feature 
 of that project, and to that particular point I had devoted much 
 study during the last four years. There was a marked desire on the 
 part of many of the delegates to hear what I had to say in reference 
 to those parts, and especially that of Grey town. I explained with 
 much care the plans proposed for the construction of a harbor at 
 Brito sufficiently large to meet the requirements of the canal, and 
 answered several questions asked by different members as to natural 
 conditions and facilities for the execution of the works. I then pro- 
 ceeded to describe the present condition of the harbor of Greytown ; 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 85 
 
 the changes that had taken place during the last forty years I illus- 
 trated by maps prepared for that purpose, pointing out the causes that 
 had produced those changes, and 1 brought about the closing of the 
 harbor. During this exposition I invited criticism. As I was pro- 
 fessionally interested in the solution of this important problem, I 
 readily answered all questions relating to the subject, and finished my 
 remarks with an explanation of the plan proposed for the restoration 
 of the harbor, with provisions for its permanency. I have the plea- 
 sure to say, in this connection, that these plans were shortly after 
 referred to two sub-committees, composed of thirteen of the most 
 eminent engineers present, and that they were approved in all par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 I was called upon to explain the system by which the proposed 
 dams across the River San Juan were intended to be built, when I had 
 occasion to submit the detailed plans prepared for said works, and to 
 describe the manner in which I would proceed to overcome the diffi- 
 culties connected therewith. The explanations seemed to have been 
 received with general satisfaction. After referring to other works of 
 detail, and to the abundance of building materials, easy means of 
 communication, etc., the presentation of that route was considered 
 ended. 
 
 Lieutenant L. N. B. Wyse was then requested to bring before the 
 Congress his project for a ship canal. He spoke in general terms of 
 the inter-oceanic canal question ; and after mentioning the different 
 lines surveyed by the United States, he referred to the surveys and 
 reconnoissances conducted by himself on account of the International 
 Commission of Paris. Five different projects had been proposed ,be- 
 tween the Nicaragua and Atrato-Napipi routes, and of these he had 
 had occasion to examine four. The one he failed to examine was that 
 connecting the Bay of Aspinwall w r ith that of Panama. After enu- 
 merating the advantages and disadvantages of the several routes 
 studied by him, he arrived at the conclusion that they were more or 
 less impracticable, and that a canal at the level of the sea by the 
 Isthmus of Panama (the route he did not survey), with or without 
 tunnel, meets all the requirements for a ship canal, and could be 
 executed at a moderate cost. He then described the line of the pro- 
 posed canal, stating that his information had been obtained from the 
 plans of Mr. Garalla, made in 1843, for a canal with locks and tunnel 
 (in a different direction from the line proposed by Lieutenant Wyse), 
 and from the plans of the Panama Railroad. A canal at the level of 
 the sea, such as proposed by Lieutenants Wyse and Reclus, has neces- 
 
86 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 sarily to be the ultimate drain or recipient of the extensive basins 
 intercepted by the canal, including those of the rivers Chagres, Obispo, 
 Grande, Trinidad, Trijolis, Gutun, and others. No provision had 
 been made, however, to dispose of the surface-drainage, nor to ame- 
 liorate the effects in the canal by the rise and fall of the tide in the 
 Bay of Panama, the latter amounting to about 24 feet. 
 
 I will have occasion to refer again to the project on the presentation 
 of a canal with locks on this line. 
 
 On the 20th Commander Selfridge rose to state that since his 
 arrival he had been able to ascertain that a large number of engineers 
 were opposed to a canal with locks ; that the more he considered the 
 subject, the more he agreed with the French engineers, and that he 
 had accordingly modified his plans of a canal by the Atrato-Napipi, 
 so as to reduce the number of locks to two. After a few remarks by 
 Rear- Admiral Ammen, I was called to explain the proposed canal by 
 the Isthmus of Panama, as located by the United States Surveying 
 Expedition of 1875. I described it with the same care and minute- 
 ness of detail as that of Nicaragua. I thought proper in this con- 
 nection to state that the first investigations of the commander of the 
 expedition and myself, on our arrival at the isthmus, were directed 
 to ascertain the practicability of a canal at the level of the sea ; that 
 we found the elevation of the River Chagres at Matachin, in its 
 normal condition, to be 42 feet above the sea-level, and in times of 
 flood as high as 78 feet, with a width of channel of about 1500 feet. 
 The canal would necessarily have to be located along the valley of 
 this river, and as there was not (in this narrow valley) room enough 
 for both the canal and the river, the latter had necessarily to be re- 
 ceived into the canal under a fall varying from 42 to 78 feet, accord- 
 ing to the magnitude of the floods. Add to this immense cataract the 
 floods of the other rivers, tributaries of the Chagres below Matachin 
 (some of them of large water-shed and considerable volume), and it 
 would be easy to conceive that a canal at the level of the sea, as pro- 
 posed, by Panama, would frequently be converted into an extraordi- 
 nary torrent, impracticable for navigation. The cost of a canal under 
 these conditions cannot be estimated, but it would be so great as to 
 make it commercially impracticable. It was decided, therefore, to 
 accept the locks as the only possible solution of the problem. 
 
 I was interrupted in my explanations by Lieutenants Wyse and 
 Reclus, who wished to know whether our information as to elevation 
 and rise of the Chagres had been obtained by actual surveys or from 
 .the natives ; to which I positively replied that it had been obtained 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 87 
 
 by careful lines of levels run from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to 
 Matachin, and along the bed of the River Chagres to sixteen miles 
 above that place. On the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Garay, 
 delegate of the Mexican Government, made some remarks advocating 
 a canal by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Mr. Rebourt, engineer of 
 the Saint Gothard Tunnel, followed with a discussion on the probable 
 cost of a canal without locks by Panama, and showed by figures and 
 diagrams that the cost of that work at such prices of labor as are paid 
 in France, and supposing the work to be done out of water, would be 
 930,000,000 francs, and time required for its execution no less than 
 nine years. This statement caused a long discussion, in which many 
 of the delegates took part. It was at last proposed and agreed to by 
 acclamation that two sub-committees be appointed : The first, on exca- 
 vation in tunnel and open cut, dredging, and estimates ; the second, on 
 locks and cross-section for the canal. These sub-committees were 
 instructed to report as soon as practicable, and to prepare comparative 
 estimates of cost of all the projects thus far presented to the Techni- 
 cal Committee. 
 
 On the morning of the 21st Messrs. Cotard, Ruelle, and Lavalley, 
 members of the first sub-committee, made some statements to the 
 eifect that the practicability of a canal at the level of the sea, as pro- 
 posed, was involved in much uncertainty, and that the difficulties to 
 be overcome were of such a character and of such magnitude that it 
 would be impossible for any engineer to arrive at an approximate 
 estimate of its probable cost. 
 
 Sir John Hawkshaw followed with a few remarks to the effect that 
 the volume of the Chagres, in times of flood, would be more than 
 sufficient to fill the entire cross-section of the tunnel (as proposed by 
 Lieutenants "YVyse and Reclus), which is only one-half that of the 
 river, as given by Mr. Reclus. 
 
 That the necessity of keeping the excavation free from water would 
 increase the cost and time of the execution of the work to a point that 
 cannot be estimated beforehand. 
 
 That the velocity of the current in the proposed canal due to the 
 tide alone would be about five miles an hour. " That, if from such 
 considerations as the foregoing it should be concluded that the canal 
 should be so constructed as to retain the rivers for natural drainage, 
 then recourse must be had to locks. In that event there can be no 
 difficulty, in my opinion, in carrying on the traffic with locks pro- 
 perly constructed, provided there is an ample water supply, which 
 would be a sine qica non." 
 
88 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 These remarks from so eminent an engineer as Sir John Hawkshaw 
 had much weight in the Committee. 
 
 Lieutenants Wyse and Reclus had, since the day before, commenced 
 to suggest some means by which to overcome the difficulty of receiv- 
 ing the River Chagres into the canal in the form of a cataract. The 
 remarks of Sir John Hawkshaw, however, made it only too apparent 
 to them, that unless they succeeded in disposing of this difficulty in a 
 manner acceptable at least to their friends, their project had to be 
 abandoned. These gentlemen are not engineers, and however compe- 
 tent they may be in their profession, they lack that theoretical and 
 practical knowledge without which a work of such magnitude as the 
 one under consideration cannot be designed or executed. 
 
 On the 22d instant I was called by both sub-committees to give 
 some additional information relative to the Nicaragua Canal. The 
 sub-committee on locks requested me to submit plans and estimates 
 for a system of three locks of 150 metres in length, between gates 
 20 metres wide and no more than 4 metres lift. Also, estimates for 
 an increase in the width of the canal to 100 metres at the bottom, in 
 curves and bends of the river of less than 3000 metres radius. It 
 was apparently the intention of this Committee to so increase the cost 
 of the canal with locks, via Nicaragua, as to make it less practicable 
 in a commercial sense than the canal at the level of the sea via Panama, 
 which had very strong advocates in that body, particularly its Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 I prepared in the evening of that day plans for a system of double 
 locks of the dimensions given, which I submitted, together w r ith the 
 estimates required, on the following morning. I refused to make 
 plans for the three locks on the ground that I considered it unneces- 
 sary, since a canal with single locks would allow the passage of no 
 less than 24 ships a day, and one with double, more than double that 
 number. According to my calculation, a ship could pass a lock (as I 
 had designed them) in about one-half hour, but I have Sir John 
 Hawkshaw's authority for stating that 20 minutes would be ample 
 time for the operation. Supposing that 5,000,000 tons would pass 
 through the canal during the year, which seems to be a liberal allow- 
 ance, and that the ships will carry 2000 tons each, the average daily 
 passage would be 7 ships. I believe, therefore, that in order to build 
 the canal as economically as possible, so as to make it a financial suc- 
 cess, single locks should be built at the start, and if at any time the 
 traffic should increase so as to require additional facilities, a second 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 89 
 
 series of locks can be built alongside the first ones, without any in- 
 convenience or great cost. 
 
 On the 23d instant I was furnished by the first sub-committee with 
 a drawing for a new cross-section for the canal proposed by the sub- 
 committee on locks, and requested to compute the cubical contents of 
 excavation resulting from this change and from an increase to 100 
 metres of the whole channel in both the river and lake. The new 
 cross-section proposed I regarded as utterly impracticable, and seemed 
 to have been designed for the only purpose of reducing relatively as 
 much as possible the cubical contents of excavation in the canal with- 
 out locks by Panama. The proposed slopes in cuttings of nearly 300 
 feet in depth is one-tenth, and the width of the canal at the level of 
 water 22 metres. In regard to the acquired increase in the width of 
 the channel in the river and lake to 100 metres, the only object in 
 view seems to have been to obtain an increase in the estimated cost of the 
 work by about $10,000,000. With the very efficient and timely assist- 
 ance of Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, United States Navy, I was 
 able to complete the computations required on the night of that day, 
 which I delivered to the sub-committee in a tabular form on the morn- 
 ing of the following day. In view of the increase in the estimates 
 made necessary by the proposed change in the width of the channel 
 in the river and lake, I wrote a note to the first sub-committe, stating 
 that by raising the dam proposed at Castillo Rapids one metre (and 
 there was nothing that would make this change objectionable) the 
 estimated cost could be reduced by no less than $14,000,000. Messrs. 
 Cotard and Lavalley, members of the first sub-committee and engineers 
 of great reputation, thought very favorably of the suggested change, 
 and so reported it to the Technical Committee. 
 
 Lieutenants "Wyse and Reclus had been before the sub-committee, 
 advocating such modifications to their scheme as they thought might 
 be accepted as a solution of the problem. Three different changes, 
 equally objectionable, were presented during the last two days. It 
 was at last decided by the sub-committee on locks that the canal should 
 be provided with a tide-lock on the Pacific side and that new channels 
 be made for the River Chagres and its tributaries from Matachin to 
 the sea. With these modifications the canal without locks was re- 
 ported favorably upon, and estimates of cost prepared by the first 
 sub-committee. No surveys had been made to determine the possi- 
 bility of locating the proposed new channel, and I venture to say that 
 if such a work is ever undertaken it will be found to be of more 
 difficult execution than is anticipated by the authors of the project. 
 
90 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 To divert a stream from its natural course and canalize it in an arti- 
 ficial channel is always a work requiring mature consideration by the 
 engineer, but when the stream desired to be controlled is a torrential 
 river of the dimensions and conditions of the Chagres, running in 
 close proximity to the proposed canal, which would be about forty 
 feet below the bed of the river, then such work may be regarded as 
 utterly impracticable. 
 
 On the 26th of May the sub-committee submitted their Reports on 
 the different routes under consideration. A system of three locks was 
 recommended and estimated upon by the Committee on Locks, for the 
 Nicaragua Canal. The number of locks was fixed at 17, and the cost 
 of each at 7,000,000 francs. 
 
 Both sub-committees reported very favorably on the Nicaragua 
 Canal, stating that the project had been studied with much care and 
 skill, and that the sub-committees were of the opinion that it could 
 be executed without material difficulties. 
 
 Of the canal d niveau through Panama, they said that the work 
 proposed presented such apparent difficulties of construction and so 
 many doubtful elements, that they had been unable to agree as to its 
 probable cost or time required to do the work. 
 
 The Nicaragua Canal, with the modifications introduced, was esti- 
 mated as follows : 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Estimated cost of the work, 471,253,183 
 
 Twenty-five per cent, for contingencies, . . . 117,808,290 
 
 Expenses of commissions, etc., ..... 29,458,329 
 
 Interest for six years, during construction, . . . 93,000,000 
 
 711,519,802 
 
 The canal by Panama was estimated to cost about 1,044,000,000 
 francs, without allowing any compensation to the Panama Railroad, 
 which may be estimated at 200,000,000 francs, and the time of con- 
 struction was fixed at twelve years. 
 
 Other projects were also estimated and reported upon ; but as they 
 were regarded as possessing but little merit, I have thought proper 
 not to mention them here. 
 
 A general and animated discussion followed this Report, the friends 
 of the Panama Canal claiming that the estimated cost of the Nicara- 
 gua line had been fixed too small as compared to that of Panama. 
 
 Mr. Fourcy recommended, and the President decided, that those 
 who had presented projects should not be allowed to take part in the 
 discussion. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 91 
 
 It was frequently stated by Mr. Fourcy and his friends that the 
 question of cost should have no weight in the decision of the Con- 
 gress which had been called to decide as to technical possibilities. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Dauzats, supported by Mr. Fourcy, it was 
 agreed by acclamation that the time of construction of the Nicaragua 
 line should be raised from six years (as recommended by the sub- 
 committees) to eight years. The estimates were also in the same 
 informal manner raised, that of Nicaragua to 900,000,000 francs, and 
 that of Panama.to 1,200,000,000 francs. 
 
 A new plan for a canal by Panama was on that day submitted by 
 Lieutenant Wyse, through Mr. Lepinay. It proposes the construc- 
 tion of an immense dam across the valley of the Chagres River, which 
 would by this means be converted into a large artificial lake, the re- 
 cipient of the waters of the Ghagres and its tributaries to a point on 
 the river called Boliro Soldado, where the dam is intended to be 
 located. This lake was to be taken as the summit-level of the canal, 
 and twelve locks are proposed to overcome its elevation above the sea. 
 
 This plan is an imitation of Mr. Blanchet's project for a canal by 
 Nicaragua, and is based on the same kind of information as to natural 
 conditions ; namely, absence of surveys for the location of the dam or 
 of the locks proposed ; the extent of country to be inundated is en- 
 tirely unknown, and consequently no calculations have been made to 
 ascertain whether or not the waters of the Chagres and its tributaries 
 coming into the lake would be sufficient in the dry season to supply 
 the lockage and evaporation and leakage in the basin and canal. 
 From my knowledge of those rivers, I would feel safe in stating that 
 during two or three months in the year the supply would be found 
 altogether insufficient, while in the rainy season much apprehension 
 may be felt for the proper disposition of the surplus. 
 
 The sub-committees were instructed to submit estimates for that 
 new scheme and to report the next day. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th instant Commander Selfridge called 
 the attention of the Committee to the fact that about twenty years ago 
 a commission of engineers had been appointed by the Government of 
 the United States to examine and report on the then alarming con- 
 dition of the harbor of Greytown, and that said commission had re- 
 ported to the eifect that the restoration of the harbor to its previous 
 condition was a problem involved in much doubt ; that it could not 
 be accomplished without a very large expenditure of money, and that 
 even then its permanence could not be assured. He also stated that 
 Nicaragua was subject to frequent and severe earthquakes, and the 
 
92 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 territory between the lake and the Pacific was the centre of the vol- 
 <ianic region of Central America. He wanted to call the attention of 
 the Committee to the injury that might result from such causes to a 
 oanal with locks in that country, and concluded by stating that 
 Panama and the vicinity of Napipi were free from such dangers. 
 
 To this I thought proper to reply, that the commission of engineers 
 he had referred to had based their conclusions and recommendations 
 on the supposition that the sand-bank obstructing the entrance to the 
 harbor of Greytown was the bar of the River San Juan ; this I had 
 already an occasion to show to the Committee was not a fact. As to 
 the earthquakes and volcanic condition of Nicaragua, I remarked 
 that earthquakes in Nicaragua were certainly of frequent occurrence, 
 but that I was not aware that they had ever done any damage to life 
 or property; that, on the other hand, it was a known fact that the 
 old city of Panama had been totally destroyed by a shock of earth- 
 quake, and not more than two years ago a whole town had been 
 leveled to the ground in the province of Santander, in Colombia, in 
 which more than 15,000 lives were lost. In regard to the damage 
 that might be done by such convulsions to a canal with locks as that 
 proposed via Nicaragua, I thought they would be of less importance 
 than what should be expected in a canal with tunnel or cuttings over 
 three hundred feet in depth, as were proposed for the Atrato, Napipi, 
 and Panama routes. 
 
 A general discussion as to the advantages and the disadvantages of 
 the different projects continued all day, Messrs. Fourcy, Dauzats, 
 and others in favor of Panama, and Messrs. Cotard, Lavalley, and 
 Ruelle against it. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th the sub-committee reported estimates 
 for the new scheme of inundation proposed by Panama, amounting to 
 700,000,000 francs. 
 
 I then requested to be informed by the Committee whether or not 
 the design of such a canal had been based on any actual survey or 
 examination of the ground to determine its practicability, and that, if 
 no surveys had been made for that purpose (as I had reason to be- 
 lieve), on what data had the sub-committee based the estimates ; and 
 what importance could I attach to its figures. I thought proper to 
 add in that connection that we had been directed to present before this 
 Congress all the information relating to the inter-oceanic canal ques- 
 tion in possession of the Government of the United States, obtained 
 after many years of well-conducted surveys and a large expenditure 
 of money; that we expected to find here information of the same 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 9 
 
 character ; and that, from a proper comparison and discussion of all 
 the reliable data thus obtained, competent engineers would be able to 
 decide intelligently as to the best route for a canal. Instead of that, 
 the only reliable and well-digested plans presented had been those 
 from the United States, and I was sorry to see that they were weighed 
 on the same scale with imaginary projects traced on imperfect maps of 
 the isthmus, some of them the result of one night's inspiration. 
 
 Some confusion was produced by these remarks, and Mr. Fourcy re- 
 plied that a canal with locks by Panama was no new idea, as Mr 
 Garalla had proposed one by that system as early as 1843. In fact, 
 no reply was made to my inquiries. 
 
 The discussion lasted until late in the evening, Mr. Fourcy speak- 
 ing for several hours in favor of a canal without locks, no matter at 
 what cost. 
 
 It was at last agreed, amid great confusion and excitement, by a 
 vote of 16 yeas, 11 abstentions, 3 nays, and 7 absentees, that "The 
 Committee, standing on a technical point of view, is of the opinion 
 that the canal, such as would satisfy the requirements of commerce,, 
 is possible across the Isthmus of Panama, and recommend especially 
 a canal at the level of the sea." 
 
 A similar resolution was on the following day adopted by a general 
 meeting of the Congress. 
 
 The vote was yeas, 72; nays, 8; absentees, 37; and abstentions, 
 16. Of the affirmative vote only 19 were engineers, and of this last 
 number eight are at present, or have been, connected with the Suez 
 Canal ; five are not practical engineers, and only one has been in Cen- 
 tral America. He is a young graduate, of little or no professional 
 experience, a native of Panama, and has assisted Lieutenant Wyse in 
 his explorations. Of the five delegates of the French Society of En- 
 gineers, two voted no, and three absented themselves from the two 
 last sessions of the Committee and the Congress. 
 
 I abstained from voting for the reason that the resolution is in- 
 definite as to what system of canal should be finally adopted. I be- 
 lieve that a canal at the level of the sea, as proposed, is impracticable, 
 at least in a commercial sense, but a canal with locks by Panama has 
 been shown to be feasible by the United States Surveying Expe- 
 dition of 1875, although more expensive than that via Nicaragua. 
 
 By these proceedings the remarkable condition is presented of en- 
 gineers designing and estimating on the cost of such important work 
 as the one under consideration without a proper knowledge of the 
 ground on which the works are to be constructed, which was gener- 
 
94 THE AMERICAN INTER-OCEANIC 
 
 ally regarded, as well as that of cost, to be a matter for after con- 
 sideration. 
 
 One point, however, has been gained by the discussion, viz: That 
 the surveys made by the United States Government are now well 
 known in Europe, and the relative merit of the different routes well 
 appreciated by many engineers of experience and great reputation, as 
 is shown by the Report of the first sub-committee, a copy of which I 
 respectfully submit herewith. 
 
 It is expected that the impracticable scheme proposed by Panama 
 will soon be abandoned for want of supporters. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 A. G. MENOCAL, 
 
 Civil Engineer, United States Navy. 
 Hon. WM. M. EVARTS, 
 
 Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. 
 
SHIP CANAL QUESTION. 95 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE GENERAL SESSION OF THE 
 CONGRESS IN PARIS, MAY 23, AND IN THE FOURTH 
 COMMISSION, MAY 26, 1879. 
 
 A MEMBER. I see that the Congress is drawing to its "close. It 
 will soon be called upon to decide between the different projects which 
 have been submitted to it. 
 
 Shall the canal pass through Lake Nicaragua, or by way of 
 Panama ? 
 
 I beg leave to recommend the Atrato project to the attention of 
 the President ; leaving out the matter of expense and its technical 
 question, I believe that it would have advantages for the interests of 
 the country. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. I would ask that you will be kind enough to 
 present your observations to the Commission charged with the 
 examination of the question. 
 
 The representative of the Fifth Commission has now the floor. 
 
 THE SECRETARY OF THE FIFTH COMMISSION. The Fifth 
 Commission had announced its Report for to-day's session; it 
 met yesterday, and, after discussion, became convinced that it 
 would be impossible to hand in its Report before being fully 
 advised of the decision which the Statistical Commission will adopt. 
 This Commission has informed us that they will complete their decis- 
 ions at the sitting of to-morrow (Saturday). We have been obliged, 
 therefore, to adjourn until the communication of the decisions which 
 will be made at that session. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. We will have a general session, then, next Tues- 
 day, at nine o'clock, to hear the different Reports before the closing 
 session, which will certainly take place on Thursday evening at nine. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, permit me, as the President, to make a resume of 
 what has been done at- the session of the Congress. You have heard 
 the different Reports which have been laid before you. What strikes 
 us the most is the enthusiasm of the United States of America in 
 favor of locating a canal at Panama ; they have been at considerable 
 expense in sending out explorers to that isthmus. It is unques- 
 tionable that America has hereby given us proof of her impartiality, 
 
96 APPENDIX. 
 
 and of her devotion (to the interests of a canal). Let no one, here- 
 after, conie to tell us that she does not wish a canal because she has 
 a railroad. Rear-Admiral Ainmen and Commander Selfridge, in 
 their study of the projects, have expressed to us the desire to come to 
 an understanding in order to secure something practicable. 
 
 Commander Selfridge has presented to us his plan for the Napipi- 
 Atrato route, a plan without locks, except the two by which to 
 descend from the level of the Atrato to the level of the Pacific. 
 M. Wyse and his companions have reported on the mission which 
 they undertook. Of the seven who went out, four died in those 
 wilds where one cannot advance a step except with hatchet in hand. 
 They have at length returned, and have had the frankness to declare 
 to us that in the countries which they have just explored a canal is 
 impossible. When I saw them, it was in company with Monsieur 
 Lavalley, our illustrious Suez engineer, who has already designed 
 for us so many machines, and who, in like circumstances, will well 
 know how to invent new ones. I have consulted M. Lavalley, and 
 he has replied that the decision would be for a canal a niveau that 
 this would be the general opinion. I shall permit myself to sustain 
 this opinion. Although I am not an engineer, my experience has 
 often served me in this matter. It is very necessary to decide 
 quickly ; if we should occasion delay, we will be the cause of great 
 injury to commerce. 
 
 The most distinguished engineers of France have written some 
 articles on this subject, which you have been able to read in the 
 Revue des Deux Mondes. Some of them are in favor of a canal with 
 fifteen locks ; that is to say, twice as many as any one has already 
 constructed in a work of this kind, and this for the simple reason that 
 they think it impossible to construct a tunnel. Moreover, I learned 
 a fortnight ago, that as the result of the soundings very recently 
 made we cannot count upon an outlet from the canal into the Pacific ; 
 but, at this day, when dredgers have come into use, we have learned 
 by the regime of waters that what could not be done some years ago 
 is now perfectly practicable. It would have happened so to us at 
 Suez (i.e., we could not have had an outlet there) if we had left our 
 harbors without cleaning them out. God only knows at what we 
 should have arrived in a century or two more ; we have learned now 
 to secure the equilibrium of the waters. 
 
 I do not wish to interpose the least difficulty in the labors of the 
 Technical Commission. The savants have the means of foreseeing 
 very many things, but there are some facts which are incontrovertible. 
 
APPENDIX. 97 
 
 I will ask the Commission not [to formulate any resolutions which 
 could arrest certain plans. ^ I would wish them to say only yes or no, 
 whether it appears to them possible to construct a canal d niveau, 
 which seems to be the desideratum of the whole world.* M. Lavalley 
 has studied that question of a tunnel ; he believes it clearly practi- 
 cable. It is, he says, only a question of expense. I will not enter 
 into the scientific question. I will only ask the Technical Commis- 
 sion to tell us precisely what would be the expense of a canal 
 a niveau ; what estimates can be made of that expense, and especially 
 what the cost will be in the future (after construction) for canals 
 d niveau, or for those with locks. Governments can encourage such 
 enterprises ; they cannot execute them. It is the public, then, on 
 whom we must call, and when you come before them they will ask of 
 you (if it is a canal with locks), What will be the expense in tha 
 future? 
 
 I will express my opinion. I consider that a canal with locks 
 would retard navigation. From the experience we have had at Suez, 
 a ship must not now be delayed. There are a thousand Philistines 
 there who can load a ship of four hundred tons in an hour. It is to 
 be remembered, also, that it costs a ship of a thousand tons two 
 thousand francs for every day's delay. I have often been consulted 
 on this subject ; I have always replied, by dispatch, that ships must 
 not be delayed in their passage ; they are informed that it will be 
 well for them to wait the rise of the tide when they cannot be sure of 
 their being able to steer satisfactorily. The larger number of them, 
 in spite of the delay, prefer to wait several hours for the tide. This 
 is certainly an obstacle, and we thought of remedying it at Suez by 
 means of tide-locks ; but we have been obliged to abandon that idea. 
 I go every year to Suez. I have often met there with large ships 
 which were passing with the ebb tide because they were in haste ; I 
 have witnessed the slowness of their sailing. We must not forget 
 that the large vessels which come from England must make their 
 voyage in twenty-one days. I have often seen these English vessels 
 of twenty-five hundred tons sheltering an entire regiment. These 
 brave people are on the deck with their wives and children, for you 
 know they never travel without them. We look on them from a 
 distance ; they look like anything but soldiers. 
 
 In my opinion we ought not to make a canal at Panama witb 
 locks, but d niveau ; that is the opinion of the public, whose orgam 
 I am. 
 
 7 
 
98 APPENDIX. 
 
 DON MANUEL PERALTA. I have listened with the most profound 
 respect to the opinion which Monsieur de Lesseps has just expressed. 
 It appears to me he has forgotten to say that the Government of the 
 United States appointed a Scientific Commission of three members, 
 and that these gentlemen successively examined the different projects 
 from the route by the Atrato to the passage through the great Lake 
 Nicaragua, as well as the canal d niveau, with a tunnel alongside the 
 railroad from Colon to Panama ; but after a long and very conscien- 
 tious study, and repeated explorations, they decided that the plan of 
 Commander Lull was preferable from a humanitarian point of view, 
 since it would save a great many lives, a circumstance which had not 
 been foreseen when the Panama Railroad was built ; and, besides 
 that, by this route sailing-vessels could always pass with favorable 
 wind, which cannot be hoped for on other routes, especially at 
 Panama. The American Scientific Commission decided on the Nica- 
 ragua route, since it was demonstrated that the Panama route was 
 impossible. Is there no ground for taking its decision into con- 
 sideration ? 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. The Government declared that there was no 
 impossibility for a canal with locks, and that it could not assert that a 
 canal a niveau was impossible. The Government, in its fairness, was 
 absorbed in one idea only. It acted on the principle that nothing 
 was impossible. 
 
 M. DES GRAND. Since a Commission has been named composed 
 of members of the bureaus of the different sections, would it not be 
 well that this Commission meet to formulate a programme of ques- 
 tions to be resolved, a programme which can be distributed in time 
 for us to reflect upon them before the last sitting of the Congress. In 
 this way, instead of being limited to the one question, Which is best of 
 all the canals ? or which is the same as asking Which is the best of 
 all the Governments ? we can enlighten the public more by increas- 
 ing the number of questions. I wish to say, that what is understood 
 to be the best of all the canals is not, perhaps, that which costs the 
 least. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. The different sections can send in their memo- 
 randa to the Technical Commission, which will examine all their 
 plans. 
 
 M. DES GRAND. If we have before us this question only Which 
 is the best of the canals ? I fear we shall not reach its solution. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. We shall reach it in time. 
 
APPENDIX. 99 
 
 M. DES GRAND. I address the Central Commission, composed of 
 the Presidents and Secretaries of all the Committees, and I ask it to 
 formulate a programme to which the Technical Commission will have 
 to reply. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. We cannot impose a programme on that Com- 
 mision. 
 
 M. RUELLE. I will limit myself to those questions which I address 
 to the Commission of Navigation to facilitate the labor of the Tech- 
 nical Commission. We have been told up to the present time that 
 these would be tide-locks. I wish the Commission of Navigation to 
 pronounce clearly on this point, since on the construction or the non- 
 constructioii of tide-locks may depend a difference of height in the 
 tunnel. Then a second question as to the form, whether ovoid or 
 elliptical, which of these is most economical for constructing a tunnel? 
 and in which does the arch offer the most resistance ? I wish to know 
 if the width necessary for the passage of sailing-ships can accord with 
 the elliptical form, and if we must be limited to a width of 22 metres 
 for the tunnel. 
 
 My third question to the Commission of Navigation is this : What 
 comparison can be made between the difficulties of a ship passing 
 through several locks and the passage of the same ship through a 
 tunnel of a certain length. In a word, will a tunnel ten kilometres 
 long present the same obstacles to navigation as the sailing of a ship 
 through nine or ten locks. 
 
 M. YOISIN NAY. From the questions which M. Ruelle addresses 
 to the Commission of Navigation, I wish to set aside the first one ; 
 that is, whether guard-locks ought to be constructed on the Pacific 
 side. I add that this question can be answered only among ourselves. 
 
 M. SIMONIN. As the Congress must close its sessions next Thurs- 
 day, and as our honorable President has just told us that we must 
 examine the cost of a canal d niveau, whatever it may cost, I ask 
 permission to present some observations precisely on what our Presi- 
 dent has just said. We, who have met in this body, are not only 
 engineers, geographers, theoretical scientists; it has seemed to me 
 that we are also manufacturers, seamen, and business men, and in the 
 preceding general session our honorable President said that in this 
 matter it was not necessary to have the assistance of Government, and 
 that we must address ourselves to the public only. 
 
 Now it has been announced that the transit of the future canal will 
 reach the figures of six millions of tons, which I consider a very 
 large maximum j and I have the right to so regard it, if I compare it 
 
100 APPENDIX. 
 
 with the figure of three millions of tons passing through the Suez 
 Canal, which is an important point of the world's commerce. What- 
 ever may be the importance of the Panama Canal, I doubt whether 
 it will ever exceed that which the Suez Canal has attained. I doubt 
 it for more than one reason, because the Suez Canal leads to China, 
 which represents more than seven hundred millions of people, while 
 in America you can only count on markets representing scarcely one 
 hundred million. Including countries as far as the Straits of Ma- 
 gellan, you will not have the millions of China. I believe, then, that 
 the figure of six millions of tons w T hich you have fixed upon as an 
 average is exaggerated. Since we ought to treat it simply as a busi- 
 ness affair, we should correct this estimate. We are going to make it 
 an affair of the long future, as M. de Lesseps said, but I believe that 
 this would be to proceed on a very bad principle ; we are going to 
 adapt the canal a niveau, cost what it may, even though it should be 
 five millions, the estimate which has been made by a person of great 
 authority in the United States. I say that we should examine the 
 question from another point of view ; we should inquire what a canal 
 with locks might be, besides asking specialists how many ships could 
 pass through these locks in 24 hours : whether a sufficient number 
 could pass for the number of tons which has been just spoken of. I 
 am not the advocate of any company or any canal; I have no reason 
 to adopt one system rather than another, but I do not wish that we 
 should go out from this body with a negative vote. If we decide for 
 a canal which would be impracticable, it would be unfortunate. We 
 ought to treat the question as business men. It is necessary that this 
 canal shall give large dividends to its stockholders ; without that we 
 shall have played a singular part. I desire that our honorable 
 President will tell me if I have misunderstood him when he asked 
 the Technical Commission to decide for a canal at any cost provided 
 it was a niveau. 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. I have said that the Commission would pronounce 
 for one canal or another. We must decide. We ought not to go out 
 from this body without making a decision. 
 
 M. SPEINENT. I would remark to the assembly that we were already 
 acquainted with the opinion of M. de Lesseps. He said, in the 
 Geographical Congress of 1875, that he had always advocated the use 
 of canals a niveau everywhere where their construction had been 
 shown to him possible. I believe he thinks a canal a niveau would 
 be preferable via Panama; if that should be impossible there, we 
 must go to Nicaragua. 
 
APPENDIX. 101 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. Why not a fresh-water canal. 
 
 M. FONTANE. I ask leave to make a single observation in reply to 
 M. Simonin. He said that he accepted the figure of 6,000,000 tons 
 having to pass through the inter-oceanic canal as a maximum. I 
 wish simply to appeal to the patience of M. Simonin, and ask him to 
 await the Report which the President of the Statistical Commission, 
 M. Levapeur, will present in a few days to the assembly. He will 
 find in this Report all the elements necessary to form a definite 
 opinion. He added that he accepted the figures of 6,000,000 of tons 
 as a very large maximum, because there were but 3,000,000 of tons 
 which passed through the Suez Canal. I desire to recall to the 
 Congress that, at its first meeting, in a Report which I had the honor 
 to present, I stated precisely the reason why the Suez Canal has 
 now a traffic of 3,000,000 tons. It is simply because steam naviga- 
 tion almost alone can properly utilize the Suez Canal, and the ship- 
 builders cannot make enough steam vessels to carry on the traffic 
 which exists. I showed by official figures that the traffic between the 
 Western and Eastern world through the Suez Canal would reach 
 10,000,000 tons ; consequently the figure of 6,000,000 tons that M. 
 Simonin considers as a maximum for an inter-oceanic canal, comparing 
 it with the 3,000,000 tons of the Suez Canal, becomes almost a mini- 
 mum, compared with 10,000,000 which could pass through the Suez 
 Canal. 
 
 A second opinion of M. Simonin bore upon the sum that the 
 Panama Canal might cost, a sum which is reckoned at some milliards ! 
 We would like upon this point again to appeal to the patience of our 
 honorable colleague, and ask him to await the developments of the 
 Report of the Technical Commission, charged with estimating the 
 cost of the canal. I have wished simply to appeal to the patience of 
 M. Simonin. It is perhaps asking too much. 
 
 M. SIMONIN. I do not see why, on two occasions, M. Fontane, my 
 honorable colleague and friend, has made an appeal to my patience. 
 It seems to me that I speak with much calmness, and that I have 
 always given proof of much patience and tranquillity ; consequently, 
 M. Fontane has wished to be witty, but I do not admit his objection. 
 As to the figures that I have made use of, I would be glad that he 
 shall he good enough to demonstrate to me that they are exaggerated. 
 We are doing a work in the interest of humanity. I will experience 
 great satisfaction when 10,000,000 tons will have to pass through the 
 canal we desire to open. 
 
102 APPENDIX. 
 
 The figures that I have cited have been made by conscientious 
 persons ; show me that we are wrong I ask nothing better ; but it 
 was useless to occupy the attention of so numerous and busy an 
 assemblage in making personal question. 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. There is nothing personal in that question (in 
 what has been said) ; it has only been the occasion for us to learn the 
 opinions of those in listening to whom we have always great pleasure. 
 M. Simonin has said that we have ten francs since the Suez Canal 
 has been opened to navigation, and that considering the number of 
 vessels which pass through the canal we had a return of ten per cent. 
 In truth, we have already received large returns, and we have been 
 obliged to reduce our tariffs. 
 
 Through whatever route the Panama Canal will pass, it will 
 shorten the distance more readily than the route of the Suez does. 
 During the forty years that I have studied the question I have always 
 understood that for a profit it is necessary to receive at the least ten 
 francs per ton ; we can readily make the American Canal pay double 
 of this, whatever may be the project that is brought about. These 
 are considerations that one is very glad to know for the future. 
 Commander Selfridge makes known to the assembly, through the 
 interpreter, that the people of the United States have no preference 
 for any project. Every one in America is convinced of the special 
 competence of the Congress, and whatever may be the result, the 
 nation will accept with eagerness all the decisions which will be taken 
 here. (Applause.) 
 
 M. LAROUESSE I would ask permission of the Congress to put 
 another question, in addition to those of M. Ruelle ; it is to compare 
 the difference of distances which the proposed canal would give, con- 
 sidering the principal regions which they would be called upon to 
 benefit. It is certain that the Congress, in order to make a decision, 
 shall have also to estimate the time judged necessary to pass through 
 the different canals, etc., all of which I think require some explanation. 
 
 M. EIFFEL. I desire that the Commission on Navigation will be 
 good enough to give us some explanation upon the inconvenience of 
 locks, if the number of them were reduced. In other words, would 
 canals with locks present much less inconvenience with less than half 
 the number of locks than by the [canal plan] as now presented? 
 
 M. DE LESSEPS. If no other person wishes to speak, I will remind 
 the assembly that our first general meeting will take place Tuesday 
 next at 9 A. M., to hear the reports of the First and Fifth Commis- 
 sions, and that the closing session is fixed for Thursday. 
 
 The adjournment took place at 6.45 P. M. 
 

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