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NICARAGUA CANAL
DISCUSSION
BEFORE
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
2.
FOR THE
A DV A N CE ME NT OF SCIENCE
THIRTY-SIXTH MEETING
HELD IN
NEW YORK
AUGUST, 1887
NEW YORK
PRESS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1887
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Transportation
Library
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734
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Press of
G. P. PUTNAM’s SONS
New York
|
CONTENTS,
THE GENERAL QUESTION OF ISTHMIAN TRANSIT
BY COMMANDER. H. C. TAYLOR, U. S. NAVY.
THE ENGINEERING FEATURES OF THE NICARAGUA
CANAL © * e * ſº º
By CIVIL-ENGINEER R. E. PEARY, U. S. N., M. AM S. C. E.
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ENGINEERING FEATURES
By Civil-ENGINEER A. G. MENOCAL, U. S. N.
ExTRACT FROM REPORT ON SHIP CANAL, 1872
CLIMATIC AND SANITARY NOTES ON THE NICARAGUA
CANAL ROUTE lº & te *
By J. F. BRANSFORD, M.D., U. S. N. ( ?
PAGE
I 5
56
61
68
NOTES: ON THE HISTORY OF NICARAGUA—ON THE
ADVANTAGES OF THE LAKE TO AN ISTHMIAN
CANAL–SHOWING WHY THE PROJECT SHOULD
BE BEGUN AT ONCE . © ë e © ... "
By J. W. MILLER, GENERAL MANAGER P. & S. S. S. Co.
94
THE GENERAL QUESTION OF ISTHMIAN
TRANSIT.
BY
COMMANDER H. C. TAYLOR, U. S. NAVY.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
It appears that, after all, Columbus was not mistaken
in sailing westward from Spain in search of a convenient
route to the East Indies.
The intervening continent which checked his progress
and disappointed his successors in American exploration,
made his avowed attempts to reach the Indies a complete
failure, though the memory of this failure was lost and
obscured in presence of the glory of a greater success, the
undreamed glory of a New World.
It is a pleasing thought, that four centuries later, per-
haps in the very year 1892, we shall see the wisdom of
that valiant spirit justified, and European fleets sailing
westward from Spain through an isthmian ship-canal, as
the most convenient route to the far East. The mind
dwells with satisfaction upon this justification of the
great navigator, and sees, with a singular pleasure, ships
coming out of Cadiz, dropping almost immediately into
the soft current of the northeast trade-winds, and blown
by them smoothly across the Atlantic and Caribbean,
between the islands of the West Indies, and quite into
the entrance of a Central American ship-canal; issuing
thence into the same belt of gentle favoring winds, and
I
2 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
carried by them across the broad Pacific to those rich
coasts and islands of the far East which were ever such
powerful magnets to the earlier navigators. Nor is this
pleasing thought any longer an unreasonable one. That
ships shall cross the isthmus from sea to sea has been
decided. The clamor of commerce and its shipping can
no longer be disregarded. Transit across the narrow
lands of Central America is certainly to be provided, and
the only questions are when, where, and how.
It is to consider these questions that some of us are
now before you, prepared, from long study and experi-
ence of the subject, to say definitely where and how, and
almost as definitely when. -
It has fallen to my lot to speak of some aspects of the
subject not dwelt upon by my colleagues.
My task is therefore alight one, for but few points will
have been left undiscussed in the exhaustive addresses
of those who will follow me before this meeting.
As you have already been told, there have been three
principal localities and methods before the world by
which the oceans may be joined : A sea-level canal at
Panama; a lock-canal at Nicaragua; and a ship-railway
at Tehuantepec. There have been others. Beginning at
the south, we find the Atrato River, recommended by
the great Humboldt, rising in the mountains of Western
Colombia, and pursuing a northerly course to its mouth
in the southwestern corner of the Caribbean. Although
its waters empty into the Eastern Sea, its course is
parallel to the Pacific coast, and only about fifty miles
from that ocean. The main stem of the Andes, whose
eastern slopes it drains, separates it throughout its course
from the Pacific.
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 3
This range is throughout this portion not of great ele-
vation, and numerous tributaries afford, in their valleys,
easy grades from the Atrato to or toward the crest of the
divide.
Humboldt was told of vessels passing from the head-
waters of the Atrato to those of a small stream flowing
southwest into the Pacific, by means of a short canal.
Later examinations show that the vessels were canoes,
the canal, if not mythical, was a ditch, and that a long
and high portage intervened, over which the canoes were
dragged. Lower down the Atrato several lines of levels
were run across the divide with much care and labor, fol-
lowing the lines of some of the principal tributary streams
entering from the westward. In these it was found neces.
sary that the summit levels should include tunnels many
miles in extent, high enough to accommodate ships with
at least the lower masts left standing, and involving
enormous expense. Attempts were also made to connect
the Gulf of San Miguel with Caledonia Bay on the Car.
ibbean side, and at a point farther west to connect the
Gulf of San Blas on the Caribbean with the Bayano
River, emptying into the head of Panama Bay. Here
again long tunnels or other formidable obstacles were
soon revealed as the lines of levels were carried across.
Next came the line of the Panama railroad, and here
high hopes were entertained, for a railroad was already
there, and the Chagres, a large stream, debouching near
Aspinwall, has its source well over toward the Panama
or Pacific side of the isthmus. After careful surveys of
this line it was decided that a lock-canal was possible,
though difficult, costing over a hundred millions, and
meeting with some trouble in supplying water for its
4 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
summit level. A canal at the level of the sea was
deemed impracticable, it being considered that the vio-
lence of the freshets in the Chagres placed it beyond suc-
cessful engineering control. Omitting Nicaragua, which
you will hear fully discussed, and referring briefly to
the lines in Costa Rica and Honduras, the former con-
necting Chiriqui Lagoon with the Gulf of Dulce, and the
latter crossing from the Bay of Honduras to the Bay of
Fonseca, they may be summed up by stating that excel.
lent locations for railways were found here, with good
harbors at the termini, but that the elevation of the
mountain range in this vicinity made canals impossible.
Passing on still farther to the north and west, we
come to the last of the isthmuses, that of Tehuantepec.
Cortez satisfied himself with regard to its usefulness as a
land transit, and sent by that line much of the equip-
ment arriving from Europe for his Pacific fleets fitting
out for exploration and conquest. Later on, when no
longer used, the world fell again into ignorance concerning
it, and the ancient legends of a strait existing here gained
a fresh credence until as late as the middle of the last
century.
The late Captain Eads proposed, as a canal here was
impossible, to take sea-going ships, loaded with heavy
cargoes, out of the water, lift them upon a cradle, and
carry them by rail across six hundred and fifty feet of
elevation, through swamps and across streams, and finally
to lower them into the water on the other side of the
isthmus. *
The mass of engineering opinion regards the building
of embankments, the management of grades and turnings,
to be, under this heavy load, difficult and perhaps impos.
t
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 5
sible. The mass of nautical opinion considers the lifting
and carrying of heavy ships, loaded with railroad iron or
other heavy weights, to be dangerous in the highest de-
gree to the integrity and safety of the ships' hulls.
There is more than one way of avoiding breaking
bulk easier and simpler than this. Ships for this isth-
mus trade can be fitted with interior decks on which
rails are laid for cars of the lightest and snuggest con-
struction, stowing closely together, and losing but little
stowage room by their interstitial spaces. Cargo may be
stowed in them, and these cars, of a size to fit a narrow-
gauge road across the isthmus, can be hauled out through
the bow or stern ports, in a dock arranged to float the
ship higher or lower, as needed, in order to bring its
decks in succession at the level of the shore tracks.
Those cars would be run across a cheaply constructed
narrow-gauge railway, and run into the hold of a ship on
the other side of the isthmus, fitted in the same way to
receive them. s
Some little stowage space would, of course, be lost, but
this loss would be slight compared with the enormous
tolls each vessel would have to pay to allow dividends
on the expensive railway needed to carry bodily a large
vessel and her cargo.
This is not a specially good project; but it is one of
many plans which are more feasible, economical, and
sensible than the project of a ship-railway. º
We find that only three localities have been considered
as worthy of being seriously considered: Panama, Nicara.
gua, and Tehauntepec. Did nature offer opportunities for
constructing canals at each of these localities, they would
all be more or less favorable for the use of commerce, com-
6 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
pared with the long and expensive voyage around the
Cape of Good Hope or the Horn. Tehuantepec, could it
be used, would best serve the coastwise traffic which
would be established between the Gulf of Mexico and
our Pacific States. For all other traffic of this country,
and other maritime nations, the more southern routes
would be preferable, and between the two, Panama and
Nicaragua, Panama would be avoided by a large propor.
tion of the traffic, namely the sailing ships, owing to the
continuous calms which prevail for hundreds of miles to
seaward from that port. This region of calms is tongue-
shaped, the base resting on the coast at Panama and for
a short distance north and south of it, and narrowing to
a tip near the equator several hundred miles to westward
of Panama. This tongue-shaped area does not include
Nicaragua, along whose shores the winds are moderate,
steady, and favorable both for approach and departure.
What the project of a ship-railway will cost no one
knows. The idea is so problematic that no reliable esti-
mate can be formed. Seventy-five million dollars was at
one time mentioned. Careful surveys will no doubt
make the estimate much greater, especially when we con-
sider the costly equipment needed to carry its heavy
burdens. It is to be remembered that the working ex-
pense of railroads is over fifty per cent. of their gross
revenues, and of such an abnormal railroad as this is,
they would probably be much greater. If twelve and a
half millions represented the total revenues, from two to
four millions is as much as could be expected for net
revenues from a ship-railway. .
Of the final cost of De Lesseps' sea-level canal at
Panama, if there could be any thing final about it save
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 7
utter failure, nothing can be known, except that it will
be a fabulous amount.
I will not weary the Sections with this sad financial
history. The debt of the Panama Canal was three hun.
dred millions of dollars with less than one fifth of the
work done, and with all the great difficulties and ex-
penses contained in the remaining four fifths. A late ef.
fort to increase this debt to four hundred million dollars
has only partially succeeded, and the obligations now
amount to about three hundred and fifty millions, the in-
terest on which, plus the fixed charges on administration,
, is nearly twenty millions annually, even supposing no
work to be done on the canal. And with this huge debt
staring them in the face, I can say without exaggeration
that the great difficulties and expenses of excavation are
all still before them, and the knotty, perhaps impossible,
problem of the Chagres River is still unsolved.
These facts do not surprise those who have studied the
question. Great engineers warned Paris and the world
of just such a disaster at the Paris Congress, while they
urged Nicaragua upon their attention as being an entirely
feasible, economical engineering project. We know why
they were not listened to ; we know how the French
clustered loyally about their famous De Lesseps; how
he, totally ignorant of the topographic and climatic diffi-
culties, flushed with success and impatient of contradic-
tion, would hearken to nothing but a French plan exe-
cuted by Frenchmen.
We have now considered the three lines and methods
before mentioned by which the oceans may be connected:
Panama, a sea-level canal; Nicaragua, a canal with locks;
and Tehuantepec, a ship-railway.
8 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
By way of the Panama Isthmus a canal with locks
could have been constructed. It would have been ex-
pensive; vexatious problems would have presented them.
selves in supplying water to its summit level. Neverthe-
less it was a possible, though not attractive, engineering
problem. -
Attempts have been made, however, disastrous at-
tempts, to construct a canal at the level of the sea at this
isthmus. This project, impossible as an economy, im.
practicable as an engineering scheme, has, by its failure,
made it improbable that a canal of any kind can, during
this century, be made successfully at Panama.
The route for a canal with locks through Nicaragua,
using the lakes as a summit level, presents itself most
favorably, both as an engineering and an economical
problem; a scheme which, as far as we can judge, seems
specially favored by nature. -
The line, by way of the isthmus of Tehuantepec, if a
canal were possible there, would commend itself to the
commercial interests of the United States on account of
its northern location, making the transit between our
Gulf and Pacific States a most convenient and speedy one.
So far as is known, this water transit cannot be provided.
The ingenious conception of a famous engineer may per
haps have there a practical trial, and an effort may be
made to carry loaded ships of the largest size on a rail.
way more than a hundred miles long, and which achieves
over six hundred feet of elevation in its passage between
the oceans. - - &
The ship-railway project is born of a keen desire to
utilize this Isthmus of Tehuantepee for commerce. It
does not arise from any manifestation of nature in favor
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 9
of its use for purposes of a transit route. More than this,
the world generally has not asked for a railway, but for
water transit—for a canal. -
Some important facts connected with this canal of
Nicaragua are but slightly regarded by those who have
treated the question. A trade would be created between
the west coast of South America and the east and gulf
coasts of the United States, which by the favorable cir-
cumstances surrounding it would exclude all rivals. The
fact that Chili and Peru are much nearer New York than
San Francisco is rarely realized to its full extent by those
unused to map studies. The Nicaragua Canal will be
but little west of the longitude of New York (and will
be considerably east of New Orleans); and when
opened will make Chili, Peru, and Ecuador the com-
mercial neighbors of New Orleans. A full reali-
zation of the advantages of this position was shown by
Prince (afterward Emperor) Louis Napoleon when in
1846 he wrote as follows: -
“The geographical position of Constantinople is such
as rendered her the queen of the ancient world. Oc-
cupying as she does the central point between Eu-
rope, Asia, and Africa, she would become the entre-
pót of the commerce of all these countries, and ob-,
tain over them an immense preponderance; for in poli-
tics, as in strategy, a central position always commands
the circumference. There exists in the New World a
state as admirably situated as Constantinople. We al-
lude to the state of Nicaragua. As Constantinople is the
centre of the ancient world, so is the town of Leon the
centre of the new, and if the tongue of land which sep-
arates its two lakes from the Pacific Ocean were cut
10 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
through, she would command by virtue of her central
position the entire coast of North and South America.
“The State of Nicaragua can become, better than Con-
stantinople, the necessary route of the great commerce of
the world, and is destined to attain an eaſtraordinary de.
gree of prosperity and grandeur.”
Here at Brito, instead of Leon, will rapidly be created
one of the great world centres of industry, an entrepôt of
vast international commerce, a focus of interchange for
the products of the globe.
The political question is not a complicated one. The
canal must be neutral. All nations must be welcome to
it. Difficulties may arise in war between powerful mari.
time nations, but these difficulties will be readily met by
the Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, who are a people of
high intelligence and resolute courage, entirely capable
of preserving the neutrality of their waters, and possessed
of many friends among the nations, capable of rendering
them efficient assistance.
These difficulties of feeble neutrals, in preserving a
correct neutrality in times of war, are well known. We
have seen Belgium and Switzerland beset with these dif.
ficulties in late years, but strong effort and good intent
have availed to produce success. The canal needs no
more protection to its neutrality than does an ordinary
neutral port. It will be, in fact, a large port with two
entrances, one on the Atlantic, and one on the Pacific
side. A belligerent vessel must not leave the same en-
trance of the canal within twenty-four hours of the
departure of a hostile ship. Warlike supplies must not
be sought there. Belligerent fleets or vessels must not
make the canal a rendezvous or rallying-place. They
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 11
and their prizes must call there only in case of distress.
These or similar rules must be enforced. The canal
under present plans, whose success is now assured, is
about to be constructed as a commercial enterprise, by
private citizens of America and Europe, with the consent
and by the wish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and with
the avowed good-will of the United States Government.
The utterances of President Cleveland to the Nicara.
guan Minister last month, the letters of Secretary Bayard,
the report to the Senate, of its Foreign Affairs Committee
last winter, show even more than good-will—an earnest
approval; but this approval is of a private commercial
undertaking, in which the government, though interested,
is not involved. The canal profits are for these private
citizens; the preservation of its neutrality is for Nicaragua
and Costa Rica to preserve. This may be a troublesome
task at times, but Nicaragua and Costa Rica, strong in
their right, will succeed. -
Holland would also have trouble should Germany, in
some future war, decline to respect its neutrality. Egypt
may, in the same way, have cause to fear the fleets of
England. But Nicaragua has no more to dread than has
any other small, brave nation, whose fortune it is to have
within its territory one of the principal gateways of the
world. So far as conventions and agreements can pro-
tect (and a reasonable doubt has been thrown upon them
by the late operations in Egypt), this canal is protected
by the famous instrument of forty years ago, known as
the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, between England and the
United States; but the canal's immunity from damage in
war will be due more to the modern good-sense of the
great powers, than to any convention or agreement, how-
ever binding may be its terms. -
12 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
What might have been the situation, had the United
States Government undertaken to build this canal, it is
perhaps useless to enquire. It is well known to this
Association that a treaty between the governments of
Nicaragua and the United States was concluded in the
latter part of 1884. This treaty, known as the Freling.
huysen-Zavala Treaty, was submitted to the Senate by
President Arthur in that year, and remained in that body
until after the inauguration of President Cleveland, who,
having withdrawn the treaty from the Senate for re-
examination, concluded not to return it, believing that
the project should go forward as a private enterprise
rather than as a government one. By this treaty the
United States was to build the Nicaragua Canal; and it
would follow of course that to the United States would
come special benefits, and upon it would fall special
duties in relation to the canal. This treaty failed, nor is
it likely to be revived; and it is only mentioned as being
suggestive of the possibilities involved in such a treaty,
and of the position it would force our country to assume.
But are we certain that the United States Government
will avoid that position by declining to construct the
canal? Can a great nation shake off at will the natural
and inherent responsibilities of its greatness 2 Is it pos.
sible for us to regard the Channel of Yucatan, the Gulf
of Fonseca, the Canal of Nicaragua with the same polite
indifference, in the same far-away frame of mind with
which we listen to news of the Dardanelles, the Red Sea,
and the Canal of Suez 2 And if we can be thus indiffer.
ent now, how long will we remain so? How long can
we remain so, when the outpouring of our products, rap-
idly increasing, shall set toward Central and South
The General Question of Isthmian Transit. 13
America and the Nicaragua Canal, and when the Carib.
bean and its channels shall be white with the sails of our
commerce? Let us not speak, ladies and gentlemen, of
“manifest destiny.” That expression has been for centu-
ries the cry of national selfishness, the excuse for cruel
wars. That cry has for too long indicated in history the
fact that might was stronger than right.
Not thus do we look upon our destiny. The respon-
sibility which is to come to us is that of defending not
oppressing the brave and gentle nations to the south of
us. Never shall the autonomy of their governments, the
freedom of their citizens be threatened by the United
States. But surely some burthens will grow upon us
with our greatness. Surely we must defend those Cen.
tral American republics from the aggressions of stronger
nations, if unhappily the need shall arise.
With this in view, it may be thought by some that by
our government's undertaking this great work, certain
advantages political, military, naval, might have been
secured in advance, and that our position, when called
upon to use our strength in a just cause, might have been
made in a strategic way impregnable. This opinion
grows stronger as we realize, after careful study of the
situation, the remarkable strategic qualities of Lake
Nicaragua.
It is the lake that gives to this route a political and
international importance unique and significant. The
nation that controls this canal under terms of amity with
Nicaragua will here find rest and refreshment for its
fleets. Here may the delays of warlike complications, so
injurious in sea-water to the iron-hulled frigates of our
time, so fatal to their speed, be safely endured without
14 The General Question of Isthmian Transit.
loss of efficiency; the crews growing healthier, the ships
more clean-limbed and speedier, in this great fresh-water
sea. Hence may issue squadrons in the height of vigor
and discipline, striking rapid and effective blows in both
oceans, and returning to refit in this sheltered stronghold,
and to draw from it nourishment and fresh strength for.
a renewal of hostilities. There cannot be imagined a
more potent factor in deciding threatened difficulties, or
in securing an honorable peace with a powerful enemy,
than the presence in this healthy and capacious water.
fortress of a strong fleet, prepared, at a telegraphic sign
from the home government, to issue fully equipped from
either entrance for instant service in the Atlantic or
Pacific.
All this advantage of position must be foregone by our
government when it declines to build the canal itself.
What advantages there are to counterbalance, what rea-
sons the government had for declining the task, it is not
for me to enquire. Doubtless the wisest course was fol.
lowed, and the reasons, unknown to us, were good Ones.
For the enterprise itself, it is without question benefited
by the absence of government influence, and by having
planted its foot firmly as a great commercial undertaking,
needing no government subsidies, guaranties, nor any
form of outside assistance, and possessing within itself the
elements of a wonderful success.
THE ENGINEERING FEATURES OF THE
NICARAGUA CANAL.”
-º-º-º-º-
The Nicaragua Canal is known by name probably to
ninety-nine out of every hundred persons in this country,
but the revised route, the enlarged capacity, and the new
features presented as the result of the last survey made
two years ago by the United States Government Expedi.
tion in charge of Civil-Engineer Menocal, United States
Navy, are not so well known, and of them I will speak.
And here let me impress upon your minds the fact that
the location to be presented for your consideration is an
actual one; by that I mean that there has been no guess.
work about it, but that every foot of the line has been
measured with chain and stadia, that a transit or a gradi.
enter in the hands of trained officers has turned every
angle, and a level rod has been placed and carefully read
at every stake from one end of the line to the other, and
that these stakes are one hundred feet or less apart.
The distance from ocean to ocean by the proposed
route is 169.8 miles. Of this distance, however, only
40.3 miles are actual canal, the other 129.5 miles being
* The report of the U. S. Nicaragua Surveying Expedition, of 1885, in charge of
Civil-Engineer A. G. Menocal, U. S. N., has been freely made use of in the prep-
aration of this paper, and is frequently quoted from. r
The fact that I was principal assistant on that expedition and in the prepara-
tion of the report, plans, etc., will, I trust, account for the liberal way in which 1
have availed myself of Mr. Menocal's generous permission to make such use of his
report as I saw fit. R. E. P.
I5
16 The Engineering Features of the
free navigation through Lake Nicaragua, the Rio San
Juan, and the valley of the Rio San Francisco.
Beginning on the Pacific side we will plunge immediate.
ly “in medias res.” Entering the port of Brito situated
about 12 miles N. W. of San Juan del Sur, the Pacific
terminus of the famous gold-fever transit route, we find
a broad channel 342' wide at high water, reaching inland
about 14 miles to the tidal lock. This lock lifts the
canal 24.2 above high tide of the Pacific. -
From this lock, which is really the beginning of the
canal, the portion between the lock and Brito being in
reality an extension of the harbor, the canal ascends the
broad gently sloping lower valley of the Rio Grande,
which is to be diverted into the lake by an artificial
channel, rising by means of three or more locks of from
26' to 29' lift, till at a point 83 miles from Brito, it
reaches the western end of the summit level 110' above
mean tide. Thence through the upper valley of the Rio
Grande and across a moderately rolling country to the
summit or “divide,” between the Pacific and the lake,
41.4 above the level of the water in the canal; then
through the valley of the Guscoyol, a tributary of the
Lajas, and along the bed of the diverted Lajas to the
lake, a total distance of 84 miles from the last lock and
17.27 miles from Brito.
Between the lake and Brito one small stream is taken
into the canal by a receiving weir, the river Tola and
several small streams coming from the north are to be
passed under the canal, and along its lower portion will
be ditches to intercept the surface drainage, which is in.
considerable, and convey it to the sea.
The material to be excavated in this division is sand,
Nicaragua Canal. 17
gravel, clay, and in the divide cut, rock, which will be
utilized in the construction of the breakwater at Brito,
pitching the canal slopes, and in concrete for the locks,
culverts, weirs, and the dam across the Rio Grande. The
location of the canal in this division is the same as that
proposed by Civil-Engineer Menocal on his return from
Nicaragua in 1880. The prism, however, has been in-
creased, the number of locks reduced and their location
changed. The enlargement of the terminal section is also
a new feature. -
Passing out of the canal we stretch away across the
glistening expanse of Lake Nicaragua, the inland sea, 40
miles wide and over 90 miles long, which forms the sum.
mit level of the canal, and with the Chontales Mountains
showing faint and blue on the left, soon reached Fort
San Carlos at the outlet of the lake into the Rio San
Juan. Throughout this distance of 56 miles, no less
than 28 of water can be carried now to within 2,400' of
the mouth of the Lajas on the west shore of the lake,
and within 8 miles of Fort San Carlos on the southeast-
ern shore. In the former distance some dredging and
rock excavation under water will be necessary, and in the
latter, dredging in soft mud to an average depth of 34.
From Fort San Carlos we proceed 64 miles down the
broad deep reaches of the majestic San Juan, in no place
less than 1,000' wide, and with the exception of the 28
miles from the lake to Toro Rapids, with a depth varying
from 28' to 130', to the dam thrown across the river at
Ochoa just below the mouth of the Rio San Carlos.
Throughout this stretch of river the only work to be
done is dredging in mud and gravel, and some rock ex-
cavation under water to an average depth of four feet
18 The Engineering Features of the
along a distance of 24 miles, below Fort San Carlos, and
light excavation above water on some points in the lower
river to flatten the bends.
The dam just mentioned is located between two steep,
rocky hills, at a point where the river is 1,133' wide be-
tween banks, with an average depth of 6.6'. Its length
on the crest will be 1,255', its height 52', the depth of
foundations 20' below present water level, and it is to
be constructed entirely of concrete, with timber-lined
crest, front, and apron, and rip-rap protected back, forming
a monolith wedged between rock abutments. This dam
will back the water of the river the entire distance to
Ft. Carlos and into the lake, maintaining the water of the
latter at the proposed level of 110', and convert the upper
San Juan into an extension of the lake, with a fall of
#" per mile. On the north side of the San Juan, im.
mediately above the dam, a small creek enters the river
through a break in the hills, and just in the rear of the
range of hills, the end of which forms the north abut-
ment of the dam, a second narrow valley extends easterly.
The former valley, flooded by the back water from the
dam, affords an excellent basin at the entrance of the
canal, free from the slightest influence of the river current,
and the latter forms a natural ready-made canal, 3,300'
long, needing only slight excavation on the points of two
or three spurs for rectifying the channel. From the head
of this valley a canal 1.82 miles long extends across a
broken country of moderate elevation, intersecting one
deep, narrow ravine debouching towards the San Juan,
across which a short embankment will be necessary, and
enters the valley of the river San Francisco. This river
San Francisco flows east, northeast, and east, approximately
Nicaragua Canal. 19
parallel to the San Juan, and separated from it by a range
of hills to a point about 9 miles (in straight line) from
the dam, then receiving a considerable tributary (the Caño
de los Chanchos) from the northeast, turns abruptly to
the southeast and south, and enters the San Juan. Its
valley thus forms an irregular flattened Y, with its foot
or stem resting on the San Juan, one arm extending west.
erly to within a short distance of the dam, and the other
easterly in the direction of Greytown.
Across the stem of this Y, just below the junction of
the two arms, will be built an embankment 6,500' long on
the crest, and having a maximum height of 51'. This
embankment will retain the water of the San Francisco
and its tributaries, flooding the whole upper valley (the
arms of the Y) to a depth of from 30 to 50 feet, and
forming a large lake at the same level as the river above
the dam—in other words, a continuation of the summit
level. -
Proceeding at full speed again from the end of the short
canal already described, we pass down the westerly arm
of this broad, deep, crescent-shaped basin, past the em.
bankment, then up the easterly arm to the western foot
of the divide between the San Francisco and the San
Juanillo, 12.55 miles from the dam, and within 19.48 miles
of Greytown. Here we slow down, and enter the eastern
division of the canal, beginning at the Saltos de Elvira.
The rock sides of the canal here are high and steep, and
after our long stretch of free lake and river navigation
the canal seems narrow, but in reality there is ample room,
and we proceed nearly due east, through the broad, flat
upper valley of the Arroyo de las Cascadas, cutting a
spur here and there to the “divide” less than one mile
20 The Engineering Features of the
from the Saltos and 280’ above the sea. Then, curving
gradually to the southeast, across the little plain at the
summit, we cut a steep, narrow spur, enter the valley of
the Deseado, a stream flowing into the San Juanillo,
follow its bed a short distance, then cross to the left bank
and reach the site of the upper lock of the eastern flight,
14,200' from the Saltos. The average cut for this distance
is 149'. g -
At this lock, excavated in the rock foundations of a
spur of the northern hills, the summit level, reaching back
through the San Francisco basin, up the San Juan, and
across the lake to the first lock on the west side, a distance
of 144.8 miles, ends, and the canal, lowered 53' by the
lock, passes by easy curves down the widening valley of
the Deseado to the next lock, less than a mile beyond.
Here another drop of 27 occurs, and then the canal
follows the still widening and gradually descending valley
in a northeasterly direction less than 3 miles to the third
and last lock at the mouth of the valley. This lock lowers
‘the canal to the sea level, and from here it takes a direct
course across the flat, low basin of the San Juanillo and
the Lagoon region, to the harbor of San Juan del Norte,
or Greytown, about 11 miles distant.
The surface drainage to be provided for in this division
is not extensive, and is especially small on the western
slope of the “divide,” where three short artificial chan-
nels will divert it all into the San Francisco Lake at
some distance from the canal. Across the “divide,” and
as far as the first intersection of the canal and the Desea-
do, the natural drainage is away from the canal. From
this point to the San Juanillo the canal will be protected
on both sides by drains formed partly by the present bed
Nicaragua Canal. 21
of the.Deseado and partly by artificial channels. The re.
mainder of the canal through the low land from the San
Juanillo to Greytown will be protected by embankments
formed by the material deposited by the dredges,” an ar.
tificial channel being cut on the south to divert the San
Juanillo, and another on the north to give Laguna Ber.
nard and its tributaries an independent outlet to the sea.
From the last lock to Greytown the canal is enlarged, as
at Brito on the west side, forming an extension of the
harbor 114 miles inland. The material to be excavated
in this division is sand, gravel, and alluvial soil (all
dredgeable material) for a distance of twelve to fifteen
miles from Greytown, then clay, gravel, and rock in the
deeper cuts, and finally in the divide cut, rock, which will
be utilized as on the west side, in the construction of the
embankment, the breakwater at Greytown, pitching the
canal slopes, and in concrete for the dam and locks.
Now let us analyze this route and see if there is any
reason to believe that it can be improved, or that our knowl-
edge of the region traversed by the proposed canalis not yet
sufficient to enable us to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.
Lake Nicaragua always has formed, and always must
form, a part of every proposed ship canal route through
Nicaragua. It is a helping hand of nature to encourage
man to unite the two oceans, and did it not exist. Nicara-
gua would never be mentioned in connection with a ship.
canal. There is no question as to it, and there is nothing
to be done to it except cross it.
* It is not to be understood from this that the canal itself is held by embank-
ments. The canal is at the sea level, and consequently everywhere below the
natural ground surface. The embankments formed by depositing the excavated
material on each side of the canal will simply keep out the surface water of the
neighboring swamps during the rainy season. - .
22 The Engineering Features of the
The river San Juan is also a necessary feature of every
route, but it has been handled somewhat differently by
different engineers. Childs contemplated using the river
as far as the junction of the Serapiqui. In the report of
the government expedition of 1872–3 the river was util.
ized as far as just below the San Carlos, by four dams,
with short canals around them, and Blanchet in 1879
proposed a dam below the Serapiqui which should back
the water of the river clear to the lake. This, however,
was found by the government expedition of 1885 to be
impracticable, and a dam was located just below the
mouth of the San Carlos, of sufficient height to back the
water to the lake and make that portion of the river be.
tween the dam and the lake one uninterrupted stretch of
slack-water navigation. This may be regarded as the
limit of practicable utilization of the San Juan. If there
is any difference of opinion here, it is simply one of
detail. - -
Next let us look at the location from the lake to the
Pacific.
Here, as you see, a narrow strip of land from ten to
twenty miles in width separates the two bodies of water,
and it will be little if any exaggeration to say that be.
tween the years 1836–1885 every foot of this country,
from the mouth of the Rio Sapoa at the southwest corner
of Lake Nicaragua to the northern end of Lake Managua
on the lakes, and from the Bay of Salinas to Corinto on
the Pacific, has been surveyed by Bailey, Childs, Lull and
Menocal, Blanchet, and Menocal ; the last in four dif.
ferent expeditions having himself examined every route
noted by his predecessors as well as surveyed several ad-
ditional ones, and it is due to Col. Childs to say that the
Nicaragua Canal. 23
location presented as the result of all these surveys and
resulting eliminations, is essentially the same as that so
thoroughly surveyed and strongly advocated by him in
1851, with such modifications as are demanded by the
larger needs of to-day and the more thorough protection
of the canal from surface drainage.
In connection with the location from the dam to Grey.
town I will first quote from Civil Engineer Menocal's
report of the surveys of 1885:
“This route suggested itself to me while surveying the basin of the San Juanillo
in 1876, and again in 1880, in a reconnaissance undertaken for the purpose of obtain-
ing further information on the same subject. Limited time and insufficient means
prevented me from carrying an instrumental examination across the ‘divide ’ and
into the valley of the San Francisco, and I was, to my great disappointment, com-
pelled to abandon the exploration, while there yet remained about eight miles to
connect with my preliminary survey of the valley of the San Francisco in 1873.
However, I went far enough to satisfy me that there was no serious obstacle in the
way to prevent the location of such a line.” -
Within a distance of twenty-five miles in this section
occur nearly all the features which make the present
location a new one, and which, by their boldness and
perfect practicability, offer the best solution of the
problem, the best utilization of the natural features of
the surface in behalf of an effective and economical canal,
straightening the line, increasing the free navigation, and
shortening the length by eleven miles over previous
routes. - *
The twenty-five miles mentioned above is the only
portion of the route which has not been carefully surveyed,
and in some cases resurveyed before ; the last expedition
spent three working months with two parties on that
twenty-five miles, and the location as a whole is the re-
sult of Civil-Engineer Menocal's complete and exhaustive
personal knowledge of the entire country from Ocean to
24 The Engineering Features of the
ocean, gained in the course of eight different surveys ex-
tending over a period of fifteen years, and supplemented
by a conscientious study of all that has been done by
others in that region. *
To sum up, the lake and the river must be a part of
any and every route, while the locations from the lake
westward to the Pacific and from the river eastward to
the Caribbean Sea are the results not of a hasty recon-
naissance made by a stranger to the country, but of eight
different surveys by a distinguished engineer whose name
is known all over the world, and whose rank and position
as an officer of the United States Navy will answer for
his integrity.”
EXCAVATION.
Of the 40.3 miles of actual canal about 27 miles will
be excavation pure and simple, while the remaining
* It has been suggested by one of the stanchest and ablest advocates of the
Nicaragua route, and one who has been more instrumental in bringing about the
various surveys than any one else, Admiral Ammen, U. S. N., that the final loca-
tion will show the possibility both in the eastern and the western divisions of de-
creasing the number of locks, and by means of dams flooding the valleys of the
Deseado and Rio Grande, thus largely reducing the amount of actual canal cutting,
and giving more unrestricted navigation.
In the eastern division I have not the slightest doubt that several miles of the
valley of the Deseado could be thus transformed into a lagoon, from the eastern
end of which a single lock would lower the canal to the sea level ; and I should
not be at all surprised if a similar improvement could be accomplished on the
western division.
The fact is, a dam or embankment, when not pierced by pipes or tunnels, can be
madé to stand as permanently as the hills about it, and in the case of an embank-
ment especially, a few years' growth of tropical vegetation would mat and bind it
so firmly together and make it so completely part and parcel of the hills support-
ing it, that one would endure as long as the other.
And, just so far as it is practicable, I believe this method of dams and lagoons is
the most effective solution of the problem ; it greatly reduces the first cost ; it dis-
poses at once of the question of surface drainage ; it reduces the running charge of
maintenance to a minimum ; and it will enable the canal in the future to be double
tracked, with much greater ſacility and much less cost.
Micaragua Canal. 25
13 miles will be largely, if not entirely, excavated by
dredges. In the western division the excavation of the
portion of the canal between the last lock and the
Pacific by dredges will solve the problem of drainage
of work for that division, as the remaining excavation
being above sea level the question of drainage will be
perfectly simple. *
With convenient dumping-ground for earth excavated,
with a large portion of the rock from the summit cut
utilized close at hand in the construction of the locks,
the dam across the Rio Grande, and in pitching the
slopes of the canal, and a still larger quantity to be con-
sumed in the construction of the breakwaters at Brito,
the work in this section admits of the most economical
execution. -
The short section of canal between the river and the
basin of the San Francisco is hardly worthy mention,
dumping-ground for the material is close at hand, and
the bottom of the cut being above the level of the val-
leys which it connects the drainage of the work will pre-
sent no difficulties.
In the eastern division, as in the western, the portion
of the canal between Greytown harbor and the first lock,
a distance of eleven and a half miles, will be dredged,
thus solving the question of drainage. -
The “divide " cut from the basin of the San Francisco
to the upper lock, 14,200' in length, and with an average
depth of 149', is, it is admitted, a very serious job; but
with the neighboring streams offering water at a high
head for removing the surface earth by hydraulic mining,
with a large plant of power drills worked by compressed
air from the same source, and the use of modern explo-
26 The Engineering Features of the
sives to loosen the rock, with a large proportion of the
excavated rock to be used in the construction of the
locks and the dam, and in pitching the slopes of the
canal; a still larger quantity utilized in the construction
of the harbor at Greytown; and convenient dumping.
grounds for the remainder; with the laborers above the
miasma and mosquitoes of the swamps and exposed to the
pure breath of the “trades,” the work can be accom.
plished without serious difficulty.
DREDGING.
The portion of the canal from the port of Brito to the
first lock, and also between Greytown and the first lock
on the east side, can be excavated by dredging; there
will also be some dredging in the lake. The amount of
work at Brito and in the lake is comparatively small, and
in the Greytown section the San Juanillo affords oppor.
tunity for the dredges to attack the work in so many
points that it can be rapidly prosecuted.
SUBMARINE Rock ExcAvATION.
About 400,000 cubic yards of this in the upper San
Juan, and a small quantity on the west shore of the lake,
is all that will be necessary; and the former being exca.
vated before the river is raised, and the latter being in
the still water of the lake, close in shore, will not be
particularly difficult.
It is proposed to put on the dredging the largest and
most powerful types of American dredges, by which
about all that has been done at Panama has been accom.
plished; on the rock work, just as many of the best types
of power drills as there is working space for; and on the
Nicaragua Canal. 27
earth excavation the American system of hydraulic
mining, aided by the powerful steam shovels which we
Americans know so well how to make.
THE DAM AND THE EMBANKMENT.
There are two features of this project which to many
who have not made such structures a study, cause a
question of safety to arise; one is the dam, which at one
stroke gives us 64 miles of river navigation; and the
other is the embankment, which at a second stroke gives
us over 8 miles of lake navigation, and completely solves
for that portion of the canal from the dam to the “di.
vide " (13 miles) the important problem of protection
from surface drainage. -
The dam is to be of concrete, faced with timber, and .
will be 1,255' long on the crest, and 52' high. The em.
bankment will be 6,500' long and 51' high in the centre,
but neither of them are any thing more than “small
potatoes” when compared with many others scattered
about the world, and serving much less important pur-
poses than the ones under consideration. Of masonry
dams, Verviers, a small city of Belgium, near the frontier
of Prussia, with a population of about 38,000, has one—
Gilleppe, 154' high and 771' long. The water supply of
the town of St. Chaumonde, in France, has a dam about
140 high, and the water supply of St. Etienne is held by
the Furens dam, 170' high. º - -
The Villar dam, 162' high, holds the water supply of
Madrid, and other dams in Spain, some of them dating
back to Moorish days—Puentes, Alicante,” Val de Infi.
*This same Alicante dam, built 1579–1594, is some 1 34' high, and on Sept. 8,
1792, after a severe storm, the water poured over its crest to a depth of 84'.
28 The Engineering Features of the
erno, Nijar, Elche, and Almanza, range from 164 to 68
in height. In England, the Vyrnwy dam, at the Liver.
pool water-works, is 136' high and 1,255' long.
Nearer at home, the San Francisco water-works dam,
170 high and 700' long, and the Quaker Bridge dam,
278' high and 1,300' long, will, when built, be still more
stupendous examples. * * e * O
Of earthen dams or embankments, there are equally
numerous and stupendous examples.
The Montaubry dam, on the Canal du Centre, is 54
feet high ; the water supply of Dublin is impounded by
a dam 66' high; the reservoir dam of the Bolton water.
works, England, is over 120' high; the Oued Muerad
dam in Algeria is 95' high; while in India and Ceylon
the examples are very numerous; the embankment of the
Ashti reservoir is 58' high and 12,709' long; the Karak.
vasla dam is over 70' high ; the Tansareservoir dam (water
supply of Bombay) is to be 8,500' long and 118' high;
the embankment of the Cummum tank in the Madras
Presidency is 102' high, and although it ranks among the
earliest works of Hindoo history, it is still in such condi.
tion as to fulfil its original intention; and in Ceylon are
old tanks with embankments from 3 to 12 miles long and
50' to 70' high. - .
Now, when we have it upon the authority of such a
distinguished engineer as Mr. McAlpine (in which opin-
ion the most eminent English hydraulic engineers concur),
“that earthen dams rarely fail from fault in the artificial
earthwork, and seldom from any defect in the natural
soil; in nine tenths of the cases of failure the dam is
breached along the line of the water outlet passages,”
and we remember that the dams under consideration have
Nicaragua Canal. 29
no penetrating pipes or passages of any kind, but are
homogeneous and unbroken from end to end; when a
dozen European cities have masonry dams from 100' to
170' high to hold their water supply; when in Algeria,
in Ceylon where the entire rainfall of the year occurs in
six to eight weeks, often amounting to 12 inches in 24
hours, and has been known to reach nearly 19" in that
period, in India where the annual rainfall of 50" to 130"
is precipitated in a few weeks, there are numerous ex-
amples of dams from 54 to 118' in height, and from a
few thousand of feet to several miles in length, shall we
pronounce dams of the dimensions of these under con-
sideration unsafe or impracticable % Why, gentlemen,
right here at the Croton Reservoir you have a dam which
is to-day standing twice the strain that either of these
under consideration would ever be called upon to resist.
In further answer to fears that may be felt in regard
to the stability of these dams, I will quote from the pen
of Mr. Menocal: - .
“The same fears may with equally good grounds be entertained as to the stabil-
ity of retaining walls, bridges, tunnels, or any other engineering works; they have
yielded and will continue to yield, when defectively constructed, or subjected to
strains greater than they can resist, but accidents to such constructions have not as
yet been considered a sufficient reason for abandoning those means of overcoming
engineering difficufties, nor does there seem to be any good reason to doubt their
stability when properly constructed.”
THE LOCKS.
The following description of the locks I take from the
report of Civil-Engineer Menocal: -
“The locks proposed have a uniform length of 650' between the gates, and at
least width of 65' between the gate abutments. Locks Nos. I, 2, 4, 5, and 6
have lifts of 26, 27', 26.4', 29.7", and 29.7' respectively. No. 3 has a lift of 53',
and No. 7, being a combination of tide and lift lock, its lift will vary between 24.2'
and 33.18', depending on the state of the tide. It is believed that Nos. I and 7 will rest
sº
30 The Engineering Features of the
on firm, heavy soil, but timber and concrete foundations have been provided for in
the estimates. Nos. 2 and 4 are estimated to rest on solid rock, and as for Nos. 5
and 6, the borings taken in 1873 show that stiff clay, compact sand and gravel will
be met with. No. 3 is proposed to be cut out of the solid rock in the eastern slope
of the “divide,” by which the maximum strength will be secured with the least
expense, concrete will be used only to the extent required to fill cavities, to give
the proper dimensions to the various parts, and to give a surface to the blasted
rock. The other locks it is proposed to build of concrete, and all of them, No. 3
included, will have a heavy timber lining in the chambers and bays, extending from
the top of the walls to 15' below the low-water level.
“Cribs on firm bottom, or fender piles, when piles can be driven, have been
provided at the approaches to the locks for the protection and better guidance of
ships into the locks. Provision has also been made for making ships fast to the lock
walls, so that the lines will, by means of floats, rise or fall with the ship, thus pre-
serving the same tension on the lines while the vessel is kept in the axis of the
lock. Each lock will be filled or emptied by conduits extending from the upper
to the lower reach of the canal, and branch culverts connecting the main conduit
with the lock chamber. The only operation required for either filling or emptying
the lock will be, irrespective of the movements of the lock gate, the opening and
closing of the upper and lower main culvert-gates. The time required to fill or
empty lock No. 3, of 53' lift, will be fifteen minutes, and for the other locks, an
average of eleven minutes. The question of the best style of gates for these locks
has been a subject of much consideration. It is desirable to combine strength,
economy in construction, rapid and simple movements, facilities for repairs or for
renewing the gates, and the least danger of accident by vessels entering or leaving
the locks. The necessary machinery for moving the lock and culvert-gates, for
hauling ships in and out of the locks, for electric lights, and other purposes will be
worked by hydraulic power furnished by the locks themselves.”
The chamber width of the locks will be 80'; thus, it
will be seen that these magnificent structures will contain
any merchant vessel afloat, except the Great Eastern and
possibly the City of Rome, and will contain two such
vessels as the Colon and Acapulco.
In the light of the inevitable expansion of traffic and
increasing demands upon every transportation route,
strongly emphasized by the recent statement that the St.
Mary's Falls canal lock, the largest in the world, (515'
by 80' by 16), and completely rebuilt only in 1881 to
meet the demands of traffic, has already nearly reached its
capacity again; and by the recent enlargement of the
AVicaragua Canal. 31
Welland Canal, which will also be but a temporary alle.
viation of the trouble, I assume that no one will take ex-
ception to the size of the locks under consideration, nor
will any engineer conversant with such structures see any
thing impracticable or even especially difficult in their
construction, with possibly the exception of lock No. 3.
Scores of dry docks have been built of nearly equal di-
mensions without encountering difficulties that could not
be overcome by brains and vigilance.
The gates are the only features that will invite criti.
cism or discussion.
This is a point which is not settled, but I anticipate
few opponents when I say that though the St. Mary's
Canal lock above mentioned has the ordinary double-leaf.
gates, and Mr. Ashbel Welch, in a paper read before the
American Society of Civil Engineers in August, 1880,
presented a plan for a lock of 30' depth and 30' lift, with
same kind of gate; swinging gates of any form whatever
will be entirely inadmissible for at least the tail gates of
these locks and probably also for the head gates. It be.
ing admitted, then, that some form of caisson gate is im.
perative, it remains only to decide upon the precise style,
and this will be done only after thorough study and in-
vestigation by a board of engineers. The forms presented
are sliding caissons for all head gates, and the tail gates
of the locks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7; for the tail gate of lock
No. 3 a rolling caisson gate is presented for consideration.
This lock of 53' lift is such a long leap forward, or rather
upward, as compared with any others in existence or pro-
posed, that it is anticipated it will elicit some discussion.
Starting, however, with what canal engineers will admit
as an axiom, that the lift of a lock is limited only by the
32 The Engineering Features of the
quality of the foundations and the ability to construct
gates of sufficient strength and facility of manipulation,
and having already stated that this lock will be not
merely founded upon, but built in, the solid rock, we may
turn to the gate question.
The gate proposed, a model of which is before you,
may be described as a rectangular, upper portion resting
on a curved lower portion, the inner or rear part of this
curve being a quadrant of a circle of such radius that the
length of the arc of the quadrant is equal to the width of
the lock, so that the travel of the gate in rolling through
ninety degrees will carry it entirely within the gate re.
cess. The lower part of the gate, to a point one or two
feet above the lower water level, and the inner or rear
side of the gate will be built as a water-tight compart.
ment, to contain a shifting water ballast; the remainder
of the gate being open trusses, plated on the down-stream
side, the centre of gravity being kept by this means near
the centre of the arc on which the gate rolls, and the bal-
ance more perfectly maintained.
Flanges upon the curved bottom of the gate prevent
any lateral movement, and any possibility of slip forward
or backward during manoeuvring is precluded by four
chains, each equal in length to the arc of the rolling
quadrant, arranged in pairs, one pair being attached at
one end to the gate at the upper extremity of the quad-
rant (the gate being closed and erect), and at the other
end to the bottom of the lock, directly under the lower
extremity of the rolling quadrant. The other pair are
attached at one end to the bottom of the gate at the
lower extremity of the rolling quadrant, and at the other
end to the bottom of the gate recess, directly under the
Nicaragua Canal. - 33
upper extremity of the rolling quadrant when the gate is
open or in a horizontal position. Thus, when the gate is
closed and erect, the chains in pair No. 1 are wound on
the periphery of the rolling quadrant, while those of pair
No. 2 are lying straight and taut upon the bottom of the
gate recess, or vice versa, when the gate is open or hori-
Zontal the chains of pair No. 2 are wound on the periph-
ery of the rolling quadrant, and those of pair No. 1 are
lying straight and taut upon the bottom of the gate
I’éCéSS. -
At all intermediate points and movements one pair un-
winds at the same rate that the other pair is wound up,
thus rendering it impossible for the slightest slip to occur,
while at the same time the utmost freedom of rotation is
permitted. -
At the top of the front face or end of the gate, one end
of a connecting rod or truss is attached by a simple pin
joint, permitting free movement of the connecting rod in
a vertical plane with the pin as a centre, the other end
being attached to a car by pin joints, permitting the same
movement in a vertical plane.
The car is a rigid rectangular frame spanning the gate
recess. Motion is given to this car by a compressed-air
or hydraulic motor situated on the car.
Before passing to a description of the manipulation of
the gate, it may be said that the displacement of the
lower water-tight compartment, when the gate is bearing
on the rails, will be largely in excess of the weight of the
gate, necessitating the admission of water ballast, and it is
obvious that the amount admitted may be so regulated
that the gate shall exert a pressure of 5 or 50 tons on the
rails, or shall just touch them without exerting any
34 The Engineering Features of the
pressure; in other words the gate may be adjusted to
any weight. - -
The means of preventing any lateral movement of the
bottom of the gate have already been noted. To prevent
lateral motion or the deflection of the upper part from the
action of the wind, it is held in place in two ways:
At its inner or rear upper corner, by rollers on the op-
posite faces of the gate recess, and at its upper front or
outer corner by a connecting rod, from the outer end of
which wire-rope guys extend to the forward angle of the
car, forming, with the connecting rod, a rigid triangular
truss, preventing any motion in the horizontal plane and
keeping the gate supported precisely in its vertical plane
of revolution.
Supposing now, the gate to be closed or erect, the car
spanning the gate recess close to the edge of the lock and
nearly over the rear face of the gate, the gate bearing
slightly on the rails, yet practically floating; chains of
pair No. 1 wound upon the gate, and those of pair No. 2
lying flat along the floor of the gate recess. The car is
started; the outer upper corner of the gate rises and
moves back in response to the pull of the connecting rod;
the chains in pair No. 1 unwind from the bottom, while
those of pair No. 2 wind upon the gate; the water bal-
last shifts with the gate, neither assisting nor retarding
its motion, but simply keeping it on the rails, and so pre-
vented from rising by the water ballast, kept from lateral
motion at the bottom by the flanges, and at the top by
the rollers and the connecting rod; kept from forward or
backward slip, at the bottom by the chains and at the
top by the car; weightless, waterborne, yet under per-
fect control and held as in a vice in every direction, the
Nicaragua Canal. - 35 .
gate rapidly and smoothly retreats into the recess with
the expenditure of only that amount of power necessary
to give it velocity.
The principle being admitted, the shape and size of
gate recess, car, etc., etc., are simply matters of detail.
Some of the advantages of this gate are perfect con-
trol, combined with rapidity and simplicity of operation;
minimum amount and advantageous application of actu-
ating force; concentration of all operating mechanism on
top of lock where it is perfectly accessible; and unusual
facility of access to all but a small portion of the gate it-
self for painting or repairs, without interfering with the
use of the lock.
This gate has been favorably regarded by eminent en-
gineers. However, whether it is or is not adopted does
not more than temporarily affect the lock, for I have that
confidence in the ability of American engineers to believe
that given a lock wanting only a gate, the want will
not be left long unfilled. If it is suitable, then the
saving of time and cost will be very large, and a final
location will doubtless show its availability in another
place to simplify and cheapen the canal. -
In regard to the general subject of locks, I beg to pre-
sent for your consideration the opinions of some eminent
engineers. *. * *
The late Col. John G. Stevens, for many years presi.
dent and chief engineer of the New Jersey Railroad and
Canal Company, and justly regarded as the most eminent
canal engineer in this country, said in an article published
in the American Engineer of January 30, 1885:
“It must be conceded that all methods of water transportation involve a certain
amount of risk and consequent delays. The ocean, the river, the canal have each
36 The Engineering Features of the
their own special sources of danger, the navigation of the latter being perhaps
safer than by sea or river. In the case of canals judiciously located, well built
and managed, such risk is caused not by the failure of locks or dams, but by those
of the earthen embankments and cuttings. The failure of locks especially may be
called phenomenal ; the condition to which they will be exposed can generally be
definitely ascertained and plans designed that will fully meet all the requirements.
With earthworks no such certain results can be secured. The character of the
material itself—which under the varying effects of frost and continuous rains be-
comes unreliable—makes it often difficult to keep embankments and cuttings in
their original and proper shape. Again, they are liable to be exposed to floods,
, the character and extent of which could not reasonably have been foreseen. It is
within the experience of any careful observer that unusual floods will occur in cer-
tain districts for which there has been no precedent, not even in tradition. Earth-
works are, consequently, often subjected to unexpected pressures, and at times when
they are most unfitted to resist them.
“Experience, that best of guides, proves that no appreciable risk to canals re-
sults from the failure of locks on any canal constructed fairly well. Overflows
both into and out of canals constantly occur, the earthen embankments give way,
and the navigation is temporarily suspended, while the locks remain uninjured.
“With canal transporters it is an axiom that, while water is their best friend,
it is also their worst enemy. My experience as an engineer engaged on canals for
many years enables me to assert very confidently that no accident need ever hap-
pen to the locks of a properly constructed canal. For ten years I had charge of a
canal that had a heavier tonnage, perhaps, than any other in the country, and dur-
ing that time no approach to an accident to any of the locks occurred. This is
also the experience of the leading canals both of this country and Europe, and any
appreciable risk to navigation from the existence of locks can be dismissed as an
idle fable. - - -
“Nevertheless, such an erroneous belief undoubtedly exists in the public mind.
How it originated it would be difficult to discover. Another instance of a similar
kind can be cited : For many years a fixed opinion prevailed that steamers could
not be used on a canal in consequence of the propeller causing a swell, which was
injurious to the banks. Many ingenious devices have been patented to overcome
this imaginary defect, for, in point of fact, a propeller makes no swell, that which
has been noticed being caused simply by the displacement of water by the vessel
itself. Another instance : Before railroads had been practically brought into
operation the presumed lack of adhesion to the rail was considered a fatal objec- "
tion to the use of a locomotive, and appliances were invented in this case also to
remove a difficulty which, in fact, did not exist. The list of these fallacies that
have been imbedded in the popular mind could be indefinitely extended. This
risk of damage to locks is a superstition of a similar kind. It is an imaginary and
not an engineering objection.
“But I can go further, and state that locks are absolute sources of safety. A
sea-level canal being sunk below the level of the surrounding country thereby be-
comes a drain, and is necessarily subject to all the risks from water that such a
Nicaragua Canal. 37
location entails, however skillfully the plans may be designed and the earthworks
constructed. Unknown and uncertain risks must be assumed and the chances
taken thereon. The precise amount of these will vary, but under the best condi-
tions they may be appreciable, while under those that are unfavorable they will be
such as to seriously impair the value of the work as a reliable channel of trade.
The adoption of a lock system raises a canal above the ordinary drainage, and thus
materially lessens the dangers that arise from that insidious enemy—water ; and if
the canal is well located, they can generally be entirely removed. Moreover, to
maintain deep cuttings in proper shape adds largely to the current expenses.
Locks, therefore, so far from impairing the security of navigation, greatly increase
it, while at the same time they lessen the maintenance expenses.
“In regard to the delays attendant upon locking, an apparent discrepancy of
opinion exists. This is due mainly to the improvements that have been adopted
within the past few years, and that have lessened the time consumed in locking.
Putting aside antiquated methods, and taking into view the most approved prac-
tice, I am of the opinion that the following will be a close approximation of the
time required for a lockage with a thirty-five feet lift, the vessel being assumed to
be of 2,000-tons capacity: Hauling in, eight minutes; closing gates, two minutes;
filling lock, eleven minutes; opening gates, two minutes ; hauling out, five min-
utes; delays, twelve minutes; making a total of forty minutes. .
“General Weitzel, of the United States Engineer Corps, who constructed the
largest canal lock in the world, at St. Mary's Falls, estimated the time necessary
at less than the above. The late Mr. Ashbel Welch, a distinguished engineer of
large canal experience, estimated the time at thirty minutes. My estimate not
being, however, based on a single locking, but on one of a series, and that of
heavy lifts, would, therefore, embrace the following : The small detentions that
unavoidably occur in a day's work, the time lost by the passage of a vessel moving
in the opposite direction, this being dependent upon the number and class of ves-
sels engaged in the trade and the additional time required by the lift. Taking
into view these considerations, I will probably be in substantial accord with both of
the eminent gentlemen named. Although it is possible that my estimate of the
time may exceed theirs slightly, it is certainly fairly full, and perhaps in practice
can be slightly lessened. The objection to locks, therefore, would appear to be
based mainly on sentimental considerations. I am at a loss to find any practical
reasons that will properly justify them.” -
And here are some statements from the same dis.
tinguished Ashbel Welch to whom Colonel Stevens refers,
made in 1880, in a strong paper read before the Ameri-
can Society of Civil Engineers on the manipulation of
large locks by steam :
“Canal engineering and canal management are still running in the grooves es-
tablished in the age of Louis XIV. The few canals now made are not such as
38 The Engineering Features of the
require skill, but main strength and money. The improvements that have been
made are unknown to the great world, because the world in these uncanalling days
has taken no interest in the subject. Little about them has gotten into the books,
for it was useless to put there what nobody would read. Hence an uninformed
public opinion objects to locks for large ships, because such ships have heretofore
been handled at wharves and docks by hand, or without such apparatus as can
easily be applied at a lock built with a view to such application. ‘An artificial
strait, a watercourse without impediment,’ and all such phrases have a magnificent
ring, but to spend millions of dollars for an idea to satisfy an unreasoning or an unin-
formed public opinion, is bad engineering. That is the best engineering, not which
makesthe most splendid, or even the most perfect work, but that which makes a work
that answers the purpose well, at the least cost. The demand of the public for a
canal without locks, reminds one of Charles Lamb's youthful Chinaman, who, for
want of knowing any cheaper way, burned down his house to roast his pig.
“A canal is not a monument, but an enterprise. No engineer is warranted in
building a monument to himself with other people's money. Besides, a splendid
work, more expensive than is necessary to answer the purpose, is a monument that
confers no credit on the builder. To make an enormously expensive work when a
cheaper one, skilfully made, would answer the purpose even better, is at best a
magnificent mistake.
“Because it is a long and ticklish operation to get a ship into a dock or berth
from an open river or bay, it does not follow that it is so at a lock; the circum-
stances are entirely different. In the canal the ship heads right to enter the lock
from the first ; there is no cross or any other current, and there are attachments on
each side to hold and move her by.”
Again :
“As for accidents, there is less danger, with suitable appliances, in a lock, than
on any other 1,000' in the canal, for vessels are under more perfect control.”
And again :
“To fill a lock of 20' lift takes less than 50 per cent. longer than one of Io'
lift. A lock of 20' lift would not cost over 50 per cent. more, the time lost
in passing a lock of 20' lift would be but litttle more than half as much as for two
ten-feet lifts; the time for entering and leaving is what counts, and not the filling.”
And again :
“I have calculated for a lift of 30'; probably that is as high as the ground will
permit any lock to be made. I should not hesitate to go higher than that if the
situation permitted.” - -
And once more:
“Locks have been made of 33' lift. The higher the lift the less the cost of
construction and operation, and the less the detention per foot lift.”
Nicaragua Canal. 39
And in a paper read before the American Society of
Civil Engineers, Civil-Engineer Menocal says:
“The advantages possessed by a canal with locks over one at sea level, are that
the greater portion of the work will be free of the enormous expense for pumping
and keeping the excavation free from water, which is an unavoidable accompani-
ment of any work below the sea level or below the neighboring drainage level; any
portion of the canal can be partially or entirely drained into the lower levels to
allow an examination or facilitate repairs in the channel or locks; a perfect system
of drainage independent of the canal can be obtained for adjacent water-sheds,
and thus prevent floods from doing injury to the canal.”
The objectors to locks remind one very much of the
perennial old lady from the back country who is fright.
ened into fits at her first sight of an express train, and it
seems these objectors are even more antique than the old
lady, for Stevenson says:
“It is a curious fact, illustrative of the strength of prejudice, that when Whit-
worth proposed to form a lock at Leith in 1786, it met with strong opposition on
the ground of its being dangerous to shipping.”
And he adds:
“Such an objection, it is almost needless to add, is never now heard of.”
But, after all, what this one says or what that one
says is not the equal of facts as an argument. To-day
not a vessel discharges at Liverpool or Havre that does
not pass through the dock-gates, which is equally or more
difficult than entering a lock, and I could fill a page with
a list of foreign ports at which every vessel must pass
through two locks before she can reach the quay to dis-
charge, to say nothing of the numerous dry-docks and
locks abroad and at home which are in constant and suc-
cessful operation, and we hear no cries of danger.
You will pardon me, gentlemen, if I am unable to re-
press a feeling of enthusiasm when I think of these grand
structures, these silent, gigantic, impassive machines, lift-
ing and lowering thousands of tons with noiseless ease
40 The Engineering Features of the
and speed and at the same time furnishing the power to
manipulate themselves and to light the canal.
HARBOR WORKS.
At Brito the improvements proposed consist of two
breakwaters to protect the broad basin between the tidal
lock and the port from the swell, and afford a safe and
easy entrance to vessels in all weathers; and the necessary
lighting and buoying.
This basin will contain quite a fleet, and with the lake
as a magnificent fresh-water harbor capable of holding
the fleets of the world, only sixteen miles distant, a large
harbor at Brito is not necessary. -
At Greytown the works proposed consist of a break-
water to arrest the littoral travel of the sand along the
coast, the diversion of what little silt-bearing water yet
comes down the San Juan into the main or Colorado
branch, dredging out the old harbor, piers at the entrance
of the canal, and the necessary lighting and buoying.
It is believed that the breakwater will stop the travelling
sand along the shore and hold and deposit it until the
line of the shore builds out and becomes perpendicular
to the prevailing trend of the sand, and then with only
the fresh water from the canal entering the harbor the
cost of maintaining it will be very slight. In this opin-
ion such men as Sir John Hawkshaw, Stevenson, and
Professor Henry Mitchell, concur. * -
Much has been said about the harbors at the termini
of the Nicaragua route and neither time nor space will
permit me to enter into the discussion here. It may be
said, however, that there is no practical route for a canal
across the American Isthmus that has good harbors, and
Nicaragua Canal. 41
it is believed that those at the termini of the Nicaragua
canal can be made first class at less cost than those of any
other route. There is nothing more difficult in the im.
provement of Brito Harbor than has been successfully
accomplished at numerous French and English break.
water-protected ports and harbors, and the maintenance
of the harbor of Greytown will be a much less serious
job than is the maintenance of the Port Said entrance
of Suez, with the enormous silt discharge of the Nile
driven across its mouth by strong littoral currents.
WATER SUPPLY.
The one great source of study and care in most lock
canals, i. e., the water supply, is here utterly eliminated
for nature has been very lavish with the precious fluid.
Lake Nicaragua has a surface area of some 2,600 square
miles and a drainage area of not less than 8,000 square
miles.
The Rio San Juan, its only outlet, discharges at its
lowest stage, near the close of the dry season 11,390 cubic
feet per second, or 984,096,000 cubic feet per day.
The amount of water required for thirty two double
lockages is 129,479,968 cubic feet, or a little more than
one eighth of the total supply of the lake alone, to which
must be added the flow of the several tributaries of the
San Juan, between the lake and the sea, and the San
Francisco and its tributaries.
MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION.
On the western side of the lake a great variety of ex.
cellent construction timber abounds on the line of the
canal and for many miles to the north and south, its
42 The Engineering Features of the
present market value but slightly exceeding the cost of
cutting. In fact, it may be safely said that in clearing
for the canal more timber will be obtained than will be
needed for the work. The valley of the San Juan River,
from Toro Rapids to the San Juanillo, including the val.
ley of the San Francisco, is also heavily timbered; the
virgin forests having never been disturbed by the hand
of man, except on the immediate river banks, where a
few wood-choppers keep the river boats supplied with
fuel. Much of this timber compares favorably in the
most important characteristics with the best in the mar-
kets of the world, and its durability both when exposed
to the weather and when underground and in water has
been fully demonstrated by its extensive and varied use
in that country for many years. From Greytown to lock
No. 1 (some twelve miles), heavy timber is also found on
the line of the canal, but of an inferior quality to that of
the interior. However, for temporary structures it would
answer as well. .
No large quarries have been opened in Nicaragua, and
with the exception of a limited number of coarse sand-
stone blocks used in the construction of some public
buildings, dimension stones are rarely used. Rubble
masonry is adopted where something neater and more
substantial than adobe is desired, while bricks are seldom
seen except in floors. A superior quality of lime, as evi.
denced by the existence to-day in an almost perfect state
of preservation of indigo vats and dams over a hundred
years old, is obtainable at several places close to the line
of the canal, and when properly manufactured there is
no question but that it will prove equal if not superior
to many cements in the market. Stone for concrete is
Nicaragua Canal. * 43
found on the line of the canal, and its cost will be only
that of transportation from the excavations through the
divides. ~
The best of clean sand and gravel abound on the
shores of the lake, in the bed of the Rio Grande in the
western division, and in the river San Juan from the
mouth of the San Carlos to Greytown; while suitable
clay for the manufacture of bricks is met with at numer.
ous points along the route.
With an abundance of palm leaves for thatching, such
temporary buildings as are required for the accommodation
of the working force and the protection of property. can
be constructed at little more expense than that of handling
the material. The country also affords a well-supplied
market of all necessary provisions, such as beef, poultry,
rice, beans, coffee, sugar, fruits, vegetables, etc.; so that
but little more than the tools and machinery required for
the work need be imported into the country.
Several thousand strong and hardy laborers can be ob-
tained from the Central American States, but the main
portion of the working force and especially skilled me.
chanics will have to be introduced from abroad.
DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITY OF THE CANAL.
I quote from Mr. Menocal's report:
“In order to estimate with a fair degree of precision both the traffic-carrying
capacity of the canal and the time of transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it will
be well to refer to the Suez Canal, compare its dimensions with those proposed for
Nicaragua, ascertain the average speed made by the largest ocean steamers passing
through, and then, profiting by the experience in that water-way, to arrive at what
may be reasonably expected with the conditions established for this project. The
Suez Canal has a uniform depth of 26 feet and a width of 72 feet on the bottom
throughout its entire length, with slopes of 2 to I or more, depending on the nature
of the soil; the breadth at the surface of the water varying from 190 to 330 feet.
44 The Engineering Features of the
“The area of water prism ranges, therefore, between a minimum of 3,406
square feet and a maximum of 5,226 square feet. The minimum radius of curve is
2,000 feet. Its entire length is open to ships of all nationalities, provided their
draught does not exceed 7.51 metres (24' 7").
“The maximum speed of all ships passing through the canal is fixed at Io kilo-
meters (equal to 53 nautical miles or 61% statute miles) per hour. (From regulations
for navigation of Suez Canal.) -
“Vexatious delays, due to grounding in rounding the sharp curves and in going
in and out of the sidings to allow other vessels to pass and stoppages for the night,
make the time of vessels in the canal range from 40 to 70 hours.
“However, the average effective sailing speed, as given in the reports of the
company, is 5 knots an hour. The passage has been made in 15 hours by starting
at break of day and getting through before dark. -
“During the year 1883, 3,307 vessels, with an aggregate net tonnage of 5,778,-
323, passed through the canal, the gross tonnage being 8,051,307. The mean
effective sailing time was 19 hours and 30 minutes, or an average speed of 51% miles
an hour. The mean net tonnage per vessel was 1,747, and the mean gross tonnage,
2,435.”
At Suez the traffic has been seriously delayed by the
dimensions of the canal and the inadequate number of
the turnouts.
In the present project not only have enlarged prisms
been provided for, but large basins are proposed at the
extremities of the locks. These basins, the enlargement
of the canal at each end, with the lake, the river and the
San Francisco basin, will permit vessels to pass each
other without delay at almost every point on the route.
“In 22.37 miles, or 57 per cent. of the canal in excavation, the prism is large
enough for vessels in transit to pass each other, and of a sectional area in excess of
the maximum area in the Suez Canal *; the remaining distance in which large ves-
sels cannot conveniently pass each other is so divided that the longest is only 3.67
miles in length; with two exceptions, those short reaches of narrow canal are situ-
ated between the locks, and can be traversed by any vessel in less time than is
estimated for the passage of a lock; consequently unless a double system of locks
be constructed, nothing will be gained by an enlargement of the prisms. The
exceptions referred to are the rock-cuts through the eastern and western divides,
* The sectional area of the North Sea and Baltic Canal, inaugurated June
3d, 1887, is 3,934D', and will permit the passing of ordinary ships at any
point. - -
Micaragua Canal. - 45
2.58 and 3.67 miles, respectively, in length. The possible detention in the transit,
due to those narrow cuts, which should not in any case exceed 45 minutes, would
not justify the necessary increase of expense involved in an enlargement of the
cross-section proposed. Both the bottom width and the depth of the proposed
canal are larger than those of the Suez Canal. -
“In the lake and in the largest portion of the San Juan River vessels can travel
almost as fast as at sea. In some sections of the river, and possibly in the basin of
the San Francisco, although the channel is at all points deep and of considerable
width, the speed may be somewhat checked by reason of the curves.
“Estimated time of through-transit by steamer.
Hours. Min.
38.98 miles of canal, at 5 miles an hour . . . . . . 48
8.51 miles in the San Francisco basin, at 7 miles an hour I I4.
64.54 miles in the San Juan River, at 8 miles an hour. 8 O4
56.50 miles in the lake, at IO miles an hour . . . . 5 39
Time allowed for passing 7 locks, at 45 minutes each . 5 I5
Allow for detention in narrow cuts, etc. 2 OO
Total time . 3o OO
“The experience of the Suez Canal shows that the actual time of transit is more
likely to fall under than to exceed the above estimate.* -
“The traffic of the canal is limited by the time required to pass a lock, and on
the basis of 45 minutes (above estimated), and allowing but one vessel to each lock-
age, the number of vessels that can pass the canal in one day will be 32, or in one
year II,680, which, at the average net tonnage of vessels passing the Suez Canal,
will give an annual traffic of 20,440,000 tons. This is on the basis that the navi-
gation will not be stopped during the night.
“With abundant water power at the several locks and the dam, there is no
reason why the whole canal should not be sufficiently illuminated by electric lights;
and with beacons and range lights in the river and lake, vessels can travel at all
times with perfect safety.” -
ESTIMATES.
The following table of prices and condensed estimates
of cost are taken from the official report of the relocation
of the route by Civil-Engineer Menocal, U. S. N., com.
pleted in May, 1885. - * * : *
* The time of passage through the Suez Canal now (1887) is 16 hours.
# In July, 1886, 1,296 vessels passed through the St. Mary's Canal lock. *
46 The Engineering Features of the
ESTIMATES.
TABLE OF PRICES.
Excavation in earth . . . . . . . . . . $o.40 per cubic yard.
Excavation in rock . . . . . . . . . . $1.50 per cubic yard.
Excavation in rock (sub-marine) . . . . . . $5.00 per cubic yard.
Dredging . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 and .40 per cubic yard.
Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6.00 and $9.00 per cubic yard.
Stone pitching . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00 per cubic yard.
Stone in breakwaters . . . . . . . . . . $1.50 per cubic yard.
Puddle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 per cubic yard.
Timber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 per cubic foot.
Western Division : —
Excavation and embankment . . . . . . . . . . $8,496,292
Diversion of Rio Grande and Rio Lajas . . . . . . . . . I,870,447
Other auxiliary work, including R. R. . . . . . . . . . . 753,329
Locks (four) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,762,480
Harbor of Brito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I,6,II,500
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17,484,048
Middle /Xizºsion : —
Lake Nicaragua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $379,520
River San Juan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,074,791
Valley of R., San Francisco . . . . . . . . . . . . I, II2,413
Dam across R. San Juan . . . . . . . . . . . . . I,858,975
Embankment across R. San Francisco . . . . . . . . . I,331,262
Embankment near Ochoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,578
Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24O,OOO
. Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,042,539
Fastern Division : —
The “Divide " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11,982,938
From the “Divide” to Greytown . . . . . . . . . 8,077,294
Locks (three) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,561,515
Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32O,OOO
Harbor of Greytown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,766,625
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25,708,372
RECAPITULATION.
Western division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17,484,048
Middle division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,042,539
Eastern division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,708,372
Total & e. e ſº º . & e tº te e ſº
Surveys, hospitals, shops, etc.; management and contingencies, 25
per cent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I2,808,740
Grand total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $64,043,699
$51,234,959
Micaragua Canal. 47
W
These estimates include the electric lighting of the
canal; the lighting and buoying of the lake and the
harbors; and railroads from the lake to the Pacific and
from Greytown to the dam; which with the lake and
the river will form an immediate trans-isthmian communi-
cation, and furnish all facilities for communication and
transportation of supplies along the entire line of the
canal.
It is estimated that the canal and all its accessories can
be completed in six years—one for final survey and loca.
tion, and five for active work of construction.
PROBABLE TRAFFIC.
Of all the commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, three quarters of it is from the North Atlantic
to the North Pacific, and return ; the export of grain
from our Pacific ports forming the largest item in this
account.” For all of this trade the Nicaragua route is
600 miles shorter than the Panama route ; so that even
were the Panama Canal as well as the Nicaragua Canal
in existence, the latter would, from its more favorable
situation, have three quarters of the whole tonnage seek.
ing transit.
Probably the factor which would increase the business
of the Nicaragua Canal greater than any other would be
the further development of California, Washington Terri.
tory, Alaska, and British Columbia. '
*The grain crop of California and Oregon for 1886, from the latest reports of
its acreage, condition of crop, etc., is estimated to be from 1,600,000 to 2,000,000
tons, of which amount seven eighths will be surplus, or for export I,4OO,OOO to
1,750,000 tons. The Board of Trade of San Francisco also estimates surplus crops
of Pacific States for 1886 at one and three quarters (1,750,000) tons.
48 The Engineering Features of the
That there would be a great development in these States
and Territories from the mere existence of the Nicaragua
Canal cannot be doubted by any one. In the first place,
the canal will bring the producer and merchants of the
countries mentioned 7,000 miles nearer to a market than
they are at present. With such a stimulus, due to their
changed relations to their markets, can it be doubted that
a rapid increase of population would immediately follow :
And it must be admitted that emigration to those States
would be very materially assisted by steamers being able
to land the emigrants from Europe with no change what-
ever. The Suez Canal saves in distance from the two
great Indian ports of Bombay and Calcutta to London,
when compared with the route via the Cape of Good
Hope, 4,325 miles for the former, and 3,626 miles for the
latter. The saving effected by the Nicaragua Canal from
our Pacific coast to Europe would amount to more than
6,000 miles over the Cape Horn route; and it must be
remembered that every bushel of grain from California
and Oregon is sent to its market via Cape Horn. Were
the Nicaragua Canal now in existence, all cargoes of grain
from our Pacific ports would, from the moment they were
loaded, have a greater value than they now have when
off Cape Horn. These facts should have great weight
in determining the amount of the future business of a
canal via Nicaragua. But in case some doubts may exist
regarding the development of the business that will arise
from the mere existence of such a water-way (reducing, as
it does, a trade route from 13,700 to 7,500 miles), we will
here give the tonnage passing through the Suez Canal
from the year 1870 down to 1883:
Nicaragua Canal. 49

Years. Ships. Net tonnage. Receipts.
Aºrancs. AXollars.
1870 486 436,609 5, I59,327 1,031,865
1871 765. 761,467 8,993,732 I,798,746
1872 Io82 I, I60,743 I6,407,591 3,281,518
1873 II 73 1,367,767 22,897,319 4,579,465
I874 I264 1,631,650 | 24,857,383 4,971,476
1875 I494 2,009,984 28,886,302 5,777,26o
1876 I457 2,006,771 29,974,998 5,994,599
1877 I663 2,355,447 32,774,344 6,554,868
1878 I593 2,269,678 31,096,229 6,219,645
1879 I477 2,263,332 29,686,060 5,937,212
I88o 2026 3,957,42 I 41,820,899 8,364, I79
I88I 27.27 4,136,779 54,676, 189 Io,935,238
1882 31.98 5,074,808 63,409,593 I2,681,918
1883 || 3307 5,775,861 68,512,064 I3,702,4I3
This table shows at a glance the wonderful success of
the Suez Canal, which is still further known by the value
of its stock and its phenomenal dividends. What has
been accomplished by the Suez Canal in the way of busi-
ness can be equally accomplished by a Nicaragua Canal;
with the latter, however, it is my firm belief that the de-
velopment of its business will be much more rapid than
was the case of the Suez Canal; and for the following
I’68,SOIlS : - -
The commerce using the Suez Canal is almost, if not
entirely a steamship commerce, the physical conditions of
that route to the East precluding the use of anything but
vessels propelled by steam. Thºme was required to over.
come the great change of the enormous commerce of
India from sail to steamships, and time has also been
required to develop the products of India intended for ex-
port, as well as for the demand of European manufacture.
50 The Engineering Features of the
Now, as the geographical situation of the Nicaragua
Canal will be perfectly favorable to the use of sailing
vessels, there can be no reason whatever why every sail.
ing ship now engaged in trade between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans should not, from the very day the Nicara-
gua Canal is completed, make use of it, and to their great
advantage in doing so, as vessels that now make the voy-
age from Europe to California and return in one year,
will be able in the same time, by using the Nicaragua
Canal, to make at least one other voyage—that is to say,
a sailing ship leaving Europe on January 1st could reach
San Francisco via the canal, receive a cargo, and carry it
to Europe, and find herself back in San Francisco by
December 31st of the same year. -
The development of the resources of our Pacific States
would, it is believed, be very rapid from the day the
Nicaragua Canal was opened. - --
The export of lumber and timber from Alaska, British
Columbia, and Washington Territory would rapidly
reach enormous proportions.” Mexico would receive a
sudden awakening, and its commerce would be given an
impulse it has never before received. All Central Amer-
ica's productions and the wants of her people would be
rapidly stimulated by having at their very doors a water-
* Timber and lumber are now being shipped in large quantities from our north-
west territory to Japan, China, Australia, and other trans-Pacific countries.
Several ship-loads of large timber for ships' masts have been brought to Boston
and Maine, our eastern ship-builders finding it very difficult to obtain heavy spars
on the Atlantic coast. With the rapid clearing of our eastern and Michigan for-
ests, where is our lumber in future years to come from except from our northwest
territory?
It is a fact that the interior finish of the Cunard steamer Oregon, lately lost,
included thirteen different woods, all from Washington Territory and the State of
Oregon, sent to the builders of the vessel by Mr. Henry Villard.
Nicaragua Canal. - 51
way leading to the entire world. So far in this rapid
survey of the business that will come to the Nicaragua
Canal, no account has been taken of the great commerce
of the west coast of South America. We know but little
in this country of its magnitude, having unfortunately
allowed the great bulk of it to be done by British and
German merchants.
To give you some idea of the magnitude of the foreign
commerce of Chili, I will state that the one item of nitrate
of soda sent to Europe in 1884 amounted (according to
the official reports of the Chilian Government) to sia,
hundred and fifteen thousand (615,000) tons, valued at
over thirty millions of dollars l That this trade would
make use of the canal there can be no doubt. -
The main-line ships of the great steamship companies
trading between England and the west coast of South
America reach the Pacific from England via the Straits
of Magellan. They proceed up the west coast to Valpa.
raiso and Callao, at which last point they are three thou-
sand miles from the Straits of Magellan, while via
Nicaragua the entire distance to Liverpool is about Sia.
thousand miles. -
The cacao of Equador and the products of Colombia
(collected by active coasting steamers) grown, as it may
be said, within sight of the Isthmus, are thus carried
3,500 to 4,000 miles in a direction opposite from the port
of destination. - r
The distance from Valparaiso to Liverpool via the
Straits is 8,725 miles; via Nicaragua, 7,550 miles. From
Callao via the Straits the distance is 10,162 miles, and
wia Nicaragua, 6,100 miles. Thus, a steamer leaving
Valparaiso for Liverpool by way of the canal would
52 The Engineering Features of the
have less distance to make by about 1,200 miles, and
throughout the entire route to the North Atlantic the
run would be on a sea wonderfully propitious for steam.
ship navigation, and the reverse of that via the Straits of
Magellan. - - -
Leaving Callao for Liverpool by way of Nicaragua, the
distance is 4,000 miles less than via the Straits. While
proceeding to deliver or gather cargo the ship from or to
Nicaragua, bound to or leaving Valparaiso, would make
no needless detour of thousands of miles, as happens to
the one leaving the La Plata for the southwest coast.
The unnatural diversion of a carrying trade from what
was its natural course, with proper railway changes and
facilities at Panama, and which would become much
more its rightful one on the opening of the canal, would
be simply impossible. The steamship lines now center.
ing on this side of Panama would pass into the Pacific
in quest of their legitimate connecting business, as well
as would sea-rovers, thus soon ending the existing state
of things by turning the business of all that coast from
Valparaiso north to the canal. This would be an inev.
itable result. -
Finally, we will come to the tea and other China
trade, particularly from the north of China and Japan,
and our exports to these countries, of which the one
item of petroleum amounted, in 1885, to one hundred and
forty thousand tons !
From the foregoing statements, as based on existing
facts, can any one doubt there will be a large tonnage
seeking transit the moment the canal is opened, and
that, whatever this tonnage amounts to at the start, it
will have a rapid and wonderful increase? -
Nicaragua Canal. 53
The following table of tonnage that would make use
of the canal to-day if it could do so, is based on the re.
ports of the Bureau of Statistics, U. S. Treasury Depart.
ment, and is prepared from official data ;
Tonnage in 1879 . ſº § & & o 2,771,886
Tonnage in 1885 . & & & T ſe e 4,252,434
Increase in six years (tons) tº sº. © I,48o,548
Ancrease 5.3 per cent.
At same rate of increase, tonnage for 1892, possible
date of completion of Nicaragua Canal, 6,506,214.
If there is any lesson or meaning in the history of the
past twenty years, if what has been is of the slightest
value as a criterion of what will be, then in ten years or
less after the completion of the Nicaragua Canal, it will
have to be double tracked; that is, the present locks will
have to be duplicated and some 18 miles of the canal
widened and then its capacity will be unlimited.
The lake, the river, and the basin of the San Francisco
can already pass the commerce of the world.
CONCLUSION.
The canal route which I have had the honor to de-
scribe and present for your consideration to-day is
perfectly practicable; it does not contain a doubtful or
involved problem, or one which has not been already
solved by engineers. There is not a detail of the work
which, if intelligently designed and properly constructed,
will not be as free from danger of failure as any work
of human hands can be. There is with one exception,
namely, the iocks, not a detail which has not larger and
more difficult examples in existence to-day.
It is the most economical, most convenient, and safest
54 The Engineering Features of the
route for ship communication between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans across the American isthmus; and it is the
most thorough and complete study for a trans-isthmian
ship communication yet presented to the public and the
only one, so far as I know, in which the public is required
to take nothing on the strength of a mere assertion, but
has all the data, all the means of arriving at the final
results, placed fully, clearly, and unreservedly, before it,
in such a way that every one can form an independent
judgment for himself.
The features of the canal are bold, but they are bold
without foolhardiness, bold with the confidence born of
intimate knowledge of the country, and the possession of
engineering level-headedness.
It is a colossal enterprise but a colossally feasible one
instead of a colossally impracticable one like some others.
The German Government is about to build a canal 61
miles in length (50 per cent. more than the actual canal
length at Nicaragua) at a cost of $39,000,000,—for what?
To shorten the voyage to the Baltic from 425 to 237
miles and to avoid the Danish pilot and other dues.
A canal is being cut through the Isthmus of Corinth,
—for what? To ease and shorten the burdens of the sea
some 95 to 185 miles for a purely local traffic.
The Manchester ship canal is to be built, for what?
To bring one city nearer the sea; and shall we not
build the Nicaragua Canal, which shortens the commer.
cial highways of the world by thousands of miles?
The Nicaragua canal has artificial harbors; so have
numbers of foreign ports.
The Nicaragua Canal has locks; so have other canals.
The Nicaragua Canal has dams; there are numbers of
Nicaragua Canal. 55
these scattered about the world, besides which those of
Nicaragua are mere bagatelles.
The Nicaragua Canal has a deep rock-cut; so has the
Corinth Canal, one 14,000' long and 288’ deep. And
these rock-cuts once completed there will be no abrasion
of the slopes by rains, no caving in, no slips nor slides.
That section of the canal will be finished for all time.
The Nicaragua Canal will cost money; so has the Suez,
and so will the German Canal and the one at Corinth.
And the Nicaragua Canal will be a profitable enter-
prise, as has been the Suez Canal and the Panama Railroad,
and as will be every great transportation route which at
a reasonable cost meets an imperative demand of com-
merce. Shall we not build it 2 . .
For centuries the exquisite, fragrant breath of the
“Trades” has swept across the lake, bearing whispers of
its beauty over the narrow “divide " to the Pacific; for
centuries the blue waves of the lake have heard the mur.
mur of the Pacific surf and dashed themselves upon the
shore in vain attempts to force the hand-breadth barrier;
for centuries the crafts of man have toiled thousands of
miles to gain a dozen ; but to-day the impatient commerce
of the world cries, “Rend the puny barrier and let me
through,” and our own imperial Orient- and Occident-
facing Republic answers, “Rend the puny barrier and
join my coasts in one unbroken stretch from Eastport to
the Straits of Fuca.”
R. E. PEARY,
Civil Engineer, U. S. N., M. Am. Soc. C. E.
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ENGINEERING
FEATURES.
RY
CIVIL ENGINEER A. G. MENOCAL.
The paper on the Nicaragua Canal, read by Civil En.
gineer Peary at a meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, is so full, and the
engineering features of the project are so ably presented,
that even if the condition of my health had permitted me
to comply with the request to submit a paper on the same
subject, I could not have added much of interest to what
he so clearly and forcibly stated. -
There is an important feature in that canal route, how-
ever, which is not generally known, or fully appreciated
by those interested in the solution of the problem for
ship communication across the American isthmus, and
which I may be permitted to touch upon, in order that
the subject may be better understood in its different
aspects. I refer to the various modifications that can be
made in the plan of execution discussed in Mr. Peary's
paper, and which, without changing the location or ma-
terially affecting the estimated cost of the works pro-
posed, will so alter the dimensions and conditions of some
of the works, as to effectually eliminate features which,
without being novel either in design or in proportion, as
shown by Mr. Peary, have, nevertheless, been regarded
by some timid minds as bold engineering works, involv.
56
Additional Notes on Engineering Features. 57
ing doubtful elements of stability. The dam across the
river San Juan, at Ochoa, the embankment in the valley
of the river San Francisco, and the lock of 53 feet at the
eastern end of the summit level, are the only works in the
route demanding special care and engineering skill in
their execution. The deep cut through solid rock in the
eastern divide is only a question of expense, and with
abundant auxiliary hydraulic power at hand, good dump.
ing ground in close proximity, an exceptionally healthy
location, and excellent drainage, that expense can be
closely estimated in advance; and as to the permanency
of the work when completed, there can be but one opinion:
it will last as long as the ridge itself, and without any
cost for maintenance.
It will now be shown how the proposed plan can be
so far modified that the works above referred to will be
so reduced in proportion as to divest them of prominence,
without affecting the practicability of the canal upon the
proposed location, or materially increasing its estimated
cost.
By the dam at Ochoa, 52 feet above the surface of the
waters, the upper 64 miles of the river San Juan is con-
verted into an extension of the lake, and by some dred.
ging in the first 24 miles below the lake, an uninterrupted
navigation for the largest ships now engaged in the com-
merce of the world is secured along that distance, and
across the lake. But there are several excellent sites for
dams across the San Juan, between the lake and Ochoa,
especially so at Castillo and Machuca, 37 miles and 49
miles, respectively, below the lake.
By the adoption of a very conservative plan, that sec.
tion of the river could be divided by three low dams at
58. Additional Notes on Engineering Features.
Castillo, Machuca, and Ochoa, into three reaches, with two
locks of from ten to fifteen feet lift at each of the upper
dams. The river would yet be navigable without addi.
tional dredging; the crest of the highest dam would not
be over 25 feet above the normal level of the waters; the
valley of the river San Francisco would be made navi.
gable by the construction of an embankment not over 28
feet high, and the lift of lock No. 3 would be reduced
from 53 feet to about 28 feet. The cost of the three dams
would not greatly exceed that of the one proposed at
Ochoa, and the cost of the two additional locks would
probably be fully compensated by the smaller embank.
ment in the valley of the San Francisco, and the reduc.
tion by nearly one half of the lift of lock No. 3 and ap-
purtenances. The eastern divide cut, however, will neces.
sarily have an increased depth of about 25 feet, with an
additional cube of some 1,000,000 yards of excavation;
and there will'also be a corresponding increase in three
miles of canal from the Ochoa dam to the basin of the
San Francisco, making an aggregate increase in the esti.
mates of about 2,000,000 cubic yards.
It is difficult to conceive how the most conservative
engineer would regard this modified plan as in any way
objectionable by reason of possible failure of any of the
works proposed, and the small additional cost may be ac-
cepted by some as of but little consequence as compared
to the advantages gained thereby.
Another modification of the above plan suggests itself,
viz.: one dam and lock 25 feet high at Machuca, and one
dam 25 feet in height at Ochoa, other conditions to re-
main as above. Such a plan would be simpler, equally
safe, and not more expensive than the former, and should,
º
Additional Notes on Engineering Features. 59
I believe, have the preference if the salient features of the
route as now laid down should ultimately be regarded as
unnecessarily bold. -
But I firmly believe that all such modifications are un-
called for, and that while, a work of such a magnitude,
intended for future generations, and when failure, if only
for a limited time, would involve not only the expendi.
ture of large sums of money, but also, for the time being,
a revolution in the world's lines of commercial travel,
yet a careful study of the ground, and of all the condi.
tions of the problem, leads to the inevitable conclusion
that the plan adopted after the surveys of 1884–85, and
described by Mr. Peary, is unquestionably the best.
A summit level of 144 miles, extending from within
nine miles of the Pacific to seventeen miles of the At.
lantic, through 130 miles of which ships can pass each
other in the lake, in the river, and in the basin of the
San Francisco, and travel nearly as fast as at sea, and
then descend from that level to the ocean by but three
or four locks, are magnificent features which I would not
be willing to yield to unjustifiable timidity. The works
proposed are simple in design, and present no serious
difficulties of execution, and rather than accept any of
the modifications here suggested, unnecessarily increasing
the depth of the eastern cut, and throwing new obstacles
to the navigation at the cost of two or more million dol-
lars, a plan which in the near future would certainly be
considered as many years behind the times, I would
much prefer to retain all the features of the original plan,
as far as and inclusive of the Ochoa dam, and from that
point construct a canal along the northern bank of the
river San Juan, with a number of locks of small lift,
60 Additional Notes on Engineering Features.
descending gradually to the sea-level, as located by the
United States Government expedition of 1872–73, and
fully described in the report of the same (see extract of
report following). This plan would be free from deep
cuts, high embankments, or . locks of more than 20
feet lift, but would, on the other hand, involve eleven
miles more of canal, several sharp curves, and the compli-
cated problem of disposing of the drainage of a vast ter.
ritory between the river and the San Francisco Deseado
route, with numerous watercourses emptying into the
San Juan. The time of transit by this route would be
largely increased; and while the original cost of the work
may not exceed that of the upper route, the cost of main-
tenance would necessarily be much greater.
A. G. MENOGAL.
EXTRACT FROM REPORT ON SHIP CANAL,
1872.
*-*w-
O IEASTERN DIVISION.
The eastern division extends from San Carlos, at the
lake, to the harbor of San Juan del Norte, or Greytown.
It is 108.43 miles in length, 63.02 miles in slack-water
navigation by the river San Juan, and 45.41 miles of
inland canal. The San Juan is proposed to be made
navigable by four dams, to be located severally at Castillo,
Balas, and foot of Machuca Rapids, and the fourth about
a mile below the confluence of the river San Carlos, and
short canals around these dams, with a lock 10.28 feet
lift in each. The first dam at Castillo, 37.34 miles by the
river from the lake, is 940 feet long and 21 feet high; it
is located nearly at right angles to the direction of the
river, and rests on a rock foundation at a mean depth of
5 feet below the surface of the water in the river. It
abuts on the right side against a steep, rocky hill, and on
the left against an isolated, conical hill, conveniently
situated for the purpose, leaving a sufficiently wide and
favorable valley between the end of the dam and the
main highland to the left for the location of the short
canal 0.76 mile long. The river San Juan, at the time
the survey was made, was found to descend 3.71 feet from
the lake to the head of Tora Rapids, a distance of 26.89
miles, 7.41 feet in a further distance of 2.58 miles to the
61
62 Evtract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872.
foot of the rapids, and 3.82 feet thence to the head of
Castillo Rapids, at the site of the dam. By means of this
dam the surface of the lake is proposed to be kept at the
elevation of 107.62 feet above mean high tide, which it
attains and preserves during the rainy season, and raise the
water in the river 18.38 feet in front of the dam, 16.46
feet at the foot, and 9.05 feet at the head of Toro Rapids.
At Castillo the surface of the river falls 4.66 feet in a
distance of 0.78 mile, and from the foot of these rapids
to the head of Mico Rapids 5.08 feet in 5.60 miles, and
4.66 additional feet to the location of dam No. 2, at Balas.
By this dam the water is raised 22.82 feet in front of it,
17.84 feet at the head of Mico, 13.52 feet at the foot of
canal around dam No. 1 at Castillo, and 10.73 feet imme-
diately below the latter dam. Dam No. 2, at Balas, is
1,196 feet in length, and is located nearly perpendicular
to the stream at the site. It rests on a solid rock founda-
tion, in 7 feet mean depth of water, and on the right side
abuts against a precipitous rocky hill, projecting to the
edge of the river, and on the left against a favorable
elevation 350 feet back from the bank. A canal 1.57
miles in length and a lock of 10.28 feet lift are proposed
around this dam. From the foot of this canal to the head
of Machuca Rapids the surface of the river falls 4.78 feet,
and thence to dam No. 3, at the foot of the rapids, an
additional descent of 9.48 feet takes place. This latter
dam is 33.99 feet high and 824 feet long, and, as Nos. 1
and 2, it rests on a rocky foundation 6 feet below the
surface of the water in the river, and abuts on both sides
against steep hills a few feet back from the banks. Im.
mediately in front of the dam the surface of the river is
raised 26.84 feet and 17.36 and 12.49 feet, respectively,
Entract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872. 63
at the head of Machuca Rapids and foot of canal around
Balas. A canal 1.16 miles long and a lock of 10.28 feet
lift are designed around this dam. From the end of this
canal to dam No. 4, about a mile below the river San
Carlos, a large tributary of the San Juan, a fall of 1.34
feet takes place in the surface of the river. This latter
dam is 1,000 feet long and 30.91 feet high, and rests in a
trench cut 10 feet deep, in a firm bottom, 9 feet below
the surface of the water. It abuts at both ends against
favorable elevations, about 150 feet from the banks, and
is provided with steps and an apron below to prevent
the fall of nearly 24 feet, which here takes place, from .
undermining the foundations. The water in the river in
front of the dam is raised 23.87 feet and 22.05 feet at the
foot of short canal around Machuca. The following table
will show the position and other particulars of dams:
Pº, S g (l) Height to which] . .5 +3 lºs . . §
rid # | 3 § the surface of 5 = g § 5 # 5
$ tw. B . . . . 3 = water in the d5 = 3 5 § 8 &
cº; (1) $ 3 .5 .E | river is raised 9 & | E. J. - .
- := := : E if | by dams. .3 s: “ sº a 9
g = | = a a 5 § |− . 3 |.º. o. ºn 3
9 E 5 - || 3 | "...; 5 ‘s H. '53"|##
Location of dams. | * *| E.F | . ‘35 | is º | | | ||3:
3 #| 8 g| 3 || 3 || 5 || 2 | | | E3 |# 5 g :
: ; # 3 || 5 | E E | 8 à | * | *B ... I 5 ; 2.3
; F | ##| || || 3 || | i: ; H | 5.9 ſº $ 57.
*ſº tſ) ‘35 tº ſº Q} co , o | E & as gº
• sº tº gº (l) d -c.
à |fi || 3 || 2 | * | * | * | 5'5.5 #|: ā.
Castillo . . . . 37.34 . . . 949|21.or| 18.87| 13.52|Io.2812,453|2.93 o.46
Bălas . . . . . 44.69| 7.31|I, I963I.92. 22.82| I2.54|IO.28|I2,943 2.56|o.54
Machuca . . . 50.57 5.88 824|33.99. 26.84 I6.56|IO.28|I2,943 3.28|O.54
San Carlos . . . 66.81|16.24|I,000|30.97. 23.87. O.OO23.87|13,206 2.92|O.49
The river San Carlos, which, like the Serepiqui, another
tributary of the San Juan, brings from the mountainous
district of Costa Rica an immense amount of silt, which
is constantly filling the San Juan and changing the
dimensions and course of its channel, is here diverted by
64 Jætract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872.
means of an artificial channel, and made to discharge
below dam No. 4, preserving only for the use of the canal
the clean waters proceeding from the lake. . From San
Carlos, at the lake, a bar composed of mud and gravel,
with occasional ridges of rock and bowlders, extends with
but few interruptions to the foot of Toro Rapids, a distance
of 29.47 miles, and a channel 80 feet wide at bottom,
with slopes of 2 to 1 and mean depth of 5.8 feet, is
designated to be excavated by dredging and rock-blasting,
to obtain the requisite depth of 26 feet. From the foot of
Toro to Castillo Rapids the depth in the river varies from
26 to 40 feet, and no improvement is required along that
portion of the river. From the foot of short canal around
Castillo dam to entrance of canal around dam No. 2 the
river has nearly the required 26 feet depth, and only short
excavations, not exceeding at any place 5 feet, will be
necessary. At the end of this last canal a bar about
5,000 feet long with a mean depth of 5 feet, will have
to be removed, and thence to Machuca the river, as
raised by the dam below, is over 26 feet deep. From
canal around Machuca to dam No. 4, below the conflu-
ence of the San Carlos, the river, after the proposed
improvements, will have a depth varying from 26 to
100 feet.
Below the river San Carlos the San Juan widens con-
siderably as it approaches the Colorado, and its channel
is subject to many changes from freshets and the materials
brought down by the tributaries San Carlos, Serepiqui,
and other smaller streams proceeding from the highlands
of Costa Rica, and the control of its regimen by means of
dams or other structures is a problem involved in much
uncertainty. The canal is, therefore, taken from the river
Entract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872. 65
about 1,500 feet above dam No. 4, and located by the
most favorable points along the valley of the river to the
head of the Juanillo branch of the San Juan, whence, by
an almost straight line traced across the more extensive
valley of the Lower San Juan, it reaches Greytown at a
distance of 41.90 miles from the point of leaving the San
Juan at San Carlos. Out of this latter distance thirty-six
miles are in excavations and embankment combined, and
the remaining six miles across low hills and short spurs of
more or less elevation, projecting to the river from the
main range in the interior, giving a general mean depth
of cutting of 1.79 feet above the surface of the water in
the canal for the total distance of 45.41 miles of inland
canal in this division, including short canals around dams.
Ten locks, 400 feet long, 70 feet wide, with walls 41 feet
high, are proposed in this division; the first three, located
in the short canals around dams Nos. 1, 2, and 3, of 10.28
feet lift, and the remaining seven of 10.87 feet lift each,
are proposed at the ends of the deep cuttings across
the spurs, where rock foundations are believed to
exist. -
From the point where the canal leaves the river to the
ravine Quien Sabe, a short distance below the Juanillo
branch, twelve cesspools and thirteen culverts are designed,
to receive into the canal or pass under it twenty-five small
streams intersecting the line. From Quien Sabe to Grey.
town the peculiar topography of the country, with the
San Juan on one side and the Juanillo on the other,
makes unnecessary any work of that kind, a trench at
the foot of the embankment being sufficient to drain
the canal into the lagoons or either of the rivers on the
sides. *
66 Evtract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872.
At the short canals around the dams at Castillo, Balas,
and Machuca the excavations will be in earth at the sur.
face and in rock at the bottom. From the point where
the canal is taken from the river to Greytown the general
formation of the country is clay loam in the valleys and
gravelly clay, with loose stones, on the hills. In the lower
valley of the San Juan it is principally coarse sand and
sandy loam, with a small portion of clay. Only occasional
bowlders and detached stones were visible on the surface
of the hills approaching the San Juan River; but in pre-
paring the estimates a large allowance has been made of
this material in the excavations for passing these spurs,
arid the locks, with only two exceptions, (7 and 8,) are
supposed to rest on rocky bottom.
SUPPLY OF WATER,
In estimating the amount of water necessary for lockage
for both branches of the canal, it is assumed that three
lockfuls will be required per hour at each lock, or in
cubic feet per minute . . . . . . 15,000
The amount lost by leakage, evaporation; and re-
pairs, at the rate of 3 inches per day of the -
whole surface of the inland canal . . . . 8,250
Leakage at two summit locks . . . . . . . 15,000
Total number of cubic feet required per
minute . . . . . . . . . . 38,250
The lake discharges by the river San Juan, when at
its lowest stage, as gauged between Toro and Castillo
Rapids, May 2, 1873, by Lieut. J. W. Miler, U. S. N.,
747,180 cubic feet per minute, or twenty times the amount
here estimated for the canal.
Jætract from Report on Ship Canal, 1872. 67
RECAPITULATION OF ESTIMATE OF EASTERN DIVISION.
Excavation and dredging in the San Juan
Short canal around Castillo dam, o.78 mile
Short Canal around Balas dam, 1.57 miles
Short canal around Machuca dam, 1.16 miles
Canal from dam No. 4 to Greytown, 41.90 miles
Dams Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 .
Light-locks from 1 to Io inclusive
Culverts, cesspools, and drains
Diversion of San Charles River
Grubbing and clearing
Total . . . . . . . .
$5,076,030
2O4, 33 I
396,236
456,355
I3,389,398
1,543,526
3,093,16o
340,400
283,578
237,900
$25,020,914
CLIMATIC AND SANITARY NOTES ON THE
NICARAGUA CANAL ROUTE.
The line of mountains forming the continental divide
in Central America passes north of Panama in a direction
almost east and west. Bending slightly to the south at
first, it curves west later, and then to the north, passing
through Nicaragua in a northwesterly direction. This
brings it across the course of the northeast trade-wind,
which is not here deflected, but rushes over the hills and
through the gaps to the Pacific.
Thé section of country under consideration is the de-
pression in this ridge between the mountains of Segovia,
4,000 feet high, and the peaks of Costa Rica, which
reach an altitude of over 11,000. The bottom of the
depression is occupied by the San Juan River, Lake Nica-
ragua, and the Rio Grande, its greatest elevation being
150 feet above the sea at a point between the lake and
the Pacific. The axis of the valley is nearly east and
west, and lying, as it does, in the track of the “trades,”
there is almost a constant breeze throughout its length.
This wind, in ventilating and drying the country, and
in lowering temperature, is the great sanitary agent in
Nicaragua.
De Kerhallet, who made his estimate from a great
number of observations, gives the equatorial limit of the
northeast trade-wind in winter 5° 45'; spring, 5° 45';
summer, 11° 20'; autumn, 10°00'.
68
Micaragua Canal Route. 69
The mountains of Segovia and Matagalpa lie north of
12°, and winds striking south of that point draw through
the Nicaragua gap, which is the lowest pass in the
range between Alaska and the Straits of Magellan.
This point being north of the equatorial limit of the
northeast trades, these winds are prevalent the year round,
only being interrupted for a few days at a time by an
occasional southwester. Childs found them prevailing in
each month. Lull says the trades blow ten months in the
year. Menocal has in 1883, Deqember, the wind north,
and in 1884 a southwest wind in October; for the other
months of those two years the winds prevailing range
from N. E. to S. E. According to the log-book of the
U. S. S. Ranger, on the coast from Cape Desolado to Punta
Arenas, November 26, 1884, to January 30, 1885, inclu-
sive, the wind was from the eastward always, and nearly
all the time between E. and N. E.
Finally we have from the office of the Chief Signal
Officer, U. S. A., a report for each day for the last twelve
months by the observer at Rivas, Nicaragua. From that
report we find that the wind was east of the meridian for
283 days out of the year ending June 30, 1887.
The Atlantic slope of Nicaragua is densely wooded and
the ground is kept comparatively cool, the warm, moisture-
laden winds have their temperature suddenly lowered, and
rain comes down. By the time the wind reaches the lake.
basin its surplus moisture is gone, the drier land raises its
temperature, and, instead of depositing, it takes up mois-
ture. Hence the difference in climate between the east
and west sides of the country—the latter being, in the dry
season, from November to May, almost without rain.
Squier says of this season:
70 Climatic and Sanitary Wotes on the
“The temperature is less, the nights positively cool, and the winds occasionally
chilling. The sky is cloudless, and trifling showers fall at rare intervals. . . .
This season is esteemed the healthiest of the year. Its effect is practically that of
a Northern winter, checking and destroying that rank and ephemeral vegetation
which, constantly renewed where the rains are constant, . . . form dense,
dark jungles, the birthplaces and homes of malaria and death.” +
The “trades” blow almost throughout the year. Strong
during the dry season and freshening during the day, the
wind comes from the east-northeast, and blows usually
for four to five days, when, hauling to the east or south-
east for a day or two, it calms down, then goes back to
northeast and rises again. It is this wind which, reach.
ing the Pacific slope, rushes down the ravines to the sea
in heavy gusts, and is known to navigators as the papa-
gayos. (See Table 1–2.)
The southeast wind predominates during the rainy sea-
son. Occasionally, in June or October, as a rule, the
wind hauls round to southwest and a temporal results,
heavy rain coming down for a week or ten days sometimes.
The temperature of Nicaragua is equable. The ex-
treme variation, recorded by Childs was of 23° observed
near the head of the San Juan in May, 1851. The ob.
servations were made at 6 A.M. and 2 and 9 P.M. (See
Table 3.)
Commander Lull's observations were made at 8 A.M., 12
M., and 8 P.M., and extended from July, 1872, to March,
1873, inclusive. The highest temperature noted was 87°,
and the lowest 71°.
In this paper I use all the meteorological statistics
which I have been able to obtain in regard to the re.
gion of the Nicaragua route.
* “Nicaragua,” E. G. Squier, New York, I860, page 647.
Nicaragua Canal Route. 71
TABLE I–2.
From log-book of U. S. S. Ranger, southwestward of
Cape Desolado, Nicaragua.
Temperature. Wind.
Date. Locality.
Min. | Max. | Direction. | Force.
1884–Nov. 26 || Cape Desolado . . . 77° 86° | *Eastward I to 3
27 & & e is tº 79 85 4 £ I — 3
28 & 4 is a º 8O 85 | E. and N.E. I — 3
29 & 4 gº tº s 79 86 & £ I — 4
3O { { sº tº tº 8O 84 & & I — 4
Dec. I & 4 tº º ºs 79 86 | Nol. and Ed. I — 4
2 & 4 . . . . . 79 86 4 & I — 5
3 { { e & © 77 84 & & I — 3
4. 4 & e tº a 78 83 || Variable Light
5 é & s & tº 77 84 Nd. and Ed. #3
6 & & e & tº 8O 85 | Variable £2 — 4
7 & 6 tº º º 78 85 & 4 Light
8 ( & gº tº º 77 85 | Nol. and Ed. | I — 4
9 { { * * * 77 86 4 & I — 4
IO & & * * * 79 83 || Ed. andS.Ed. I — 5
II & & * * * 77 84 || Nd. and Ed. 2 — 4
I2 | Salinas Bay . . . . 78 83 é & 2 – 4
I3 & 6 * * * 77 82 é & I — 5
I4 | San Juan del Sur . . 78 82 4 & I — 4
I5 4 & tº º 78 8I 6 & I — 6
I6 § { tº º 77 8I & & 3 — 7
I7 | Salinas Bay . . . . 77 8O é & I — 6
I8 4 & tº tº º ſº. 77 8I 4 tº O — 2
I9 & & ' iº º & Cº 76 8I & 4 O – 3
2O || Murciellagos Bay . . 75 83 & 4 2 – 5
2I & 4 tº e 79 84 4 & 2 – 5
22 6 & tº º 79 83 & & I – 3
23 | Point Culebru . . . 77 86 4 4 O — 3
24 4 & tº º º 76 85 & 4 O — 3
25 & & ſº tº º 78 8I 4 & O – 3
26 é & tº $ tº 72 84 & & O — 6
27 | San Juan del Sur . . 79 8I & &
28 & 4 * * 77 8I 6 & I — 3
29 & & ſº e 76 85 4 & I — 3
3O | Salinas Bay . . . . 74 84 e & I — 3
3I O & 4 t between Y 75 84 $ 4 I — 3
tº: sai. E.". 77 86 |*...*| 1–5
to 30, inclusive Pincta Arenoo . every day
* Freshening at IO A.M. f. Dying I or 2. 1: At Sundown.
72 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
The first authoritative data which we have was given
by Mr. Childs, as follows:*
TABLE 3.
Temperature.
§ 5 5 e Locality. Wind.
# | 5 || 5 || 3.
§ | 3 || 5 | #
<! || > || > || 2:
1850.-Sept... 78° 88° 71° 17°| Between lake and Pacific | Southeast
{ { Oct. . 77 | 86 7o 16 & & & 4 4 &
4 & Nov. . 78 || 86 || 74 | 12 & & & 6 Easterly
“ Dec. . 77 | 84 || 72 12 & & 4 & East T.
1851.—Jan. . 76 87 | 69 | 18 & & & £ N’theasterly | < .
‘‘ Feb. . 76 | 84 || 70 | 1.4 ſt & & 4 & & E 5,
‘‘ March 77 | 84 || 72 12 & 4 4 & é & #
“ April | 78 88 || 72 | 16 || Fort San Carlos & § { 5
“ May . 78 91 | 68 || 23 | Near head of San Juan . | Easterly O
“ June . 77 | 88 || 71 || 17 | Castillo . . . . . { %
“ July . 76 86 71 || I5 La Balas . . . Southeasterly
“ Aug. . 76 | 86 71 || I5 | Near Rio Colorado & &
The record for 1881 at Rivas was obtained from the
office of the Chief Signal-Service Officer, U. S. A. The
observations were made at 7 A.M., 2 and 9 P.M., and re-
sulted as follows:
TABLE 4.
I88I. Mean. Maximum. Minimum. || Range.
January 76.5° 82.6° 71.6° II.o°
February 76.6 81.5 69.8 II.7
March 78.5 85. O 71.6 I 3.4
April 79.7 86.O 73.4 I2.6
May . 8o.3 86.O 72.4 I3.6
June 78. I 85.O 7I. I I3.9
July . 78.o 85.O 73.4 II.6
August 78.5 85. I 73.5 II.6
September 77.5 83.3 73.4 9.9
October 75.5 8o.7 7o. 7 IO. O
November 74. O 77.o 71.6 5.4
December t 76.5 86.O 71.6 f I4.4
Orville W. Childs.
* “Report of Survey, etc., of Inter-Oceanic Ship Canal.”
New York, 1852, page 82. ,
Nicaragua Canal Route. 73
This table shows an extreme range of 16.2° during the
twelve months. In Washington the thermometer ranged
118.3° the same year, 1881, between a maximum of
104.3° and — 14° minimum.
TABLE 5.
[Latitude, II° 56'. Longitude west of Greenwich, 85° 5'1'. Elevation, 229.6
feet.*
5 Mean temperature in the shade. ‘5 Rainfall
tº c. (Fahr.) 5-d & º
Months. 5 § ‘º .5
8 : Mean f # = Days in
à Maximum. Minimum. .* F. Amount. month.
1883. Inches O O o Jnches.
January 29.70 88.5 7O.O 8I.O NE o.346 --
February | 29 66 88. O 69. O 82.O E -* -º-
March 29.74 89.0 7.I.5 82.5 E -ms -*
April 29.70 9I.O 75. O 83.O E O. I97 *
May 29.66 93.O 73 5 84.O JE O.276 -**
June 29 63 9I.O 78.o 82.5 E 5. IQ7 *
July 29.63 89.5 7 I.5 8I.5 SE 2.657 -*.
August 29.68 89.5 68. O 8I.O E. 5.472 -*-
September 29.60 89. 5 7I.5 80.O E 9.74O •==g
October 29.68 88. O 7O.O 79. O NE | 19 913 *mºsº
November 29.67 88.0 68. O 77.5 NE 3.64I -->
December 29.67 88, O 66.O 75. O N * ---
1884. 29.67 89.4 7I.o 80.8 E | 47.439 -*-
January 29.65 86. O 7O.O 8O.O SE - *
February | 29.64 87.o 66.O 8O.O E * sº
March 29.60 89.0 65.O 8I.O SE - *
April 29.64 9I.5 7I.5 82.O NE *g --
May 29.6I 9I.5 73.5 , 8 I.O. NE -* *º-
June 29.6I QI.5 7O.O 8o. 5 E 8.25 IO
July 29.6I 90.5 7.I.O 8I.O E 3.99 I2
August 29.58 90.5 68. O 83.5 E 3.75 9
September 29.56 89.5 68. O 82 5 E 8 82 I6
October 29.62 89.5 68. O 79 o SW 8.63 I7
November | 29 64 89.5 69.0 82 O SE 2.28 8
December | 29.65 87.o 68. O 8O.O NE O.26 2
29.62 89.4 69. O 8I.O4 E. 35.98 74


* “Report of U. S. Nicaragua Surveying Party, 1885.” Civil-Engineer A. G.
Menocal, U. S. N.
74 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
Mr. Menocal's figures were obtained from Granada
near the head of the lake, a locality apparently warmer
than Rivas. His tables for two years show a maximum
of 93° in May, 1883, and a minimum of 65° in March,
1884. For the record of the last twelve months we have
only observations made daily at 6:18 A.M., local time at
Rivas. (See Table 5.) -
The equatorial cloud-belt, following the sun north in
spring, is late reaching Nicaragua, and the wet season is
shorter than in regions farther south.
The rainfall in Nicaragua is based on the records of
nine years. By reference to Childs’ table we find that he
had 139 days in which rain fell, and 97.70 inches the
amount, showing the heaviest rainfall of which we have
a report.
TABLE 6.
No. days in Amount
which rain fell. in inches.
1850 | September (22 days tº º I6 7.OO
October e º te e I9 17.86
November . tº o e 6 I.39
December 8 3.21
1851 January tº & e 2 .38
February . e e © O .OO
March . º & & 3 I.4I
April º º o 2 .43
May . * © & e I6 9. I4
June . • e º e I9 I4.2I
July . º o { } º 23 22.64
August . g º º º 2O II.81
September . e & {º 5 8.22
I39 97.70

According to Commander E. P. Lull, U.S. N., the rain.
fall for the months July, 1872, to March, 1873, inclusive,
was 47.79 inches. During the same months in Childs'
.**
Wicaragua Canal Route. 75
table we find a fall of 77.53. Applying to the months
reported by Lull, the ratio obtaining in Childs’ table, and
we have 59 inches as the probable total of the twelve
months’ season 1872–73.
We give next the record of the average annual rainfall
for the four years, 1878–81, which was 78 inches. This
was obtained from Dr. Earl Flint, of Nicaragua, and the
office of the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A. Dr. Flint fur.
nishes the data for the months up to May, 1880, and the
rest was given by the Signal Office, Washington. The
observations were made at Granada for two years; after.
ward Rivas.
TABLE 7.
1878. I879. I88o. I88I.
Inches. Inches. Inches. |No.days. Inches. |No.days.
January . e e , OO . OO . OO H. • IO 2
February . º º , OO . OO . OO 3. .45 5
March º * º , OO .09 • OO g .08 I
April º tº © • OO 6.67 . OO 3" . I2 I
May . tº * º 4.3O I5.77 IO.2O § 5.08 , I2
June . © e & I2.O4 6.32 I2.57 * I3.77 I8
July . º g e I3.68 I8.43 3.62 II 8.88 I8
August e © e Io.87 I2.37 IO. 59 17 6.96 I3
September . g & II. 92 II.63 7.95 2I 7.42 I7
October . e * 9.83 I7.48 I3.8o I9 29.67 24
November . tº e 7.88 2.58 5. OO I5 IO.88 I9
December . wº © .O7 .66 .67 5 I.91 9
70.59 9I.91 64.39 84.72 I39
The amount shown by Menocal's tables was 47.43 in
1883, and 35.08 in 1884.
Finally, the rainfall from July, 1886, to June, 1887,
inclusive, was 56 inches,
We have as the average for these nine years 64.42
76 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
inches. It is greater on the Atlantic coast, but we have
no data from that section.
Parkes gives a rainfall of 200 inches for certain dis.
tricts in England, in exceptional years, and for one place
in India, 600 inches. According to Schott the average
for four years at Aspinwall was 121.44.”
The probabilities during the rainy season are for
showers in the afternoon or night. The mornings, gener.
ally, are bright. The people rise early and do a day's
work by 3 o'clock P.M., the rain usually coming later.
Mr. Childs was able to carry on his field work throughout
the year.
In 1876, when the writer of this paper was in Nica.
ragua, the dry season was unbroken at Ometepec until the
evening of May the 18th, when there was a shower with
lightning. After that there was rain nearly every eve-
ning, until in June a temporal occurred, the rain coming
down almost continuously for a week. This was fol.
lowed by brighter weather, with clear mornings and
showery evenings. The natives count on a lovely season
from the middle of July to the middle of August.
Dr. Flint says it is the belief of the old inhabitants
that there is less rain than formerly. He coincides
in this opinion, being sure that at least in the department
of Leon, where the trees have been cut away, the rainfall
has diminished. The cultivation of the valley of the
San Juan will be followed by a similar modification of
climate.
The relative humidity at Rivas for the last twelve
months was 78.9. According to Parkes: “The most
* Tables of Rain and Snow. C. A. Schott, Washington, 1872. Parkes’ “Prac-
tical Hygiene.”
Nicaragua Canal Route. 77
agreeable amount of humidity to most healthy people is
when the relative humidity is between 70 and 80 per
cent.”
We may begin at Greytown, the eastern terminus, in
considering the special conditions marking the different
localities on the route of the canal. Between the old har.
bor, at the mouth of the San Juan, and the Indian River
there is about five miles of beach facing to the northeast
and furnishing the best site in the neighborhood for offi-
cers' quarters, etc. Although lagoons lie back of the
beach, they vary but slightly and slowly in level, and are
not of the same sources of malarial danger as swamps that
are alternately wet and dry. The town of Greytown has
enjoyed the advantage of good water from wells, and if
this should fail, it is now practicable to distil water
cheaply and thus avoid one of the dangers which in the
olden time gave terror to the idea of life in the tropics.
From the coast the line will lie for some ten miles
through the swamps and lagoons bordering the Atlantic.
Fortunately on this, the worst section of the canal, ma-
chinery will do the work, and by utilizing the negroes
of Jamaica and our Gulf States, we may have a class of
workmen entirely in accord with the environment, for
where the cocoa-nut grows and the alligator disports him.
self, the citizen of African descent is entirely at home.
A shipload of Africans that were wrecked on the coast
of Honduras more than a hundred years ago mixed with
the natives, and have thriven and spread as the green
bay-tree, until now they form the predominating class
from the Gulf of Honduras to Aspinwall.
Heavy work must be done through the ridge between
the flats and the valley of the San Francisco, and here
78 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
the utmost care must be exercised in selection of camps
and the enforcement of the rigid discipline, which is
indispensable in any enterprise of importance undertaken
in the tropics, where proper exercise of simple rules will
make all the difference between a healthy residence and
a pest-hole. The English have had more experience in
this matter than any other people, gnd their records
show that they have changed the mortality among their
white troops serving in the West Indies from a mean
mortality in Jamaica per thousand per year of 121.3, in
years 1817–36, to 13.51, in the year 1871, the last year of
which separate record is given. “The total death rate
among the white tróops in the West Indian command
was in 1880, 8.68 per thousand, of which 5.79 only were
due to disease.” ”
Such results would be inconceivable but that they are
based on unquestionable records.
And all this was done by paying regard to simplest
rules of science in the choice, arrangement, and manage.
ment of camps and barracks. The authorities found
that it did not pay to crowd men, give them bad water
and food, and leave the choice of building sites to igno-
rance or chance; and as soon as the English recognized
that and began to act accordingly, their mortality among
the white troops stationed in Jamaica fell off from 333
per thousand per annum, which one regiment averaged
for four years—1794–97,-to 13.51 in 1871.
“The history of sanitary science affords many striking instances of the removal
of disease to an extent almost incredible, but no instance is more wonderful than
that of the West Indies. Formerly service in the West Indies was looked on as
almost certain death. It is little over sixty years since the usual time for the dis-
appearance of a regiment I, OOO strong was five years. . . . At present
* Parkes’ “Practical Hygiene.”
‘Nicaragua Canal Route. 79
this dreaded service has almost lost its terrors. There still occur local attacks of
yellow fever, which may cause a great mortality, but for these, local causes may
be found ; and otherwise the stations in the West Indies can now show a degree of
salubrity almost equalling, in some cases surpassing, that of the home service.”
These are the dispassionate words of the highest au-
thority, Parkes, whose work is the text-book on hygiene
wherever the English language is read.
On the section of the line through the first hills after
leaving the sea the surface is well drained, excellent
drinking-water is found in every direction, the breeze is
fresh nearly throughout the year, and by the exercise of
care in the selection of camps it should be a healthy sec-
tion. The camp should always be on an elevation with
exposure to eastward for the prevailing wind. If a
marsh be near, place the camp to windward of it. In
this point the steadiness and direction of the wind is a
great advantage. Latrines must always be to leeward
and below camp, and beyond the possibility of touching
the water supply. The formation of a camp in such a
climate is an exceedingly simple thing. With the ther.
mometer rarely varying beyond the limits of 70° to 85°,
the only shelter needed is a cover to windward, to protect
from the breeze or driving rains.
Travellers in Nicaragua know that almost anywhere a
shelter can be improvised in a few minutes. The Indian
slashes down some palm branches, leans them on a ridge-
pole to the weather side of his fire, and at once is secure
against an ordinary rain. According to the necessity of
the case or permanency of abode, quarters might be ar-
ranged of any grade, between the primitive bivouac of the
native, and open houses of wood, with floors raised above
ground high enough to admit free passage of air beneath.
The cane huts of the natives are admirable for ventila-
80 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
tion, and for the coolness of their thatched roofs, which
are better than tiles or shingles. A wooden hut is con-
sidered better than a house of brick or stone for ordinary
housing of men, because it is cooler and less close. Thick
brick walls in a hot climate become heated during the
day, and take all night to cool. The floors should be of
planks laid loose or fastened with screws, so that they
could be taken up for examination and cleaning. A modi-
fication of the hut used by the German army would be
good where it was advisable to quarter a number of men
in each house.
In the section we are considering the timber is so very
cheap, and the climate so moderate and equable, that we
consider the most temporary shelter the best, because,
whenever desirable, it could be destroyed and new quar.
ters built on a fresh site. It is laid down in the authorities
that the reoccupation of an old camp is never desirable.
For offices, officers' quarters, etc., houses should be built
with a clear height of at least three feet under the floors,
so that air may circulate freely and there be room for
keeping the ground clean. Whenever such a house is
necessarily placed on a damp site, a coat of cement or
asphalt should cover the surface of the ground under the
house. In arranging quarters, ground should be broken
as little as possible, and all cleared ground should be
quickly covered with a growth of short grass, which,
whether it be by absorbing malaria or its elements, or
protecting the earth from the direct action of sun and air,
certainly has a favorable influence. The neighborhood of
the dam on the San Juan is hilly, and there is ample lati-
tude for choice of camp grounds which fulfil sanitary
requirements. Wherever there are hills and abundance
Micaragua Canal Route. 81
of good water, only stupidity or carelessness could pre-
vent the choice of a suitable spot for quarters. Where
barracks are used, long narrow buildings with side to
windward, in single line or echelon, is the proper arrange.
ment. A room 52 feet long, 20 wide, and 12 in height
will accommodate 24 men, allowing a full 600 cubic feet
of air-space and a floor surface 5x10, good measure. The
roof should be arranged overhanging and with opening at
top, as in the German army hut. A veranda would add
to comfort, but the nearer the house comes to being an
open shed the better. It is desirable to spread men over
the widest available area, and where men can settle at a
point with expectation of five years' work, it would seem
wise to encourage their building in the neighboring coun.
try. They will be more contented and amenable to
management when settled in their huts with a wife, a
patch of plantains, a pig, some chickens, and children.
We consider one immense advantage of this route that
the interest of the company will be the interest of the
Nicaragua Government, and the former can count on the
earnest co-operation of the latter. So that the company
will be enabled to enforce the discipline deemed requisite.
Again, this will not be a great world's thoroughfare until
after completion, and the commerce to Greytown, and
along the line will be almost entirely for the Canal Com-
pany, and whatever quarantine occasion may demand can
be promptly and effectively enforced. From the dam to
the lake the work will be in the bed of the San Juan,
and whenever good camping ground is not convenient,
boats may be used. While surveying in the San Juan in
1873 our healthiest party was the hydrographic party, who
slept in their boats anchored in midstream. A great ad-
82 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
vantage in this arrangement would be the perfect police.
The men might sleep in flat boats painted inside, with no
hold, the sliding tops to be removed clear days for ex-
posure of interior to sun and air. No cooking to be
allowed on board, and all stores to be kept on shore.
These boats might be anchored so as to have as long a
stretch of water to windward as possible. Sailors knew
the protection from malaria afforded by a strip of water
long before the authorities on hygiene laid down the
principle and the distances affording protection. A very
powerful modifying influence on this river is the circum-
stance that it is not subject to sudden changes of level.
The great expanse of the lake makes rise and fall very
gradual, and as the river is only an outlet of the lake,
and receives no tributary of consequence above the San
Carlos, it is not subject to sudden floods, which leave con-
ditions so favorable for the development of malaria. For.
the same reason the subsoil water of this valley changes
very slowly its level—a very important point in sanitary
consideration.
The western section, the line between the lake and the
ocean, extending from the mouth of the Rio Lajas to
Brito, on the Pacific, lies in the Department of Rivas.
It is the portion of the route on which the great mass of
the laborers will be employed, and I believe there is no
section of country in the tropics where the conditions are
more favorable for the good health of such a population.
The beauty, fertility, and salubrity of this region have
received the enthusiastic encomiums of visitors, since the
day when the gentle King Nicarao admitted as a guest
Gil Gonzalez de Avila, that most upright of the Spanish
conquerors. O
Micaragua Canal Route. 83
The undulating surface becomes hilly near the Pacific
and within a few miles of the sea breaks into the coast
range from five to twelve hundred feet in height. The
country is well drained. The winds, which have swept
up the valley of the San Juan or over the hills of Chon-
tales, have lost their surplus moisture, and the broad sur-
face of the lake has relieved them of whatever malarial
germs were taken up on the Atlantic side.
Looking from the summit of one of the western hills,
we have spread between us and the lake the garden of
Central America containing the city of Rivas and half a
dozen small towns and villages bowered in orange groves
and palms and surrounded by plantations of sugar, indigo,
and chocolate. In the hill country, to the northwest,
coffee is the crop, and in all sections maize and plantains
may be produced in any amount desirable. While,
throughout the state, cattle raising is an important in-
dustry, the Department of Chontales, across the lake from
Rivas, is one expanse of grazing country, and the same
may be said of the neighboring province of Liberia, in
Costa Rica.
Along the Rio San Juan, a virgin soil, as productive as
any in the world, has been lying through all the ages,
waiting for the hand of man to transform its forest-clad
hills into smiling fields of pastures green.
Thus, in a hilly country, subjected to the beneficent in-
fluence of the trade-wind, with good drinking-water and
an abundance of fresh food, the conditions seem most
favorable for the health of men engaged in out-door work.
There are, of course, to be expected malarial troubles, but
in few States of the Union are the lowlands free from
the same class of diseases. Malaria, like other poisons, is
84 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
weakened by dilution, and the strong and almost constant
movement of the air in this section prevents that stagna.
tion which, in a damp, tropical country, is accompanied
by accumulation of malaria with its fatal consequences.”
While the dry season, which, to a certain extent, takes
the place of the northern winter, is not so efficacious in
destroying the matters on which the fevers depend, we
doubt if the difference is not made up by the escape from
pleurisy, rheumatism, and the low diseases from over-
crowding during the cold weather north. Our experience
while surveying this route was certainly not discouraging,
as may be seen from the following extract from our
report:
“The expedition reached Greytown on December 20, 1872, and left there July
6, 1873. Some of the officers and men were with us only a portion of the time.
There were on duty 45 officers and men during the survey, the average roll being
36 for the six and a half months.
“The following is a synopsis of our medical journal :
Disease. No. Cases. Disease. No. Cases.
Fever, intermittent . º . I8 Pharyngitis . º e ... I
Fever, remittent . g - ... 3 Neuralgia I
Vulnus 3 Odontalgia I
Catarrhus 2 Furunculus I
Dysenteria chronica I Abscessus I
Diarrhoea acuta I Insolatio . I
Cholera morbus I -
35
“Total number of sick days, 245.
“Daily average number on sick-list, 1.23.
“There were no deaths. One officer was returned to the United States on
account of an attack of sunstroke, and a man with chronic dysentery, which he had
before he joined the expedition, was returned soon after we reached the country.
“Of the 45 officers and men, 23 were on the sick-list, some being on several
times, sometimes with different diseases, oftener with recurrent intermittent fever.
The most troublesome case was a man who was left in the country by the expedi-
* A note from the Office of Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., says of this section :
“Exempt from hurricanes and whirlwinds, owing to the constant movement of
air across the Isthmus from the trade-winds, although light in rainy season.”
Micaragua Canal Route. 85
tion of last year, and who had led a debauched life while here. He was on the
list six times—five times with intermittent fever. The next case in obstinacy was
a gentleman who had contracted the fever in an expedition to Darien, and who
had suffered with it several months before going to Nicaragua.
:}; Sk Sk ::: :: :: :k :k >k
“On our sick-list there was only one case of dysentery, and that was chronic, in
a man of habits of intoxication, who had suffered with it before joining this ex-
pedition.
“When we remember that many of these men had had fever on board the Kan-
sas, which was in the Coatzacoalcos River, in 1870–71, and again in the West
Indies last winter, that sailors are notoriously reckless of their health when on
shore, the total change in habit from shipboard to camp-life, and the expedition
rations principally of canned food and bacon, it must be admitted this country
proved far from the pestilential regions described by the survivors of Nelson's
party.
“There was a marked absence of the bowel complaints for which the tropics are
so noted. In quite an extensive practice among the natives, few cases of diarrhoea
or dysentery were met with, except among the children. When we consider their
food of fruits and du/ces, and their intimate association with pigs and poultry, it
is only strange that theme were so few cases. The natives generally are remark-
ably healthy, rarely complaining of any disease except sequelae of fever, old skin
diseases, syphilides, etc.” *
For hospitals, the first should be on the beach north-
east of Greytown. For much of the year, certainly dur.
ing the dry season, this would be an excellent sanitarium
for men who had broken down working inland. Acces.
sory pavilions for infectious diseases could be placed on
the beach south of the old harbor.
Near the cut through the hills towards the San Fran-
cisco excellent positions are afforded for field hospitals.
The same may be said of the neighborhood of the dam on
the San Juan. In the fork between that river and the
San Carlos, the hills rise rapidly from the bank of the
river to a height of 1,500 or 2,000 feet. g
On the west side the bold hills of the Pacific coast
*Abstract of Medical Journal, Lull's Report: “Reports of Explorations and
Surveys for the Location of a Ship Canal through Nicaragua.” Washington, 1874,
page I2O.
86 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
furnish admirable sites for hospitals. One might be
placed on the bluffs northwest of Brito, immediately over
the sea, where surf bathing would lend its invigorating
influence in bracing up the constitution weakened by
malarial disease. -
This place was long the resort for the higher classes of
Rivas during the latter part of the dry season, before the
port of San Juan del Sur drew away its patrons. The
ordinary diet is here enriched with fish and turtle, while
at hand is the inexhaustible supply of delicious fruit
of this department. ;
The main hospital of the company should be placed on
the northeast slope of Mt. Madera on the Island of Ome.
tepee. This island at its nearest point is seven miles
from the west shore of the lake, near the mouth of the
canal. It is some twenty miles long, and nine wide at its
widest. It has an irregulr figure-8 shape, and is made by
the two mountains, Madera and Ometepee, which are
connected by a narrow strip of lowland.
The geological formation is, of course, volcanic—enor.
mous blocks of basalt, in some places, cover the mountain
side, while near the lake on the northern or Ometepee end
there is quite level land, extending at some points as far
as two miles inland, and extremely fertile.
“Of the mountains, Madera has the more aged appearance, with rugged outline
and ridged and shaggy sides. Dense forests cover it, except where the rock show
in a few grim patches. There is very little arable land on this end of the island,
the inhabitants being confined to a few favorable spots near the lake shore. There
is a beautiful stream down the north side of the mountain, which, with two small
ones in the local connecting slip, constitutes the only running water on the island
during the dry season. - -
“The volcano Ometepee, according to my aneroid, is 4,550 feet high, some four
or five hundred feet more elevated than Madera. It is very regular in outline; in
form, the model volcano. Its gracefully sloping sides fall with less abruptness as
the lake is approached, until a tolerably level plain on the northeast, and another
Nicaragua Canal Route. 87
on the southwest, form respectively the districts of Alta Gracia and Moyagalpa.
This mountain also is well wooded to the top, except on the southwest side, where,
about a third of the way down from the summit, the timber abruptly terminates
and grass loans spread down towards the shore.
“The J/oans widen as they descend, until in the foot-hills they extend from
Moyagalpa on the north to Los Angeles south. Near the lake, around these vil-
lages and between them, is a tract of arable land of unsurpassed fertility. Cacao
grows here with great luxuriance, and the planter can choose for his crop sugar,
coffee, rice, cotton, or indigo, with all the fruits of tropical America. But the
favorite productions are watermelons and tobacco, which grow better than else-
where in the republic.” +
On the northeast side of Madera, where the broken and
well-drained land goes to the edge of the lake, the main
hospital of the company should be located, with an ad.
junct pavilion at a point on the mountain side sufficiently
elevated to secure bracing air and cold nights. Even
near the beach one or two blankets are found comfortable
during the dry season, and at an elevation of 2,000 feet
three would not seem de trop. The island has absolutely
no swamp except the slip to leeward between the moun.
tains; while the easterly breeze comes thirty miles over
water, rendering the introduction of malaria from the
mainland impossible.
In conclusion the writer, after nearly three years more
in Central and South America, can only repeat what he
said four years ago +:
“That after an experience of several years in tropical regions around the world,
he is convinced that most of the cases of fearful mortality recorded of expeditions
in the tropics were the results of gross ignorance and recklessness. Men cannot
live in Central America as they would in New York; nor can they live in New
York as they would at the North Pole. We believe that the observation of the
simplest rules of health and the exercise of a little common sense would to a great
extent rob hot climates of their terror.”
J. F. BRANSFORD.
* “Archaeological Researches in Nicaragua,” by J. F. Bransford. Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge, No. 383. Washington, I881, p. 5.
# The Sanitarian, New York, February 22, 1883.
88 Climatic and Sanitary Wotes on the
APPENDIX.—Tables covering twelve months from July, 1886,
to June, 1887, inclusive.
RIVAs—JULY, 1886. LAT. II° 26' N. ;
LONG., 85° 49'W. 7 A.M., WASHINGTON
TIME ; 6. I7 A.M., LOCAL TIME. BAR.— AUGUST, 1886.
I5o FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

Wind an ; Wind P §
e tº . º: º : º
£ £5 ## # 3 g;|-T-| ##
#| 5 || 3 |##| g | | E3 # || 3 || 5 || 3 | #3 || 3 Eä :
£ à | F. # 5 || 3 || 3 || Fº ‘5 || 5 | f | * | *śā | 3 || 3 || Fº: ‘5
As |&#| 3 | #| 33 3 S &#| 3 | # 33 $2
..: £r. 5- g .: ſt- #- §
Q £4 Oſ) Q p: C/D
CIIl CIſ).
I'29.90 || 77 |80 | NE o — clear. I|29.90 73 |80 E | 1 — clear.
2 go 77 |80 |SE | 1 I.9 |cloudy. || 2 .90 || 75 |80 | NE O .6 & 4
3| .90 75 |82 |NW o 2.8 & 4 3| .90 76 |82 “ I .5 |cloudy
4 .92 || 78 |80 N I — I clear. 4 .90 76 |80 | N | O .4 | clear.
5] .90 77 |80 | NE o - & 4 5] .90 || 75 |82 ‘‘ O 4.6 cloudy
6| .90 75 |82 | N | O 4.7 |cloudy 6 .90 | 75 |82 “ I .4 6 &
7| .90 74 |82 | SE o I. I 4 4 7| .91 || 75 |82 “ I I.8 & 4
8 .90 75 |82 ‘‘ O — clear. 8| .92 || 74 (82 | SE | I I. I g &
9| .92 || 75 |82 “ I 3 cloudy 9| .90 || 74 |82 ‘‘ O 3.4 tº ſº
Io .90 | 73 |82 “ I 2.2 clear. IO .90 || 74 |82 “ I 4.5 § {
II .90 75 |82 ‘‘ O - & 4 II] .90 76 |82 E O .6 clear.
12 .90 75 i8O | NE o - t & I2 .90 77 |80 “ I ... I * {
I3 .90 77 |80 E I - tº 6 I3] .go 75 |80 N | O .2 £ &
I4] .90 74 |80 | SW o I.4 | cloudy. || I4] .90 74 |80 | W | I .6 £ 6
I5] .90 75 (82 “ 2 6. & 4 I5] .90 74 (82 | NE | I I.4 cloudy
I6 .92 || 74 |82 “ I 3.3 & 4 I6 .90 || 75 '82 | SE I I.9 { %
I7] .90 | 73 |82 “ | 0 .2 clear. 17 .90 75 |8o SW o •4 { &
18| .92 76 |82 | NE | I - { { 18| .90 74 |80 || W I .5 4 &
I9 .92 || 75 |80 SE o - 4 & I9 .90 | 73 |82 ** I .6 & 4
2O .90 75 |80 “ O - 4 & 2O .90 74 |82 |SW O 5. I clear.
21 .90 77 |8o NE | 1 - § { 2I] .90 74 |80 | SE I - & 4
22 .90 77 |82 ‘‘ O 1.7 cloudy. || 22 .90 76 |82 | SW O .4 cloudy
2 90 || 76 |80 ** | 0 2.2 & & 23 .90 || 74 |82 ‘‘ O 4.9 $ 4
24 .90 77 |80 E | O — clear. || 24 .92 74 |80 S I — clear.
25 .90 77 |80 ‘‘ O - t 4 25 .90 73 82 SW O 2.5 cloudy
26 .90 76 |80 “ I .5 |cloudy. || 26, .90 74 |82 E O 2.5 clear.
27 .90 76 |80 N I .4 f g 27] .90 74 |82 | SE o — cloudy
28 .90 || 77 |80 E i I .O clear. || 28 .90 74 |82 “ O 2 6 { {
29 .90 || 77 |80 S 2 ... I é & 2g .90 74 |82 “ O Ie £ 4
3o .90 | 73 |82 SE |o 2. I { { 3O .90 || 75 |82 S I I. I & 4
31| .90 | 73 |82 E | O 4.6 { { 31| .90 74 |82 |NE | O .3% & 4
- CIIl. 87. CIIl.
80.9 38.2 7.3 44. O5
inches. inches.
= I5. O9 = I7.4O

Nicaragua Canal Route. 89
SEPTEMBER, 1886. October, 1886.
º !
Wind P +: Wind P §
e g 5 * * º g 5 * 5
. ... # | #5 ## | 3 || | | | 3 | ##|T| ## 3
*| 3 || 6 || 3:3 g E3 : #| 3 || 5 |33 || 3 || 3 | E3 >
ã| * | * |33 || 3 ||3| #5 ‘5 || 8 | * | > |35 | # #| = 3 ‘5
à |*#| 3 || #3 à |*#| 3 ||3| #3 S.
*S & ; Q & ;
CII]. CIll.
1|29.93'74 8o S |o — cloudy.* || 1:29.93|74 |80 |SW | 0 || – fair.
2 .92 78 82 | NE | I - fair. 2 .92|73.5 |81 | SE | 0 .27 clear.
3] .92 72 82 |NW I cº- cloudy. || 3 .93|74 83 |NW 0 || I. I.4 fair.
4] .92 74 8o “ I — fair. 4 .90|75 |82 SW O .4o cloudy.
5| .90 76 || 78 |NE | 1 || – 4 & 5 .94|73 |80 NW o .O8 & 4
6 .90 75 78 |SW |o | I.30 { { 6 .90|74 |82 “ |O | 1.37 & 4
7 .91 74 || 78 S o . 74 £ & 7| .92|75.5 |82 4 * | 2 .63 & 4
8| .90 75 8O | SE O .18 cloudy.*|| 8 .9476 |82 | W 2 I.5O & 4
9| .90 74 8I E | O .55 fair.” || 9 .92|74.5 |80 S I 8O fair.
IO .90 74 82 | SE | O .74 | cloudy. ||Io .93|75 |82 * I . O2 & 4
II] .92 77 | 8o E | I ... II { { II] .9375 |80 | SW I — cloudy.
I2] .92 77 80 ‘‘ I º- cloudy. I2 .95||73.5 |82 * * | O . 35 & 4
I3| .90 74 8I SE | I .35 & 4 I3] .95||75 |80 * * | O .O4 clear.
I+| .9373 || 82 |SW 2 | 1.70 ( & I4] .92|76.5 |80 | NE O .O4 | cloudy.
I5] .93 73 82 SE O | I. IO & & I5] .93|76 |8 I * * O 77 & 4
I6 .93 73 5 || 82 ‘‘ o 2.24 4 & I6 .94|75 |78 * I .O4 | clear.
17| .91.73 || 83 |NW I 2.26 4 & 17 .92|76 |80 ** | I | — * 4
18 .91.74 82 “ | 1 || – & 4 I8 .92|75 |80 || “ I — cloudy.
19 .92,74.5 80 || W.] I .O2 fair. ||19| .90|72.581 * I . I 3 fair.
2O .9374.5 | 8o |NW O cloudy. ||20 .90|72.5 |80 * * | O .3I clear.
21| .8976 | 83 || “ |o & 4 2I] .90|72.5||78 || “ |O ... O & 4
22 .8676 f ‘‘ I . I 2 & & 22 .90|72.5 |77 ||NW I Io cloudy.
23: .92.73.5 82 S o .67 clear. |23: .90|74 78 ** | O - clear.
24 .91|76 80 SW I . 55 fair. † ||24' .92|74 |78 * * | O .5 4 4
25] .93||73 8I NW O .52 & 4 25 .93|7I |77 E | I I. I.4 & 4
26 .92.74.5 82 W o .90 cloudy. ||26, .9375 |79 ** | O — 4 &
27] .90.76 | 81 | SE o — cloudy.S. 27 .92|76 |78 ** | O || – & 4
28] .89.72 82 |NW O .95 clear. ||28 .88|75 |76 ** | O || – cloudy.
29) -92.75 82 | E | O .25 fair. 29 .90|76 |80 “ O . I3 & 4
3o .9475 83 |SW |o .05 || cloudy. ||3o .92.76 |77 ** | I | — º
-º- 31| .90|76 |77 || “ |o . 13 fair.
8I *
CIII. * CIn .
I5.30 79.7 IO.85
inches. inches.
= 6. O4 = 4.28
* Smoky. *
+ Column of smoke from volcano near by. Rumbling from same.
f Thunder shower.
§ Heavy thunder-shower S.E.
9() Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
NovemBER, 1886. DECEMBER, 1886.
wind. | # § wind. | # +:
º & § of 3 tº sº § 2; .#
.C. do > > #2 od .d 9 Fº > £ sº
& e Tº | P::= | . 3 g tº f; | ##| || 2: 3 §
: § 5 |33 || 5 ; , E.E. * : cº .5 || 3: 5 gº .E.: §:
Q || 23 tº 5 || 3 || 3 | "Cº. ‘s à ºn tº ºf E | 3 || 3 || Tº ‘s
S |33 || 3 || 5 | E3 9 à |*3 || 3 || 5 | E3 (i)
# |*| 5t § # |*| #",
* ------ * | * | 3 à
CII] . CIIl.
I|29.92 |77 |77 E | I *ms: Cloudy. || 1 |29.92 |74 |77 | NE I * Fair.
2 .90 |74 |80 NW | 1 .27 Clear. i. 2 .93 |74 |78 ‘‘ 2 * Clear.
3 .92 |76 |80 E O 35 Fair. 3| .92 |74 |78 ‘‘ 2 * e {
4 .95 |76 |78 “ o — & 6 4| .91 |74 |77 || “ || 2 || – & 4
5| .93 |76 79 “ I 76 |Cloudy. || 5 | .92 |74 |78 ‘‘ I * & &
6| .90 |75 |76 | NE | 2 .O.8 Clear. || 6 | .92 |75 |74 ‘‘ 2 * 4 &
7| .90 |73 |76 E | O | — 4 & 7| .92 |7I.5 |7O “ 3 *s & &
8 .92 |75 |75 NE 2 &=e & 4 8 .92 |73 |7 E 2 *E* & &
9| .92 |74 |76 “ I • O2 6 & 9| .92 |74 |77 |ENE I *E* Cloudy.
Io .92 |77 |76 ‘‘ 2 *=s Fair. || Io .92 |74 |78 “ I tº- Clear.
II] .92 |75 |77 “ I *E--> Clear. II | .92 |75 |78, NE 2 *º-sº Fair.
I2] .90 |76 |79 ‘‘ | 0 *=g Cloudy. ||12| .92 |77 |77 |ENE I 3-º-º: & 4
I3] .90 |75 |82 ‘‘ O .oy 4 & I3] .92 |76 |77 | NE | 2 * & 4
I4] .93 |76 |80 || “ |o .O2 “ ||14} .92 75 '78 “ | 3 || – & 4
I5] .92 |77 |79 E I .O4 Fair. ||L5| .92 73 |78 -“ o — Cloudy.
16| .92 |77 |78 “ I .86 & 4 I6 .92 |73 |78 “ 3 *ge Clear.
I7; .90 |77 |79 | NE I .O4 |Cloudy. ||I7] .92 |74 |74 “ 3 * { {
18| .91 |76# 178 ‘‘ 2 . O6 Fair. ||18 || .92 |75, 79 ‘‘ 2 wº-ºº: 4 &
I9| .94 |77 |78 ‘‘ 2 ..I.9 |Cloudy. |Ig| .92 |74 178 “ I { {
20| .92 |76 |78 E | 2 *g Fair. 20 .92 |74 |78 “ I fº & (
21 | .90 |76 |76 “ 2 .O2 & ſº 2I .92 |7 77 ‘‘ 2 .47 4 &
22| .92 |76 |78 | NE | I . O2 $ 6 22 .94 |76 |78 “ I * £ 6
23| .90 #75% 80 “ I . I 7 || Clear. ||23| .93 |76 |77 ‘‘ 2 º-º-º: 4 *
24 .90 |74 |80 ‘‘ || 0 .33 Fair. ||24| .92 |75 |78 “ I * § {
25 .91 |73 |79 SE | O * Clear. ||25 | .92 |74 |77 “ I º- { {
26 .93 |75 |80 E | I O2 |Cloudy ||26 .93 |74 |78 “ I *=s & #
27] .92 |74 |78 | NE | 1 .43 § { 27| .92 |75 |78 - || “ . I tº- tº it
28 .92 |72 |80 ‘‘ I *mº. Clear. ||28| .92 |75 |79 “ "I *mº § {
29] .92 |74 |77 || “ | I — “ ||29} .93 74 |79 “ I — { {
3O] .92 |74 |76 E | 1 || – ‘‘ ||30} .92 |74 |77 || “ I — { %
31 .90 |72 |80 ** | O • O2 * {
20 oló 8. I CITI. ** =
9 9 7 3.75 29.92I| |77. I Cºl.
inches. © • 49
= 1.48 inches.


- s
AVicaragua Canal Route. 91
JANUARY, 1887. FEBRUARY, 1887.
e !, * g ſ *
& * Wind. #4 # * * - Wind i. º
g # | ##|T. ## |g| | | #|gā T. ##
#| 3 || 5 |33 || 5 || 3 || E3 * || 3 || 3 || || |##| 5 || 5 | E3 §:
Q º >, | # 5 3 g := - ‘a ſº CQ P # 5 'E Q -, * *4-4
s' | p. E O $—s cº º 23 O 5 * : O
Q -E: § O º, O $3 Q | p.c. * | G. ºf S (l)
.* [r. a “ S$ ..}: .E. *
Q 3 C/) Q | & &;
CIll. CIll.
I|29.92 |7O |80 E O &= clear. I|29.92 |75 |78 3 *E* clear.
2] .92 |75 |79 NE | 3 * § { 2 .92 |73 |80 ‘‘ 2 33 |cloudy.
3| .92 |72 |7O “ 3 * { { 3| .91 |73.5 |79 “ 2 I5 fair
4 .93 |72.5 |72 E 2 — cloudy. || 4 .89 |74 |79 ‘‘ 2 . O8 & 4
5| .92 |71 |75 | ENE | 2 *E=º fair. 5 .90 |74 |78 “ 3 .05 |cloudy
6 .92 |73 |70 E I — cloudy. || 6 .92 |74 |80 ‘‘ 2 O8 6 &
7| .92 |74 |79 NE | 2 * fair. 7| .93 |74 |78 NE | 2 —— | clear.
8| .9L |75 |79 E | I — cloudy. || 8 .92 |75 |77 “ 3 O8 & 4
9 .91 |75 |76 | NE | 2 — clear. || 9 .93 |73 |76 “ 3 -> & 4
1 O .92 |75 |79 “ I ** fair. ||IO .93 |74 |75 “ 3 gº fair.
II] .93 |77 |78 ‘‘ 2 — cloudy. ||II] .93 |73 |78 E | I *º clear.
I2] .92 |73 |78 “ I .5O & ſº I2] .90 |74.5 |78 “ 4 - § {
I3] .93 |73 |80 “ I . IO clear. I3] .92 |73 |74 “ 4 *- & ºt
I4] .93 |73.5|78 E | I O2 fair. ||14} .93 |74 |76 “ 3 *E*-*. £ 6
I5] .93 |74 |7 “ 2 *a- clear. ||I5] .93 |74 |78 “ 3 — cloudy
I6 .93 |74 |78 NE | 3 — |cloudy. || 16 .92 |74 |80 | ENE 2 • O-4 clear.
I7] .93 |73 |79 E I I3 { { 17| .92 |73 |78 “ I **E=? fair.
I8 .95 |73 |74 ‘‘ 2 **** clear. 18| .93 |73 |78 * * sº-ºº- clear.
I9 .93 |73 |73 | ENE | 3 s== { { I9 .92 |74 |78 E | I *- $ 4
2O .93 |73 |80 “ 3 - § { 2O .91 |75 (78 ‘‘ I *E* { {
2I] .93 |74.5 |76 “ 2 *º & 4 2I .92 |74 |78 “ I — cloudy
22 .92 |74 |78 “ 3 IO cloudy. ||22 .93 |74 |76 “ I º- fair.
23 .92 |74 |78 E | 2 **E= clear. ||23] .93 |73 |79 ‘‘ I ** { {
24 .92 |74.5 |79 “ I rº- 4 & 24 .93 |74 |78 ‘‘ 2 tºº { {
25] .92 |73 |77 “ 2 • O2 { { 25 .92 |76 |76 ** 2 sº-º-º: & &
26 .92 |73.5 |79 | ENE | 3 * & 4 26 .91 |75 |77 ‘‘ 2 * * clear.
27 .92 |74 |77 | NE 3 tºº-º-º: { { 27] .92 |74 |78 ‘‘ 2 *E* ( &
28 .93 |73.5 77 |ENE 4 * 4 & 28 .92 |74 |78 NE | 3 — |cloudy
29 .93 |73.6|8I NE | 3 .O3 fair smºsºmºs
3o .92 |75.2|78 E | I & Exº & 4 77.6 §:
3I] .92 |74 |78 | NE | 3 — clear. . § I
inches.
i.e. CIT1 . -: .32
77. I .90
inches.
= .35

92 Climatic and Sanitary Notes on the
MARCH, I887. APRIL, 1887.
, s
Wind. #. 5 Wind #. 3
s. dº sé-2 a > / *res)
se 35 3 s e i E. T. É5
5 à 5 ¿E 5 à ## E| 3
5 ºā # 353 5 ºā 3 33 º
C) 3 ¿ S 3 ¿
I29.94 74 76 E 5 clear. | I 29.9o 74 578 E I
2 .94 74 76 “ 2 fair 2 .9o 74.878 * 2 =
3 .93 74 77 “ 3 clear. 3 .93 75 78 * º 2 «¿
4 .93 74 76 ENE 4 4 4 .92 75.279 ENE 3 9
5 .93 73.577 E 3 4 5 .94 75 78 * 2 «¿-?
6 .92 74 75 “ 2 “ 6 .93 75 78 E 2 3
7 .93 73 78 “ I á 7 .92 76 78 “ 3 3
8 .93 72.5 78 “ I . 8 .93 76 7 ENE 2 g
9 .93 73 78 EN E| 1 4 4 9 .92 76 78 E I 5
IO .93 73 78 * I 4 4 Io .92 76 77 *º 2 º--
II .93 73 78 “ 2 “ II .9o 76 77 I .E
I2 .93 73.578 “ I “ I2 .93 77 77 ENE I
I3 .93 74 76 E I d5 I3 .92 77 78 Ex S. I
I4 .93 75 78 “ 2 5 cloudy. I4 .93 77 8o E I d; 5
15 .93 74.5 75 Ex N 3 2 clear. || 15 9o 77.578 “ I 5 .E
Ió .92 7 75 E I 4 . 16 .9I 77.578 “ I z º
I7 .92 74 75 ENE I “ I7 .9o 77 79 “ º I 3
I8 .92 74 77 E 2 18 .89 77.579 I S
19 .92 73 75 ENE 2 “ 19 .89 77 77 ENE I ¿
2O .92 73 77 *º 2 4 2o .go 78 78 E I -->
2I .92 73 77 E I 2I .9o 78 78 , “ I 3
22 .92 7-1 78 “ " 2 4 6 22 .9o 77 78 ENE 2 º-o
23 .92 75 78 I 23 .9o 76.8 77 E 2 s
24 .92 75 78 “ I é 24 .89 78 78 “ º I E
25 .92 75 78 “ I “ 25 .87 77 79 º I º,
26 .92 74 78 “ 2 fair. 26 .9o 77 78 ENE I c
27 .92 74 78 “ 3 clear. 27 .93 77 78 “ 3 e
28 .88 7 77 “ 2 “ 28 .93 77 78 E 3 2
29 .9o 74 78 “ I “ 29 — 77 76 NE 2 E
3C .9O 75 78 “º 2 cloudy.3o — 76 78 E I ré
3I .9O 75 78 Ҽ 2 clear.
77.9 77.9 -
Nicaragua Canal Route. 93
MAY, 1887. JUNE, 1887.
* }. e tº 3. +.
e º Wind ; t Å e & Wind #4 #
s] | # |##|T| ## | | |g| | | # |##|T| ## | #,
§ 3 || 5 |33 || 5 || || E3 à || || 3 || 5 | ##| 3 53 2:
Q | pº * * B | # | 8 -: * S Q | pº Þ * E | # 3 := - ‘5
Å |*# | 3 ||5|| 33 (i) As 24 E | 3 |5 3 5 ©
t; ſº, .E 5 .E |ºr. .E." *
C 3 C/) Q 3 Č;
CII).
I| – || 78 |78 E | 2 &=s Clear. || I 78 |79 E | I &mºs Fair.
2 — 78 |78 | NE | 2 * & & 2 77 |79 ‘‘ I — cloudy.
3| – || 36||7 || " || – “ || 3 78 |79 || “ o 15 “
4 — | 76 |78 E | 2 *=s & 4 4 75 |79 | NE I &= fair.
5 — 78 |78 ‘‘ 2 & 4 5 77 |80 || W o — cloudy.
629.92| 78 |78 | NE | 2 * 4 & 6 78 |80 E | I .3I 4 &
7| .93| 78 |80 E | I *- fair. 7 77 |80 ‘‘ O 78 &
8 .90|78 |78 “ I * cloudy. || 8 76 |80 N | O *º-º-e £ 4
9 .92 78 |79 N | I *E* 4 & 9 75 |80 E | I *- fair.
Io .90 78 79 | NE | I - & & IO 76 |80 “ I .08 cloudy.
II .92; 75 |80 E | I * £ 4 II 75 |80 || W o I.26 § {
12 .86||77 |88 | NE | I fair. || I2 75 |80 “ | O * fair.
I3] .86| 75 |89 || W | 1 clear. ||I3 73 |80 ** | O Eº * {
I4 .88 79 |82 | NE |o .02 || cloudy. I4 76 |80 “ O — cloudy.
I5] .90 74 |80 “ I I.4I fair. ||I5 75 |80 ‘‘ O * clear.
I6 .92 76 |80 || W | 1 I.31 || cloudy. ||I6 76 |80 ‘‘ O .43 & 8
I7] .87| 76 |80 ** | O .27 é & I7 as 74 81 “ O . I6 cloudy.
I8 .go 75 |80 ‘‘ O .67 fair. ||18| 5 || 75 |80 ** | O . I3 fair.
I9 .90 73 |80 S | I 4.09 cloudy.|I9| 2 || 76 |80 ** | O .58 cloudy.
2O .93| 73 |80 “ I .59 fair. 20 74 |8I ‘‘ O .5O & 4
2I] .97| 74 |80 || W I . I 9 § { 2I 75 |80 “ I .44 | clear.
22 .98| 75 |80 “ O . I5 & 4 22 75 |80 “ I .o8 cloudy.
23| – || 75 |80 SE | I .28 £ 6 23 74 |80 “ I .40 fair.
24 — 74 |80 ** | O s=º cloudy.]|24 74 (80 E | I . I6 clear. .
25 — 77 |80 ‘‘ I .O4 & 4 25 74 |81 | SE | I 2.56 cloudy.
26 — 78 |79 E | I * 6 & 26 75 8o E | O . I6 fair.
27] — 77 |79 “ I . I5 & & 27 77 |80 | SE 4 * clear.
28 — 75 |79 SE 2 *º- ſair. ||28 77 |80 | NE | 1 e-º tº {
29 — 77 |79 E | 2 *º- cloudy. 29 77 |80 || “ I * * {
30| – || 77 |79 ‘‘ I wº- é & 3O 77 |80 E O mº-º cloudy.
3I amº 78 79 4 & I tº-º é & *=== CIIl
79.9 CIIle 79.9 8. I8
9. I7 inches.
inches. = 3.23
= 3.62

Mean humidity for year, 78.9.
Rainfall for year, 131.70 cm. = 52.00 inches.
NOTES
'ON THE HISTORY OF NICARAGUA—ON THE ADVANTAGES OF
THE LAKE TO AN ISTHMIAN CANAL —-SHOWING WIHY
THE PROJECT SHOULD BE BEGUN AT ONCE.
BY
JACOB W, MILLER, GENERAL MANAGER P. & S. S. S. Co.
I.
The question of a passage to the Pacific through the
narrow isthmian barrier is as old as the discovery of the
continent itself, the very commission granted to Colum-
bus surmising that the East Indies was the goal to be
reached. In the great navigator's second and third voy.
ages we find him exploring the Gulf of Paria; vainly
imagining that he is about to find the South Sea. In his
wake followed a host of adventurers, seeking the
“strait”—Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Ogeja, Lotes, Pizarro;
all, in connection with their other projects, sought to .
render their names famous by the discovery. Even as
late as 1687 we find Sieur de Lussan, a French “filibus.
terer,” writing:
“This lake (Nicaragua) hems in three islands that are not far distant the one
from the other, and all of them very near the mouth thereof. Some few years
since the Aourºua (specie vessel) of Acapulco, that went to the East Indies, on
its return, entered in this lake through the bay, and we understood that some
Spaniard had entered by the other end of it through the river Vastaqua, that
discharges itself into a bay of New Spain and consequently the North Sea.”
This account of a ship passing from ocean to ocean is
undoubtedly overdrawn, though it is highly probable that
94
AVotes. 95
the channel of the San Juan, or Vastaqua, was much deeper
prior to its partial destruction by the Spaniards during the
last century. Dampier's Voyages contain interesting ac-
counts of Nicaragua, while Humboldt, in his “New Spain,”
after an elaborate description of several routes, states that
“communication with the Pacific Ocean would be effected
by cutting a canal across the isthmus, which separates
the lake from the Gulf of Papagayo.”
The first regularly organized expedition to Nicaragua
was probably undertaken in 1778 by two Spaniards
named Ysasi and Alexandre. They were accompanied
by two Englishmen, Hodgson and Lee, who published a
description of their work on their return to England.
This survey was supplemented by an examination of the
territory west of Lake Nicaragua, conducted by a govern-
ment engineer named Manuel Galisteo, in 1781.
In 1825 De Witt Clinton endeavored to arouse the
interest of the United States to the importance of ship
communication beteween the two oceans, though it was
not till ten years later that President Jackson appointed
Mr. Biddle agent to examine the isthmus, and then the
objective point was Darien and not Nicaragua.
Mr. Bailey, a retired officer of the British Navy, was
employed in 1838 by the government of Central America
to make a survey of this canal route. His operations
were confined to the territory between the lake and the
Pacific, and were consequently incomplete.
During the next few years several companies were formed
in Europe, nominally for the colonization of the isthmus,
but actually as preliminary steps towards a future canal.
But one of those companies commanded much attention,
and that simply from the romantic interest attached to
96 Motes.
the man at its head. A political prisoner, confined in
the fortress of Ham, and shut out from the hope of
ever attaining the crown of France, conceived the idea
of perpetuating in America the glory of a name already
famous the world round. He entered into correspond.
ence with Señor Castellon, the minister of the Central
American Government at the court of Louis Philippe,
reviewed with singular ability the various canal schemes,
and offered, if released from confinement, to superintend
in person the work at Nicaragua. In 1840 he was liber.
ated, and, going to England, published, under the initials
“L. B.” a pamphlet, setting forth all the arguments in
favor of a canal, and adding the official proceedings by
which the government of Nicaragua had vested in him
full power to form a company in Europe. The canal
was to be “Canal Napoleon de Nicaragua.” The prisoner
was Prince Louis Bonaparte. g
The discovery of gold in California gave a fresh im.
petus to the question. As the newe State increased in
population, and San Francisco became a large city, the
necessity of a highway between the Atlantic and Pacific
was again urged. The voyage around Cape Horn was
long and dangerous; the overland route across the plains
subject to attack from Indians; something must be done
to avoid both ; the settlers on the western coast needed
the provisions of the eastern ports; the merchants of the
old States, the gold of the new.
As the result of these arguments, “The Atlantic and
Pacific Ship Canal Company” was formed, with Commo-
dore Vanderbilt for its president. A. W. Childs, a
prominent civil engineer, was sent to survey the lakes
and rivers of Nicaragua. His party was in the field
Motes. 97
from August, 1850, to September, 1851, and returned to
the United States with a very favorable report as to the
feasibility of the project. Funds for its accomplishment
were not, however, forthcoming, and Childs carried his
estimates and maps to England, where they were sub-
mitted to a commission of engineers, and afterwards to a
committee of capitalists, who, though favoring the route,
did not judge the plan sufficiently well developed to
merit their support. The canal enterprise was consid-
erably agitated about this time, for a convention was
made between Great Britain and the United States, in
which Mr. Clayton on our part, and Sir Henry Lytton
Bulwer on theirs, “define the principles which should
apply to an inter-oceanic canal wherever and whenever
constructed.”
In 1855 Walker's filibustering expedition again drew
the attention of the public to the State of Nicaragua, but
that “gray-eyed man of destiny” succeeded only in mak-
ing the inhabitants of the isthmus look with mistrust
upon any so-called explorations or surveys.
Ten years later, P. C. F. West was employed by the
Central American Transit Company, and although his
object was simply to devise means for the improvement
of the San Juan and the restoration of Greytown harbor,
the maps which were made of that locality have been of
value to the late expeditions, as they show the gradual
changes taking place during the years that the harbor
of San Juan del Norte has been closing.
The first regularly organized expedition sent to Nic.
aragua by the government left the United States in the
spring of 1872. During the early part of 1874 a com-
mission of experts was sent by the government to exam.
98 Motes.
ine the various isthmian routes; on its return it reported
the Nicaragua line feasible and preferable to all others.
This decision was sustained by General Humphreys,
Admiral Ammen, and Captain Carlisle Patterson, a com-
mittee selected by the President as final authority.
Since that time the eminent civil engineer, Mr. Meno.
cal, has made several visits to Nicaragua and added many
improvements to the former surveys, his most perfect
work being shown in an elaborate report to the Secretary
of the Navy, dated November, 1885. This report was
intended to prove to the country how advisable would
be the ratification of the Frelinghuysen-Zavala treaty,
but the Senate rejected the treaty, and it remained for
private enterprise to obtain from Nicaragua a new and
excellent concession during last spring.
II.
During the early days of October in the year 1870,
a moderate-sized steamer, drawing ten feet of water, left
this port. Following that steamer on her southern voyage,
we would have found her, within a month, anchored in
an inland sea within eleven miles of the Pacific Ocean.
A sailor going aloft upon the mast of that steamer would,
at the height of forty-one feet, have been above the sum-
mit of the divide between the vessel and the Pacific, and
might have seen the spars of a vessel at anchor in Brito
roadstead. Gentlemen of the Association, does not that
bring home to you the feasibility of cutting through that
low barrier, of deepening the outlet to the eastward, so that
the fleets of the world may no longer be buffeted by the
winds of Cape Horn, and the tempests of Australlatitudes?
I have been on that steamer's deck at that very spot.
Wotes. $ 99
Several years afterward, I was, for 112 days, out of sight
of all land, trying to reach New York from San Francis.
co; not a day passed but I said to myself, how weak is
the power of the nineteenth century, if it cannot, in the in-
terests of commerce, in the name of humanity, in the
cause of universal advancement solve “the secret of the
strait” at Nicaragua. e
Imagining ourselves once more on the steamer's deck,
there would be within a distance of twenty miles to the
northward and westward, one of the richest countries of .
the globe. Three miles from the lake are the indigo
plantations of Rivas; the pilas or dams for soaking the
plant, built of the lime with which the locality abounds,
the concrete is as smooth as porcelain, as hard as marble,
and as old as the Spanish conquest. Further on are the
cacao plantations, as valuable as they are beautiful;
while here and there in the vicinity of the towns are the
sugar Haciendas, and the coffee lands, interspersed with
farms devoted to the culture of the plantain, the banana,
and the orange. Turning from the shore and steaming
out into the open water, the great lake impresses us with
the magnificence of its proportions. Anchoring under the
lee of Ometepee, that island towers a perfect cone, for
5,200 feet above the vessel, its base clothed with peren-
nial verdure, its summit hidden in the dark drifts of the
eastern trade-winds.
But scenery is not a necessary adjunct to a canal. Let
us therefore see what are the practical benefits accruing
from the lake. It is first to be noted that the Central
American Cordilleras exist in one unbroken chain the
entire length of the Isthmus, but at one point, and that
point near Rivas, they sink to the lowest elevation on the
100 Motes.
American continent, becoming simply hills which skirt
the Pacific shore. But as the highlands lose their alti.
tude, the valleys to the eastward gain in depth, forming
a basin into which the mountains of Costa Rica and
Nicaragua pour the vast amount of water which drain
from their lofty sides.
This basin is known as the Lake of Nicaragua or
Granada. It covers an area 100 miles long by 40 broad;
is in places over 100 fathoms deep ; contains a channel,
from its eastern to its western extremity, capable of
floating the largest ships; is only 100 feet above the
ocean; and by reason of its magnitude, is subject to none
of those eatreme changes of level so common in all small
bodies of water situated in the tropics. *
Freshets never occur, either in the lake, or in the San
Juan, for the first 64 miles of its course. It is the only
river of the tropics not subject to sudden rises; flowing
through a narrow valley the greater part of the distance
with an average depth to-day of 40 feet during the last
18 miles, with no large streams swelling its current, a dam
of 52 feet is perfectly practicable at the San Carlos.
This built we have continuous lake navigation for 130
miles; leaving only 40 miles of actual canal. I empha-
size this point, as one of the objections raised against
Nicaragua is the length of the route. Every seafaring
man will acknowledge that 130 miles of smooth-water
navigation would be preferable to the Gulf of Mexico
“northers,” and tropical calms obtaining north and south
of Nicaragua, beyond the trade-wind belt. Commanders
of iron vessels also know what advantages there will be
in ridding their ships from barnacles.
Here, then, we have a reservoir capable of supplying a
Motes. 101
wniform and inexhaustible amount of water, the gauges
of the San Juan showing a flow of over nine hundred
million cubic feet per day.
Over and above these advantages there is another of
great importance: The lake divides the canal into two
distinct sections, and consequently eliminates any danger
from a “block,” vessels being locked directly up to the
lake, where they can remain quietly at anchor in fresh
water, loading under the lee of the numerous islands with
the products of the country, repairing any damages with
timber of the best quality, or provisioning for the coming
Ocean voyage.
The lake is then the great port, and in considering the
question of harbors at either terminus it will be well to
remember that they can be limited in size to the accom-
modation of the few ships which may daily arrive. This
is specially true for the Pacific division, for if the
weather prove inclement, the outgoing vessels can re-
main in the lake and be locked down the sixteen miles
whenever desirable.
The undeveloped water-power of the lake can scarcely
be estimated. The canal once built, there will be a fall
of over 100 feet in a distance of 9 miles on the Pacific
slope, in a length of 23 on the Atlantic. This fall will
be perfectly under control and harnessed to serve com-
mercial purposes. The products of the country will be
changed into merchantable commodities by the waste
energy of the lake. Passing vessels will anchor here,
and reduce the bulk of their cargoes from raw material
into manufactured articles. Ship-building industries,
factories, and dock-yards will line the lake where the
fleets of the world will meet. Cities will spring up where
102 Notes.
villages exist to-day. No longer will a ship canal be
considered only a passage-way from ocean to ocean. The
public mind will cease to couple the idea of isthmian
transit with an African desert, a malarial Panama, or a
mountainous Tehuantepec.
There may be times when the ingenuity of man should
take up the fight even against nature, and conquer ob.
stacles almost superhuman. No such struggle is de-
manded at Nicaragua. Providence gives us the inland
sea with all its advantages; it is for us to develop them
when we are worthy the legacy.
Whatever, therefore, the Bosphorus is to Europe, the
Red Sea to India, much more will the Lake of Nicaragua
be to America.
III.
It has been clearly demonstrated that the canal can be
built for $75,000,000, and that it will pay 6 per cent. on
a capital of $200,000,000. “If this be so,” it may be
asked, “why has the work not been begun ?” First,
the times were not ripe for any large undertaking in a
foreign country, public concern in the merchant marine
has been dormant, and only during the last few years
has the tonnage, which would use the canal, been suffi.
cient to warrant the immense outlay. Second, a narrow
conception of self-interest has centred the commercial
mind of the United States upon internal improvement.
If we go back to ante-bellum days, we see the whole
country moved by ideas tending to the spread of Ameri-
can influence, and the supremacy of the United States in
Central America and Cuba. The sentiment was good,
but too much connected with the expansion of slavery to
Motes. 103
find favor in the North. Then followed the civil war,
and both sides were for four years unable to consider
any thing but the life-and-death struggle of the republic.
After the fall of the Confederacy the reaction com-
menced. The strife of selfish ambition reasserted itself.
Men found relief from their strong patriotic tension in
seeking individual gain. He was the best citizen who
made two dollars grow where one grew before. The
golden age of our prosperity must soon begin its historic
decadence, unless elevated thoughts, national ideas, and
ennobling deeds dominate. That they are beginning to
reign is shown in the interest taken by the better class in
politics, in civil-service reform, in the renewal of the navy
and merchant marine, and in many other ways. Among
them is the regard manifested for an inter-oceanic canal,
during the past year, by the government and the moneyed
men of the country. One of the circumstances which has
given an impetus to the question is the fact that we must
provide an asylum on this continent for the immigrant who
is overcrowding the United States. America must find
a home for the Italian, and citizen of Southern Europe.
Where is a better one than at Nicaragua?
The westward course of empire cannot be arrested un-
til the whole hemisphere is developed. But by whom?
Certainly not by us, if we fail to prevent foreign nations
from accomplishing the union of the two oceans. France
has tried without success. Germany, with her large fleet
of merchant steamers already in the West Indies, stands
ready to cut through Nicaragua. The nation that rules
the canal rules the Atlantic and Pacific, and in time to
come will rule the continent.
The civilization of twenty centuries looks down upon
104 Notes.
Suez controlled, as it should be, by England. Posterity in
the near future should see Nicaragua one of a brother-
hood of American republics, not coerced by the United
States through force of arms, or by annexation, but
because policy and international sentiment demand a
closer union of friendship and amity.
3 9015 02101 6889