Citation
Report of the Isthmian canal commission 1900

Material Information

Title:
Report of the Isthmian canal commission 1900
Creator:
Isthmian Canal Commission (U.S.)
Walker, John Grimes, 1835-1907
McKinley, William, 1843-1901
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Language:
English
Physical Description:
4 volumes in one : illustrations ; 24 cm

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Panama Canal (Panama) ( lcsh )
Nicaragua Canal (Nicaragua) ( lcsh )
Nicaragua -- Nicaragua Canal ( fast )
Panama -- Panama Canal ( fast )
Genre:
federal government publication ( marcgt )

Notes

General Note:
Spine title.
Statement of Responsibility:
William McKinley, John G. Walker, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
UF Latin American Collections
Rights Management:
This item is a work of the U.S. federal government and not subject to copyright pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §105.
Resource Identifier:
032467573 ( ALEPH )
870684856 ( OCLC )

Aggregation Information

DLOC1:
Digital Library of the Caribbean
PCM:
Panama and the Canal
IUF:
University of Florida
IUFGOV:
Centers of Excellence at UF
IUFLAC:
UF Latin American Collections
UFPANCAN:
Documents of the Panama Canal

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56TH CONGRESS, 2d Session.


SENATE.


DOCUMENT No. 5.


MESSAGE.




FROM THE





PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,


TRANSMITTING





A PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN
CANAL COMMISSION.







DECEMBER 4 1900.-Read, referred to the Committee on Interoceanic Canals,
and ordered to be printed.







WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1900.










































































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To 'the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the information of the Congress, a Preliminary Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, dated November 30, 1900.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY. EXECUTIVE MANSION,
December 4, 1900.
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PRELIMINARY REPORT

OF THE



ISTHIMIAN CANAL COMMISSION,


NOVEMBER 30, 1900.



Rear-Admiral JOHN G. WALKER,
United States Navy,
President.


lion. SAMUEL PASCO. Mr. GEORGE S. MORISON. Lieut. Col. OSWALD H. ERNST,
Corps of Engineers, United States Army. LEWIS M. HAUPT, C. E.


ALFRED NOBLE, C. E. Col. PETER C. HAINS,
Corps of Engineers, United States Army WILLIAM H. BURR, C. E. Prof. EMORY R. JOHNSON.


Lieut. Commander SIDNEY A. STAUNTON,
United States Navy,
Secretary.


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION,
Washington, AD. ., November 30, 1900.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: It has been found impracticable to complete the work of the Isthmian Canal Commission and prepare a full report upon the investigation it was required to make in time for its presentation before Congress convenes in December.
The task intrusted to it was of great magnitude. It required exploration, examination, and research in distant countries to collect the data and information upon which to base its conclusions; the arrangement, tabulation, and study of these data, the determination of the best route for a canal at each locality, and of any variations necessary in former projects, the approval or change of sites for dams, locks, and other auxiliary works, the making of estimates, the preparation of plans, maps, and profiles-all demanded care and diligence and consumed much time. The parties employed in the field work have been returning to the United States, as the duties assigned to them have been completed, but some of them are still in Nicaragua and Panama and have not yet finished their labors. Until their return and the results they bring with them have been digested the task of the Commission can not be completed.
But the work has been sufficiently advanced to make it practicable to answer the interrogatories suggested by the law and the instructions given thereunder with reasonable accuracy, as the results of the unfinished work, though important for the development of certain details, are not likely to affect seriously the approximate estimates which have been prepared.
It has therefore been deemed best to report the progress that has been made and the conclusions which have been reached, and thus avoid the delay that a postponement might cause in the inauguration of the work which the legislation, under which the Commission is acting, was designed to promote.
7





8 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

Such a report is now submitted and, as soon as practicable, it will be followed by a later and final one containing a complete and detailed account of the entire work of the Commission along all of the lines of investigation it was directed to follow, with maps, plans, and profiles, and the topographic, hydrographic, and other data which have been collected and used in making its estimates and reaching its conclusions.
The purpose of the investigation, undertaken gation. in compliance with the law under which the Commission is acting, was to determine the most feasible and practicable route across the American isthmus for a maritime canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, together with the cost of constructing the same and placing it under the control, management, and ownership of the United States.
The duty of aiding the President in the necessary examinations and ascertainments was entrusted to this Commission, and in the performance of this duty its members have endeavored to carry out the intent of the law and the instructions received through the Secretary of State.
The Commissioners were appointed on the 10th day of June, 1899, and qualified without delay.
The first meeting was held in the city of WashOrganizationof the Com-ington on the 15th day of June, 1899, and RearAdmiral John G. Walker was unanimously chosen as president, and at a subsequent meeting, held on the 6th day of July, Lieut. Commander Sidney A. Staunton, of the United States Navy, was chosen as secretary.
The work of the Commission was divided among five committees, with the understanding that they were-to report their results and conclusions, with the evidence they had .collected to the Commission for its consideration and action. These Committees were severally authorized to enter upon the investigation of the following subjects:
The Nicaragua route.
The Panama route.
Other possible routes.
The industrial, commercial, and military value of an interoceanic canal.
Rights, privileges, and franchises.
At the first meeting after their appointment, in obedience to a resolution of the Commission, each of these committees submitted an outline of a scheme for the investigation which formed its special work, and they have followed the general lines indicated in these plans.
The examination of the different proposed canal Working parties sent to routes, and careful explorations to determine Nicaragua, Panama, and
DarPen.a whether other routes exist presenting advantages for an interoceanic canal superior to those found at Nicaragua and Panama were at once set on foot.





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 9

A chief engineer was appointed to take charge in the field of each of the investigations to be made under the direction of the three committees charged with these duties. Working parties were sent into Nicaragua, Panama, and the Darien country under assistants appointed upon the recommendation of the chief engineer to collect such information and data as would serve as a safe basis for correct conclusions as to the practicability of the different routes, and an approximate estimate of the cost of each that was deemed feasible.
The general tenor of the instructions given to Instructions. the parties sent to Nicaragua and Panama was to verify the examinations previously made, so as to determine the accuracy of former estimates and findings; to develop the canal lines by borings, so as to ascertain the nature of subsurface material; to lay out the center line upon the ground where it had not already been done; to survey the locations for locks and dams, using the diamond drill to determine the character of the underlying rock; to continue and extend the observations of rainfall and stream flow and of the lake fluctuation in Nicaragua; to ascertain the supply of materials for locks, breakwaters, embankments, and other auxiliary works, and to make careful surveys of the different harbors with a view to their improvement. The Darien country was to be explored from the Panama region to the Atrato River on the Atlantic and Pacific sides; the crest line of the dividing mountain range was to be carefully examined for the discovery of any existing gap or depression sufficiently low for canal purposes; former proposed routes were to be surveyed so as to develop their character and features, and the topography, hydrology, and meteorology of the country were to be carefully studied.
In all 31 working parties were organized and sent into the field, 20 into Nicaragua with about one hundred and fifty engineers and assistants, 5 into Panama with about 20 engineers and assistants, and 6 into the Darien country with about fifty engineers and assistants, making in all a force of about two hundred and twenty sent from the United States, the number varying a little from time to time, besides about six hundred laborers, boatmen, and other workmen employed in the different countries, a total of more than eight hundred.
Meanwhile the members of the commission were devoting much time to a study of the different canal routes and an examination of the results of former surveys and explorations of the entire American isthmus. The reports and other writings upon the Nicaragua route afforded much information, but there were no similar advantages at hand for familiarizing themselves with the details of the Panama route. It was ascertained, however, that there were ample engineering and geographical data in possession of the New Panama Canal Company in Paris, and its officers offered to





10 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

open to the commission its records, plans, maps, profiles, and the results of the different surveys of the isthmian country made from time to time, if its members would visit that city. It was determined to improve this opportunity, and the commission left New York on the 9th day of August and returned on the 29th day of September. Most of this time was spent in Paris, where daily sessions were held at the offices of the company, when the officers could be present, and with the assistance of the director-general, the chief engineer, and other officials, the visiting commissioners made a thorough study of all the details of the Panama Canal scheme from its inception, including its economic, historical, and legal, as well as its engineering aspects.
From Paris they went to Kiel, Germany, and passed through the canal there in company with its principal officers and engineers, with whose assistance they obtained much valuable data relating to canal construction. In like manner North Sea Canal. they examined the North Sea Canal in Holland, passing through it from Amsterdam to the North Sea. Subsequently they proceeded to England, where they inspected Manchester Caal. the Manchester Canal from that city to its outlet into the River Mersey, near Liverpool, and afterwards devoted a day to the examination of the Liverpool docks.
At all these places, in addition to the oral information which was freely given, the officers in charge gave the commission valuable printed data, maps, and drawings for further study. All the information thus collected at these different places, and full printed and written details of the Panama Canal scheme sent from Paris since the return of the commissioners, have been considered and utilized by the commission during the progress of its work.
The general plan of investigation determined South America. upon included a personal examination of the different canal routes upon the American isthmus and a visit to the capital cities of the countries where they are located, to ascertain the feeling and sentiment of the President and the people in each Republic with reference to the occupation of its territory for the construction of a canal to be under the control, management, and ownership of the United States.
To accomplish these purposes the commission sailed from New York for Greytown on the 6th day of January last and returned on the 3d day of April. The time from January 19 to February 27 was spent in Nicaragua. The party examined Greytown Harbor, the adjacent coast line from the mouth of the San Juan to the Indio, the work and plant left by the Maritime Canal Company, and the different outlets of the San Juan River. Thence it proceeded up the river in steamboats to Lake Nicaragua, changing from vessel to vessel whenever the state of the water and





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 11

the rapids in the channel made it necessary. Detours were made so as to inspect the sites considered suitable for locks and dams and other important points along and near the line of the canal where it did not follow the river. These detours were made in small boats and canoes and often on foot. The lake was then crossed and the canal line and adjacent country were traversed from the western shore to the terminus at Brito on the Pacific. The party traveled on horseback and sometimes on foot, making examinations of the same character as those made east of the lake. The camps of the working parties were visited all along the line, their work was carefully inspected, the results studied, and written instructions left as to the manner in which it should be continued.
During the investigations upon the canal line the Results accomplished by work accomplished by the Maritime Canal Comthe Maratime Canal Company. pany, in addition to the surveys and borings, the preparation of maps, plans, and profiles, and other preliminary operations, was examined and inspected. It was found that a railroad had been constructed and partly equipped from Greytown to the headquarters on the beach at La F and for about twelve miles westward along its line from the opening of the canal into the harbor, also a telegraph line from the same point to Castillo, covering with its loops about 60 miles. The excavation of the canal had been commenced and carried forward for about three-quarters of a mile to a depth of 161 feet, and varying in width from 150 to 230 feet. In an effort to improve the entrance to the harbor in use at the time a jetty 42 feet wide had been constructed to a distance of 947 feet seaward and filled with brush mattresses, rock, and hydraulic-cement concrete. Upon it was a railway track which had been used in its construction.
In addition to this a clearing 486 feet wide had been made for a distance of 10 miles along the canal line at the eastern end, and the forest growth had been removed for nearly the same distance at the western end; a number of temporary frame buildings had been constructed for quarters, storehouses, workshops, and hospitals on the shore of the Caribbean near La F6, and near the entrance to the canal. The company had also purchased several dredges; five of these and a number of steel boats, launches, tugs, lighters, and other property are still lying in the lagoon near Greytown and along the adjacent shores in an exposed and neglected condition. The railroad embankment, which was built for a greater part of the distance over a swamp, still remains, and is in good condition. The ties are mostly rotten but the rails were, at the time of the commission's visit, in good order.
The short section of partially constructed canal is perhaps in as good shape to-day as it was when the work was stopped. The buildings are all rotten, and may be considered as valueless for any future operations. The dredges, boats, etc., are worthless. Some of the





12 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

tools and machinery in store might be made use of, but they have little, if any, value now. It is understood that all this property has been declared forfeited to the Nicaraguan Government under the terms of the concessiort. The railroad embankment and the piece of canal constitute all that would be of any value in future operations, and the latter item has value only for river diversion in case the canal terminates in the Greytown Lagoon.
After the examination of the entire canal line from Greytown to Visit to Managua. Brito, the commission journeyed from Rivas, its headquarters west of the lake, by steamboat and railway to Managua, the capital, where the President and other leading officials and citizens received the party with a cordial welcome and manifested great interest in the project of establishing an interoceanic communication through Nicaragua rather than at any other location. The occupation of their territory by the United States for this purpose did not seem to be regarded as a serious obstacle, provided the sovereignty of the Republic was respected and maintained.
After leaving Managua the party. went by rail to Corinto and took a Steamer for Panama, where it arrived on the 3d day of March. Two houses built by the French company at Colon were placed at the disposition of the commission, and its members, after a short delay at Panama, crossed the Isthmus and made their headquarters at the Atlantic terminus of the canal route during their stay in the country. From this place daily trips were made to different points on the railway from which the canal line could be reached, and the same thorough inspection of the whole work and the harbors at each terminus was made as in Nicaragua. The examination was extended to. the upper waters of the Chagres in the Alhajuela region, and the entire river was traversed in canoes from there to the point near its mouth where it leaves the canal line.
The commission found a large force of workmen and laborers engaged upon the canal line, about two thousand in number, according to the statements of the officers of the Panama Canal Company, who were superintending the work upon the Isthmus. Most of these were engaged at and near the deep cut in the Culebra region, excavating the earth and rock and removing the excavated materials in dump cars to the spoil banks. Here .at the divide the greatest results have been accomplished, and the French engineers estimate that the cut which has been made has an average depth.of more than 160 feet. The canal had been opened by the old French company at the Atlantic end, in the Bay of Limon, near Colon, to a distance of about thirteen miles. The depth as excavated was from about sixteen to twenty-nine and one-half feet, but it had been abandoned for a long time and had silted up from the Chagres River and other water courses, so that in places it could be used only by boats or launches of light draft. There are





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 13

other excavations at different places along the route, and an opening has been made at the Pacific end for about 3 miles inland from the shore of Panama Bay to a depth of from about 6 to about 26 feet, varying .in different localities. In the bay a channel has been dredged to deep water at the anchorage near'the island of Naos.
The work done in the Culebra region and at the two ends of the canal, and some in other sections, can be utilized in executing the plan adopted by the commission. Its value in this respect has been considered and the approximate estimate of the additional cost of the canal, if it had not been accomplished, based upon the unit prices which have been used in other estimates, will be given in another part of this report.
At Colon and at different points along the line there are storehouses, covered sheds, and other buildings filled with locomotives, excavators, cars, dredges, and an immense amount of other machines, implements, tools, and supplies of various kinds, all purchased for canal purposes, besides the locomotives, cars, steam shovels, and other machines and tools in actual use in the work now going on. Much of this property is ill adapted to American methods of work, and all of it is now from thirteen to twenty years old, during which period the improvements in this class of machinery have been such that contractors would generally find it to their advantage to buy entirely new machinery of modern pattern rather than attempt to use this of an older class, even if given to them free and in good order. The locomotives, rails, and cars may be of some service, but their value is doubtful; the locomotives are much lighter than is desirable for economical service, the rails are of a pattern ill fitted to rough' use, and the cars have narrow tread wheels. The cars are the best part of the whole outfit, and it is quite likely that they would be used; but'it has seemed to the commission that no value should be given to the plant now on the Isthmus, although its owners may realize something by the sale of portions of it to contractors, if they consider that they can use it to advantage.
The existence of the Panama Railroad is, however, a very important factor, as it supplies a service railroad for the entire length of the canal. On the basis of $75,000 a mile, this railroad would be worth .$3,500,000, which is half the face value of its capital stock. In view of its good condition and its valuable termini, it should not be estimated for purposes of canal construction at less than $7,000,000, the par value of its stock.
The investigation was closed on the 18th day of Costa Rica. Visit to San March, and a majority of the commission then proceeded to San Jos6, the capital of Costa Rica, where they had several interviews with President Iglesias and met the members of his cabinet and of the higher courts and othei' representative men of the Republic. They were treated with great cordiality





14 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

and consideration, as they had been at MIanagua, and found a public sentiment in favor of a maritime canal to be constructed by the United States similar to that which was manifested in Nicaragua.
It is proper to add that the commission was greatly aided in its work at San Jose by Mr. Rufus A. Lane, secretary of legation, charge d'affaires in the absence of Mr. Merry, the United States minister, and at Managua by Mr. Chester Donaldson, the United States consul there. The members of the commission are also indebted to these gentlemen for many personal courtesies.
Colombia. The disturbed condition of Colombia and the interruption of travel on account of a revolution then in active progress made it impracticable to proceed to Bogota, the capital, so as to call upon the president and ascertain the views of the Government and people of the Republic with reference to the occupation of their territory by the United States in case the Panama route should be regarded as the most practicable and desirable. Darien. Mr. George S. Morison, who was chairman of the committee having in charge the investigation for other possible routes, left the party at Colon on the 16th of March to ascertain the progress of the explorations in the Darien country on the Atlantic side, with full authority to direct th6 further prosecution of the work and make any changes in the working parties and their supervision that he might deem advisable.
He left late at night on the U. S. S. Scorpion, commanded by Lieut. Commander Nathan Sargent, and next morning reached Mandinga Harbor, in San Blas Bay, in the vicinity of which the nearest of the working parties were encamped. He visited those operating from this base and then sailed for Caledonia Bay. He there received reports of what had been accomplished, gave further instructions to those in charge of the explorations, and then proceeded to Cartagena, where some of the engineers and assistants were awaiting orders. He made some changes in the organization of the exploring parties, prepared a scheme for the conduct of the general operation of the work on the Pacific as well as the Atlantic side, and returned to Caledonia Bay and thence to San Blas Bay. On the return trip the different camps were visited again, and instructions were given to those in charge of the investigation at the different points, in accordance with the plan he had prepared. The Scorpion kept close in shore and the mountain ridge was carefully examined. The trip was completed on the 7th of April, and on the 11th he left Colon for New York.
After the commission returned to the United Study of dimensions. States much attention was given to the determination of the. proper dimensions for a maritime canal under existing conditions, and the unit prices to be used in making the estimates for the cost of construction at each of the proposed routes mentioned in





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 15

the law. The dimensions of the largest sized ocean-going vessels now in use were ascertained, and correspondence was opened with leading ship builders and directors of steamship lines, at home and abroad, to ascertain the size of those now on the stocks and whether the enlargement which has been going on for many years is likely to continue, and, if so, to what extent, during the next twelve or fifteen years. The results were considered in connection with other information in reaching the conclusions upon which the estimates in this report are based, and the unit prices which were agreed upon have been applied to these dimensions.
A depth of 35 feet at mean low water and a bottom width of 150 feet were adopted as standard dimensions for a canal in excavation by each route. This width is for straight sections; on curves with a radius of less than 12,000 feet it is increased at the rate of 1 foot for each 200 feet reduction of radius, the width thus' becoming 180 feet on a curve of 6,000 feet radius. In open channels, excavated within the shallow limits of harbors or lakes, the bottom width is increased to 200 feet, in the San Juan River to 250, and in the excavated portions of Lake Nicaragua to 300 feet. In the artificial harbors of Colon, Greytown, and Brito it is made 500 feet. These dimensions are larger than those proposed for any previous isthmian canal scheme. While they may seem excessive to-day, the canal is not likely to be opened within ten years, during which time the increase in marine dimensions which has been going on for many years is likely to continue.
The isthmian canal, except in the two maritime sections, will be a fresh-water canal. The draft of ocean steamers is based on salt water weighing 64 pounds per cubic foot. Some large freight steamers now draw 32 feet at sea, and would draw nearly 33 feet in fresh water. If the heaviest class of freight steamers is to use the isthmian canal, 35 feet is the least depth that should be adopted.
A width of 150 feet will allow all but the very largest ships to pass each other in the excavated portions of the canal; if two such large ships meet, one will have to take the bank while the other goes by; smaller ships will pass each other and larger ships without stopping.
In soft earth or sand the estimates are based on taking out the canal with side slopes of 1 on 3 below water and 1 on 2 above water. In firm earth they are based on side slopes of 2 on 3 below a berme 10 feet wide 6 feet below water, and 1 on 1 above such berme. In rock they are based on vertical sides from the bottom to a berme 5 feet above water with slopes of 4 on 1 in hard rock and 2 on 1 in soft rock above such berme, the berme being of such width that the extended slopes would intersect the bottom of the canal at the foot of the vertical.sides. In certain special locations, like the Culebra cut on the Panama route, retaining walls are provided, these walls taking the place of the vertical sides of rock cuts.





16 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

The largest merchant ship now afloat is 704 feet long and 68 feet beam. Ships of larger displacement are now building, and freight steamers with a beam of about 75 feet may soon be common; four such ships are now on the stocks. Battle ships have a greater beam than other ocean-going vessels of like displacement; none now in the United States Navy exceeds this measurement, but designs have been prepared for some soon to be constructed with a beam of 76 feet 10 inches. These when completed will be of greater beam than any now afloat. These sizes have been used as a basis for determining the size of locks, the governing dimensions of which have been fixed at 740 feet long and 84 feet wide, in the clear, with a depth of 35 feet over the miter sills. The length, width, and depth are each 2 feet greater than those adopted by the French company for Panama. Twin locks are provided for in every case.
In special cases some of these dimensions might be changed in construction, but they have been followed in these estimates in order to make a comparison between the different routes.
Unit prices have been fixed by agreement of all the members of the commission, on the principle that whatever differences of- opinion or circumstances may exist, they are not enough to interfere with a fair and close comparison of the different routes. These prices are as follows: Removal of hard rock-..-.- ..- .--.per cubic yard 1.15
Removal of soft rock--.---.-..do-_ .80
Removal of rock under water---do 4.75 Removal of earth not handled by dredgedo---- 45 Removalof dredged material--do .20 Embankments and back filling--do .60 Rock in jetty construction-....---- ..-..-do 2. 50
Stone pitching, including necessary backing, per square
yard--------.----..-..-... -.-------------.. ----- 2.00
Clearing and grubbing, Nicaragua swamp sections per acre 200. 00 Other clearing and grubbing----------------------do- 100. 00
Concrete in place--------...--..--.per cubic yard 8.00
Metal in locks, exclusive of machinery_--.--. per pound- 075 Timber in locks.-.---_..-- ....--. --..perM B. M_ 100. 00
Operating machinery, each lock chamber.............-50, 000. 00
Power plant, each group of locks-- --..--100,000.00 Single track railroad, complete with equipment-..per mile.... 75, 000. 00
Contingencies, etc. It was determined to add 20 per cent to the estimates of the cost of construction to cover expenses that will be incurred for engineering, police, sanitation, and general contingencies. The prices are based on efficient organization and thorough equipment, with the understanding that while the work





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 17

would be vigorously handled it would not be so driven as to call for unnecessary duplication of machinery. The cost of the equipment and plant will be large, but it will be distributed over a very large work.
The well-known geographic conditions at Other possible routes. Tehuantepec and between the Nicaragua and Panama canal routes made it unnecessary to explore those parts of the American isthmus for other possible locations for an interoceanic canal, and the commission limited its investigations to what is generally known as the Darien country, extending from Panama to the Atrato River.
For about 80 miles the width of the Isthmus in this region does not exceed 40 miles, except at one or two headlands which project beyond the general line of the coast. The narrowest point is at San Blas, where the distance from Mandinga Harbor to the shore of Panama Bay is only 31 miles, 2 miles less than from the head of the bay of Limon, at Colon, to the mouth of the Bernadino. On the eastern side of Panama Bay, about 100 miles from Panama, an estuary known as San Miguel Bay extends into the interior to within 33 miles of Caledonia Bay, on the Atlantic side. This bay of San Miguel, on the Pacific, and San Blas and Caledonia bays, on the Atlantic side, afford excellent harbors and canal approaches. Between Panama and San Blas the ridge of the Cordilleras crosses from the Pacific to the Atlantic side and continues there to the mouth of the Atrato River.
As the existence of practicable and feasible routes in this section depended upon the height and continuity of the divide, its crest was examined all along the line, with as much care and accuracy as was practicable under the conditions which existed, for the discovery of gaps and depressions, so as to ascertain whether any were sufficiently low for canal purposes, and measurements were made of those which promised the most favorable results.
The ridge was traced continuously on the ground from the head of the river Carti, a little east of Mandinga Harbor, in San Blas Bay, in latitude 90 19' N., longitude 78o 59' W., to the head waters of the Chagres, and thence down the river to the Panama Railroad, a total distance of 241 miles; also near Caledonia Bay from the Carreto summit, in latitude 80 45' N. and longitude 77o 38' W., to the Sassardi summit, in latitude 80 56' N., longitude 77o 52' W., a distance of 27 miles. The lowest elevation in the former section was 956 feet, in the latter 683 feet. These results were obtained by actual leveling. Between these two sections from San Blas Bay to Caledonia Bay, a distance of 81 miles in an air line, and from Caledonia Bay southward to the Atrato River, the examination was made from the sea, the elevations of the higher peaks, as well as the gaps and their distances,
S. Doc. 5 2





18 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

being determined by observations made with two sextants. The results showed that there was no probability of any suitable depression within these limits.
In addition to these investigations, a survey was made from San Miguel Bay, on the Pacific side, up the Chucunaque and Chucurti (Sucubti) rivers, which was almost though not quite connected with the work done near Caledonia Bay. After the results of the general exploration were determined the examination of other possible routes was limited to those sections where the isthmus was narrowest, where the coast lines offered good harbors, and the indications along the divide were the most promising. These conditions were found near San Blas Bay and Caledonia Bay. East of San Miguel Bay the isthmus widens, and no route can be expected there less than a hundred miles in length.
San Bias. The San Blas route extends from the bay of that name to the mouth of the Bayano, on the Pacific; it has been advocated as the shortest line between the two oceans, which is true. The most complete plan developed involves a tunnel at least 7 miles long. While not necessarily impracticable, such a tunnel would be very objectionable and would render the line inferior either to the Panama or the Nicaragua location. Caledonia Bay. The distance from Caledonia Bay to tide water on the Savana River is about 30 miles in a straight line. Studies have been made of three lines across the divide, all of them striking the same point on the Savana river, near the mouth of the Lara, the approach upon the Atlantic side being through the three valleys of the Caledonia, the Aglaseniqua, and the Sassardi. The distance from Caledonia Bay to the mouth of the Lara varies from 32 miles by the Sassardi route to 36 by the Caledonia route. The Sassardi route has not, however, been explored through its whole length, and it is possible that an actual survey would make it as long as the Caledonia route. Each line would require a tunnel. If the Sassardi route were taken, the length of this tunnel, assuming an open cut to.be used to the depth of 400 feet, would be about 1.6 miles. On either of the other two the tunnel would be about 2 miles longer, while the approaches on the south side would be much heavier.
These surveys indicate that the Sassardi route is probably the best of the three for a sea-level canal. The indication can not be regarded as conclusive, because a thorough survey and development of the subsurface material might show insuperable difficulties, which would be more likely to exist in the tunnel than elsewhere. The cost of a canal upon this line would be excessive and the tunnel more objectionable to navigation than the locks on the other routes.
Caledonia Bay is virtually tideless. San Miguel Bay has a tidal range of 20 feet or more. This heavy tide causes currents in the





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 19

Savana River of sufficient force to be a serious menace to navigation, and it would be necessary to build a tide lock near the mouth of the Savana. The distance from the mouth of the Lara to the tide-lock site is about 14 miles, the upper portion of which is in a narrow river which would require enlargement for a canal. This makes the total length of canal navigation from Caledonia Bay to the tide lock about 50 miles.
The result of all these examinations shows that there is no probability of the existence of any practicable canal location between Panama and the mouth of the Atrato River, except by the adoption of a tunnel line, and there seems to be no reason for further field work except in the interest of geography.
The conditions existing in Darien, along the Atlantic coast and adjacent thereto, rendered it impracticable to make the necessary explorations and surveys there without the aid of a Government vessel. There are no ports or lines of travel or communication nearer than Cartagena and Colon. It is inhabited by the San Blas Indians, who, though generally peaceable, are jealous of strangers and exclude them from their country. Though nominally under the sovereignty of Colombia, they recognize no rule but their tribal organization. A proper understanding with their chiefs was therefore necessary before the engineers and working parties of the commission could gain ready admission into their territory. Under these circumstances the Secretary of the Navy assigned to the service of the commission the U. S. S. Scorpion, under the command of Lieut. Commander Nathan Sargent, who was authorized to render such assistance as he properly could in the investigations to be made in this region.
A large part of the responsibility of the expedition rested upon this officer, and he displayed excellent administrative judgment and capacity in the discharge of his duties. After landing the working parties where they were to encamp, he established amicable relations with the Indians, under which the work was carried on in security, and the chiefs were satisfied that their people would be protected from any encroachment upon their rights. Much of the success that was achieved is due to his energy, fairness, and resolution.
The following is the result of the investigation Nicaragua route. at Nicaragua, with a description of the route and estimate of cost:
On the easterly side of the isthmus the location of the Nicaragua route lies generally up the course of the San Juan River for 100 miles from the Caribbean Sea to Lake Nicaragua, about 105 feet above it; thence across the lake, about 70 miles, to a point on its western shore, and running 17 miles from there through the continental divide, about 44 feet above the lake, down to the ocean at Brito, the Pacific terminus. The lake is a large body of water, sufficient to furnish a practically unlimited supply to the canal, The San Juan River is





20 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

navigable for vessels of light draft, and affords a location for a masonry dam about 50 miles from the sea, by means of which the level of the lake is extended to the same point.
The route lies mainly in the Republic of NicaLake Nicaragua.
ragua, but Costa Rica has the right of navigation in the San Juan River below Castillo, a part of which is included in the canal project. Lake Nicaragua, which forms a part of the summit level, is about 100 miles long and 45 miles wide, distant only about 12 to 30 miles from the Pacific, the longer axis being nearly parallel to the coast. The intervening territory is generally hilly, the range forming part of the continental divide.
The lake discharges through the San Juan River into the Caribbean Sea near Greytown. For the upper half of its course the San Juan flows through a hilly country, with a tortuous channel. Neither the river itself nor any of its tributaries in this section carries much sediment, and a slack-water navigation by means of locks and dams is practicable.
At the foot of this stretch the river receives from its right bank the San Carlos, its most important affluent, which discharges into it large quantities of sand. Below the confluence of these streams a slackwater navigation is not deemed practicable, and the canal route therefore leaves the river a short distance above the mouth of the tributary and is to be excavated thence to the Caribbean, a distance of about 50 miles. Below the mouth of the San Carlos swampy bottom lands appear, crossed by several high ridges, which, starting from the flanking mountain ranges, end on the bank of the river. The easternmost of these high ridges is about 26 miles from the seacoast, but for some distance beyond low hills and groups of hills appear in places. The region is generally swampy, the surface of the ground is but little above sea level, and the soft mud sometimes extends to a depth of 30 feet or more. A narrow strip along the coast is of sand, the gradual accretion from material brought down by the rivers from Costa Rican mountains and distributed along the coast by the waves and currents of the sea.
The project for a canal on this route follows essentially the lines laid down by the Nicaragua Canal Commission in its report, 1897-1899. It begins at the Caribbean Sea, near Greytown, follows a southwesterly course, passing to the northward of the Silico Hills, thence in a more southerly course until it reaches a point about a mile and a quarter from the San Juan River; thence it follows along the left bank of that stream, keeping a safe distance from it, until it enters the San Juan River at a point about 2 miles above the mouth of the San Carlos. The line then follows the upper San Juan to Fort San Carlos, where it enters Lake Nicaragua. After crossing the lake in a northwesterly direction to the mouth of the Rio Las Lajas, it follows the valley of





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 21

that stream a short distance and crosses the continental divide into the valley of the Rio Grande on essentially the route suggested by Colonel Childs in 1850, which follows the valley of the Rio Grande to Brito, the Pacific terminus of the canal.
The following is a table of distances on the Nicaragua route:
Number of miles of canal proper--_- 67.33 Number of miles of river improved-----27.96 Number of miles of river not requiring improvement-17.26 Number of miles of lake channel 300 feet wide-------------22.19
Number of miles of lake not requiring improvement---------48.74 Number of miles of harbors and entrances to same-----------3.05

Total number of miles from ocean to ocean, measured
from the 6-fathom curves----- -186.53 The summit level is to be reached from the Summ It level., Atlantic side by five locks, the first having a lift of
361 feet and the other four having a uniform lift of 18 feet each, except the lock at the summit, the lift of which will vary with the level of the lake, being 121 feet when the lake is at its lowest and 181 feet when at its highest stage. From the Pacific side the summit will be reached by four locks of uniform lift of 28 feet. The mean level of the two oceans is assumed to be the same. It is known that they are nearly so. The mean range of tides on the east side is about 1 foot, that on the west side is about 8 feet. Mean low tide, which is the level that determines the depth of excavation of the maritime sections, is therefore half a foot below mean sea level on the east side and 4 feet below mean sea level on the west side. The lift of the lock at the summit, however, will vary from 22 to 281 feet, according to the stage of the lake, and that at the Pacific end will vary from 201 at high to 28j feet at low tide.
Lake Nicaragua and that portion of the San Juan River from the lake to near Boca San Carlos, and that portion of the canal on the west side between the lake and Buen Retiro, will form the summit level. From the best data available it is believed that Lake Nicaragua varies in its level, under existing conditions, as much as about 13 feet. There is good reason for believing that it sometimes goes as high as 110 and sometimes as low as 97 feet. These extreme fluctuations, however, occur only at relatively remote intervals. In order to reduce the amount of this fluctuation it is proposed to build a dam in the San Juan River, above the mouth of the San Carlos, on the east end of the summit level, and another smaller dam on the west side near Buen Retiro, to regulate the lake level.
By means of these dams and regulating works the fluctuations of the lake level can be held within the limits of 6 feet, or from 104 feet to 110 feet above mean sea level. The summit will be excavated to the





22 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

full depth below the lower level. The data on which the solution of the problem of regulating the lake level rests are not as full as is necesssary for a rigid solution; but an approximate solution has been made, and it is believed that any errors which may exist are on the side of safety.
The salient engineering problems connected with the Nicaragua Canal project, briefly outlined, are as follows:
First. The construction of harbors at the termini of the canal.
Second. The excavation of the canal prism in the swamp sections between Greytown and the Florida Lagoon.
Third. The heavy cutting near Boca San Carlos and at Tamborcito.
Fourth. The construction of the large dam at or near Boca San Carlos in connection with the regulation of the summit level.
Fifth. The locks.
Greytown Harbor. Some fifty years ago there was a good harbor at Greytown, the eastern terminus of the canal, with 30 feet of water at the anchorage and about the same depth in the entrance. The entrance to this harbor, where it then existed, has been obliterated, and the harbor itself is now a lagoon almost entirely inclosed, of restricted area, with only about half the depth of water in it that formerly existed. Vessels for Greytown are now compelled to anchor in the offing and discharge their cargoes on lighters which are taken into the lagoon across a bar having a depth of less than 6 feet of water. As the prevailing trade winds are strong and blow almost directly on this part of the coast, the construction of a harbor at this terminus of the canal becomes necessary in the early stages of the work, as well as for use after the canal is completed.
It is proposed to construct such a harbor, of sufficient area to accommodate vessels using the canal, by excavation, with an entrance having a least depth of 35 feet and a bottom width of 500 feet by the construction of two jetties springing from the shore line near Harbor Head, built of loose stone, to a height of 6 feet above mean high tide; the hearting of each jetty to be composed of small and the outer portion of large stone, not easily moved by the waves. It is not expected, however, that the construction of the jetties alone will form an entrance. Dredging will also be necessary, and its maintenance may require an extension of the jetties or dredging, or both.
The western terminus of the canal will be near BrIts) Harbor. Brito. Here, as at Greytown, there is no harbor, and an artificial one must be constructed. The same general engineering principles will guide in its construction. The width and depth of the entrance will be the same. The sand movement on the western coast, however, is slight as compared with that in the vicinity of Greytown. The prevailing winds on this side are offshore and destructive storms seldom visit this part of the coast. The cost of maintenance,





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 28

therefore, of the harbor on the west side will be less than that of one on the east side at Greytown.
For a part of the distance between Greytown Swamp section between and the Florida Lagoon the canal line passes over Creytown and Florida La-. on swampy sections, where the material is too soft to support the embankments necessary to keep out the floods of the San Juan and to maintain the canal level itself. Protecting embankments are therefore to be constructed over these sections. These embankments are to be located as far as practicable on the firm land composing the neighboring hills. In places, however, they cross ground which is soft to a considerable depth. Waste ways are provided on the embankment lines to dispose of flood water in the protected areas.
At two places near the Boca San Carlos dam site Heavy cuts near Boca heavy cutting is encountered, the maximum depth San Carlos and Tamborcito. for short distances being 218 and 170 feet, respectively; but the deepest cut of all is at Tamborcito, about 26 miles from Greytown. Here the high ground north of the canal approaches so close to the river that a cut through it becomes imperative. The ridge is narrow, however, the width at the top being only a few feet and at the level of the water in the canal less than 3,000 feet; but the extreme depth of the cut is 297 feet. The borings show that it is nearly all hard rock. The less heavy cuts will also be in firm ground, but the exact character of the material can not be stated until the borings now in progress have been completed. San Carlos Dam. The most difficult engineering work in connection with the Nicaragua Canal project is the construction of a dam across the San Juan River to hold back the waters of the lake and enable its level to be regulated. It is of great importance that this dam should be located above the mouth of the San Carlos River, as the latter discharges at times as much as 100,000 cubic feet of water per second, carrying with it great quantities of sand.
The construction of the dam below the mouth of the San Carlos, even if an eligible site were found, would, in addition to other difficulties, involve contention with the combined powers of two rivers, the San Juan proper and the San Carlos, the discharge of which may at times reach 200,000 cubic feet per second. The Nicaragua Canal Commission made search for a dam site above the mouth of the San Carlos, in what is called the Agua Muerta (dead water). One was found at a place about 2 miles above the mouth of the San Carlos River. Several borings were made to determine the level of the rock. These indicated that good rock would be found at a maximum depth of about 14 feet below mean sea level. The borings, however, were not sufficient in number to determine with accuracy the topography of the rock, nor its exact character. The present commission has planned





24 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

three lines of borings, 100 feet apart, at the site of this dam, the borings being spaced 100 feet apart on each line. Hard rock for the foundation has been found, but in several places at a depth greater than the limited number of borings first taken indicated. The maximum depth to hard rock, as developed by the latest borings, is about 40 feet below sea level, or about 100 feet below low water in the river at the site, which will make it necessary to construct the foundation of this part of the dam by the pneumatic process. The dam in the deepest part will then have a height of about 150 feet.
As the pneumatic process is an expensive and slow one at best, this Commission has made search for an alternative site a few miles farther up the river, where the topographical and surface indications seemed to offer favorable results. One has been found which gives promise of a more satisfactory and less expensive solution of this problem, but the number of borings thus far taken is not sufficient to determine this with certainty. The estimates, therefore, are based on a dam at the site selected by the Nicaragua Canal Commission.
Lock No. 1, on the east side, will have a lift of Locks.
36 feet, but it is founded on rock. The others on the east side have a lift of 181 feet, and are to be located on foundations that are believed to be safe. All the locks on the west side are founded on rock.
The time required to build the Nicaragua Canal hinges almost entirely on the time required for the construction of the Boca San Carlos dam. After a harbor has been opened at Greytown, and a railroad constructed, the way will be open to attack the work from a great many points at the same time, so that if ample funds are then available, the excavation of the prism of the canal ought to be completed in a comparatively short time if prosecuted with vigor. The construction of the dam, however, will be -a costly and tedious operation. Eight years would probably be a reasonable estinaate for the time of building this dam. At least two years will be consumed in preparatory work and in opening a harbor at Greytown, so that if work on the dam should be commenced immediately thereafter, the time required for completing the entire work would be about ten years.
Estimates. In order to properly classify the materials to be excavated on this route many borings were necessary. In some cases where they proved unsatisfactory, slight changes have been made in the alignment of the canal. The borings have not yet all been completed, and the classification of the material, therefore, is based, in part, on surface indications and judgment. Consequently, in the final estimates, the classification which will be made from the actual borings may cause some differences. These, however, it is believed, will not materially affect the amount of the estimates.





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF' ITHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 25

The following is the estimated cost of a canal on the Nicaragua route:
Eastern Division (from Greytown to Boca San Carlos
dam)-------_----------------------------$82,662,000
Middle Division (from Boca San Carlos dam to Las
Lajas)-----------------------------------25,425,000
Western Division (from Las Lajas to Brito)-----------51, 680, 000
159,767,000
98 miles of railroad------------------.------_7,350,000

Total----.----.-------------------- 167,117,000
Engineering, police, sanitation, and general contingencies 33, 423, 000

Aggregate-_--- ----------------------.200, 540,000
This estimate is for a canal suitable for navigation by the largest ships now in existence, and thus in accordance with the terms of the bill pending in Congress. It provides for a double system of locks, so that navigation can be maintained if one system be closed for repairs or renewals.
The estimate of cost is much in excess of any heretofore made on this route and arises chiefly from the increased dimensions of the canal, the double system of locks, the extra cost of the San Carlos dam, due to increased depth of rock, increased embankments, and the modification in a part of the line on the eastern division, which has been located by this Commission farther from the San Juan River in the interest of security.
While the project on which this estimate is based is the one recommended, a canal of smaller dimensions and reduced lockage facilities can be opened for navigation at considerably less cost. If a single lockage system only were first provided, so designed as to permit the construction ultimately of a second system, the first cost would be reduced $19,678,000. A further reduction of $16,949,000 could be made by narrowing the bottom width one-third in all the excavated channels in canal, river, and lake sections. With these reductions made the estimated cost would become $163,913,000. In such a canal the time for passage and the risks to ships would be materially greater than in the one recommended.
The following is the result of the investigation at Panama, with a description of the route and estimates of cost: The natural attractions of the Panama route lie Panama. in the combination of a very narrow isthmus with

a low summit. The width of the isthmus is less than 35 miles in a straight line, while the summit is barely 300 feet above mean tide, which, though higher than the Nicaragua summit, is less than half the





26 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

height of any other which has been investigated. The high portion of the isthmus is limited to a width of about 6 miles near the Pacific side, and the Chagres River affords access by canoe navigation to within 15 miles of the Pacific Ocean.
The isthmus here runs nearly east and west, but the course of the railroad or canal is from northwest to southeast, the Pacific terminus being about 20 miles farther east than the Atlantic. The Atlantic port is Colon and the Pacific port Panama. Colon harbor is practically tideless; Panama Bay has a mean tidal range of 20 feet. Neither is a first-class harbor; the defect of Colon harbor is its exposure to strong northerly winds, which, though rare, occur for periods of a few days every year, and while they prevail ships must go to sea for safety; Panama Harbor is a roadstead behind islands at the head of a great bay.
The old Panama Canal Company, organized in 1879, projected a tidelevel canal 47 miles in length, between the two oceans. Five miles were in the coastal plain near Colon, twenty-four in the valley of the Chagres, six in the hills which form the divide, seven in the valley of the Rio Grande, a small stream running from the hills into Panama Bay, and five in the harbor approaches. Two principal difficulties were encountered: The line in the valley of the Chagres involved an excavation below the bed of the river, which rises in the mountains east of Panama in a district subject to violent rains and at times floods its entire valley; the passage of the divide in the Culebra region involved an excavation of unprecedented dimensions.
Before the stoppage of work by the old French company the scheme of a tide-level canal was abandoned and various plans for a canal with locks were proposed, the summit level being placed at different heights, the highest being 160 feet above mean tide, to which high level it was proposed to pump the water. The new French company adopted a scheme in which the summit level of the canal is placed at a minimum elevation of 974 feet, approached by four locks in each direction, to be supplied with water from the upper Chagres, impounded by a dam at Alhajuela and brought through a conduit 101-0 miles to the canal at Obispo. By this arrangement the excavation in the continental divide was reduced within such limits that it was thought the work could be finished in eight years. By the construction of a dam across the Chagres at Bohio the river between that point and Obispo was converted into a lake of sufficient dimensions not to be seriously affected by flood discharges, while diversion channels were to be constructed on both sides of the canal from this dam to the sea. With a carefully designed system of sluices and controlling works the violence of the floods was to be checked by impounding the water both above the Alhajuela dam and in Lake Bohio, so as to keep the flow below the Bohio dam within the capacity of the two diversion channels. The adoption of this scheme by the French engineers in preference to a simpler plan, which





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSIoN. 27

was fully discussed by them, was determined by the limits of time to which the company was restricted. As the conditions would be different if the canal were constructed by the United States, the commission has adopted a simpler plan, avoiding complicated constructions like the conduit for the summit supply of water and making the regulation of the floods as nearly as possible automatic.
With the change from the tide-level canal to a canal with locks, a third problem was added to the other two-the supply of water for the summit level. The only available source of supply is the Chagres River. This brings the water supply into such intimate relation with the control of the flood discharge that the two become practically one and must be treated together. The discharge of the Chagres at Bohio varies from a minimum of about 350 to a maximum of over 100,000 cubic feet per second, the extreme flood discharge being about 300 times the low-water discharge. The estimated requirement for the operation of the canal, with an annual traffic of 10,000,000 tons net register, is 1,067 cubic feet per second. The discharge of the Chagres exceeds this in some years for every month, and in all years, except for a short period in February, March, and April, provision must be made for the storage of enough water to supply the deficiency during these three dry months. The best storage place for this water is in the lake formed in the valley of the Chagres, making it of sufficient depth to allow the needed supply to be drawn off without lowering the level enough to impede navigation.
The greatest flood of which there is any record occurred in 1879; from the imperfect information we have it has been estimated that it may have reached a maximum discharge of 75,000 cubic feet per second at Gamboa and 110,000 at Bohio. There is no record of any other flood in which the discharge at Bohio exceeded 80,000 cubic feet per second, while the floods in which it exceeds 50,000 are at such rare intervals that their effect on navigation would not be serious. The works should be so designed that a flood of 70,000 cubic feet per second would produce no currents which would interfere with navigation, the limit of such currents being fixed at 3 feet per second, and that a flood of twice this amount, or a discharge of 140,000 cubic feet per second, while it might temporarily suspend navigation, should not injure the structure of the canal.
No location suitable for a dam exists on the Chagres River below Bohio, and while this location is not without difficulties it has the great advantage that about 3 miles southwest of the dam, near the head of the Rio Gigante, a tributary of the Chagres, there exists an excellent site for a spillway, by which the discharge from the lake could be kept well away from the dam and accessory works. The height of this spillway would regulate the height and area of the lake. After careful consideration the commission has decided to fix this height at





28 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

eighty-five feet above mean tide and to make the spillway in the form of a fixed weir two thousand feet long. At elevation eighty-five the lake has an area of thirty-eight and one-half square miles, more than one thousand million square feet. The height of five and one-half feet from the crest of the weir to the elevation required to pass the maximum discharge would represent the impounding of more than six thousand million cubic feet of water. While in the absence of complete data exact calculations can not be made, computations giving reasonably approximate results indicate that no flood has yet occurred which would raise the level of the lake more than a few inches above elevation ninety and five-tenths or create a discharge over the weir exceeding eighty-nine thousand cubic feet per second. The extreme possible effect, however, of a long-continued flood with a discharge of one hundred and forty thousand cubic feet per second, for which there is absolutely no precedent, as all great floods are of short duration, will be to raise the water over the spillway to elevation ninety-two and five-tenths and to produce a current of from five to six feet per second in the narrow parts of the lake. Calculations have been made of the amount of water required to supply the deficiencies in the three dry months. An assumption of a minimum average discharge of six hundred and thirty cubic feet per second for ninety days, which is the record of the driest year, gives an aggregate deficiency of thirty-three hundred and 'ninety-eight million one hundred thousand cubic feet below the required supply of 1,067 cubic feet per second, which corresponds to a depth of about three feet over the whole area of the lake. Under these extreme conditions the level of the lake might therefore be lowered to elevation 82. This represents a range of 8 feet from elevation 82 to elevation 90 in Lake Bohio during navigation. Any rise above 90 would mean nothing more than a swift carrent for a limited distance, and any fall below 82 would mean a temporary decrease in the depth of water in the canal.
The overflow of Lake Bohio would discharge through the Gigante spillway into the Pefia Blanca Swamp and thence into the Chagres near the point where the Chagres has abandoned its old channel and now flows through the canal excavation made by the old company. It is necessary to construct a new channel of large dimensions west of the canal to take the Chagres; an alternate plan would be to leave the present canal to carry off this water and construct the canal on a new location farther east. A feasible location has been found which, besides keeping the canal safely away from the Chagres, is a mile and a quarter shorter than the original French line. The old location has, however, been retained in these estimates, the canal being enlarged to meet the new dimensions adopted by the Commission. This involves a new channel from the Marias de Pefia Blanca to the Marias de Agua Clara and a continuous levee for 5 miles along the line of the canal.





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The canal, as thus projected, may be described as follows:
The excavation begins at the 6-fathom line in the harbor of Colon, with a bottom width of 500 feet, and slopes of 1 on 3 through the bay and lowland two and sixty-two hundredths miles, of which about one mile is inside the shore line, forming a narrow protected harbor. The estimated cost of this entrance and harbor is $7,334,673.
From the inner end of the harbor the bottom width of the canal is 150 feet, the side slopes of 1 on 3 being retained for one and ninetysix hundredths miles through the swamp, after which they are reduced to the standard used in firm earth. This level extends twelve and fifty-six hundredths miles to the Bohio locks. Its estimated cost is $10,718,288. At Bohio is located a double flight of locks, having a total lift varying from 82 feet at the minimum level of the lake to 90 feet at the maximum, 45 to each lock; the normal lift being 85 feet. These locks are on the location adopted by the French company. The estimated cost of this flight of double locks, four lock chambers in all, is $10,982,345.
Above the locks the canal enters the artificial lake formed by the Bohio dam and known as Lake Bohio. For the first 7 miles it is a broad, deep body of water, affording room for anchorage as well as navigation. Beyond this some light excavations are necessary. At the upper end the -channel would be enlarged to provide for the flood discharge of the Chagres, being given a minimum section of 50,000 square feet. The length of the channel in Lake Bohio is 12-%% miles from the locks to the point where it enters the cut through the divide. The estimated cost of this section is $2,786,449.
Near to the entrance to the summit cut would be placed a pair of gates 100 feet wide, so that if it should become necessary to draw off the water from the summit cut the level of Lake Bohio would not be affected. These gates would be at the site of a lock proposed by the French company near Obispo with a foundation on hard rock. The estimated cost of these gates is $295,43.
The summit cut is seven and ninety-five hundredths miles long from the Obispo gates to the Pedro Miguel locks. The highest point is about five miles from the Obispo gates where the bottom of the canal is 274 feet below the natural surface of the ground at the sides of the cutting. This is the famous Culebra cut, though the name has often been applied only to the mile of heaviest work. There is a little very hard rock at the eastern end of this section and the western two miles are in ordinary materials. The remainder consists of a hard indurated clay, with some softer material at the top and some strata and dikes of hard rock; in fixing the price it must be rated as soft rock, but it must be given slopes equivalent to those in earth. This cut has been estimated on the basis of a bottom width of 150 feet with side slopes of one on one. While the cut may not be finished with this uniform





30 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

slope, this furnishes as correct a basis of estimate as can -now be arrived at. The entire cut would be lined with masonry walls finishing at elevation 92, 2 feet above high water, these walls having nearly vertical faces and furnishing benches 38 feet wide on either side of the canal, on one of which the Panama railroad would be laid, while it is probable that a service track would be placed on the other. Much has been said about the instability of the Culebra cut; in point of fact, there is a clay in the upper portion of the deep cut which flows readily when saturated, but which will give little trouble if thoroughly drained; probably nine-tenths of the material would naturally be classed as hard clay of stable character; it would weather somewhat, and the surface might require some repairing with concrete in bad places, a practice common in deep cuttings in Europe; this clay disintegrates rapidly in water, and for this reason the canal prism should be confined between masonry walls. With the provision made for broad benches on each side, on which any slight slides would be arrested, it is confidently believed that no trouble would be experienced. The estimated cost of the 6.02 miles of heavy work is $41,940,480, and of the entire 7.95 miles between the Obispo gates and the Pedro Miguel locks, $44,378,335. It would probably take eight years to excavate this section of the canal.
The Pedro Miguel locks will be similar to the Bohio locks, the aggregate lift varying from 54 to 62 feet. There is an excellent rock foundation here. The estimated cost of these locks, including an adjacent dam, is $8,496,326.
A level 1.33 miles long extends from the Pedro Miguel locks to the last lock, which is at Miraflores. The normal elevation of the surface of the water is 28. The estimated cost of this section is $1,169,611.
At the end of this level would be located the Miraflores lock, with a lift varying from 18 feet at high tide to 38 feet at mean low tide. There is a good rock foundation for this lock. A spillway will be required to regulate the height of this level. The estimated cost of this lock and spillway is $5,720,363.
For 4.12 miles beyond the Miraflores lock the canal extends through a low swamp country through which the Rio Grande runs. Occasional rock is found here, but the material is generally very soft and the canal has been estimated for a bottom width of 150 feet with slopes of 1 on 3. This brings the canal to a point known as La Boca where the Panama Railroad Company has constructed a large and substantial wharf. A dredged channel 200 feet wide with slopes of 1 on 3 would extend from here 3.6 miles to the 8-fathom line in Panama Bay. The first 2 miles of this dredged channel are through flats which are bare at low water, where there is a considerable amount of submerged rock. The total cost of this section from the lock to deep water is estimated at $12,366,914.





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 31

Besides the works embraced in the excavation of the canal itself there will be five outlying works which must be considered. These are the Bohio dam, the Gigante spillway, the diversion of the lower Chagres opposite Gatun, the diversion of the Gatuncillo east of Gatun, and the diversion of the Panama railroad around Lake Bohio.
The Bohio dam is the most important structure on the line. A dam of either earth or masonry is feasible, the latter being the more expensive. The French plan contemplated a dam of earth. It has been decided, however, to use the masonry type for the purpose of these estimates. The foundation must be carried to rock, the depth to which has not yet been ascertained at all points, though the maximum is known to be not less than one hundred and twenty-eight feet below mean tide. The estimated cost of such a dam is $8,500,000.
The Gigante spillway, which is a structure of considerable magnitude, is very simple. There is a good rock foundation at or above tide level for the entire length of this spillway. It would consist of a masonry dam with a crest at elevation eighty-five, terminating in an apron at elevation sixty-five, with a solid foundation below this level, the apron being everywhere below the present surface of the ground. The foundation, below elevation sixty-five, would be put in first and before the flow of water through the present river at the site of the Bohio dam is checked. The water after passing over this spillway would flow across the country about a mile to the swamp known as the Marais de Pefia Blanca. The elevation of the surface of this swamp is now 22.3 feet, so that the water would have a fall of 42.7 feet in this mile, which fall would be materially reduced in extreme floods by the backing up of water in the swamp. Plans have been prepared for this spillway, and the estimated cost is $1,124,524.
A channel must be cut from the Marais de Pefia Blanca to the Marais de Agua Clara, the cost of which is estimated at $1,448,076.
A channel was cut by the old Canal Company to divert the Chagres from the canal opposite Gatun. This channel, however, is of very inadequate dimensions and a new channel, part of which will be an enlargement of the present one, should be cut hei-e. It should have a cross section of 10,000 square feet. Rock would be encountered in its excavation, and its cost has been estimated at $1,929,976.
A diversion channel intended to take part of the waters of the Chagres was constructed by the old company along the east side of the canal to Boca Grande back of Colon. This cut across the Gatuncillo near Gatun and the portion of it north of this point is available as a new channel for the Gatuncillo. Some work must be done on it, especially at the crossing of the Panama Railroad, where the piers for a new bridge are completed. The cost of putting this channel into service is estimated at $100,000.
From Bohio to the Obispo gates the Panama Railroad must be rebuilt for 15 miles on an entirely new location, with a bridge across the





32 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

Chagres, below Gamboa. An estimate made from approximate profiles indicates that the cost of this diversion will not exceed $75,000 a mile, or $1,162,500. From the Obispo gates the railroad would be carried for 6 miles on the bench formed by the retaining wall on the east side of the Culebra cut, these 6 miles being estimated to cost $10,000 a mile, which includes only track laying, ties, and ballasting. Beyond this will be a mile of light work estimated at $25,000, while the main track will have to be raised for 2 miles farther at a cost of $20,000. Combining these figures, the total cost of the diversion of the Panama Railroad becomes $1,267,500.
Summing up the several figures already given, the total estimated cost of completing the Panama Canal is as follows: Colon entrance and harbor-$7,334,673 Harbor to Bohio locks, including levee-10, 718, 288 Bohio locks, including excavation-10, 982, 345 Lake2Bohio-_- 2, 786,449 Obispo gates--295,436 Culebra section-44 378,335 Pedro Miguel locks, including excavation and dam 8, 496, 326 Pedro Miguel level---1,169,611 Miraflores locks, including excavation and spillway 5, 720, 363 Pacificlevel-12 366,914 Bohio dam-8,500, 000 Gigante spillway------- 1124,524 Channel between the marshes-1,448,076 Chagres diversion 1 929, 976 Gatuncillo diversion----------------100,000
Panama railroad diversion-1, 267,500
Total-- -118, 618,816 Engineering, police, sanitation, and general contingencies 23, 723, 763

Aggregate-142, 342,579
This estimate is for the completed project. A canal begun upon this plan may be opened to navigation before its final completion. If single instead of double locks be used, and the bottom width be made 100 instead of 150 feet, the cost will be reduced $26,401,364, and the estimate becomes $115,941,215.
Although the French Company for special reasons adopted the plan with a higher summit level, their engineers worked up a plan in which the level of Lake Bohio was carried completely through the Culebra cut, the high-water level being raised to elevation 67. Under this plan the supply of water for the dry months would be obtained from the upper Chagres, the Alhajuela dam being built to impound a sufficient amount. The fluctuation of the water in Lake Bohio could then be reduced to 5 feet, from 62 to 67. The dimensions adopted by this





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 33

Commission have been applied to a canal on these lines. The cost of the Alhajuela dam must be added as well as that of a railroad 10 miles long from the Obispo gates to the site of the dam. The estimate for completing the canal by this plan is as follows: Colon entrance and harbor-$7, 334,673 Harbor to Bohio locks, including levee-10, 706, 217 Bohio locks, including excavation-9,;060 ,960 Lake Bohio-7, 285, 367 Obispo gates 323, 805 Culebra section-53, 950,078 Pedro Miguel locks, including excavation and dam-7, 906,658 Pedro Miguel level--1, 997, 318 Miraflores lock, including excavation and spillway-5, 070, 879 Pacific level12, 366, 914 Bohio dam-6,800, 000 Gigante spillway-1, 408, 014 Channel between marshes--868 846 Chagres diversion--1117,986 Gatuncillo diversion-100, 000 Panama railroad diversion-1,267,500 Alhajuela dam-2,000,000 Ten miles of railroad---750, 000

Total-130,315,215 Engineering, police, sanitation, and general contingencies 26, 063, 043

Aggregate-156,378,258
The quantities given in the above estimates are based on the present condition of the isthmus, advantage being taken of various excavations made by the French companies.
The old Panama Canal Company and the Liquidator raised, by the sale of stock and bonds, the sum of $246,706,431.68. The securities issued to raise this money had a par value of $435,559,332.60. There had been excavated about 72,000,000 cubic yards prior to the organization of the new company. Nearly all of the stock of the Panama Railroad had been purchased. The new company has excavated about 5,000,000 cubic yards, making the total amount excavated by the two companies 77,000,000. The amount of this work which will be of value, under the plan recommended by the Commission, has been carefully computed for the main canal line, and is found to be 36,690,649 cubic yards. Adding the excavation in the Gatuncillo diversion, which is estimated at 2,500,000 cubic yards, the quantity of excavation which will be of value in the new plan is 39,190,649 cubic yards. A temporary diversion of the Panama Railroad is also to be considered. Using the same classification of materials, and the same unit prices as
S. Doc. 5 3





34 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

in the other estimates, with the 20 per cent for contingencies, the value of the French work already done becomes: Canal excavation_----------------------------------$21,020,386
Gatuncillo diversion---_ 1,125,000 Railroad diversion (4 miles)_-------_--_-..-----------300, 000
22, 445, 8386
Contingencies, 20 per cent--_ -------4,489,077
26, 934,463
Panama Railroad stock at par-.---...--.. -------__ 7, 000,000

Aggregate---------------------_----------- 33,934,463
The value of the French work is greatly reduced by the fact that the spoil banks on the Atlantic maritime section frequently come within the limits of the enlarged canal now estimated for.
This statement does not include the value of tools, buildings, and other plant, nor of the hospital; nor does it include the value of the maps, drawings, and records, which are unusually complete, for which no accurate estimate -can be made. The plant would be a matter of negotiation between its present owners and the contractors for the new work, and so is indirectly included in the cost of the canal as estimated. The offices and hospitals would be a matter of special negotiation, and form part of the sanitation expense provided by the 20 per cent allowance on the new work.
In the letter dated November 18, 1898, addressed to the President of the United States by Mr. J. Bonnardel, president of the board of directors of the Panama Canal Company, it was stated that the company's assets exceeded in value $100,000,000.
The use that would be made of an isthmian canal "nstia andue omer- by the United States and other nations, and the effects of that use upon the development of our resources and the extension of our domestic and foreign trade have been carefully investigated, and the commercial advantages derivable from the Nicaragua and Panama routes have been compared in order that every factor having a bearing upon the location of the canal might be considered. In the prosecution of this inquiry data were secured from the official statistics of our own and foreign governments, from commercial organizations and business men who were conferred with personally, and by an extensive correspondence. The final report of the Commission will contain a full discussion of the value of the canal. The following are some of the conclusions to which this investigation has led:
To determine the amount of tonnage that would "e nageof ava use a canal, were it now in existence, two distinct statistical investigations have been made. In one of these the exports and imports of the United States and of the leading





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 35

commercial nations of Europe were studied for the purpose of ascertaining how many tons of cargo, or how much freight, those countries would now contribute to the traffic through an American interoceanic canal. The statistics of exports and imports of all countries being given either in values or quantities, it was necessary to convert these into their tonnage equivalents. This change having been made for each commodity, it was found that 3,426,752 cargo tons of the maritime commerce of the United States during the year ending June 30, 1899, could have used the canal to advantage. During the calendar year 1898 the trade of Europe with the west coast of South and Central America and British Columbia amounted to 3,346,377 cargo tons. The sum of these two amounts, 6,773,129 cargo or freight tons, does not include any of the trade between Europe and the Orient, a part of which would have used the American canal had it been in existence. The figures, moreover, apply to the commerce of the past carried on under the conditions then prevailing.
The statistics of entrances and clearances show that the net register tonnage of the American and foreign shipping that would have passed through a canal had it existed during the year 1898-99 was 4,582,128 tons, in addition to a part of the commerce between Europe and the Orient. The opening of the American Isthmian Canal will accentuate the present tendency of traffic to follow round-the-world lines, and not less than one-fourth of the present traffic of Europe with Eastern countries may be expected to use this route. One-fourth of the vessel tonnage employed in the European-Oriental commerce during the calendar year 1898 amounted to 1,154,328 tons net, and this added to 4,582,128 gives a total of 5,736,456, the number of tons of shipping that would have used a canal had it been in existence in 1898-99.
Records of vessel movements, kept by the New Panama Canal Company, show that the commerce between the east and west coasts of the American continent, and between Europe and the American west coast would have caused an isthmian canal to be used by 3,848,577 tons net of shipping in 1899. This sum plus one-fourth of the vessel tonnage of the commerce between Europe and the East gives 5,126,890 tons net register for the traffic available in 1899. The difference between the result of the investigation made by the French company and that conducted by this Commission is 609,566 tons; however, twofifths of this difference is accounted for by the fact that the French statisticians did not include any tonnage for the trade carried on between the eastern half of the United States and foreign Pacific countries by way of our Pacific ports. The difference between the two totals may also be partly due to their not covering identical periods. The United States statistics of entrances and clearances studied by this Commission were for the fiscal year ending June 30, f899, whereas the French record of vessel movements was for the calendar year 1899.





36 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

The similarity in the results of the two investigations is evidence of the essential accuracy of both.
The increase during the decade preceding 1899 Probable traffile 1909 and i.
1914. the tonnage of the vessels that would have used the canal was 22.55 per cent. Upon the safe assumption that this rate of increase per decade will continue, the available canal tonnage of 1898, as calculated by the French statisticians, will have become 6,127,112 tons in 1908, and 6,922,166, or, in round numbers, 7,000,000 tons net register in 1914; that is, at the end of sixteen years. If the tonnage of the entrances and clearances of the available canal traffic of the year 1898-99, as determined by this Commission's investigation (5,736,456 tons net register), be taken as the basis of estimate, an increase of 22.55 per cent per decade would make the figures for 1909, 7,030,027 tons, and for 1914, 7,782,240 tons net register.
Three-fifths of the seagoing tonnage of the Nicaragua and(1PanamaUntsingvsead routes for sain vessels. United States now consists of sailing vessels, and we have a larger ocean-sailing tonnage than any other country except the United Kingdom. However, sails are being displaced by steam, and the statistics of steamers and sailing vessels indicate that not more than one-sixth of our total seagoing tonnage will consist of sailing vessels in 1914. If the sailing vessel should continue to give way to the steamer after that date an isthmian canal will not be much used by sailing ships. The unmistakable tendency of commerce is to employ steam instead of sails, not only in the transportation of general or mixed freight, but also for carrying full cargoes of bulky commodities. Moreover, the canal will so increase the competitive advantages of the steamer as to render practically certain its general substitution in place of the sailing vessel for all lines of trade through an isthmi an waterway.
As compared with Europe, the United States Benefits to Europe and grae United states compared. will derive from the (anal far greater benefits, both commercially and industrially. The commerce of Europe with the Pacific coast of North, Central, and South America, under existing conditions, is somewhat larger than the total volume of the present traffic of the United States that may be considered tributary to the canal; but this fact does not indicate the relative advantages which the (anal will possess for the trade of Europe and that of the United States. As soon as it has been opened, our trade with the west coast of South America will rapidly increase, as will also the volume of our trade with the Orient. The amount of the American connerce through the canal will quickly surpass the total amount of Europe's traffic.
An isthmian canal will strengthen the unity of the national and political interests of the United States, develop its Pacific territory, and promote the commerce and industries of the entire country. The





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 87

benefits which Europe will derive from the canal will be commercial.
In addition to this ours will be political and industrial. By bringing the eastern and western sections of our country into closer relations, by reducing the time and cost of transporting our western products to Europe, and by enabling the Eastern, Southern, and Central States to reach the raw materials and markets of Pacific countries cheaply and expeditiously, the canal will more fully identify political and social interests and quicken the industrial activity of every section of the United States. The iron and steel, the textiles, and the other manufactures of the Eastern and Southern States, the coal from the mining regions, the cotton from the South, and the grain and forest products from many sections will flow out to foreign countries in an increasing volume, and this larger trade will be shared generally by the ports of all our seaboards-the Atlantic, the Gulf, and the Pacific. The canal will cause the competition of the United States with Europe in the countries of Western South America and the Orient to be much keener, with the result that the trade of our country will increase more rapidly than will that of our rivals. The canal will aid the United States in securing and maintaining a position of primacy in the international trade of the world.
These are the considerations which justify the expenditure by the United States of. the sum required to build the canal. They may involve a low tariff of charges and be at variance with the production of a large revenue from the canal.
(a) One method of showing the relative advanCommercialadvaantages. tages which the Nicaragua and Panama routes Nicaragua and Panania
routes compared. would possess is to compare the distances by way of each of them between typical Atlantic and Pacific ports. A few distances are shown in the following table, compiled with the assistance of the United States Hydrographic Office. The table applies only to the routes followed by steamers, and the length of each canal line is reckoned in nautical miles.
Comparison of distances for steamers by the Nicaragua (nd hPnama routes.
To San Francisco. To Yokohama via Honolulu. From- Via Nica- Via Pan- Saved via Via Nica- Via Pan- Saved via ragua. ama. Nicaragua. ragua. ama. Nicaragua. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. New York..............-...... 4,922 5,299 377 9,832 10,087 255
Liverpool.................... 7,652 8,038 386 12,562 12, 826 264
New Orleans................. 4,119 4,698 579 9,029 9,486 457
To Shanghai via Honolulu. To Guayaquil. From- Via Nica- Via Pan- Saved via Via Nica- Via Pan- Saved via ragua. ama. Nicaragua. ragua. ama. Panama. 1iles. Miles. Miles. Miles. iles. Miles.
New York.................... 10,752 11,007 255 3,247 2,864 383
Liverpool.................... 13,482 13,746 264 5, 977 5,603 374
New Orleans................. 9,949 10,406 457 2,444 2,263 181





38 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

Between New York and San Francisco, the Nicaragua Canal route would be 377 nautical miles shorter than the Panama route. Between New Orleans and San Francisco 579 miles would be saved, and, in general, the distances between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States are less by way of Nicaragua.
Between' our east coast and Yokohama and Shanghai the Nicaragua route is somewhat shorter, but for the trade of our eastern ports with the west coast of South America the Panama route is not so long as the Nicaragua.
() A part of the saving in distance effected by using a Nicaragua canal instead of one at Panama would be offset by the longer time of transit at Nicaragua. An average steamer would require twelve hours to make the passage through the Panama Canal, and thirty-three through one across Nicaragua. For a 10-knot steamer this difference of twentyone hours would be equivalent to 210 knots difference in distance, and for a 13-knot steamer, the difference in time of transit would be equivalent to 273 knots.
(c) The Nicaragua route would be the more favorable one for sailing vessels because of the uncertain winds in the bay of Panama. It would not be impossible for sailing vessels to use the Panama Canal, but for average voyages between the two seaboards of the United States, a sailing vessel would require about nine days additional time to make the passage by way of the Panama Canal. However, neither route would be much used by sailing vessels, because of their inability to compete with steamers. They would certainly not be able to compete with steamers, both using the Panama Canal.
(d) For the promotion of the domestic trade of the United States, the Nicaragua route would possess advantages over the Panama route, because the distance between our two seaboards is less. For our trade with Japan, China, the Philippines, and Australia, the advantages of the two routes are nearly equal, the distance by way of the Nicaragua route being slightly less. For our trade with South America the Panama route is shorter and more direct.
(c) The industrial changes which the Nicaragua Canal would produce in the countries through which it will pass would be great. Nicaragua and Costa Rica comprise a region capable of producing a large amount of tropical products for which there is a demand in Europe and the United States. A canal across their territory would give a great impetus to their economic development.
A careful examination has been made of all the Rights, privileges, andrihts, privileges, and franchises held and owned franchises. rots1 rviees1rncieshl by corporations, associations, and individuals at the different canal routes. This necessarily included a study of the treaties relating to the establishment of an interoceanic communica-





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 39

tion made by the Republics, whose territory is to be occupied, and by the United States, with one another, and also with foreign governments.
The treaties heretofore made exclude all idea of a relinquishment of sovereignty over any of the proposed routes. In most of them the right of transit and the innocent use of the communication, whether by railway or canal, is granted to the other contracting party, its citizens and subjects, to be enjoyed upon equal terms with other governments and people; and the leading commercial nations of the world have committed themselves to the policy of neutrality at the different routes, and some of them have obligated themselves to use their influence to induce other nations to agree to the same policy. No existing treaties between the United States and the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, or of Colombia, give our Government the right to excavate and .operate a maritime canal through any of these countries. The concessions granted by the different Republics through whose territory the lines of the projected canals extend, in terms, exclude the right of the companies holding them to transfer them to any foreign government, and further treaty rights must be acquired to enable the United States to undertake the excavation of a navigable waterway between the two oceans in a governmental capacity.
The only prior obligations to corporations, associations, or individuals in the way of a direct agreement between the United States and Nicaragua authorizing our Government to construct a canal across the territory of the latter, to be under its control, management, and ownership, have been eliminated by the forfeiture and termination of the contracts with the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua and the Interoceanic Canal Company. In view of this declaration the Commission has not made any effort to ascertain the cost at which the concessions of these companies can be purchased, for if these forfeitures are final the rights formerly granted to these companies are not in the way of diplomatic negotiations with the Government interested to acquire the consent and authority necessary for the construction of a canal by this route. The situation in Costa Rica is practically the same.
The situation at Panama is different. The Republic of Colombia first.granted a concession to the Panama Railroad Company, giving it exclusive privileges on the Isthmus, which will continue according to modifications afterwards made for ninety-nine years from August 16, 1867. A later concession to the Panama Canal Company required it to enter into some amicable arrangement with the railroad company under which the former might occupy the territory along or near its line. The canal company acquired by purchase a majority of the railroad stock and the necessary arrangements were made. This stock is now under the control of the New Panama Canal Company, which gives it a directing influence in both organizations. The canal concession is to continue according to its latest extension for ninety-nine





40 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

years from the day on which the canal shall be wholly or partially opened to public service, and the date fixed for this in the contract is October 31, 1910. Should it fail and the concession be forfeited the company will still have exclusive control of the territory through which its line extends till 1966 under the railroad concession.
The canal company is absolutely prohibited to cede or mortgage its rights under any consideration whatever to any nation or foreign government under penalty of forfeiture. The contract with the railroad company contains a like prohibition and declares further that the pain of forfeiture will be incurred by the mere act of attempting to cede or transfer its privilege to a foreign government and such an act is declared absolutely null and of no value or effect.
These concessions, if acquired by the United States, would not give to the Government the control and ownership evidently contemplated by the law, that is an absolute ownership in perpetuity. The right under the contract with the railroad company is designated as "the use- and possession" of the property for ninety-nine years and it is provided that "at the expiration of the teri of the privilege" and by the sole fact of the expiration, the Government of Colombia shall be substituted in all the rights of the company and shall immediately enter into the enjoyment of the line of communication, its fixtures, dependencies and all its products. The right of the canal company is substantially of the same character. Its concession expressly provides that five years previous to the expiration of the ninety-nine years of "the privileges," the executive power shall appoint a commissioner to examine the condition of the canal and annexes, and make an official report describing the condition of the property in every detail. This report is to establish the condition in which the canal and its dependencies are to be delivered to the National Governument on the day of the expiration of the privilege. There is no provision for an extension of either concession, and the entire property in each case passes from the company without compensation.
The privileges granted by these concessions are subject to certain annual charges in the nature of a rental, and to other obligations. The railroad company is bound during the continuance of its concession to pay to the Colombian Government "an annual revenue" of $250,000 in American gold, in quarterly payments. The failure to make any of the quarterly payments, after being one year overdue, subjects the company to a forfeiture of its privilege. It is also bound to transport over its road the Colombian mails without charge, and the troops, chiefs, and officers, and their equipage, ammunition, armament, clothing, and all similar effects belonging to or destined for the service of the Republic, and emigrants to the country up to the number of 2,000 annually. The canal company is bound to pay to the Government in half-yearly installments during the first twenty-five years after the






PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 41

opening of the canal to the public service, a share amounting to 5 per cent on its gross income from all sources without any deductions whatever. For a second period of twenty-five years the share of the Government is increased to 6 per cent, for a third to 7 per cent, and for a fourth to the termination of its privilege to 8 per cent. The company guarantees that this share shall in no case be less than $250,000 in any year. The Colombian Government also owns, in accordance with the extension law of December 26, 1890, and by the terms of the company's charter, 50,000 full paid shares of its stock, of the par value of 100 francs each, the total number of shares issued by the company being 650,000. The Government of the Republic has the power under the concession to protect these interests by appointing a commissioner or agent to intervene in the collection, and examine the accounts of the company.
An examination of the charter rights of the New Panama Canal Company under the general incorporation laws of France and the special legislation in its behalf resulted in finding an enactment, included in a law passed June 8, 1888, requiring that all the plant necessary for the construction of the canal shall be manufactured in France and that the material must be of French origin.
This being the situation, it was manifest that, even if the privileges of the companies could be purchased by and transferred to the United States, they were encumbered with charges and conditions that would not permit this Government to exercise all the rights of complete ownership over a canal constructed by it at the Panama route.
A new arrangement is necessary if the United States is to undertake such a work. The relinquishment by the canal company, with the consent of Colombia, of the privileges it has under existing concessions, for a consideration to be agreed upon with the United States would leave the way open for treaty negotiations between the two governments to ascertain whether Colombia will consent to the occupation of its territory by the United States for the construction of a canal to be under Government control, management, and ownership, and, if so, whether they 'can agree upon terms mutually satisfactory. The situation is peculiar, as there are three parties in interest. The United States can enter into no agreement with Colombia that does not have the approval of the company, and the concessions do not permit the company to transfer or attempt to transfer its rights to a foreign government.
The Commission has, however, attempted to ascertain the views of the New Panama Canal Company with reference to a disposition and transfer of its rights. Interviews were had with its president and other officers during the visit to Paris and on several occasions from time to time since then, and on the 10th day of April last a formal letter was addressed to Mr. Maurice Hutin, the president and directorgeneral, asking whether he was in a position to name terms upon
S. Doc.5 4






42 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

which the company would dispose of its property and interests to the United States. At different times since then the subject has been discussed by the representatives of the company with the Commission and its committee on rights, privileges, and franchises, but no formal reply to the letter was received until this report was being closed. These conferences and correspondence have resulted in no offer to dispose of the property and privileges of the company to the United States upon any terms, even with the consent of the Colombian Government, nor has the company expressed any desire or wish to enter into any negotiations with the United States with reference to such a disposition of its property and rights.
It was proposed by President Hutin that the United States might obtain control of the canal scheme as a majority stockholder of a new organization to which the present company could contribute its concession, plant, unfinished work, and other property, at a valuation to be determined by arbitration, and he expressed the opinion that such an arrangement could be made without violating the concessions. But this must include some plan for the protection of the minority stockholders in the financial management, for they would favor a policy that would realize liberal dividends in proportion to the commercial value of the canal, while the policy of this Government might be to reduce tolls and charges to the cost of maintenance or even below it, if the interests of the people would be thereby advanced.
The plan, however, which the company prefers is that outlined in its letter of February 28, 1899, addressed to the President of the United States, which has been published in Senate Document No. 188, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, pages 41 and 42.
This was to reincorporate under the laws of New York or some other State, and accord to the United States such representation in its board of directors and such opportunity to acquire an interest in its securities as its concessions permitted. And an assurance was added to the effect that if the United States should desire to perpetuate or enlarge its existing rights and privileges acquired under the treaty of 1846, the company would conform to such supplemental treaty as might be entered into between the United States and Colombia.
The Commission having no other authority than to make investigations and obtain information submits this result of its efforts to ascertain upon what terms the rights and privileges at the Panama route can be obtained. It is proper to add that the examination of the title of the present company to the canal property under the laws of France and Colombia has satisfied this Commission that the New Panama Canal Company has the entire control and management of the canal property. It appears further that the liquidator appointed by the French court to settle the affairs of the old company contributed under the charter all privileges and property of that company to the new organization, and in consideration of this contribution he will be





PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION. 43

entitled to receive 60 per cent of the net income after paying all expenses, charges, and stipulated dividends, to be distributed by him among the old stockholders and their representatives. This right to a share in the profits gives no right to the old stockholders to take any part in the acts or administration of the new company, but the charter recognizes a continued interest of the old company in the affairs of its successor, by conferring upon the liquidator, until the completion of the canal, the power to appoint a commission of three members to inspect the progress of the work, the condition and maintenance of the plant and buildings, as well as the accounts relating to these different objects, the expense of the commission to be borne by the new company. It will thus be manifest that if an agreement be made for the purchase of the company's concession and property by the United States, it must include some settlement of this right which the French court has placed under the control of the liquidator.
I. The estimated cost of building the Nicaragua Comparison of the two Canal is about $58,000,000 more than that of comroutes.I I
pleting the Panama Canal, leaving out the cost of acquiring the latter property. This measures the difference in the magnitude of the obstacles to be overcome in the actual construction of the two canals, and covers all physical considerations such as the greater or less height of dams, the greater or less depth of cuts, the presence or absence of natural harbors, the presence or absence of a railroad, the exemption from or liability to disease, and the amount of work remaining to be done.
The New Panama Canal Company has shown no disposition to sell its property to the United States. Should that company be able and willing to sell, there is reason to believe that the price would not be such as would make the total cost to the United States less than that of the Nicaragua Canal.
II. The Panama Canal, after completion, would be shorter, have fewer locks and less curvature than the Nicaragua Canal. The measure of these advantages is the time required for a vessel to pass through, which is estimated for an average ship at twelve hours for Panama and thirty-three hours for Nicaragua.
On the other hand, the distance from San Francisco to New York is 377 miles, to New Orleans 579 miles, and to Liverpool 386 miles greater via Panama than via Nicaragua. The time required to pass over these distances being greater than the difference in the time of transit through the canals, the Nicaragua line, after completion, would be somewhat the more advantageous of the two to the United States, notwithstanding the greater cost of maintaining the longer canal.'
III. The Government of Colombia, in which lies the Panama Canal, has granted an exclusive concession, which still has many years to run. It is not free to grant the necessary rights to the United States, except upon condition that an agreement be reached with the New Panama





44 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

Canal Company. The Commission believes that such agreement is impracticable. So far as can be ascertained, the company is not willing to sell its franchise, but it will allow the United States to become the owner of part of its stock. The Commission .considers such an arrangement inadmissible.
The Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, on the other hand, are untrammeled by concessions and are free to grant to the United States such privileges as may be mutually agreed upon.

CONCLUSION.

In view of all the facts, and particularly in view of all the difficulties of obtaining the necessary rights, privileges, and franchises on the Panama route, and assuming that Nicaragua and Costa Rica recognize the value of the canal to themselves and are prepared to grant concessions on terms which are reasonable and acceptable to the United States, the Commission is of the opinion that "the most practicable and feasible route for" an isthmian canal to be "under the control, management, and ownership of the United States" is that known as the Nicaragua route.
We have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your obedient servants,
J. G. WALKER,
Rear-Admiral, United States Navy, President of thie Commission.
SAMUEL PASCO.
ALFRED NOBLE.
GEO. S. MORISON.
PETER C. HAINS,
Colonel, United States Corps of Engineers.
W M. H. BURR.
01. ERNST,
Lieutenant- Colonel, United States Corps of Engineers.
LEWIS M. HAUPT.
EMORY R. JOHNSON.


0








57TH CONGRESS,
1st Session.


SENATE. DOCUMENT
No. 54.


REPORT


OF THE




ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION,


1899-1901.






REAR-ADMIRAL JOHN G. WALKER,
UNITED STATES NAVY,
President.


HON. SAMUEL PASCO. MR. GEORGE S. MORISON. LIEUT. COL. OSWALD H. ERNST,
Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.
LEWIS M. HAUPT, C. E.


ALFRED NOBLE, C. E. COL. PETER C. HAINS, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.
WILLIAM H. BURR, C. E. PROF. EMORY R. JOHNSON.


LIEUT. COMMANDER SIDNEY A. STAUNTON,
UNITED STATES NAVY,
Secretary.











WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1901.






















To te Congress of tke UnIted States:
I transmit herewith the report, with appendices in three parts, of the Isthmian Canal Commission, established under section 4 of the river and harbor act, approved March 3, 1899, of its investigations made in pursuance of section 3 of said act.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT. WHITE HouSE, DeCenber 4 1901.




DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 30, 1901.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit the Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, with appendices in three parts, all in duplicate, accompanied by one set of maps, profiles, and illustrations, which have this day been delivered at this Department by Rear-Admiral John G. Walker, president of the Commission.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN HAY.
The PRESIDENT.
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CONTENTS.



Sections of act approved March 3, 1899, authorizing the appointment of the Page.
Commission.--..------------------------------------------------9
Letter of appointment and instructions to commissioners --------------------11
Organization of the Commission by committees. ..---------------------------12
Chapters:
1. Introduction------------------------------------------------ 13
2. History of interoceanic projects and communications.----------------20
3. Dimensions and unit prices------------------------------------63
4. Other possible routes.....-----------------------------------------69
5. Panama route-----------------------------------------------80
6. Nicaragua route....-------------------------------------------- 104
7. Earthquakes, volcanoes, climate, health---------------------------167
8. Rights, privileges, and franchises.--..-------------------------------172
9. Industrial and commercial value of canal--------------------------243
10. Military value----------------------------------------------252
11. Cost of maintenance and operation.-.------------------------------255
12. Conclusions----------------------- ---------- 257

APPENDICES.

A. Study of locks for Nicaragua and Panama routes, by Mr. S. H. Woodard.
B B. Historical notes relative to the Universal Interoceanic Canal Company, 18801894, prior to the organization of the new company.
x C. List of documents furnished to the Commission by the New Panama Canal
Company.
X D. Report on the hydrography of the Panama canal route, by Mr. A. P. Davis,
chief hydrographer.
E. Waste weir dimensions and discharges for Lake Bohio.
x F. Description of alternative location for canal between Gatun and Bohio. G G. Discussion of the time required for transit through an Isthmian canal by the
two routes.
x H. Discharge of the canalized San Juan River. x I. Report of hydrographic investigations in Nicaragua, by Ir. A. P. Davis, chief
hydrographer.
x J. Surveys from the Upper San Juan to the Indio River, by Mr. A. B. Nichols,
division engineer.
K. Treaty between Nicaragua and the United States, 1867, Dickenson-Ayon.
L. Treaty negotiated between the Ulited States and Nicaragua, December, 1884,
Freliaghuysen-Zavala.
M. Treaty between Great Britain and Nicaragua, relative to the Mosquito Indians and the rights and claims of British subjects, February 11, 1860.
N. Treaty between Nicaragua and Great Britain, January 28, 1860.
0. Treaty between Nicaragua and France, April 11, 1859.
P. List of treaties made or negotiated by Nicaragua with other countries.
Q. Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, April 19, 1850, ClaytonBulwer.


5


x J l roe 7n, ot /A44-1 x al 14 11 1-pie444,c W,






6


CONTENTS.


R. Contract between Nicaragua and the Nicaragua Canal Association.
S. Act of Congress incorporating the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua.
T. Contract between Nicaragua and Eyre and Cragin, representing the Interoceanic Canal Company.
> U. Contract between Nicaragua and the Atlas Steamship Company.
V. Treaty between the United States and Costa Rica, July, 1851.
W. Treaty between Spain and Costa Rica, May, 1860.
X. Treaty between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, June, 1869.
Y. List of treaties made by Costa Rica with other countries.
Z. Contract between Costa Rica and Nicaragua Canal Association.
AA. Protocol of agreement between the United States and Costa Rica, December,
1900.
BB. Treaty between the United States and New Granada, concluded December,
1846.
y CC. Treaties between France and New Granada, 1856, and France and Colombia,
1892.
DD. Treaty between Spain and Colombia, 1881.
EE. List of treaties made by New Granada, or Colombia, with other countries. x FF. Amended contract between Colombia and the Panama Railroad Company. x GG. Contract between Colombia and Interoceanic Canal Association, March 20,
1878. (Wyse concession.)
Y H I-. Additional contract modifying that of May 20, 1878, December 10, 1890.
II. Contract granting extension to the Panama Canal Company in liquidation,
April 4, 1893.
X JJ. Contract granting further extension of time to the New Panama Canal Company, April 25, 1900.
4 KK. Memorandum showing legal status of the New Panama Canal Company, with
laws, decrees of court, and charter.
LL. Treaty negotiated by Mr. Hise between the United States and Nicaragua, June,
1849.
MM. Contract between Nicaragua and the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, August 27, 1849.
NN. Report on industrial and commercial value of canal, by Prof. Emory R.
Johnson.
PLATES.

1. General map of the Central American isthmus, from Tehuantepec to Buenaventura Bay, showing all the canal routes investigated. Scale i 40 miles to
an inch.
2. General map of the Isthmus of Darien, from Panama to Atrato River, Republic
of Colombia, showing water courses and mountain ranges. Scale 5
miles to an inch.
3. Map, Mandinga Harbor to mouth of Rio Chepo, Republic of Colombia, showing
proposed San Blas Canal route. Scale Ti5.
4. Profile of possible canal route from Mandinga Harbor, Gulf of San Blas, to Bay
of Panama. Horizontal scale i, vertical scale 21-.
5. Map, Caledonia Bay to Rio Sabana, Republic of Colombia, showing topography
to the divide and drainage. Scale .
6. Profile of possible canal routes from Caledonia Bay to San Miguel Bay. Horizontal scale wi-, vertical scale '
7. Map, Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from San Blas to Caledonia Bay,
Republic of Colombia, showing elevations observed from sea. Scale .
8. Map, Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Carreto Bay to the Atrato
Valley, Republic of Colombia, showing elevations observed from sea.
Scale .





CONTENTS. 7

9. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Rio Mangle
to Rio Mandinga, Gulf of San Blas. Taken from point near Point San Blas.
No. 1.
10. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Ratones
Cay to Rio Diablo. Taken from a point near Puyadas Cays. No. 2.
11. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Ratones Cay
to Rio Diablo. Taken from sloop going toward Ratones Cay. No. 3.
12. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Piedras
Cays to Rio Playa. Taken from a point near Ratones Cay. No. 4.
13. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Rio Tres
Bocas to Rio Pitgandi. Taken from a point near Limones Cays. No. 5.
14. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Caledonia
Hills to Rio Grande. Taken from a point near mouth of Rio Tres Bocas.
No. 6.
15. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Cape Tiburon to Piedras Cays. Taken from points near Isla Pajaros and Isla Pinos.
No. 7.
16. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Caledonia
Mountain to Sassardi Gap. Taken from a point in front of Sassardi. No. 8.
17. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, showing the
Caledonia Gap. Taken from a point near Isla d'Oro. No. 9.
18. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Cape Tiburon
to Pt. Escoces. Taken from sloop off Pt. Carreto. No. 10.
19. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from Tutumate
River to Pt. Tiburon. Taken from point near Piton Island. No. 11.
20. Panoramic view of the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, from the Atrato
Flat to Piton Island. Taken from sloop off Point Choco. No. 12.
21. General map of Panama route. Scale 10000.
22. Profile of Panama route. Horizontal scale 10 000, vertical scale -f 10.
23. Sheet of sections. Scale -00.
a. Colon Harbor.
b. Swamp silt.
c. Firm earth.
d. Lake Bohio. Drowned Channel.
e. Culebra.
1/24. Plan of Bohio Locks. Scale ig, 40' to an inch. t 25. Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks. Scale igl, 80' to an inch.
26. Bohio Dam. Scales 7 g1, i.
27. Gigante Spillway. Scales -1 -j.
28. Map No. 1. General Map of Nicaragua Route. Scale 50g68Map No. 2. Canal line and general topography through the canal region, scale
1 ,in 4 sheets.
29. Sheet 1. Carribean Sea to Boca San Carlos.
30. Sheet 2. Boca San Carlos to Lake Nicaragua.
31. Sheet 3. Fort San Carlos to Las Lajas.
32. Sheet 4. Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific Ocean.
Map No. 3. Canal line, boringsi service railroad, and detail topography, scale
in 14 sheets, and 1 index sheet, scale v 33. Index sheet.
34. Sheet 1. Greytown to San Juanillo.
35. Sheet Ia. Rio Indio to Rio Misterioso.
36. Sheet 2. Rio San Juanillo to Rio Negro. 37. Sheet 3. Rio Negro to Serapiqui Hills. 38. Sheet 4. Lock 2 to Rio San Francisco.





8 CONTENTS.

39. Sheet 5. Rio San Francisco to Cafio Machado.
40. Sheet 6. Conchuda cut-off and dam sites.
41. Sheet 7. La Lucha to Agua Fresca.
42. Sheet 8. Agua Fresca to Santa Cruz cut-off.
43. Sheet 9. Isla Sombrero de Cuero to Isla Grande.
44. Sheet 10. Rio Chico to San Francisco cut-off.
45. Sheet 11. Rio Medio Queso to Lake Nicaragua.
46. Sheet 12. Lake Nicaragua to Cafio Guachipilin.
47. Sheet 13. Cafno Guachipilin to Pacific Ocean.
Profile of Nicaragua Route. Horizontal scale -iu, vertical scale in 5 sheets.
48. Profile 1. Caribbean Sea to Conchuda.
49. Profile 2. Conchuda to Lake Nicaragua.
49a. Profile 2a. Profile of canal on adopted lines near Rio Sabalos, etc.
-50. Profile 3. Lake Nicaragua.
51. Profile 4. Lake Nicaragua to Pacific Ocean.
Eight maps of Greytown Harbor, scale Tri1.
.52. Puerto y Boca del Rio San Juan de Nicaragua, 1809. 53. San Juan de Nicaragua, by Geo. Peacock, 1832.
54. Greytown Harbor, by Commander Nolloth, 1850.
55. Greytown Harbor, by John Richards, 1853. ,56. Greytown Harbor, by John Scott, 1856. 57. Greytown Harbor, by P. C. F. West, 1865.
58. Greytown Harbor, by Lieut. Jas. M. Miller, 1872.
59. Greytown Harbor, by officers of U. S. S. Newport, 1898.
60. One sheet of canal cross sections, scale -1-.
Two profiles of route from Upper San Juan River, near Machuca, to Indio.
61. 1. Machuca-Negro Line.
62. 2. La Cruz del Norte Line.
63. Map No. 4. Showing borings in Lake Nicaragua, scale T8_64. Lock No. 1, scale i.
65. Locks Nos. 2, 3, and 4, scale 4i.
66. Locks Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8, scale 4i.
67. Waste ways, Eastern Division, scale ynu.
68. Conchuda waste way, scale Tn6.
69. Conchuda Dam, scale T10.
70. Map of Central America and neighboring countries, showing location of volcanoes, active and extinct. Scale i, 100 miles to an inch.
71. Map of Panama Route, showing zones of mean annual rainfall, scale -6U6 .
72. Map of Nicaragua, showing rainfall areas, 1890. Scale ,68, 8 miles to 1 inch.
73. Map of Nicaragua, showing rainfall areas, 1900. Same scale as 72.
/ 74. Map of the World, on Mercator projection, showing routes for steam and sail.
75. Map of Western Hemisphere, on Polyconic projection, showing routes, currents,
wind areas, etc.
Map of Central Chile, showing resources and industries, on two sheets.
76. Sheet 1.
'77. Sheet 2.
78. Map of Northwestern South America, showing resources and industries.
79. Map of Japan, showing resources and industries.
0. Map of China, showing resources and industries.
S1. Map of Eastern Australia, showing resources and industries. V 82. Map of New Zealand, showing resources and industries. 83. Map of the Philippine Islands, showing resources and industries. 84. Map of Central America, showing resources and industries. 85. Map of Mexico, showing resources and industries.
86. Map of Transportation Divides.
















AN ACT Making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes. Be it enacted byl the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That *
SEC. 3. That the President of the United States of America be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to make full and complete investigation of the Isthmus of Panama with a view to the construction of a canal by the United States across the same to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; that the President is authorized to make investigation of any and all practicable i'outes for a canal across said Isthmus of Panama, and particularly to investigate the two routes known respectively as the Nicaraguan route and the Panama route, with a view to determining the most practicable and feasible route for such canal, together with the proximate and probable cost of constructing a canal at each of two or more of said routes; and the President is further authorized to investigate and ascertain what rights, privileges, and franchises, if any, may be held and owned by any corporations, associations, or individuals, and what work, if any, has been done by such corporations, associations, or individuals in the construction of a canal at either or any of said routes, and particularly at the so-called Nicaraguan and Panama routes, respectively; and likewise to ascertain the cost of purchasing all of the rights, privileges, and franchises held and owned by any such corporations, associations, and individuals in any and all of such routes, particularly the said Nicaraguan route and the said Panama route; and likewise to ascertain the probable or proximate cost of constructing a suitable harbor at each of the termini of said canal, with the probable annual cost of maintenance of said harbors, respectively; and generally the President is authorized to make such full and complete investigation as to determine the most feasible and practicable route across said isthmus for a canal, together with the cost of constructing the same and placing the same under the control, management, and ownership of the United States.
SEC. 4. To enable the President to make the investigations and ascertaininents herein provided for, he is hereby authorized to employ in said service any of the engineers of the United States Army at his discretion, and likewise to employ any engineers in civil life, at his discretion, and any other persons necessary to make such investigation, and to fix the compensation of any and all of such engineers and other persons.
SEC. 5. For the purpose of defraying the expenses necessary to be incurred in making.the investigations herein provided for, there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one million dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be disbursed by order of the President.
SEC. 6. That the President is hereby requested to report to Congress the results of such investigations, together with his recommendations in the premises.
* * * *
Approved, Marclj 3, 1899.
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
asTkh/nton, Jtne 10, 1899.
Rear-Admiral JOHN G. WALKER, U. S. N., retired,
]eJm) ber of the interoceanic Canal Connission appointed under
sections 3 and 4 of the act of Congress approved Aareh 3,
1899.
SIR: The Congress of the United States passed at its recent session, and the President, on the 3d of March, 1899, approved, "An act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes," the third, fourth, and sixth sections of which read as follows:
SEC. 3. That the President of the United States of America be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to make full and complete investigation of the Isthmus of Panama with a view to the construction of a canal by the United States across the same to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; that the President is authorized to make investigation of any and all practicable routes for a canal across said Isthmus of Panama, and particularly to investigate the two routes known, respectively, as the Nicaraguan route and the Panama route, with a view to determining the most practicable and feasible route for such canal, together with the proximate and probable cost of constructing a canal at each of two or more of said routes; and the President is further authorized to investigate and ascertain what rights, privileges, and franchises, if any, may be held and owned by any corporations, associations, or individuals, and what work, if any, has been done by such corporations, associations, or individuals in the construction of a canal at either or any of said routes, and particularly at the so-called Nicaraguan and Panama routes, respectively; and likewise to ascertain the cost of purchasing all of the rights, privileges, and franchises held and owned by any such corporations, associations, and individuals in any and all of such routes, particularly the said Nicaraguan route and the said Panama route, and likewise to ascertain the probable or proximate cost of constructing a suitable harbor at each of the termini of said canal, with the probable annual cost of maintenance of said harbors, respectively. And generally the President is authorized to make such full and complete investigation as to determine the most feasible and practicable route across said isthmus for a canal, together with the cost of constructing the same and placing the same under the control, management, and ownership of the United States.
SEC. 4. To enable the President to make the investigations and ascertainments herein provided for, he is hereby authorized to employ in said service any of the engineers of the United States Army at his discretion, and likewise to employ any engineers in civil life, at his discretion, and any other persons necessary to make such investigation, and to fix the compensation of any and all such engineers and other persons.
SEC. 6. That the President is hereby requested to report to Congress the results of such investigations, together with his recommendations in the premises.
The President, in pursuance of the provisions of this act, has appointed you one of the members of the Isthmian Canal Commission 11






REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


provided for in it. You will be guided in the execution of the trust thus confided to you by the provisions of the act of Congress which I have quoted above, and your eminence in your profession is a sufficient guaranty of the energy and ability which the President is sure you will bring to the accomplishment of this task. At the same time your duties will not be limited by the terms of the act, but if any line of inquiry should suggest itself to you in the course of your work as being of interest or benefit, I am confident you will not fail to give it whatever attention it may seem to deserve. The President trusts that the Commission will fulfill the important duties confided to them in such a manner that when their report is prepared it will embrace all the elements required for his own guidance and for the final action of Congress upon the subject of the location and construction of the interoceanic canal.
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
JOHN HAY.



ORGANIZATION OF COMMISSION BY COMMITTEES, THE PRESIDENT
BEING EX OFFICIO A MEMBER OF EACH COMMITTEE.
For the investigation of the Nicaragua route:
Mr. Noble.
Mr. Burr.
Colonel Hains.
For the investigation of the Panama route:
Mr. Burr.
Mr. Morison.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ernst.
For the investigation of other possible routes:
Mr. Morison.
Mr. Noble.
Colonel Haims.
For the investigation of the industrial, commercial, and military value of an interoceanic canal:
Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Haupt.
Mr. Pasco.
For the investigation of rights, privileges, and franchises:
Mr. Pascoe.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ernst.
Mr. Johnson.


12












DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION,
Washington, D. C., November 16, 1901.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: The Isthmian Canal Commission having completed the investigations with which it was charged under the act of Congress approved March 3, 1899, and your instructions thereunder, communicated through the Secretary of State by letter of June 10, 1899, has the honor to submit the following report:


CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.

The Commission was organized in the city of sOrganizationo Commis- Washington, with Rear-Admiral John G. Walker as president, on the 15th day of June, 1899, and at a subsequent meeting, held on the 6th day of July, Lieut. Commander Sidney A. Staunton, of the United States Navy, was chosen as secre]Law. tary. It at once entered upon its duties, taking as a guide the sections of the act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1899, under which its members Instructions. were appointed, and also the instructions communicated to them by the Secretary of State in his letter of June 10, 1899.
The investigations and ascertainments provided for in the law involved many different lines of inquiry, and in order to promote the progress of the work and procure the best results it was divided Committees. among several committees, each of which was to take the lead in examining the particular subject intrusted to it; but before entering upon its special work each committee was to prepare an outline of its plan of investigation and submit it to the Commission for amendment or approval. The acts and conclusions of these committees were to be reported to the Commission, subject to modification and amendment before approval and adoption, so that the final results and determinations represent not only the views and opinions of the several committees, but of the entire Commission.
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14 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

The following subjects of investigation were then determined upon, and each was referred to a separate committee, to be designated accordingly:
The Nicaragua route.
The Panama route.
Other possible routes.
The industrial, commercial, and military value of an interoceanic canal.
Rights, privileges, and franchises.
The president of the Commission was made ex officio a member of each of these committees.
The two canal routes to which the attention of the Commission was specially directed by the law were in Nicaragua Appointment of chief and Panama, and a chief engineer was appointed engineers.
for each, to make his headquarters in the country and take the general control of the field operations to be inaugurated upon each line.
After considering the results of surveys made in the past, it was judged best to limit the explorations in the search for other possible routes to that part of Colombia known as Darien, extending from Panama to the Atrato River, and a third chief engineer was appointed to direct the field work there.
Competent assistants, whose education and trainantal lorerassist ing had fitted them for the special work to be done, were assigned to service under the chief engineers, and laborers, boatmen, and other workmen were employed wherever their services were required. In all 20 working parties were organized in Nicaragua, with 159 engineers and other assistants and 455 laborers; 5 in Panama, with 20 engineers and other assistants and 41 laborers; and 6 in Darien, with 54 engineers and other assistants and 112 laborers, making a total force of about 850, the number varying from time to time according to the requirements of the work.
The chief engineers were directed, with the aid Directions for the work.
of these working parties, to examine the geography, topography, hydrology, and other physical features of the different countries and to make a special study of the routes in Nicaragua and Panama. The schemes already planned were to be thoroughly tested and further surveys were to be made, in order to vary the line and select better locations wherever the conditions were found to be unsatisfactory. A complete project was to be prepared for each route and the center line of a canal was to be marked upon the ground where it had not already been done. The cost of a canal in each country, according to these projects, could then be closely approximated, the advantages of each be compared, and an intelligent conclusion be reached as to which of the two routes is the more desirable from an engineering standpoint.





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


This study involved examinations of the terminal harbors and approaches and the locations selected for dams, locks, and other auxiliary works; a series of borings to determine the nature of the subsurface material at the sites for locks and dams and along the canal lines, and a continuance of the observations of rainfall and stream flow, and of the lake fluctuations in Nicaragua. Attention was also to be given to the supply of rock, timber, and other materials in each country available for purposes of construction and maintenance.
The results of these examinations and observations and the data and material obtained were sent from time to time to the headquarters of the Commission at Washington, where they were arranged and entered upon the plats and profiles of the canals, under the direction of the committees, for examination and consideration in reaching their conclusions and making their recommendations.. Visit to Paris. On the 9th of August, 1899, the Commission left New York for Paris, where the New Panama Canal Company opened to its members its records, maps, plans, and profiles, and the results of the surveys made and the data collected by it and the old Panama Canal Company. Mr. Maurice Hutin, the directorgeneral, Mr. L. Choron, the chief engineer, and other officers of the company received the commissioners with great courtesy and were ready at all times to assist them in making a study of this route in all its aspects. A special meeting of the Comit6 Technique was also called to give the commissioners such oral explanations as they might desire, some of its members coming from distant parts of Europe for the purpose.
While in Europe the Commission also visited and Other visits while in examined the Kiel Canal in Germany, the North Sea Canal in Holland, and the Manchester Canal and Liverpool docks in England and returned to New York on the 29th of September.
In accordance with the plan of investigation Visit to Central and determined upon, a visit was afterwards made by South America.
the Commissioners to Central and South America. The purposes of this visit were to make a personal inspection of the entire canal lines in Nicaragua and Panama, examine the work already done by the parties in the field, give instructions as to its continuance, familiarize themselves with the local surroundings and physical features of the sections in which these routes are located, and gather such information as would promote the object for which the Commission was organized.
They left New York on the 6th of January, 1900, Nicaragua. for Greytown, Nicaragua. After spending a week in inspecting the harbor, the coast line near the eastern terminus of the canal, the work commenced by the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua, and the dredges, railroad plant, and other property it had


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left there, they passed over the canal line from the mouth of the San Juan to Brito on the Pacific, stopping at the locations selected or deemed suitable for dams, locks, and other auxiliary works, and at other points where a careful examination was desirable, and making detours from the main line when necessary. From Brito they returned to the lake and proceeded to Managua, the capital, where they had several interviews with President Zelaya, with reference to the construction of a navigable canal through Nicaraguan territory by the United States. They were cordially welcomed by the President, and he expressed himself favorably with reference to the proposed maritime communication. They went from Managua to Corinto, and there took a steamer for Panama, where they arrived on the 3d of March.
As the disturbed conditions in Colombia rendered it inadvisable for the Commission to attempt to meet the President at Bogota, the State Department, at the request of this Commission, communicated with the Colombian authorities through the United States minister there and asked that a representative of the Government be appointed to meet the commissioners when they reached the country and give them such information and assistance relative to their mission as he conveniently could. In accordance with this request Mr. J. T. Ford, the consulting engineer of the Republic in technical matters connected with the Panama Canal, was assigned to this duty. He met them in this official capacity on their arrival at Panama, courteously expressed an entire willingness to aid them in their investigations, and accompanied them from day to day upon their visits to different points upon the canal line and elsewhere during their stay upon the isthmus.
Fifteen days were spent in the department of Panama, during which an investigation of the route from sea to sea was made, as had been done in Nicaragua. The work was greatly facilitated by the local officers of the New Panama Canal Company, who placed two houses in Colon at the service of the commissioners, furnished a special train each day to take them from point to point as the work progressed, permitted them to use their maps and plans, informed them as to the work then going on, accompanied them in their inspection of the line, and exhibited to them the plant and materials purchased by the old canal company for construction purposes, much of which was stored in sheds and warehouses at different points on the isthmus. During this period the commissioners went over the entire line of the canal from Colon to Panama, and examined the sites for the different auxiliary works. This included a trip to the upper waters of the Chagres, in the Alhajuela region, and they returned in boats, so as to have an opportunity of seeing the river.
The Commission is indebted to Mr. Louis Royer, director on the


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isthmus of the New Panama Canal Company, and to Col. J. R. Shaler, superintendent of the Panama Railroad Company, for courteous attentions.
On the 16th of March Mr. George S. Morison Visit of Mr. Morison to left the party on the U. S. S. Scorp into ascertain the progress of the explorations in Darien, with full authority to give instructions as to the continuance of the work according to the conditions which he might find upon reaching p.the camps of the different working parties. The Scorpion had been assigned by the Navy Department to aid in the search for other possible routes in Darien, and was commanded by Lieut. Commander Nathan Sargent, United States Navy, who rendered valuable assistance in the explorations made in that section, and met the responsibilities which rested upon him creditably and successfully.
Costa Rica. From Colon the majority of the commissioners went to Limon, in Costa Rica. Here a special train was placed at their disposal to convey them to San Jos6, the capital. During the week that they spent in this'city they conferred freely with President Iglesias upon the subject of an interoceanic canal and the use of the territory of the Republic, as far as necessary, in case the United States should desire to use the Nicaragua route. The President manifested a deep interest in the canal project and expressed the hope that it would be successfully accomplished.
In the absence of Mr. William L. Merry, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, accredited to Nicaragua as well as to Costa Rica, the Commission was greatly aided in accomplishing the purposes of its visits at San Jos by Mr. Rufus A. Lane, secretary of legation and charge d'affaires, and at Managua by Mr. Chester Donaldson, United States consul. The members of the Commission are also indebted to these gentlemen for many personal courtesies which were highly appreciated.
Dimensions and unit prices. After returning to the United States, the Commission took up for consideration certain questions relating to canal construction, which had to be determined before completing the projects, preparing the plans, and making the calcilations and estimates for the principal work at each route and its auxiliaries. The most important of these were the dimensions of such a canal as was contemplated, its locks and other works, the best method of constructing the dams and the materials to be used, and the unit prices of work and materials. The settlement of these questions required a knowledge not only of vessels then in use but of those which were being constructed and planned, so as to form a correct judgment as to what the shipping interests will demand by the time
S. Doc. 54 2


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18 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


a canal can be completed; also the cost of excavating and removing vast quantities of earth and rock, at different depths and under different conditions, by using the most satisfactory methods and the latest improvements and inventions in machinery. The conclusions reached were used in making the subsequent plans, computations, and estimates.
Besides these questions of a preliminary charer questions consid- ac er, which related to the engineering features of the canals, there were others which had to be considered. Among them were the treaty relations which the Republics, within whose boundaries these canal routes are situated, hold toward the United States and other powers; the grants and concessions made by them to corporations, associations, and individuals, and the cost of purchasing those still in force; the industrial and military value of an interoceanic canal; the cost of operation and maintenance at each route; also the liability of seismic and other disturbances in the isthmian country and their probable effect upon a canal and its auxiliary works when completed and in operation.
A second visit was made to Nicaragua by Mr. Visit of Mr. Noble to Alfred Noble to make some special examinations, Nicaragua.
inspect the work of the parties in the field, and give them such further information as he deemed proper. le left New York February 16, 1901, and returned March 26.
The different working parties were disbanded as they finished their work, the laborers were at once discharged, and the engineers and other assistants were brought back to the United States, where some of them have since been employed in office work in Washington under the direction of the Commission. The field work was not completed till June, 1901, when the last detachment of assistants returned from Nicaragua.
The results of all these investigations and the final conclusions of the Commission are embraced in different chapters of this report. In order that these chapters may
not be incumbered with matter which is useful mainly for reference,
verification, and special study, many of the papers, documents, treaties, concessions, grants, special reports, and discussions mentioned in the text are attached as appendixes and are appropriately designated so that easy reference may be made to them when their examination is desired. Special report on Indus- In order to present a fuller view of the industrialand coninercial valie trial and commercial value o4 an isthmian canal of canal. than could be conveniently done within the limits of the report of the Commission, Prof. Emory R. Johnson, a member of the Commission, whose previous studies had qualified him to deal with these questions, was requested to make a thorough investigation of this subject and present the results in a special report. This has





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


been done, and it is submitted in connection with this report, accompanied by appropriate charts and diagrams. Maps, etc. The report is also accompanied by maps of the canal routes and the countries where they are located, charts of the terminal harbors, plans and profiles of the projects, sketches and views taken at different points along and in the vicinity of the canal lines, and diagrams and other representations for purposes of description and explanation.
History. -A chapter has also been included, giving a history of the early efforts to find a waterway to the Orient, of the transit routes used and established across the American isthmus, when no strait could be found there connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and of the different plans for establishing an artificial maritime communication.
The explorations and researches of the past have developed the projects which now exist, and it is believed that this account will add to the value and completeness of the report and be in harmony with the purposes of the investigation.


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CHAPTER II.


HISTORY OF INTEROCEANIC PROJECTS AND COMMUNICATIONS.
During the fifteenth century the subject of a maritime coihmunication with the countries and people in the far East engaged the earnest attention of many enterprising and thoughtful men in the European States bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the belief and expectation that a more direct route to those distant lands would result in greatly increasing the interchange of productions which had for many centuries contributed to the wealth of the Western nations, notwithstanding the difficulties and disadvantages under which commercial intercourse had been maintained.
During this period the art of navigation was largely and continuously developed, the mariner's compass was evolved from the electric needle, the properties of which had long been known, rough instruments were devised for ascertaining and determining the position of vessels upon the great deep, and the mariner began to venture beyond the sight of familiar landmarks; the Portuguese resolutely pushed forward their explorations southward along and near the west side of Africa, new capes and headlands and river mouths were passed, and islands and groups of islands distant from the coast line were discovered, some by those who were driven from their course, others by the more daring who steered from the land and risked for a while the dangers of the open sea. The diffusion of the geographic knowledge thus gained and the constant improvement in nautical appliances and charts inspired increased confidence in the theory of the maritime communication and its ultimate discovery, and, in the latter part of the century, brave navigators and seamen voluntarily entered upon long voyages, through untried seas, in search of new pathways, eastward vnd westward, to India, China, and the spice islands, under the patronage of enlightened monarchs, who, in addition to their desire to advance the commercial interests of their people, hoped and expected that new possessions, abounding in wealth, would be added to their dominions.
It is claimed that Africa had been circumnavigated and was known to be a great peninsula many centuries before the Christian era. Herodotus states that Pharaoh Necho, who reigned in Egypt from 616 to 600 B. C., sent out an expedition from the Red Sea to explore its coast, which passed around the continent, sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar, and in the third year
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returned to Egypt by the Mediterranean. But the evidence upon which this and other early voyages rest is scarcely more than traditional and they left no permanent impressions and were followed by no practical results.
But if there was a sea route to India eastward it was surely in this direction, and the Portuguese had been persistent Portuguese exploratios in their efforts to discover it. By 1486 their along the African coast.
explorations along the west coast of Africa had extended to about the twentieth degree of south latitude. In 1487 an expedition was sent out by John II, under the command of Bartholemew Dias, to continue the explorations until the southern point of the continent should be reached. Near Cape Voltas, on the southern bank of Orange River, he met tempestuous weather and was driven far below the cape of which he was in search without seeing it. When he regained the land he advanced easterly as far as a point he named Santa Cruz, near Algoa Bay, where he raised a stone cross, as had been done at other points along the coast, in proof of the fact that he claimed the country for his king. The cape was not seen till he sailed homeward, and in memory of the trying circumstances under which he had gone by it on the outward voyage he named it the Stormy Cape, but King John, in full belief that Cape of Good lope is- the gateway to the East was now open, directed covered.
that it should be called the Cape of Good Hope. Notwithstanding the general rejoicing over the successful voyage nade by Dias, this hope was not realized till eleven years later. Various causes delayed the sending out of another expedition, but at length Vasco de Gama sailed with four vessels to follow First voyage around up the results already obtained and, if practiAfrica to India.
cable, to proceed to the eastern countries. He left Lisbon July 8, 1497, passed safely around the southernmost point of Africa, crossed the Indian Occan, touching at various points on his way, and on the 17th of May, 1498, sighted the high land on the coast of India. Three days later he anchored his fleet before Calicut on the Malibar coast. After an eventful voyage he returned to Portugal in August or September, 1499, and was received with distinguished honors and magnificent displays. Two of his vessels and more than half of his men had been lost, but the great problem of opening a maritime communication with the eastern countries had been solved and the most sanguine expectations that had been indulged in were more than realized.
Portugal improved the opportunities which this municationfwaitimOetm. great discovery opened; other expeditions were sent by this new route to the Orient; every sea was entered and every coast explored; she planted her colonies and trading stations wherever desirable locations were found; her arms


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were everywhere triumphant; her ships opened and maintained a lucrative commerce with India, China, and the Spice Islands. This. commerce stimulated her home industries and brought vast wealth to the Kingdom, and for nearly half a century she enjoyed wonderful prosperity and power and held a foremost place among the nations of Europe.
But before the discovery of the eastern commuC nication had been completed the studies of Columbus had convinced him that the same countries could be more speedily reached by sailing westward. He had no correct idea of the size of the world nor of the distance from Europe to the Asiatic coast and the neighboring islands, but supposed that it was several thousand miles less than it afterwards proved to be. He reached this conclusion from the delineations upon the rude maps of the world then in existence, based upon actual geographic knowledge when it was available, and when it was wanting upon hearsay and imagination and conjecture.
When he embarked, under the auspices* of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Palos on the 3d day of August, 1492, upon the voyage which resulted in the discovery of America, it was with the confident expectation that a favorable result would carry him to the eastern shores of the Old World or to some island in those regions which might lie across the track of his vessels. He was therefore not disappointed when he discovered island after island but not the mainland, and be believed that by sailing beyond these the continent could be found. When upon his second voyage he passed along the southern coast of Cuba, in 1494, he announced that it was some part of the Old World far remote from Europe, and his officers and crew joined in certifying their belief in this opinion. When he felt obliged to turn back, he still believed that if he could continue his voyage in the same direction some port would in the end be reached whence he could communicate with the Grand Khan of Tartary, to whom Ferdinand had given him letters. On his third voyage, in 1498, he discovered South America, near the delta of the Orinoco. He named it Tierra Firma and regarded it as another part of the Asiatic continent. When he left Spain in 1502, on his fourth and last voyage, his intention was to go still farther westward and endeavor to find a strait that would lead to India. He would thus complete his great discovery and demonstrate the correctness of the theories upon which his expeditions had been undertaken. He reached Honduras and followed the coast line to Darien, but long-continued and severe storms, the hostile attitude of the Indians, and the discouragement of his followers interfered with his plans and progress, and with sorrow and regret he turned toward Hispaniola with his shattered ships before he had accomplished the long-hoped-for result, in which, however, his faith had not abated. When he died, on the 26th day of May, 1506, he was still fully satisfied that his discoveries





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


were in the eastern part of the Old World and never fully realized the extent and grandeur of his achievements.
The success of these voyages aroused the activOther expeditious west- ity of other nations, and England, France, and Portugal vied with Spain in this field of enterprise and adventure. Each expedition returned with reports of additional discoveries, northward and southward, from Labrador to Brazil, but no strait was found which opened a way to the Asiatic coast, and it.began to be realized that these newly found islands and countries did not belong to the Eastern continent, but that a new world had been discovered.
Strong confirmatory proof in support of this Bauooadiscovers the Pa- view was afforded in September, 1513, by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, then governor of a province in Darien known as Castilla del Oro. The Indians had told him of a great sea beyond the mountains, and he determined to organize an expedition and go in search of it. He crossed from Santa Maria de la Antigua, the capital of his province, a city founded in 1509 or 1510, near the Atrato River, to a point near Caledonia Bay, where Acla was afterwards built; thence he proceeded with a considerable force of Spaniards and Indians across the divide, and on the 25th day of the month reached a high ridge above the gulf which he named San Miguel. Advancing beyond his companions to a favorable elevation, he was the first European to behold the great ocean to the south, which he called the South Sea, from the direction in which he viewed it. The march was continued to the coast, and four days later he entered the sea and with great ceremony claimed it by the right of discovery for his royal master, the King of Spain.
Before the news of this great achievement reached the King, Balboa had been superseded as governor, through the efforts of his enemies, by Pedro Arias de Avila, better known as Pedrarias. This was a bitter disappointment to him, for the Indians had Balboa hears from In. told him when he crossed the isthmus of a rich dlaiis of gold southward.
country to the south, abounding in the precious metals, and he had planned the construction of a fleet to navigate the new sea, confident of his ability to discover this country and make himself master of its wealth. The accomplishment of these results twenty years later by Pizarro, who was with Balboa upon his famous expedition, shows that his plans and expectations were not unreasonable.
When Ferdinand received the report that a great ward for gol sea, beyond his possessions in the new world, had been added to his empire he desired to recognize the importance of the event by bestowing suitable honors upon the discoverer, but was not willing to restore him to the governorship. The reward came in 1515, when Balboa was appointed adelantado of the




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Southern Sea and captain-general, but these distinctions were to be enjoyed under the supervision of Pedrarias as his superior. In the following year the adelantado obtained the consent of the governor to enter upon the long (desired voyage and he established his headquarters on the north side of Caledonia Bay, at his former starting point, where he laid out the town of Acla. The expedition required ships on the opposite side of the isthmus and he undertook their construction.
Suitable trees were abundant only on the Atlantic side, and he conceived the project of preparing all his materials there and transporting them over the mountain range on the backs TransporM mllaternal for
slhips acros isthmus, of Indians, to be put together at some navigable point on one of the streams flowing into the waters of the South Sea. The place selected was on a river, then called Rio de las Balsas, or River of the Rafts, probably the same as the Savana, though the authorities are not agreed. Thousands of Indians were brought together from all directions, materials for four brigantines were prepared, and the work was carried forward under merciless taskmasters, Spaniards and negroes. When the builders began to put the timbers together, many of them were found to be worm-eaten, and a new lot had to be prepared; then a tempest arose, and the deluging rains swept away the materials and buried them with mud in the swamps and low grounds. Balboa with unshaken resolution sent out the woodcutters again, and dispatched parties for fresh supplies of provisions, and others to forage on the natives to satisfy the immediate wants of his force.
For months the Indians continued their unacToiland suffer g In-customed toil, through swamps, across streams, over mountain heights, ill fed, under a tropical sun, and if made desperate by their hardships and sufferings any tried to escape bloodhounds were put on their tracks.
Bishop Quevado testified before the Spanish court that 500 poor Transit of Isthmus. wretches perished in this work, while Las Casas says the deaths were nearer 2,000 in number. But the undertaking was accomplished, the four brigantines, in separate pieces, were carried from sea to sea, put together on the Balsas, and Balboa selected Isla Rica, the largest of the Pearl Islands, as his rendezvous, and frequent journeys were made thither from Acla in connection with the arrangements for the expedition. A short trip was made to the eastward and the little fleet returned to Isla Rica ready for the southern voyage; but before he set out Balboa was summoned Executlo) of BI-(. by Iedrarias to Ada, charged with treasonable conduct, and, after the form of a trial, was condeined and beheaded in the latter part of 1517. Thus closed the career of the brave and unfortunate man who first marked out a line of transit across the isthmus and demonstrated its practicability.





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


Meanwhile the search for a westward waterway to the eastern side of the old continent had been continued, and after many fruitless Voyage of agelan. efforts its existence was finally demonstrated by Ferdinand Magellan, twenty years af ter the famous voyage of Vasco de Gama around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and the result was accomplished, as in the case of the eastern passage, by sailing around the southern point of the continent and not by a strait connecting the two oceans farther north. Magellan was a Portuguese navigator in the service of Charles V, the successor of Ferdinand upon the Spanish throne. He set sail from San Lucar de Barrameda on the 20th of September, 1519, with five Discovers strait, ships, reached the mouth of the La Plata, sailed southerly along the coast of Patagonia, and discovered the strait which still bears his name, which separates the island of Terra del Fuego from the mainland. He supposed this island belonged to a southern continent, and this view prevailed until 1616, when two Dutch navigators, Van Schouten and Le Maire, found the passage around Cape Horn. Magellan successfully worked his way through the strait and on the 28th of November, 1520, found the great sea beyond, which he named the Pacific Ocean, on account of the fine weather which he experienced there. His crews were discouraged and mutinous and his provisions ran short, but with undaunted resolution he continued his voyage toward the Asiatic coast, making additional discoveries on his way, until he reached the Philippine Islands. There, on the island of Matan, near Zebu, he lost his life in an encounter with the natives on the 27th of April, 1521. One vessel had been wrecked on the eastern coast of Patagonia, another deserted the expedition and sailed homeward after the western opening of the strait had been discovered but before its passage, and a third became unseaworthy and was burned at the Moluccas. The two remaining separated after the death of Magellan. The Triidad sailed for Panama and the Victory returned homeward around the Cape of Good Hope and reached San Lucar, the port from which the expedition had started three years before, on the 6th of September, 1522, under the command of John Sebastian del Cano, having on board only 18 of the 2655 persons who had embarked with Magellan. Espinosa, captain of the Triidad, and three of his men returned to Spain five years later in a Portuguese vessel. The voyage to Panama had been abandoned in consequence of continued storms, and the Trinidad returned to the Moluccas and was seized by the Portuguese. It finally reached Ternate, a small island of this group, where it went ashore in a squall and went to pieces. For the World crcumnavigated.first time a continuous voyage had been made around the world, and a new maritime route had been found to the far eastern countries and islands in both directions, but this western passage did not reduce the distance nor satisfy


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the wishes of those who sought a direct way thither by the discovery of a connecting strait along the coast line of the new continent.
Though all previous attempts had been baffled the belief in the existence of such a strait was not entirely abandoned, and efforts to discover it were still prosecuted, but they were mainly confined to the isthmian section, from Mexico to Darien, where it had been developed that the two oceans were least widely separated.
After Charles V came to the throne of Spain in CharlesVIs interested in 1516 he took great interest in the exploration of discovery of interoceanic
communication. the South Sea and the discovery of a connecting strait. He charged the governors of his American provinces to have the entire coast line thoroughly examined and every bay and river mouth that offered a possible solution of the problem was entered and explored. In 152,3 the Emperor wrote from Valladolid to Cortes to make careful search for the passage which would connect the eastern and western shores of the New World and shorten by twothirds the route from Cadiz to Cathay. Cortes, in replying, assured him that his wishes would be diligently carried out, and that he had great hopes of success, adding that such a discovery would render the King of Spain master of so many kingdoms that he might call himself lord of the world."
It was in accordance with this policy that Gil Gi Gonzales sent to Pa Gonzales de Avila was sent out from Spain to succeed Balboa, with instructions to search along the coast of the South Sea for the western opening of a strait connecting with the Atlantic. He had authority to use the vessels that Balboa had constructed, but Pedrarias refused to deliver them to him, and in order to carry out the royal commands he took to pieces the two caravels in which he and his followers crossed "s the oceantransported them across the isthmus along the route used by Balboa, and rebuilt them at the Balsas on the Pacific side. These were lost, and he constructed others with which he sailed northward along the coast from the Bay of Panama in January, 1522, until they were found to be unseaworthy. They were repaired and the exploration was continued to the Bay of Fonseca, but Gil Gonzales proceeded by land with 4 horses and 100 men and discovered Lake Nicaragua, which he Discovers Lake Ncar named after Nicarao, a chief whom he met at or near the present site of Rivas and from whom he at first received kind treatment. He found the country rich in gold, and took formal possession of it for his sovereign. Afterwards, encountering serious opposition from the Indians, he retreated to the coast and was so fortunate as to meet the vessels on their return voyage after an unsuccessful search for the strait. When they reached Panama the news soon spread that a great inland sea had been dis-


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covered only a few leagues from the Pacific. Pedrarias claimed that it was within the limits of his jurisdiction and at once undertoo z its conquest. He established a city at Granada, near rakac onaea on the shore of the lake, and reduced the Indians to subjection. It was at first reported that there was an opening from the lake to the South Sea, but a careful examination of the surrounding country failed to develop such a connecting channel. Among the early settlers was Capt. Diego
Machuca's expedition Machuca, who, in 1529, undertook a thorough from Lake Nicaragua down exploration of Lake Nicaragua and its eastern outSan Juan to sea. let. A felucca and brigantine were constructed on its shores and were placed under his command with 200 men and some canoes. His land force kept within reach of his flotilla and he entered the Desaguadero River, now the San Juan, and attempted its pasRapids in the San Juan. sage. He found the navigation difficult in places because of the rapids, and those in one part of the river still bear his name. Overcoming all difficulties, he reached the Atlantic, but was uncertain as to the locality, and kept along the coast with his vessels in a southeasterly direction till he reached the Spanish settlement at Nombre de Dios. At a later period sea vessels passed regularly up and down the river, making voyages between Granada and Spain, Cuba and South America. This commerce was maintained as late as 1637, according to Thomas Gage, an English monk, who. visited Nicaragua in that year, but there were delays and difficulties in passing the rapids.
While efforts were being made to find a maritime channel between the two oceans which washed the shores of the Spanish provinces in the new world, the importance of a permanent communication across the isthmus by land was not overlooked. Soon Line of posts across after the discovery by Balboa, Ferdinand ordered Isthmus.
that a line of posts be established from sea to sea, and the plan was carried out by his successor. Acla was first selected as the Atlantic terminus, but it was afterwards determined that it was too far to the east, and in 1519 Nombre de Dios was founded and the Atlantic port was there established. After an examination of the Pacific coast, the site of old Panama was fixed upon as a suitable place to establish a city upon the western side of the isthmus. A setPanama founded. tlement was commenced there in August, 1517, and in September, 1521, it was made a city by royal decree, with special privileges and a coat of arms. It became the Pacific terminus of the line of posts, and a road was at once constructed between the two cities, crossing the Construction of r o a d Chagres at Cruces. This road was cut through across Isthmus.
the forests, the trees often being used to make the swamps passable; bridges were laid across the streams, and rocks were


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removed from their beds to make the passage over the mountains less diffllult. The way was paved, and according to some accounts was only wide enough for riders and beasts of burden, but Peter Martyr says that two carts could pass one another upon it. In 1597 Porto Bello was made the eastern port of entry instead of Nombre de Dios. It had a better harbor, was easier of access, was well supplied with fresh water the year round, was nearer to Panama, and the location was more healthy than Nombre de Dios, which had frequently been denounced in memorials to the Spanish court as "the sepulcher of Spaniards."
In 1534, or soon after that date, a route by water for boats and lightdraft vessels was established fiom Nombre de Dios'along the coast and up the Chagres to Cruces. This was accomplished by removing obstructions which had interfered with the navigation of the river, but the use of the paved way was not discontinued.
The value of this interoceanic communication increased every year. After the conquest of Pizarro vast quantities of gold and silver were brought from the mines of Peru to Panama, carCoMm.ere across ist-ried across the isthmus on the king's horses, kept for that purpose, and transported from the eastern terminus of the paved way in royal galleons to Spain.
As the Spanish colonies and provinces increased in population the commerce and travel across the isthmus grew in importance. At cerFairs it Cartagena, tain times when vessels were due from Spain fairs Nombre de Dios, and Porto were held at Cartagena and Nombre de Dios, and B10l0. later at Porto Bello, which were attended by the merchants of the Spanish Main and the countries bordering upon the Pacific. Caravans from Panama crossed to the Atlantic terminus with products to be disposed of at these fairs. With the proceeds such manufactured articles as were needed by the colonists and settlers were purchased from the Spanish ships and distributed at Panama after recrossing the isthmus, many of them going to Peru and Central America, where the abundance of gold assured a ready and profitable market.
The commerce of the isthmus increased during the century and Panama became a place of great mercantile importance, with a profitable trade extending to the Spice Islands and the Asiatic coast. It was at the height of its prosperity in 1585, and was called with good reason the tollgate between western Europe and eastern Asia. Meanwhile the commerce, whose tolls only brought such benefits to Panama, enriched Spain, and her people were generously rewarded for the aid given by Ferdinand and Isabella in the effort to open a direct route westward to Cathay, notwithstanding the disadvantages of the isthmian transit.


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Another of the early transits across the isthmian country was at Tebuamtepec. Tehuantepec. When Cortes was instructed by Charles V to search for the desired strait he proceeded with his.usual energy to carry out the wishes of the Emperor. He had obtained froi Montezuma in 1520 a description of the country to the south, with a drawing of the gulf coast representing the bays and rivers. The indications at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos appearing favorable, he had it examined and, though no strait was discovered, the isthmus presented advantages for transit which he found serviceable in his subsequent operations. When he had e seirhofstra.itio. completed the conquest of Mexico he sent out vessels to explore the coast in all directions, along the Pacific as well as the Gulf of Mexico, and in 1527 he sent an expedition to the Moluccas, hoping to establish a direct trade with those regions. The forests of Tarifa, on the Atlantic slope, supplied abundance of timber suitable for shipbuilding, and it was transported to each coast to be used in both seas. With timber from this source he constructed vessels on the coast near Tehuantepec for his expeditions in the Pacific, the other materials being carried front the Gulf of Mexico across the isthmus. The most important result of the coastwise explorations was the discovery of the Gulf of California and the adjacent peninsula, but neither along the shore of this gulf nor elsewhere upon the Pacific side did any channel open a passage to the Atlantic. But though Cortes failed to find the strait, the course he marked, up the Coatzacoalcos, across the dividing ridge, and down the
T r.Pacific slope to Tehuantepec, became an important Transit route.
route of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific. A port and extensive works were established at the western terminus, and a profitable trade was opened and maintained with the Spanish provinces on the Pacific and with the countries and islands in and near the eastern part of Asia on the one side and with the Atlantic ports and Spain on the other.
The importance of a maritime connection and the discouraging results of the efforts to discover a natural channel between the two oceans suggested to many minds the idea of a ship Shipcacanal, and the successful transits at the different

points mentioned and the relatively short distance across the isthmus at each caused them to be regarded at an early period as favorable locations for canal routes. Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, Panama, and Darien each had its advocates.
According to one authority Charles V directed that the isthmus of Panama be surveyed with this purpose in view as early as 1520. In February, 1534, a royal decree was confirmed directing that the space between the Chagres and the Pacific be examined by experienced men


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and that they ascertain the best and most convenient means of effecting a communication between the navigable waters of Survey of isthmus of the river and the ocean and the difficulties to be Panamia.
met in the execution of such a project. The governor, Pascual Andagoya, reported that such a work was impracticable, and that no king, however powerful he might be, was capable of forming a junction of the two seas or of furnishing the means of carrying out such an undertaking.
Charles abdicated the throne of Spain in 1555 and was succeeded by his son, Philip II, who reigned till 1598. Under the
Policy of Philip II.
new monarch the policy of the kingdom changed, the search for the strait was abandoned, the number of ports through which the gold and silver from the mines of his American provinces flowed to Spain was limited, and the project of a ship canal between the two oceans, across the American peninsula, was no longer prosecuted. While these new possessions opened a constantly widening field for commerce and furnished an inexhaustible supply of the precious metals, why seek for or construct a maritime communication through. the continent into the ocean beyond for other explorations in the hope of new discoveries? Here was actual fruition. Why waste effort and time and money in regions still more remote, where all was uncertainty? Besides, an opening through the isthmus would afford rival nations favorable opportunities to visit the shores of the new possessions, gain information as to their resources and advantages, and invite aggression and conquest in.case of war. It was also urged that the opening of a canal through the isthmus would be in opposition to the will of the Almighty, who had placed this barrier in the way of navigation between the two oceans, and they who should Atrato. attempt to remove it would incur the Divine displeasure. The Atrato region offered favorable conditions for a transit, particularly for the commerce between Peru and the Spanish main. Some of its tributaries take their rise far to the south and near the Pacific coast, but the policy of Philip prevented the establishment of a channel of communication there, and the navigation of the river was forbidden under penalty of death.
This policy adopted by Philip II continued for two centuries after his death. The subject of a maritime connection was an attractive one and was often discussed. In connection with it explorations were made from time to time and much geographic and topographic information relating to the Spanish provinces in the isthmian country was collected, but it was not published to the world, and if any scientific data valuable for canal purposes were obtained they were not available when the subject was revived in the nineteenth century and the question of the feasibility of the different projects began to receive serious consideration.


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The most notable event relating to the connecPaterson's colony at New tion of the two oceans which occurred while this Caledonia.
policy of King Philip was maintained was the attempt of William Paterson to establish a Scotch colony in Darien. In 1695 the Scotch Parliament passed an act authorizing the formation of a company to trade from Scotland to Africa and the Indies. It received the royal sanction June 26, 1695, and William III issued letters patent to carry out the terms of the act. The company organized under this authority is generally known as the Darien Company, and in July, 1698, it sent out an expedition from Edinburgh with three ships and two tenders, having 1,200 men on board, with the intention of settling on the American isthmus. William Paterson was the originator of this scheme. He had become acquainted with the advantages of the Darien section while engaged as a merchant in the West Indies. and from a knowledge of the movements and exploits of the buccaneers. The vessels arrived safely at Darien and anchored in a bay which they called Caledonia Bay, a name it still retains. The colonists entered into friendly relations with the Indians and bought lands from them. They named the country Caledonia and established a settlement, which they called New Edinburgh, on a small peninsula, which formed a harbor, which still bears the name of Port Escoces. A fort was built for the protection of the settlement, which they named New St. Andrews, and a channel was cut across the peninsula, so that the sea might encompass the city and fort.
While no attempt was made to construct a canal or to open a communication with the South Sea, the patent under which the company was organized authorized colonies to be planted in Asia, Africa, or America, and Paterson's plan contemplated the ultimate establishment of settlements and ports on both oceans, so as to open commercial connections with all parts of the world. One of the first acts of the colonial government was to declare freedom of trade to those teroanieonirnpansf "in. of all nations who might be concerned with them, and full and free liberty of conscience in matters of religion. The success of this first colony would have been followed by efforts to establish others on the Pacific side, with which a transit route would then have been opened, but the colonists became discouraged, the supply of provisions failed, a vessel sent out with fresh stores foundered off Cartagena, the unhealthfulness of the climate filled their hospitals and. graveyard, and in less than eight months the survivors abandoned the settlement, Settlement aIbandoned.
and only a small remnant lived to return to Scotland. Other vessels were sent out with more emigrants before these disasters were known, others followed them a few months later, and fresh attempts were made to establish a permanent colony, but with no better results. In addition to their other troubles and misfor-


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tunes, Spain protested that her territory was being invaded, and a military force was sent to drive them from the country. The few survivors at length capitulated, and after the loss of more than 2,000 lives and the expenditure of vast sums of money the company abandoned the promising scheme which Paterson had planned and inaugurated.
During this period communication between the two seas was maintained at the locations already mentioned. As Panama declined in importance much of its business was transferred to Nicaragua. The shortest distance from ocean to ocean was in the Transit routes.
Darien section. The general course marked out by Balboa was followed by the buccaneers in some of their incursions against the Spanish settlements and posts in the seventeenth century. Captain Sharp crossed here when he made his successful attack in 1680 upon Villa Maria on the Tuyra River, but no continuous transit was ever maintained, probably because of the fierce dians hostile to span- and persistent hostility of the Indians toward the Spaniards. They aided the buccaneers because they were warring against their special enemies and not because they wanted white men to enter their borders. The Indians in this section were never subdued, though forts and strongholds and mission stations were from time to time established on Caledonia Bay and at other points on the Atlantic side and on the rivers emptying into the Gulf of San Miguel. They had secret passes through the mountains, caves in which their canoes could be safely concealed, trails from their villages by which they could pass freely from point to point, and a system of signals by which they could give notice of the movements and approach of their enemies; with these advantages they often made successful raids upon the Spanish settlements, slaughtered the garrisons, and destroyed their works.
Ariza's road in P~arMen. Under the administration of Andr6s de Ariza, who became governor of the province in 1774, a determined effort was made to bring the Indians under subjection to the Spanish. Military posts were again established on both sides of the isthmus; Puerto Principi, on the Savana River, was fortified and garrisoned, and a trail was cut thence to the Chucunaque, near the mouth of the La Paz, which was afterwards known as Ariza's road. It was deemied best to connect these posts on the Atlantic and Pacific by a military road, and with this purpose in view a reconnaissance was made from Caledonia Bay across the divide to the terminus of Ariza's road, under the direction of Manuel Milla de Santa Ella, who found that it was practicable. But the Indians objected to the occupation of their country for this purpose and threatened resistance. Their opposition was so serious that the plan was abandoned, and no regular communication between the two coasts was ever accomplished. The





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Spaniards became satisfied that their supremacy yielded them no advantages commensurate with its cost, and in 1790 ml1 .liardpaoast o entered into a treaty with the Indians, by which they agreed to abandon their military posts and withdraw from the country.
Toward the latter part of the eighteenth century aminatioueof Tehua- there was a revival of interest in the subject of a maritime communication between the two oceans through the American isthmus. Some pieces of ancient bronze cannon in the castle of San Juan d'Ulioa, at Vera Cruz, in Mexico, were accidentally discovered in 1771 to have been cast in Manila, in the Philippine Islands. It seemed improbable that they had been transported thither by water around either continent, as the only conmmercial intercourse with the islands had been through the Pacific port of Tehuantepec. The subject was investigated and it was satisfactorily proved by old records and traditions among the inhabitants of the isthmus that the cannon had been transported from Tehuantepec to the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos by the route established in the days of Cortez. This transit had long been abandoned, but the remembrance of its former importance had been preserved, though in the lapse of time the difficulties and obstructions attending the passage had been forgotton. The viceroy of Mexico, in the hope that it would afford a favorable location for a canal, determined to have the country examined, so as to ascertain its topography and the practicability of opening a maritime communication between the two oceans, and two engineers, Augustin Cramer and Miguel del Corral, were directed to survey the isthmus and report the result of their investigations. They made an exploration up the Coatzacoalcos and found that its source was not near Tehuantepec, as they had been led to suppose; nor did Report of tramer. any river have a channel flowing into each ocean.
Instead of a river communication they found a range of mountains of considerable height between the headwaters of the streams emptying into opposite seas. In one place they reported that the mountains formed a group rather than a continuous chain, and that a valley existed, through which a canal of small dimensions was practicable, connecting two rivers on opposite slopes, which would form a continuous communication across the isthmus.
Charles III was then upon the throne of Spain and had interested himself in the work that had been undertaken at Tehuantepec. Not satisfied with its results, he authorized an investigation to be made in Nicaragua to determine the practicability of connecting the lakes with the Pacific. The work was undertaken by Manuel Galisteo in 1779, and a report was made in 1781 full of discourageExamination of Nicara,ua route by Galisteo. ment. In it he stated that Lake Nicaragua was 134 feet higher than the Pacific, and that high S. Doc. 54 3


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34 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

mountains intervened between the lakes and the ocean which, in his opinion, madc their connection impracticable.
Notwithstanding this report, a company was afterwards formed under the patronage of the Crown to undertake the project, and the route selected was from Lake Nicaragua along the Sanoa River to the Gulf of Nicoya. The royal fleet in the Pacific was directed to aid this work by further surveys, but the project was never commenced and no further progress was made in the construction of an interoceanic communication.
When Galisteo's party set out in 1779 they were accompanied in a private capacity by the British agents at Belize, and the territory claimed in the name of the Mosquito Indians. After their return they made favorable representations of the country they had visited, and declared that the canal project was entirely feasible. This manifestation of interest in the subject was followed by an invasion of the country early in 1780, after Spain had declared war by rto sf Iceicaragua against Great Britain. The invading expedition, under the conunand of Captain Poson, set out from Jamaica. Admiral Horatio Nelson, then a post captain, was in charge of the naval operations. Nelson, in his dispatches, states the general purpose of the expedition as follows: "In order to give facility to the great object of government I intend to possess the Lake
-of Nicaragua, which for the present may be looked upon as the inland Gibraltar of Spanish America. As it commands the only water pass between the oceans, its situation must ever render it a principal post to insure passage to the Southern Ocean, and by our possession of it Spanish America is divided in two."
1111 of campaign. The plan of the campaign was to enter the mouth of the San Juan River, capture Fort San Juan, at Castillo Viejo, take possession of all other fortified positions on the river and lakes, occupy the cities of Granada and Leon, then push on to Realejo, by the seizure of which they would complete their control of the province and the lines of communication between the two oceans.
The attacking party went up the San Juan in boats and met with no esistance till a small island, named San Bartolom6, an outpost of the enemy, was reached. This was soon captured, and two days later Fort San Juan at Castillo Viejo was besieged. After a stubborn resistance, protracted for ten days, the fort was surrendered and the garrison was allowed to march out with the honors of war. The invading force had little protection from the constant rains, their numbers were daily reduced by deadly fevers and other prostrating diseases, their situation became distressing, longer stay was useless and would have been fatal to the few survivors, and reluctantly the expedition was abandoned. Of the crew of Nel-





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son's ship, the Jincoibirook, 200 in number, 87 fell sick in one night, only 10 were living soon after the return of the expedition to Jamaica, and Nelson himself was in such an enfeebled condition that his life was
saved only by careful nursing.
This terminated the effort to weaken the Spanish ETrglaty 1(17 S between power in Central America, and in the treaty of 1783, which terminated the war, Great Britain relinquished whatever territorial rights she may have claimed there.
While the privilege of cutting wood for dyeing was granted to English settlers, it was only to be exercised in a part of Honduras with certain specified boundaries, within which the woodcutters, then dispersed through the country, were required to retire within eighteen months. The British agreed to demolish their fortifications within this district and to instruct their settlers to build no new ones, and they recognized and declared Spain's rights of sovereignty.
Owing to delays in the retirement of the woodcutters within the agreed limits by the time specified, new complications arose between the two powers and the negotiations which followed resulted in another Treaty of 1756. treaty which, was signed at London in July, 1786.
By the new convention the district allotted to the woodcutters was enlarged and their privileges were increased, but they were not to establish any plantation of sugar, coffee, cocoa, or other like article, or any manufacture by means of mills or other machines except sawmills for preparing their timber for use. The reason given for this restriction was that "all the lands in question being indisputably acknowledged to belong of right to the Crown of Spain, no settlement of that kind or the population which would follow could be allowed." In another article all the restrictions specified in the treaty of 1783 for the entire preservation of the right of the Spanish sovereignty over the country were confirmed. Another article related to the Mosquito country, in which England had exercised a protectorate over the Indians and had assisted them in resisting the authority of Spain. In it Spain was pledged, by motives of humanity, not to exercise any severity against the Mosquitos on account of their former connection with the English, and his Britannic Majesty agreed to prohibit his subjects from furnishing arms or military supplies to the Indians.
These treaty obligations were disregarded by Great Britain as no longer binding after the Spanish provinces acquired their independence. The protectorate over the Mosquito Indians was revived and new territorial rights were set up in Central America. Nicaragua claimed sovereignty over the Mosquitos and resisted what she regarded as the encroachment of the British. The latter claimed, on behalf of the Indians, that their territory extended to the San Juan, and in 1848 took possession of the port at the mouth of the river, raised the Mos-





36 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

quito flag there, and changed its name from San Juan to Greytown. Treaty between Great In 1859 a treaty was made between Great Britain Britain and Guatemala of and Guatemala by which the title of the former to 1859 as to Belize. the settlements made in and near the Bay of lionduras, known as Belize, was recognized and the boundaries were defined. In 1860 a treaty was made between Great Treaty between GreatNiagu wncth Britain ai licaragua o Britain and Nicaragua by which the protectorate isO as to Mosquito In- over the Mosquitos was to cease in three months, (hans. the territory occupied by them was to be under
the sovereignty of Nicaragua, its boundaries were defined, extending no farther south than the river Rama, and Grevtown was declared a free port. But the Indians were to have the right of self-government, and Nicaragua was pledged to respect their customs and regulations and not to interfere with them, provided they were not inconsistent with the sovereign rights of the Republic. It was also provided that Nicaragua should, for ten years, pay to.the Mosquito authorities $5,000 annually to promote their improvement and provide for the maintenance of the government they were to establish for themselves within their district.
In another article it was declared by the conMosquito indimns incor- tracting parties that the treaty was not to be conporated into Republic of
Nicaragua in 1S94. strued so as to prevent the Mosquito Indians at any time in the future from agreeing to absolute incorporation into the Republic of Nicaragua, on the same footing and subject to the same laws as other citizens. This solution of a long-existing cause of irritation and disturbance was reached in November, 1894, when a convention of the tribes assembled under the direction of their chief and agreed that their territory should become a department of the Republic.
At the close of the eighteenth century Spain the 1 ith e lnury. continued to maintain her sovereignty over the entire isthmian country, but the Cordilleras still kept the two oceans apart; the old transit had fallen into disuse and her intercourse with the western ports of her American provinces was maintained almost entirely by way of Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope; the chief exception being at Tehuantepec, where a communication across the isthmus had once more been opened.
No actual progress in the way of establishing a maritime communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific had been made during the three hundred years of Spanish occupation. Baron Von von Hu.mbolt's state- Humboldt, who visited New Spain about this time and took a great interest in this subject, deplored the lack of accurate knowledge of the physical features of the isthmian country. After making his investigations he said that there was not





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a single mountain, plain, or city from Granada to Mexico of which the elevation above the sea was known. It was even a matter of doubt whether an uninterrupted chain of mountains existed in the provinces of Veragua and Nicaragua.
The publications of Humboldt were extensively read and revived the interest of the commercial nations of the world in this subject. The Spanish Cortes was aroused to action and in April, 1814, passed a formal decree for the construction of a canal through the peninsula for vessels of the largest size and provided for the formation of a company to undertake the enterprise, but it led to no results and Spain's opportunities to obtain the glory of opening this great highway for the commerce of the world terminated in 1823, when the last of her Central and South American provinces succeeded in establishing their ndependence.
The States of New Granada, Venezuela, and Republic of Colombia Ecuador united in 1819 in forming the Republic formed.
of Colombia, with Simon Bolivar as President. This continued till 1831, when they separated into three independent republics.
Formation of Federal In 1823 Gautemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Republic of the United Nicaragua, and Costo Rica, having successfully Provinces of C e I t r .1 1 resisted the efforts of Iturbide to extend the power Anmerica.
of Mexico over them, established the Federal Republic of the United Provinces of Central America.
The governmental changes wrought by these successful revolutions and the formation of these new confederations were followed by a revival of interest in the interoceanic communication. Aaron H. Palmer, of New York, and his'associates made proposals to the new Republic of Central America with a view to the construction of such a work, which were favorably regarded. But before any action was taken Don Antonio Jos6 Caflaz, the envoy extraordinary representing the Republic at Washington, was instructed to call the attention of the Government of the United States to the subject. He accordingly addressed a letter to Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, on the 8th day of February, 1825, assuring him that nothing would be more grateful to "the Republic of the Centre of AmerRepublic of Cen tr al ica" than the cooperation of the American people America makes proposilions to United States. in the construction of a canal of communication through Nicaragua, so that they might share, not only in the merit of the enterprise, but also in the great advantages which it would produce. He stated that a company of respectable American merchants was ready to undertake the work as soon as it could be arranged by a treaty between the two governments, and that if a diplomatic agent were appointed and instructed upon the matter,


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he was prepared to do what he could on the part of the Republic he represented in the arrangement of the business. Mr. Clay made a Response of Secretary favorable response to this communication, assuring Clay. the minister that the importance of uniting the two seas by canal navigation was fully realized and that the President had determined to instruct the charge d'affaires of the United States to investigate with the greatest care the facilities which Nicaragua offered. le added that, if this investigation confirmed the preference which it was believed this route possessed, it would be necessary to consult Congress as to the nature and extent of the cooperation which should be given toward the completion of the work.
Instructions to minister. The proposed instructions were not, however, given until February, 1826, when a ltter was addressed to Mr. Williams, the charge d'affaires, in which he was informed that the President desired to be put in possession of such full information upon the subject as would serve to guide the judgment of the constituted authorities of the United States in determining their interests and duties in regard to it. The matter was afterwards referred to in the official correspondence with the Department, but it does not appear that the desired information was ever furnished.
f When it was proposed to hold a congress of difCongress of Panama.
ferent nations at Panama in 1826, and President Adams had appointed commissioners to represent the United States, they were advised in their letter of instructions that a cut or canal for purposes of navigation somewhere through the isthmus that connects the two Americas, to unite the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, would form a proper subject of consideration at the congress when it should assemble. The opinion was also expressed that, if the work should ever be executed, the benefits of it ought not to be exclusively appropriated to any one nation, but should be extended to all parts of the globe upon the payment of just compensation or reasonable tolls.
But without waiting for governmental action on the part of the United States, the Republic of Central America, on the 16th of June, 1826, decreed that proposals should be received for the right to construct an interoceanic canal, accepted the terms offered by Aaron H. Palmer and his associates and entered into a contract with them. The canal was to be for the navigation of vessels of the Central Ameria."akes largest burden and was to be commenced twelve contract for oiistruction
of canal. months after the signing of the contract, or sooner if possible, but in case of insurmountable difficulty, the time for beginning was to be extended for not more than six months. The contract was to remain in force as long as might be necessary foi the reimbursement of the capital invested in the construction of the canal and the fortifications for its defense, together





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with interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, and for seven years after such reimbursement the company of construction was to receive half of the net proceeds of the canal, the expense of collection and repairs being deducted. The navigation and passage through the canal was to be common to all friendly and neutral nations, without any exclusive privilege. The contract can be seen in full by reference to Report No. 145, House of Representatives, Thirtieth Congress, second session, pages 362-367.
Mr. Palmer next attempted to organize a company to undertake the construction of a canal under this contract, to be called the Central American and United States Atlantic and Pacific Central American an 1 Canal Company, with a capital stock of $5,000,000. IIited States Atlantic and
Pacific Canal Company. With this purpose in view, in October, 1826, he assigned the contract in trust to De Witt Clinton and four others, to be held by them until an act of incorporation could be obtained for the proposed company. In December he went to London, furnished with letters of introduction to the American minister and other influential persons, issued a prospectus, and for ten months endeavored to secure the aid of capitalists there in disposing of the stock, but was unsuccessful and the contract was never executed.
The Central American Republic afterwards entered into negotiations with a company in the Netherlands for the s Co"a N construction of a canal across Nicaragua, and a basis for an agreement was adopted by the two Houses of Congress in September and December, 1830. When the Administration at Washington heard that such a contract had been made or was about to be made, Mr. Edward Livingston, then Secretary of State, directed the United States minister at Guatemala to ascertain the facts and to signify to the Government that the United States would consider themselves as entitled to the same advantages, in passing through the canal or using the terminals, as were accorded to other nations. The effort, however, ended in failure and the project was abandoned.
After this failure the Congress of the Republic of Central America again turned to the United States and offered to grant to the Government the right to construct a canal. In response Further negotiations of to this action the Senate, on March 3, 1835, passed Central American Republies with United States. a resolution requesting the President to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with other nations, particularly with the republics of Central America and New Granada, for the purpose of protecting by suitable treaty stipulations such individuals or companies as might undertake to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the construction of a ship canal across the American isthmus and of securing forever to all nations the free and equal right of navigating it on the payment of reasonable tolls.


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40 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANXL COMMISSION.

President Jackson acted upon this resolution by sending Mr. Charles Biddle to visit Nicaragua and Panama, with instructions to examine the different routes of communication Mr. Middle sent to cen- that had been contemplated, whether by canal or tral America and Colom- .i. .u Ia. railroad, making such observations and inquiries on his route as would enable him to procure copious and accurate information in regard to the practicability of the different projects, and to procure such public documents as were obtainable relating to the different plans, and copies of all laws and contracts made and entered into by the two Governments with reference to the construction of such a communication, and any surveys and estimates of cost of any of the projects that could be procured. But the mission led to no satisfactory results, and on January 9, 1837, a message was sent to the Senate to the effect that it was not expedient at that time to enter into negotiations with foreign governments with reference to a transisthian connection.
In January, 1838, Aaron Clark, mayor of New Memorialiof Aaron Clark York, and a few other influential citizens preto Congress urging action
with reference to ai I. sented the subject to the House of Representatives in a memorial, urging the great national importance of a navigable waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific, and recommending that negotiations be opened with New Granada and Central America and the great powers of Europe for the purpose of entering into a general agreement for the promotion of this object, and, as a preliminary step, that competent engineers be sent to the sthmian country to make explorations and surveys, so as to determine the most eligible route and the cost of constructing such a work.
This memorial was referred to the Committee on Roads and Canals and led to an interesting and valuable report, which was presented by Mr. C. F. Mercer March 2,.1839, in the Twenty-fifth Congress, third session, and is designated as H. R. Report ReortofandCommittee 322. The value of a canal was fully recognized, but no action was reconnended, except to request the President to open or continue negotiations with foreign nations according to the terms of the former Senate resolution and in harmony with the wishes of the memorialists. The resolution favoring this action was at once adopted.
President Van Buren sent another agent, Mr. John L. Stephens, to the isthmus. He recommended the Nicaragua 1r. Stephens sent as route as the most desirable, and estimated the cost agent to lsthmiian conltries. of a canal there at $25,000,000, but did not thmk the time was favorable for undertaking such a work because of the unsettled and revolutionary condition of the country.
During the time that these memorials and resolutions were being





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


considered by Congress, and efforts were being made to obtain conExamination of routes. cessions from the States through whose territory the canal routes extended, examinations were made from time to time to determine the feasibility and cost of the different projects.
In 1824 the Mexican Government and the State TeadatepeyOrgoso of Vera Cruz each appointed a commission to make a reconnaissance of the isthmus of Tehuantepec, the former under the supervision of Juan de Orbegoso, the latter under Tadeo.Ortiz. Their reports contain much valuable information relating to the geography, topography, productions, and resources of the country. But their examinations demonstrated that great difficulties opposed the construction of a navigable canal through the isthmus, and they reported that the only available expedient to be adopted was a carriage road from the navigable waters of the Coatzacoalcos River to the lagoons on the south coast. This they considered both easy and advantageous. The report of Orbegoso is found in House Report 322, Twenty-fifth Congress, third session.
A survey of the Nicaragua route was made by Nicaragua, by John Bally. Mr. John Baily, who had been sent out by an English company in 1826 to explore the country and negotiate for a concession. Failing in his main purpose, he had remained in Central America, and in 1834' was employed by President Morazin to determine the best location for a canal. The route that he favored was from San Juan, now Greytown, to Lake Nicaragua, across the lake to the Lajas, and thence to San Juan del Sur on the Pacific.
The harbor of Greytown presented "as many conveniences as would be required;" it could he entered at all seasons and in all weathers without risk;" it furnished good anchorage in 4 or 5 fathoms of water, and there was no danger within it. San Juan del Sur offered similar advantages as a Pacific terminus, with a depth of 10 fathoms. He proposed to use the San Juan through its entire length. This would require the removal of the rocks at the rapids, the closing of the Colorado so as to divert its waters through the channel of the San Juan to Greytown Harbor, and the deepening of this part of the San Juan.
He stated that the four principal rapids were within a space of 12 miles, and were formed by a transverse elevation of rocks, rising in sharp and broken masses above the water when low, but leaving a channel on either side sufficient for the passage of boats, with a depth, of from 3 to 6 fathoms. The river was then navigated by piraguas, or large flat-bottom boats of 5 to 8 tons burden, with crews of ten or twelve men, whose chief labor was at the rapids, which, however, were passed without serious hazard. From a series of levels along his line, taken in 1838, he reported that the lake was 128 feet 3 inches


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42 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

above the level of the Pacific at low water at San Juan del Sur, and he accepted the conclusions reached by others that the Pacific at low water was 6 feet 6 inches lower than the Atlantic. His line from the mouth of the Lajas was 28,408 yards in length, the summit level was 487 feet above the lake, and the canal was to be navigable for ships of 1,200 tons burden, with a depth of 1.8 feet of water. By straightening the line in a few places it could be shortened 2,000 yards and the Lajas could be made available for 5,460 yards. Ie proposed an alternative plan which would reduce the summit level to 122 feet above the lake, and the connection of two of his stations by a tunnel 3,833 yards long. He pointed out the difficulties of the work, and in case it should not be regarded as an advisable project suggested the consideration of a route through the Tipitapa and Lake Managua to the port of Realejo, but could not speak of the feasibility of this route with confidence, as it had not been surveyed. He had, however, traveled over the country between Lake Managua and the ocean, and regarded 'it as worthy of examination.
Panamay. A. In November, 1827, Mr. J. A. Lloyd received a commission from President Bolivar to survey the Isthmus of Panama, in order to ascertain the most eligible line of communication across it, whefher by road or canal. At this time neither the relative height of the two oceans nor the height of the mountain range between them had been accurately determined, and the geographic features of the isthmus were imperfecfly understood. He spent two seasons in exploring the country and carried his line of levels from Panama to La Bruja, a place on the Chagres River about 12 miles above its mouth. He reported that the mean height of the Pacific at Panama was 3.52 feet higher than that of the Atlantic at Chagres. He recommended a new line across the isthmus, instead of those in use. from Porto Bello and Chagres by Cruces to Panama, beginning at the Bay of Limon, thence to the Chagres by a canal and up the river to a favorable situation on the south bank of the Trinidad River, and thence by a railroad to Panama or Chorrera, the latter being the nearer terminus, but the former being preferable as a better port, and the capital of the State, where its trade was already centered. He made no recommendation in favor of a canal, but said that if a time should arrive when a project of a water communication across the isthmus might be entertained, the River Trinidad would probably offer the most favorable route. For some distance he found it both broad and deep, and its banks well suited for wharves, especially in the neighborhood of the place designated as suitable for railroad communication.
After the Republic of Colombia was divided, in a"da established"In November, 1831, the control of the Panama route belonged to New Granada, within whose terri-





REPORT OF THE (STHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


torial boundaries it was located. This Republic, in 1838, granted to a French company a concession, authorizing the Makes grant to a Frencn construction of inacadamized roads, railroads, or canals across the isthmus with the Pacific terminus at Panama. The company spent several years in making explorations and communicated the results to the French Government through M. M. Salomon, the leading spirit in the enterprise, in the hope of securing its aid in constructing the proposed work. These results presented the project in an attractive way, and it was stated Results of explorations that a depression in the mountain range offered a of Paniama route.
passage only 11.28 meters, about 37 feet, above the average level of the sea at Panama. The representations were of a character so surprising that it was decided to send an officer to the spot to study the subject, and in September, 1843, M. Guizot, minister of foreign affairs, instructed Napoleon Garella to proceed to Panama to investigate the question of the junction of both seas by cutting through the isthmus, and to report the means of effecting it, the obstacles to be overcome, and the cost of such an enterprise.
He favored a canal as the only means of comExamiaed by Garella. inunication adequate to the demands of commerce, and, as the representative of a great commercial nation, directed all his labors to this object. He preferred to establish the Atlantic terminus at the Bay of Limon rather than at the mouth of the Chagres, following the recommendation made by Lloyd; a connection with the river was to be made somewhat below the mouth of the Gatun. The low depression, making a sea level canal practicable within a reasonable limit of cost, could not be found, and he proposed to cross the divide through a tunnel 5,350 meters, a little more than 34 miles, long, but he also estimated for a cut through the ridge instead of a tunnel. The bottom of the tunnel was to be 41 meters, about 1344 feet, above the ocean; 99 meters, nearly 325 feet, below the summit, and the level of the water 48 meters, nearly 158 feet, above the ocean at extreme high tide on the Pacific at Panama. The summit level was to be reached by 18 locks on the Atlantic slope and 16 on the Pacific, with a guard lock at each extremity to protect the entrance. The supply of water was to be furnished by two lateral canals from the Chagres. The Pacific terminus was to be in the small bay of Vaca de Monte, about 12 miles southwest of Panama. The estimate of cost was 130,000,000 francs, about $25,000,000, if the summit level was established by means of a tunnel. By establishing the summit level by means qf a trench of a maximum depth of 84 meters, about 275 feet, the bottom of which would be 15 meters, nearly 50 feet above that of the tunnel, the cost would be increased to 149,000,000 francs, or about $28,000,000.
These estimates were made for a canal that would accommodate ves-


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44 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

sets of 1,200 tons burden, 1981 feet long, with extreme breadth of beam of 451 feet and a maximum draft when loaded of 21.1 feet, giving a depth of 23 feet.
Garella's report is found in House Report 322, Twenty-fifth Congress, third session. It disappointed the expectations that had been raised by the projectors; no further steps were taken in the matter and the concession was forfeited.
About the middle of the century a succession of Increased i nportaitee of
maritime commlunicamtionl.great events vastly increased the importance of a maritime connection between the two oceans to the United States. The dispute with Great Britain, as to the boundary line west of the Rocky Mountains, was settled by the BuchananPackenham treaty in 1846, and in August, 1848, an act of Congress was passed under which Oregon became an organized Territory. The war with Mexico was commenced early in 1846, and by the terms of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty, which closed it in 1848, California was ceded to the United States. Before the treaty had been ratified gold was discovered there, and in a few months many thousands from the eastern part of the country were seeking a way to the mining regions. To avoid the hardships and delays of the journey across the plains or the voyage around the continent, lines of steamers and packets were established from New York to Chagres and San Juan del Norte and from Panama to San Francisco, some of the latter touching at the Pacific ports in Nicaragua. For a while those traveling by these routes had to make arrangements for crossing the isthmus after their arrival there, and were often subjected to serious personal inconveniences and suffering as well as to exorbitant charges.
The requirements of travel and commerce demanded better methods of transportation between the Eastern States and the Pacific coast, but there were other reasons of a more public character for bringing these sections into closer communication. The establishment and maintenance of army posts and naval stations in the newly acquired and settled regions in the Far West, the extension of mail facilities to the inhabitants, and the discharge of other governmental functions, all required a connection in the shortest time and at the least distance that was possible and practicable. The importance of this connection was so manifest that the Goverhment was aroused to action before all the enumerated causes had come into operation, and negotiations were entered into with the Republic of New Granada to secure a right of transit across the Isthmus of Panama. This was ea rinad I 154;.nm effected by attreaty concluded in December, 1846, though the ratifications were not exchanged until June, 1848. A copy of it is attached to this report, marked "Appendix BB."





REPORT 01' THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


The increased importance of an interoCeanic Resolutions relating to lL asobfr
interoceani commumca. communication brought the subject also before tions come before Coi- Congress. A joint resolution was introduced in gress. .the House of Representatives during the Thirtieth Congress, authorizing the survey of certain routes for a canal or railReferred to select corn- road between the two oceans, which with other mittee. papers of a like character was referred to a select committee of which Mr. John A. Rockwell was made chairman.
The committee did not feel prepared to say to Report of Rockwellcom- what extent, if any, the aid of the Government should be rendered to these projects, but recognized the importance of a communication from ocean to ocean, and presented such information as was available in relation to the principal routes to which public attention had been directed. The superior importance of a ship canal was recognized, but it was suggested that until one could be constructed a railroad would be valuable for earlier use and as an auxiliary to a canal.
The passage of the joint resolution was recommended with an amendment, authorizing surveys from some point on the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, in addition to the surveys provided for in the joint resolution.
The report of this committee was made to the House February 20, 1849, in the second session of this Congress, and is numlbered 145.
At the same session, William H. Aspinwall, tetorial of projectors of John L. Stephens, and Henry Chauncey, who, as Panamia railroad.
will appear a little farther on, had undertaken the construction of the Panama railroad, presented a memorial, asking that the Secretary of the Navy be empowered to enter into a contract with them for the transportation over their road, when completed, for a period of twenty years, of naval and army supplies, troops, munitions of war, the United States mails, and public agents or officials, at a rate not exceeding the amount then specified by law to be paid for the transportation of the mails alone from New York to Liverpool, on condition that they commence within one year, and complete within three years their proposed road across the isthmus. The memorial was referred in the House of Representatives to the Committee on Naval Affairs, and a report was made recommending that they be granted $250,000 a year to aid in building the road. No action was taken, upon this report, but annual appropriations were made for carrying the mails across the isthmus. after the road was completed.
Soon after the convention with New Granada Negotiations for treaty had been ratified and proclaimed, efforts were made with .Ncaragua.
to negotiate a treaty with Nicaragua, so as to obtain favorable transit rights through that country for the Government and citizens of the United States.


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46 REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

The advantages which this country offered for Advantages (if Nicaragua
route. an interoceanic canal had been known for centuries, and the desire to secure them led to the negotiation of a treaty with Nicaragua by Mr. Elijah Hise, charge Ilise treaty. d'affaires of the United States, in June, 1849. By its terms the Republic undertook to confer upon the United States, or a company of its citizens, the exclusive right to construct through its territory canals, turnpikes, railways, or any other kind of roads, so as to open a passage and communication by land or water, or both, for the transit and passage of ships or vehicles, or both, between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The terms of the treaty were most liberal, and in return the United States was to aid and protect Nicaragua in all defensive wars, the Army and Navy and all available means and resources of both countries to be used, if necessary, to defend the territories of the latter or to recover such as might have been seized or occupied by force. Nicaragua consented to these terms because it was desired to secure the aid of the United States, in resisting the policy which Great Britain was then pursuing in Central America, with the apparent intention of securing the permanent control of the lower waters of the San Juan, under a claim already mentioned, that the boundaries of the Mosquito district extended to and included the mouth of that river, where at this time the Mosquito flag was maintained under British protection. Ilise succeededySquier. Mr. Hise had exceeded his authority in making this treaty and it was not approved by the Administration at Washington. He was afterwards recalled and was succeeded by Mr. E. G. Squier, who negotiated another treaty upon the subject Contract of Anerican, and a contract for facilitating the transit from Atlantic and Pacl c Ship the Atlantic to the Pacific, by means of a ship Canal Company ivith Nic- canal or railroad, in the interest of the American, aragna.
Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, composed of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Joseph L. White, Nathaniel H. Wolfe, and their associates.
These two treaties were never ratified, but they were subjects of Clayto-Buiwer treaty. conference and discussion during the negotiations which led to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of July 5, 1850. By this it was agreed, among other things, that the two contracting parties would support and encourage such persons or company as might first commence a ship canal through Nicaragua with the necessary capital and with the consent of the localauthorities and on principles in accord with the spirit and intention of the convention. And if any such person or company had already entered into a contract for the construction of such a canal, with the State through which the same was to pass, it was agreed that such person or company should have a priority of claim, if the parties to the treaty had no just cause of objection to such contract.





REPORT OF THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.


This provision was understood to be in the interest of the company for which Mr. Squier had obtained a contract in Termso .ont ""w August, 1849. By its terms the State had granted to it, for a period of eighty-five years, to be counted from the completion and opening of the work to public use, the exclusive right and privilege of excavating a ship canal for vessels of all sizes, from Grey Town, or any other feasible point on the Atlantic, to the port of Realejo, Gulf of Amapala or Fonseca, Tamorinda, San Juan del Sur, or any other point on the Pacific, by means of the San Juan River, Lake Nicaragua, the Tipitapa River, and Lake Managua, or any other waters within its jurisdiction. The contract also gave to the company the exclusive right to construct rail or carriage roads and bridges and to establish steamboats and other vessels on the rivers and lakes as accessories to and in furtherance of the execution of the canal project. And if the construction of the canal or any part of it should be found to be impracticable, then the company was authorized to establish a railroad or some other communication between the two oceans within the time limited and subject to the same terms and conditions.
Subsequently in March, 1850, the company was ra na-copaylncoro- incorporated by the Republic of Nicaragua to prevent any embarrassments in the development and prosecution of its enterprise.
A new arrangement was made in August, 1851, by which the part of the contract relating to steam navigation upon the waters of the State was separated from that relating to the canal. This was desired by the company so as to establish a transit route across the isthmus connecting with steamship lines at the terminal ports. It was accomplished by a new charter, authorizing the organization of another company with the sanme membership, but distinct Organization ofAcy. and separate, to be known as the Accessory Transit Company, with the understanding, however, that neither party was to be relieved from the performance of the obligations imposed by the former contract and charter.
The accessory company, during the following Transit route established
by accessory company. year, availed itself of the privileges of the new contract and established a transportation line from Grey Town up the San Juan River and across Lake Nicaragua by steamboats to Virgin Bay on the western side of the lake, and thence by stage coaches 13 miles over a good road to San Juan del Sur. In connection with steamship lines in the two oceans, at the ends of the transit, running to and from New York and San Francisco, a regular communication was thus maintained between the Atlantic and Pacific ports. This line was .kept up for many years and was traveled by thousands on their way to and from the gold regions in California; it


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48 REPORT OF THE TSTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION,

was finally terminated by the disturbed conditions which resulted from the expeditions of Walker into Central America. At a later date the transit route was reopened for a short time under Central American Transit a new charter in the name of the Central American Transit Company.
The American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company also took preliminary steps for the accomplishment of the larger matters involved in its contract. Though there had been before this time many explorations, reconnoissances, and examinations of this country with a view to the location and excavation of a ship canal, it does not appear that any thorough and complete survey had ever been attempted, and if any had ever been made there was no record of its existence, or of any basis for even the roughest estimate of the cost of such a work upon any of the proposed lines through Nicaragua. It was now determined that there should be a careful instrumental survey from ocean to ocean and that a line of location should be determined upon. Col.
Orville W. Childs, of Philadelphia, was appointed to urey c -sappnointed as chief engineer to take charge of this work in August, 1850, and he completed it in March, 1852. The results of this survey are given in another chapter of this report, in connection with the engineering features of the Nicaragua route.
At the request of the company the report of the Report submitted to survey and location was submitted by President Colonel Abert and Lieutenant-Colonel Turnbull. Fillmore to Col. J. J. Abert and Lieut. Col. W.
Turnbull, United States topographical engineers, for their inspection and opinion, and on the 20th of March, 1852, they reported that the plan proposed by Colonel Childs was practicable, but recommended some changes and modifications.
In view of the joint agreement to protect such a canal entered into by the United States and Great Britain, it was deemed advisable to invite the British Government to submit the Childs report to engineers of well-known skill and experience, and at the Bllnitted to British request of Abbott Lawrence, the American minisengineers by request of
American minister. ter, Lord Malnesbury designated Lieut. Col.
Edward Aldrich, of the royal engineers, and Mr. James Walker, an eminent civil engineer, to make the desired examination.
They submitted their report on the 16th day of July, 1852, in which they expressed the opinion that the Childs project ticable. was practicable and would not be attended with engineering difficulties beyond what might be naturally expected in a work of such magnitude; that the survey had every appearance of accuracy; that the details had been worked out with great care, and that Colonel Childs had impressed them with a conviction of perfect fairness and candor. They, however, favored an




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