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The Tehuantepec' Ship Railway:
(The Mexican Financier)
Hew York, 1884.

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tehuantepec
Ship railway.

1884

THE

Tehuantepec Ship Railway;

ITS

Practicability and Commercial Features.

From "The Mexican Financier,"
December, i88f.

NEW YORK :
Bowne & Co., Printers, 134 Peaul Street.
1884.

G.Horn

Strulhen, Servos* & Co., Engr'a, N. Y.

TEHUANTEPEC THE CENTRE OP THE WORLD'S COMMERCE.

Tehuantepec Ship Railway,
DESIGNED TO TRANSPORT VESSELS OVERLAND BE
TWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS,
ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC,
IN MEXICO.

In the discussion of this subject, we propose to show
the commercial necessity, practicability, advantages, busi
ness and revenue of the Tehuantepec Ship Railway.
FIRST.
Commercial Necessity.
The Rocky Mountains of the United States, the Sierra
Madre of Mexico, the Cordilleras of Central America, and
the Andes of South America form an almost continuous
barrier, so lofty and extensive as to be nearly impassable
to man in his commercial pursuits. The railways that
scale these heights by an immense expenditure of money,
seeking the business of the fertile valleys on each side, rise
to an altitude of several thousand feet, soar up among the
clouds, climb over the rocky barrier, and descend the moun
tain sides by grades almost impracticable for their heavily
loaded trains. These mountain barriers separate at least
seventy million people living in Mexico, the United States
and Canada, nearly all of whom would be benefited by the
breaking down of this obstruction to their agricultural, man
ufacturing and commercial prosperity.
The latest compilation of the internal commerce of the
United States alone, shows an aggregate amount of over ten

billions of dollars per annum ; more than the value of all
the foreign commerce of Great Britain, France, Germany,
Russia, Holland, Austria and Belgium combined. This
internal commerce is carried on through the network of
her rivers, her extensive coast line and her railroads. The
productions of the United States, of almost every kind, are
becoming superabundant, requiring for the full extension
and growth of its varied industries a commercial interchange
with other nations lying to the east or to the west of her
obstructing mountain ranges. The Pacific coast, with, all
its remarkable development of the past few years, now finds
itself too far away from the markets of those nations which
need its surplus productions. India and Australia are making
strong efforts to supply the demand of those countries which
the Pacific coast labors in vain to reach over a course of
sixteen thousand miles around Cape Horn. The transconti
nental railroad lines cannot afford to carry grain from Port
land and San Francisco to New York for home consumption
or transhipment to Liverpool. The producers and shippers
alike look with anxious eyes to every project for breaking
down the Isthmian barrier which now stands between them
and the markets of the world, and places them four months
away from their customers.
The Pacific coast is separated not only from the Atlantic
and Kuropean ports, but from the eastern coast of South
America and the West Indies, and especially from the Gulf
ports of the United States, which are the natural entrepots
and exporting centres of all the immense surplus productions
of the great valley of the Mississippi. The value of the
annual productions of the Mississippi Valley is estimated at
nearly four billion dollars, and their natural outlet to the
world is through the Gulf of Mexico, reaching it through
the sixteen thousand miles of navigable rivers, trunk and
branches of the Mississippi, seeking by water and rail the
great commercial city of New Orleans, second to New York
alone in the value of her exports. Here let it be said, that
while opening to the world's commerce the valley of the
Mississippi, by removing the barrier -at the mouth of the
River, Mr. James B. Eads conceived the greater work of
removing the more serious obstacle to commerce that,

directly across the Gulf from the jetties at the mouth of
the South Pass, rises up between the oceans and between
the nations. Again, Galveston, the seaport city of Texas, (a
State of two millions of inhabitants, with six thousand miles
of railways) is still more completely isolated than New
Orleans ; with deep water secured for its harbor, it will
need even more than at present a direct outlet for its com
merce into the Pacific Ocean. Again, Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and many intermediate ports and
their tributary territory are excluded by the same barrier
from all that lies west of these chains of mountains, not only
the western coast of South America, as far south as Chili, and
the western coast of Mexico, but the eastern coasts of the
old world — Japan, China, India, Australasia, and the almost
numberless Isles of the Pacific. The United States and
Mexico need the surplus peculiar productions of these coun
tries ; they need our manufactured products ; but the in
terchange can now be carried on only by transhipment and
railroad carriage over the Panama Isthmus, at a cost of
from ten to twenty-five dollars per ton of freight, and twenty-
five dollars per head of passengers, or by the long, circuitous
and dangerous passage around Cape Horn or the Cape of
Good Hope, or the expensive route, via the Suez Canal.
Great Britain, the great carrier of the nations, whose flag
floats over seventy per cent, of the world's marine, suffers
from this barrier standing stolidly and forever between her
and the commercial objects of her desire. This barrier is
also an obstruction to the commerce of France and other
maritime nations of Europe.
To sum up these general statements and to bring together
these various features of the subject ; the world needs a
Gateway through the mountains, a path broad and plain for
the intercommunication of the nations, on the shortest pos
sible lines, for the transportation of the varied products which
each nation has in surplus for the other's need. More than
most other nations does the United ' States require that
extension of her coast line from the east to the west, and
the west to the east, which a navigable connection between
the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, will give her. More
vitally still, though the magnitude of the commerce is less,

does the Republic of Mexico need a union of her east and
west coast lines across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as an
auxiliary to the extensive and necessary railway system
which this young republic has so heroically inaugurated at
great present sacrifice, but for the future greatness and pros
perity to which her wonderful natural resources entitle her.
With the railroads, and the Ship Railway ; with abundant
communication by land and by sea ; with the throbbings of a
new strong national life, and with an internal and coastwise
commerce of her own, she will eventually reach such a lofty
position among the nations, that her statesmen will be proud
of the great stride they have now taken in the march of the
world's civilization, and her people will so devoutly reverence
the greatness of their country, that no dissensions will be
permitted to jeopardize its prosperity and growth.
The preceding general statement is but an epitome of the
voluminous reports that have been made and the facts and
arguments that have been given during the last three centu
ries, urging individuals and governments to undertake the
removal of this barrier to commerce.
Said General J. G. Barnard, in a brief review of this
subject several years ago: "No commercial, agricultural or
speculative problem has had a history more marked. From
the era of the Spanish conquest of America, the search for
the secret of the supposed natural strait was carried on along
the coast line of the two continents, and when this ceased,
the possibility of the construction of an artificial route began
to be discussed. During the last fifty years, governments,
companies and individuals have devoted much time and
money to the search for a practical route for ships."
Many independent surveys on different lines covering nearly
the whole length of the American Isthmus, have been made
during the last sixty-five years and embrace particularly the
Panama, Nicaragua and Tehuantepec routes, the latter being
the most northern and more than twelve hundred miles from
the Panama route measured along the axis of the Isthmus.
The facts connected with the attempt to cut a ship canal
through the Isthmus at Panama below the sea level, are too
generally known to be referred to here, except to say that

the impracticability of constructing the work for any sum of
money commensurate with the probable revenue, was the
reason for the inception of the Ship Railway and for a
location more advantageous to commerce.
The location of the proposed Nicaragua Canal, lies north of
Panama. Very elaborate surveys were made here by
the United States Government, and a concession was
granted by the Republic of Nicaragua to a ship canal com
pany, but the terms of the concession not having been com
plied with it has recently been declared forfeited by that
government. At Tehuantepec, many surveys have been made by gov
ernments and individuals, looking to the construction of an
ordinary railroad, a canal with locks and a Ship Railway.
The advantages of this route as relates to commerce, climate,
construction and maintenance, will be fully given und.er the
appropriate subject. It is only necessary now to support
these views of the commercial necessity for an inter-oceanic
communication by the publicly expressed opinions of men
capable of forming a correct judgment.
The views expressed by Secretary Marcy, Presidents
Buchanan, Hayes, Garfield and Arthur, and Secretary Fre-
linghuysen, all confirm the opinions advanced that this com
mercial necessity exists.
One of the most far-seeirig statesmen of this day who
comprehends the immense commercial advantages to be
gained by establishing an inter-oceanic communication
between the Atlantic and Pacific, U. S. Senator William
Windom, while calling attention to the map of the world
in the Senate Chamber, in 1881, used the following expres
sive language : —
"Bordering upon the Gulf on the north lie the great States
" of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
" North of these lies the mighty empire drained by the Mis
sissippi River, while to the east are the Atlantic States,
" stretching from Florida to Maine. On the Pacific are the
" States of California, Oregon and Washington Territory, and
"from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stretches a domain whose
" magnificence is the pride of every American. Obstructing,

8
' embarrassing and burdening the commerce between these
1 great sections of the Union, lies this narrow strip of land.
'* * * * To avoid it, 1, 200,000 tons of wheat raised in Cal-
' ifornia and Oregon last year are compelled to seek a Euro-
' pean market by a costly and tedious voyage of fourteen
' thousand miles around Cape Horn. Even the exchange of
' productions between our own Atlantic and Pacific States
' must be made by the same circuitous, expensive and dan-
' gerous route, or else sustain the heavy burdens imposed for
' railway transportation across the continent. The com-
' merce of all the leading nations is in like manner obstructed
' and burdened. The time has come when this barrier is to
' be removed. The wonder is that it has been permitted to
' remain so long'."
Touching on some of the commercial results to be gained
by a crossing of the American isthmus for ships, General
Grant stated in the North American Review in 1881: —
"The States of North and South America, lying along the
" Pacific furnish in large abundance those commodities which
" are constantly needed in the markets of almost every country
" of Europe. Of guano and nitre the trade is immense. From
"the ports of Chili, nearly four hundred thousand tons of
"freight are shipped eastward annually. More than one
"million tons of grain are shipped each year from the Pacific
"States and Territories. There is, no doubt, that more than
"4,000,000 tons of merchandise find their way from the east
" and require water communication, in order that they may
"be shipped economically and profitably, and this is mer-
" chandise to which railway transportation across the conti-
" nent is wholly inapplicable."
The statesmen of Mexico from Hernando Cortez to the pres
ent time, have been fully aware of the immense benefit to
Mexico, that would inevitably result from an inter-oceanic
crossing at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Cortez himself
sought for it, and when his examinations showed no natural
opening through the mountains at the level of the sea or by
the rivers, his great mind looked forward into the distant
future, and he saw in imagination what is soon to be realized
—a commercial Gateway between the Oceans. Believing that

this isthmus would certainly become the route for commerce,
he purchased extensive tracts of land for his posterity, who
still possess them, and through which the* Ship Railway route
is located by the recent surveys. Three centuries have pas
sed ; Mexico has passed through fire and sword to reach her
present position among the nations. During all these years
she has assisted by her means and by her wise counsel and
official approval, every effort made to surmount the obstacles.
She has, by her own able engineers, made careful surveys for
canals and railroads ; she materially assisted by her means
and by her engineers in the surveys for the Ship Railway, and
placed at the head ofthe parties, that distinguished engineer,
Don Francisco De Garay, Chief Engineer of the drainage of
the valley of Mexico. But greater than all other aid has been
the earnest support of the greatest statesman ofthe Mexico
of to-day, General Porfirio Diaz. Grasping the situation, -
realizing the important and lasting benefits that would accrue
to Mexico, he cordially and earnestly approved the proposi
tion of Mr. Eads to construct a Ship Railway, as the final and
complete solution ofthe problem ofthe centuries, and affixed
his name with just pride to the official document that con
ceded to an American citizen the right to perform this great
work. There might be given here other weighty and valuable
opinions from able men, but sufficient are given to show
plainly that there is a necessity for a Ship Railway across the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec — a necessity that affects the com
merce ofthe world and its productions, agricultural, mineral
and manufacturing. The removal of this obstruction will do
as much towards uniting the world and bringing together in
bonds of union, friendship and the peaceful arts of a christian
civilization, the nations of the wide world, as any scheme of
evangelization and civilization ever conceived. Shorten the
distance between Christendom and heathendom, and the
subtile and ennobling influence of religion will, like the
electric cable, unite all nations in the brotherhood of
humanity. When this thought was presented to a prominent
and wealthy railroad president, whose life-long desires
go out to all the world for its christianization and civili-

10
zation, he said: "I have not considered fully the prac
ticability of the Ship Railway, but such a project,
" contemplating and, if successful, surely bringing about
" such important results in the grand work of elevating the
" human race, is worthy the help of all men." To prove the
sincerity of his expression, he subscribed liberally towards the
expenses of the preliminary .work. A few days ago he saw
the Ship Railway Model, which presents in a concrete form the
methods proposed for lifting and moving vessels. Looking at
the miniature steamship, about seven feet in length, standing
on the railway of the model, he said to Mr. Eads, with intense
earnestness : "I actually see that steamship moving through
"the tropical forests of Tehuantepec, on its journey from
"ocean to ocean. I now am firmly convinced of its prac-
" ticability, and will double my subscription."
Closing an elaborate and accurate description of this
model, the London Times of August 1st, 1884, says :
" Looking at the Ship Railway project from a broad and
"general point of view, there can belittle doubt that it is
" one which is fraught with great results. This will be
" better realized when it is remembered that the American
" Isthmus separates about 100,000,000 of the most enter-
" prising, industrious amd enlightened people on the face of
"the earth, inhabiting the North Atlantic coasts of Europe
" and America, from 600,000,000 who inhabit the Orient and
" the Islands of the Pacific. It is true that the sailing
" distances which separate England from India, China and
" other Oriental countries, have been greatly reduced by the
"Suez Canal ; but these distances are almost insignificant
" when compared with those which the Ship Railway would
" annihilate. For instance, the great saving effected by the
" SuCz Canal between London and Calcutta, is about 4,500
" statute miles, whereas the sailing distance by the Ship
" Railway from London to every port on the Pacific coast of
" North America, will be lessened by nearly twice this great
" distance or about 8,250 miles. The Suez Canal brought
" London and Canton about 3,500 miles nearer together by
" sea. The Ship Railway would save more than three times
" that distance between the great American metropolis and

11
" every port in British Columbia. The American Isthmus
"and. the Cordilleras of North America constitute a narrow
" but almost impassable barrier to the interchange of the
" manufactures and productions of 40,000,000 of people in
" the Mississippi Valley and Atlantic States, not • only
" with those of 10,000,000 of their countrymen to the west of
" them, but with others on the islands and coasts of the
" Pacific who are seemingly their nearest neighbors. The
" Ship Railway would give to these descendants of the
" British Isles, a sea route between their Atlantic and Pacific
" ports scarcely a thousand miles longer than the railway
" between New York and San Francisco, and it would give
" to the vast Valley of the Mississippi, a gateway equivalent
" to the discharge of its mighty river directly into the
" Pacific."
SECOND.
Practicability.
It has been truly said, that all new ideas and enterprises
must pass through three stages before reaching complete
recognition, or realization, viz : — ridicule, possibility and
probability. This has been the history of all newly discov
ered truths and of all new ideas carried into actual practice.
This is notably seen in the successful realization of agricul
tural, astronomical, dynamic and electric principles and ideas.
The world is round and revolves; the stars in the vault of
heaven are other worlds ; the force of steam drives the
locomotive and gives it power and speed; the electric wires
are spun through the valleys and over the mountains, flashing
thoughts from mind to mind, and under the waters ofthe sea
the Atlantic cables interchange in a moment the thoughts of
the continents ; and yet each one of these ideas was once
scouted as untrue or impracticable and its teachers and ad
vocates were looked upon as the veriest visionaries.
The proposition of Mr. James B. Eads, to transport large
vessels overland across the American Isthmus, has, in the
minds of thinking men and of experts whose attention has
been given to it, passed through the two preliminary stages—

12
ridicule and possibility — and is now in the stage of probability.
Nothing is required to advance it to the stage of certainty
and of complete realization but the necessary means for doing
the mechanical work and constructing a roadway for the
ingeniously designed carriage for transporting vessels.
The obstacles to be overcome by mechanical ingenuity
were, first, the distribution of weight so that the parts of the
carriage, and particularly the wheels, should not be unduly
loaded, and second, the adaptation of the carriage to the
ship, so as not, in any possible manner, -to injure the hull
or strain any part of it beyond what it was designed to
bear on the ocean. Principles and appliances long known
and employed in lifting and moving vessels are used,
with some special adaptations only, to enable them to be
transported with greater speed than they are usually moved
on inclined railways.
The history of vessel moving and transporting overland is
ancient. The Athenians, centuries before the christian era,
transported their war ships, of probably one hundred and fifty
tons, across the Isthmus of Corinth, about fourteen miles.
Loaded canal boats and other vessels of considerable tonnage
have been hauled on carriages overland on railways and over
Jong distances up and down steep gradients.
In the lifting of vessels from the water to a higher level,
three methods were found practicable and in use in various
parts ofthe world. First by an inclined railway, second by a
positive hydraulic lift with presses or rams, and third by a
floating pontoon or caisson Although the original plans con
templated the use of the inclined railway, the idea was aban
doned for several reasons, especially as it would require a
railway extending under water a long distance into the sea,
where it would be difficult to maintain the track intact; it
would also be much more expensive than other methods. Re
sponsible parties were found who lifted loaded vessels, up to
twelve thousand tons weight, by a vertical hydraulic lift, and
who agreed to construct a dock of this kind that would lift a
vessel weighing ten thousand tons, on a carriage suitable for
transportation over land, to a height of forty-six feet and
place the vessel and carriage upon the railway, all in thirty

13
minutes time. They proposed also to build locomotives
that would haul these loads over ordinary grades. How
ever, after mature consideration of the detailed plans and
estimates of cost, it was decided to lift the vessels by pon
toons or floating docks, the -ordinary method in use in
all commercial countries. The comparatively rude methods
of docking and adjusting loaded vessels on a floating
dock require modification, as it is necessary not only to lift
the vessel on the pontoon, but to place her on a carriage with
her weight so equalized from stem to stern as to enable the
carriage to move easily and safely. This distribution of
weight and transfer of the distributed weight to the car
riage is effected as follows: — The pontoon is capable of rais
ing easily a vessel of five thousand tons gross weight, this
being as large as the Isthmian business will employ, for the
present at least. The size ofthe pontoon is about 450 feet
long, 75 feet wide and 15 feet 'deep, arranged with a system
of hydraulic rams placed on an intermediate deck about six
feet below the upper deck of the pontoon. These rams are
arranged in lateral and longitudinal lines, the former being
placed a little less than seven feet apart. The area of the
combined rams in each lateral line is the same — for example,
the area ofthe one ram under the keel at the bow or stern is
equal to the area ofthe five or seven rams amidships. These
rams are, or can be, all connected together, so that the same
pressure per square inch of surface of the rams, exists through
out the whole system, or they can be disconnected by valves
so that a greater pressure can be brought upon the rams in a
certain section or on a certain line. These rams are not in
tended to lift the vessel, but simply to resist its weight when
it comes up out of the water. They are actuated by a power
ful hydraulic pump, erected on a tower attached to the side of
the pontoon and rising and sinking with it, but of sufficient
height above it to not become submerged when the pontoon
is grounded on the bottom ofthe basin or dock. The pon
toon is guided in its upward or downward movement by strong
anchor rods, or columns, passing through it freely, and firmly
secured in the foundations of the dock.
The carriage for supporting and moving the vessel will be

14
arranged to move on six rails — three standard gauge tracks
each of 4 feet 8j4 inches. As the ship is itself a girder, fore
and aft, and will not be bent in that direction on an immov
able roadway, the maximum strength ofthe carriage is in the
cross girders which are spaced like the lateral lines of the
rams, about seven feet apart, and are of sufficient depth and
have sufficient material in their plates to transfer equal loads
to all the wheels. The wheels are double flanged, placed as
near together as is necessary to distribute the weight and are
each hung independently to its own journals, with an inde
pendent axle for each wheel. The system of trucks, of four or
six wheels, movable about a central pin, on which cars are
supported on an ordinary railroad, is not required in the ship
railway carriage, as it is intended to move the loads on straight
lines, curves not being admissible in a rigid carriage of such
great length. Over each wheel is a powerful spring which will
bear twenty or more tons before closing. It has a vertical
movement of about six inches. The maximum load on a level
track will not close these springs more than three inches, thus
permitting the carriage to pass over any irregularities which
might occur, without bringing any undue weight upon the
wheels. They also furnish a complete elastic bearing for the
loaded vessel, and will permit it to move on the carriage easily-
over the railway without any possibility of jar or strain. Upon
the model is arranged a system of supports for the vessel
with adjustable surfaces hinged to the top of the supports by
a toggle joint, so as to fit the shape of the hull at every
point. The supports on the outside line are fitted with adjust
able hinged girths covered with a rubber or other cushioned
surface. These supports, or rods, or columns, pass through the
girders of the carriage freely and are exactly pendant over
the hydraulic rams when the carriage is on the pontoon, lock
ed in proper and exact position. The carriage having been
run on the pontoon, when it is floating, and the surface of
its rails exactly corresponding with the rails of the perma
nent way on shore, the water is let into the compartments of
the pontoon and it, with the carriage, is sunk to the bottom
and grounded on the cross bearers of the dock. The ship
is then brought from the exterior basin into the dock over

15
the carriage, and so adjusted that her keel is exactly, over
the continuous keel block of the carriage, and her centre of
gravity, as near as possible, over the central point in the length
ofthe carriage. The water is then pumped out ofthe pontoon
by a powerful centrifugal pump and it rises towards the hull of
the vessel. When the keel block of tjie, carriage is about two
feet from the keel of the vessel, the hydraulic pump is started,
pushing up the pendant rods and posts of the supports
gently against the vessel, under the keel, bottom and
bilges, and .snugly up around the sides. As the vessel con
tinues to rise and her weight increases, the pressure upon
the rams increases, but the water pressure under them being
prevented from escaping b}' closing the valves, the full
weight of the vessel, when she is entirely out of the water, is
borne on the rams ; they having conformed their movement
to the shape of the vessel.,
' Assuming, for illustration, that there are fifty lines of
rams and that the ship weighs five thousand tons, then -each-
line of rams will have imposed upon it a weight of one hun
dred tons, no more and no less. As these lines of rams are
spaced equally from stem to stern, and each upholds a
weight of one Hundred tons, then the weight of the ship
must be borne equally each unit of its length. The pressure
gauge on the hydraulic pump will indicate the exact weight
or displacement of the vessel, and may form the basis for
ascertaining the charge for transporting her. When the ship is
entirely out of the water, hand wheels, or adjusting nuts,
moving in threads cut in the columns of the supports, are
rurf down by the workmen to a bearing on the girder plates ;
the rams are then withdrawn by opening the valve and
the girders support the evenly distributed weight of the
vessel. As an equal number of wheels are placed with each
girder, and each girder, by the arrangement just mentioned,
upholds its exact proportion of the load, then all the wheels,
from one end to the other of the carriage, must have equal
weights imposed upon them — that is, not over eight or nine
tons, which is an admissible load, since much larger weights
are carried upon the wheels of ordinary locomotives and
other rolling stock, both in the United States and Europe.
Each wheel will be tested to twenty tons.

16
The adjustable supports of the carriage can be made to fit
neatly and bear evenly upon any vessel that ranges in beam
between certain limits, and for smaller or larger vessels
than these limits, different sizes of carriages will be con
structed, with a modification ofthe lines ofthe supports.
It will not always be possible to place a vessel, when
brought into the dock, immediately oyer the exact centre of
the pontoon ; the result will be that when the weight of the
vessel is brought on the pontoon, one end will have a ten
dency to sink and the other to rise. This is overcome, and
the pontoon balanced by hydrostatic pressure in what are
called "hydraulic governors," as follows : — Two cylinders are-
attached to each corner of the dock, one being upright and
the other inverted. Plungers, attached to the pontoon, move
in them. The cylinders on diagonal corners are connected by
pipes, and all spaces in the cylinders and pipes are filled solid
with water. As the pontoon rises, the water forced out
of one cylinder by the ascending plunger is forced into the
inverted cylinder on the diagonal corner where the plunger is
being withdrawn. Now, if there is, say one hundred tons
preponderance on one end ofthe pontoon, one half this weight,
or fifty tons pressure, will be exerted by each plunger on that
end upon the water in its cylinder. This pressure is instan
taneously transmitted through the pipes to the water in the
top of the upright cylinder on the diagonal corner, which
acts with the same amount of pressure, as a water
plunger, upon the metal plunger to hold it down ; thus an
equilibrium is maintained and the pontoon compelled to rise
and fall perfectly level.
It is possible by the aid of a pressure gauge attached to the
pipes to ascertain the exact amount of the excess of weight,
so that should this gauge show too great a preponderance,
the pontoon must be lowered, and the ship placed in
a new position. When the pontoon has risen so that
the surfaces of the rails laid upon it are exactly level
with those of the railway, it is prevented from rising further
by the heads ofthe anchor bolts, or guiding rods, which are
also sufficiently strong to prevent one end of the pontoon
rising, when the carriage, with the vessel upon it is being
run off. In practice these anchor rods will be large hollow

17
cylindrical columns filled with heavy material to give them
weight. The railway will be built on practically straight lines, a
curve of less than twenty miles radius not being admissi
ble, with a rigid carriage four hundred feet in length.
There are, however, five points on the isthmus, as located by
the surveys, where it will be necessary to make quite abrupt
changes in direction in order to avoid heavy construction
work. The railway in this section of the country, on the
table lands, follows a succession of broad valleys flanked by
ranges of hills or spurs of the Sierra Madre, and to
pass from one valley to another, or from one plain to an
other, it is necessary to make deflections where there is not
sufficient open country to use curves of the radius named. At
these five points, the changes in direction are made by float
ing turntables, which are no more nor less than floating pon
toons large enough to take the carriage with the ship and
float it about a central pivot, or cylinder. The pontoon,
when the carriage with the vessel is run upon it, is solidly
grounded, by the weight of water in it, upon the circular bear
ers in the basin. The carriage is placed on the centre of
the pontoon and the water is pumped out by means of a
powerful centrifugal pump, withdrawing the water through
an opening in the cylindrical pivot of the pontoon and
discharging it into the basin. When sufficient flotation has
been given to the pontoon by this means to slightly raise it
from its bearing surfaces, it is moved about the pivot by
steam power in the direction required ; the water is then
admitted to it through valves, and it is grounded again upon
the bearers in the basin. The locomotives then move the
vessel in the new direction. These turntables, or pontoons,
by laying several radial tracks, can be utilized for passing
points and also for standing vessels, for painting, or repairs,
if desired. The simplicity and economy of this method
of turning vessels is particularly noted by those who have
seen the working model illustrating it. No adjustments are
required, and the level of the pontoon, when floating, can be
very easily secured by admitting water into one or more com
partments at either end of it. As the weight of the vessel

18
is equalized over the whole length of the carriage the central
point of the carriage cannot be far from the centre of gravity
ofthe load.
The motive power for hauling the vessels over the railway
will not be difficult to design or build ; it is simply a question
of amount of power. We know that loads up to two thousand
tons are now hauled on ordinary railways by the freight en
gines of the day. If one of these engines will haul a train
of half a mile in length over the grades and around the
curves of our railways at a rate of speed of from fifteen to
twenty miles per hour, will any one question the ability of
locomotives especially designed and of great traction power,
to move easily a compact mass on three straight tracks with
the opportunity of attaching, if necessary, three engines in
front and three in the rear of the carriage ?
In reference to the above description it should be stated,
that the working plans of full-sized works— *-pontoon, car
riage and floating turntable, have been reduced in scale to the
size of a working model which, when the parts are connected,
is about thirty feet in length, with a perfect modeled steamer
about 7^ feet long. This working model will, if thoroughly
examined and its principles understood, dissipate any preju
dice that exists against the practicability ofthe ship railway,
and convince any fair minded person that it is perfectly
practicable to lift and transfer vessels with their cargoes on
board, in such a manner as, in no wise, to injure any
seaworthy vessel, or the integrity of the carriage upon which
it is transported. Over one thousand scientific and practical
men in London saw this model ; they were the representa
tives of the civil and mechanical engineers, ship builders,
ship owners, dock builders, capitalists and commercial men.
The universally expressed opinion was cordially in favor of
the entire practicability of the Ship Railway. In the city of
New York at this writing, over seven thousand people have
witnessed the movements and action of this model ; many
were from the same classes as in London, and their expressed
verdict has been the same. However, as this model can be
seen by only a few persons, the objections which may be

19
brought forward by those not perfectly familiar with the
methods proposed, will be briefly stated and answered.
First objection : Injury to the vessel by the outward
pressure of the cargo when she is taken out of the water.
Answer : When the vessel is in, what is called, its " natural"
element, she undergoes, often, unnatural and more severe
strains than in docking. The sudden withdrawal of the
water pressure when the vessel in a heavy sea rides, bow and
stern, on two huge waves, would cause her sides to burst out if
she were not specially constructed to withstand just such pres
sure. A heavy sea, rolling its great waves one after another
alongside the vessel from bow to stern, with the hollow of
the waves following quickly, would seem tp be productive, if
any possible condition could be, of the opening of the vessel's
sides. The fact is, the bursting pressure is less than is
imagined. Every elevator or grain cargo box is more likely
to be pressed outwards or downwards by its load of grain,
than is a vessel's sides when out of the water.
Second objection : Injury to the bottom ofthe vessel by
supporting it by artificial means when the cargo is on board.
• Answer : It should be clearly understood that the hy
draulic press system, which first holds up the vessel when
she is out of the water is, as it were, so many columns of water
under the vessel, gently and effectually equalizing her weight.
If in the process of raising, the support raised by one ram
comes in contact with the keel, bottom, bilges or sides ofthe
vessel, it will exert no pressure until all the other rams have
reached a point of contact, and then the pressure per square
inch of ram surface is the same throughout the whole system.
The rams ofthe greatest area are placed under the keel where
the load is the greatest and the vessel most able to withstand
heavy pressure. Over the whole surface ofthe hull, wherever
it has any bearing upon the water, the full, complete and
adjustable system of supports is spread, with their broad
and cushioned surfaces. Vessels of the most ancient and
decayed skin and timbers, if seaworthy, can be carried
on this perfectly equalized system of supports, and be in
effect water-borne. In reference to both these objections,
Mr. E. A. Fuertes, Professor in the Department of Civil

20
Engineering of Cornell University, N. Y., gives very valu
able testimony in reference to some examinations he made
on the White Star line steamer "Germanic," on the voyage
between Liverpool and New York. These examinations,
made while the vessel was moving through an ordinary
sea, were for the purpose of ascertaining the concave
and convex flexures of the steamer in the direction of her
length. He found that the total deflection in a distance of
264 feet was 13 inches, or 6% inches above and below the
mean line. Comparing the effects of a heavy sea upon an
iron steamer with the effects upon the same steamer, when
carried upon a properly designed and constructed railway,
he speaks of the .strain upon the vessel when a sinking or
receding sea instantly withdraws the volumes of water pres
sure from against her sides, and the reaction of her frame
when, with equal suddenness, it feels the pressure of her cargo,
if any such pressure exists.
" Also the sea strikes blows with concentrated vigor upon
" the restricted area of the ship's surface, causing the dreaded
" tremor from stem to stern, and working her joints and tim-
" bers with all kinds of flexures, tortions and impacts. Only
" those who have had personal experience with the sea in a
" hurricane can realize the stiffness required in a sea-going
" vessel. " It is strange to see how strongly intolerant popular mis-
" conceptions can be in questions of this kind. While a ship
" must be constructed so that it may stand safely on end or
" be shaken violently when held in the middle or by her ex-
" tremities, the popular prejudice against a ship railway is
" based upon the assumption that all ships are wanting in
" the very quality that they must possess, viz : stiffness."
The following statement of opinions and facts upon this
subject will support the views advanced above. A letter,
dated February 14th, 1882, from Mr. William S. Buckley,
President of the New York Balance Dock Company, gives a
list of five ships and six steamers, ranging from about 2,000 to
2,760 tons, that were taken out on his dock with cargoes in
them. In this letter Mr. Buckley says : " We do not refuse
" any class of ships or steamers, even with coals and cargoes

21
" on board, whose length does not exceed the length of the
" dock. In every case in which we have taken up steamers
" with the cargoes in, it has been done without the least
" strain or injury to the vessel. As the rule is to make a
" charge for raising the cargo on a vessel, they usually come
" to us without cargo."
Mr. Edward Hart, U. S. Naval Constructor, in a letter to
Mr. Eads, says (quoting a portion, only, appertaining to this
subject) :
" With a substantial road-bed for your Ship Railway, on the
" easy grades across Tehuantepec, which I understand do
" not exeed one or two feet in the hundred, there can be no
" mechanical difficulty in the way of transporting loaded ships
" by railroad with entire safety to the vessels, whether they
" be built of wood or iron." Mr. Hart is one of the oldest and
ablest constructors in the U. S. Navy.
Mr. H. L. Fernald, a Constructor of the U. S. Navy of re
cognized ability and talent, stated in a letter as follows :
" Having carefully examined the plans and papers per-
" taining to the proposed Ship Railway across the Isthmus of
" Tehuantepec, I do not hesitate to say that in my judgment
" there will be no difficulty whatever in transporting in the
" manner you propose any properly built vessel with absolute
" safety." The London Iron, of October 3d, 1884, in brief but com
prehensive language, sets at rest any fears that may exist in
the minds of timorous people in reference to the injury that
vessels may sustain by being docked and handled with the
cargo on board :
" The question of endangering the structural integrity of a ship
" loaded with cargo by taking her out of the water and placing her
" on intermediate supports, is one which has frequently been raised
" only to be summarily disposed of by those who give the matter a
" moment's thought. As, however, there is still a popular notion
" that a loaded vessel under such conditions is subject to injurious
" strains, it may be as well if we point out how utterly impossible
" this is by reason of the construction of the vessel itself. No greater
' fallacy than this was ever conceived, for there is no form of struc-

22
' ture which is known to be subject to more unequal, irregular and
' ever-varying strains than a ship at sea, and these very points are
' carefully provided against in her design and construction. A prop-
' erly designed and constructed ship resembles a girder, and is so
' built that no matter how she may be tossed about on the waves,
' the strains, conflicting and almost puzzling as they are, are dis-
' tributed equally through her framing and plating or planking. If
' there was any fear of her cargo bursting her sides, as some have
' held there is, it would have burst them on her first loading, as, al-
' though water is incompressible in confinement, it is exceedingly
' yielding when unconfined. Hence the risk of damage to vessels
' by straining during transport overland, may at once be set aside as
' puerile, especially in the face of the ingenious arrangement de-
' signed by Mr. Eads for equalising their support. Moreover, the
' raising of ships with their cargoes, from a lower to a higher level,
' by means of hydraulic lifts, has been successfully accomplished for
' long past. The Victoria Docks, in London, and -those at Malta
' and Bombay, have been operated for years without an accident.
' Again, it is a matter of common occurrence to keep loaded vessels
' for days, and even weeks, upon dry docks for repairs, and then re-
' turn them to water without the slightest strain or injury."
The most valuable expert testimony that has been given on
this subject, is by Sir Edward Reed, K. C. B., late Chief Con
structor of the British Navy. The testimony was given be
fore the Committee on Commerce of the United States Sen
ate. The following quotations are from his testimony, and
bear directly on this special subject :
" I have no hesitancy in saying that the marine ships of to-
" day are vastly stronger everywhere than they were half a
" century ago, and that they are now, as a rule, perfectly ca-
" pable of being docked in dry docks with their cargoes on
" board. " I would like to say first, that there is no fear whatever
" of a ship undergoing any strain in the process of lifting out
" of t;he water (as would be necessary in case of a ship rail-
" way) that she is not liable to at present in ordinary dock-
" ing. " I would say further, that I am quite sure that the pro-
" cesses of ordinary docking, as carried on in a vast number

23
" of private establishments, are very negligent and insuffi-
" cient in comparison with those which would be adopted in
" case' of the hydraulic lifts connected with the proposed ship
" railway." In reference to the hydraulic docks at Malta he gives a
list of several vessels docked with their cargoes on board, and
states : " I would call attention to the fact that although
"ship owners were at first afraid of docking ships in that way
" with their cargoes on board, they have discovered by the
" experience of years that no sort of injury does result,
" for all the ships that are in the Indian trade now voluntarily
" employ these docks and go upon them with their cargoes
"on board for the purpose of getting their bottoms cleaned
" and coated on the voyage, instead of having to lie in a more
" expensive dock in London, for the purpose."
Mr. William Pierce, sole proprietor of the John Elder &
Company's 'works, Govan, Glasgow, and who built the- "Ari
zona," the "Elbe," and the "Alaska," and others of the finest
steamers afloat, says in a letter : " I am of the opinion from
" what I know ofthe working of iron floating docks that I
" have designed and built, that iron steamers of 4,000 to
" 5,000 tons displacement, may be docked loaded with-
" out any injury whatever."
Commander T. D. Wilson, -Chief Constructor of the U. S.
Navy, states as follows : "I see no good reason why any
" vessel cannot be successfully raised and transported upon a
"properly constructed railway, with a grade as stated,- if
" reasonable skill and care are used in the work, and I believe
" the strain she will be subjected to will be inferior to those
" which ocean steamers are constantly exposed to."
Objections of various kinds have been raised to the plan of
lifting vessels out of the water, and transporting them, but it
is useless to enter into any further argument in regard to it
in the face of the numerous and well authenticated facts
which go to show that vessels are, in all parts ofthe world,
very frequently docked with their cargoes on board without
the least injury to the vessel. The only injury that can pos
sibly happen to them under these circumstances, is by care-

24
less handling or by not taking precautions against the strains
that might possibly be engendered in lifting the vessel. If it
is once admitted that the vessel can be docked with the '
cargo on board, it must also be admitted that ships can be
hauled on a properly designed and constructed railway car
riage without injury.
As the practicability of the Ship Railway depends in a mea
sure upon the character of the country where it is to be
constructed and operated, that country will be briefly de
scribed from facts gathered by careful surveys and detailed
examinations made during five months by the writer himself,
and during seventeen months by an able and skillful corps of
civil engineers.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec lies immediately north (or west)
of the promontory of Yucatan. It is the narrowest part of the
Isthmus in Mexico. A line drawn from the terminus of the
Ship Railway on the Gulf to the terminus on' the Pacific, is
almost due north and south. The terminus on the north is
on the banks ofthe Coatzacoalcos River at the town of Mina-
titlan, situated about twenty-five miles from the mouth ofthe
river. This is a broad deep river and requires improvement
by artificial means at only one point. This can be done easily
and inexpensively by judiciously constructed dykes or wing
dams. At the mouth ofthe river is a bar, formed by the river's
deposit, and which it is designed to deepen by jetties similar
to those at the mouth of the Mississippi River. There is now
about fifteen feet depth of water over the bar. The line of the
railway from Minatitlan follows the gently ascending Atlan
tic plains over firm, unyielding ground. At about thirty-five
miles from Minatitlan the railway will be constructed through
a gently undulating table land, and then will follow a series of
broad valleys reaching the Tarifa plains, which is the summit
level, 726 feet above the level of the sea. The descent from
that point to the Pacific plains requires three deflecting turn
tables to avoid heavy excavations and give the necessary dis
tance required to preserve an uniformly descending grade of
one per cent. From the base ofthe mountains to the Pacific
terminus the line extends over a nearly level country. The
terminal on the Pacific side is a matter of choice simply,

25
two good locations having been found — one at Salina Cruz,
and the other on one of the Lagoons or Lakes. The climate
is salubrious and healthy. It needs only to be said in
support of this statement that a corps of several unac-
climated young men, from the .northern portions of the
United States went to the Isthmus just before the rainy sea
son commenced, remained there through it, and were not off
duty through any sickness while engaged upon the work.
Some of them remained seventeen months. Mr. Deming J.
Thayer, engineeer in charge, recently returned from the
Isthmus, states in his report :
" Hitherto it has been erroneously supposed that engineer-
"' ing parties could not remain in the field during the rainy
" season ; that the increase in hardships would result in sick-
J< ness among the men employed, and this, in connection
¦" with the time lost when rainy, would render desirable pro-
" gress impossible. Our experience during an entire and un-
"¦ usually hard rainy season, disproves this supposition. No
" sickness showed itself among the assistants or men ; little
¦" or no time was lost, and progress was nearly as rapid as
¦" during the dry season."
The character of the laborers to be obtained on the Isth
mus, from the people residing there, is exceptionally good,
especially on the Pacific slope, which is inhabited by a hardy
and industrious race of agricultural people. From eight
thousand to ten thousand laborers can be obtained from
among them. The very best materials for the construction
of the Ship Railway can be found on the Isthmus in conve
nient locations. Many varieties of timber, very durable in
character and suitable for either temporary or permanent
work in construction, are found throughout nearly the entire
line. Good building stone, granite, limestone, sandstone,
and other varieties are at hand, available for purposes of
construction. The direction of such winds as are prevalent
coincides very nearly with the line of the railway. The very
frail construction of the principal portion of the houses on
the Isthmus, covered as they are with large and high palm
roofs, extending beyond, and generally separate from their
walls ; the exposed places in which many of them stand,

26
and the absence of any evidence of injury to them, is proof
that very strong winds are unknown on the Isthmus. The
whole country along and near the proposed line has been
covered by accurate instrumental surveys under the direction
of experienced engineers. The elaborate and extensive
surveys of Mr. Martin Van Brocklin, Resident Engineer, have
not only demonstrated the entire practicability of the con
struction of a railway sufficiently solid to carry any load that
could possibly be imposed upon it in the transportation of
the largest vessels, but have also made it possible to locate
the line for construction. They have also been sufficiently
detailed to admit a reliable estimate to be made of the cost ;
and they have furnished all possible information needed
as to materials for construction, obstacles to be met, and
the means of overcoming them.
We are convinced, therefore, that it is practicable beyond
any doubt to construct the mechanical appliances for lifting
and transporting vessels and to build a railway sufficiently
solid and permanent to carry the loads at any desired speed ;
all without injury to the vessels or the carriages that trans
port them.
Among. a large number of experts, practical and experi
enced men, who have examined the physical and mechanical
conditions and obstacles, and pronounced the work practica
ble, we will, in conclusion, mention but a few of those whose
decided opinions had much weight with the Committee of
the U. S. Senate, and which, confirming the results of its
own examination, led it to report unanimously in favor of the
practicability of the Ship Railway. Sir Edward J. Reed, late
Chief Constructor of the British Navy (already alluded to)
gave most forcible and convincing testimony before this com
mittee as to the practicability ofthe Ship Railway, and fortified
his opinion by statements of facts impossible to refute. Mr.
Nathaniel Barnaby, present Chief Constructor of the British
Navy, stated that the problem of carrying loaded ships on a
railway was not only soluble, but that the solution was fairly
indicated in the plans shown him by Mr. Eads. Mr. William
John, for some years the scientific adviser of the committee
of Lloyd's Register, stated that the lifting of vessels out of

27
the water having become an every day occurrence, the work
of placing them on a carriage and transporting them was a
simple matter.
Mr. John Fowler, a civil engineer of Great Britain, of wide
reputation, has himself proposed and designed plans for trans
porting vessels overland from one level to another at the first
cataract of the Nile. Mr. George Fosbury Lyster, Engineer in
Chief of the Liverpool docks, closes a decided opinion on the
subject by saying : " There will, in my judgment, be little or
" no difficulty in transporting properly constructed ships
" from sea to sea with entire convenience and safety." The
firm of Emerson, Murgotroyd & Co., who constructed the
great hydraulic docks at Malta and Bombay, agreed with Mr,
Eads that they would lift for the Tehuantepec Ship Railway
loaded ships of from 8,000 to 10,000 tons weight on a rail
way car and place them on the permanent way in thirty
minutes ; agreeing also to build the car and locomotives
and ten miles ofthe railway, and to guarantee the safe trans
portation of the loaded ships over the railway.
Messrs. Leader Williams and B. Baker, both prominent
civil engineers of England ; Prof. Elgar, General Manager i
of Earls Ship Building and Engineering Co., and Mr. Mar-
tell of Lloyds, have added important testimony to the entire
practicability of the Ship Railway. In the United States,
strong supporting opinions from able men have not been
wanting. Genenal Q. A. Gillmore, a distinguished engineer
of the United States, says in a letter :
" In my judgment the construction of a ship railway across
" the Mexican Isthmus, in general accordance with your plan,
" is not only feasible as an engineering problem, but the suc-
" cessful maintenance and operation of such a road is entirely
" practicable as a business, enterprise."
Major Charles R. Suter, another able engineer of the
United States Army, says : "The project has great and- ob-
" vious advantages to recommend it and, from an engineering
" point of view, it is, in my opinion, perfectly practicable."
General G. T. Beauregard, Colonel Henry Flad, Mr. O.
Chanute, Mr. T. C. Clarke, Mr. J. J. Williams and other civil

28
engineers of high reputation in the United States, have given
favorable and decided views on the subject.
After canvassing this whole subject of the practicability of
the Ship Railway, the Senate Committee summed up the evi
dence as follows :
" The testimony upon the subject, is So overwhelming and
" conclusive in its character, that the committee has no hesi-
" tation in reporting that the construction of a ship railway,
" and its successful operation, are entirely practicable"
THIRD.
Advantages.
The construction and operation of a Ship Railway at
Tehuantepec having been shown to be practicable, it is only
necessary to give the imagination wings to see the poetic
prophecy of the poet Wordsworth transformed into reality,
when in the " Highland Broach " he says :
" Lo ! ships, from seas by nature barred,
Mount along ways by man prepared."
We may safely utter the prophecy, not poetical, but prac
tical, that the tall masts of ocean steamers will, as in a pan
orama, pass among the palms of the plains of Tarifa, in their
journey from ocean to ocean.
For many years, not only have the leading statesmen of
Mexico appreciated the advantages of the Tehuantepec route
for an inter-oceanic crossing, but the statesmen ofthe United
States have been impressed with the importance of these ad
vantages. Daniel Webster, while Secretary of State, in 185 1, said in
an official letter : " No one can fail to see how exceedingly
" important this communication would be to the Government
" of Mexico. It proposes to give her a practical highway
" from sea to sea. It opens to her a communication on the
" one side and on the other with the eastern and western
" world. It gives her access to the markets of all nations, and
" makes her, in short, the central point of the commerce of
" modern times."

29
Said that illustrious statesman, Lewis Cass, in an official
letter while Secretary of State, in 1857 : " The proximity of
" the isthmus to our shores, the salubrity of the climate,
" the adaptness of the ground for the construction of the
" railroad, and the great diminution of distance in comparison
" with traveled routes between our Atlantic and Pacific pos-
" sessions, all conspire to point it out as far preferable to any
" other route."
Commodore Shufeldt, in 1871, in an official report of his
survey of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, said : . " Each isthmus
" rises into importance as it lies nearer to the centre of Amer-
" ican commercial interests ; and the intrinsic value of this
" eminently national work ought to be based upon the inverse
" ratio ofthe distance from that centre."
An inter-oceanic crossing, according tp his report, would
be an extension ofthe Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean,
which would convert the Gulf into an American lake, and, sa
to speak, render our own territory circumnavigable ; and the
character of the intervening water is such, that it would per
mit a canal boat to load at St. Louis and discharge her freight
in California with but little more than the risk of inland nav
igation. That great geographer, known the world over for the results
of his patient, long-continued studies of ocean currents, Lieut.
Maury, whose eloquence is only exceeded by the correctness
and breadth of his opinions, once said of this American inland
sea, from which it is proposed to transport vessels to the Pa
cific : " From the Gulf of Mexico, the great commercial mar-
" kets of the world are down-hill. A vessel bound from that
" gulf to Europe places herself in the current ofthe Gulf Stream
" and drifts along with it at the rate, for part of the way, of
" eighty or one hundred miles a day. * * * And
" when there shall be established a commercial thoroughfare
" across the isthmus, the trade winds ofthe Pacific will place
" China, India, New Holland and all the islands of that ocean
" down-hill from this sea of ours., In that case, Europe must
" pass by our very doors on the great highway to the markets
" both ofthe East and West Indies. This beautiful Mesopo-

30
" tamian sea is in a position to occupy the summit level of
" navigation and to become the great commercial receptacle
" of the world. Our rivers run into it, and float down with
" their currents the surplus articles of merchandise that are
" produced upon their banks. Arrived with them upon the
" bosom of this grand marine basin, there are the currents of
" the sea and the winds of heaven, so arranged by nature that
" they drift it and waft it down-hill and down stream to the
" great market-places of the world. * * * The area of
" all the valleys which are drained by the rivers of Europe
" that empty into the Atlantic ; of all the valleys that are
" drained by the rivers of Asia, which empty into the In-
" dian Ocean, and of all the valleys that are drained by the
" rivers of Africa and Europe which empty into the Med-
" iterranean, does not cover an extent of territory as great as
" that included in the valleys drained by the American rivers
" alone which discharge themselves into our central sea.
" Never was there such a concentration upon any sea, of com-
" mercial resources ; never was there a sea known with such
" a back country tributary to it,"
The advantages to be gained are so great, the benefits to
commerce and the world are so important, that they will
sooner or later impress themselves so deeply in the minds of
this impatient generation, that nothing but a realized inter
oceanic communication for Ships will in any way satisfy it.
When we contemplate the changes that will certainly take
place in, not only commerce, but agriculture and manufac
tures, and further still, in the general development of the
nations by the immense reduction in the distances that now
lie between them, the most sanguine cannot comprehend these
grand and forever increasing benefits. The map of the world
shows the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to lie midway in almost
direct lines from the whole eastern coasts of Australia and
Asia, to all our Gulf and Atlantic ports and the ports of West
ern Europe. The following tables of comparative distances
show the great saving in time by the Tehuantepec route :

31
TABLE OF COMPARATIVE DISTANCES IN STATUTE MILES.
Excess over
Total Tehuantepec
_ Distance. Eoute.
FROM NEW YORK TO HONG KONG.
Via Cape Horn  20,379 miles. 8,777miles.
Cape of Good Hope  16,945 5,343
Suez Canal  13,590 1,994
Panama R. R  12,953 1,351
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  11,602 ....
NEW YORK .TO YOKOHAMA.
Via Cape Horn  19,802 9,796
Cape of Good Hope  18,085 8,079
Suez Canal  15,527 5,521
Panama R. R  ...:. 11,256 1,250
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  10,006 ....
NEW YORK TO AUCKLAND, N. Z.
Via Suez Canal  16,871 7,447
Cape of Good Hope  16,719 7,295
Cape Horn  13,890 4,466
Panama R. R  10,305 881
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  'J,424 ....
NEW YORK TO MELBOURNE.
ViaCapeHorn  15,215 4,150
Suez Canal  15,171 4,106
Cape of Good Hope  15,019 3,954
Panama R. R  11,826 761
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  11,065 ....
NEW YORK TO HONOLULU.
ViaCapeHorn  '  15,826 9,163
Panama R. R  7,939 1,276
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  6,663 ....
NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO.
ViaCapeHorn  15,687 10,797
Panama R. R  6,063 1,173
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  4,890 ....
LIVERPOOL TO HONG KONG.
Via Cape Horn  20,606 5,353
Panama R. R  16,471 1,218
Cape of Good Hope  15,722 469
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  15,253 ....
LIVERPOOL TO YOKOHAMA.
ViaCapeHorn  19,400 5,945
Cape of Good Hope  17,653 4,198
Panama R. R  14,540 1,085
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  13,455 ....
LIVERPOOL TO AUCKLAND, N. Z.
Via Cape of Good Hope  16,221 3,412
Suez Canal  - • 14,645 1,836
CapeHorn  13,897 1,088
Panama R. R  13,312 503
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  12,809 

32
TABLE OF COMPARATIVE DISTANCES IN STATUTE MILES.

LIVERPOOL TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Via Cape Horn 
Panama R. R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO HONG KONG
Via Cape Horn 
Cape of Good Hope 
Suez Canal 
Panama R. R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO YOKOHAMA.
Via Cape Horn 
Cape of Good Hope 
Suez Canal 
Panama R. R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO AUCKLAND, N. Z.
Via Suez Canal 
Cape of Good Hope 
Cape Horn 
Panama R. R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO MELBOURNE.
Via Suez Canal 
Cape Horn 
Cape of Good Hope 
Panama R R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO HONOLULU.
Via Cape Horn 
Panama R. R  '. 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
NEW ORLEANS TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Via Cape Horn 
Panama R. R 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  3,561
NEW YORK TO VALPARAISO.
ViaCapeHorn  10,053 3,682
Panama R. R  5,417 ....
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  6,369 ....
NEW ORLEANS TO VALPARAISO
ViaCapeHorn  10,476 5,436
Panama R. R  4,772 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec  ,  5,040 ....

Total
Distance.

Excess over
Tehuantepec Route.

15,803 8,8858,276 .

7,537 609

20,80417,48515,108 12,308
10,273

10,531 7,2124,835 2,035

30,227 18,62517,039 10,611 8,637

11,590' 9,9888,402 1,974

18,381
17,259 14,314 9,6598,095

10,286-
' 9,164 6,2191,564

16,683 15,640
15,560
11,181 9,736

6,9475,9045,8241,445-

16,351 7,394 5,334

10,917 1,960-

16,113 5,418

12,551 1,857

33
The total excess of distance over the Tehuantepec Route
on these eighteen principal lines is 269,926 miles, or more
than ten times the circumference ofthe earth.
Other things being equal commerce will take the shortest
lines, whether by steam or sail. The age is seeking for quick
despatch in the delivery of all classes of goods. The great
saving in distance by the Tehuantepec route is seen at a
glance. The cereals of the Pacific coast, which now in their
passage to Europe pass around Cape Horn, are nearly five
months on the way ; with the Ship Railway, the distance will
be shortened nearly eight thousand miles and the time re
duced about two and one-half months. This business is
very great, and is rapidly increasing, even under the great
disadvantages now existing. Reduce the distance and the
time one-half, and the producers of the Pacific coast may com
pete to much better advantage with the producers of India,
Australia and other exporting countries. The inevitable re
sult will be that the area of wheat lands will rapidly increase
on the Pacific coast ; the exports will double, the farmer will ,
obtain better prices for his productions, and California, Ore
gon and Washington Territory, no longer separated from the
world, will enjoy that prosperity and experience that growth
that their fertile soil and delightful climate have a right to
expect. The hardy and agricultural immigrant from Europe
who, under existing circumstances is barred out from
these rich lands by the great expense in reaching them
over the transcontinental railroad lines, will, by way of
the Tehuantepec route, seek the shores of the Pacific.
The whole Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States
and Mexico will then be able to compete for the trade
of Australasia, China and Japan, now passing westward to
Europe and New York through the Suez Canal in steamers,
or around the Cape of Good Hope in sailing vessels. When
it is borne in mind that the commerce of Australasia has in
creased in the last five years from $225,000,000 to $500,000,-
000, and that the United States has now only four per cent.
of that trade, the advantage of a direct all-water route can
readily be seen. Attention is particularly called to the present
most unfortunate position of all the ports of the Gulf of

34 :
Mexico, hidden away, as it were, on the further shore of an
inland sea, with no exit to the world except in one direction.
The trade, to which more than all else, England owes her
commercial greatness and her wonderful prosperity in com
merce, is the Eastern trade. The trade of the Pacific
countries alone is nearly two billion dollars per annum.
Consider that the Mississippi Valley and the tributary terri
tory to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico produce every year
agricultural, mineral and manufacturing products worth over
four billion dollars, and the beneficial results of opening a
trade with Asia, Australasia and Polynesia for all the surplus
productions of this great valley cannot be grasped by the
imagination. 1
What route could be more favorable than that of Tehuan
tepec ? Then, consider that the whole western coast of South
America and Mexico, with a trade even now, via Cape Horn
and the Panama Railroad, of about 1,000,000 tons per annum,
will be brought by the Ship Railway thousands of miles nearer
Vera Cruz, Galveston, New Orleans, New York and other
Atlantic ports and Liverpool, and it is at once seen what
incentive will be given, not only to trade and commerce, but
to productions.
The Tehuantepec route also, will be able to carry much
of the heavy freights that now can pass from the Pacific to
the Mississippi valley and the Atlantic coast only by expen
sive railroad transportation, too expensive for the class of
goods under consideration. The railways will, however,
reap an immense profit from the construction ofthe Ship Rail
way by the development of the whole Pacific coast.
It is proper to call attention here to the statement of Lieut.
Maury, already given, in reference to the currents and winds in
this new highway of commerce. No one will deny his right to
teach or attempt to doubt his authority. In the same direc
tion are the statements of Captain Silas Bent, who, before the
Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis, pending the unanimous
adoption by that body of the resolution recommending a fa
vorable consideration ofthe ship railway to the United States
Government, stated as follows :
" Mere statements of the difference in miles is a very inadequate

35
measure of the difference in time that would be occupied by sailing
vessels in making these several passages, and when we consider that
three-fourths of the ocean commerce of the world is carried in sail-
" ing vessels, you can see what an important factor this question of
" sailing-time becomes in the solution of the problem before us.
' The northeast trade winds which extend across the Atlantic are
" so broken and interrupted when they encounter the West India Isl-
" ands, that they never penetrate the Caribbean Sea ; but the north-
" west portion of them, however, do extend into the Gulf of Mexico,
" and often so far down as to reach well toward Tehuantepec, so that
" whilst in the Gulf winds are always found, yet the Caribbean Sea
" remains a region of almost relentless calm.
Nor is this all, for the mountain ranges, extending the length of
" the Isthmus of Panama and through Central America, offer a still
" more formidable barrier to the passage of these winds, thus throw-
" ing them still higher into the upper regions of the atmosphere, and
" extending these calms far out into the Pacific Ocean, on the parallel
" of Panama, with lessening width, for fifteen or eighteen hundred
" miles to the northwest, along the coast of Central America.
'' This whole region of calms, both in the Caribbean Sea and in the
" Pacific Ocean, is so well known to navigators that sailing vessels
" always shun it, if possible, though they may have to run a thousand
' miles out of their way to do so.
" This absence of wind of course leaves this vast area exposed to
" the unmitigated heat of a torrid sun, except when relieved momen-
" tarily by harassing squalls in the dry season, and by the deluging
" rainfalls of the wet season. With these meterological facts in view,
" let us now suppose that the Lesseps Canal at Panama, and the Eads
" Railway at Tehuantepec are both completed and in running order ;
" then let us start two sailing ships, of equal tonnage and equal speed
" from the mouth of the Mississippi, with cargo for China, one to go
" by the way of the Panama Canal, and the other by the way of the
" Tehuantepec Railway, and I venture to affirm that by the time the
" Panama vessel has cleared the canal and floats in the waters of the
" Pacific, the Tehuantepec vessel will have scaled the Isthmus and
" be well on to the meridian of the Sandwich Islands ; and that be-
" fore the former vessel can worry through the fifteen or more hun-
" dred miles of windless ocean before her, to reach the trade winds
" to the westward of Tehuantepec, the latter will have sped five thou-
" sand miles on her way across the Pacific, and be fully thirty days
" ahead of her adversary. For it is a fact worth mentioning here,

36
" that the strength of the northeast trade winds in the Pacific, as well
" as the maximum strength of the northern portion of the great equa-
" torial current in that ocean, are both found on or near the parallel
" of latitude of Tehuantepec, the former blowing with an impelling
" force to the westward of ten or twelve miles an hour, and the latter
"with a following strength of three or four miles per hour."
From the facts and statements advanced, and from the gen
eral opinion of navigators, we are bold to say that the Te
huantepec route not only greatly reduces the distances of all
the present steamer and sailing lines, but is in every way pre
ferable to any other contemplated route in respect to winds
and currents, and in being so near to the commerce and pro
ductions of the vast and rapidly growing country lying be
tween the Atlantic and Pacific.
The Senate Committee previously referred to, in the follow
ing unequivocal language, not only gave their opinion in favor
of the Tehuantepec route, but supported this opinion by that
given by the Committee of the House of Representatives.
" During the third session of the 46th Congress a special
committee ofthe House of Representatives charged with the
duty of considering all questions relating to the Isthmus
transit, after an exhaustive investigation reported in favor of
Mr. Eads' Ship Railway project, and selected Tehuantepec as
by all means the most preferable route for the transit-way."
That portion of the report of the House Committee referred
to above, is as follows :
" Mr. Eads has selected the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and your
" Committee unhesitatingly finds and reports that, of all the routes
" across the isthmus, Tehuantepec is essentially tlie American route.
" A glance at the map will at once demonstrate the correctness of
" this assertion. If a vessel leaving the mouth of the Mississippi
" river, bound for California or the Orient, cross the isthmus at
" Tehuantepec, her voyage will be 1250 miles shorter in distance
" than if she crossed at Nicaragua, and 2,200 miles shorter than if
" she crossed at Panama. If a vessel leaving New York, bound for
" the same destination, cross the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, her voy-
" age will be 750 miles shorter than if she went by Nicaragua, and
" 1,256 miles shorter than if she went by Panama. Inasmuch as this
" large saving of distance chiefly affects only the commerce of this

37
" country and that of Mexico, and not the commerce of Europe, it
" must be at once apparent that the location of a transit way at
" Tehuantepec is of vital importance to the commercial interests of
" the United States.
The saving of distance is synonymous with cheap transportation.
' Both at Panama and Nicaragua, at various periods throughout the
" year, calms prevail to an extent which would greatly decrease the
" value of either of the routes for sailing vessels. Such, however, is not
" the case at Tehuantepec, as favorable winds always prevail there,
" thus affording a guarantee of no serious detention to sailing
" vessels seeking a. passage by that route."
The advantage also of the Ship Railway is seen when we
compare its cost with any sea level canal or canal with locks
that has been projected. The surveys that have been made,
already referred to, the plans of the harbors, all of which
have been carefully considered ; the details ofthe mechanical
work which have been fully prepared, show that an estimate
of $50,000,000 in cash, is ample to complete and fully equip
the Ship Railway. The maintenance of the works, considering
the substantial character ofthe construction will be inexpen
sive. The cost of hauling ships over this railway will be no
more than that of towing and protecting steamers and sailing
vessels through a narrow canal. The speed of vessels through
the canal at Panama will not be more than from two and one-
half to three miles per hour — on the railway ten miles per
hour can be attained — eighteen hours is ample time from
ocean to ocean. It is confidently believed that the cost of
operating will be so much reduced, with no freight to be
handled, no large clerical force to be employed, no great
number of train hands and other employees required as on
ordinary railroads, and the cost of maintenance so small,
that the Ship Railway can carry its freights for from thirty-
five to forty per cent, of its gross receipts. The advantages
in this respect are very fully stated in the following extracts
from a letter of General G. T. Beauregard :
" With regard to the economy of such a ship railway, I would re-
" mark that the tonnage carried over it being moved entirely by
" machinery, and the ratio of paying cargo to dead weight being
" much greater than on ordinary railroads, the cost of operating

38
" such a railway must be much less. The cost of maintenance should
" also be less in proportion, for the road would be substantially built
" and short in comparison to the amount of tonnage carried over it.
" Moreover the machinery used should be simple and substantially
" made. It is, therefore, safe to assume that the current expenses
" and those of maintenance would not exceed fifty per cent, of the
" gross receipts, which would be more profitable than from a canal
" costing probably two or three times more than a ship railway, and
" three or four times longer to build, thereby increasing greatly the
" amount of interest alone on the actual cost of the canal."
The advantages secured for this route by the liberality of
the Republic of Mexico, which takes a great interest in the
construction of this important work on her territory, is seen
in the favorable terms ofthe concession granted to Mr. Eads
by that republic. Briefly, they are as follows : —
The right to construct a ship railway, an ordinary railway
and a line of telegraph ; to occupy a right of way about one-
quarter of a mile in width ; a free right of way on public
lands; exemption from all duties on ships, passengers and mer
chandise in transit ; importation free of duty of all materials
required for construction or maintenance of the railway; ex
emption from all taxes or other contributions on capital stock
and all property ofthe company ; a grant of 1,000,000 acres
of public lands ; a guarantee of protection by the use, if
necessary, of naval and military forces without expense to the
company. In concluding this important part of the subject, it should
be remembered that this route is especially American, that
its realization will inevitably result in the exaltation of
the Republic of the United States of the North and
of the Republic of the United States of Mexico, and
that this new tie between these sister republics will
serve to bind them together in stronger bonds. The
great changes which the Ship Railway will bring to both
countries is an important supplement to those benefits
which both have reaped and will continue to reap from the
construction of railways throughout all their vast extent. Pen
cannot decribe ; tongue fails to tell ; none but a prophet
gifted with a vision of the great future could draw the

39
picture of the western world fifty years from now, with this,
the last of the commercial barriers forever broken down.
FOURTH.
Business and Revenue.
It is proposed, in treating this subject, to give a fair and re
liable statement ofthe commerce that will either be diverted
from the present lines or be developed from altogether new
sources of trade. To fully appreciate and understand the re
sults to be stated, an intimate knowledge is requisite of the
sources of trade, of the supply and demand, of the handling
of different varieties bf products of agriculture, manufactures
and the mines ; of the distance now traversed by the trade of
one country with another ; of the kind and amount of pro
ductions and the trade of each country ; the reasons for the
trade of, and with, certain countries increasing or decreasing;
and many other facts and conditions that affect the commerce
of the world.
It would be out of place here to enumerate the great num
ber of details that go to make up the general items of the
commercial estimate. A few only are mentioned to familiar
ize the reader with the subject, and to show that, even under all
the disadvantages now existing, there is a foundation on which
a substantial and important commerce may be built by the
operation of the Tehuantepec Ship Railway. The United
States has a feeble commerce with the United States of Co
lombia on the west coast of South America, carried on either
over the Panama Railroad or around Cape Horn. It imports
from that country, coffee, barks, hides and india rubber, and
exports to it iron, steel, machinery, lard, cotton goods, flour,
paper, etc. With Peru, it has a trade in'soda and guano, and
exports to it cereals', machinery, woods, crude and mineral
oil. Strange to say, on account of the difficulties in trading
at present with this country, many ofthe articles are shipped
from Peru to France on French steamers, and then re-
shipped to New York. We have a similar trade with Chili.
Our China trade, either across the Continent by rail, or by the

40
Panama Railroad, Cape Horn, Cape Good Hope or Suez
Canal, is imports of tea, silk, rice, palm-leaf, jute and hemp
and exports of cotton cloth, mineral oil, etc. We have about
the same character of trade with Hong Kong and Japan. With
Australasia we have the foundations of a diversified trade to be
built up when the ship railway is completed. The principal
imports from that country to the Atlantic coasts of the
United States are gums, tins, coal and wool. The principal
exports are lo.comotives, machinery, iron manufactures, house
hold furniture, agricultural implements, illuminating oils, bar
ley, carriages, trunks, sewing machines, linen and cotton
goods, books, etc., etc. The most important manufactures
exported to that country are twenty-seven in number :
The various groups of islands in Polynesia have a trade that
will become important. There is now, with the Sandwich
Islands alone, a commerce of over $6,000,000. We receive
from them brown sugar, rice and limes, and send them the
same general class of goods that go to Australasia.
In 1879 an estimate was made by Joseph Nimmo, Jr., Chief
of the Bureau of Statistics, of the commerce that might have
crossed the Isthmus in that year (distance alone considered).
His estimate was about 3,000,000 tons. In estimating for 1889,
ten years after, it is important to note very marked changes
and an increase in commerce ; to estimate for Tehuantepec
instead of Panama, and to include new business to be de
veloped, which was not then taken into consideration. A
notable advance has been made in the trade of the Pacific
coast with foreign countries east of Cape Horn. The esti
mate of i879was 551,929 tons. The amount actually exported
and imported in 1882 was, including 900,000 tons of cereals
and other exports and imports, 1,423,737 tons. This increase,
be it remembered, took place even under the extraordinary
obstacles and disadvantages that existed, and is the business
around Cape Horn alone, and does not include any transcon
tinental or Panama Railway business. The commerce be
tween the Pacific and Atlantic ports of the United States
has nearly doubled in five years. Again, in 1882 the earnings
of the grain fleet of the Pacific Coast with Europe was over
$15,000,000, and the earnings from the through freights be-

41
tween San Francisco and New York over the transcontinental
railroad lines was more than this sum. We may conclude that
the tonnage of the latter is larger also, or say 1,500,000
tons. The increase with the opening of the Northern Pacific
and Atlantic and Pacific Railroads since then, and from other
causes has been very great. The bulky and non-paying of the
above freights will probably be diverted to the Ship Railway.
Again, on account ofthe impracticability of sailing vessels nav
igating the Suez Canal route, about twenty-five per cent, ofthe
business between the United Kingdom and the East Indies is
still carried on by sailing vessels around the Cape of Good Hope.
As the winds and currents are favorable for sailing vessels via
Tehuantepec, and as the distance from many points to Europe
is shorter by this line than by the Cape of Good Hope, a cer
tain part of the 800,000 tons now going by that route will
probably pass over the Ship Railway. Attention is now par
ticularly called to the entirely new trade which will result
from the commercial extension of the Mississippi River into
the Pacific Ocean, and the union ofthe shore lines ofthe Gulf
and the Pacific. Consider that the Mississippi River has an
aggregate length of trunkand branches of 165,000 miles ; that
it has forty-two navigable tributaries, that many of these
tributaries, and the main Mississippi itself is paralleled by
prosperous lines of railroad ; that the six trunk lines termin
ating at New Orleans aggregate 12,559 miles ; that the
annual internal commerce of this great valley aggregates
nearly $4,000,000,000 ; -that the import and export trade of
the Pacific countries, Asia and the islands of the Pacific
amounts to $2,000,000,000 ; that the cities ofthe United States,
Mexico and the Antilles on the Gulf will fall legitimate heirs
to this trade and the interchange of the immense surplus pro
ductions ; and we may certainly consider 1,000,000 tons as an
item of our estimate for Vera Cruz, Galveston, New Orleans
and other Gulfports, and Havana. The various items made
up from reliable sources give an estimate for the Ship Rail-
Way business in 1889, of 7,564,597 tons, the details of which
are given in the following table :

42

DETAILED STATEMENT OF TONNAGE EXPECTED
OVER THE SHIP RAILWAY,
In 1889.
Tons 1883. Tons 1889.
Estimated from
ratio of increase of
1 Actual Tonnage commerce on the
carried by steam routes from 1879 to
Routes by which Commerce Moves. ana sail on routes 1883, and from new
longer than via business to be
Tehuantepec. developed.
1. Panama Railroad  77,958 60,000
2. U. S. Pacific Coast with. Atlantic via
Cape Horn  237,341 359,081
3. Atlantic Ports with Countries west of
Cape Horn  349,454 489,135
4. IT. S. Pacific Coast with foreign coun
tries east of Cape Horn  1,423,737 2,135,605
5. European Countries with Countries west
of Cape Horn, other than U. S  1,828,621 2.285,776
6. British Columbia (Pacific Coast) with
Europe  125,000 235,000
7. Slow bulky freights now going over
Transcontinental lines  400,000 600,000
8. Fifty per cent, of tonnage now going
from Asiatic Countries to Europe via
Cape of Good Hope  400,000 400,000
9. New trade to be developed by Ship
Railway between Gulf Ports of U. S.
and Mexico and Pacific Ocean  .... 1,000,000
Total, 4,842,111 7,564,597
The Paris Inter-oceanic Canal Congress, held in 1879,
estimated 7,250,000 tons as the tonnage in 1889.
Assuming 6,000,000 tons as a perfectly safe estimate, the
annual gross receipts, at $3.00 per ton, will be $18,000,000.
Deducting forty per cent, for operating expenses, there re
mains $10,800,000 of profit to be applied to the payment of
interest and dividends, equal to ten per cent, on $108,000,000.
A generous estimate for bonds and stock for the construction
of the Ship Railway will not exceed $75,000,000. The net
profit of $10,800,000 will give an annual return on this
amount of about 14J per cent.
A tax of $2.00 per ton would yield a net profit of $7,200,-
000, equivalent to 9 6-10 per cent, on $75,000,000, or 5 pet-
cent, on $144,000,000.

43
No one who has watched the development of trade and
commerce on all lines, by rail or water, will doubt for a mo
ment that a rapid increase of business willjtake place over the
Ship Railway. No more convincing argument, or one more
concisely stated, could be given than in the summary
of the^Suez Canal history by Prof. J. E. Nourse, U.S. N., who
has, this year (1884), published an intensely interesting, in
structive and complete record of the Suez Canal, and from
which we can take a precedent and learn a valuable lesson
for the development of business over the Ship Railway :
" First blow struck, 1859. The Mediterranean admitted to
:' Lake Timsah in 1862. Transport of a small vessel, 1865.
" Inauguration ofthe canal, 1869. The estimated tonnage of
" 6,000,000 tons reached, 1884. A new canal demanded. De-
" cision to double the width of the present canal. Revenue,
" 1870 to 1874 (three years), $6,112,129. Revenue for the
" one year, 1883, $13,702,413. Expectation of $10,000,000 in
" 1888 is reported by the British directors. Dividend, 1882,
"17 per cent ; dividend expected in 1890, 3.0 per cent."
As has been shown before, the possibilities and probabili
ties for a great commerce over the Ship Railway compare fa
vorably with the Suez Canal. It is not too much to say that
when this route has been opened a few years, an epitomized
record and prophecy may be given that will compare favora
bly with the above.
We have now covered very briefly (for the importance of the
subject,) the commercial necessities, the practicability, the
advantages, the business and the revenue of the Tehuante
pec Ship Railway.
A thoughtful consideration of this important subject by the
people of the United States and Mexico is earnestly requested.
In a broader sense it may be said that the construction of
the Tehuantepec Ship Railway will be productive of beneficial
results of transcendent importance to the nations.
On this bridge of the world's commerce and civilization
the Orient and the Occident will clasp hands in fraternal and^
perpetual union.

YALEL